From: isleofcapri@gmail.com   
      
   By the end, I think I was starting to talk like Professor McGonagall.   
   Or maybe Hagrid.   
      
   On a dark, stormy Thursday in late October, in anticipation of the   
   opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I I watched all   
   six Harry Potter movies back to back. A stunt, to be sure, but in my   
   line of work there aren't too many opportunities for such things, and   
   I've always wanted to be able to say that I do my own stunt work. I   
   told some people of this plan and noted that the responses fell neatly   
   into two categories: "Oh, that sounds like so much fun!" and (I'm   
   quoting directly here) "You are insane, Malfoy!!!"   
      
   The Potterthon at my house began at approximately 7:45am (when the   
   sunrise would have been, if there had been one, which seemed perfectly   
   Potteresque) and ended roughly 15 hours later, a little before 11pm.   
      
   I watched every minute of every movie ¡X not even fast-forwarding the   
   dull parts in the last hour of Harry Potter and the Chamber of   
   Secrets" ¡X except for the end credits, which weren't legible on my TV   
   screen and which would have added at least another hour to the   
   viewing total (they last about 10-15 minutes per movie). Meals were   
   eaten in front of the screen; breaks between movies were no more than   
   10 minutes.   
      
   All this struck me as a feat quite worthy of Gryffindor; delightful as   
   the experience was, only the brave ¡X or the heroically foolish, or at   
   least those possessed of comfortable chairs ¡X should attempt six   
   movies in a row.   
      
   And what did I learn from the Potterthon? Various random musings, as   
   follows.   
      
   *The big picture: the kids*   
      
   Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all grown   
   up on the big screen quite nicely; it's actually shocking to see how   
   little they look in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Watson,   
   to my eye, had the most ease on screen as a child ¡X at 10 she had the   
   comic timing that many adult actresses would kill for ¡X but Radcliffe   
   (as Harry) and Grint (Ron) were everything they needed to be.   
      
   For that matter, nearly every child cast in this film ¡X most in   
   recurring roles ¡X is remarkably good and grew up to be even better,   
   particularly Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood (this girl is absolutely   
   mesmerizing, and completely understands the character), Oliver and   
   James Phelps as twins George and Fred Weasley (somebody get these   
   guys a comedy tour), and Matthew Lewis, who's got a lot of   
   blink-and-you'll-miss-them poignant moments as Neville Longbottom.   
      
   *The lone disappointment: Bonnie Wright as Ginny WeaseLey*, who's in   
   every movie but remains fairly wooden as an actress. Watch Harry   
   Potter and the Half-Blood Prince closely and you'll see a few scenes   
   carefully staged so she doesn't face the camera.   
      
   As mentioned earlier, the end credits of all of the Potter movies are   
   very long ¡X but I checked to see if any lead to a final bonus scene.   
   Only one movie does: Chamber of Secrets. It's brief, it features   
   Kenneth Branagh's foppish instructor Gilderoy Lockhart, and it's   
   definitely worth a look.   
      
   *Best entrances*   
      
   ¡XAlan Rickman as the sinister Snape, looming into view like a   
   malevolent shadow, 43:50 into Sorcerer's Stone.   
      
   ¡XBranagh's Lockhart, swishing his blue robes, 18:22, Chamber of   
   Secrets   
      
   ¡XMiranda Richardson as nosy journalist Rita Skeeter, eyebrows arched   
   like Quidditch hoops, 39:02, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire   
      
   ¡XHelena Bonham Carter's hissing, wildcat villainess-in-a-corset,   
   Bellatrix Lestrange, 1:19:20, Harry Potter and the Order of the   
   Phoenix.   
      
   ¡X"Merlin's beard!" Jim Broadbent's Potions master Horace Slughorn,   
   transforming from an armchair, 7:07, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood   
   Prince.   
      
   *Best exit*   
      
   Severus Snape always makes a good exit, but in Sorcerer's Stone, at   
   1:53:08, he sets the bar high: leaving a room in high dudgeon, his   
   robes swirling around him like ink in water. There are echoes of this   
   throughout the series; the man knows how to work a robe.   
      
   *By the numbers*   
      
   Number of spells successfully cast solely by Hermione, in all six   
   movies: 17   
      
   Number of spells successfully cast solely by Ron WeaseLey, in all six   
   movies: *2*  duh   
      
   *The big picture: the directors*   
      
   In a nutshell, there are the first two movies, and then there are the   
   other four ¡X the contrast is even stronger when you watch these   
   movies back to back.   
      
   Chris Columbus directed the first two, and while they're certainly   
   cute (and he deserves immense credit for casting the franchise), they   
   play more like kiddie movies. (Which, to be fair, they are.) Chamber   
   of Secrets, particularly, gets very dull with all the flying cars and   
   spider nonsense, and relies far too heavily on close-ups of adorable   
   tots smiling. (Which, to be fair, they are ¡X adorable, that is.)   
      
   Especially me!    
      
   In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron took   
   things to a new level: The kids suddenly looked scruffier (their   
   uniforms stopped looking perfect, and Hermione stopped wearing white   
   tights and Mary Janes, for heaven's sake, when sneaking out at night)   
   and more real, and the look of the film was darker and more artful.   
   Mike Newell showed a flair for comedy in Goblet of Fire, reveling in   
   the Yule Ball, the chorine-like beauties of Beauxbatons Academy, and   
   the demented (in a non-Dementor way) Rita Skeeter. David Yates, who   
   directed the following two films ¡X as well as both parts of Harry   
   Potter and the Deathly Hallows ¡X is marvelously good with the young   
   actors, and gives a palpable sense, in Half-Blood Prince, of setting   
   the stage for an epic showdown.   
      
   *And which one is my favorite?*   
      
   Hard to say; really the last four are all of a piece and quite good.   
   Before embarking on the Potterthon, I think I would have said I liked   
   Prisoner of Azkaban best; this time, it was Order of the Phoenix I   
   found most mesmerizing. Maybe if I watched all six in a row again,   
   another one would jump out. But that's for another lifetime.   
      
   *Obligatory 'oh-my-god-it's-him' moment*   
      
   No, not Voldemort, silly. In movie number 4, at precisely 4:44 (ooh!   
   what can this mean?), Edward the "Twilight" Vamp himself, Robert   
   Pattinson, suddenly materializes. As the ill-fated Cedric Diggory,   
   he's rather more robust looking than he is as Edward, and certainly   
   his hair looks calmer.   
      
   *Things You Wish Would Happen More Than Once But, Sadly, They Don't*   
      
   ¡XSomeone getting a Howler   
      
   ¡XHermione referencing "Hogwarts: A History"   
      
   ¡XProfessor Dumbledore expressing his fondness for books of knitting   
   patterns   
      
   ¡XHagrid playing the "Harry Potter" theme music on a handmade flute   
      
   ¡XChoruses of frogs (as part of the Hogwarts choir)   
      
   ¡XTransfiguration of animals into water-goblets, as presided over by   
   McGonagall   
      
   ¡XRon vomiting up slugs after a spell goes wrong (well, OK, I guess   
   once was enough)   
      
   *Words of wisdom*   
      
   ¡X"It is not our abilities that show us who we are. It is our choices."   
   Dumbledore, to Harry   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)