Oh wow. Where did I go? I’ve been so busy I forgot completely about these little posts I make. Guess it’s time to start posting again.
Here soon I should have a few more goodies, including a little screen shot tool called… Screen Shot Tool. Yeah, I’m creative. But they guys at work like it, so I did something right.
I’ve been going through all the old posts and attempting to update them to match both the category list and the styles. It’ll take a bit of time, but until then, here’s my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 review. Yes, there will be tonnes of spoilers. You’ve been warned. Also, why don’t you know the story yet, anyway? You should already know how this movie ends!
I am both underwhelmed and overwhelmed. Does that just make me whelmed? Is that even a thing? Do the horrible changes they make verses the beautifully told stories cancel each other out?
I am overwhelmed simply because it is the last movie and we’re pretty much leaving this world behind now. The CG, practical and special effects were all appropriately awesome. The acting has gotten better and better over the years.You really get a good feel of how far they’ve all come on their journey this last decade.
However, I am underwhelmed by all of the changes they made. Much of what made the story so great in the book was gutted, and while this can’t be avoided when the book is that long, some of their edits made absolutely no sense.
For example, the scene in which Harry and Voldemort fight for the last time is completely and utterly pointless and anti-climatic. In the book, this scene takes place in front of the whole (or what’s left of the) school. The real feeling of accomplishment and the weight of the victory can be felt. In the movie, the character split up so much that nothing important happens between more than three people. Harry Potter and Voldy fight by themselves in a stretched out mano-a-snako wand-lightning battle and flying around randomly in smoke. Neville doesn’t get to chop off Nagini‘s head until the dynamic duo Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley battle it on some stairs and get to cower appropriately. The “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH” scene in the book becomes an almost whispered line (relative to all the other sounds happening around them) and the emotion of the fight between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix fails completely. There were so many times that I thought the audience in the theatre was going to cheer, but then it seemed like everyone was embarrassed because the movie didn’t really hit the emotional beats it deserved.
The changes they made baffles me, because they would have been so much better literally just cribbed straight from the books. Why the script writer (and/or the actress) changed the feel of the Molly/Bellatrix fight astounds me. Why they felt Harry needed to fight Voldy alone, where no one could see and/or verify his victory over the greatest evil wizard ever is completely bonkers! The extra scenes add literally nothing but extra time wasted to the story, and it degrades the source material.
Other baffling changes arrive in the story of Dumbledore‘s family. I get why they didn’t have time, but why would you bring it up at all if you weren’t going to explain it even a little?. A name is dropped, an accusation flung, but we have no idea why these things are there. And the elves, obviously minus Dobby, show up nowhere in the movie, where they are a major part of the book’s big fight. In the opposite of the last, it would have made sense to add at least a passing reference to them, considering that they made so much a point of them in several movies, because otherwise it is as if Dobby’s death and Treacher’s change from villian to servant to savior completely worthless now.
Now, it’s not as if this is a complete waste of a movie – on the contrary, in every other respect it excelled my expectations. Maggie Smith‘s acting is supurb, knowing that the whole time she was battling cancer during production, and especially the line where she says, in a very girl-ish way, “I’ve always wanted to say that spell!”. Alan Rickman‘s Snape is probably the highlight of the whole movie, as you see every single bit of him shattered in the pensive sequence. Also, his death scene was respectably brutal and hidden tactfully behind frosted glass, but the full weight of it is completely felt. The epilogue scene, while short and not truly important is any way, was wonderfully done, especially the almost lack of makeup and body modifications needed to make it seem legitimate. (I only wish they’d mentioned “Prof. Longbottom”, even if in passing) I guess it helps that the actors themselves have grown enough for it.
If I had to rate the movie, I’d say definitely a 3 out of 5, it was both awesome and infuriating in it’s execution. I only wish they’d consulted the book a little more for ideas instead of padding or trimming things out improperly.
Unfortunately, I forgot a small detail with the switch-over. All of the media is still on the old server. So apparently all the old posts I imported will be pointing to incorrect media locations. I’ve got a local copy of it, now, as I was able to FTP in via IP Address (since jstorer2.com now points here), so eventually I’ll either have to edit the post or upload the new media.
Now back to your regularly scheduled ignoring of my posts. ;)
So, here’s the rub. My old website, jstorer2.com, will be ending it’s three year run in August. So I will be moving my blog here, which seems sensible considering how much work/money it costs to host my own. So ignore the ads and enjoy the new location of my blog.
Please realize that all of the links to media will probably be broken. I no longer have access to the old stuff, so I’ll try to fix what I can.
I’ve had a few people ask me, “John, how do I set up this here face-book-y thing so that I can add those stupid people who keep askin’ me to ‘be their friend’ at work, but without them seein’ all my crap.”
Well, I put together a simple (read: very simple) PDF on how to do it (with pictures!):
First of all: Yes. You’re right. I’ve been horribly ignoring you, blog, and it’s just not right. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for you to devour and spit back at any readers, but I do actually have a good excuse this time, and not just general apathy!
I’ve been feeling very under-the-weather (which I find to be a most curious phrase, considering that thunderstorms and cloudy, rainy days tend to be my absolute favorite types of days…) the last week and haven’t really felt in the mood to do any writing at all, even if it’s just a copy-paste job on a video. Since I mainly read this blog myself (with maybe one or two exceptions) I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give myself a little break. Just not too long of a break. Don’t want this blog to go into apathy-overdrive or anything.
However, after finding myself feeling a little better by Saturday afternoon, I decided to pick up Mass Effect 2 again on Sunday morning (as I had impromptu plans with T & Josh, who are awesome). When I popped ME2 back in and booted it up, I distinctly remember that the sun had been on it’s general rise for the day. When I was eventually able to pull myself away [not including normal customary breaks like lunch, dinner and bathroom] and get ready for bed, I realized that not only was the sun no longer in the sky, but my wife had been asleep for at least an hour. My poor cats were even snoring (though with all the sound, I do not know how they slept). At least Echo (my diminutive dwarf hamster) was awake and happy, running on her wheel as it just getting started for a good evening of marathon sprinting.
Now, I am normally not this bad with a game. Very rarely will I spend any more than three hours in one session in one game. Sometimes I’ll play, then come back again later once I’ve relaxed with a good book or worked some chores. But Sunday was my “day of rest” from that stupid flu bug that refused to stop fighting me… Well, needless to say, I should have a good report on ME2 ready soon.
For those who do not know, and probably don’t care anyway, a good cold or flu ‘bug’ will run through my system in twelve or so hours. Most of my friends probably think I’m a mutant or something. Granted, I can have a few leftover symptoms, like coughing or a running nose, for the rest of the day, but otherwise I go to sleep one day, and wake up without it the next. Usually if it’s the flu I get a good four hours of sweat-generating dizziness-inducing heat wave that knocks me out of commission, but with this one it’s been so relatively mild in the symptoms that I wonder if it’s not really a virus but a case of good ol’ allergies.
Anyway, since I’m definitely feeling much better, I’ll hopefully have a new post up tomorrow after work or during lunch that will go over my experience with Mass Effect 2, which I ended up finishing tonight. Short form is: ME1 was one of my favorite games for the Xbox360. ME2 kicked its ass.
