Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sep. 14th, 2009 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaPaging back on my LJ I noticed that I never wrote this up when I went to see it (as well as the two ensuing Fantasia movies - I guess I was just reviewed out ^^;). I thought it was pretty good but I don't know if it was better than the last HP movie, or the one before that. To be honest the HP franchise has yet to (and at this point I don't think it will) produce a film that really hits it out of the ballpark as far as I'm concerned. I always go**, and I always enjoy the movie with a few minor nitpicks, but I never feel the urge to watch it again or remember much about it afterward. But then again, I rewatch very few movies (and reread very few books). The only ones I can easily recollect watching multiple times this decade were The Fellowship of the Ring, the original Pirates of the Caribbean, and this year's Trek movie. Which I suppose says something-or-other about my taste. In the first two cases I enjoyed the sequels about as much as the HP movies, which is to say they weren't up to rewatching scratch at all, but for very different reasons.
Mostly what I remember about the Half-Blood Prince experience at two months' remove is repeatedly gaping in befuddlement as Draco Malfoy stalked the cold grey corridors of Hogwarts, clad only in roiling angst and Dior Homme. If I weren't so otaku-oriented I suppose I'd've had a reaction on the order of "oh geez when did they all get so tall I feel ancient" (didya see Neville? THE TWINS??) but instead I kept thinking - and this with mounting indignation - "But he would look fine wearing leather pants!"
Seriously, people. Why do we argue again?
Other than Fandom's apparent warping of the fabric of reality to suit its needs, Jim Broadbent was marvellous, the Tom Riddle school flashbacks were crypto-gay, Snape's backstory wuz robbed, everyone can now act except Dan Radcliffe (bless'im), and - although the cinematographic vocabulary was aesthetically coherent and pleasing in a gothy sort of way - IMO the makers overdid it a tad on the post-production front. Aforementioned DanRad had the sort of porcelain skin I associate with visual kei j-rockers cross-dressing in Victorian mourning wear for glossy photoshoots. It only lacked Gackt in six-inch heels and a cape made of raven feathers. The sort of effect that in a decade or two will be considered tacky, like star wipe transitions in 70s music videos. OR AUTOTUNE.
Harry and Hermione continue to have more on-screen chemistry than anyone else. >_> Ron didn't even seem like he was part of the decision-making at the end.
** Other than the fallow period between books 5 and 6 when I passive-aggressively gafiated cos of Sirius, natch. Cuarón's film was the one that fell victim - I eventually watched it in Japanese dub on a plane trip back from Asia - which is unfortunate as it was one of the better films, and better books too. Of Chamber of Secrets I remember mainly that the soundtrack was horribly bombastic and far too high in the mix.
Mostly what I remember about the Half-Blood Prince experience at two months' remove is repeatedly gaping in befuddlement as Draco Malfoy stalked the cold grey corridors of Hogwarts, clad only in roiling angst and Dior Homme. If I weren't so otaku-oriented I suppose I'd've had a reaction on the order of "oh geez when did they all get so tall I feel ancient" (didya see Neville? THE TWINS??) but instead I kept thinking - and this with mounting indignation - "But he would look fine wearing leather pants!"
Seriously, people. Why do we argue again?
Other than Fandom's apparent warping of the fabric of reality to suit its needs, Jim Broadbent was marvellous, the Tom Riddle school flashbacks were crypto-gay, Snape's backstory wuz robbed, everyone can now act except Dan Radcliffe (bless'im), and - although the cinematographic vocabulary was aesthetically coherent and pleasing in a gothy sort of way - IMO the makers overdid it a tad on the post-production front. Aforementioned DanRad had the sort of porcelain skin I associate with visual kei j-rockers cross-dressing in Victorian mourning wear for glossy photoshoots. It only lacked Gackt in six-inch heels and a cape made of raven feathers. The sort of effect that in a decade or two will be considered tacky, like star wipe transitions in 70s music videos. OR AUTOTUNE.
Harry and Hermione continue to have more on-screen chemistry than anyone else. >_> Ron didn't even seem like he was part of the decision-making at the end.
** Other than the fallow period between books 5 and 6 when I passive-aggressively gafiated cos of Sirius, natch. Cuarón's film was the one that fell victim - I eventually watched it in Japanese dub on a plane trip back from Asia - which is unfortunate as it was one of the better films, and better books too. Of Chamber of Secrets I remember mainly that the soundtrack was horribly bombastic and far too high in the mix.
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Date: 2009-09-15 03:57 am (UTC)Iknorite? I said the same thing @ subdee, although she disagreed. They'd better tone it down for the book 7 film(s) or no one'll ever believe that H and Hr spend an entire platonic winter in a platonic tent.
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Date: 2009-09-15 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 05:07 am (UTC)