Diane and I went out to see the late showing of the new Harry Potter movie Friday night. We had to figure out where the theater was while we were cutting the show time closely. I sent Diane ahead while I found a parking space, but all turned out well and I made it in in time to see the start of the film. So ads in movie houses reward procrastination.

And the film itself made a nice bit of entertainment. It seems that the direction in this outing has gone in the direction of more straightforward story-telling and less gratuitous eye-candy. Oh, sure, there is eye-candy, but it seems to me that it is deployed more strategically in service of the story in this film than in some of the previous outings. Harry Potter movies are not standalone entertainment, though; you really need to have read the book recently. It essentially is a sequence of animated illustrations to accompany the reader’s experience. Otherwise, the plot would be exceedingly difficult to discern from the few clues given. This is, I think, necessary in a feature-length film. In order to present Rowling’s story in sufficient detail for those unfamiliar with the particular book would require treatment at the length of a mini-series instead.

One nice thing was that Diane and I were able to stay snuggled next to each other through the whole movie. I don’t think that I’ve been to a theater in the past 22 years where I haven’t had to excuse myself for a personal intermission/trip to the men’s room, so this is a welcome change. Ulcerative colitis is quite disruptive of some of the most mundane social rituals. My regards to my surgeon.