Anyone going to see Harry Potter Tonight?

[Teta040]

Don't worry, withg the next two books there is NO WAY Snape will be downsized. Jo has said that Book 6 and 7 are actually a single two-part book. Considering that Snape *IS* the Half-Blood Prince, and the major role he will play in Book 7, I think Yates deliberately downplayed him so that in the next film his impact will be greater. I read an interview and he said that Snape's role is "pivotal" and he "couldn't wait" to begin filming him..he loved Snape's ambiguity. I got the sense that Yates was saving the best for later. I just *LOVE LOVE LOVE* how Alan Rickamn is so INTO his part even in the first 3 films where his role is minimal and of course at that timenobody knew how big a character Snape would become. Rickman loves being Snape and it shows. When UNbridge questions himaobut losing the DADA job and he says "Obviously"..or whatever that one word was, HUGE laughs...

 

[intedomine]

Is Emma Watson hot or is Emma Watson hot?

 

[redhotswami]

Holy fucking shit.







Kick. Ass. Movie.

They left stuff out, but they needed to. There are things that I wish were fleshed out some----the Dumbledore/Harry interaction at the end, and giving Ginny more than one measly line (this is the book where she's become a strong character and it wasn't there in the film). However, they did a pretty darn good job of turning a tedious book into a fantastic film.

I disagree actually. I think there were really important elements that were left out:
1) explaining the OOTP
2) that really really powerful scene at the end of the book when Harry is yelling into the mirror. THAT scene made me cry reading it. I think it was essential...I feel like the theme overall surrounding that particular character was lost. Rowling left her room crying after she wrote about it. There wasn't a wet eye in the theater. I think that says a lot.

There were other reasons...but for now this is all I can think of.

 

[U2Girl416]

well saw the movie last night. I managed to reread about 650 pages of book 5 to refresh my memory on all the little stuff. the movie itself was good, but I think because I've read the books I noticed A LOT of stuff that was left out and some stuff was changed from the book. I think it was a bit disappointing and I know how hard it must be to downsize a 870 page book into a movie, but a lot was lost I felt.

 

[VertigoGal]

I loved it, I thought it was infinitely better than the 4th movie. They did leave out a lot, but overall I thought they did a great job of fitting such a long book into a cohesive movie that wasn't overly long. Plenty of funny moments, and plenty of significant moments that summed up much longer scenes from the book. And the casting for the new characters was awesome. Luna, Umbridge, and Bellatrix were perfect.

I did feel like the whole scene at the Department of Mysteries could've been better, though I'm not sure exactly what it was missing. But overall the movie was much better than I expected.

 

[Utoo]

Don't worry, withg the next two books there is NO WAY Snape will be downsized. Jo has said that Book 6 and 7 are actually a single two-part book. Considering that Snape *IS* the Half-Blood Prince, and the major role he will play in Book 7, I think Yates deliberately downplayed him so that in the next film his impact will be greater. I read an interview and he said that Snape's role is "pivotal" and he "couldn't wait" to begin filming him..he loved Snape's ambiguity. I got the sense that Yates was saving the best for later.

I agree------I think they might be doing the same thing with Ginny. I would have loved to see more Ginny in this movie. Book 5 is where she becomes the awesome character that she is, pretty much Harry's female equal (or better!). And while they did give her some magical strength in the film, they didn't have her as a person appear as strong as I'd hoped. However, I think that with the Harry/Ginny relationship of HBP, she'll be featured a lot more in the next movie. At least I hope so!

Oh, Teta, feel free to copy your review here--no reason not to! I also loved the "Nice one, James!" part--and how there was only the briefest odd look on Harry's face......they put it out there, but didn't make it huge. It's kind of a big moment for everyone who read the books & knows the characters, but they didn't overdo it.


As for cutting stuff, I still think they did a decent job. Unico---I'm pretty sure Hermione or someone gives a two-liner to Harry about who the Order are when Harry arrives at Grimmauld Place. It's also kind of re-explained in a way when Sirius gives him the picture. So, I thought that was okay (much better than not explaining who Padfoot, Prongs, etc. are in the Azkaban film). As for the mirror scene, I think they must've filmed it, as it's probably the scene in one of Harry's memory montages where he's looking into the mirror & Voldemort's face appears---they must've just cut it. Just like I imagine that the Umbridge teacher evaluation scenes were probably filmed much longer than what they used.

OOTP is just the hardest book to put into film. They talked about Goblet needing to be two films, but OOTP is worse---and yet two films of it would've been boring. JKR got a bit indulgent with it. I mean, she practically tells you what happens at 11:30am, then 1:15, then 2:45, then 6:00....every single day. There's far too much detail in it---making it impossible to put all the great scenes & information into one film.

As for the next one, I wonder if they'll have Quidditch. They didn't have the Ron/Quidditch bit in this one, but they can pull it off by having him join with everyone else who joins the team in HBP. Without Quidditch, they'll need an entirely different setting for Harry & Ginny's first kiss.......

 

[redhotswami]

I agree------I think they might be doing the same thing with Ginny. I would have loved to see more Ginny in this movie. Book 5 is where she becomes the awesome character that she is, pretty much Harry's female equal (or better!). And while they did give her some magical strength in the film, they didn't have her as a person appear as strong as I'd hoped. However, I think that with the Harry/Ginny relationship of HBP, she'll be featured a lot more in the next movie. At least I hope so!

Oh, Teta, feel free to copy your review here--no reason not to! I also loved the "Nice one, James!" part--and how there was only the briefest odd look on Harry's face......they put it out there, but didn't make it huge. It's kind of a big moment for everyone who read the books & knows the characters, but they didn't overdo it.


As for cutting stuff, I still think they did a decent job. Unico---I'm pretty sure Hermione or someone gives a two-liner to Harry about who the Order are when Harry arrives at Grimmauld Place. It's also kind of re-explained in a way when Sirius gives him the picture. So, I thought that was okay (much better than not explaining who Padfoot, Prongs, etc. are in the Azkaban film). As for the mirror scene, I think they must've filmed it, as it's probably the scene in one of Harry's memory montages where he's looking into the mirror & Voldemort's face appears---they must've just cut it. Just like I imagine that the Umbridge teacher evaluation scenes were probably filmed much longer than what they used.

OOTP is just the hardest book to put into film. They talked about Goblet needing to be two films, but OOTP is worse---and yet two films of it would've been boring. JKR got a bit indulgent with it. I mean, she practically tells you what happens at 11:30am, then 1:15, then 2:45, then 6:00....every single day. There's far too much detail in it---making it impossible to put all the great scenes & information into one film.

As for the next one, I wonder if they'll have Quidditch. They didn't have the Ron/Quidditch bit in this one, but they can pull it off by having him join with everyone else who joins the team in HBP. Without Quidditch, they'll need an entirely different setting for Harry & Ginny's first kiss.......

You know, I think movies 3 - 7 need like 4 hour extended dvd versions, a la LOTR, just to satisfy the book loyalist in me.

Yeah I totally forgot about how they omitted the Mauraders explanation. Especially with Harry telling Snape that Padfoot was in trouble. I could imagine someone saying "WTF?"

 

[Utoo]

You know, I think movies 3 - 7 need like 4 hour extended dvd versions, a la LOTR, just to satisfy the book loyalist in me.

 

[Jack In The Box]

Don't worry, withg the next two books there is NO WAY Snape will be downsized. Jo has said that Book 6 and 7 are actually a single two-part book. Considering that Snape *IS* the Half-Blood Prince, and the major role he will play in Book 7, I think Yates deliberately downplayed him so that in the next film his impact will be greater. I read an interview and he said that Snape's role is "pivotal" and he "couldn't wait" to begin filming him..he loved Snape's ambiguity. I got the sense that Yates was saving the best for later. I just *LOVE LOVE LOVE* how Alan Rickamn is so INTO his part even in the first 3 films where his role is minimal and of course at that timenobody knew how big a character Snape would become. Rickman loves being Snape and it shows. When UNbridge questions himaobut losing the DADA job and he says "Obviously"..or whatever that one word was, HUGE laughs...

I hope so, Snape is the most interesting character, and in the last books is so important, I can't wait to see "The Half-Blood Prince"

I laughted a lot with the "obviously" scene too, love Alan Rickman, and I love him playing Snape

another thing, I was so excited about Tonks and she has 2 lines! well, one of those line is "don't call me Nymphadora" and that was... well, so Tonks

Bellatrix, Umbridge and Luna were great, one of the best things in the movie, Umbridge is a little "prettier" than I imagined, but you hate that bitch! just like in the book

 

[MaxFisher]

"Order of the Phoenix" is my favorite of the books so far and I really wanted to like this movie.

Unfortunately, it's a disjointed mess and easily the weakest of the 5 films. It could have used an extra 20-30 minutes to flesh out certain scenes and characters.

 

[redhotswami]

"Order of the Phoenix" is my favorite of the books so far and I really wanted to like this movie.

Unfortunately, it's a disjointed mess and easily the weakest of the 5 films. It could have used an extra 20-30 minutes to flesh out certain scenes and characters.

agreed. i'm hoping for some awesome dvd extras.

 

[Utoo]

"Order of the Phoenix" is my favorite of the books so far and I really wanted to like this movie.

One man's blood is another man's poison. I think OOTP is only good for the final battle scene and the heart wrenching conversation between Harry & Dumbledore at the end.

 

[vivalapopedge]

omg, i'm overwhelmed at the all the good discussion going on in here, i wish i could like take a day and talk about every single post



i'm just gonna say a few quick things about the movie, which i saw last night:


-Pla, i agree w/ what you said about there not being a friendship w/ hermione and ron anymore. it feels like the filmakers are thinking that we take the friendship for granted and don't question it, to the point where there was really only one scene (after harry and cho kiss and hermione and ron and harry are in the common room talking/laughing about it) where you really see that they actually still talk to each other. one of the themes of the book/movie is that harry feels alone, but it seems like the only people who make him not feel alone is the DA, and not his best friends.

-i hate michael gambon as dumbledore. i agree w/ everything that's been said against him. i feel like he's too slapstick almost, and seems almost too young. the thing i loved about harris was how he moved around like he was carrying a lot of secrets and knowledge, and had great respect for the smallest thing, and played the part w/ great subtle humor and was gentle and caring like i always imagined dumbledore. gambon is too slapstick, and actually to me moves around like he is too busy for whatever's going on, and always looks angry. i also didn't like the costume change. i like harris's large, intricate robes, and very white hair, it made him seem older and wiser. gambon just seems immature. that scene in goblet that's been discussed always makes me laugh, which is actually not good.

-i loved the actress who played luna. i don't what about her made me like her portrayl so much, but i think it was the fact that she played luna not trying to make her seem funny or weird, just different, in a fantastic way.

-hermione is one of my favorite characters in the book, but i didn't like emma watson in the last two movies b/c as my little bro says "she overeacts too much." she made hermione seem very petty, and she never seemed satisfied w/ anything, but i enjoyed her in the next one, although she needs to get a new "concerned" face, her eyebrows annoy me.

-i loved the ron/hermione tension. in the last couple, it was very immature flirting, mostly just getting mad at each other, or the scene in chamber where hermione hugs harry but ron's all shy, and just shakes her hand, very middle school. this one, i feel like they both know something is going to happen, but it's just a matter of when, and i loved the looks they kept exchanging, and i loved the fact that they didn't fight.

-the foreshadowing of ginny/harry hookup!! anyone catch it?? after the christmas DA meeting, before he kissed cho, they shot to ginny's face, looking at harry wistfully


-the thing i hate about the books into movies is the great subplots cut out, like ron as keeper on the house team (although quidditch always bored me) and st. mungo's, but also some are thrown in there b/c it feels like the filmakers knew it was significant, like hagrid and grawp

-when voldemort posesses harry at the ministry and they show the flashbacks, incredibly well done, don't remember it in the book??? but very well done, i was tearing up, i admit

-finally, anyone think it was waaaaaaaaay too dark??i couldn't see anyting in the scenes in the forest??? i know it's supposed to be "symbolic" but come on......



okay, that's it for now, i'm sure i'll think of more

i'll go see it again soon, because the first time is the analytical/critiquing time, next time is the enjoyment time

saw it last night w/ a massive group of friends, took up two rows
totally sold out


i work as a counselor at a summer camp 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week, so i'm sick of those kids after awhile
so who should i see at the showing but three of the kids
one of them actually left camp early to go see it, she was rubbing it in my face that i couldn't go til i got off work

 

[vivalapopedge]

One man's blood is another man's poison. I think OOTP is only good for the final battle scene and the heart wrenching conversation between Harry & Dumbledore at the end.

just saw this post
i agree w/ it 99 %

i have a massive eight year crush on ron, so it was awesome for me since he got a haircut

 

[Teta040]

Grrr....Utoo, I have *NO IDEA* how to move a paragraph from one thread to another! Mods: please tell me this is possible? And if it is, can you do it for me? It's in the open page belowthe Zoo menu, titled "For Harry Potter Fans"....the part where it starts at " massive movie spoilers."

If you can't, everyone please go there and read it at least. Yates as a director I feel comfortable with, but I'm sorry, you have to get rid of Hooper. He's a good TV composer and it shows. But his music has none of the "epic" feel HP needs and has been done so beautifully for all the films so far. No motifs. I was expecting a 'Ministry/Fudge" motif for example, etc. Umbridge was the only one who got a motif and suited her but.....

 

[EdgeIsTooSexy]

i thought the movie wasnt good at all but that was because i read all of the books
although gary oldman made it alot better

 

[LMP]

The last 25/30 minutes were exactly as I'd imagined it, except Sirius dying with little to no emotional impact and they cut Dumbledore's lecture to Harry at the end, which kind of ties the entire movie together. The subplots missing from the film series are really starting to hurt parts of these movies, I hope they do get the fully restored LOTR treatment after the 7th movie is made for maximum enjoyment / profit$.

But I guess there's only so much you can put in a 2 hour movie, and the stuff they put it was pretty good. I loved Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix, perfect casting. And is it wrong to want to bang Tonks? I jus' sayin'.

 

[corianderstem]

The complaints I've heard so far about the movie are about stuff that didn't make it into the movie, which is fine with me - I can barely remember what happened in the LAST book, much less book 5. So it'll be new to me, and I won't remember anything that didn't make it into the film.

 

[LMP]

I love how the entire Order of the Phoenix is explained in one line of dialogue from Hermione though.

Kudos to Radcliffe for playing Harry EXACTLY the way I thought he'd be, pissed off and confused.

Also, it was great to see that little flashback to him in the 1st movie when he still looked like Rachel Dratch.

 

[corianderstem]

Oh, that's right - OOTP was the book where Harry was a whiny brat! NOW I remember.

 

[Jack In The Box]

yeah, but all the Harry-emo-scenes were cut, he wasn't emotional and pissed as he was on the book

 

[Teta040]

One thing about the visuals. I LOVED the colors. In case you didn't notice, the whole film is done in what I call a "Matrix" palette. If you recall, in "The Matrix", all the scenes in the Nebuchednezzar (the real world) were all in dingy grey, blue, cream, black, etc. While all the scenes in the Matrix were lush and colorful. But then you recall that the Matrix was a place of comfortable slavery, while in the Matrix you lived a life of harship and danger but you were free and fighting for freedom. That was what Yates was trying to do here and it succeeds brilliantly--the only place of real color was Umbridge's office, *THE CATS*--PRICELESS.

Other thoughts: Yates has praictically married Ron and Hermione. They even wear striped tops togehter in certain scenes.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

The last 25/30 minutes were exactly as I'd imagined it, except Sirius dying with little to no emotional impact and they cut Dumbledore's lecture to Harry at the end, which kind of ties the entire movie together. The subplots missing from the film series are really starting to hurt parts of these movies, I hope they do get the fully restored LOTR treatment after the 7th movie is made for maximum enjoyment / profit$.

But I guess there's only so much you can put in a 2 hour movie, and the stuff they put it was pretty good. I loved Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix, perfect casting. And is it wrong to want to bang Tonks? I jus' sayin'.

Is it wrong to want to have a Snape/Sirius sandwich?

Um... saw this tonight, and liked it ok, but Azkaban remains my favorite of the series. Helena Bonham Carter = perfect as Bellatrix! But yeah, agreeing with those who say that too much was drawn out. The books are way too long and detailed so it's going to happen, but they're enjoyable movies, anyway.

 

[LMP]

I love how all of the superior actors are being underused (Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, hell, even Robbie Coltrane) for the sake of length. I forgot to mention how great Luna was too, absolutely dead-on.

Christ, if Peter Jackson can make 3 hour movies that make millions of dollars based on a popular fantasy series, surely Harry Potter can do the same? Maybe because it's catered to children, which is ridiculous. I wouldn't take a 5 year old to see this movie.

 

[Teta040]

New Line gave Jackson an almost unprecidented amount of directorial control. None of the Rings films even had a test screening. The most that was ever done was having 7 minutes cut out of the origional theatrical print of ROTK, which ended up in the Extended Cut--the scene with Saruman "shishkebabed" in Isengard, which I agree did not belong in the theatrical,it felt too much like TTT.

I get the idea that Warner Brothers has more control. Sadly. Though if this film makes enough money and after seeing Book 7, maybe they'll let up a little.

 

[Utoo]

The complaints I've heard so far about the movie are about stuff that didn't make it into the movie, which is fine with me - I can barely remember what happened in the LAST book, much less book 5. So it'll be new to me, and I won't remember anything that didn't make it into the film.

Pretty much the rule of thumb when it comes to seeing a movie about a book you like is to not read that book at all in at least the two months before the movie comes out.


As for the length...... Yeah, I hope they do let them get longer, esp. for the last two. They have to realize that they're not really catering to little kids anymore, and older kids & teens can easily sit through movies like Braveheart & LOTR.

I think one important thing is to try and think of how stuff that's cut out would work in the movie. I totally think that in Azkaban, having Lupin give Harry a two-liner on who Padfoot, Prongs, etc. were could've worked without changing the feel of anything. For OOTP, I think some of the stuff I would like to have seen would've changed the feel of things a bit too much. Obviously the Ron/Quidditch bit---would've added a ton of time and taken away the serious/dangerous feel of the movie. I would've loved to have seen the kids visit Mr. Weasley in St. Mungo's so that you could see the Longbottoms. The thing is, if it was done well, it would be awesome---you'd really get hit in the face with the brutality of Voldemort and how it really hits people forever. But if done poorly---if they'd made the Longbottoms bumbling idiots that get 1/2 the theater to laugh---it wouldn't be successful at all. So, the way they did it---have Neville tell Harry a one-liner that his parents were tortured with the Cruciatus curse---saves time, leaves it all serious, and doesn't risk changing the feel. Not as adventurous or impressive, but less risky I guess.

Ever since Azkaban the film, I've looked at these movies not as a full screen version of the books to be criticized for what they leave out, but instead as fun visual representations of the ideas to be enjoyed for the cool visuals they can give us. Even though the Order of the books would never ride next to a ferryboat in the middle of London, that scene alone makes me want to fly more than most of the Quidditch scenes in the first three movies.

 

[AtomicBono]

The complaints I've heard so far about the movie are about stuff that didn't make it into the movie, which is fine with me - I can barely remember what happened in the LAST book, much less book 5. So it'll be new to me, and I won't remember anything that didn't make it into the film.

agreed

I enjoyed the movie. Great visually, of course, and there were a lot of funny scenes. Alan Rickman is genius as Snape... he is able to seem incredibly pissed off without overdoing it. He's subtle. "Obviously" was somehow one of the best moments in the film, and just his expression when Umbridge gave her speech at the beginning

I want to see this film again I do think they could have made a bit more out of Sirius's death... the emotional impact on Harry wasn't really shown. The mirror scene should have been included. Beyond that I'm not sweatin' any of the stuff left out... the Order wasn't explained fantastically but at least the general idea was given.

 

[LMP]

One wasted opportunity was Lupin/Tonks, I wanted to see some of that, plus it's a sweet little moment at the end of HBP. Why Mad-Eye Moody got more screen-time than Lupin, I won't know.

Was Neville's part of the prophecy revealed in this book or HBP? I'm not sure.

 

[Utoo]

Was Neville's part of the prophecy revealed in this book or HBP? I'm not sure.

It was this book. Rowling's said in interviews that there's nothing special about Neville, just that Voldemort could've chosen him but didn't. In HBP, Dumbledore seems to say the same, and I think his bit in the prophecy was only for a little bit of coolness factor but won't amount to anything more in book 7---which is possibly why they decided to skip out on it in the film.

 

[Tiger Edge]

Why Mad-Eye Moody got more screen-time than Lupin, I won't know.

QFTTTTTTTT!