Harry potter and Deathly Hallows Part 1

Saw Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows part 1 yesterday.

Overall mood after the movie - Not bad, infact i like it.

Every time I watch a harry potter movie, i am just in awe by such an awesome job done by writers/screenplay in LOTR. LOTR book was probably more complicated than Harry potter, more depth and characters but the movies are so nicely done, picking the ones that we care, changing timelines sometimes etc.
Harry Potter series in movies have taken the tone of being true to the book to as much as possible. There is a big dilemma - If you are not true to the book, book fans will kill you and that is a big loss. If you are true to the book, then you have to fit it in 2-3 hrs and that makes it a very big challenge.
The good decision taken for the last part was to split it into two parts. This way they can be true to the book and they have double the time now.

About this film -
The goods -
1. No matter what one says, most of the adults are actually going to see how the children have grown up with the series and how their acting has changed. And people like me who has also grown with them, it is a similar adventure. And it is very evident with every movie. Acting of Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson ranges from mundane to very good. When its very good, you enjoy the movie a lot better. The dance scene which is not in book, is one of the best scenes in movie just because how it starts.
2. Good cinematography - Not very often but sometimes, the camera work is just awesome. I think camera work plays a very big role in these epic style movies, it can tell you the scale of system etc.
3. The film takes a more relaxed pace when they are wandering in jungle. I think the slowness of pace helps a lot in understanding whats happening. The fear, the uncertainties, challenges, all seem likely. When you gloss over one ting over another each in 5 minutes, its like reading the book in tweets :)
4. And yes, the animation in the story of three brothers - very very nicely done. Delighted to see that.

The bads -
1. Oh come on, you killed the intro scene. Harry potter escape from his house was such vividly described in the book. Those 100 pages were the best 100 start pages of any harry potter book and you killed it. And why only focus on harry potter, there were other characters as well.
2. The tension is lacking when they are in the cellar of Malfoys. That could have been done in a nice manner.I would have killed the nagini scene, the cemetery scene to buy time for the above.
3. Score, somehow through out the entire series, the score is something that has been lacking.

But overall, all prepped up for the finale. Looking forward for other movies from Daniel Radcliffe - lets see how he does.

Haloween 2010

Haloween at my office is always a big fan faire. We take is very seriously, in my opinion, a little too seriously. The pics are always great. No captions this time as i am being lazy.

Halloween 2010

Pumpkin carving

Christine invited me to her home last weekend for pumkin carving. Thank you very nuch Christine! Also present there were Buck, John, Guy, Megan and Christine's other friends.

My first pumpkin carving ever it was a lot of fun. A very creative exercise done every year on haloween. I really had a great time making it. The pics are from Guy and so are the captions.

Pumpkin Carving 2010