We braved ice and fog to go down to see Harry Potter this morning. And yes, it was indeed icy, which was a bit traumatic for me. Last time I was walking on glare ice, I fell and seriously injured my knee. That was last February and I’m still doing physical therapy and taking the occasional pain killer. We did make it across the glare ice of the parking lot safely, but the manager of the movie theater did find regret in his decision to put no salt out to keep his customers in said parking lot safe. Yes, it was an embarrassing spectacle for all but when we left the theater after the movie the staff kept their distance and we had salt and sand on the ground all the way out to the car.<\/p>\n
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In fact, it was so icy this morning that my father in law had to tape sandpaper to his feet to make it down the driveway to get the newspaper. I think that was a very clever idea but I’m not sure the local newspaper is worth it these days. They always seem to have the same stuff, a day late, and are often out of touch with any reality I’m currently participating in. For instance, they ran a piece the other day listing a dozen of the “best little known” places to eat in Minneapolis. I’d eaten in most of them, and a few, more than a few times. Does that make me a little known eater? I’m not sure, but I am happy that they did not discover the truly little known places that even I don’t know about but still eat at now and then.<\/p>\n
Anyway, about the movie. This is the seventh of eight in a series of seven, the last one being the last book split in two parts, of the Harry Potter story. I’m glad they split this one into two parts. I think they should have split the last one into two parts as well. In fact, more than half of the movies they make from books should probably be split into two parts.<\/p>\n
People who like movies will like this a lot. People who tend to not like the movies they’ve seen will find much to complain about. Harry potter movies, since the first one, seem to assume that we’ve read the books, and this one does so to the Nth degree. That actually allows the movies to be better than they otherwise might be. Like the ideal classroom lecture on a complex subject, where you’ve assigned 100 pages of reading and know that everyone has absorbed that material and fully understands it, and has formulated just exactly the right questions in their minds that will provide the motivation for enthrallment in the day’s lesson.<\/p>\n
But enough fantasy, let’s get back to the movie.<\/p>\n
I laughed, I cried, but that was mostly in the parking lot before the movie and in regards to driving conditions. The movie itself was, indeed, a Harry Potter tear jerker. By this time in the story, not everyone is surviving every scene (that started in the last book IIRC). There is real adolescent angst going on among Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was most shocking to see a nude sex scene involving all three of them (am I giving too much away?)<\/p>\n
To calibrate, we watched the first Harry Potter movie last night. This latest one is an order of magnitude better, if only because the ability to make good special effects has actually improved a great deal during the course of these few years. Also, as you know from reading the books, the pace has changed considerably. That’s not good or bad, just notable. The first 25% of the first movie is all about getting a letter delivered. The world as we know it changes once or twice during the first 25% of this latest one.<\/p>\n
The movie was the best of the lot so far, but only of value if you know the story and have seen the other movies. There is no question that you’ll be seeing it if that is the case, so I have no interest in trying to persuade you one way or another. The real question that remains is this: Of all the characters, which one aged most since the start of the series? Here’s my list, most aging to least<\/p>\n
1) Snape
\n2) Ollivander
\n3) Hermione
\n4) The Twins
\n5) Ron
\n6) Harry
\n7) Everybody else<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We braved ice and fog to go down to see Harry Potter this morning. And yes, it was indeed icy, which was a bit traumatic for me. Last time I was walking on glare ice, I fell and seriously injured my knee. That was last February and I’m still doing physical therapy and taking the … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I<\/span>