That's entertainment!
Feb. 5th, 2006 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blodeueddLast week I was too lazy to write anything about it, so here is my take on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's .
The costumes were lovely, the dancing was good, the choreography was nice, but it wasn't excellent. Small quibble perhaps, but I suppose I was expecting something a little more memorable. Not that it was bad, mind you, it just wasn't extraordinary. The only thing that was really impressive (apart from Dracula's jumps, which were incredibly high) was the music; I didn't really know Mahler before, but as the whole score was selections from his 1st, 2nd and 9th (I believe) symphonies, I got a large dose in one sitting. I like. Don't know if I'd listen to it very often, but it was certainly an appropriate choice for the material.
A minor disappointment was that the four comic-relief gargoyles from the first act didn't show up in the second one at all. This was somewhat offset by the fact that the pantomime that opened the second act was quite funny. ("AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH-- THUD") The little "red" interlude was interesting as well, with a neat costume concept (i.e. red underthings and boudoir-wear) and lovely dancing.
And last night, G and I finally went and saw the latest ! Amazingly enough, it's still playing in cinemas. I didn't think it was as good as the last one, though it was still very enjoyable. However, I really, really wish they'd do better computer animation. Honestly, it looked like they'd blown all their budget on the dragons (who didn't get all that much screen time, even!) and everything else just looked bad. And lord knows I'm not too picky about things like that. Also, to repeat my complaint about the centaurs in the first movie, why the hell are the merpeople so damn ugly? I get that they're supposed to look alien and not very human, but couldn't they have done a better job of it? At least give them more realistic skin. If not that, then get actual actors to put some makeup on and just film them from the waist up.
For some reason, I really didn't like Dumbledore in this movie. He seemed too blah, too devoid of personality, like he doesn't know what he's doing half the time; I don't know about you, but in the books he always gave me the opposite impression, that he may not know exactly what's going on, but once he does he knows the right thing to do.
And Neville, don't you just want to give him a hug? So cute at the Yule Ball. ^.^
The trouble, I think, is that there's too much going on. The movie has to remind us of all these different plot threads all the time, so that while the main story seems to be the Tournament, characters periodically mention something about Polyjuice potion, or the Death Eaters, or Voldemort, but nothing happens. It's worse at the end, when Cedric and Harry are running for the cup: you think, "One of them's going to win, then it'll be over." But wait! Now they have to face Voldemort! "Ah, Harry made it back to Hogwart's, it's over." But wait! What about Crouch Jr.?
The most entertaining bits were the ones of Harry-tachi just being teenagers, like at the Yule Ball. The little touches, like at the end of the evening when Hermione blows up at Ron and in the background, there's a girl sitting on the stairs, crying, being comforted by two friends; Harry and Ron sitting at the table, looking sullen and pouty because they were too stupid to ask the right girl to begin with; when the girls all stand up at the first dance lesson, eager to get started, and the boys just slouch, looking at each other like, "No way."
So we finally get to see Voldemort... Not as impressive as I would have liked, with all the hissing and snarling, but I love that he was played by Ralph Fiennes
The costumes were lovely, the dancing was good, the choreography was nice, but it wasn't excellent. Small quibble perhaps, but I suppose I was expecting something a little more memorable. Not that it was bad, mind you, it just wasn't extraordinary. The only thing that was really impressive (apart from Dracula's jumps, which were incredibly high) was the music; I didn't really know Mahler before, but as the whole score was selections from his 1st, 2nd and 9th (I believe) symphonies, I got a large dose in one sitting. I like. Don't know if I'd listen to it very often, but it was certainly an appropriate choice for the material.
A minor disappointment was that the four comic-relief gargoyles from the first act didn't show up in the second one at all. This was somewhat offset by the fact that the pantomime that opened the second act was quite funny. ("AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH-- THUD") The little "red" interlude was interesting as well, with a neat costume concept (i.e. red underthings and boudoir-wear) and lovely dancing.
And last night, G and I finally went and saw the latest ! Amazingly enough, it's still playing in cinemas. I didn't think it was as good as the last one, though it was still very enjoyable. However, I really, really wish they'd do better computer animation. Honestly, it looked like they'd blown all their budget on the dragons (who didn't get all that much screen time, even!) and everything else just looked bad. And lord knows I'm not too picky about things like that. Also, to repeat my complaint about the centaurs in the first movie, why the hell are the merpeople so damn ugly? I get that they're supposed to look alien and not very human, but couldn't they have done a better job of it? At least give them more realistic skin. If not that, then get actual actors to put some makeup on and just film them from the waist up.
For some reason, I really didn't like Dumbledore in this movie. He seemed too blah, too devoid of personality, like he doesn't know what he's doing half the time; I don't know about you, but in the books he always gave me the opposite impression, that he may not know exactly what's going on, but once he does he knows the right thing to do.
And Neville, don't you just want to give him a hug? So cute at the Yule Ball. ^.^
The trouble, I think, is that there's too much going on. The movie has to remind us of all these different plot threads all the time, so that while the main story seems to be the Tournament, characters periodically mention something about Polyjuice potion, or the Death Eaters, or Voldemort, but nothing happens. It's worse at the end, when Cedric and Harry are running for the cup: you think, "One of them's going to win, then it'll be over." But wait! Now they have to face Voldemort! "Ah, Harry made it back to Hogwart's, it's over." But wait! What about Crouch Jr.?
The most entertaining bits were the ones of Harry-tachi just being teenagers, like at the Yule Ball. The little touches, like at the end of the evening when Hermione blows up at Ron and in the background, there's a girl sitting on the stairs, crying, being comforted by two friends; Harry and Ron sitting at the table, looking sullen and pouty because they were too stupid to ask the right girl to begin with; when the girls all stand up at the first dance lesson, eager to get started, and the boys just slouch, looking at each other like, "No way."
So we finally get to see Voldemort... Not as impressive as I would have liked, with all the hissing and snarling, but I love that he was played by Ralph Fiennes
