hathycol | (no subject)

I've had a good few days, really.

Work was quiet, and also very long possibly for that reason. Yet the end came soon. I darted upstairs bang on five ("I'm-sorry-this-till-is-closing-now-one-of-my-colleagues-will-be-happy-to-help") and got changed. Since I was now wearing my "I like women" t-shirt, I wisely kept it covered up.

Met Iona and Simon at the cinema, and there was general cackling at the somewhat stupid peant gallery. We then went in, quite easily brought tickets, and queued for entry surrounded by kids. Needless to say, we felt out of place somewhat.

This did not impede staring at the Keria Knightley poster.

We went in, and sat through several hours of adverts, before the trailers, which were more fun. There was a Christmas one, which spurred an animated conversation of Not-Christmas (we now have plans for Not-Carolling) and also Shrek 2. Oh, that looks so fab, if only for Antonio Banderas. "I am Puss! In boots..." Hee. (Armand obsessed? Moi?)

The lights dimmed. The kids calmed down. Iona and I did not.

Oh, it's fabulous. I'll make no pretensions and say that I didn't love it. It's the least like the book and yet the most that captures the spirit; like LOTR, that's what counts.

It started off in a hectic manner - the whole film moved very quickly, actually. We had a Dursley scene, which was highly enjoyable and made me giggle. That was the best part of being in a kids audience - we could squee and no one noticed. Saying that, an old couple looked really pissy with us, but there we are.

The Knight Bus was a hoot. Lenny Henry was brilliant (odd cameo, but there we are) and let's not forget that I get an unholy glee out of seeing Harry being bitchslapped against the window of the bus. Stan was a welcome relief too - perfect, one might go as far to say.

Swiftly through the Leaky Cauldren (Igor IS Tom! Better than that Van Helsing lark!) with one of the little moments that made the film seem real: the cleaning staff. Genius! Onto the Hogwarts Express. Oh, the Dementors are scary. Completely different to what I imagined, but then, completely right. Does that make sense? I had an image of Nazgul, but evidently not. They were just... scary.

Oh, let's get onto the real point of the Hogwarts Express: Remus! Oh, he was brilliant! I forgot all about the child-molesting moustache within about ten minutes. He was just... so wonderful. The little scars on his cheeks were wonderful (and created much in the way of "Squee!") and oooh my.

Tbe film just launched into itself then and didn't let up once. I tried chronological; I can't do it. So...

- Lupin was brilliant. I want him for a teacher. I want him to be my teacher. He had his ragged robes, chocolate in his pockets, he was a brilliant teacher and he had swing music from the Guiness advert playing. He was so melancholy, talking about Lily and about James...

... of course, that leads onto the problem that there wasn't a lot made of the Marauders. Yes, Moony was spelt wrong. And the friendship wasn't there. I sense this is going to be a DVD extra, isn't it?

- Dawn French was ace!

- The little moments really made the entire film. The... friendship that was shown was brilliant. "Spiders! They're making me tap dance!" "You show those spiders, Ron." It just made me smile, it really did. I like Ron.

- The twins! How cool are they? How have I never noticed that before?

- The Whomping Willow is my hero. There was a beautiful Monty Python moment - a gorgeously set-up shot of a leaf genteely falling off the tree, before the Willow shakes and gets the lot. The Willow also bitchslapped Harry. Wahey!

- Remus and Sirius. "They're so doing it!" The scene in the Shrieking Shack was lovely, if only for the hug and subsequent desperate clinging onto each other. Bittersweet too, now that we know what's going to happen. Later on, when Remus is turning, the way Sirius clings on again... on, it's beautiful. Iona and I nearly had heart failure, especially when Alan Rickman just says "Like an old married couple!" You know it's true. It's deliberately hinted at everywhere, and I truly just loved it. It gave me the warm fuzzies.

In a sidenote, Iona informed me of the following subtext heavy line - "People like us..." That's not just werewolves he's talking about there!

- Harry abd Hermione. I may be a very-slightly-converted shipper. It will go away soon, don't worry. Either way, I liked.

- Buckbeak. Brilliant. Didn't expect him to be so white (I had an image of a dark brown creature) but he was just cool. Oddly cute, too.

I can't think of anything else. It was just brilliant.

We came out and were hysterical at each other all night. Simon looked, understandably, bemused at Iona and me in full on fan-mode. We are probably a little overwhelming, though...

Went to Macdonalds because it was the only place left open, and laughed at various small people. Simon and I missed the bus, and instead wandering around for an hour until we made it home. The bus was... weird, with drunken 15 year olds and scarier and hysterically sobbing girl in the corner. I had to quell my urge to go and hug her, but when I heard her scream down the phone "Well, I'll just fucking go and fucking stab him then!" I decided that perhaps it might be a bad idea.

Woke up this morning, and I'm pleased to say that I have all my notes done for politics. Now I need to learn them, after I check that I have Learning Materials for media studies sorted. Far too many exams next week; don't expect long update posts, unless they're full of expletives about AQA, Charles I, Tony Blair, the EU (I'm all in favour - I just think it's a pain to learn), The Good Life and also Oliver Cromwell, but he's just annoying anyway.

I am thirsty and hungry. Ta ra, chucks. Go and see Harry Potter in my absence. (Which will end up lasting all of three minutes, I'm sure.)

~Hathy_Col~