Fun at the Movies

[montavilla47]

> Montavilla47 wrote:
> > <snip> It's funny, because I hated the "blowing up Aunt Marge" scene the first time I saw it, but now I really like it.  Much more than the book version.  I also like Aunt Marge more, because the actress was really good at being horrible.  
> 
> Carol responds:
> And, as you say, the actress, Pam Ferris, is, as you say, "really good at being horrible." In fact, if they hadn't already cast her as Aunt Marge, she'd have been perfect as Umbridge, at least as far as looks are concerned. I don't know if she could have pulled off the sickly sweet act, though. Imelda Staunton had the personality down; she just didn't look the part (short, dumpy, and toad-faced). Merge the two and you have the perfect Umbridge--but, then, Pam Ferris was the perfect Aunt Marge.

Montavilla47:
I had this secret hope that they would cast Judi Dench as Umbridge, because...
well, don't tell her I said this, but she looks a bit toad-like to me.  I think she 
would have been terrifying as Umbridge and it would have been great to see her 
and Maggie Smith go at it in that counseling session with Harry.

That said, I felt that the next-best choice would definitely have been 
Imelda Staunton.  I've loved her ever since seeing her in Emma Thompson's
comedy show (which also had appearances by Robbie Coltrane and Kenneth
Branagh, of course).


Carol:
> I also liked some of the other special effects in that film, especially the Dementors, which seemed more loathsome and terrifying than they did in OoP, and the scene with Harry flying over the lake on Buckbeak that SSS mentioned, which is both beautiful and believable. 

Montavilla47:
I feel like PoA is the most "magical" of the films. They did a lot more with the 
portraits, for example.  In the scene where the Fat Lady is hiding, you can see
the figures in the pictures running all over the walls.  

There's a scene that was cut out of the film where Ron and Hermione tell 
Harry about Hogsmeade, and there are about a dozen kids in the background
doing magic tricks.  And there are those floating planets and the candles
that light and go out magically in Lupin's office.... all wonderful details.

Carol:
But the werewolf is all wrong, and I don't like the line they give to Snape about the difference between a werewolf and an Animagus. I suppose it was their way of foreshadowing the transformations of Sirius Black into a dog and Scabbers into the travesty of a man, but I didn't care for it. Still, any line or scene that they assign to Rickman!Snape is a bonus just because it's so much fun to watch him.

Montavilla47:
So true! :)  Plus, Snape looked really good in that film.  Again, I think it had
to do with the color palette of the film (something I almost never notice).  
Another favorite moment for me is when Snape appears out of the darkness
while Harry is searching for Peter.  That whole scene is great.