Blog announcements and a Review of HBP!

Hello all! two things for you today:

1. as you probably have noticed, I haven't kept my promise of updating every day. After a couple month hiatus, I have decided to make a more reasonable promise. Instead of every day, I'll only be updating once or twice a week. This will make it much easier for me, but if you want to keep up to date with me, I'm on twitter at twitter.com/RyanHBP.

2. Last night I went to see the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I have prepared a little review. To prevent myself from talking for hours about the film (which I probably could), I am just sticking to the basics. First, individual things (WARNING SPOILERS):

It should be noted that the first shot of the film was done brilliantly. It's a flashback to Harry and Dumbledore in the ministry at the end of the last film. It was perfect in showing the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore, and also had a little hint of something coming later in the film (the ring).

The new scenes that were added were really good. The first, showing the Death Eaters wreaking havoc in London, was epic and terrifying. I liked how we got to see the Death Eaters kidnap Olivander, and destroy the Millennium Bridge. The second, also involving the Death Eaters, was Bellatrix LeStrange and Fenrir Greyback attacking the burrow during the Christmas Holidays. We watch the Weasley's home burn to the ground, and are given no information regarding the aftermath. Are the Weasleys now homeless? It could be problematic in the future films.

Snape. Allan Rickman gave a great performance in this film. They cut two major things for Snape from the book, but the feel of the movie portrays them, so most people didn't notice. After this we see Bellatrix burn down Hagrid's Hut, proving that she is indeed an insane pyromaniac.

Now for more general things:

First, and my only major complaint: Horcruxes. This is the first movie that they made since all of the books have been released, and it is obvious that this is a set up for the final chapter, even more then the book was. However, they did leave something major out. They did not at all mention the lost diadem, Nagini, Hufflepuff's cup, or how to destroy horcruxes. This leaves Harry with absolutely no idea where to look for Horcrux, and no idea what to look for. Dumbledore didn't even mention that voldemort had seven horcruxes, yet it was implied. For all Harry knows, the horcruxes are all of the 101 Dalmatians. According to the movie, Dumbledore had no idea that Voldemort even had horcruxes until Harry showed him the memory, which could be tricky later on.

The romance in this film was great, yet the relationships seemed out of place, and cut off from the last film. The Ron-Hermione relationship looks as though it is continuing from Goblet of Fire, not Order of the Phoenix, and Harry and Ginny just randomly start liking each other the first time they see each other in the film. The Harry-Ginny kiss was cute, but it didn't last very long. Also, we never see Harry and Ginny together, meaning that Harry never breaks up with Ginny at the end. Hopefully we will see them together in the next film, and then see them break up.

The Draco story line was perfect. We saw him more in this film, and his plot line at the end was perfect. He sees Katie Bell in the Great Hall, thinks that she remembers that he cursed her, gets upset and runs away, to be confronted by Harry, where they fight. That night he wakes up in the hospital and realizes that he will need to kill Dumbledore now, and goes and lets the Death Eaters into the castle. (by the way, there is a random short Death Eater at the end who is hilarious)

The main trio's acting had improved greatly. Everyone is talking about the Ron-Love potion scene, which was good, but there was a part where Hermione gets drunk, which was much funnier. the best comedic acting however goes to Daniel Radcliffe, who was hilarious in the Felix Felicious Scene.

I could keep going on and on about little things, but I wont. Over all, it was the best potter ever. I loved it, I just hope that they can fix their small mistakes in the next film. 9/10