I booked tickets online for my local Odeon to see this and even when i got there the ques were huge just to get into the screen. Anyway the film, this has to be the best film i have seen this year..absolutely brilliant. Let me know what you thought if you have seen it yet. Ice
And such is the world of entertainment critique... I thought it was the best of the 4. My wife and I are very big fans of the books, so we've been watching the movies with a very close eye. Chris Columbus made the mistake in #1 of being slavishly devoted to every written word of the book and the movie's pacing ended up being way too fast. The cast was very young and, as a result, the acting was good enough for a kids movie (barring Alan Rickman - nailed Snape dead on). #2 is the weakest of the books, so it's only fitting that it was the weakest of the movies. Acting was marginally better, but still an improvement. When Alfonso Cuaron took over for #3, the series took a good turn. The transition to the darker story was pulled off very well, and the kids' acting was noticably better. Once again, the adults were all very good, and Gary Oldman and David Thewlis were spot on as Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, respectively. The score and production design were befitting with story's overall dark tone. Which brings us to #4. Again, the actors are improving with age, and Mike Newell (the newest director in the lot) took the dark thematic elements from #3 and ran with them. #4 was completely different than the previous 3. This was the first time that, when watching the movie, I was able to visualize the characters as normal kids at school. They weren't just a bunch of wizards waving their wands around. As the kids have grown, so too have the issues with which they battle throughout the year. Raging hormones, best friends fighting, and the emotions that jealousy and competition can bring out in a kid were all portrayed very well. There was enough sexual innuendo that we were able to see that the kids are now dealing with sex as any 14 year-old would, but it was subdued enough that it never seemd gratuitous. I was still upset that Snape's character is being underutilized. He is a VERY important character in the books, and the casual viewing audience needs to start connecting with him more. I wish Newell had gone into more detail with Mad-Eye Moody. The big revealing at the end of the movie seemed a little too rushed for my taste, but it was starting to run long on time. Also, Rita Skeeter's character and storyline were underplayed. Rita's sensationalist news stories were one of the reasons for the conflict between Harry and Ron, but it was never really apparent. Overall it could have been better (but then, what movie can't be better?). It was still the best of the 4. Newell did a pretty good job of weeding out the unnecessary material while keeping the story intact. And Ralph Fiennes is one heckuva dark lord. I'm really looking forward to #5 (Order of the Pheonix). #5 is my favorite of the books, so I really hope David Yates is up to the task. It's a big book, and just about every page is relevant in one way or another. /enter super geek mode/ For each release, a bunch of us get together and see it on opening day. I come up with a t-shirt design and we all dress accordingly. Here is the t-shirt design I came up with this year: Front: Back (each one of us had a different champion's name - I had Cedric): /exit super geek mode/ -monkey
Haha, so I exaggerated just because I like messing with Icecoldbagey. It wasn't so bad, but the fourth book was much longer than the previous books and each of the successive movies have been more or less the same length. This movie just changed too much and left out too much for my liking.
As a movie it was excellent. As a representation of the book, well, do you really expect to fit 700 pages into 2.5 hours? Yes they cut 97% of the subplots, but the basics were in there. The unnecessary changes were stupid though, some of which were serious issues in relation to fact in the books (BC Jr did NOT do the torturing of the longbottoms, it was the lestranges). It was the utterly stupid ones that would have had NO effect on the runtime that really bugged me - LV's eyes not red, firebolt looking like a broom for sweeping with foot holster things, etc. And IIRC, I thought Moody's fake eye was his right, not left as in the movie, and I don't think anyone would have imagined that strap-on holster thing (nor lupin with that ugly 'stache, but I'm over that by now) The whole dragon scene, while cool, was way overdone and a lot could have been cut to put back in some more important things. Of course me being totally OCD about those minor details is a good part of that... I was honestly too busy worrying about how crappy the "best broom in the world" looked to care about our hero hanging from a window about to get his arse crisped. As for the innuendo, imo there was too much. It didn't really bug me (except the bathroom scene, that was downright creepy) but just seemed to be one of those pointless things added in. In all fairness though, the point of the movies isn't to visualize the books, it's to take the concepts and make a shedload of cash, which will happen. I'd have loved to see a 10-hour movie where they stick in all those little random events, but it's not much of a moneymaker. Aside from the fact that you could only show it once a day per theatre, not a whole lot are into movies that long. Might be the first DVD where I actually look at bonus material, just to see if they added in some of those things left out. You can definately see a huge improvement in the acting of everyone (except michael gambon imo, way too agressive for his character, but that might be the script versus his acting). The pacing was stupidly fast, but again there was way too much to put in there for a movie of that length. Again, I'd have much preferred a 245-minute monster compared to the 2h 45m we got. Short version: good flick, but don't go if you're looking for a visual of the book with details.
Actually it was Crouch Jr that tortured the Longbottoms along with Bellatrix Lestrange and her brother-in-law Rabastan (I'm not so much a geek that I have that memorized, I checked ). Secondly, I don't remember whether it said Voldemort's eyes were red in the fourth book, it definately did in the first book (maybe that was only in that state). Also, the Firebolt is supposed to look like a normal broom and have the foot holster thing. I expect it didn't look as pristine as when Harry first got it, but he has had it for a year and it didn't look too bad IMO (especially after it's tail had gotten burned from a dragon ). </end harry potter geek> The entire movie just moved to fast for my liking. I swear, the first 10 chapters in the book were only like 15 minutes of the movie (up to tournament being announced).
I kind of agree about Michael Gambon's Dumbledore. I preferred Richard Harris as Dumbledore. When I initially read the books, that's how I had imagined him. As far as cutting to fit the movie runtime, this is my biggest concern for Order of the Pheonix. It's my favorite Harry Potter book so far and it's basically a bridge from book 4 to the rest of the series. It is so packed full of information that it will be hard to cut it down withbout leaving out something important. Also, Barty Crouch, Jr. participated in the torture of the Longbottoms. Bellatrix Lestrange is alleged to have led the session, but there were multiple Death Eaters taking part . I'd have to look it up to be sure, but you may be right about Moody's eye. All the pictures of him that I've seen indicate his right eye being the magical one, but his initial description in the book doesn't specifically mention one or the other. -monkey
Well the first part is of course me forgetting facts. I wasn't a huge fan of four so I forgot a couple of the nitpicky details, but I could quote half the thing (or any, thanks Jim Dale + LAME). And it being 2am and having been focused on hbp mostly. In any case, the complete exclusion of bellatrix was fairly significant (people have already theorized that someone else'll end up killing sirius in the ootp movie and she'll be excluded entirely from the films, but I seem to remember hearing about a casting call for the part so that's not likely). The eyes were mentioned dozens of times throughout the books. Mostly in hbp, but I'd imagine it was mentioned at the rebirthing as well. I'd have to reread/relisten to that part again. Of course Dan Radcliffe doesn't have Harry's eyes either, and considering that must be mentioned a hundred times in the series, to hell with it. As for the Firebolt, eye of the beholder imo. Especially considering he used it... umm... for five seconds at the end of movie 3 (vs full match in PoA book). JKR never went into much detail about its appearance beyond initially recieving it. I was going to go into the broomstick servicing kit but then remembered it's 2am and I'm doing mental misquotes again and forgeting what happens when. The foot holster I'm quite sure was invented solely for the movie, though is a cool idea. Yep, pacing was nuts. First ten chapters in 15 mins, next chapter in three minutes, next few in another ten, task one chapter in 15 or so, etc. Fair enough, if each page got the same two seconds of screentime, it would have been a terrible movie, even if it was that much truer to the book.
I'm pretty sure they'll just end up introducing Bellatrix when all the prisoners escape in 5. You're probably right about the eyes. As for the foot holder, in the first film, none of the broom had foot holders. In the second film, only the Slytherin's new brooms had foot holders. And in the 3rd and 4th films, Harry's firebolt had a foot holder. So it seems it's only the new, expensive brooms that have them .
funny this is that i got to watch it last monday!....i went to a staff preview with some friends(but i no longer work for the cinema,its nice to have friends that still do). i would have posted about this film but i didnt want to spoil anything for the hardcore fans in the forum....i'd say it was alright..nothing amazing just another snapshot of harrys life. personally i cant stand the whole harry potter bollox and how amazing it it...but i didnt have to pay so thats the only reason i liked it...overall it dosent do much the only bits i liked was their challenges for the cup...and when voldamolt comes back and pwns harry. i was abit dissapointed tho as the new chinese bird(harrys love intrest) was only in it for 2 mins....but the girl who play's the anoying girl in harrys crew(i can't spell her name) is looking kinnda hot nowadays...i'd give it a few years. i was surprised tho...i heard that the head teacher of hogwarts dies in this one....so i was expecting him to die...shame really... they said that this one was suposed to be really dark...well it was but i thought the prisioner of azkaban was far more darker. either way i give it a "meh" rating prob the fanboy's love it even more but the deal was made sweeter as i didnt have to pay.
Not enough Sirius. Not enough Snape. Emma Watson is a truly awful actress. Apart from that it was awesome
I won't be seeing it, watched the first one and that was more than enough for me. Just didn't enjoy it at all
Third film was the worst film, but based on the best book imho. I'm hoping this one will sate my needs a little better.
Agreed on the first two, Emma just overdid it in (quite) a few places. Only part I thought was bad acting was that "Yes. It will [start changing]" or whatever at the very end, but that might have been one of those half-sarcastic speech methods that didn't come off quite right, but done correctly would have been good.
Funny enough, that's the one scene that I keep replaying in my head over and over again. It just didn't come off quite right to me either. I suppose one thing that movies #3 and #4 have in common is an odd ending. -monkey
She completely overdid it in almost every scene. Every little thing was needlessly over dramatised. She's supposed to be clever and brave, but she came across as weak and whiny. Ruined one of my favourite characters.
Im in to half’s about this film, i'm a die hard fan of the books and spent half the film picking out all the bits that were missed. But if I considered the film in its own right I guess it was pretty good, I agree about Dumbledore though he didn’t need aggression.
