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so there was this movie.
It will surprise no one who knows me that I didn't much care for this dude they cast as Bill Weasley, nor that there was a total lack of Charlie Weasley. Bah. :-)
The always reliable Ciaran Hinds was excellent as Aberforth Dumbledore.
Big-cheer moments:
The people all around me were very upset about Dead Lupin and Tonks (which was a nicely-composed shot, I admit, with their hands still reaching for each other - it depends rather on buying the relationship, but if you go ahead and accept the premise, I mean), and I clearly thought, "well, at least they didn't give them a kid here in the movie" - because that was really what made me the angriest about the pair of them dying in the book, was that it was so irresponsible for them both to be on the battlefield when they had a little baby at home. (We've fought about this before. I don't mind which of them should have stayed behind, and it's not the same as both Arthur and Molly fighting, because their kids weren't utterly dependent on them. Parents of minor children, though - parents of infants - knowing the fight was likely to be mortal, one of them should have stayed safe. I'm not prepared to discuss it further.) So anyway, I had that thought; and then of course in the Blue Ghosts for Everybody scene, Harry said "Remus, and your son ..." and I thought, bzuh? (Conclusion, of course: this detail has been cut for time.)
Big props to Alan Rickman, who did nice work in the whole picture, really, the death scene and all the memory stuff - and to the hair and makeup people, and the costumes, because damn!, they not only made him look younger, they somehow made him look thinner.
The always reliable Jim Broadbent. I really did like him even in the fifteen seconds he had in this film.
Aaand, the epilogue. Sigh. I didn't buy the aging-up of Dan Radcliffe or Bonnie Wright one bit, I tell you what, hairstyles or no. I just did not. I did like that the costume wedding ring they put on him seemed not to fit, quite - that's a nicely-observed detail, that after fifteen-plus years it might have got a little snug. (It would also not have surprised me if he hadn't been wearing a ring at all. It sure seems to me that in the UK it's a lot less certain that married men even wear a wedding ring - not that it's a sure thing on this side, or that married women wear them, but I'm saying, there does seem to be that difference. But I expect American audiences in general would have looked at Ginny-with-a-ring-but-Harry-with-none a bit askance.) I didn't buy the aging-up of Tom Felton at all - that is, he looked just like Tom Felton, but they'd done such a poor job of keeping him looking like a teenager for the past two or three films that giving him a well-groomed beard didn't make him look twenty years older. The rest of the audience didn't buy it either; his appearance on Platform 9 3/4 actually got a laugh. I did think they did a decent job with the aging-up of Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Her hairstyle worked better (of course her face is still much too young), and giving Rupes the belly straining at his shirt was inspired. Also not allowing him to say a word. :-) ... The little boy playing Albus Severus did a nice job with an utterly thankless role. Of course I'd have preferred there be no epilogue at all, but they couldn't very well pretend she'd never written it, and the girls next to me were delighted to see it, so once again I am not precisely the target audience. So there it is.
In conclusion: NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM, ON THE STAIRCASE, WITH THE SWORD OF GRYFFINDOR.
:-D
The always reliable Ciaran Hinds was excellent as Aberforth Dumbledore.
Big-cheer moments:
MINERVA McGONAGALL. Everything she did, really. Getting up in Snape's face: applause. Animating the very stones of Hogwarts: applause. "I've always wanted to cast that spell!": applause and big cheers. :-) [note to self: must have a Minerva icon with "fights like a girl" caption]The sobbing Weasleys over Dead Fred was handled pretty well, I thought.
Harry busting in with the remains of the Order. That was pretty cool.
The aforementioned Aberforth casting a kick-ass patronus.
Ron and Hermione finally getting their lip-lock.
... I actually forget a lot of the rest of them. Molly Weasley - who, I believe, had one line in the whole film, but it did get cheers, as did the disintegration of Bellatrix Lestrange. (She chose ... poorly.)
Biggest cheer of all was Neville killing Nagini, of course. He got cheers for standing up to Greyback et al. and then blowing up the bridge, but he got full-throated yells for busting out the Sword of Gryffindor. (For those who deserve it, indeed. Well played, Albus Dumbledore, you scheming, conniving rat bastard.)
The people all around me were very upset about Dead Lupin and Tonks (which was a nicely-composed shot, I admit, with their hands still reaching for each other - it depends rather on buying the relationship, but if you go ahead and accept the premise, I mean), and I clearly thought, "well, at least they didn't give them a kid here in the movie" - because that was really what made me the angriest about the pair of them dying in the book, was that it was so irresponsible for them both to be on the battlefield when they had a little baby at home. (We've fought about this before. I don't mind which of them should have stayed behind, and it's not the same as both Arthur and Molly fighting, because their kids weren't utterly dependent on them. Parents of minor children, though - parents of infants - knowing the fight was likely to be mortal, one of them should have stayed safe. I'm not prepared to discuss it further.) So anyway, I had that thought; and then of course in the Blue Ghosts for Everybody scene, Harry said "Remus, and your son ..." and I thought, bzuh? (Conclusion, of course: this detail has been cut for time.)
Big props to Alan Rickman, who did nice work in the whole picture, really, the death scene and all the memory stuff - and to the hair and makeup people, and the costumes, because damn!, they not only made him look younger, they somehow made him look thinner.
The always reliable Jim Broadbent. I really did like him even in the fifteen seconds he had in this film.
Aaand, the epilogue. Sigh. I didn't buy the aging-up of Dan Radcliffe or Bonnie Wright one bit, I tell you what, hairstyles or no. I just did not. I did like that the costume wedding ring they put on him seemed not to fit, quite - that's a nicely-observed detail, that after fifteen-plus years it might have got a little snug. (It would also not have surprised me if he hadn't been wearing a ring at all. It sure seems to me that in the UK it's a lot less certain that married men even wear a wedding ring - not that it's a sure thing on this side, or that married women wear them, but I'm saying, there does seem to be that difference. But I expect American audiences in general would have looked at Ginny-with-a-ring-but-Harry-with-none a bit askance.) I didn't buy the aging-up of Tom Felton at all - that is, he looked just like Tom Felton, but they'd done such a poor job of keeping him looking like a teenager for the past two or three films that giving him a well-groomed beard didn't make him look twenty years older. The rest of the audience didn't buy it either; his appearance on Platform 9 3/4 actually got a laugh. I did think they did a decent job with the aging-up of Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Her hairstyle worked better (of course her face is still much too young), and giving Rupes the belly straining at his shirt was inspired. Also not allowing him to say a word. :-) ... The little boy playing Albus Severus did a nice job with an utterly thankless role. Of course I'd have preferred there be no epilogue at all, but they couldn't very well pretend she'd never written it, and the girls next to me were delighted to see it, so once again I am not precisely the target audience. So there it is.
In conclusion: NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM, ON THE STAIRCASE, WITH THE SWORD OF GRYFFINDOR.
:-D