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Harry Potter 7
I had expected a movie this close to the end of the series, and one derived from the final book, to not feel so much like the middle book of a trilogy. I don't know what's coming in the second part, not having read the book, but it felt like the film-makers were just filling time in this movie, same as in the last one. Did the final book need two movies, or is that just the business arm of the franchise speaking? It wasn't a bad movie and it definitely had some nice touches (I've wanted a bag like that for a while; for that I'd actually carry one :-) ), but it felt slow to me for where it was in the series. $5 was a fair price to pay.
I particularly noticed the sound this time -- effective placement, so it sounded like things were coming from the right parts of the room. The visual effects were well-done (not the best we've seen from this series), and I could see some of the places where they were presumably planning 3D enhancements before they ditched 3D. I counted five visual-effects companies in the closing credits, but there was no indication of how the work was divided up. (They all had pretty much the same job descriptions.)
Spoiler comment #1: What do they mean, "three left"? They've gotten two, right? Even if we presume that #7 is V himself, that leaves four others. Did I miss one?
Spoiler comment #2: Hedwig deserved better. That wasn't valiant or glorious or plot-changing; that was just pointless. :-(
Trailers:
- Kung-Fu Panda II: presumably targeted for the kids?
- Yogi Bear: definitely targeted for the kids.
- Voyage of the Dawn-Treader: maybe. I didn't recognize a lot of the trailer from the book; hmm.
- Green Hornet: looks like it could be entertaining if you like that sort of thing, but I'm not sure I do. Netflix, maybe.
- Red Riding Hood: um, what?
- Green Lantern: looks like they're having fun with it, which is promising. Does it at all resemble the comic book, out of curiosity? And did I hear someone in the trailer refer to the job of being a green lantern? He's not a singleton?
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I am seeing it on Wednesday, but figured having read the books, you won't spoil me too badly. Glad it was mostly good!
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My knowledge is based mostly on the Silver Age GL, but I believe this remains part of the canon: there's a whole interstellar Green Lantern Corps. The hero of the comic is their agent on Earth, but yeah, there's more than one.
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Horcruxes destroyed so far
2. The ring.
3. The locket.
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The two most unusual GL Corps officers are Rot Lop Fan, a member of a blind race who could not understand the oath:
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!
and so substituted the following:
"In loudest din or hush profound,
My ears catch evil's slightest sound.
Let those who toll out evil's knell,
Beware my power: The F-Sharp Bell!"
and then there's the sentient planet Mogo.
The basic GL power is the power to do anything at all, countered only by yellow objects. As a direct result, the Green Lanterns are recruited only from the least imaginative honorable people of the universe.
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As for Earth's (well, okay, Sector 2814's) GL, we can start with Alan Scott, the GL from the 40's. Still around, mentoring the rest.
The canonical GL is Hal Jordan, who'll we'll meet in the movie. He's always been drawn as a dead ringer for Nathan Fillion, but we're getting Ryan Reynolds.
John Stewart is a successful architect with some major baggage, having inadvertently destroyed a planet.
Guy Gardner is a serious chaotic badass. But he's chaotic *good*, enough to be in the GL Honor Guard.
Kyle Rayner was given the last Ring by the last Guardian, Ganthet, after the Parallax incident. He's now an Honor Guard in the restored Corps.
Jade was Kyle's girlfriend. She's green. She wasn't a Corps member, but essentially had the powers. Another long story. Oh, and she's Alan Scott's daughter.
Very weak spoiler
Get used to it. Rowling isn't done quite yet.
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I don't know what audience they're hoping for with that particular combination. Burlesque, Green Lantern, and Yogi Bear.
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Just from the book, I understand why the movie may feel slow; the *book* moves kinda slowly. Sometimes, for this book, God is in the details; that necessitates the slow pace at those times.
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Yes, the books progressively get darker, and the movies do, too. Everything is interconnected, but the movies aren't quite revealing it as well as the books do.
Two movies? Yep. The final volume of the book series is longer than any of the previous 6.
Trailers?
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I had no idea of the diversity of Green Lanterns before this thread. Thank you. I think. :-)
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Re: Horcruxes destroyed so far
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Re: Very weak spoiler
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Hmm. From the perspective of someone who has not read most of the books, it feels like the author is continuing the introduction of new plot elements way later than I'm used to. Halfway through episode 7 we learn for the first time about three uber-powerful artifacts that are (presumably) going to affect the final battle? And previously-powerful artifacts like that time-traveling device have just fallen by the wayside when it seems like they could matter? I realize she didn't set out to write a seven-book series at the beginning, but I guess it's feeling a little too much like "making stuff up as she goes", making me think that the film/book is long not because it's the culmination of six books' worth of plot but because she had some new stuff to throw in. I don't think I'm expressing this well and I don't dislike the movies, even while thinking they don't hang together as well as I'd like.
Or maybe it does all tie together neatly but it's just too hard to keep the details swapped in over nearly a decade of movies, and if I sat down and watched them all in a row (or read all the books) it would all fall into place. Dunno -- probably not going to do that. :-) (Definitely not the reading.)
Re: Horcruxes destroyed so far
Re: Very weak spoiler
And it does matter to Harry, just as every loss he suffers matters to him.
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It is, to some degree, supposed to seem like there are powerful new artifacts. I hestitate to say more without knowing what the movie revealed already. If you say "spoil away", I'm happy to discuss further.
Re: Very weak spoiler
Oh, definitely; you can see it in his face, and I assume the book makes it clear too. What I meant is that it didn't accomplish anything plot-wise; Hedwig didn't take a bullet for Harry, which would have been heroic, and wasn't struck down in the midst of some important mission. It was a drive-by shooting. Or at least that's how it came across to me.
There are plenty of pointless deaths in this story, of course, but I guess I expect named characters who are there from the start, even in minor roles, to die a little more heroically. I'm not saying that's a reasonable expectation, mind. But I expect it of heroic fantasy in a way that I don't expect it from, say, 24 (to pick one long-running story with lots of pointless deaths, and they didn't bother me in this way when I was watching the show).
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One weakness I have seen running through the entire series is that big important battles are happening, others have the knowledge and tools to help, and they don't. Yeah, yeah, the standard coming-of-age story requires Harry to figure out for himself things that Dumbledore could have told him, and that's fine and dandy when the stakes are small. But when wizards are getting killed? I of course don't expect realism in things like magic, but I do expect it in human behavior, or I expect to be shown why not. There's one more movie to go, so maybe an explanation will be forthcoming.
HP7 ended with the revelation of who had had DH artifcat #1 and who has just acquired it. I'm not going to worry too terribly much about spoilers, though please don't be gratuitious. :-)
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I haven't seen the first Kung Fu Panda movie. I had the vague sense from the trailer for #2 that it might be the sort of thing that could appeal to adults too, but I don't know why I thought that. Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed #1.
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I suppose that those who have the Time Turners could and should be using them to help. On the other hand, the Ministry has fallen, so likely those are in the hand of the evil folks. I'd think that if Time Turners existed and those charged with law enforcement had them, they could prevent crimes. Even if one could only go back a few hours, as soon as a crime is discovered, one can go back and prevent it. Since this seems not to occur in the HP universe, there must be a reason it doesn't work that way (even if that reason is merely an excuse for: it would destroy the plot).
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As to the artifacts, they seemed to have mythological status within Rowling's world, so wizards tend to think of them as being a story. However, the implication is that the three Deathly Hallows are Harry's cloak, the Sorceror's Stone, and this wand with an atomic core.... Voldemort clearly knows they are not myths, and although he has attempted to get the wand and the stone, one wonders why he has made no attempt to acquire the cloak....
Just musing.
Re: Very weak spoiler
One reason I disliked #5 is a major actor from #3-4 was first character-trashed and then killed off completely pointlessly.
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#3 and #1 are still my favorites, although #5 isn't too bad (until the end--see previous comment). I think that after #3, Rowling became so popular that her editor lost the ability to tell her that she really had better cut down on the drivelling dross.