The Ojai Post

If we're not in bed by 10pm or so, we just might come down!

I'm afraid to ask...but curious to know...what is this?

Harry Potter!

ahhh...thanks Tyler!

(I hate to reveal my ignorance... but now I know!)

good crowd ... somewhat more than half the seats taken. teenage girls largely, maybe from the many in town to watch the filming of "Easy A".

the film itself was dark, in appearance and mood ... like the narrative of the book. the movie was 'antiqued' too, to be fuzzy and yellow, looking like an older movie (and a 'witchcraft and wizardry' genre film?)

the screenplay was very lonely ... all the characters isolated, insecure, unconnected ... and the many many short unconnected scenes which were crammed in just added to that feeling ... in anticipation of the great loneliness and isolation created at the end with the killing of Dumbledore by Severus Snape.

I haven't decided yet in my mind whether I feel the film was well-directed, conceived. the slow bad acting, standing out particularly at the slow beginning ... and the lack of engagement/belief in the faces of all the actors, and in their acting, throughout the movie ... well it certainly added to the darkness and sadness of the production, by I didn't get the feeling that it was intentional or perhaps even appropriate ... I just felt that all the actors had seen to many years of this story, and they themselves were all distanced from it, and were not emotionally or mentally engaged with it or each other any more.

in the book, despite the darkness and isolation and loneliness, and the conflicts and separation of Harry and Ron and Hermione and Ginny, and their classmates and families and teachers, you still had a lot of strong connectivity and empathy and collaboration between the characters at many times.

but almost none of that in the movie.

Wow, MT, always always ALWAYS post a ***Spoiler Alert***!!! I really suggest you do this now on your original post and your comment too. C'mon, man!

thanks Tyler,

and hope you and the Ali-Sun got to see it.

I didn't see any spoilage in my review ... hope others will post theirs as well. as to the death of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, well that's been discussed in tens of thousands of reviews, since July 2005 when it was published. here is one from August of that year:

Who's Buried in the White Tomb?

For those of us that don't read the books, its still a spoiler! :)

lol guys. lucky for me I am good at dumping information! What I appreciated of MT's review and from friends who've seen it is everyone has referenced that it's "dark", as is the book apparently. And everyone has said they concentrate more on the dark and don't allow for some of the light or connections. That seems to be the consensus of my thoughtful friends! intriguing for someone who hasn't read it perhaps even moreso. I'll be wondering what light and connection is missing. hmmm

it's the darkest of the books, I think. the previous book, Order of the Phoenix, is also very dark and lonely ... and seemingly hopeless. yet halfway through the kids begin to organize themselves, and teach themselves Defense Against the Dark Arts in Dumbledore's Army ... and in the end they have a triumph in the eviction of the new Headmaster, and the criminal Minister of Magic ... and the admission that indeed, Harry and Dumbledore ARE being truthful, that the One-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is indeed, again, returned to life and power.

the sense of love and family -- for orphan Harry, for Muggle-born Hermione, for oft-loser Ron, for lonely Ginny, for loner Luna -- does remain, and at times is strong.

in book six (Half Blood Prince) there is little of the love and understanding and family sense left (and in the hack-job of a movie, none.)

so though this is an early review -- and I need to watch the movie again, and I will re-read the book -- I suspect my early impression is correct, that this movie is a lemon ...

a stringing together of too many, short and lifeless, cameos very badly done, both screenplay and acting, so the characters had no empathy or connectivity with each other, and the audience had zero as well.

take for example the token inclusion of Hagrid in the movie, with no conversation or sharing between him and Harry or the others ... the most artificial and dead and quick accidental meeting of Harry and Slughorn and Hagrid ... not even a vestige of empathy or interaction between the characters, as if even though all three characters are together with the dead spider giant Aragog, as if they were all rehearsing their lines alone next to a stuffed spider.

as if producers David Heyman, David Barron, and Lionel Wigram (and author Rowling) saved millions by having Director David Yates do a hatchet job on Movie Six, and saved tens of millions in the shallow production ...

Whether you can live with it or not, Half Blood Prince is underwhelming. So slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow. Not even close to the book. You need to bring a pillow and blanket for when you fall asleep.

We were incredibly cheated by the ending--what happened to the battle being fought between the death eaters and the students/teachers?

I love the books and the movies--except this one. I am so disappointed, I want my money back!

kia ora, Kristi,

for sharing your thoughts with me, and entering them here on the post to encourage others.

not sure yet how long my 3 AM gut reaction to Half Blood Prince, of pure disappointment, will last. certainly you hit the heart of it, pointing out the DA, Harry's student friends, and their defense of Hogwart's against the Death Eaters, in the final scene of the murder of Dumbledore ... the DA coming together was entirely left out of the movie. pretty much the whole point of the book, the coming together of the old friends against the forces of darkness ... and the elimination of the other centerpiece, the gift of the good luck potion, Felix Felicitas, to his friends Hermione, Ron, and Ginny ... for them to drink while he is away on the last dark mission with Dumbledore ... for their protection, so he could know they were safe while he and Dumbledore were away.

these elements of the book represent the heart and focus of the whole fabric of the unfolding story ... and they were not included in the movie.

on the other hand, to be fair, I must say not EVERY scene of wonder and happiness was banned from the movie. at this point I can recall one scene from the book, which I re-read for confirmation last two days, is that of the role of Quidditch goalie (keeper) by Ron Weasley. here, indeed, we see the Felix Felicitas used, or so Ron was led to believe, allowing the otherwise unpredictable player Ron to play his very best and most ecstatic ... believing he had sipped the enchanted liquor.

this was indeed, a joyous scene, and a coming together of friends and school House, and Ron's first girl-friend.

unfortunately it just serves to underscore and call attention to the whole point of the moral story of the Felix Felicitas ... and it's use by the DA core in honoring and protecting their collectivity and goodness.

it is, of course, always fun to walk the bridge of consciousness between book and video, literature and film-making ... experience the magic of flight created by the two rivers merging.

as in, when reading the book after watching the movies, all the visioning which goes with the reading has the faces of our known or favorite actors ... as in Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint ... and even though in the book Rubeus Hagrid is described as an actual giant, perhaps two or three times taller than Harry Potter, the Hagrid whom we now view in our readings is the much shorter Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane ... still quite large, particularly once his movie props are included ... but certainly not the half-giant described in the books.

this mental magick also brings to mind that of movies and subtitles. I still haven't got over the wonder of subtitles ... where you are watching a movie in Japanese or Chinese or French ... yet you hear and recall the words in English, with the voices (but not language) of the original actors and actresses.

and what really awes me is the seeing with eyes closed, when we are playing say a guitar or lute, and we watch our hands move and pluck every string ... the subtle electromagnetic mind which has learned to see/feel when, at those times, we permit the sensitivity to be, the spirit song to be heard.

I look forward to that completed planet-bridging magick, courtesy web/computers, wherein we read/write and hear/speak with others of dozens of cultures and lanquages worldwide, in real-time, and hear our own favorite 'Worldlish' voicing thereof ... and rejoice in that great well-knit family, SoverAnia, of seven-billion-gendered threads.