I long ago fell under the spell of J.R.R. Tolkien and his hobbits and so I was a prime candidate to enjoy J.K. Rowling's world of wizardry when it came along a few years ago. I have read and liked all of her books and most of the movies based on them and now, like millions of fans around the world, I'm ready for the final movie which opens today in the United States. I won't be waiting in line at midnight tonight though. I'm too much in need of my beauty sleep for that. No, I'll wait a few days and hope the pandemonium dies down a bit.
As a Tolkien and Rowling fan, you would think I would have heard of George R.R. Martin and his work, but I admit I had not until this year. Then the HBO series "Game of Thrones" started. My propensity to like fantasy kicked in, and I was quickly hooked.
Martin had written four books in his series about the fantasy world of Westeros and the HBO series was based on the first. After just one episode, HBO realized that it had a hit on its hands and renewed the series for another season. Most likely, we will have a few more seasons to enjoy this fantasyland.
The last book in the series had come out about six years ago, and finally, just this week, the fifth one, A Dance With Dragons, has been published, just in time to boost sales for the summer for many ailing bookstores. A George R.R. Martin book and a Harry Potter movie all in one week - the fantasy lover's cup runneth over!
The reviews that I have read of the new Martin book have all been glowing. The word "masterpiece" has even been tossed around. The reviews of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" have been mostly good, too. Many pleasurable hours of reading and viewing lie ahead.
But before I can purchase and read A Dance With Dragons, I have to read the first four books, currently sitting in their box on my "to be read" shelf. There are about twenty books ahead of them, but I may have to jump them ahead in the queue. I've been suffering "Westeros Withdrawal" since the HBO series ended.
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Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
Harry Potter: The beginning of the end
My daughters have been big Harry Potter fans virtually from the publication of the first book. They grew up with Harry and, in a sense, I did, too.
I read all the books and I've seen all the movies along the way so I was very interested in the opening today of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Of course, I had to see the film and so did my daughters and so we went together to wallow in the Harry experience along with other besotted fans.
We saw the movie at a mid-day showing at an IMAX theater, which was a bit overwhelming actually. The theater was perhaps two-thirds full, so crowds were not an issue as they will be for later showings.
If you have followed the saga of Harry, then you know that this movie is based on the last book in the series, but only part of that book - thus the Part 1 of the title. The last book was the biggest and darkest of the series and trying to fit all of the action into one movie would have made for a very long movie. Besides, dividing it into two movies allows the owners of the franchise to prolong the action that much longer, and, let's fact it, to make a lot more money.
Now, I'm not a movie critic and obviously I cannot give you a critic's analysis of the film, but, as a fan, I enjoyed it. I thought it was mostly true to the book.
This movie brought home to me more than the others, and even more than the books, just how much J.K. Rowling was influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings trilogy. There were many bits and pieces here that seemed to be homages to Tolkien and the main story of this beginning of the end is Harry's lonely quest, along with Hermione and Ron, to destroy the evil Horcruxes, mirroring Sam and Frodo's lonely quest to destroy the One Ring.
This movie, as the last one did, portrays the deaths of some of the characters that we have come to care about, but the main action is all about the Big Three and, although they suffer, they survive safe and intact as a unit. A unit that will continue their lonely quest in Part 2 of "the end" in the movie to be released next summer. I'm setting my calendar now.
I read all the books and I've seen all the movies along the way so I was very interested in the opening today of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Of course, I had to see the film and so did my daughters and so we went together to wallow in the Harry experience along with other besotted fans.
We saw the movie at a mid-day showing at an IMAX theater, which was a bit overwhelming actually. The theater was perhaps two-thirds full, so crowds were not an issue as they will be for later showings.
If you have followed the saga of Harry, then you know that this movie is based on the last book in the series, but only part of that book - thus the Part 1 of the title. The last book was the biggest and darkest of the series and trying to fit all of the action into one movie would have made for a very long movie. Besides, dividing it into two movies allows the owners of the franchise to prolong the action that much longer, and, let's fact it, to make a lot more money.
Now, I'm not a movie critic and obviously I cannot give you a critic's analysis of the film, but, as a fan, I enjoyed it. I thought it was mostly true to the book.
This movie brought home to me more than the others, and even more than the books, just how much J.K. Rowling was influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings trilogy. There were many bits and pieces here that seemed to be homages to Tolkien and the main story of this beginning of the end is Harry's lonely quest, along with Hermione and Ron, to destroy the evil Horcruxes, mirroring Sam and Frodo's lonely quest to destroy the One Ring.
This movie, as the last one did, portrays the deaths of some of the characters that we have come to care about, but the main action is all about the Big Three and, although they suffer, they survive safe and intact as a unit. A unit that will continue their lonely quest in Part 2 of "the end" in the movie to be released next summer. I'm setting my calendar now.
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