It may well be that the movie benefits from not reading the book. Since Dargis' review -- aside from that Fiennes thing -- pretty well jibed with my reading of the book, I took it to be a pretty faithful adaptation.I got through the books so I could discuss them with my spouse, who likes them. I'll get through the movies when the Little Anachronism is old enough for them, and then mostly so that I can describe the action to my spouse. I suppose it's nice to know that there's something to look forward to near the end....
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Comment Elsewhere: Harry Potter's Sixth Movie
In response to Scott Kaufman's positive review of the latest installment, I said
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4 comments:
not a shred of sarcasm in you ever. daunting.
Thanks!
Well, I have to admit that in my world, the books are much better than the movies.
Not because the books are well-written (they ain't) but because my imagination is up to the challenge.
In fact, color-tinting a too-pedestrian world as I skate through the pages of the book takes me back to my childhood when most of the books I read required active participation, an active imagination, and a dollop of brains. (The "Juvenile" literature of my youth tended toward minimalism.)
In any case, the post you linked to lost credibility with me when the author failed to acknowledge the heavy-handed symbolism of the later movies. (Clock! GIANT pendulum! Ticking! Wow! I wonder if this movie is about time?)
Rhapsodies about cinematic genius aside, the later movies stood out in my mind mostly for being shallow and obvious. For mistaking a dark scene set as "atmosphere." For hoping that gimmicky 3-D scenes would distract the viewers from the essential lack of anything happening on-screen.
Bah.
Just, you know, IMO. :)
Anne
http://annezook.com
Since I haven't seen any of the movies since the first one -- I think -- I don't actually have a strong opinion here. There are very few cases where movies actually improve literary material (they can improve really bad stuff, by changing it, though), and for the most part movies oversimplify everything in translation. But I did love the comment over there by the person who said that the movie was changed substantially after they ran it for some test audiences. Talk about the death of art.....
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