ZebraspotsHalf-Blood Prince. Awkward.
May 28th 2009 13:53
I like Harry Potter; they are my booky soaps, or my literary Lost, if I watched Lost, which I am told will devour entire weekends. The last three books I stayed up all night reading the first day I started them-- which is probably why I don't remember most of what happens. (I do remember that Dumbledore does an epic Olympic swim at the end of the book. And then dies, right. And the most awkward puberty phases on paper continue to get more and more awkward.) While I will never trumpet Rowling as a great writer of prose, she is a good storyteller and masterfully creative world builder, which is exactly what these books require.
So the Half-Blood Prince is coming out soon, after more than a half-year delay from the original late 2008 goal, as you may remember. David Yates, who did a perfectly fine job with the last film, will be returning, though I would love to see Alfonso Cuaron, who has expressed interest in returning. (Azkaban remains, in my mind, that best of the series; did you know he did A Little Princess? Remember that movie?!) The same cast is back, which has always been stellar in terms of the adult actors (Gambon, Rickman, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman.) The kids, on the other hand, seem to be coming around, though Emma Watson could at least try a little; she remains the weak link of the trio while the other two have developed some acting chops over the course of the last five movies. My friend once pointed out that the casting directors have had to face the challenge of making a casting choice for a character who, though seemingly minor, could suddenly, as the books were written, become a major player, Ginny Weasley. Which leads to some problems when those kids aren't ready or good enough for an expanded role. This remains to be seem, Ginny Weasley, but it can't possibly be as bad as Katie Leung's Cho Chang. On the other hand, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, lucky relations aside, has a great presence in the trailers.
The problem with this is, in conjunction with Watson's seeming disinterest in actually acting rather than just waving her hands around which she must think works since she did it in the first film and still has a job, is that as I mentioned before, the awkward adolescent romances just get more awkward in this book (chest monster? implied wet dreams?) and thus the film. This is a consequence on one hand of Rowling's writing and decisions. (And maybe listening to the Smiths? Aren't you just supposed to use them to influence or guide your writing as your ruefully but occasionally humorously look back at your teen-age years? Stories that start with "and then I made a mixtape" or "I wrote a lot of poetry, then, but it was garbage and thankfully burned in the fire that also sent me to the orphanage"?)
The task to reconcile this and to exorcise the pitfalls of what we'll assume is a result of listening to the Smiths, falls to the kid actors (oh god, are they adults now?) to translate it properly to screen. They will have to make sure that they are acting out the awkwardness, the halting steps (of which there were almost none, Ron Weasley), rather than just being wooden. Since the trailers are mostly action scenes or shots of various characters staring dramatically into the space right behind the camera, it's hard to gauge what the more domestic scenes will be like.
Okay, I actually really like the Smiths. Anyway--
In January, Geeks of Doom broke the news of a "mystery Japanese site," with screencaps from a mystery Japanese TV spot because the Japanese always get the cool bonus tracks. What with the plethora of trailers available now, these images aren't terribly exciting (a lot of the footage is duplicated in the recent fourth trailer), but they are titillating-- combine them with the often updated Yahoo Movie Harry Potter Stills Gallery and you've got enough to tide you over until July, right?
Related Gallery: the Yahoo Movie Harry Potter Stills Gallery]Harry Potter Stills (Yahoo)
And for readers: what's your favorite HP canon pairing? Least?
So the Half-Blood Prince is coming out soon, after more than a half-year delay from the original late 2008 goal, as you may remember. David Yates, who did a perfectly fine job with the last film, will be returning, though I would love to see Alfonso Cuaron, who has expressed interest in returning. (Azkaban remains, in my mind, that best of the series; did you know he did A Little Princess? Remember that movie?!) The same cast is back, which has always been stellar in terms of the adult actors (Gambon, Rickman, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman.) The kids, on the other hand, seem to be coming around, though Emma Watson could at least try a little; she remains the weak link of the trio while the other two have developed some acting chops over the course of the last five movies. My friend once pointed out that the casting directors have had to face the challenge of making a casting choice for a character who, though seemingly minor, could suddenly, as the books were written, become a major player, Ginny Weasley. Which leads to some problems when those kids aren't ready or good enough for an expanded role. This remains to be seem, Ginny Weasley, but it can't possibly be as bad as Katie Leung's Cho Chang. On the other hand, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, lucky relations aside, has a great presence in the trailers.
The problem with this is, in conjunction with Watson's seeming disinterest in actually acting rather than just waving her hands around which she must think works since she did it in the first film and still has a job, is that as I mentioned before, the awkward adolescent romances just get more awkward in this book (chest monster? implied wet dreams?) and thus the film. This is a consequence on one hand of Rowling's writing and decisions. (And maybe listening to the Smiths? Aren't you just supposed to use them to influence or guide your writing as your ruefully but occasionally humorously look back at your teen-age years? Stories that start with "and then I made a mixtape" or "I wrote a lot of poetry, then, but it was garbage and thankfully burned in the fire that also sent me to the orphanage"?)
The task to reconcile this and to exorcise the pitfalls of what we'll assume is a result of listening to the Smiths, falls to the kid actors (oh god, are they adults now?) to translate it properly to screen. They will have to make sure that they are acting out the awkwardness, the halting steps (of which there were almost none, Ron Weasley), rather than just being wooden. Since the trailers are mostly action scenes or shots of various characters staring dramatically into the space right behind the camera, it's hard to gauge what the more domestic scenes will be like.
awkward.
Okay, I actually really like the Smiths. Anyway--
In January, Geeks of Doom broke the news of a "mystery Japanese site," with screencaps from a mystery Japanese TV spot because the Japanese always get the cool bonus tracks. What with the plethora of trailers available now, these images aren't terribly exciting (a lot of the footage is duplicated in the recent fourth trailer), but they are titillating-- combine them with the often updated Yahoo Movie Harry Potter Stills Gallery and you've got enough to tide you over until July, right?
Related Gallery: the Yahoo Movie Harry Potter Stills Gallery]Harry Potter Stills (Yahoo)
And for readers: what's your favorite HP canon pairing? Least?
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