Corona | Coming Attractions

I thought I had already discussed it a bit on the boards, here, but turns out I discussed it on a friend's LiveJournal.

I enjoyed it. My mother hated it. I'll have more to say later, maybe. I still owe a friend an e-mail or two, and I should probably say something about why The Descent pissed me off so. I may have to dig deep into my mind's stinky recesses for that.

* * *

Here's the first chapter of Wizard People, Dear Reader for those who have yet to experience it.

I saw it on Sunday as well, and I really enjoyed it. At first I was a little bit miffed at how much the climax left out and/or changed from the book. But once I thought about it some more, I can see exactly why they left a couple of things out.

I really enjoyed Daniel Radcliffe this time out. I especially enjoyed his comedic scenes, especially the one after drinking a certain potion. I also thought Jim Broadbent was a nice addition to the cast, and getting a bit more of Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman was definitely a plus.

The last book has the benefit of being split into two movies, so I think there is still plenty of time to tie the story up nicely without cutting too much out of it. I just wonder how much of the big setpieces will make it in. The FX budget for these last couple movies should be pretty dang high, even compared to the rest of the series.

One review that I read was positive, but said that they missed all of the incidental magic that made it feel like a wizarding school, like the moving staircases, the ghosts and all that. I would have to agree. That would have really added to the atmosphere.

I really enjoyed the movie, and I liked some of the changes they made (the bridge, the Burrows scene), but I really did not like the lit wands. That was lame. Also, the climactic Snape/Dumbledore scene was played out much more ambiguously in the book. The reader is supposed to get the impression that Dumbledore is begging Snape. On first read, you're supposed to think he's begging Snape to save him, but after you read the last book, you realize that he was begging Snape to finish him; and that he really did need to beg Snape to do it. What plays out on the screen made it seem a bit more obvious that he was asking Snape to kill him.

Also, we missed the trips in the pensive that showed the other horcruxes. How are the kids going to find them?

Carrying off the Battle of Hogwarts properly is what could make the final instalment succeed or fail. But there is loads more.

I imagine that there is no Bill & Fleur / wedding / flight from the Burrow planned at all as in this installment they didn't even mention that Fenrir Greyback was a werewolf, let alone have him attack Bill..... plus the Burrow came off badly in the action sequence invented for this movie.

Will Olivander be back, as they showed a kidnapping from Diagon Ally in this movie but didn't mention who it was?

The twins need more screen time, ditto for Tonks and Lupin, for obvious reasons to anyone who has read the books. Same goes also for Dobby. And the entire Percy story arc has gone from the movies.

With the exception of a cloudy look on his face when the name of Bellatrix Lestrange was mentioned in an earlier movie, the entire sub-plot of Neville and his parents has gone, which means that his actions at the final Battle either have no weight and purpose or will be left out. Without time taken to demonstrate his love of Herbology, his characters final pay-off loses it's reward.

By limiting the flashbacks of Voldermort's life to two or three, all centred on the orphanage or at Hogwarts, then the whole requirement for the collection of Hogwarts founders artifacts for their later use is null and void.

By excluding those flashbacks then the roots of Voldermort's obsessive racism against muggle borns and mudbloods are also gone.

I am not, and never will be, somebody who says that the films should be slavish adaptions of the books. I completely agree with the requirement to trim the story to make it work on film. I am just not sure of how they will do the final parts of the story justice. Earlier omissions seem to have pushed them into a corner.

Nicely put, Dalton. Olivander was mentioned as being absent, and seeing the kidnapping means we're meant to figure out that he was the one who was taken.

One of the things we see in the books is that, yes, Harry is the one who takes down Voldemort, but he is only able to do so because of the actions of so many other people who rise up and achieve their own greatness (Neville), or give their lives (a whole lot of people).

All that aside, I do believe that the next two films will require Hermione to be on a beach in a bikini for much of her onscreen time. If that's not currently in the script, it needs to be.

Daltons chin dimple wrote:

With the exception of a cloudy look on his face when the name of Bellatrix Lestrange was mentioned in an earlier movie, the entire sub-plot of Neville and his parents has gone, which means that his actions at the final Battle either have no weight and purpose or will be left out.

Actually, there is a little bit more in there than you remember. I just rewatched all the Potter movies a couple weekends ago, and there is a little more than just a "cloudy look", but not much. I really hope that Neville and some of the other secondary characters get to have some time in the spotlight before the final battle. I would love it if the movies actually show us what is going on at Hogwarts while Harry & company are traipsing around the countryside, rather than leaving it as a bit of throwaway dialogue like the book.

Essentially, Voldermort is in control of the Ministry and Harry et al are effectively the resistence for almost all of the book so you are dead right, the best way to carry it off on screen is to actually reduce the "living in a tent and arguing" sections with the growing resitence, including the radio broadcasts, the rest of the Order working covertly etc. They invented the attack on the Burrow for HBP, so why not invent some sequences showing guerilla actions against the Voldermort controlled Ministry in TDH I/II ?