CoS: things that make me cringe (Part 1)

[vincentjh]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "GulPlum" <plumeski at y...> wrote:
> 
> The opening sequence with Harry looking through the photo album and 
> talking to Hedwig. Radcliffe's worst acting in the movie, which 
> should have been redone, as it sets the tone for what follows, 
> slightly unjustly, as he does get (slightly) better during the 
movie 
> shoot. As it happens, unlike some people, I don't think that 
> Radcliffe's scenes with Dobby were *that* bad (with the exception 
of 
> his reactions to Dobby's warnings: his lines "What things? Who's 
> plotting them?", which I thought were truly dreadfully delivered).

Radcliffe's reaction to Dobby's warning, IMHO, is the most jarring 
part. The real irony is that's one scene in which he did not have to 
act to an orange (or was it green?) ball. All he needed to do was 
acting to the camera like usual. I might get flamed for saying this, 
but I do not find Radcliffe's eyes very expressive. And it certainly 
didn't help that Columbus relied so much on close-ups to his face. (I 
don't know whose idea is was, but it's probably the director that 
made him squint so much. Very unnatural.)

> The arrival of the car and the "hellos".

It took forever for that car to "land" and that really took away the 
surprise because we already knew what woke Harry up before he knew.
I'd prefer to see Harry wakes up because of the strong light, runs to 
the window, sees the Weasley Brothers, and, THEN we are given a shot 
of the car floating outside of the window while Harry says his 
hellos/asks questions. (Shorter scene. Less money spent on special 
effect so that they could hire a dialogue coach for the kids.)
  
> "There's one place we're goint to get all of this: Diagon Alley!" - 
> quite possibly, the worst line in the movie, and the worst 
delivered.

Agreed! Can't believe a seasoned write could come up with something 
like that. And Mrs. W said it like she's doing a laundry detergent 
commercial. 

> Tom Felton. Two things: firstly, his role consists mainly of 
> sneering. Which in itself is fine, except for the fact that 
Felton's 
> sneer isn't really effective. He either looks hurst or embarassed, 
> not supercilious. Second, his up-and-down accent. He's meant to be 
> ultra-upper class but most of the time, he sounds like he's just 
> escaped from a production of Oliver Twist as one of Fagin's 
urchins. 
> (The one positive thing I'll include in this post: by comparison, 
> Isaacs' piss-take of Prince Philip's speech patterns is 
> extrordinary!).

Since I don't have an "English ear," Felton's line delivery bothered 
me more his accent. Shouldn't Draco speak in a lazy manner? He 
sounded more like an angry/excited Wood before a game.
 
> - common complaint: Columbus's trademark "screaming kids" shot, 
which 
> he takes to utter excess in this film and uses far too frequently 
> (let's count the screams to camera: when the kids find the train, 
> when Harry falls out, when they're being whomped, when they're 
> escaping the spiders, when they come down the chute to the 
Chamber). 
> Come on, Columbus, these kids are made of stronger stuff! Besides, 
> when's the last time you ever hard 12 year-old *boys* screaming?

The screaming also makes Harry's character very inconsistent. One 
minute he's little Clint Eastwood with no fear. The next he's a 
little kid screaming for nothing. One minute he's telling Ron to shut 
up. (What's with that?) The next he's frightened by the same spiders 
he had just seen on his way into the forest. I could see how 
Radcliffe struggled to hold this character together because Harry was 
scripted as an inconsistent character. And Columbus' direction didn't 
help.

> - the Whomping Willow itself. It looks nothing like the grove of 
> willow trees I see down the road every day. Furthermore, willows 
> usually grow next to bodies of water - IIRC, in the book, it's on 
the 
> lakeside, but the lake is nowhere to be seen in the movie. 

They hadn't got the budget to dig a lake, I suppose.

> Dueling Club: we've talked about this before and discussed this 
> subject to death, but the way Parseltongue is dealt with really 
makes 
> me cringe. My apololgies to those who disagree. :-)

I dislike the Parseltongue scene, too. Many people have discussed 
about the use of English/Parseltongue. And I agree that having Harry 
speak English would've made more sense. But what really bothered me 
was the way Radcliffe/Harry behaved toward the snake. It looked as if 
he knew he could speak a different language and was preparing himself 
to speak it *calmly*.


VJH