Right, so as you know, I went to two consecutive all-nighters, showing all the Harry Potter films already out. As I hadn't seen The Philosopher's Stone and The Goblet of Fire in over five years, and had sort of fallen out with The Half-Blood Prince (which I had previously called unbalanced) I was very much looking forward to it. I did a little vlog again which I will release soon. The first all-nighter was films 1-4, so a chance to see the early Christopher Columbus ones as well as Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell's contributions. I put on my Professor Quirrell costume before I went and ended up looking a bit like this:
I didn't personally think it was a fantastic costume, but one film down and I'm called up to the microphone along with Professor Trelawney, a rather scruffy looking Dumbledore and three Hermiones amongst others. I scream "There's a troll in the dungeon!!!" and drop to the floor, followed by rapturous applause. I won!!! I definitely had a much nicer audience this time (most of them were females). The prizes weren't as good as they were in previous all-nighters, but I'm more than happy with what I got, assorted film magazines and books, along with a PotC t-shirt. One of the funniest moments in the evening was when a guy in very plain clothes turned up at the competition. They asked him in front of the audience who he was dressed as, to which he replied: "I'm a muggle."
I have to say, it was just a magical time. I was immediately thrown back to the days of my childhood when I sat watching the Philosopher's Stone. I could recall a lot of the scenes, especially the first one, and the one at the end where Quirrell turns crazy evil (I distinctly remember my mum trying to block my vision in that scene). The first two which were not initially released in IMAX theatres on their release had been remastered and so filled most of the screen as the others did. It was wonderful to just sit and enjoy the first four films, thinking that everything in Harry's life would completely change following the end of the fourth. I left the first night with a smile on my face and managed to get a few hours' sleep and a couple of episodes of Firefly before the second night.
I chose not to dress up the second night, and it was a good thing I didn't. There were barely any people in costume the second night so they didn't do the contest conventionally, instead drawing some kind of raffle (I was five seats away from one of the people that won!!!) This time it was films 5-7 Part 1, all the David Yates films. I generally stayed awake, save for a few minutes sleep. Despite initially hating the sixth film because of all of its hormonal stuff, I realised that this was exactly what the film needed as it was indeed very dark in places. I decided they had got the balance right after all, though it's still not the best one.
Although I won't give my own verdict on each and every film, I have to say the films that I think are made the best made are the third, fourth and fifth installments, though I can't help loving the first two for the memories they bring with them. For Harry Potter has been a part of my life for a long time, and countless others alongside me. The all-nighters had seen three young actors, perky and adorable, mature to grown adults; ten years of my life had progressed in just a matter of hours. Surely in the history of motion-pictures there's been absolutely nothing on such a scale as Harry Potter, where each and every fan, whether you're a teenage girl or a grown man, can connect and deeply feel for the characters - laugh at their antics, and crumble at their demise.
I left the cinema on the second day extremely sad, aware that in less than a month it would be all finished.
