Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Posted by Lanea on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
No spoilers–don’t worry.
Scott and I attempted to see a matinee on Saturday, and had to buy tickets for an evening show because the theater was so crowded. It was worth the aggravation. We ended up with an audience of teens, older kids, and adults. I expect the 2:00 showing had too much screaming. We had a few knitters, a few readers, and a respectful, engaged audience. Ooh, and some of the folks in our theater were using reflectors, which means that our local theater is providing captions for audience members. I hope this is becoming more common around the country.
This is the most adult film in the series so far, and I think the best stand-alone film. Perish the thought, but there are people who don’t read the books, and this movie will please them.
The central trio has grown into the roles a bit, though Watson and Radcliffe could both stand to take a page from Grint’s book and, you know, try to approach human facial expressions a bit more naturally. Despite a lack of acting experience, each in the trio remains likable and fun to watch, so I have no real complaints about their work. This film adds Brendan Gleeson, a personal favorite, as Mad-Eye Moody. It’s a great performance. And we get a touch of Miranda Richardson, everyone’s favorite Queenie, as Rita Skeeter. We don’t get quite enough of Skeeter this time around, but that’s to be expected. And Ralph Feinnes does a fantastic job, but we knew he would. He’s been playing lots of bad guys lately, and he knows how to use his voice to be frightening.
The filmmakers removed a great deal of material, but we knew they would. Long novels don’t make it onto the screen with every page in tact. Apart from that, my only real complaint is that the CGI for the mer-people looks like crap. Quit with the unnecessary CGI, people–if it looks bad, don’t use it. You can put PEOPLE in COSTUMES and have them act–I swear it works. And since Hollywood keeps giving acting jobs to singers, you can find some talented actors and costume designers for reasonable prices.
Filed in Film | 4 responses so far
Melissaon 23 Nov 2005 at 8:07 am 1I haven’t seen the film, but that is totally cool about the captions! I know from working in the television closed-captioning industry that there’s been a huge push to get captions into movie theaters, and it’s wonderful to know that it’s working, and bringing the hearing impaired to the theaters.
Lollyon 23 Nov 2005 at 9:51 am 2Oh, I can’t wait to see it! I am going to do so this weekend… I have waited long enough!
Yvonneon 27 Nov 2005 at 8:07 pm 3I didn’t know about Mopix. Thanks for spreading the word. I took my daughter (deaf) to see HP open captioned at a theater last week. Open captions are shown on the bottom of the screen and can be seen by everyone in the theater. Mopix gives us another option. I’ve bookmarked theaters in our area that have it. Thanks again!
Jenon 28 Nov 2005 at 10:59 am 4We’re going to see it today! Can’t wait! Thanks for the info about Mopix. I have a hearing loss and keep the captions on at home, so movies in the theater can sometimes be a pain. I’m looking for theaters with captioning!