The Order of the Phoenix

Things are a little better on the homefront. Not a-okay and certainly not perfect, but somewhat better. Or at least I hope it will be. I didn't want to give the impression it was something dire. It was just one of those you-never-stop-being-someone's-mother-no-matter-how-old-you-or-your-children-get kind of things.

Since I must get to my writing ASAP, just a brief post to relay the above news and to say that I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it's very good. Actually, I'd venture to say it's better than the book. The movie is leaner than the book by far and, yes, they did change a few things, but those were things that had to be changed in order to make the movie run tighter.

Movies are not novels. Let me repeat that. Movies are not novels. You cannot take a novel, and certainly not a novel as thick as HP & TOTP and translate it, page by page, into a movie.

Movies, IMHO, are more like short stories than novels. A movie has to get across a lot of information in the span of about two hours. And keep the audience from squirming in their seats while doing so. You can't have afford to have tangents in a movie, or extra characters, or meandering subplots.

I totally understood why the screenwriter and the director chose to make the changes they did. And I had no problems with them.

With each each movie in the series, there's no doubt the storyline has grown darker. But more is at stake now. Not just the wizarding world or the world of the Muggles, but Harry's soul is also in danger. He and Lord Voldermort now have a stronger connection than ever and it's now a question as to whether Harry will be able to defeat Lord Voldermort without becoming another Lord Voldermort.

Yes, secondary characters are given short shrift in the movie but the focus is where is should be. On Harry. And Daniel Radcliffe does a wonderful job portraying Harry's roller coaster ride of emotions.

I highly recommend it.

As for writing, goal is to get my submission out for my 13,000 word story today and to start on my 70 Days of Sweat project.

Happy writing!