tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121497265402071351.post8347380361857763996..comments2023-10-05T20:30:21.364-07:00Comments on Things That Don't Suck: Harry Potter And The Goblet Of FireBryce Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121497265402071351.post-7629738785256292182011-01-13T05:49:12.117-08:002011-01-13T05:49:12.117-08:00My chief issue with Order of the Phoenix is that t...My chief issue with Order of the Phoenix is that there is a <i>great</i> book in there but it tries to awkwardly take a fantastic inquisition allegory and a smart look at the way people who tell the truth can be ostracized by those in power who want to maintain the status quo, and then filter it through the sieve of an extremely thin take on teenage hormones that's too much tied to plot over natural changes. I understand that Harry needs time to act like a normal human kid in the middle of this, but it's so abysmally handled that by the time all the various, useless subplots get added just to purge all the sidestories for the brilliantly focused Half-Blood Prince, it's just too much.<br /><br />I'll save more detailed observations for your post on OotP but for now I'll just say it's a shame a character as utterly brilliant as Dolores Umbridge is so often wasted in that bloated novel.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121497265402071351.post-56772157972784115092011-01-13T00:04:26.504-08:002011-01-13T00:04:26.504-08:00Great call on Watson. She gave the most natural pe...Great call on Watson. She gave the most natural performance in the first three films. But here. She's. EMPHAZING. Everyline...so strangely. Tctch!<br /><br />As for Rowling's writing, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I've liked it. Maybe it's just that I overly steeled myself, but despite the fact that she, as you pointed out, often writes like she's campaigning to become "Queen Of The Adverbs" her prose is for the most part light and lucid and though she does occasionally lose the plot (most spectacularly in the camping trip in Deathly Hollows which seems to unfold in real time) I find her universe so appealing that I don't mind spending time in it. <br /><br />In regards to Phoenix, I'm in the middle of it now, and it's actually caused me to reconsider my take on it in no small part. I still think it's one of the weaker Potter books, but I don't think the series on the whole would be as good if it didn't exist. <br />It takes one for the team.Bryce Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121497265402071351.post-63455621687582123922011-01-12T12:14:46.886-08:002011-01-12T12:14:46.886-08:00It's funny, I watched the movie about a year a...It's funny, I watched the movie about a year and a half ago and thought it handled the more plot-driven style well (at least better than Columbus' dull nonsense), but I watched it again over the holidays and had to struggle not to go back and completely rewrite my old review. It's such an awful exposition machine, somehow capturing the absolute worst aspects of Rowling's writing and not a damn thing of the positive. The acting is almost univerally bad (Emma Watson is one breathy lass, but she delivered every. last. line as if she'd just done two hours of cardio before Newell called "action." Radcliffe, who has had ups and downs, has never been worse than he is here -- when he has to sell "He's back! Voldemort's back!" I burst out laughing -- and Rupert Grint continued to be wholly overlooked and got shafted with all the worst aspects of Ron.<br /><br />I've been going through the books lately, though I've not been reading but listening to the British audiobooks as read by Stephen Fry (I normally don't touch books on tape, but it's Stephen Fry). I've been struck by how wildly Rowling's writing can veer, from delightful, resonant, witty and tangible to hackneyed, expository and hopelessly dull (and I don't think Hermione ever "says" anything without a "shrilly," "exasperatedly," or "testily" after the word). But book 4 is one of the stronger ones, all plot but all good, focused plot. Considering what a tangled mess of intriguing but conflicting threads OotP is, Goblet of Fire is fantastically focused. It and Azkaban are the best-plotted of the books, while 1 and 6 have the best character. I've soured on Deathly Hallows and never cared for 2 or 5 but look forward to your thoughts on the rest.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.com