I noticed two decidedly absent characters from the latest Harry Potter film.  I believe there was only a passing glance or two of Draco Malfoy’s partners in crime Crabbe and Goyle.  Well, it seems that Jamie Waylett who plays Vincent Crabbe in the films was charged with growing 10 marijuana plants in his mother’s England home.  The 20 year old actor was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty to the charge on July 7th.  The judge went easy on the malefactor after deeming the botanical exercise “small scale.”

Actually, I have been noticing a limited amount of screen time for most of the supporting cast.  Very little of Professors McGonagall and Snape and Hagrid was only in one major scene.  One scene in which the head of Gryffindor House appeared brought a chuckle.  Once again, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were once again in the thick of trouble and Minerva ever so eloquently pointed this out:

Professor Minerva McGonagall: [to Harry, Ron, and Hermione] Why is it that, whenever anything happens, it’s always you three?
Ron Weasley: I’ve been asking myself the same question for six years, Professor

Maggie Smith (who plays Prof. McGonagall) is definitely starting to show her age.  It has been nearly 20 years since she got into the habit as the Mother Superior in Sister Act. Surely the supporting cast will all be front and center for the final 2 installments.

Also, the concluding two films better be made quick or the young stars who are entering their twenties will be too old.  As one commented, by the time Harry Potter graduates from wizard school he will be collecting Social Security.

Sure, that’s happened to everyone at some point, hasn’t it?  You mistake someone for a zombie?  No wait, that’s only Woody Harrelson, an actor probably known more for his advocacy to legalize marijuana than for any movie roles he’s had.  Maybe he shouldn’t smoke quite so much dope, if he truly believes this is an  “understandable” mistake – check out the story below:

From CNN.com by Alan Duke
Woody Harrelson defended his clash with a photographer at a New York airport Wednesday night as a case of mistaken identity — he says he mistook the cameraman for a zombie.

The TMZ photographer filed a complaint with police claiming the actor damaged his camera and pushed him in the face at La Guardia Airport, according to an airport spokesman.

“We’re looking into this allegation and if it’s warranted, we’ll turn it over to the proper authorities,” said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Ron Marsico.

The photographer, who was not identified, captured the encounter on a small camera after his larger one was broken.

Harrelson, who is being sued by another TMZ photographer for an alleged assault in 2006, did not deny his involvement.

“I wrapped a movie called ‘Zombieland,’ in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character,” Harrelson said in a statement issued Friday by his publicist.

“With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie,” he said.

TMZ.com posted two videos of the incident, including one recorded by the larger camera before it was damaged.

The first video shows the photographer following Harrelson and his daughter down an escalator and out of the terminal. It ends with Harrelson apparently reaching for the lens.

The second video begins with the photographer accusing Harrelson of breaking his camera.

After Harrelson returns the camera to him, a scuffle appears to ensue.

“Woody, this is assault. Woody, this is assault,” the photographer is heard saying. “Woody, chill out. Would you please chill out?”

The photographer continues to follow Harrelson for another four minutes as the actor and his daughter walk to the airport parking lot. At one point, Harrelson again turns toward the cameraman.

“I’m being chased by Woody Harrelson while I’m talking to you,” the photographer says as he talks to an unidentified person on a cell phone.

“He hit me in my face, he broke my friggin’ camera, he broke the camera in pieces,” he said.

Harrelson, his daughter and a driver get inside an SUV and the encounter ends.

In the movie “Zombieland,” Harrelson plays “the most frightened person on Earth” looking for refuge from zombies, according to the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com

Filming on the movie wrapped in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, according to director Ruben Fleischer’s Web site.

TMZ photographer Josh Levine filed a lawsuit against Harrelson last year for an alleged attack outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2006.

Video of that incident, which is also posted on TMZ.com, also appeared to show Harrelson grabbing a camera and clashing with the photographer.

Los Angeles prosecutors declined to press charges against the actor, but Levine filed a suit last summer asking for $2.5 million in damages.

“Woody Harrelson has a history of anger management issues with people and we intend to put a stop to this,” Cyrus Nownejad, Levine’s lawyer, said Friday.

I actually hadn’t heard much about this movie before I saw it, but it happened to be playing at the time we needed in order to be able to see a movie that day.  Having 4 kids = a hectic life.  Our weekly date night has become a date day (still weekly though, YAY!), partly because my husband is in a show and we have rehearsal or meetings most nights, and partly because the baby still has his days and nights mixed up, thus guaranteeing that he sleeps during the date if it’s during the day.  But anyway, back to the Pineapple Express.  The movie is all about marijuana.  I did read the plot synopsis before I went, but I didn’t realize exactly how much drug content there would be – the characters smoke pot constantly!  It tells the tale of a stoner (Seth Rogen – does he smoke pot in every movie he’s in?) who witnesses a murder committed by a cop.  The whole movie has him fleeing the bad guys – while smoking marijuana, of course – with his drug dealer, who he didn’t know all that well before they fled together.  Seth Rogen wrote the screenplay for this film, and I like his natural way of delivering lines.  He’s not a very diverse actor, but his characters seem like real people because of the way he delivers his dialogue.

The movie entertained me; some parts were funny; although it did get pretty violent.  I missed some of the violence though because I fell asleep…  just tired, I wouldn’t call the movie terrible or anything like that.  It’s not one of my favorites, though, and I’m not sure if it even has replay value.  But if you read my blog regularly, you’ll know that my husband and I see LOTS of movies, so this was just another theater experience, and those are always fun!