I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night. I wasn't so excited about the movie that I had gotten tickets in advance; a friend* had an extra and asked if I wanted to go. Sure, why not?
The theater was crowded, as expected. We got there early enough that we found seats together - I even got the aisle (my preferred seating if the theater is packed). Not that any of this is important. There wasn't anything especially interesting trailer-wise. I'm still not sure how I feel about this Sherlock Holmes movie coming out around Christmas. It seems a bit too splosiony.
On to the movie. Visually, the movie was stunning. The colors were amazing and dreamy. There is definitely a thicker thread of darkness woven through this story, anyone who has read the books knows this. Unfortunately, the movie felt choppy and disjointed. The Lavender-Ron ickiness was pretty funny, though I personally think Rupert Grint is a bit too goofy-looking to inspire such maniacal devotion.** But what do I know? The first half to two-thirds of the movie leaned on the comedy, probably to make up for the death and unhappiness in the last part. Jim Broadbent was excellent as Prof. Slughorn and Alan Rickman did his usual creepy awesomeness as Snape. Though the subject material doesn't leave much room for the actors to stretch, Daniel Radcliffe did manage to add some dimension to Harry. Still young and uncertain, but trying very hard to grow up and face his destiny. I may be biased because I had the squirmy urge throughout the film to bite on Radcliffe's stubborn little chin (What? He's 19).
Dumbledore's death didn't really have much emotional impact for me. I'll admit that I flinched a bit when Snape Avada Kedavra'd Dumbledore, but I wasn't even close to tears during the weird "wands-aloft" scene. It's been a while since I've read the book, but I think that Dumbledore's funeral, as written, would have had more emotional impact. Not to mention, it's also where Ron and Hermione grow closer and Harry has his conversation with Ginny about searching for the remaining Horcruxes. The scene in the tower was just awkward.
It probably seems like I hated the movie, but I didn't. Knowing the story ahead of time, not to mention knowing how the whole shebang ends, makes the movie-going experience a little less...something.
This isn't all about Harry, though. I read an article yesterday about France and Sunday shopping. Apparently there has been a law on the books for around 100 years that makes Sunday a mandatory day of rest in France. Had no idea. Anyway, it looks like there are going to be more stores open on Sundays and some Frenchies are pissed. They say that having shopping (or trading) available on Sundays makes materialism more important than family values. I say, don't bloody well go shopping then. Just because the stores are open doesn't mean your government is going to march you out and make you buy shoes. Stay home, chill with your family, have a nice lunch. If you do that, then you can look down your aquiline French sniffer at the base consumers who decide that wandering around the shops on Sunday is a nice way to spend an afternoon.
But get this: workers can refuse Sunday hours. And in certain cities (Paris, for one) will get double OT for working Sundays. So, optional Sunday hours and double OT to boot. That actually sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Work a couple of weeks of Sundays and you could have enough money to take a trip to America where we are open 24-hrs a day, 7 days a week. Suck on that.
*The friend I went to see the movie with made comments during the film in something approaching her normal speaking volume. Very annoying and exceptionally noticeable as the theater was remarkably quiet for being 95% full. I did shush her at one point, but it didn't take. **Also, Rupert Grint is far more attractive in the EW photo spread I just looked through. They must do something to goofify him for the movies. Poor ginger dude.
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