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Movies and other things
Aug. 12th, 2007 01:14 amSo, watched a bunch of movies recently. Ratatouille and Transformers I've already mentioned. I also went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with my brother. I found the pacing stilted. The scenes cut from one to the other too hurriedly, so there were totally wtf!! moments. There were also many moments when I felt bored, impatient. (I didn't feel that way with Transformers, so I'd rate Transformers' pacing to be better suited to me). Of course, the visuals were nice. The Thestrals, the Veil, The Weasley toys, etc. Most excellent: Luna and Snape. Also Umbridge and Neville. Need more screen time: Voldemort, Kreacher (who I like considerably more than Dobby), Grimmauld place in general. A couple of things I wished they covered:
1) Sirius' mirror, although that's only important because of Book 7. Inclusion would have made Harry look more stupid.
2) More of the Black family tree, including Narcissa and Regulus
3) An explanation that portraits can travel to their other locations, which is not only cool, but also important in Book 7.
4) Handled the Cho thing better. Granted, it wasn't much better in the book, but what's with the picture-perfect submissive Asian female thing? Okay, I may be over-sensitive to these sorts of things, but the reason I liked Cho in the beginning of the series was because she was the Ravenclaw seeker and she could totally hold her own against Harry. In a badass sort of way.
5) Dumbledore's Army's fake galleons. Those were really cool in the book, and it wouldn't have been that hard to put it in.
6) Explained the whole point of Occlumency better. Or really, made more of Harry's trials seem like trials: the isolation/jealousy/insecurity of not being appointed Prefect, the difficulties of Umbridge oppression and Occlumency lessons, etc.
7) What's with Dumbledore's talk at the end? It lasted, like, 30 seconds. :/
8) What's with the DeathEater/OotP duel at the end? Um... swooshing around in black/white clouds is so not as exciting as actual wand duel. (To wit: the totally awesome duel between Voldy and Dumbly)
So, overall meh.
Also watched Stardust opening night. A few thoughts as well.
- the touches of humor was nice, but sometimes went overboard a bit. I felt that they were trying too hard to be the new Princess Bride sometimes, but it doesn't work as well because Neil's stories are not as succinctly quotable.
- Charlie Cox = very good Tristan!
- the general changes were adequate, although the final battle was a bit bordering ludicrous.
- Glad that there were no elves, no centaurs. Just ordinary witches and lords.
- The ghosts: awesome!
Other things of note in my life:
- Last night, car battery died. AAA saved me, and JereCat not only kept me company, but also drove my brother home. <3. Got new battery this morning.
- Teacher orientation got off to a good start today. The other teachers seem pretty cool. Still waiting to see final set-up in my room before I start buying stuff.
- Had dinner with Nicole, whom I hadn't spoken to in well nigh a year.
1) Sirius' mirror, although that's only important because of Book 7. Inclusion would have made Harry look more stupid.
2) More of the Black family tree, including Narcissa and Regulus
3) An explanation that portraits can travel to their other locations, which is not only cool, but also important in Book 7.
4) Handled the Cho thing better. Granted, it wasn't much better in the book, but what's with the picture-perfect submissive Asian female thing? Okay, I may be over-sensitive to these sorts of things, but the reason I liked Cho in the beginning of the series was because she was the Ravenclaw seeker and she could totally hold her own against Harry. In a badass sort of way.
5) Dumbledore's Army's fake galleons. Those were really cool in the book, and it wouldn't have been that hard to put it in.
6) Explained the whole point of Occlumency better. Or really, made more of Harry's trials seem like trials: the isolation/jealousy/insecurity of not being appointed Prefect, the difficulties of Umbridge oppression and Occlumency lessons, etc.
7) What's with Dumbledore's talk at the end? It lasted, like, 30 seconds. :/
8) What's with the DeathEater/OotP duel at the end? Um... swooshing around in black/white clouds is so not as exciting as actual wand duel. (To wit: the totally awesome duel between Voldy and Dumbly)
So, overall meh.
Also watched Stardust opening night. A few thoughts as well.
- the touches of humor was nice, but sometimes went overboard a bit. I felt that they were trying too hard to be the new Princess Bride sometimes, but it doesn't work as well because Neil's stories are not as succinctly quotable.
- Charlie Cox = very good Tristan!
- the general changes were adequate, although the final battle was a bit bordering ludicrous.
- Glad that there were no elves, no centaurs. Just ordinary witches and lords.
- The ghosts: awesome!
Other things of note in my life:
- Last night, car battery died. AAA saved me, and JereCat not only kept me company, but also drove my brother home. <3. Got new battery this morning.
- Teacher orientation got off to a good start today. The other teachers seem pretty cool. Still waiting to see final set-up in my room before I start buying stuff.
- Had dinner with Nicole, whom I hadn't spoken to in well nigh a year.
