[personal profile] rj_anderson
No, not the light. The film!

And this was my ensuing conversation with [livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas:

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: I just came back from PoA.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: MUCH WITH THE PRETTY.


[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: indeed.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: Except Dumbledore, who was MUCH WITH THE CHEAP DRUGS. But as unconvincing and irrelevant as I found his inspirational speeches (and Sirius obviously was buying from the same crack dealer, because he was just as bad if not worse), I liked Michael Gambon way more than Richard Harris, as I knew I would. At least his Dumbledore doesn't look like he's about to wheeze and keel over any second. You can imagine Voldemort actually might fear him.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: Oh, and in that hug in the Shrieking Shack? It didn't look to me like Remus was embracing Sirius either like a brother or a lover -- it looked like he was patting him down for some of those cheap drugs.


[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: LOL.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: "I know they're in one of these pockets somewhere!" *pat pat pat*

[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: I'll have to give it a closer inspection on the second go round.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: And then Sirius tries to get them back, while Lupin is distracted turning into a werewolf. "This is not your heart!" *pat pat pat* "Aha, here they are! Woo, party!"

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: I loved the film, though, really loved it.


[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: Sad that you think MG was on drugs but still a better Dumbledore than RH.

[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: [livejournal.com profile] pharnabazus was all, "I wish RH had lived to do this film." and I was all, "Are you NUTS?! Woodstock Dumbledore at least twinkles!"


[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: A coat-stand would have been a better Dumbledore than RH. But Dumbledore's weakness in this movie wasn't due to bad acting -- I like Michael Gambon a lot. I blame Steve Kloves for taking away all Dumbledore's wacky humour, just as I blame him for continually cutting down Ron to build up Hermione. Not that I didn't love Ron anyway.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: RON: "Rrrroar!!!"
RJA: "Phwoar!!!"

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: :-)


[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: *nods*

[livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas: I do want Kloves' head on a silver platter at this point.


[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: Oh, and I loved Neville too. But I think I would love Neville if he were played by Richard Harris.

[livejournal.com profile] synaesthete7: Well, maybe not.


Really, though, I'm of a mind with [livejournal.com profile] yahtzee63 on this one -- I really don't care about the canonical inaccuracies, and the bits that didn't conform exactly to my mental image. I even found that a lot of the lines people had been complaining about were tossed off so fast that nobody but a rabid fan would even notice them, let alone be irked by them (such as Ron agreeing with Snape -- yeah, it's uncanonical, but if I hadn't known to look for it, I'm sure I would have missed it altogether).

On the whole, I enjoyed the film thoroughly on its own merits, not as a replacement for the book (which I think may always be my favorite of the whole series, unless JKR does something really amazing in the next two books), but just as a darn good movie. I don't care about Lupin's mustache, either. In fact, so sue me, I rather liked it. (Nor did I mind his werewolf form -- it was much creepier than an ordinary wolf would have been, and cinematically that worked just fine.). David Thewlis was great, as was Gary Oldman. They reminded me of all the things I loved about Remus and Sirius when I first read the book, and that was what I'd been most hoping for. You may find this hard to believe, but of all the HP adults, it's Remus who comes closest to my ideal of the Perfect Canon Boyfriend -- prior to OotP, anyway. Snape isn't even in the ballpark. And I loved David Thewlis for being freakishly tall and wearing old baggy clothes. Now I suddenly want to write for the Eleventh Doctor again...

Anyway, yeah! I can't wait to see this movie on a bigger, better screen with full surround sound, instead of in our piddly little local theatre where the sound was turned down low enough that you actually had to strain to hear it at times (I have never had that problem in a movie before -- usually I have to plug my ears for the first twenty minutes because the decibel level on the soundtrack actually hurts). Not to mention how much more fun it will be with [livejournal.com profile] lydaclunas7, [livejournal.com profile] avarill, and [livejournal.com profile] callyperry there beside me, doing snarky and no doubt hilarious commentary. Whee! Convention Alley, here I come!

Date: 2004-06-11 07:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sff-corgi.livejournal.com
And I say unto thee, 'Meh.'

Date: 2004-06-11 07:54 pm (UTC)
ext_54943: (Default)
From: [identity profile] shellebelle93.livejournal.com
LOL, well, we might disagree on the movie.

But I will heartily approve of anything that makes you want to write the Eleventh Doctor again. *sigh*

*hugs*

Date: 2004-06-11 08:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yahtzee63.livejournal.com
Thewlis really is lovely. Have you ever seen "Seven Years In Tibet"? It's a favorite of mine, though I must warn you it is a film about spiritual awakening starring Brad Pitt. But Thewlis plays his best friend and romantic rival, and he's absolutely amazing in it. IMHO, it's well worth the rent.

Date: 2004-06-11 08:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] malabud.livejournal.com
I love your commentary! I must admit, the idea of drug searching didn't occur to me. :-) I totally agree that Gambon is a much better Dumbledore than RH was. I especially liked him at the end in the Time Turner scenes. I'm looking forward to seeing the film again tomorrow with my sister. I think I will enjoy it even more than I did the first time. Hopefully, she won't mind some (quiet) commentary from my during the movie. Good luck on seeing it in a "real" theater soon.

P.S. You are going to post or otherwise make available your presentation/paper on Snape, right? Those of us who live way too far away to go to Convention Alley will be with you in spirit!

Date: 2004-06-11 09:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sannalim.livejournal.com
"Much with the cheap drugs"?

**laughing out loud**

Date: 2004-06-12 05:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] serenasnape.livejournal.com
I thought the film was beautiful, but after a while the changes from the book just bugged me too much ... sigh. It's a real shame, really, because I thought that this WAS a good film - it just didn't seem to have an awful lot to do with PoA at times! Also, Hermione is driving me bonkers - she's getting too girly and, well, Mary-Sue for my liking.

Have to agree with you on Ron, Dumbledore and, in particular, Lupin. I thought David Thewlis was incredibly good.

Date: 2004-06-30 12:28 am (UTC)
ymfaery: animated Avengers movie logo (shigure)
From: [personal profile] ymfaery
Commenting very late to say:

I had problems with the movie, but none of them were about the acting. ;D

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