yip! cripes! gripes! pt1

[chanteuse thalia chaunacy]

properly disclaimed: haven't read the book in a while. this is all 
opinion.
properly warned: i mis-spell names a lot.
properly explained: 'hits and misses' is an old summer camp discussion 
tactic. ('neither' means it's simply a point of interest)

CHRONOLOGICALLY--
hit: the cookie-cutter muggle houses
hit: the sunlit dust stirred up by Dobby's bed-jumping
hit: the 'Which Owl?' book under Harry's glasses on his nightstand
hit: the Burrow!  (i can't express how enchanted i am with it)
miss: Mrs. Weasley's unfortunate 'Diagon Alley' line (there are better 
transitions to be found, even for such a splendid actress)
hit: Mr. Weasley's inquiry about the rubber duck!  (i actually guffawed!)
hit: Percy's morning hair at the Weasley breakfast table
hit: floo powder (impressively wizardy)
miss: Harry's 'diagonally' mistake (totally unbelievable)
miss: the hand in The Evil Store With No Name
neither: Hermione's decidedly un-bushy hair in a few scenes
miss: Ginny's 'leave him alone' to Draco in defense of Harry (talk about 
out of nowhere)
hit: Mr. Weasley not fighting with Mr. Malfoy (shows more integrity than 
getting in a brawl)
miss: Draco making eyes at Ron after 'see you at school' line in bookstore
both: flying car scene (miss: Ron screaming 'hold on' as if Harry would 
do anything but. hit: Harry saying 'your hands are all sweaty'.  hit: the 
car spitting them out, sound effects & everything)
hit: McGonnagal's hats
miss: Hermione during mandrake scene
hit: Sprout and the mandrakes
hit: the Howler
miss: the dead five seconds after the Howler
hit: the pixie riding the dinosaur skeleton
miss: Hermione being the one to explain 'mudblood' (i'm a Ron/Hermione 
shipper, it's much more touching to have him explain it)
miss: Ron's arachniphobia explaination's absence
miss: lack of reaction (esp teachers!) to Malfoy using 'mudblood' the 
second time
hit: the teachers' reactions to Lockhart
hit: the staircase shot (a brilliant and beautiful transition)
miss: Hermione asking McGonnagal to explain about the Chamber (i totally 
didn't buy it)
miss: fast walking during an important conversation (slow walking would 
have been fine, but they were practically dashing while having an intense 
coversation about the probable heir of slytherin)
both: the quidditch match (hit: the action camerawork was great.  miss: 
the chase went on for far too long.  miss: Lucius' hat made me giggle.  
miss: Draco's oh-so-insulting 'scarhead' sounded ridiculous. miss: Harry 
was way too uneffected by his shattered arm)
miss: Harry spitting out his medicine (perhaps i just don't think Harry 
would be that childish)
miss: McGonnagal's 'you know--i think he's been petrified!' (wins my vote 
for worst line)
hit: oh-so-subtle shot of chamber opening (girls' bathroom sinks) right 
after Dumbledore ominously says 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened 
again.'
hit: Ron leaning roguishly against the stall in the girls' bathroom.
miss: gaping plothole where the kids should have been taught a blocking 
spell
hit: mid-air snake shot
hit: 'cheers' and clinking of polyjuice glasses
draco: 'i didn't know you could read'
hit: the Slytherin common room scene
hit: Moaning Myrtle's laugh, especially at Hermione's cat-ness
miss: never getting an explaination as to why Harry 'reads' the diary all 
by himself
miss: 'let me take you back 50 years ago' (welcome to the department of 
redundancy department!)
both: the diary flashback (hit: the sepia-tone minus Harry. hit: the 
first part.  miss: the second part.  miss: the wind and slow-mo yelling 
on the way out.)
miss: Fudge (the amount of make-up he had on. an urge to hit him because 
of his actions in later books.)
hit: the bow in Lucius' hair (real men wear bows)
miss: spider scene (Ron being a wuss & Harry being a bully got really old 
really quickly)
hit: stunt-driving in a Ford
hit: the wig on Lockhart's desk
neither: those sure are some big ole sewage pipes
miss: why does Harry let Lockhart threaten them?  does he not have a wand 
too?
neither: Ron knocking Lockhart out with rock (totally in character, which 
makes Ron's character interesting, but still makes me cringe)
hit: the eight-snake door thing
miss: the acid Ginny flashbacks (what's wrong with normal filters and 
angles?)
miss: the glaring pause before Fawkes' first entrance
miss: Harry tripping while running from basilisk
neither: Harry walking on water
miss: Harry's big blink when the basilisk corners him
neither: crucifix pose of 'dying' Riddle
miss: windblown Harry while Riddle's 'dying'
hit: Fawkes
neither: 'Phoenix tears have healing powers' (didn't seem redundant 
because i hardly caught it when Dumbledore said it the first time)
hit: Harry's line to Ginny- 'It's just a memory.' (well-written)
hit: Dumbledore's heartwarming speech (actually intelligent & meaningful 
this time)
miss: unsubtle lighting on Lucius in Dumbledore's office
miss: Harry's ugly ankle (perhaps it was an ugly shoe's)
hit: Lucius' wand/cane
neither: it *did* sound like lucius started 'avada ...'
miss: Lucius' silly pointing after Dobby magicks him across the floor
hit: Percy and Penelope!
hit: shot of Ron & Harry tilting out to see Hermione come into the Hall 
(but remember where my ship docks)
hit: handshake & Ron's line (i repeat ... R/Hr forever)
miss: the last ten minutes of the movie (the whole school having a 
happiness fit over Hagrid totally boggled my mind.  i actually turned to 
my boyfriend and asked him what the hell was going on.  cheap easy way to 
end a movie on a good note.  too bad it made no sense.  Hermione's tears 
bugged me too.  Then John Williams put three utterly drawn-out tonic 
chords at the end ... more megalomaniacal than Beethoven at his worst.  
ylech!)

[can you believe it?  there's more to come!]