Harry Potter Movie Review!

First off, this post has lots of spoilers about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want it to be ruined, don’t read this post!   But since it’s been a week, you should have seen it by now!  If you haven’t, go see it!

I wanted to do a review on Friday or Saturday, but I figured I’d give people a few days (or a week) before reviewing it since not everyone likes to see it the first day or two. 

Overall, I loved it, and thought it did the book justice.  There were a few things that I wished were in the movie (like Percy making up with his family) but overall, I thought it worked out rather well.  I thought it was not only a great movie, but a really good adaptation as well. 

Here’s a few of my favorite things from the move:

  1. Snape’s memories: I thought it was really well done, and I couldn’t help but start crying.  The scene that did me in was the part where he was holding Lily and crying.  Reading it was completely different than actually seeing it on the screen, and it really made Snape’s feelings for Lily come to life. 
  2. The scene with Harry, his parents, Sirius, and Lupin in the forest: that made me cry as well, especially when Harry asked Lily if she would stay with him, and she said always.  It was also really well-done.
  3. And we have a tie between Neville, McGonagall and the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix.  “Not my daughter, you bitch!” is one of the most memorable lines from the entire series.  I always pictured it as being yelled across the great hall, but either way, it was a great line, and I wan’t disappointed.  As for McGonagall, I knew she was a stern, yet caring professor, but I was always sort of indifferent to her.  Until this movie!  Her duel with Snape was amazing, and two of my other favorite lines in the movie came from her.  When she was excited about bringing the statues and suits of armour to life, and told Mrs. Weasley that she always wanted to do that spell was hilarious.  It made her seem like one of the very students she taught.  Overall, I saw her in a completely different way.  My other favorite line was when she told Neville to have Seamus do some pyrotechnics, as he had an aptitude for it.  And of course, Neville!  I can’t review Part 2 and leave Neville out of it!  He was awesome, and the change between the Sorcerer’s Stone and Deathly Hallows was unbelievable.  My favorite Neville moment was when he cut off Nagini’s head, closely by his speech to Voldemort. 

The battle was a lot more disorganized than I expected it to be, but considering it was a battle, and they were fighting for their lives, I would expect it to be chaotic.  I do wish there was a celebration after Voldemort died, but clearly, I can’t change that part of the movie.   

And of course, I need to mention the epilogue!  The audience definitely had this whole “oh, here we go,” vibe when the 19 years later popped up on the screen.  Honestly, I didn’t mind the epilogue, which surprised me, because I wasn’t a fan of the epilogue when I read the book.  They did cut a lot from it, only focusing on Harry talking with Albus about being in Slytherin, and then ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione watching their kids go to Hogwarts.

This review is getting pretty lengthy, so I think I’ll end it here…there are a few other things I wanted to mention about the movie, so I think I’ll do that tomorrow.

More Random Thoughts About Harry Potter

There’s a few more things I’ve wondered about the Harry Potter series, so I thought I’d share those today!

  • To J.K. Rowling: did you really need to name Harry’s kids James Sirius, Lily Luna and Albus Severus?  That is so cliche, and something I totally expected.  I get Harry would want to honor his parents and Sirius, and even Dumbledore, but Snape and Luna were slightly unexpected, so she gets some points for that.  I think I figured she would do that around book 5, and I hoped I would be wrong.  Clearly, I wasn’t.
  • Why on earth were Harry’s eyes (and looking like his dad) so darn important?  Maybe it was just a connection factor, like she wanted people to be reminded of what had happened to his parents.  But it seemed like it was a lot more important than it really was.
  • What exactly did Harry’s parents do after graduating from Hogwart’s?  Where they full-time Order members or did they have a job outside of that?  If they did have jobs, what were they?
  • If someone is an animagus, is that animal different from their patronus, or is it the same?  Can they be the same, or do they have to be different?  We know your Patronus can change, is it at all possible for the form of your animagus to change? 
  • Did Harry ever get another owl after Hedwig died?  If so, what did he name it? 
  • We know Hermione got 10 outstanding’s for her owls, and only one class is unnamed.  What is this unnamed class?  And for that matter, are there more classes than what’s been mentioned in the book?  That would certainly be interesting, and I wonder what other subjects there could possibly be.  It would have to be one of the elective classes, of course, because if it were one of the main subjects, we probably would have heard about it.
  • Did using the time-turner age Hermione at all?  I know I’ve seen it pop up in a few fanfics…would we have heard about it if it did, or did it have no effect on her? 
  • Did George really need to marry Fred’s ex-girlfriend?  I get naming his son after him, so that wasn’t a big surprise, but really?  Of all the people you could have fallen in love with, it had to be Angelina?  Whatever floats your boat, I guess…
  • I mentioned the other day that someone comes to speak to the muggle-born students when it’s time for their Hogwarts letter to come.  Why is there no wizarding studies?  I know an education at Hogwarts is the equivalent would be an education in the wizarding world, but there have to be a few different traditions and such in the wizarding world.  Say McGonagall went to talk to Hermione about her Hogwart’s letter.  Did McGonagall go over the transition to the wizarding world, and some of the basic traditions and stuff?  Or is it something they’re thrown into?

I think that’s about it, if I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to do another post on it!

Mixed Emotions, Part One

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 comes out at midnight, and there are so many things going through my mind.

Of course, I’m really excited, because it’s Harry Potter, and I love Harry Potter.  I’m really curious to see how it’ll turn out, but based on the trailers, and a couple things I’ve seen online, it looks like it’ll be epic!  I’ve been waiting for months to see it, and now it’s finally here.

But I’m also really sad too.  It’s the last Harry Potter movie EVER, so once it’s out, there will be no more movies to come to theater.  I was sad when the book came out, but there’s a real sense of finality with the last movie.  I became a fan after seeing the 1st movie, so for me, I’ll always associate becoming a fan because of the movies.  I’m definitely going to bring some kleenex, because I have the feeling I’ll be crying like a baby.

I’m definitely going in costume, and I’ll do my best to recap my thoughts without giving anything away.  It’ll be interesting and something I’m sure I’ll remember this for a long time to come.  I’m working my way through the movies, and decided to take my time with the books and enjoy them.

Have an awesome day!

Yesterday Was Hilarious

It’s time to share some of the funny stuff I’ve accidentally written so far!  I managed to get all caught up, which made yesterday even better!  So here we go:

  • “so why are you here earler?” aske gibbs.  (I know gibbs is a man of few words, but you’d think he’d be one to speak clearly.)
  • “There is ziva,” tim whispered. “Mcgee’s hjere, and he looks happy wjch might not last very long if he’s sees us at his desk.”  (I feel the need to bang my head against a wall repeatedly after noticing I typed this.)
  • “You know about abby, boss,” tony said.  “She things somethings wrong.” (I should hope Gibbs knows about Abby.  They’ve worked together for years now).
  • “If I don’t have to hide someone, then I won’t.”  (I would hope you’re not hiding anyone…)
  • “I could use another set of eyes,” abgy said.   “Time are you doing anything important?” (I’ve come up with a new character!  Meet Time, Tim’s evil twin.)
  • “Chasing down leads bossy,” gibbs sais.  (This made me laugh.)

The best thing I noticed from yesterday was the fact that I named my novel July 2010!  Which made me laugh, because I laugh at everything.  I’m going to keep it as is, because it’s too funny to change!  Yesterday’s final wordcount was 8344, and hopefully I can stay on track.

Podcast and Writing Talk

I’m still on my podcast kick, and just when I started to get the number of podcasts down to a manageable level, I found some more to listen to!  While I still have a bunch of episodes I need to catch up, I’ve decided to take my time with it.  I’m not going to go back and listen to the episodes of the new podcasts just yet, so I’m going to download each episode as I listen to it.

Joy the Baker has a podcast!  I don’t read her blog too often, but her podcast is hilarious!  It’s still pretty new, but it’s really fun!  I’ve also been listening to Abandon All Hope, About Face Mouth, For Whatever Reason, Meat-Free Radio and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Actually, I’m listening to 28 different podcasts!  No matter how many times I tell myself that I will NOT go looking for new podcasts, I find myself…looking for more podcasts.

In other news, I think I’m getting close to the end for Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!  I’m excited, because it’ll be the first time I finished a novel.  And not only that, but it’ll be the first nano I finish!  I have no idea if I’ll go back and edit it.  I might, but I’m still not sure.  If I had to decide today, then I’d definitely edit it.  If I do, I might put it up somewhere, like over at ff.net or something.

I did a lot of writing on Wednesday, which was really nice!  It’s been a while since I’ve spent the whole morning writing, and I miss it!  Remember when I said I’d write whatever the average word count was for each novel?  It’s AWESOME!  I think it a lot closer to what I actually write for each thing, because for the first time in weeks, I’m not constantly checking how close I am to my word goal.  I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

I definitely need to get my butt into gear for camp nano!  I think I might do my ncis fanfiction next month for it, and as for august, I have no idea if i’m doing it yet.  I think it depends on how my plot bunnies work out.

Mr. Impossible

Book: Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase

Pages/Format: 312/Paperback

My Thoughts: I’ve always been a fan of the romance genre, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything from the genre, so I decided to start off with this novel.

It’s a historical romance about Rupert Carsington and Daphne Pembroke, who are trying to rescue Daphne’s brother.  She’s the brains, and Rupert is the brawn.  Some of the imagery is absolutely hysterical, which is one reason why I like romance so much.  Plus, romance (as a whole) is very predictable, and sometimes I want to read something where I know that X event is going to happen on Y page. 

So, imagery.  It’s your typical “this is what they look like, and I’d like nothing more than to make them want to get in bed with me” imagery.  It was fairly descriptive, which was just okay at times, absolutely hysterical at others. 

Rupert wants Daphne, but she doesn’t want to admit that she wants him too.  Miles ends up being saved, and Daphne and Rupert end up being married. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.  An interesting (and sometimes funny) re-introduction to the world of romance.