jmc_bks | Good people vs. death eaters

My thoughts, in no particular order:

Best line of the movie: Sirius's "The world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters."

Sirius? Totally slashy and more than a little cracked by his imprisonment in Azkaban.

Helena Bonham-Carter? Creepily insane as Bellatrix Lestrage.

I'm not a Lucius Malfoy fan in the books, but Jason Isaacs in a bad blond wig and a mask? MROW. Add the cape and the serpent cane and I feel all swoony.

Dan Radcliffe's acting has improved immensely. Emma Watson needs to learn to convey emotion in more ways -- the deep/heavy breathing gets old. Would've liked to see more of Rupert Grint. Evanna Lynch was ethereal as Luna; she wasn't the Luna of my imagination but she was very good. And now I could totally 'ship Luna/Neville.

Snape is much more likeable in the films. Part of this is because he's played by Alan Rickman, but the other part is that the film isn't told merely from Harry's perspective, which skews the reader's view of Snape since they have such an awful relationship. Wish he'd had more screen time in OotP. Really, this holds true for all of the returning characters -- Hagrid, McGonagall, the Weasleys, the Order.

Imelda Staunton absolutely stole the movie as Umbridge. I hope she gets BAFTA and Oscar nominations for her role.

Michael Gambon, however great an actor he is, is not working for me as Dumbledore. During the film Q&A last week online at the Post, part of the discussion centered on how he was supposed to be colder toward Harry in this book. But that's not my problem; my problem is that his interpretation of Dumbledore generally is much colder and grouchier than Richard Harris's was. And he plays Dumbledore as a wizard with a lot more fear and uncertainty, too, than JKR wrote him, IMO.

Loved the Extendable Ears. And the Weasley twins with their new haircuts.

Was seriously disturbed by those meowing kittens on the plates.

And the battle at the Ministry? Rocked.

As did the night flying along the Thames, which I don't believe actually occured in the book.

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I admit to being a complete Lucius fangirl. Add whips and chains to the mix and I am so good to go. The man is hawt!

Love Snape but that has lots to do with Rickman since he is a wondeful actor.

I was also quite disturbed about the kittens! At first sight they were so cute! Then they just gor creepy. :-P

Love your blog and the layout! Will be checking back. ^_^

so said Mailyn from Pixelated Faerie Dust (http://pfd2.blogspot.com)

Hi, Mailyn!

Y'know, the kittens *were* cute at first -- seeing them move around on the decorative plates was a novelty, rather like the first time I saw the moving photograph in the first movie. But once they started to meow? Creepy.

Thanks re: the blog and layout...but I must admit that neither is mine. It's a standard LJ template. I picked it 'cause I like the turtles :)

Gambon's never been right as Dumbledore - Richard Harris was better, but not exactly there either. Neither of them have that twinkle in their eye. In my perfect world I'd cast Stephen Fry in the role (as an actor who is very, very funny, and also extremely clever.)

Marianne McA

(Treading round the internet on mice feet now, lest I get spoiled for HP7. Cross with one of my daughter's friends - not an HP reader - who found and read the last chapters just to post a comment telling her what happened. Not funny.)

One of my daughter's friends - not an HP reader - who found and read the last chapters just to post a comment telling her what happened. Not funny.

No, not funny at all. Why? Why? The deejays for the morning show I listen to in the car were talking about the ending yesterday. They didn't give spoilers, but apparently someone sent an email to them titled "Song Request" with spoilers inside in large font, so the deejay who opened the message was spoiled.

I'm very poor at ideas for casting, so I don't know who I would choose to be Dumbledore other than Gambon, I just know that his interpretation is not successful for me. Hmm, Stephen Fry. Maybe. He would certainly be able to show the humor and eye-twinkle.

Gambon doesn't work for me either, in fact I can barely stand to look at him as Dumbledore. I think Peter O'Toole would have been a far superior choice.

--Alex

Hadn't thought of Peter O'Toole. When I think of him, I think of the younger O'Toole, as in The Lion in Winter and Lawrence of Arabia. And, hey, I just checked Wikipedia, which says that Richard Harris's family wanted him to have the Dumbledore role. Huh.

You hit the nail on the head about Michael Gambon. I have never liked his interpretation of Dumbledore. Peter O'Toole or Tom Baker or maybe even Richard Briers (is he still alive? I better check that one) would have been better choices, b/c they all have that ability to act with an impish twinkle in their eye like Harris did...and like Dumbledore always has in the books.

I generally have a hard time casting known actors for book characters as I read, so I end up with a mental picture that is completely imaginary. Then the book is turned into a movie and I'm left wondering, What were they thinking to cast him/her?

I've heard O'Toole mentioned a couple of times now, among others. I still don't have any idea who could be a better Dumbledore, I just know that Gambon's interprestation doesn't work for me.

O'Toole and Harris were best friends in real life, and their acting abilities are strikingly similar. He would have been perfect to replace Harris. But I wonder if they didn't want to take a chance on an older actor -- Gambon is 66 to O'Toole's (very hard living) 74. And both Baker and Briers are 73 as well. Maybe they didn't want to chance having to replace Dumbledore again?

I agree with everything you say except for Malfoy. That kid does nothing for me. And I completely loved Gary Oldman in this one. He was just creepy in Azkaban (as he was supposed to be) but in OotP I thought he was hunka-hunka yummy. Really I have a crush on him now and want to find out what other movies he's been in. I told my sister that and she looked at me really weird though, so maybe I am the only one.

I wish they had a better Dumbledore too. I like Marianne's idea of Stephen Fry (I love him!) but he's definitely not old enough.

Jennie

The Malfoy kid? Ick. (Although I understand that in real life the actor is quite charming.) It's all about Jason Isaacs' senior Malfoy for me :)

I like Gary Oldman a great deal. My favorite of his movies is The Professional (Leon), with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. He also had a smallish role in the last Batman movie. And he was Dracula in the 1992 Winona Ryder version. Oldman seems to end up cast as the bad guy often though.

Ohhh! Malfoy Senior! Gotcha. Yes, he's deliciously evil. He was also deliciously evil in The Patriot as Tarleton.

And I'm totally going to rent The Professional because I also love Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. I was just trying to think of something for my Netflix queue. ;)

-Jennie

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