For some reason, it just worked out that pretty much all we did this weekend was watch movies. Of course, that works for me, since going to see movies in the theater is one of my favorite things to do, and especially since we're nearing the last month or so where I'll be able to do that easily.
District 9
On Friday, since I had to endure the big three-hour glucose test again, Tom promised to take me to see District 9 when he got out of work. That's that new mockumentary alien flick. It definitely ended up being completely different from what we both thought it would be. Without giving too much away, there's no big alien uprising, but there is a bit of a government conspiracy theme throughout. But as far as I'm concerned, it's refreshing to see any new ideas coming out of Hollywood. I'm not sure how much I really got into the plot (the main character was quite annoying throughout and not sympathetic at all, in my opinion), but I did enjoy the filming style. If you have a free evening and some extra cash, see it in the theater, but I wouldn't go out of your way.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Saturday morning, Tom and I met up with Ellie's future godparents, Matt and Linz, and headed off to Philadelphia. We had planned to do some sightseeing while we were there, but once we arrived it was just far too hot to really do much. We did get to walk by Benjamin Franklin's grave, and we also ate some really good cheesesteaks. Then we sat and people-watched for a bit before heading off to the Imax theater at the science museum. The Imax setup was AMAZING. One of the first scenes in Harry Potter involved several characters flying through the London streets, and your stomach just drops watching it because your entire viewing area is completely taken up by the scene. It was also strange to actually have to turn your head to see the actors speaking - like you were really in the movie.
Of course, projecting a standard movie onto a screen that big does distort the edges a bit, so I'm looking forward to buying and watching the DVD when it comes out so I can see it in the correct formats. In terms of reviewing the movie, I will agree with others that it was a bit disappointing after reading the book.
**SPOILER**
The very end of the movie was changed so much that in my mind, the characters of Dumbledore and Harry Potter were altered from the book. In the book, Dumbledore and Harry are at the top of the castle when they hear someone coming up the stairs. In that moment, Dumbledore performs a spell to freeze Harry in place under his Invisibility Cloak, which renders Harry powerless to help no matter what happens and leads to Dumbledore losing his wand. Without his wand, Dumbledore cannot fight back. In this, he sacrifices himself to keep Harry safe, and Harry, for his part, is physically incapable of helping Dumbledore fight off his attackers. In the movie version, Dumbledore simply asks Harry to hide, telling him not to interfere, but to keep himself hidden. There is no sense of sacrifice on Dumbledore's part (which, in my opinion, was his last noble act and spoke quite a bit to how willing Dumbledore was to defeat Voldemort - he gave his life to protect Harry, the "Chosen One"). With this version, it also appears that Harry lets Dumbledore's death happen. Sure, he was just listening to Dumbledore's directions, but since when does Harry listen to anything when it will put someone he loves in danger? It seemed totally out of character to me for Harry to stand by and watch while Dumbledore is killed.
I have a few other issues with the movie, but most of those changes can be attributed to the need to keep the movie reasonably short (honestly, though, how many people going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would really quibble over adding an extra half hour to bring the total time up to around three hours?). That last bit bothered me, though, because I really don't think it would take much more time at all to do it the way it was in the book, and because the way they did do it changed the character development.
The Time Traveler's Wife
This was one of my absolute favorite books, so I was really excited to see it play out on the big screen. They stayed pretty true to the book, but something about the acting caused it to fall a little flat for me. I did arrive late to the movie (long, unfortunate story), so I missed probably the first half hour - not sure if that would have changed my opinion of the movie, though. I don't think Eric Bana was the right choice to cast in the lead male role, but I absolutely LOVED Rachel McAdams as the female lead. But really, when do I not love her? She has been excellent in every role I've ever seen her in and I hope she's a big part of Hollywood for a long time to come. All in all, I'd wait and rent this one when it comes out on DVD, and definitely read the book - the relationships and scenarios are just so much more complex and nuanced in the book than what they could possibly fit into a movie.
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