7/16/11

"After all this time?" "Always."

A few warnings before I start:

WARNING: There be SPOILERS ahead.

WARNING: Naysayers and haters, LEAVE. Now.

WARNING: I'm running on about three hours of sleep right now... I'm really scatterbrained. Sorry.

What a movie. I went to the midnight showing with my sister, Kate. I went dressed as my Harry Potter persona: Slytherin fifth year Morgaine Edwin of the Marauder Era. Julia went as a Ravenclaw with elements of Luna Lovegood. The best costume that we saw was a young girl with straight, long brunette hair in a plain white dress, holding a picture frame... She was Ariana Dumbledore. It was brilliant.

I love going to midnight showings. I love dressing up (Halloween's my favorite holiday), I love figuring out everyone else's costumes, I love the excitement buzzing in the air. I love being able to really react during the movie: laughing, crying, cheering, applauding.

Some golden moments of the movie:

Neville, of course, is totally BA in this. It's impossible not to love it when he is on the bridge and the Snatchers are stopped at the protections and, of course, when he kills Nagini. I also ~loved~ the little Neville/Luna tidbit they added in there. There are two pairings that aren't canon that I love, though, I guess only one of them isn't canon anymore... Neville and Luna as well as Dumbledore and McGonagall. (Pish posh about Dumbledore being gay. Bah!)

There was another, unexpected, completely BA character in the movie: Minerva McGonagall. Of course, you have to love it when she's fighting Snape (which is also awesome to watch for Snape and what must be going through his mind... but I'll get to that later). But watching her throughout the Battle of Hogwarts... What a woman. She is easily one of my top five favorite Hogwarts professors. And when she enchanted the suits of armor and told them to protect the castle? She has this adorable grin and says "I've always wanted to try that spell" to Molly Weasley. Definitely my favorite comedic relief moment.

Aberforth was strangely wonderful. Every dead body that we recognized was another tear I had to wipe away: Fred (I mean, really, JK?), Remus and Tonks... The scene in the Room of Requirement was wonderfully done. And the fight between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix... I think that got more applause in our theatre more than when Voldemort died.

The dragon! Oh, my goodness. Okay, this is how much of a nerd/dork I am: dragons are my favorite animal. Therefore, I'm very picky about my dragons in movies. I've never been satisfied by the CGI work. Until now. That was a beautifully done dragon. Gorgeous.

Hermione as Bellatrix... So. Funny. I know Helena Bonham Carter said she just asked Emma Watson to do the scenes are she would and then Bonham Carter copied her, but still. It was grand. And, might I add, Rupert didn't look too shabby with that disguise...

I loved that we got to see more into Voldemort's head than we ever have before, both in the books and the movies. To see him and feel him so vulnerable. Ralph Fiennes did a beautiful job in this movie. Voldemort to me has always just kind of... been. I've never had much of an opinion on him. He's not like Bellatrix where I love to hate her or like Umbridge where I hate to hate her. He's just kind of... been. To be honest, I like Tom Riddle more than Voldemort as a villain. Which may not make sense... I think it might be because Tom's more human and Voldemort is so far from being human that he's hard to... "relate" isn't the right word but it's the best I can come up with right now. But in this movie, Ralph Fiennes was able to push past the inhumanity and, without making him less of a monster, made him a little more human and "relatable" and it was fascinating.

Some of the artistic choices were beautiful. My favorite scene in HP7.1 is when the trio is running from the Snatchers and there is no music in the background. It just... makes the scene more... intense and real. And the entire beginning of HP7.2 had no music. It was bone chilling.

Into The Forest Again was beautiful. I had calmed down from earlier scenes (which I will be getting to soon) by this point, but when Lily, James, Remus and Sirius showed up... I was okay, I was okay, I was okay, and then Sirius has a mini monologue and I lost it again. Sirius is my second favorite character of the series and I hate how the books he was in, he was barely ever there. And then he died. I was So. Mad. when he died.

(Sidenote: I finished reading HP5 in the wee hours of the morning and, of course, my dreams that night were Harry Potter themed. I dreamt that in the sixth book, Dumbledore died and then, in the seventh book, Harry died but it was a strange death and he wasn't upset about it. Imagine how much I freaked out after reading the sixth book. And then when I realized... I'm still weirded out by it.)

King's Cross was... there aren't words. The Voldemort creature was perfectly disgusting. The acting on Daniel and Michael's parts... And the reverence and respect you could tell both of these actors had for this scene and these characters and what Harry Potter means to the world. I was thrilled when they included one of the my favorite exchanges of the series word for words. Dumbledore is walking away and Harry calls after him:
"Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"
Dumbledore stops and turns with a very Dumbledore smile.
"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
That is a beautiful way to explain the world of an author...

And then finally. I come to my favorite character. Severus Snape.

Alan Rickman deserves an Oscar. I'll be angry if he doesn't at least get nominated for this.

First, as I previously stated, I loved the fight between him and McGonagall. To see the thoughts and emotions playing on his face, especially when one already knows his full story, was so much fun. When he whipped his cloak around himself I was afraid he wouldn't be crashing through the window, which I was disappointed about. I love that image, so I was glad that he still did. But I still love the comical take on it as shown in this fan art:


But seriously. (Or shall I say "siriusly"?) We got to his death scene and, well, clearly, I knew what was coming. I'd been okay throughout the rest of the movie and there was a part of me in the back of my mind wondering if I'd actually, possibly get through the movie without crying. HA. I think it was when Snape realized what was about to happen. And then Voldemort slashed his wand... And then we got the scene from outside where the trio was, hearing Nagini strike again and again... AHHH. And Harry goes in and Snape... Snape was crying! "You have your mother's eyes..." And I was gone. Silent hysterics.

The Prince's Tale was done beautifully. This and Snape's death... I want to go see the movie again, but I would be happy if all I could see were these two scenes. There were bits missing, of course, but that's fine. I actually have come to fully trust JK with the movies finally. And? While I love the fact that, in the book, Snape goes to Grimmauld Place and reads the letter more... In the movie, I love the fact that he goes to Godric's Hollow and finds Lily more. It was wonderfully awful.

So basically? What a beautiful movie. I can't wait to go see it again.

1 comment:

  1. I loved it as well, I want to share a few of my favorite parts with you. First off, I wept like child that has had a nightmare.

    One of my favorite things about the movie was voldemort and the transitions he went through as horcruxes ( I apologize If I am spelling things wrong.) were being destroyed. Not really that he felt each and everyone, because that wasn't in the book, but I understand why they did it in the movie, It helped unfold the story and carry it through the destruction of each horcrux. Then Thing I liked about this was the makeup and attention to the makeup that was carried out throughout the movie. His eyes got darker, his skin (if possible) paler and the veins in his neck hands and on the back of his head made me think of my grandfather, who had cancer and how he looked as time wore him down. ( I know that's Sad image and for that I apologize, and in no way is was my grandfather like Voldemort) It was just really well done.

    Another part that I Just got lost in happiness was after Hermione destroyed the Horcrux and it was the first deeply passionate kiss on screen for the characters, Now that made me smile and giggle. like a smurf on smurf berries, Which I am also excited to see, I don't understand that excitement, but whatever.


    I will end this comment with a subtle comic relief that I personally found hilarious and when I laughed out loud in the Theater I caught Anne giving me the what the heck are you laughing about and you're embarrassing me because you are the only person laughing in a packed theater look. Was as the Potter three were riding the Dragon out of Gringots, There were goblins sitting at there desk looking around, and as the dragon starts breaking through, Goblins start Scattering, but in the background as the Dragon is coming down the aisle The Oldest looking Goblin they showed a few time with frizzy White hair remained sitting and doing his accounting work as if a Dragon breaks free of the vault daily, and he has this look on his face that I read as annoyed that the other Goblins left, In my head which may be the funniest part that made me laugh I heard the goblin say something like " These Young Wipper snappers would make any excuse to take a break." A silly and random part of the movie, but maybe you will catch it next time.

    Favorite part in Pt. 1 btw,
    Fred: Georgy how are you feeling?

    George: Saintlike?

    Fred: Saintlike?

    George: Saintlike? you get it? because I'm Holy. (as he points to his ear)

    Fred: of all the times, you decide to go with... I'm Holy.

    George: seemed appropriate.


    The Twins are by far my favorite. Earlier in that movie when they take the polly juice potion to look like Harry, they turn too each other and Fred says Bloody Hell we are Identical.


    Anyway..... I just rattled a bit. sorry.

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