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sophieisgodSo, I just saw Order of the Phoenix. At the IMAX. In 3D. Oh my.
Okay, this was absolutely my favourite Potter movie. By a long way. It was tonally spot on, the plot was coherent and all the cuts were understandable, the acting was *way* above the usual HP standard... Essentially, I want David Yates to just make Harry Potter for the rest of time. And Steve Kloves to lose the ability to type.
The film started at 2:30, but we weren't about to take any chances, so I got to Manchester for noon. We started queueing at 1:30, which meant that when the doors opened we got seats near the back, bang in the middle of the screen. We rule. Also, I gave![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
templa_otmena half of her birthday present- a Harry Potter action figure, complete with Patronus!Prongs. She loves the Prongs, bless her. Anyway, we also got these AWESOME 3D glasses, which looked like really geeky aviators. Sweet. As soon as the lights went down I grabbed templa_otmena's hand and we didn't let go until the end credits rolled.
The only thing that *really* irked me about the adaptation was the exclusion of Lupin from the Order delegates picking up Harry, and the ensuing Remus/Tonks interaction. HOWEVER, I am willing to forgive the production this heinous oversight, because we were instead gifted with Remus and Sirius sitting very close together, and the Remus Lupin Doorway Lean Of Sex. You know the one I'm talking about. Oh yeah.
DanRad! Doing Proper Acting! Do mine eyes deceive me? Apparently not. The boy done good. I liked the fact that he was more restrained in this, a bit more muted. Quietly determined, I think is the phrase. And I don't want to be a perv, because I don't actually fancy him, but it looks like he's been working out.
RON! Ron, Ron, Ron. Ron was so very awesome in this film (BECAUSE STEVE KLOVES DIDN'T WRITE IT) because they actually allowed the character to be more than gurning comic relief. Not that I didn't love the gurning, because I absolutely did. It's just nice to see Rupert getting stuff to do that isn't gurning. And now I have the image of Mike Newell bellowing "MORE GURNING, RUPERT!" in my head. Thanks, brain. Anyway, I loved him a lot. He was properly Harry's best friend, there for him all the time, even when Harry was being an angsty little bastard and hurting the ones he loved. That scene when Seamus was being all snotty, and Ron was all protective! And actual, proper Ron/Hermione flirting! With exchange of look and attempts at chivalry! Steve Kloves, don't ever come back, I beg of you. Oh, and I love Ron's jumpers.
Hermione... Was more Hermione-like than in the past, which is something I suppose. And Yates obviously had the eyebrows on a tight leash, for which I am eternally grateful.
TWINS! I must admit, I've had Phelps issues in the past, mainly because I didn't think they were very good. I take it all back. I loves them. They were appropriately badass with the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (giant W in the sky!), but then the scene where they were comforting the tiny child was really rather lovely. And they have very nice eyes. AND NOW I'M WORRIED THAT ONE OF THEM WILL DIE IN DEATHLY HALLOWS!
Ginny got to be rather badass in this, didn't she? Reducto! And all that jazz. And I loved all the slightly jealous glances she got in during practically every scene with Harry and Cho. I'm glad Bonnie gets more to do next time around. Eep! Speaking of, I didn't really think much of *the kiss*. Humph. Mind you, they were a bit meh, anyway.
Evanna Lynch was perfect as Luna. She was slightly spacey and odd and ethereal and a little bit heartbreaking. And I loved the Harry/Luna relationship, especially the last scene they had (Converse! Loves it). It was so sweet there was no need for any Nearly-Headless Nick type conversation. Also, Neville and Luna! With the grabbing of hands!
Okay, Sirius Death. Apart from the fact that it was completely devastating because the Sirius/Harry relationship had been so FREAKING BEAUTIFUL all through the film, what sold it for me was the loss of sound after he went through the veil. And then Lupin's look of complete loss and devastation after Harry had sprinted off after Bellatrix. Ohh, David Thewlis. Stop hurting my soul with your beautiful acting. And your cardigan of sex.
So, 20 minutes from the end we got to put on the 3D aviators of magnificence. And JUST, WOW. We had Thestral wings flying out of the screen, the Death Eaters' masks were phenomenally creepy, the prophecies were all glowy, we got shattered glass hurled at our faces and the wand battles were awe-inspiring. I was holding my breath the whole time.
One difference from the book that I think worked incredibly well was the nature of Voldemort's possession of Harry. In the novel, it was very much a battle of wills between Voldemort and Dumbledore; in the film, it was Vodemort vs Harry. And the whole series of Possession!Flashbacks made me cry the most I have ever cried in a cinema. Like, proper, wracking sobs. Luckily, I was sitting next to Louise, who was doing exactly the same thing.
So I basically love David Yates rather a lot. We had British music in the common room (Ordinary Boys, woop), proper British slang (TOSSPOT!) and a 1984 style scary government opression thing going on. And for a 12A, there was some pretty nasty stuff in there- the attack on Mr Weasley and Luna's bloody mouth in particular. And I cannot believe Umbridge slapped Harry! Imelda Staunton = awesome, BTW. And Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon.
So yeah, I'm seeing it again tomorrow night, then IMAX again on Monday!
EDIT:
Ohh, and the scene where Trewlawney got fired! I was on the verge of tears because it was such a horrible, humiliating moment. And THEN we had Harry chasing after Dumbledore and being ignored, which, y'know, has got to sting. And anything at all with Harry and Sirius... The family tree scene! And "You did beautifully"! And calling him James.... It hurts, it hurts.
Okay, this was absolutely my favourite Potter movie. By a long way. It was tonally spot on, the plot was coherent and all the cuts were understandable, the acting was *way* above the usual HP standard... Essentially, I want David Yates to just make Harry Potter for the rest of time. And Steve Kloves to lose the ability to type.
The film started at 2:30, but we weren't about to take any chances, so I got to Manchester for noon. We started queueing at 1:30, which meant that when the doors opened we got seats near the back, bang in the middle of the screen. We rule. Also, I gave
templa_otmena half of her birthday present- a Harry Potter action figure, complete with Patronus!Prongs. She loves the Prongs, bless her. Anyway, we also got these AWESOME 3D glasses, which looked like really geeky aviators. Sweet. As soon as the lights went down I grabbed templa_otmena's hand and we didn't let go until the end credits rolled.The only thing that *really* irked me about the adaptation was the exclusion of Lupin from the Order delegates picking up Harry, and the ensuing Remus/Tonks interaction. HOWEVER, I am willing to forgive the production this heinous oversight, because we were instead gifted with Remus and Sirius sitting very close together, and the Remus Lupin Doorway Lean Of Sex. You know the one I'm talking about. Oh yeah.
DanRad! Doing Proper Acting! Do mine eyes deceive me? Apparently not. The boy done good. I liked the fact that he was more restrained in this, a bit more muted. Quietly determined, I think is the phrase. And I don't want to be a perv, because I don't actually fancy him, but it looks like he's been working out.
RON! Ron, Ron, Ron. Ron was so very awesome in this film (BECAUSE STEVE KLOVES DIDN'T WRITE IT) because they actually allowed the character to be more than gurning comic relief. Not that I didn't love the gurning, because I absolutely did. It's just nice to see Rupert getting stuff to do that isn't gurning. And now I have the image of Mike Newell bellowing "MORE GURNING, RUPERT!" in my head. Thanks, brain. Anyway, I loved him a lot. He was properly Harry's best friend, there for him all the time, even when Harry was being an angsty little bastard and hurting the ones he loved. That scene when Seamus was being all snotty, and Ron was all protective! And actual, proper Ron/Hermione flirting! With exchange of look and attempts at chivalry! Steve Kloves, don't ever come back, I beg of you. Oh, and I love Ron's jumpers.
Hermione... Was more Hermione-like than in the past, which is something I suppose. And Yates obviously had the eyebrows on a tight leash, for which I am eternally grateful.
TWINS! I must admit, I've had Phelps issues in the past, mainly because I didn't think they were very good. I take it all back. I loves them. They were appropriately badass with the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (giant W in the sky!), but then the scene where they were comforting the tiny child was really rather lovely. And they have very nice eyes. AND NOW I'M WORRIED THAT ONE OF THEM WILL DIE IN DEATHLY HALLOWS!
Ginny got to be rather badass in this, didn't she? Reducto! And all that jazz. And I loved all the slightly jealous glances she got in during practically every scene with Harry and Cho. I'm glad Bonnie gets more to do next time around. Eep! Speaking of, I didn't really think much of *the kiss*. Humph. Mind you, they were a bit meh, anyway.
Evanna Lynch was perfect as Luna. She was slightly spacey and odd and ethereal and a little bit heartbreaking. And I loved the Harry/Luna relationship, especially the last scene they had (Converse! Loves it). It was so sweet there was no need for any Nearly-Headless Nick type conversation. Also, Neville and Luna! With the grabbing of hands!
Okay, Sirius Death. Apart from the fact that it was completely devastating because the Sirius/Harry relationship had been so FREAKING BEAUTIFUL all through the film, what sold it for me was the loss of sound after he went through the veil. And then Lupin's look of complete loss and devastation after Harry had sprinted off after Bellatrix. Ohh, David Thewlis. Stop hurting my soul with your beautiful acting. And your cardigan of sex.
So, 20 minutes from the end we got to put on the 3D aviators of magnificence. And JUST, WOW. We had Thestral wings flying out of the screen, the Death Eaters' masks were phenomenally creepy, the prophecies were all glowy, we got shattered glass hurled at our faces and the wand battles were awe-inspiring. I was holding my breath the whole time.
One difference from the book that I think worked incredibly well was the nature of Voldemort's possession of Harry. In the novel, it was very much a battle of wills between Voldemort and Dumbledore; in the film, it was Vodemort vs Harry. And the whole series of Possession!Flashbacks made me cry the most I have ever cried in a cinema. Like, proper, wracking sobs. Luckily, I was sitting next to Louise, who was doing exactly the same thing.
So I basically love David Yates rather a lot. We had British music in the common room (Ordinary Boys, woop), proper British slang (TOSSPOT!) and a 1984 style scary government opression thing going on. And for a 12A, there was some pretty nasty stuff in there- the attack on Mr Weasley and Luna's bloody mouth in particular. And I cannot believe Umbridge slapped Harry! Imelda Staunton = awesome, BTW. And Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon.
So yeah, I'm seeing it again tomorrow night, then IMAX again on Monday!
EDIT:
Ohh, and the scene where Trewlawney got fired! I was on the verge of tears because it was such a horrible, humiliating moment. And THEN we had Harry chasing after Dumbledore and being ignored, which, y'know, has got to sting. And anything at all with Harry and Sirius... The family tree scene! And "You did beautifully"! And calling him James.... It hurts, it hurts.
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Date: 2007-07-18 03:17 am (UTC)Belated peek at your Journal here- I wanted to get mine written up first so that I was not influenced. We pretty much said the same things and squeezed in all the same places :)
Bought a kick ass magazine called DeathRay from Virgin Megastores. Great, great read xXx