I just came back from seeing HP6! I had lots of fun, even if the movie wasn't absolutely amazing. I went with Vicki, Shayne, and Connie. We got there about half an hour in advance, and ran into Janet and Jackie in front of the theatre. They had just finished seeing it, so after exchanging pleasantries, we went in. The theatre was surprisingly empty, so we basically got our choice of seats. Connie hadn't eaten dinner for some reason and thus bought an extremely overpriced pretzel from the theatre. $1.50 just to add cheese. That's so ridiculous. As if they weren't already ripping us off for the tickets. They somehow had a concession stand on wheels before the movie.. none of us had ever seen that before. Maybe it was just for Harry Potter.

After about a million and a half of previews, which we all provided running commentary for (poor people around us), the movie started. Shayne had already seen it in the morning with his family, so apparently our antics were more amusing than the film. I seriously think it's a bad idea to have me and Vicki in a movie together. We make too much noise. We laughed really loudly at lots of parts, especially the "She has nice skin" and when Harry takes Felix Felicis. Harry Potter should never do drugs. :) And when Harry asks Dumbledore if he should let Slughorn collect him, Vicki, of course, had to burst out in, "Gotta catch 'em all!" It's the song of our lives apparently. First Mothamon, then Harry. When we got to the Horcrux bit, Vicki and I started freaking out, grabbing onto her sweatshirt and hiding when the Inferi (GOLLUM CLONES) came crawling out.

I think I will indulge the movie critic within and now write a little bit about my opinion of the film. Read at your own peril. Spoilers alert! I have long since accepted that I should never hold very high expectations about movie adaptations and to enjoy the Harry Potter films as separate entities from the books. That being said, it was an okay film... I didn't love it, but I didn't absolutely detest it. It was entertaining while it lasted, but I feel lacked real structure. They had all these random action scenes that didn't exist in the book, such as the beginning and that bit about the Burrow that was completely unnecessary and random, but the ending was very anti-climactic. There was no big battle between the Order and the Death Eaters, and thus no real climax, and even the search for the Horcrux didn't seem as important as the Hogwarts students' hormonal and romantic issues. While that was amusing for a while, particularly due to Rupert Grint's performance, it got old and should not have been the centerpiece of the film. Ginny did not have to be in every single scene and did not have to seem more important than both Ron and Hermione in Harry's quest, and neither Ron nor Hermione had much to do with fighting evil or Harry's quest other than to add hormonal drama. And the ending with Ron standing separate from the other two seemed a bit bizarre. Acting wise, I thought they all did a good job. Rupert Grint was funny, as usual. Emma Watson didn't annoy me, which was a first for her, and Daniel Radcliffe was really funny and endearing. Cormac McLaggen, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous, which was bizarre. Tom Felton did a good job as Draco.. he was like a ghost the whole time, pale as you can be and wandering the halls silently.

All in all, I think it was worse than the last two films, and lacked real driving force, but was still entertaining. It was almost like watching, or even being, at Hogwarts, watching these people's lives unfold, with all its little dramas and stories, rather than watching a film with actual structure and plot. Oh well. Another Harry Potter film down. Two more to go. I feel like Harry Potter winding down is like my childhood disappearing. "The Lord of the Rings" films are done. Now "Harry Potter" is almost over. I'm currently obsessed with Tolkien again. It's kind of bad.

Anyway, back to the hanging out. After the film, we walked to the Starbucks on Birch Street, which was closed, so we walked to the other one right behind it. Connie had never been to Birch Street before and thus found it ridiculous that there were two Starbucks so close to each other, which I agree, is pretty ridiculous. But they both have lots of business, so I guess there's nothing wrong with it. As we were walking out of the dark theatre, I apparently, and I must insist, very unknowingly and accidentally, attacked Connie's flip-flop, which somehow ended up five feet behind her after I stepped on it and dragged it away from her. I am very talented. If anyone ever needs shoe stealing, let me know. Yay! According to Vicki, this still allows them to keep me on the desert island that we are stranded on, but Shayne quickly pointed out that there are no shoes to steal on said desert island. Hush. I have a skill. Don't be jealous!

We got to Starbucks, which is another venue Connie does not frequent. The three of us ordered drinks, and then we all went outside to sit and chat. We discussed the film and did many impressions, the best of which was probably Vicki's reenactment of the hospital wing scene with Ron, Lavender, and Hermione. We also discussed Shayne's insane, redneck relatives, one of whom is missing lots of teeth, Vicki being hit on in Walmart by some random guy, and my laughing fits. I do not find it amusing when you all try to provoke me into laughing for long periods of time and having to gasp for air! Vicki is also Britney Spears, fyi.

We finally decided to head off for home. Connie and I stopped at In-N-Out on the way to get her more food, and spent the whole time talking about Harry Potter. :) We think we need to make our own low-budget, bad acting versions of Harry Potter that are extremely faithful to the book. I want to be Hermione! Let's go!