Harry Potter by twilight

Pretty mini lights adorn all the leafless trees in
Penrith's outdoor restaurant precinct this winter.

I was heading back from my viewing of the latest "Harry Potter" movie, "The Half-Blood Prince", when I clicked off today's picture for my 365 Photos project.

Mmmmmmmm, bit of a mish mash of a film. The acting was fine. I certainly couldn't see it six times like I did JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" movie! Like the last "Harry Potter" film ("The Order of the Phoenix"), characters simply wander into a scene, briefly say something, and then swan out. The best one has been the one with the time travel conundrum, whichever that one was - "The Prisoner of Azkaban"? No, that was a fun movie, and a great use of the extended cast, and with an intriguing twist that took me by surprise.

Ah - deja vu! - I'm just realising that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was the novel upon which I was asked to do a professional review, when the book first came out. Now I'm remember why I felt like I already knew the fates of Snape and Dumbledore, and the newly-festering romantic entanglements of the kids. It's a bad thing when a film barely pays lip service to its source material; it's a long movie but I don't recall the book being as disjointed as this movie seemed to be. (I do own all the books but "The Chamber of Secrets" (on a friend's recommendation) and "The Half-Blood Prince" are the only two I've read.)

I'm sorta, kinda, looking forward to the concluding chapters of this film saga - it's been amazing to watch the child actors mature into adults before our eyes. Malfoy seemed like a grown man in this movie! I'm sure he was just a spooky, little, white-headed kid in "The Philosopher's Stone"...