I have been so busy that I haven’t had time to update!

I went home on Friday evening and played with my dogs and my parents. That was fun. Then I got my hair cut on Saturday morning before driving back to Indy for a bachelor party. My friend, Ben, is getting married tonight. I spent most of Sunday sleeping because I was very tired. On Monday, I worked and then hung out with Matt and Lauren in the evening. On Tuesday, I went shopping with Lauren after work. Then, I went to Bryan’s birthday outing, but I had to leave early to ride along with Lauren to pick her parents up at the airport. She wasn’t 100% sure that she could get there. I also helped her prepare for her interview that was on Wednesday. Then I took care of Bryan, who had a lot of fun on his birthday.

On Wednesday, I slept in and went to lunch with Bryan and Matt. Then I went back to Matt’s apartment and read Harry Potter and the OOTP until about 9PM, when we went and saw the movie. It was really good! I didn’t follow the books, but once you get past that, the movies are extremely enjoyable. This was my least favorite book in the series, but my favorite movie so far. It was so good that I went last night to an IMAX showing of the movie in 3-D.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson have all really grown as actors, and it has been amazing watching them over the past few years. One of the highlights of the movie, for me at least, was seeing Neville Longbottom (played by Matthew Lewis) truly break out of his shell. Lewis has got a true grasp of the character, bringing to light Neville’s awkwardness, emotional maturity, and heartbreaking past. Lewis was a joy to watch, as was Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood. She was perfectly cast and gave a spot-on performance. I couldn’t dream of a better representation of Luna.

Also worth mentioning was the performance of Imelda Staunton, who played Dolores Umbridge. It is surely difficult to play a character whom people love to hate and hate to love, but Staunton did so with gusto. It is a pity that her backstory was left out of the film entirely. Her dislike for “half-breeds” was only briefly mentioned, but never explained. Therefore, it was odd when she was confronted in her final scene. However, as this is not Staunton’s fault, she can’t be blamed. Her performance took courage, and I’m sure it was fun for her to be in another movie with Emma Thompson, who played Sybil Trelawney. They were also in Nanny McPhee together.

The most disappointing aspects of the film were the acting of Harry Mellling, who played Dudley Dursley, and Devon Murray, who played Seamus Finnigan. Their acting gives evidence as to why their roles have previously been mostly silent. Melling doesn’t apprear to know how to move his mouth to speak, and places strange pauses in between words. Dudley is supposed to be portrayed as a big bully, but Melling’s presentation of the character is that of a young teenager with a speech impediment who would be hard pressed intimidating anyone, let alone other bullies that form his posse. I have absolutely nothing against people who have speech impediments; I recognize that they are very common. However, Melling’s voice overshadows his words, breaking the mood in the scene for the audience. Melling’s presentation was only matched by Murray’s.

Devon Murray’s performance as Seamus Finnigan was very, very weak. It seemed as though he was reading his lines for the first time off of a cue card. He showed no real emotion, even though his lines were written with heavy emotion. He is supposed to be Irish (which Murray is), but he fails to have any type of temper, especially the stereotypical Irish temper. His portrayal of Seamus Finnigan was lackluster, at best.

The aspect of the film that I found most interesting was the decision to portray Minister Cornelius Fudge in a Hitler-esque way. The manner in which his pictures were shown in the newspapers and in the halls at the Ministry of Magic were reminiscent of the giant displays of Hitler’s visage during the 1930s and early 40s. Then, when he is seen in person, he looks much older. I believe this was an excellent way to show how much the minister has aged in only a few months’ time since Lord Voldemort’s return to power.

Overall, I give the film a seven. One point was lost because of Murray and Melling’s performances, and another two were lost because of some terrible inconsistencies. Shirts are untucked at one camera angle, then tucked in for the next camera angle, then untucked again. There were a few problems like this. Also, when did Hermione give Grawp back the bell? I don’t believe she did. I expected better from the editor, Mark Day. Alas, the entire series has had this problem. This is probably why there have been five different editors for each of the five films. I hope they find someone better for film six.