Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I think I've gotten around and replied to them all, but if I missed one: consider yourself tucked in under this blanket thank you.

I know there are a few birthday fics out there; could I possibly get anyone who wrote a birthday fic to comment with a link? I'm fairly positive that one of the fics slipped through the cracks and I want to make sure that I get to read them all!

Order of the Bullet-List Movie Review
It's really gotten harder and harder for me to do midnight shows. The problem isn't staying up through the movie, the real problem is that I have difficulties sleeping past 7am so today I am operating on about 4 hours of sleep. It is such a good thing that I took a vacation day. ;)

I enjoyed the movie. It's not my favorite of the movies—Prisoner of Azkaban still holds that title (and will probably never lose it, omg)—but I did really enjoy it. I knew this book was going to be difficult to adapt—and even more difficult to adapt to any fan satisfaction—so I think they did as good of a job as they could. I do admit that I was sitting there muttering about how totally out of order the second half of the movie was, but I handwaved it all and could still enjoy everything. The movie canon really is very different from book canon and that's just something we have to keep in mind.

So, what did I love?

• Harry: The Pretty Asshole
  I know, surprising isn't it? Dan Radcliffe was just beautiful . . . I mean, acted just beautifully. ;) He walked a narrow edge of Harry being an outright asshole and just a teenager and I thought he did an excellent job of it. (Also, I think some props should go to the writing/directing to keep Harry's outbursts to times when it seems more provoked than random.) I loved Harry especially in the end scene at the Ministry. The Harry/Voldemort hybrid was so fucking awesome! Harry was deliciously creepy and I was genuinely worried for him.


• Harry's Blue Shirt: *flails*
  Harry's blue shirt and sweatshirt from Prisoner of Azkaban made a return! *squee* I do so love him in that shirt and sweatshirt, and it makes me happy to see wardrobe return (like they're actual people who have closets with a limited number of clothes) and I love him in blue and, and, and . . . um, I'm going to continue to squeal over here. Other pervs can join me. The rest of you? Shut up. :P


• Fred and George: Background Artists
  I tried not to watch them too much in the background of the scenes (not on the first viewing, mind you), but I couldn't help catching their disgruntled and mischievous faces every now and then. I totally love James and Oliver Phelps; they are the Weasley twins. Plus, they're excellent for background reactions—it's stuff like what they do that really brings the book-characters to life.


• Sirus and Remus: The Slash Lives!
  THEY STOOD NEXT TO EACH OTHER! THEY WERE PRACTICALLY IN EACH OTHER'S LAPS! *DIES* Honestly, there wasn't enough Remus/Sirius-love to my tastes, but enough that I was quite happy. Also, I may have been slightly distracted by the Harry/Sirius vibes. Holy crap! And Harry/Ron! And Harry/Cedric! This movie was about as slashy as Spider-Man 3. So, yes, I did like it. ;)


• Sirius: Owns My Soul
  Oh, Sirius. Sirius. Gary Oldman owns my soul. I love him so much. He's not really "my" Sirius, but dear Lord, does he do an excellent job. The thing that bothers me about Sirius in OotP is that he's on this rubber band between adult and adolescence and his reactions are often jarring. But Oldman makes it clear that Sirius is an adult stuck in the past—the little winks behind people's backs and the nudges to make mischief are just perfect. And, well, this deserves it's own bullet:


• Sirius Calling Harry "James"
  That. Broke. My. Heart. *wibbles* One of my favorite bits about the Harry Potter story is the relationship between Sirius and James and between Sirius and Harry. Sirius's interaction with Harry is completely colored by his previous friendship with James and I love that. I love that sometimes Sirius forgets that Harry isn't James and I love that he called him James. I really, really didn't think we'd get that in the movie. Ow. My heart is still so broken.


• The Veil: Not Quite Drapery
  Ever since seeing nassima's version of the veil in her comic Letter to a Dead Man (link will take you to the page in question), that's the only way I've envisioned the veil. I liked what they did with the barely there, not-really-fabric thing—and Sirius disappearing through it was cool—but it was a little too flashy for me. I prefer the thought of it being so simple and innocuous that you might walk up to it just because it's so unsuspecting. . . . Aaaand that makes it sound like I didn't like it; but I swear I did! It was a very clever effect and made Hermione's line about it being "an empty archway" more understandable.


• The Death: Taking Lessons From Whedon
  This was rather like another death that sends me into wibbles—so. very. sudden. I was impressed that they didn't do anything drawn out or slow-mo or stupid and over dramatic. It was just, boom, and then veil. *sniffles* Though, now I can't remember: did he smile? (Guess I'll have to try to pay attention to that detail today.) I loved Remus holding Harry back. Oh, *heart breaks again* I love that part so much. David Thewlis had a great holding-it-together expression on his face. There's a moment where it looks like he puts on Resolve Face and, just, y'know, and, and. . . . *wibbles* Plus the silent scream kicked so much ass. Oh, Harry. &hearts


• OTHER STUFF
  There was other stuff I loved, but frankly, I need to get on with my day. ;)

What did I miss?

• The Portable Swamp
  I was really surprised it didn't make it to the movie because it's in the game. At least they did put in a nod to Filtwick enjoying Fred and George's rebellion, but I did want to see special effects for the swamp.


• Snape's Worst Memory
  Yes, I know it's technically in the movie, but it was much too quick for my liking. Hell, you can't even really see the other Marauders besides James—wait, I'm complaining about seeing James? What is wrong with me? Mostly I wish it had been longer and maybe that we'd seen more of Remus and that we'd seen Lily. Maybe they'll have an extended version on the DVD. *crosses fingers*


• The Enchanted Parchment: Hermione's Descent to the Dark Side
  It's such a little thing, I know, but I thought it was pretty devious of Hermione to trick everyone into signing an enchanted parchment and it's one of the moments where I really, really love Hermione. It would have been fun to see it.


• Christmas on the Closed Ward: Woobie!Neville
  I'm fine without the visit to Lockheart, but I so wanted to see Neville's parents. Specifically, I wanted to see Neville with his parents. Neville breaks my heart when I read that because there's this moment where I really think that Neville's got it worse than Harry and just . . . I love Neville.


• Accio Brain: More of the Department of Mysteries
  I wish we had seen more in the Department of Mysteries. I really do think that's my favorite bit of the books (despite my normal inability to choose between that and the Graveyard from GOF), and I wish we'd seen a bit more of their journey to retrieve the prophecy. I knew we wouldn't get the whole thing, but I wish we'd either gotten the brains or at least passed a display of time turners (or something). It would have been nice to have been given more of a scope of exactly how difficult it was to find the prophecies. Also—this is such a stupid thing—but I wanted them to get the badges that said Harry Potter - Rescue Mission! *snickers*


• Sirius and Snape Get Their Hate On
  I'm really, really sorry that we missed scenes of Sirius and Snape going nose-to-nose. The snide comments and pointed remarks to Sirius are actually one of the reasons I like Snape (and it's pretty rare for me to say that). His abuse of Sirius is just awesome and I'm so sorry that was cut out. I'm especially sorry because it adds so much to the Occlumency lessons.


• Weasley Is Our King
  :( No Quidditch and no prefect badge. Poor Ron. He finally has his day in the sunlight and it's pulled out of the movie. This made me sad.


• Remus and Sirius Snogging
  What do you mean that wasn't in the book? *cough*

Overall, I am content (and need to stop because I keep thinking of new stuff to add to my already-long bulleted list). It's not perfect; there are pacing problems (possibly some editing problems, too); there's more that I would have liked to see, but I liked it and I'll be going to see it several times this summer so I can continue to drool over Harry.