Librarian's Rant

More important, [Cuaron's] approach to constructing a world on film is the opposite of Columbus'. Where the latter works from the top down, dollying into his lavish sets from on high, Cuarón builds his scenes from below, from deep inside his storybook universe. It helps that the characters' emotions are so vivid. The tactile power of Cuarón's filmmaking is clear from the first scene, in which Harry (once more Daniel Radcliffe) is discovered under his covers in the middle of the night in that awful Dursley house, doing something naughty. No, it's not what you're thinking: He's playing with his wand. I mean, he's testing out his new potency. I mean ...