feeling listless

Film Grumpy old Empire Magazine have posted their review of the new Harry Potter film and given it measily three stars. Some of their views are fascinatingly at odds with what I wrote and saw on screen for that matter:

"Not that Cuarón has it all his own way. The young cast is still rather limited to good line-readings ... they are not bad, exactly, but they are being asked to shoulder an increasingly heavy burden and the tantalising glimpses of the excellent Thewlis and Oldman amply demonstrate that expositional dialogue need not be entirely bereft of character."

A fabulously unfair assessment of the performances of the young actors, expecially by comparing them to the older contingent. They hold their own and do much of the work for the audience in engaging us in the story. There is also some criticism of the screenplay for not having a three act structure. Well excuse the adaptor for not banging a Syd Field book against his forehead every night. Rules are meant to be broken, and in addition its the kind of story which lends itself better to an episodic structure (see also The Lord of the Rings trilogy).