Monday, November 21, 2005
The best little fag hag/movie critic in Norfolk...
So...I bought the new Madonna CD. They were playing it at the gay bookstore (of course!) when I went in a couple days ago, and I liked it, so I decided to buy it.
*Spoiler Warning*
Anyway...Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...where should I start? The special effects were superb, of course. How could they not be, with all the money that's thrown at them? All of the adult actors were excellent, particularly Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. The scene where she corners Harry in the broom closet was probably the best in the entire movie. Malfoy's brief stint as a ferret should also not be missed.
There was the usual overacting from some of the child actors. Krum was a bit more handsome than I think was strictly in accordance with the book, and Fleur was satisfyingly Gallic, but not sufficiently beautiful, at least to my eye, to be reminiscent of a Veela. Moody was fabulous, and Karkaroff and Madame Maxim were quite good. Harry's was the only part of the first task that was shown, so the audience's view of the dragons is quite disappointingly limited.
The individual parts of the movie were generally quite good, but the film as a whole had a slightly disjointed, dreamlike feel to it. After it was over I wanted to grab the director, the writer/adapter, and the editor and shake them till their teeth rattled. There was almost nothing of the World Cup, which is something I was really looking forward to watching, and at least two fairly significant subplots were entirely removed, which naturally necessitated some baffling, not to say idiotic changes. It was confusing enough to a devoted fan like me who has read the entire series at least five or six times, but I can only imagine how little sense it would have made to someone who hadn't read the books at all.
Ron is still an idiot, of course. Hermione is adorable, Ginny is starting to come into her own as a character. McGonagall is still one of my favorite characters. Professor Trelawney, to my disappointment, made no appearance at all. You would never guess, from the movie, that there is even any schoolwork going on. And Sirius's head in the fire looked nothing like I anticipated. Somehow I don't think that's how JKR intended it to look, and I don't understand why she would have let them twist everything around so much.
I also saw Walk the Line this weekend, which was, cinematically speaking, everything that Goblet of Fire was not. It was coherent, character-driven, tightly woven, and compelling. I would highly recommend it. Joaquin Phoenix was completely spectacular, and I will be pretty surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar for that role. Reese Witherspoon was, naturally, completely adorable.
Also, for reasons that I won't go into at this time, I am looking for work, and will probably leave DQ sometime in January. Wish me luck.
*Spoiler Warning*
Anyway...Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...where should I start? The special effects were superb, of course. How could they not be, with all the money that's thrown at them? All of the adult actors were excellent, particularly Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. The scene where she corners Harry in the broom closet was probably the best in the entire movie. Malfoy's brief stint as a ferret should also not be missed.
There was the usual overacting from some of the child actors. Krum was a bit more handsome than I think was strictly in accordance with the book, and Fleur was satisfyingly Gallic, but not sufficiently beautiful, at least to my eye, to be reminiscent of a Veela. Moody was fabulous, and Karkaroff and Madame Maxim were quite good. Harry's was the only part of the first task that was shown, so the audience's view of the dragons is quite disappointingly limited.
The individual parts of the movie were generally quite good, but the film as a whole had a slightly disjointed, dreamlike feel to it. After it was over I wanted to grab the director, the writer/adapter, and the editor and shake them till their teeth rattled. There was almost nothing of the World Cup, which is something I was really looking forward to watching, and at least two fairly significant subplots were entirely removed, which naturally necessitated some baffling, not to say idiotic changes. It was confusing enough to a devoted fan like me who has read the entire series at least five or six times, but I can only imagine how little sense it would have made to someone who hadn't read the books at all.
Ron is still an idiot, of course. Hermione is adorable, Ginny is starting to come into her own as a character. McGonagall is still one of my favorite characters. Professor Trelawney, to my disappointment, made no appearance at all. You would never guess, from the movie, that there is even any schoolwork going on. And Sirius's head in the fire looked nothing like I anticipated. Somehow I don't think that's how JKR intended it to look, and I don't understand why she would have let them twist everything around so much.
I also saw Walk the Line this weekend, which was, cinematically speaking, everything that Goblet of Fire was not. It was coherent, character-driven, tightly woven, and compelling. I would highly recommend it. Joaquin Phoenix was completely spectacular, and I will be pretty surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar for that role. Reese Witherspoon was, naturally, completely adorable.
Also, for reasons that I won't go into at this time, I am looking for work, and will probably leave DQ sometime in January. Wish me luck.