CoS things that make me cringe- Pheonix Tears

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "irene_mikhlin" <irene_mikhlin at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "Richelle Votaw" <rvotaw at i...> wrote:

> RICHELLE: 
> > > Nope, the "Of course! Phoenix tears have healing powers" wins
> > > hands down. God, that one was embarassing.
> > 
> > I don't think Daniel can be entirely blamed for that one.  I put 
> > that accusation on Steve Kloves for writing the script that way. 

> IRENE:
> I didn't make myself clear - Kloves is entirely to blame for this 
> horror. People seems to expect wonders from Cuaron, but I'm less 
> optimistic. I think the script is more responsible than directing for 
> all the things that made me less than happy with the movies so far.
> And for all Kloves's talks how he loves the books, I'm under 
> impression that he didn't get the spirit of the books at all.
> 
> Irene

bboy_mn who shares the frustration but still loved the movie:

I have to agree, this problem was all writing, but the director has
some responsibility to oversee what appears on the screen.

The solution to this 'cringe' is simple. The phoenix tears fall on
Harry's arm and it's starts to heal. Ginny looks at the arm
overwhelmed and amazed, "Harry...? Harry, what's happening?" Harry
replies, "Phoenix tears, Dumbledore told me they have healing powers.
I guess he was right."

So many things made the Chamber scene fall short, although it was
still one of the more dramatic moments. Ginny wakes, not the least bit
groggy or confused, she is totally unconcerned that Harry is bleeding
to death, there is an 80ft dead snake and Riddle is gone. How many
more second of reaction time and small bits of dialog would it have
taken to smooth this out? This was a critical scene in the movie,
after all this is the 'Chamber' in 'The Chamber of Secrets'.


Drama and tension takes time to build, but not that much time. This
should have never been less than a three hour movie. No one seemd to
cry or whine bacause Lord of the Rings was three hours. The only
reason people complained about how long CoS was, was because after 2.7
hours, you leave feeling so unfulfilled. Leaving with that sense of
satisfaction will always override any number of butt-numbing hours.

Another thing, Riddle writing his name in fire. I thought it was OK,
but in a way it was tedious. If they were so concerned about time, why
not have him wave the wand and have a sheet of fire appear that slowly
fades to the burning letters of his name. Another wave and the flame
letters rearrange into Voldemort's name. That's certainly as dramatic
if not more dramatic than Riddle writing out every letter.

It will be interesting to see what the new director does with this
material. He comes in with a big advantage, he can spend hours
reviewing the existing films and see what he thinks does and doesn't
work. He has a model to build from, and hopefully he has enough
insight and foresight to do what's best for the story.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn