Random EPICness

Harry Potter and the Minor Differences

I’ve watched Deathly Hallows part 2 twice now. It was an EPIC movie and a great ending to the series. Filled with epic battles and emotional scenes. The movie took a lot of liberties with the book though, changed some scenes, added new ones, removed some. But I thought that almost all those changes were the right choices and actually made the movie better.

(Spoilers ahead!)

• Ollivander knew about the Deathly Hallows. In the book he didn’t. But I understand the reason behind the change. Someone had to remind the audience what the Deathly Hallows were. Part 1 was 8 months ago!
• The Aberforth-Dumbledore-Ariana tragic story wasn’t fully mentioned. It’s fine for me. Those were extra information not really adding to the plot anyway (in the context of the movie).
• Extended Chamber of Secrets scene where Ron and Hermione destroyed the cup. I think this was a great addition. I was pleasantly surprised when they showed that scene. And I actually think the kiss taking place just after they destroyed it instead alone in the Chamber is actually better than the version in the book.
• Voldemort and Harry feels whenever a Horcrux is destroyed. In the book, neither of them knows when a Horcrux is destroyed. They don’t feel a thing. I guess the movie tried to make each destruction of a Horcrux dramatic and eventful. Plus it’s a way of explaining that those are parts of Voldemort’s souls and that each Horcrux destroyed makes him more vulnerable.
• The Prince’s Tale. This is the only part I was a bit disappointed with. I don’t mind the movie showing Snape at Gordric’s Hollow after Harry’s parent’s were murdered (it’s not in the book). Snape hugging Lily was a nice heartstrings-pulling touch. I’m just a bit disappointed that they omitted all the Snape and Lily parts at Hogwarts. It’s more complicated than Snape-loves-Lily-but-Lily-chooses-James. All those parts about how he hated and envied James Potter and those arguments with Lily were never explored in the movie. Also, nitpicking a bit too much but I just wished the part where Snape angrily yells at Dumbledore “FOR HIM!!? EXPECTO PATRONUM!” could have been done a bit better. I always imagined him screaming that line in pain and anguish before he said that sad famous word, “Always”.
• No Dumbledore portrait giving Snape instructions in the movie. I actually liked this. I’ve always felt that a talking, intelligent portrait giving instructions after the person has died was kind of a plot hole. So it was good that the movie removed that. Only slight problem is of course, now we don’t know how Snape knew to leave the Sword of Griffindor at the forest, or how he found their location in the first place.
• The Diadem was destroyed by a Basilisk fang instead of in the fire. This is a great alteration. You know why? Because I’ve always thought that Crabbe being able to cast a spell which could destroy Horcruxes was also plot hole. Seriously? Crabbe can cast a spell Hermione can’t? However dark the magic is, Hermione should know if Crabbe can cast it.
• Harry announcing to Hermione and Ron that he was going to face Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest instead of sneaking out. Fine by me. Although, not wearing the cloak meant that he didn’t have all 3 Deathly Hallows when he faced Voldemort, right?
• Harry leaped out of Hagrid and stopped feigning death in front of everyone. Not a big deal for me.
• No Centaurs! I actually wanted to see the Centaurs tho. There were the spiders and giants but no centaurs joining the fight. Oh well.
• Extended/slightly different Neville killing Nagini scene. I liked the movie version better.
• The Harry and Voldemort fight. Again I liked the movie version more. It was epic. In the book, they were fighting inside the hall with everyone watching (and strangely not doing anything to help). Here it’s just by themselves, how it should be. And Voldemort exploded instead of a body remaining. Well, who cares, the movie version is more dramatic!
• Harry breaks the Elder Wand in half. Don’t mind him destroying it. I just wished he had repaired his old wand first though. Does that mean he continued using Draco’s wand?

I know there are a few other things I have missed but this is all I can think of for now. Overall, yes the movie changed some things but most of them were understandable and some of them actually improved on the book.

The Harry Potter movies

The 2nd part of the Harry Potter post. just my opinions on the movies.

1. The Sorcerer’s Stone

When I first watched this I was actually quite disappointed. I felt that there were so many scenes and details left out. Watched with my dad who never read the books and he didn’t understand what was going on. I also felt that Daniel Radcliffe wasn’t a convincing actor (he’s vastly improved since then). But after watching this again years later, I actually think it’s not bad. It’s a pretty good first HP movie.

2. Chamber of Secrets

I really liked this when I watched it and I would still put this in my top 3 favorites of the HP movies. That final scene with the Basilisk is still quite memorable. And I also felt that even non-HP readers could follow this movie perfectly.

3. Prisoner of Azkaban

Many people say that it’s their favorite HP movie but I disagree. I loved that dark cinematic style of the movie and the way the Dementors were portrayed was awesome. But there were a lot of things I didn’t like or I felt were left out from the book. Also the way Sirius Black turned out to be a good guy just seemed a lot more sudden and unexplained. I don’t know, just felt the book did it better. I have to say though, that Time Turner scene is one of my favorite scenes of the HP series.

4. Goblet of Fire

Probably my favorite HP movie (Deathly Hallows part 1 is a competitor of that title tho). It had action, had all the important parts from the book, it had funny scenes (that Moaning Myrtle scene for example) and it had DRAGONS (fact: dragons are awesome). It’s just a solid HP movie for me.

5. Order of the Phoenix

My God, the worst HP movie. I didn’t really like the book that much either so maybe that didn’t help. When I first watched it, I didn’t like it. I watched it again a few days later, still didn’t like it. I watched it years later in anticipation of the 6th film, STILL didn’t like it. It was just… boring. David Yates’ style is not for everyone. Lots of awkward silences and stares. Not much action. Weird scene transitions and things aren’t explained properly. And I didn’t really like Cho Chang either.

6. The Half-Blood Prince

I was really worried about David Yates being the director for the rest of the films. But he redeemed himself with this one I think. Some people didn’t like it, but I enjoyed it. Lavender Brown was hilarious. Kudos to the actress. She really made the movie enjoyable. Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were just a bore. Just awkward silences. No chemistry between the actors. Ginny is a lot more fun in the books but in the movie she’s just boring. Don’t know if it’s the actress or the Director’s fault. One thing that I think could have been improved (other than making the Ginny-Harry relationship less boring) is the revelation of the Half-Blood Prince’s identity (which is a big moment). Didn’t even explain about how he knew Harry had the book.

7. The Deathly Hallows part 1

Really loved it. From beginning to end. It’s my favorite book so I knew pretty much all the lines and scenes. And the movie was true to the book. And the story of the Three Brothers? Man that animation was amazingly well done. The only problem with the movie is that it’s pretty much incomprehensible to people who haven’t read the book. I just wished little lines of dialogues or scenes could have been placed that explained some things a bit more. Like the broken mirror Harry keeps looking at for example. Even as a HP fan, I had a hard time recalling what it was. Just a simple dialogue would have explained it for non-HP readers. (Hermione/Ron: “Hey Harry, what’s that shard of mirror you keep looking at?” HP: “Nothing… Just a memento from Sirius. I just thought I saw something in it…”) But I think David Yates made this for the fans. Most of the previous movies tried to appease both the HP fans and the movie goers who haven’t read a single book. This one was only for the fans.

8. The Death Hallows part 2

Watching this Friday. Should be epic. I just hope the director didn’t change a lot of major things. There were a lot of stuff in the trailer that confused many HP fans (the Voldy-Harry hug, for example).

For me, as long as they don’t screw up the amazing/shocking/sad Prince’s Tale (it’s hands down my favorite chapter of the entire series), I’ll be happy. If they did somehow screw it up, like if they made it a short flashback like in the Order of Phoenix (when Harry accidentally accessed Snape’s memory), I’d be pissed.

Well, these are just my opinions.

Like the movie tagline says, It All Ends this Friday.

Some thoughts on Harry Potter

I’m gonna be really sad when I’ve watched the final Harry Potter movie. It was bittersweet when the Deathly Hallows book came out in 2007. I tried to read it as slow as possible (it wasn’t easy) because I really didn’t want the Harry Potter adventure to end. But I took comfort in the fact that the movies were still not over and that I had much to look forward to. And now the last movie is coming out later this week and it’s all really about to end.

I was 11 years old when I read the first book. I remember my mom sorta forced me to read it. She said that it was really popular and that I should read it. I begrudgingly started reading it. English isn’t my first language and I wasn’t used to reading novels. The first chapter confused the heck outta me. There were owls, muggles and wizards celebrating on the streets and mentioned a cat reading a newspaper or something. It was very descriptive and took me a long time to read. I put it down after that. It was only after a while when my cousin started reading the book and kept saying how great it was that I tried it one more time. I picked up from chapter 2 and was forever hooked. I’ve read many other books since then but for me, Harry Potter is still the best page turner.

Now over a decade later, the Harry Potter adventure is finally going to be concluded with the release of the final movie. If there’s one thing I’m glad about being part of this generation is that we grew up with Harry. We had to wait year after year for a new book to come out. We speculated with friends about the mysteries of Hogwarts. We read and re-read the books again and again as we impatiently waited for the next one. We looked enviously at friends who got the latest book a few days earlier than us. And finally when we got the book, we wouldn’t go out for a week. Just one more chapter and I’m going to sleep. And we slept thinking about the next chapter. It was hard to pry our eyes away from the book and stop turning the pages. And at the same time, it was bittersweet to see the thickness of pages after the bookmark become thinner and thinner. It was especially true for the last book.

It won’t be the same for the next generation. The movies are out already. Kids would probably watch the movies first before reading those daunting thick books. And of course there’s the influence of some “haters” online who don’t want to be associated with Harry Potter (thankfully, these haters are a minority). Just watch the FineBros’ Kids React to Harry Potter and see what kids today feel about Harry Potter. Not all of them are as ecstatic about Harry Potter as you might hope.

So yeah, I just felt like writing something about Harry Potter. I tend to get this HP fever when there’s going to be a release of a new book or movie. Must be the Harry Potter magic.

Deathly Hallows part 1

Wow.. long time no blog. Been busy… sorta.

I just have to say, I watched Deathly Hallows part 1 last night and loved it. I felt some of the camping/forest scenes were a bit too draggy and slow but that’s my only major gripe. There were a lot more positives than negatives. The movie stayed true to the book and only modified/cut off scenes that were unecessary.

From that haunting opening scene with Hermionie and her parents to the final cliffhanger with Voldemort, I loved it.

Wacky Google Suggestions

Google Hates Twilight

I have nothing against Twilight but… Dang, there is barely anything positive Google has to say about it:

Taylor Lautner got the fewest negative suggestions, but that’s not saying much:

What can I say? The web’s full of haters. There is something positive here though:

WIN. XD