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Saturday, December 10, 2005
I see so many good movies!
Today was Narnia, again at the Spectrum, which is my theater of choice all the time. I was really impressed. They stayed true to the book and conveyed so much more than I could have hoped for. If you go see it, watch the White Witch's crown... it's the subtleties that really *make* any movie for me. And lemme just say, "HOLY CRAP, DUDE! The summer is over and they are still on fire!" Amazing. I love phoenixes... go figure ;-)
Earlier this week it was MirrorMask which was ~*brilliant*~. Of course, I expect nothing less from the collaborative efforts of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. I took the Spawn and my little bro, both of whom were wowed by the brilliance of these two amazing men. Spawn, of course, has been reading the children's books these two have written/illustrated, though my little bro hasn't really had much of an opportunity to be exposed to them. Being 15, I think he might be old enough to be exposed to the Sandman series... if not now, then soon. I can't wait! Hee!
Also on my recently seen list is Pride and Prejudice which I went to see because, well, let's be honest, I am a movie whore. Princess was concerned that no one would go see it with her, except out of obligation, until she remembered that I will see just about any movie there is, and willingly. I didn't have high expectations, but I thought the movie was brilliant. It was over 2 hours long, but it didn't drag at all. I know there are a lot of guys out there who probably think it's a chick flick, but if you get dragged out there, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
We also saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I wasn't nearly as disappointed as many I've heard. There are a lot of purists who just can't deal with any changes being made from the original. *shrug* Whatever. I know that J. K. Rowling has extreme veto power and approves all changes to her storyline. My thinking is, if she doesn't mind, who the hell are you to? Seriously. *whine* There was no S.P.E.W. Malfoy didn't have enough lines. Dumbledore was out of character. SUCK IT UP. She's the one who ultimately let that stuff go, but you know better? Whatever, I don't want to hear it. Personally, I liked the movie, and when it comes out on DVD, it will wind up in my collection alongside the others.
I think I'm missing something, possibly several somethings that I've seen recently and this doesn't even begin to touch on the Netflix movies or the pirated movies or the ones people have loaned to me. Those are innumerable... and many unmemorable.
I looked at the Spectrum's coming attractions and I think my heart is breaking a little bit that I won't have much opportunity to take the Spawn to new movies there for a while. However, there are some mainstream movies coming out that look decent that I know he wants to see, so we'll go for the local divey theater unless someone (I'm looking at you, Princess) decides to drag me, kicking and screaming to that mass of consumeristic concrete and HELL that they like to call the mall.
Wow... I really didn't realize how many movies I've seen recently... and this just goes back a couple weeks. It's true. I *am* a movie whore. LOL. Oh well, I can think of worse things to be.
~FG };^>
Posted at 15:46 by FyreGoddess
 | | | Ryan
December 12, 2005 09:09 AM PST
JK Rowling has no say in the movies, the way they made the deal they cut her out of it. She is actually furious at the changes that have been made to the movies but because of how things we structured she has no recourse. This is what I have been told by several people, everyone just assumes she has involvement but apparently that is not the case at all. | |
| | | ~FG
December 12, 2005 10:55 AM PST
I don't know where you heard that. I was just reading an article (http://www.hpana.com/news.19102.26.html) that states:
"In terms of Jo, her involvement is this. We send her each draft of the script, and she is there as the best consultant you could ever ask for. I mean, we'll send her lyrics of the songs to make sure that we're not doing anything untowards or we will send her drafts of the screenplay, because inevitably you tweak a little bit within the script. Kids are aware of most things, but sometimes there are little things that pass by us. It's not so much changes within the story or the book itself that's the issue. The biggest issue is that you don't want to do anything that adversely affects Book 6 or 7. So that's why we send her the script. It's not for the approval of the structure of the screenplay. It's because I made a promise to her and it's something that is really important to me that we be true to her world and not affect her world adversely. "
It may be unofficial, but from what I've heard and read, if she takes exception to changes that are made, the writers/director/producers are all very considerate of her feelings and wishes. It's not about the structure (as stated in the above excerpt), but about the content. Honestly, most people's problems center around the content. Both what was changed and what was taken out.
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| | | Ryan
December 12, 2005 11:40 AM PST
It's not for the approval of the structure of the screenplay.
That says it all.
Also read back through it, they are just making sure they aren't changing story lines that will adversly affect later movies, they aren't concerned with being true to the book, they are concerned with not messing up the ability to make more movies.
She is a consultant, she is not a decision maker, so they send her something and say will that make us not able to make another movie, she will say, no it won't but I don't like the change, and they will say, ok thanks as long as we can make another movie.
They are changing tons of stuff, she doesn't like it, but she is limited on her input, so she does what she can. But if you read through the PC-BS in the above statement and get to the core of whats happenning it's just them trying to push the envelope of what they can change without affecting future profits. That's all, it's a business.
My point is if it was in the movie, it doesn't mean she gave her ok, it means she couldn't present a strong enough argument to make them not do it. Your post said if she is ok with the changes, well she isn't ok with them, she just can't prove to the producers in the producers minds that those changes are adverse to the movie, but she doesn't want them made either way. That's what I am getting at. | |
| | | ~FG
December 12, 2005 11:50 AM PST
I haven't *seen* anything that states that. I have yet to see an interview with JK Rowling where she states that she's not happy with the changes that the screenwriters made, I have yet to see even a mention of such from any reputable source.
I'm not saying that you're wrong, but can you provide a link? Honestly, if she were that upset with it, why would she still be working with the same production people? It just doesn't fit with ~what I have read and heard so far~ | |
| | | Ryan
December 12, 2005 01:32 PM PST
She doesn't have a choice, she sold off the whole lot of movies in the beginning, so now it's all in contract, so she doesn't get to pick to keep working with them or not, they already have them in contract, at least that's my understanding.
So given that situation she has one of two choices, sabatage it by being critical to the press and refuse to help and see her work get trashed, or be as helpful and charming as possible, not make waves and attempt to make some sort of possitive impact on the movies. Whichever way she choses though her input is mearly an opinion as she doesn't own the movie or the rights or whatever, she sold that.
This is mostly coming from input from a friend that I had this same conversation with me taking the side you are taking now, as it was as we were walking out of the movie she couldn't provide me links as we were not around computers. But either way, I know she doesn't get a vote in how the movie is made, she is just a consultant whos input can be used or ignored.
I just take exception to this "I know that J. K. Rowling has extreme veto power and approves all changes to her storyline." Because that is not the case. The qoute you gave me from the people making the movie directly say she is a consultant and that she doesn't get "approval of the structure of the screenplay" and therefore she doesn't have "extreme veto power". Maybe I am being nitpicky, but I don't feel I am. Just the way you wrote it basically it's like she greenlighted all these changes as perfectly acceptable, which I am pretty sure is not the case.
That and I would be a hypocrite if I didn't comment on your blogs, at least the ones that I read through, honestly often I only get part way. I am not much of a reader in any aspect of my life. | |
| | | ~FG
December 12, 2005 01:48 PM PST
I know that she did have that veto power during the making of the first two movies. She was extremely involved and, iirc, it was in the contract that she would be working extremely closely with Chris Columbus in every aspect.
The structure of the screenplay is not the content of the screenplay... I guess that's where I'm having a problem with this. Frankly, I would think that if she did take exception to *anything* about the movie, she would want her loyal following to know that it wasn't coming from her. Plenty of other authors whose work has been adapted have done the same thing. With something as treasured and well-loved as HP, you'd think that she would want to be clear about where she stands, especially considering that she did have full veto power over the Chris Columbus movies (and I can document it, but I'm feeling lazy and not gonna :-P)
It's not that you're being nitpicky, per se, it just seems that everything you're giving me is supposition and what you're reading into the above quote.
Anyway, you're not the only one who can't make it through my long-winded posts ;) But tell me this much, are the comments better? I played with the template :-D
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| | | Name
December 12, 2005 02:10 PM PST
Yeah they are much more readable when I type them. Before I was kinda squinting to see them.
As far as HP, who the hell knows for sure. I know this one was done by a different team, I think different director and stuff. So things changed. | |
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