"Hello, darling. Fancy a drink?"

I finally watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'll admit, I spent the first 10 minutes trying to remember what the heck happened in the first 5 books/movies and if I had even seen the 5th movie (I know, my memory fails).

Overall, the movie was good if you don't compare it to the book. I think this is fairly obvious since the majority of movies-adapted-from-books don't seem as good if you've read the book first. Of course, seeing as I have read the books, it's kind of a given that I would unintentionally make comparisons. But I really only have two beefs with the movie. One is that the movie is much more tame than the book in terms of action. This is understandable because there are time constraints, general flow of the movie, potential of overloading/confusing the audience, etc to keep in mind.
The other is that there is so much (too much, imo) emphasis placed on the personal relationships of the characters. Yeah, it makes for some great scenes but I found that it took away from the overarching plot line of "Harry Potter trying to kill Voldemort". It almost lightened the movie a bit too much when it should be a mostly dark, depressing film.
(Just for the record, I don't remember the books. If I remember correctly, J.K. Rowling did spend a significant amount of time developing the personal relationships but think about it in terms of percentages.)

One thing that I was really impressed with was the cinematography. The shots were amazing; the composition, the detail, the feel... if nothing else, this alone would have made it a good movie. And even though he didn't play a huge part in this movie, I was probably the most impressed with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) cast-wise.

I enjoy the Harry Potter movies, I really do. But I think that anybody would benefit greatly from reading the books, even after watching them (I think I read the first book only after I watched the movie). For one thing, the books are great. And I find that reading the books, either before or after, makes everything fall into place that much more cleanly.

On a side note, the LEGO Harry Potter game looks ridiculously cute. And I would like to visit the Harry Potter theme park in Florida if I ever get the chance. Previews are a wonderfully great marketing tool.

Listening to right now: SS501 - Unlock

P.S. I chose probably one of the most trivial quotes from the entire movie as my title, lol.

Automatic fail

Because the trailer for the newest Harry Potter movie has been released and I have yet to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Even worse, it's actually been sitting on my desk for the last month or so, patiently waiting for me to find the motivation time to watch it.

And also because for some odd reason I thought that Half-Blood Prince was split into two parts just like Deathly Hollows.

And finally, because I do not remember what happened in the books aside from overall plot line. :(

Thank heavens for Wikipedia. I have roughly half a year to reacquaint myself with the first half of the last book.

The trailer for Deathly Hallows: Part I looks pretty good though. And the two parts supposedly aren't going to be released that far apart which is nice.

Listening to right now: FLOPPY - everything

How about a shave?

Just got done watching the movie "Sweeney Todd" and although I'm not one for musicals, I really liked it. Johnny Depp is, as usual, awesome. I was surprised (and quite amused) that he had never sung before and that even while the sets were being made and the ball was already rolling... no one had ever heard him sing before. Talk about leaving things up to chance.

Ordinarily I can comment more on a movie, especially if I've really like it but there's not really much I can say about "Sweeney Todd". I thought the cinematography was great, and the singing was good too, especially considering the fact that the main actors weren't professional singers. It didn't drag on or bore me at any point, in fact there were a lot of moments when I was literally leaning forward in anticipation. I suppose it helped that I had no idea what was supposed to happen... I knew the gist of the storyline before watching the movie but I had never read up on it or the play to know any specifics.

I also don't really have anything to say about the play versus the movie adaptation seeing as I've never seen the play (and in all honesty, the awesomeness of plays is pretty much lost on me simply because I've never been to even one), plus different adaptations can be good in their own ways and will always have their strong points and shortcomings depending on the form that they take (book versus movie versus play, etc).

All I can say is, the movie is definitely worth watching. Especially if you want more proof that to convince a man to do anything, just appeal to his pimp side.

Listening to right now: Johnny Depp - Epiphany [Sweeney Todd]

"Oh my god, I feel like I just found out that my favourite love song was written about a sandwich."

In a continued Herculean effort to stop wasting money every month on Netflix and actually borrow a worthwhile number of movies, I watched 27 Dresses last night. It wasn't bad, actually. Typical romantic comedy where you can see who gets together with whom a mile away but then again, that's the charm of romantic comedies, right? I, for one, happen to like cheesy romantic comedies because my own love life sucks so bad they're light-hearted and usually fairly shallow, therefore require very little thinking. I really liked James Marsden's character, and the witty banter had its highly amusing moments (see this post title). I also watched all the special features, etc that were included on the DVD (gotta get my money's worth) and I gotta say, a couple of those bridesmaid's dresses weren't half-bad, despite the director saying that the costume designer was supposed to find the ugliest dresses in existence. Makes me question my own her fashion sense.

Also been hearing a lot about Kim Hyun Joong's controversy that stemmed from his attendance at the former South Korean president's birthday celebration. I don't feel like ranting a whole lot on his situation and everyone's reactions (including his own) but I will say this. Fangirls are annoying. Off-topic? Not so much. I dislike the fans who will defend their idol's actions and remove all blame from said idol as if he/she can do no wrong. Judging from what I've read about this former president (and I am in no way even pretending to know a thing about Korean history), it was a big deal that Kim Hyun Joong was at his birthday celebration and congratulated him. Saying that "he's an idol, not a politician" is a weak argument. Just because he's an idol doesn't mean that he's devoid of political opinion. And just because he's the oh-so-awesome Kim Hyun Joong does not mean that "he couldn't have been there intentionally" (even though it turned out that he wasn't there intentionally... but I'm targeting those who said this even before that fact came to light). And even though he was understandably upset at the controversy that his appearance caused, Kim Hyun Joong (based on the translated message that he posted on DSP website) should know that as such a popular entertainer, obviously people would jump on his back about this. As an idol, he should almost expect it. I mean, come on, haven't we heard enough accounts about how ruthless netizens and anti-fans can be?
And on a final note, to those who kept saying that him showing up at this guy's birthday party and congratulating him was no big deal and why is there this huge controversy, etc etc (historical background aside)... the sheer fact that numerous news articles came out about it obviously shows that there was more to it than it being "some dude's birthday party". And slightly off-topic, just because you don't see why a controversy in another country/culture is a controversy doesn't mean that it's not a valid one. Different culture, different values, and no, yours is not the better one.

Did I say that I wasn't going to rant a whole lot about this? ><

Listening to right now: Tim - 사랑합니다

Is the shiz, homeskillet

So I finally got around to watching Juno which I've been meaning to watch since September last year. It was pretty good, very witty and amusing, and at times touching. I liked the dialogue as unrealistic as it probably is (or maybe people really do talk like that and I just don't know about it), and I think Ellen Page did a great job as Juno.

I also recently watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which was also really good. Of course, having Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, and Jude Law all at once in the same movie (sorry, not a Colin Farrell fan) is drool-worthy but that aside, I really liked the cinematography etc. There were a couple of things that I didn't think were too clear in the movie but 1) I don't remember them, 2) they didn't detract from the overall film and 3) they probably didn't matter anyway.

And last but not least, I just started watching a 2006 Japanese drama called クロサギ [Kurosagi] which stars Yamashita Tomohisa and Horikita Maki, both of whom starred in 野ブタ。をプロデュース [Nobuta wo Produce]. I liked Yamashita Tomohisa when I saw him in Nobuta wo Produce and seeing him again in Kurosagi makes me want to watch all of his dramas and movies. I'm not a big fan of his music (either solo or NEWS) but I think his acting is really good. He adds a nice quirky twist to his characters (at least the ones I've seen so far) and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work as an actor. It also helps that he's HOT.

Listening to now: Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless