Moving pictures and other things

[lynxgriffin]

Aside from going nuts with classes, I've been seeing movies! :D On the whole, I left much more satisfied with them than, say, Spiderman 3 or Shrek 3.

Anywhos, I saw Ratatouille and just today, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!


I have always really enjoyed Pixar's movies, and this one was no exception. I don't think it was as OMG AMAZING YAY as, say, The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but it was terrific in its own rights. And really, when the worst you can say about the movies from a company is "they're pretty good," that says something. My only real complaint was that I could very easily see what route the story was going to take, and maybe the romantic subplot between Linguini and Colette was a leeeettle unnecessary. Also, while the ending was quite satisfying, having everyone actually accept Remy as a great chef was stretching my belief a little too far. Linguini actually saw Remy in action; the other people and critics did not.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and got tons of laughs out of it. I love the way Pixar does their humor...they always bring the funny through the characters themselves, and they make it feel more natural, and opposed to trying to hard to be "hip" or "edgy." Yeah, "edgy" humor is funny today, but often it's not funny tomorrow, because it's not that edgy anymore. Pixar's humor stays humorous somehow, just like in movies such as The Lion King and Aladdin. And there were some pretty funny moments...the entire audience pretty much howled at the part where Remy's ratatouille makes the critic flashback to his childhood. And that was the climax of the movie, practically! XD Just...in that whole unspoken sequence, it all made perfect sense. I loved that the critic's house was shaped like a coffin, too. Heck, any time the critic came onscreen, it was this perfect mix of terror and hilarity. (I totally forgot his name.)

Loved the one suez-chef who KILLED A MAN WITH THIS THUMB. Was amazed at how well they did the wet-fur look on the rats. And the big WOAHWHAT technical aspect was just the way they choreographed some scenes, like with Remy darting in and out of these huge complex, moving sets from the rat's-eye view. I can't even imagine how much work went into those! I love movies where I can both enjoy the story, and say the effects were amazing.

ALSO. The short at the beginning of the movie pretty much had me rolling with laughter. Heck, anyone who's ever taken a driving test would be rolling with laughter. Their shorts were just brilliant.

And finally, somehow, the thing that made me happiest was the sticker at the very end of the credits: 100% ANIMATION: NO STOP MOTION USED! :D ...That made me glee in an oldschool animation way!


So today, I also went with my buddies ghettopeach and sir_snarksalot to see the next Harry Potter movie! And I can't believe I paid four bucks for a thing of candy...but I was hungry!


The long and the short of it is that I really enjoyed this movie version, and I thought they did a good job of condensing that much story into so little space! Everything seemed to flow together nicely, they focused on one main plot instead of jumping around to ten small ones like Spiderman did, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
And now, random thoughts:
- HOLY CRAP UMBRIDGE WAS SCARY. I got weird shivers pretty much every time a little "tee-hee!" came out of her mouth. They did an excellent job of keeping her just as eeeevil as she was in the book.
- NEEDS MOAR REMUS. And Tonks! I was all excited for Tonks, and she was barely in it! D:
- Glad Sirius got to shine more! :D WAS NOT HAPPY AT ALL WHEN HE DIED, AGAIN. Although that scene felt kinda played down.
- The Voldemort vs. Dumbledore fight was kickass, even without the statues coming to life to fight. Did not expect the whole Voldemort possessing Harry bit, though! It seemed to fit okay, however.
- A bit more time spent on Snape's Worst Memory, plz? They rushed through that whole bit.
- Fred and George = ♥♥♥ The scene where they bust up the O.W.L.s was sheer pwnage.
- UMBRIDGE IS STILL SCARY.
- IT IS LESS THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE LAST BOOK OMGWTFFFFFFFFF.


Aaand that's about it. Also, tomorrow we are leaving at Early O'Clock to drive up to Tahoe for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary/big family reunion. It's going to be an eight-hour drive there (oyyyy) so I will be bringing fanfic to write, comics to work on, and HBP to re-read in preparation for book 7. As such, I will be lacking the internets until, like, Monday night maybe. Otherwise not until Tuesday. So nothing important better happen until I get back! XO

Randomly: wyna_hiros, are you feeling free at all? I was thinking it might be kinda cool to collaborate on some artwork again. Maybe even try with the 3D stuff? :D

Drawing: Finished the next LG page; home to work on comics muchly over the weekend.

Writing: Will write on MWWBK up there as well...

Comments

[sillywhims.livejournal.com]

Anton Ego is the "evil" critic. And my dad kept looking at me funny when I cracked up during the flashback XD

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Aha, I thought the name was "Ego", but I wasn't exactly certain. XD

[fuyu]

See, the interesting thing is... I thought it was still only those few who accepted Remy as a great chef. The bistro being called "La Ratatouille" and having Remy on the sign could - and would, probably - have been construed by any outsiders as a simple cute pun. The impression I walked away with was that Linguini was still getting the credit, and Remy was still the restaurant's secret, but got his little nod on the sign, and it was a state of affairs everyone was pretty much content with.

... I dunno, maybe I read too much into it. XD

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Huh, I dunno, maybe I interpreted the ending wrong? :O For some reason, I remember many more people than just Ego and the restaurant itself discovering Remy was the cook. Man, now I need to rewatch it...

[loveotter.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, the Ego scene was just...yes, my audience was all howling too. XD It was just so hilariously unexpected and lent such humor and humanity to this utterly dry character that I crying with laughter. Literally, tears on my face.

[fenm.livejournal.com]

I honestly wasn't too terribly impressed with HP... I liked it ok, and will see it again, but...

- HOLY CRAP UMBRIDGE WAS SCARY.

Indeed... O_O
We also got that nice scene with Fred and George that 1st(?) year that she had clearly "put in detention"...

- Glad Sirius got to shine more! :D WAS NOT HAPPY AT ALL WHEN HE DIED, AGAIN. Although that scene felt kinda played down.

Yeah... Though it kinda was in the book, too.

- The Voldemort vs. Dumbledore fight was kickass, even without the statues coming to life to fight.

I liked it without. ^_^

Did not expect the whole Voldemort possessing Harry bit, though! It seemed to fit okay, however.

You know that happened in the book, right? I liked that scene; well played on Dan's part. ^_^

- A bit more time spent on Snape's Worst Memory, plz? They rushed through that whole bit.

No shit... I also don't like them having it happen when Harry's just defending himself. In the book Harry VERY CLEARLY violates Snape's privacy by looking in the Pensieve, while in the movie, Snape just looks petty and spiteful. Well, moreso than he actually is...

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Yeah... Though it kinda was in the book, too.

Oh yeah, I knew that that was in the book. It was just sad to get it BAM right in the face again. :P And I don't remember Voldemort possessing Harry in the book...guess it's been too long since I've read it!

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

Gah, can't read the rest of this entry since I haven't seen either film yet. xD

Anyway, don't know any 3D stuff, and not sure if I'm free yet. But I'd like to collab or something with you in the future sometime. xD

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for 3D stuff, I was thinking of something like you could design some kind of character or monster (not with fur, hair or clothes, since I haven't learned any of those yet) with ortho views and everything, and then I could try and poly model it from your design. I dunno, I just thought it would be kinda fun for both, and force me to practice more. XD Lemme know whenever you're free!

[wyna-hiros.livejournal.com]

Hm, I can give it a try sometime. Did you want me to just design as I want, as long as I keep the no-fur/no-hair/no-clothes thing in mind?

[lynxgriffin.livejournal.com]

Sure, just have it and do what you want to. :D

[lucky-dance.livejournal.com]

whats cracking me up is that the hardcore fandom community with HP is mad because in the books Bellatrix did not technically say "Avada Kedavra" when she killed Sirius. They are in such an uproar over that! *headdesk*

Also many are still in denial about his death XD

I thought it was nice to pay homage to Snapes Worst Memory, since, if it had been played out the whole way through, it would be construed in the movie as a distracting subplot. It starts out Harry-loves dad, then Harry-hates dad, then Harry-loves dad. So they could skip the whole middle part and come out fine. We've read the books, so we know better :) And having Harry watch the clip longer would have implied that Snape was too weak to push Harry out, or that he even wanted Harry to see it, which isn't true 'cause he was Le Pissed at harry.

heehee anyway, we love Remy.

[ldkirby.livejournal.com]

I think the reason people are getting so pissed because of that is cause Avada Kedavra is green, and in the book the jet of light that hit him was red. And nobody wants Sirius to die, anyway ;_;

[marynyu.livejournal.com]

I got a little pissed about it, but only because it doesn't show that the veil caused the death, and that's what comes from the books. But I got more upset about them bursting into the Requirement Room by force, and not by knowing what to "need". Kinda takes down the magical power that room is supossed to have.

I still liked the movie as a whole. The use of magic in combat was brilliant!!!