interesting day it was yesterday. got my cable activated so spent quite a bit of time flipping through the channels. then i had to dash off for a hari raya lunch with the gang, before heading to city hall for harry potter with the sec sch people, but not after having half a rather messy carl's jr burger. when the movie ended, we moved to harry's (yeah that was the idea, harry's after harry) and still further to hagen-daz at the esplanade. kinda lost track of time, and ended up missing the last train home and had to catch a cab at the westin stamford (i can never remember the new name of the hotel). so, more or less a perfect dhs choir outing.

on to the movie. i was shocked at how dark the movie was. for those who haven't read the book (like me, don't scream!) you'd be aghast at how tragic and sinister this whole story is, and i'd venture to say, even darker than the return of the sith. the triwizard tournament, a kinda world cup for wizardry schools, is the main event of this movie, and i can't imagine why this tradition had to be continued because people die in it. an allusion to the (in)famous roman spectator sports perhaps? it positively sickened me that harry's friends were dragged into the lake and left there for him to save, and that in that maze (yeah sorry for the spoilers) the participants could be pulled by creeping roots into the earth, which is very x file-ish i must say. i really would like to know rowling's inspiration for those parts.

as for the film itself, it was a lot less jerky than the previous one. the continuity could have been better of course, as it was in the first two installments, but at least this time round, they prepared the audience for the next part of the story. ralph fiennes was a surprise as valdemort, full of demented and contorted facial features. the three central actors were great, though i felt rupert grint could do with a hair cut and maybe a stoop (he's now taller than dan radcliffe!). katie leung was nearly unintelligible with her scottish accent but sweet enough. what i felt was disappointing was micheal gambon's portrayal of dumbledore. there was none of the dignity and carriage that richard harris had. he spoke too rapidly and moved too fast for dumbledore, so the effect was lost. a pity really, because the movie had fantastic cgi and so many talented actors (miranda richardson as rita skeeter!) but on that count it really lacked something.

oh well, i might as well give my review of the singapore sling, which is that its a little diltued somehow and has a rather queer taste. perhaps it's an acquired taste.