Eye-roller of the day: Declaring war on "said"

[zil]

I choked on my food while reading this, from laughing so hard.  Funny thing is--I wasn't eating anything. 

 

Hmm.  Minister Said at work again!  (You know, he doesn't like chaplains - you should keep a low profile!)

 

(PS:: I'm glad you survived, but I have to go back to the bad joke thread now.)

Edited December 24, 2015 by zil

[zil]

Didn't Rowling do something very similar with Professor Umbridge?

 

I assume you're speaking of J. K. Rowling, but I've never read any of her books (have seen the Harry Potter movies that have been on free TV, but apparently wasn't paying close enough attention).

Edited December 24, 2015 by zil

[LeSellers]

I assume you're speaking of J. K. Rowling, but I've never read any of her books (have seen the Harry Potter movies that have been on free TV, but apparently wasn't paying close enough attention).

You're one I've been looking for.

How did you like the movies? (As movies, I mean, since you can't see the books in the films, your opinion is important to me.)

Please review those you recall, irrespective of your assumed lack of attention.

Lehi

[zil]

 

 

You're one I've been looking for.

 

Does your wife know you talk to other women like that? (for context, see other hotly contested thread on this site)

 

How did you like the movies? (As movies, I mean, since you can't see the books in the films, your opinion is important to me.)

 

I enjoyed them, but I still wouldn't choose to read the books*.  I love fantasy fiction (please start a new thread if you want to go there), but I stick to books set in universes where the magic is not incantations of spells, but rather a natural force which some people have the ability to control - also, the technology is nothing like modern Earth.  Get to close to occult practices (like incantation of spells) and I prefer to avoid it as potentially too close to Satan - whether it is or isn't; just my choice.

 

Can't say I felt any of that while watching the movies - they seemed harmless enough in that regard.

 

*IMO, there is a power in books that is not the same the power of movies.  Knowing full well that power, I choose not to test it in this case, just in case.

 

Please review those you recall, irrespective of your assumed lack of attention.

 

I'm not sure I'm capable.  Ask me about a book, and I can remember great detail.  I can also get it out and re-read while writing requested review (unless it was trash, I still own it; if it was trash, I can tell you why I put it in the trash).  Not so much with movies, and I don't own any of these - watched them over-the-air.

 

I remember scenes (can see still images in my head), but I'm not sure I even remember overall plot lines.  What sort of review are you looking for?  How well-made the movie was?  How good the acting was?  How good the script was?  (Clearly not whether they were true to the books.)

 

I remember sympathizing with the Harry Potter character in some ways (we all remember what isolation or being an outsider or being treated unfairly feels like).  Sorry, drawing a blank (been years, I think, since one was on TV).  Maybe more-specific questions would help.

[LeSellers]

Does your wife know you talk to other women like that? (for context, see other hotly contested thread on this site)

See trusts me (and with good reason).

I'm not sure I'm capable [of reviewing the Harry Potter movies].

…

I remember scenes (can see still images in my head), but I'm not sure I even remember overall plot lines.  What sort of review are you looking for?  How well-made the movie was?  How good the acting was?  How good the script was?  (Clearly not whether they were true to the books.)

 

I remember sympathizing with the Harry Potter character in some ways (we all remember what isolation or being an outsider or being treated unfairly feels like).  Sorry, drawing a blank (been years, I think, since one was on TV).  Maybe more-specific questions would help.

It's more about the scripts and the plots/story lines.

I'd ask more specific questions, but I really do not want to prejudice your thoughts.

Lehi

[zil]

It's more about the scripts and the plots/story lines.

I'd ask more specific questions, but I really do not want to prejudice your thoughts.

Hmm.  Well, unfortunately for me (or my time), between my post and yours, I remembered there's this thing called IMDB.  Of course, that won't help with the script.  Reading synopsis of movie 1 now...  (Needs a good editor; either the movie rambled a bit, or the synopsis needs an even better editor; I don't remember this bit: "the Sorcerer's Stone, which produces the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal" - which was probably critical.  Hmm. I see some silliness and an awfully convenient, not-revealed-until-it's-over protection spell from mom.)

 

Am I supposed to be seeing symbolism or parallels or something?

 

PS: It's highly unlikely you'd prejudice my thoughts, as I don't seem to have any beyond, "that was a reasonably enjoyable way to spend 2 hours".

 

I'm now going to go enjoy breakfast part 2.  Then I'll read the synopsis of the Chamber of Secrets movie...

[zil]

Chamber of Secrets: Maybe it's the way the synopsis is written, but boy were there a lot of conveniences built into that story.

 

"Diagon Alley"  really?  I hope this is meant to be silly.

[zil]

Prisoner of Azkaban: Really? An "admission slip".  I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Emma Thompson's acting, regardless of anything else about the movie.  I remember Alan Rickman as Professor Snape was really good at being unlikable (but his characters often are).

 

Oh my, did they all have such convenient contrivances to solve plot problems?

 

I'm bored with Harry Potter now, and am off to continue my L.E. Modesitt, Jr. book.

[LeSellers]

"Diagon Alley"  really?  I hope this is meant to be silly.

Yes, it probably was.

Just as the mirror of "Erised" is "desire" in reverse, and Knockturn Alley is "nocturnally" (dark arts).

Rowling has said that she believes naming her actors (and presumably other elements in the stories) top be key.

Lehi

[zil]

She's right, names are vital.  In this case, as long as she intended them to be over-the-top in a fun way, she was right on target.  (If it wasn't her intention, well, too late now.) :)

[LeSellers]

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Emma Thompson's acting, regardless of anything else about the movie.

While I really liked Hermione, of the three main characters, I believe Rupert Grint's Ron Weasley was the best-played of the lot.

Of the primary supporting characters, I believe Luna Lovegood may have been the best.

But my question is about the story line. Even knowing the story/ies, (or perhaps because of it), the movies seemed incomplete, disjointed, and weak. It's just not possible to put a 1,000 page book into a two-hour movie, or even two, two-hour movies. So much is missing.

In the same vein, I really miss Tom Bombadill in theLord of the Rings (both the movies and the radio play from the BBC). He gave the story a certain "beyond time" aspect that makes the plot a subplot of an eternal story: good is eternal (which means that evil, too, is eternal).

Lehi

Edited December 24, 2015 by LeSellers

[zil]

But my question is about the story line. Even knowing the story/ies, (or perhaps because of it), the movies seemed incomplete, disjointed, and weak. It's just not possible to put a 1,000 page book into a two-hour movie, or even two, two-hour movies. So much is missing.

 

That may be why reading the synopses made the stories seem to wander, and why I don't really remember the storylines well without the synopses (and even then, I appear to have completely missed some bits).

 

Well-written books are always better than the movie, unless, perhaps, you're like one of my friends (the only person I know, as far as I know, who suffers from this) - she doesn't see any images at all in her mind as she reads, there's only the words.  I cannot imagine not imagining the story.  There are images in my mind from books I've read that are as clear as any movie scene - to the point where, for some of them, I'm not sure whether I've seen a movie of the book.

 

And length is a problem with nearly all fantasy novels.  Some of my friends go wide-eyed when I tell them I like 900-page-long books, and that I have series which take up 2 - 2.5 feet of bookshelf - and really, those are just one long story.  How in the world do you make that into a movie?  (Answer: By reading it and letting your imagination free. :) )

[Backroads]

Zil, I'm like your friend: I rarely have images, I just process words into ideas as I read, and my mother is the same way.

[zil]

Zil, I'm like your friend: I rarely have images, I just process words into ideas as I read, and my mother is the same way.

 

That sounds downright tragic to me. :)  I suppose if you've never known different, then you just enjoy books in your own way.  I can't imagine it.

[LeSellers]

Zil, I'm like your friend: I rarely have images, I just process words into ideas as I read, and my mother is the same way.

I, too, do not "see images". But it's not just words: I am totally in the experience. I am Harry Potter (or Hermione, or Ron, or Hagrid, or whoever is the "speaking" character). The scenery is three-dimensional. The sounds are stereophonic (or more).

Of course, it's different when I'm reading a technical document, or a science text, but history is literally alive (if the book is decent), and even atlases are the real world.

It's the same with scripture: I build ships with Nephi, kill Absolom, eat the forbidden fruit.

I read at least 1,000 wpm, and sometimes 2k.

Thank the Lord that my mother fought with the schools and kept me out of a look-say (aka whole language) reading class, and really taught me herself. And praise be to Him for Antonie van Leeuwenhoek,master lens grinder.

Lehi