Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the best Harry Potter movie yet. I think much of it has to do with being able to dispense with the "ooh, look at that cool new spell Hermione can do" and the "oh no, a cave a troll in the girl's bathroom" type gimmicks and get down to the nitty gritty story that's been brewing for six books.Even if you've never read the books and have only seen the movies, you know that a war is coming. It's always been leading to a showdown between Harry and Voldemort. Half Blood Prince is a great set-up for the ending of the series. I understand the need to cut out as much from the books as possible to get the movie down to a good running time, but the movie-only people (I feel) have been cheated out of the entire back story of Tom Riddle/Voldemort. While not entirely necessary, it seems like something everyone should know going into the Deathly Hallows. It only seems fair since we've been exposed to most of Harry's back story and this series ostensibly centers around those two and how and why they're bound together through Trelawney's prophecy (though we discover at the end of the last book that the series is really about two other characters, but I won't spoil that for those of you who haven't read the books).
And now I'm going to whine about other scenes missing from the movie because I'm a huge Potter dork. The most satisfying scene in the book, and possibly the whole series, was when Dumbledore came to pick up Harry from the Dursley's and gave them all the big old what for, Dumbledore-style of course. Those horrible people have had that coming for a long time and I would have loved to see them get what's coming to them on screen. I also would have liked to see the opening chapter, The Other Minister, where the Prime Minister (unwillingly) meets the Minister of Magic who has to explain that all the disasters occurring in England are actually caused by bad wizards. They even could have gotten Michael Sheen to play the Prime Minister (he plays Tony Blair in just about half the movies he's in). It's a funny chapter in the book and it would have brought a moment of levity to a dark movie. As would the scenes at the Weasley's in the beginning with Fleur Delacour, who the rest of the kids nickname Phlegm due to her overbearing personality. But at 2 1/2 hours I understand why these scenes were cut.This is a fabulous must-see movie. The seasoned actors are great as you would expect (Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane). But this movie also highlights how good the kids have become. They've all done a little bit of work outside of the Potterverse and it's improved their acting in these movies. Emma Watson has always been the best actor of the main trio, but Daniel Radcliff's stage work on Equus has brought him up to the level of the adult actors in the movie. I think he now has the ability to believably pull off all the horrible and wonderful things that happen in Deathly Hallows. If only I had one of those darn time-turners I could speed myself ahead to watch the last two installments right now!
Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale was boring. The movie makers missed the mark on what to focus on and how to make it interesting. Don't bother with this one.
I also rented a couple. Shooter with Mark Wahlberg was decent but predictable. Stephen King's The Shining (not to be confused with the Kubrick version) was an excellent adaptation of the book. Less psycho and more cerebral, it focused more on the mental state of the alcoholic father, and his son who is gifted with some form of ESP that he calls 'the shining.'
Speaking of books, I've read quite a few. I've read the 13 Dark Hunter books by Sherrilyn Kenyon and most of the ancillary short stories. The series is fun but starts off a little slow. I don't think she really had an overall story arc in mind until several books in. The last two books, Acheron and One Silent Night, were fantastic. They focused more on action and the overall plot development and less on the individual love stories.
The background of the story centers around ancient Greek and Atlantean gods. 11,000 years ago, some Apollites killed Apollo's Atlantean mistress and their baby. He took revenge by cursing all Apollites by 1) making it so they can't go in the sun so he doesn't have to look at them, 2) they have to feed off each other for sustenance, and 3) they die a very painful death on their 27th birthday since that's how old his mistress was when she was murdered. Some of them accept their fate, but those who don't, daimons, feed off of humans to suck their souls, thereby extended their lives. The Dark Hunters are the ones who kill the daimons to keep humans safe. They are people who die tragic deaths and call on Artemis (known to many in this series as 'the bitch goddess' - and rightfully so) who trade their souls to her for immortality and some extra powers so they can exact their revenge, but are then bound to serve as Dark Hunters. There's a lot of other stuff going on, but that's the main gist of the background.
I also read the four Dream Hunter books, which are offshoots of the Dark Hunter series. It takes place in the same universe but focuses on the Oneroi, the gods who can enter your dreams. I don't find these books as interesting as the Dark Hunter books, but they fill in a lot more of the overall background and characters.
This is light reading, but if you can tolerate the goopy love stories you might enjoy the overall storyline like me. I'm all set now for the latest book which comes out on August 4th, which is supposed to center around Fang and Aimee. I can't wait to see what happens next.
I also read His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik which I downloaded for free on my Kindle. It was a good story that explores how dragons would have been incorporated into the Napoleonic wars. I liked the beginning more than the end. The beginning focused on the dragon and its relationship with his person. The end of the story focused a lot on the battles. Because of that, I wasn't compelled to read additional stories in this series. But it was a solid book if you want to check it out.
