Tag: Metacritic Finally

bookmark_borderThe Goblet of Fire

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Movie info from IMDB
Movie reviews from Metacritic

Finally got some free time today and nipped to the cinema to catch the latest Harry Potter movie. Bloody glad we did too!

From the opening credits to the closing scenes this is a dark movie, much darker than the previous movie and all the better for it. The movie centres around a wizard tournament into which Harry finds himself mysteriously involved. Dangerous challenges abound and for the first time in this series of movies I found myself not noticing the CGI scenes as much as I did in the past.

The tone of the movie allowed the pace to high, moving from action sequence to action sequence with a little character development along the way. More back story, more side stories and the series becomes deeper and richer and now feels a lot more mature and well crafted than the first two movies did (the third was a marked improvement).

The teenage actors are still a bit wooden, but the supporting cast grows stronger and stronger and keeps things at a consistent level. And of course the appearance of the villain of the piece, finally, puts the marker down for the next three movies in the series. I sincerely hope they can keep the cast together for, if they were to change them now, it would lose a lot of the consistency they’ve managed to achieve already. You truly feel that you are a Muggle in the world of magic.

No comparisons with the book are required, I don’t think. The movies stand on their own as unique versions of a story, in the same way the Disney’s Cinderella is more fondly remembered than the story from which it came.

The Goblet of Fire is an altogether different movie from previous as it marks the turning point in the series, the overall feeling of foreboding and evil (well, nastiness at least) was well handled and didn’t venture into pantomime territory. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I’m pretty sure this one will stand up to some repeat viewings, there are better movies out at the moment but this one is worth a look.

bookmark_borderHHGTTG

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Movie info from IMDB
Movie revies from Metacritic

Finally saw the movie of the book that has been twenty years in the making. Initial impressions are favourable but with room for improvement.

The casting isn’t too bad, but I don’t think any of the actors did a particularly good job, although despite my hope Marvin was reduced to a few odd lines and the voice never really seemed to fit properly. I’m guessing the decision to focus on the blossoming love between Arthur and Trillian also had something to do with the odd pacing, with scenes zipping past one minute then slowing to a crawl the next.

If I’m honest I think that they held back too much, I think they could have pushed it a bit more and made it a 15 rating (or 12a or whatever the one in between is) I mean even the TV show featured the carcass of the recently deceased sperm whale. Now I come to think of it that’s more what this reminded me of, a well produced TV movie. It just seemed lacking in punch for a “hollywood” movie.

Still, large chunks of dialogue were kept intact, and there were some funny moments if never really hilarious. I deliberately tried NOT to refer to the book and on the whole I think it’s better than I thought it would be, although it did take me about 20 minutes to warm to it, even if they did miss out one of my favourite lines from the book: “The ship hung in the air much in the same way that bricks don’t.”

There are some nice nods to the aforementioned TV show and overall it’s not a bad movie. However looking at other book to movie conversions, Potter in particular, it does feel like a bit of a let down. If you haven’t read the books then I think you’ll still enjoy it, Louise did, just don’t expect a comedy romp, it’s far too quirkily British and wry to lower itself to that level.

Ohh and for fans of the book please note that: “The producers have stated that this film is not a literal translation of the books (just as the books were not a literal translation of the original radio show), but all of the new ideas and characters came from Douglas Adams himself. The hired writer simply came aboard to improve structure and make the screenplay more coherent.” according to the imdb.

Note: Despite having had advance warning we left as the credits started. A further entry to the guide awaits if you sit tight (or you can just read it here if you’ve already seen the movie)