Prisoner Of Azkaban

Well met,

So, I went to see the latest Harry Potter film, and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It seems that Alfonso Cuaron - if not a much better director than Chris Columbus - is at least able to extract better performances from his stars. I swear that at one point Daniel Radcliffe was this close to actually acting. Of course, we don't watch a Harry Potter movie to be stunned by the latest RADA graduates, and so what of the visual effects and cameos from established actors? Well, the FX are simply brilliant. The CGI used to produce Buckbeack (an hippogriff, for those that don't already know. A mythical beast with the head, wings and forequearters of a giant eagle and the legs of a horse) are amazing. Each feather ruffles in the wind and there is a strong sense of a physical presence, even in the long shots. Also, the CG human figures are much better than we have seen in the past. The Dementors - both effects and actual presence-wise - are seat-dampeningly alarming, with only a passing resemblence to the Naz-Ghul from Lord Of The Rings.

David Thewlis was excellent as Lupin (although I still maintain that Anthony Stewart Head would've been better, but I think that's just me) and Gary Oldman was suitably manic as Sirius Black. Worth special mention is Michael Gambon's Dumbledore. His performance was in no way an attempt to duplicate the late Richard Harris's version of the character and was all-the-better for it.

A few of my friends (and the odd review or two) have criticised the film for assuming too much prior knowledge, but this is the third film in a definite series, after all. The first and second gave us a potted history of out hero (pun... maybe intended...), so by the time we've hit the third, if ye don't know what's going on, maybe you should be watching The Day After Tomorrow or something. I also felt - again, disagreeing with my friends - that this was the smoothest of the three films. With the first two often resembling the standard Hollywood formula of "set piece leads to exposition dialogue leads to revelation leads to set piece - repeat", the flow of Prisoner felt, to me at least, much stronger. Plus, the whomping willow smacks some birds out of the air, and the clouds of feathers are just funny. :)

For those that want to know, the new addition to my main Blog bits was found here. I'm not sure whose link I clicked on to get here, but so long as we don't go "Elmo" I'm happy. :)

I'm off to see Les Tripllets De Belleville, so I'll keep ye posted on that one...

Four things I learned today;

1. Finding something to convert RM to WM or MPG is tricky. Some that say they do, don't.


2. The Olsen twins have graduated High School.


3. Our fridge is really old. And it doesn't work anymore.


4. The flesh of the toucan is bluish in colour.

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"Does my hair really look like that from the back?"
- Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban