eor

When I read the Harry Potter books, I wasn't a Luna Lovegood fan. To me, the character felt two dimmensional and like a caricature. Even if she was well portrayed in the books, I probably wouldn't have been a wild fan. The character in the book is just too diametrical opposed to my outlook on life.

But then I saw the "Order of the Phoenix" movie. I thought the movie gave Luna much more depth and character. I walked out of the movie liking Luna and admiring her.

In each of the last three movies Luna has gotten into a scene or two at most. But Evanna Lynch has completely blown away those scenes. I'm sure some credit goes to good direction and editing. But in posture, tone, body language, pauses, Evanna writes volumes that never would make it onto the screen otherwise. If every actor could do the same, movies would be half as long, have eight times the content, and a quarter of the explosions.

Evanna Lynch, thank you for your excellent work.

derien and I watched "Hogfather" last night. Man, I didn't know it was that long a movie! I'm glad it was, because it was fun, but I wished we'd started a little earlier in the day. It did nothing to extinguish the flames of my passion for Susan. The governess outfit and the coat that you see at the end were so perfect! The monster in the basement bit was my favorite in the book and it was well played in the movie.

I didn't like the movie version of Nobby. Sorry, if you're going to make crooked teeth the mainstay of the character make them dirty! Nobby shined way too much and had too few dents. Ponder seemed too thin and Potterlike. I like my ponders plump and white like a marshmallow. Too much exercise ruins a Ponder. I liked how the rest of the wizards acted in ensemble scenes (around the bath for instance). The simultaneous movements and expression changes created that feeling of confusion, indecision, difference, and similarity. It didn't come across as well in the scene with the Ohgod of Hangovers.

Oh, I adore the hogs that pull the sleigh. They just rock their chubby little bad attitude world.

This was definitely an British movie. It never would have flown in Hollywood. It started out slow and ponderous, didn't have near enough flash, didn't drop into slow mo. It was very refreshing.

We went to see "Order of the Phoenix" with littleredhead and groundctrl on Friday night. derien and I ended up talking about the movie and the upcoming book until midnight.

( No real specific spoilers, but general stuff about the movie, which you might not want to know before you see it. )