Pop culture

[vr_trakowski]

I've seen several films lately. 

At the risk of offending some of my flist, Thor was a complete waste of celluloid, or whatever they're storing it on these days.  I do hope this does not screw up The Avengers.  Coulson was the only decent part of that film, and I don't even like him much.  

I have now, in rapid succession, seen all the Harry Potter movies.  I maintain that the first few are inevitably silly, given the framework of the books, but I enjoyed bits of Goblet of Fire and was unexpectedly--and inexplicably--fascinated by the first Deathly Hallows.  Perhaps because the trio is finally starting to act like budding adults--perhaps because it breaks out of the Hogwarts pattern.  

But they are clearly made for fans of the books.  Way too much was left out (I've read only one or two, and not in years) and characters popped up, were seen briefly, and disappeared without history being given, which makes no sense in the context of the films alone.  Who is this Tonks person, for instance?*  Or the weaselly little fellow who pinched the locket? 

Which isn't to say they're not enjoyable.  I was interested enough to see the final one in the theater, after all.  The soundtracks are magnificent, the special effects mostly seamless (dragon!), and a lot of the acting is quite good.  I'm particularly impressed with the main three, who do a terrific job of carrying the characters through so much and through such a changing time of their own, and I'm deeply amused by Gred and Forge, though Ginny can't express an emotion to save her life. 

I also ended up feeling sorry for Draco Malfoy, who managed to miss being either a hero or a decent villain and ended up a sort of wimp.  Not that he didn't behave decently in some places, and in fact his back-and-forthing is in a way much more realistic than everybody else's determination, but from the beginning he felt set up to be a solid enemy and instead just became an annoyance. 

My favorite moment is evenly divided between Snape setting his cuffs to smack the boys and Harry hopped up on luck serum.  The runner-up is Harry backed into a tree by Hermione in a rage--the most powerful wizard around clearly knows his superior when he sees her.  *snerk* 

On a completely different note, why doesn't soda go bad once the bottle is opened?  Seems to me it should at least ferment. 




*Don't bother answering, the questions are rhetorical.  Wikipedia can be quite useful. 

Comments

Soda

[aspidites.livejournal.com]

Although with sugar levels that high you'd expect fermentation ("With the salmon, I suggest Chateau Mt. Dew 1993 - a piquant vintage with hints of citrus and Yellow Dye #5"), I think it's all the *other* stuff in soda that keeps it from going off... yeast is a finicky critter.

But now I want to set up some experiments with various sodas and a few different strains of wine-making yeast... wonder if I could get anyone to taste-test the results is I did?

Re: Soda

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

*snerk* Go for it, sounds interesting at the very least! I am envisioning explosions.

:D

[vespertinesoul.livejournal.com]

This made me LOL vigorously!
I totally agree with you aboutThor, watched it last night for the first time, can't even begin to list all that was wrong about it.

Snape rolling his cuffs - EPIC moment!

As forThe Avengers, I'm so hyped, and keep praying that teen-bopping J.Whedon is not gonna make a flop of gargantuan proportions.
But seeing how Tony will be there, it should be good (for me) either way, and Mark Ruffalo is great, so even if the plot sucks and the movie overall turns out to be as much celluloid waste asThor, at least we get to see some great people again!

Re: :D

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Since I admire Mr. Whedon for Firefly/Serenity if nothing else, I maintain some hope. Plus, as you say, Tony!

Mr. Rickman, now, was clearly having way too much fun with the character.

[mingsmommy.livejournal.com]

I read all the books and saw all the movies and while I loved the movies, the books, as is often the case, were so much richer.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course! And I'm now re-reading the books (a reverse of my usual method, but I wanted to fix the faces in my head). I'll see how far I get. This whole movie-from-a-best-beloved-series thing is really a newer phenomenon when one thinks about it--only been going on a decade or so...

[katrinb.livejournal.com]

Now, now. Thor had at least one good point, and that was the fact that he took every possible opportunity to walk around shirtless.

[vespertinesoul.livejournal.com]

on second thoughts yep, that's probably the film's only redeeming quality. Nummy Hemingsworth

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'm afraid blonds rarely do a thing for me. And I like my men less muscled.

But to each their own, and it's always nice to see fanservice for someone other than the heterosexual males, or in addition to.

[vespertinesoul.livejournal.com]

Well, it was only to give the movie this one tiny thing to go on. Me, I'm more of a ... Robert Downey kinda gal - Johnny Depp may be fine and all, but Robert has something I like to call:

The Smoulder.

nuff said ;)

*sighs over collection of RDJ pics*

:D

[k9paw.livejournal.com]

I wasn't expecting much from Thor, now it was pretty 'thin' fare however if I put my brain on low altitude and didn't try and read any depth at all into it, I was OK with it. I'm not big on blondes or muscle like Thor either but he did rock those Levi jeans! LOL ;)
HP, I too found the first few book and movies a bit sweet for my taste but things did get darker and eventually you had something tangy to chew on. Alan's Snape was brilliant!