We went and saw this on Saturday. I hate going to the movies. There are spoilers in this, and they will not be individually tagged. I don't want to hear about it.
In general: A thoroughly enjoyable movie. The story seemed to hold together given what was cut from the book, but as with H2G2, I couldn't tell if it would still have made as much sense if I wasn't able to fill in the blanks myself. But I support the filmmakers' decision to lop off most of the beginning of the book, since the Harry Potter books cough and splutter at start-up more than old Epson bubblejet printers. The elf rights storyline has also been painlessly removed.
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry: This boy is getting f-i-n-e FOYNE.
Rupert Grint as Ron: A very convincing, if annoying, sulky Ron. But the hair was terrible and he looks like he has mono.
Emma Watson as Hermione: The girl does all her acting with her eyebrows. There's a particularly grating part of the movie where she's yelling at Ron for not asking her to the dance in this incredibly forced choked-up voice, and as soon as she storms off we cut immediately to a scene in which she's using the exact same voice to yell at Harry about not having figured out the golden egg. I think Emma spends at least half the movie with one eyebrow raised and her jaw two inches off-center.
Robert Pattinson as Cedric: The guy looks a lot like Zack. I was sad when he died.
Stanislav Ianevski as Viktor Krum: Not ugly enough.
Clémence Poésy as Fleur: Not hot enough. Nowhere near bewitchingly beautiful, which I guess isn't such a big deal in the movie since they cut out everything about the magic hot women. I didn't remember her being so much of a wimp in the book.
Katie Leung as Cho Chang: I haven't been exposed to enough Multikulti to be comfortable with an Asian girl speaking with a Scottish accent, but hopefully that will come with time.
Ralph Feinnes as Voldemort: Solid gold. I'm glad they gave him human eyes instead of big red snake eyes. He clearly needs to breathe through his mouth since his mask covers his nose, but other than that he played the role perfectly. Ralph Feinnes is awesome. And despite the fact that he's bald and reptilian, he's still kind of hot.
I'd see it again, on DVD, as far away from a movie theater as I can get, with their 2:15 "evening" shows and extortionary ATMs. Please see this blog post for a discussion of everything that's wrong with the movies that's astute and vicious in a way that only Kenny can be.
"I hate going to the movies."
This makes me sad... Would you care to elaborate?
Is it just the commercials, being treated like a thief, and other various bull-shit you have to deal with, or something more?
I think Kenny's piece hits just about everything I hate about going to the movies. The main thing, of course, is that two adult tickets cost almost as much (if not more than) a DVD. I also really resent the commercials, though the Century Theater in Mountainview prominently advertises the fact that they don't show commercials. What they don't advertise is the fact that they're a cash-only theater with a fee-heavy ATM in the lobby, which is an unforgivable ploy no matter what kind of business you're running.
I've been meaning to try out the Parkway Theater in Oakland for a reduction in the awfulness of the movie experience. That's the one where, so I've been told, you can sit on couches and eat pizza and beer while watching your movie with a relatively small group of other people. Apparently this happens for a reasonable fee instead of a lien on the soul of your firstborn, which sounds pretty good.
They're having a special December 15th showing of the Nightmare Before Christmas, which I'm all over like 5th-year Hogwarts girls on Viktor Krum. I'll report back on whether it makes going to the movies enjoyable.
Matt, you forgot to point out that, in lieu of outright and honest commercials, that theater offers 30 minutes of "Previews" of various pop artists' new releases and encourages you to buy them. Which is not a commercial because... it's not Coke?
I don't think anything they show before the official start time of the movie counts as an objectionable commercial.
thanks for the shout-out, yo.
I disagree: If you're being paid to encourage me to buy something, it's a commercial, whether it's part of the film reel or not.
Yes, but it's not objectionable in the sense that you're being shown commercials during time that you yourself have paid for. As far as I'm concerned, once the lights go down the clock starts running on the jillion dollars you've paid to watch the movie, and at that point you shouldn't be forced to endure commercials. The slide shows and pop music promos before the official start time are just there to keep you from staring at a blank screen.
"I've been meaning to try out the Parkway Theater in Oakland for a reduction in the awfulness of the movie experience. That's the one where, so I've been told, you can sit on couches and eat pizza and beer while watching your movie with a relatively small group of other people. Apparently this happens for a reasonable fee instead of a lien on the soul of your firstborn, which sounds pretty good."
All true.
Hot damn!