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This is online now at AOL UK...but, unfortunately, one can't watch it without downloading crappy AOL software. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Since there is no way in heck that I'm going to install anything by that blasted company on my computer, I suppose I'll have to wait for Apple or somebody else to pick it up, eh?
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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This actually looks quite good. The trailers always make me super excited and then the movies are a let-down....but whatever! Yay for Harry Potter!
Posts: 910 | Registered: May 2000
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I agree that this is probably yet another case where the trailer is much better than the movie. That said, Umbridge does look cool. They didn't show enough Helena Bonham Carter, though, seeing as she will be the main reason I'll go see this movie.
Am I alone in thinking that they should've made Harry Potter into a seven season television series instead of seven movies?
Posts: 247 | Registered: Dec 2006
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I'm excited. I think the possibilities with this one are huge. It's got a much darker tone. If done right, this could be really really good. Honestly, I thought this was the weakest book. But maybe the movie will be the opposite.
Of the movies, I still think Prisoner or Azkaban was the best. For some reason, Goblet of Fire came off too light and bubble gum for me. I just didn't like it as well.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Snail: Am I alone in thinking that they should've made Harry Potter into a seven season television series instead of seven movies?
The problem is, a lot of the episodes would be Harry getting points deducted by Snape. Period. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I'm going to have to talk myself into getting over the fact that the woman playing Umbridge doesn't look like Umbridge. And I'm glad that Ron's hair is shorter again.
How's that for a superficial reaction?
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The Umbridge of the book is -so- grotesque that I think most non-Potter fans would assume that she's meant to be a non-human...which would make Umbridge's blatant prejudice towards non-humans puzzling. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I think part of my reaction is that my one and only experience as a teacher in the schools was at a high school with a principal who so resembled the Dolores Umbridge of the book as to make me wish I was back there to hear what the kids were saying when Order of the Phoenix came out. Physical resemblance to a certain extent, but then she really did issue blatantly silly edicts that only highlighted her lack of inherent authority . . . so I guess what I really want is Ms. ______ in the role!
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Cool . . . I didn't realize Helena Bonham Carter was going to play Bellatrix! I look forward to watching her as well. Although I didn't catch her at all in that trailer--unless she was the dominatrix-type in black leather that they flashed on the screen for about a quarter of a second.
In googling that, I also found reference to her playing opposite Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd -- that should be great! I don't generally care for Tim Burton, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with this film. I saw it on Broadway years ago with Angela Lansbury. It's gruesome enough without adding any extra creepifying, though, so we'll see what I think of Burton's touch.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote: The problem is, a lot of the episodes would be Harry getting points deducted by Snape. Period. [Big Grin]
Heh, probably. But still, the structure of the books is already so episodic...
Anyway, of the movies I also found Prisoner of Azkaban to be the best. I think it's the only HP film that truly works on its own as a movie, something that could be enjoyed by even those not familiar with the source material.
In general the problem with all the four films so far has been that the charm of the books, to me at least, comes from the humour and the school setting and the banter between the main heroes. It's the overall wizarding school atmosphere that matters the most and what the books are really about, the big Voldemort plot is simply there because there has to be some sort of a context to keep you interested in more of the school stuff. If the books were just about Harry vs. Voldemort they wouldn't have the readership they've gathered... it's the juxtaposition of that amidst all the "mundane" school stuff that makes the books so good. And the reason the films feel so hollow to me is that in them the Voldemort stuff kind of overrides everything else. If they had to make movies out of these books, I think they should've simplified the main conspiracies of each book and cut more of those scenes in order to allow for more of the atmosphere/character building stuff.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Dec 2006
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I disagree. Without that conflict nothing else matters at all, and the story wouldn't exist.
I like the books as well, but honestly I think all of the movies do a very good job of capturing the spirit of the books.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Umbridge isn't nearly toad-like for my taste. And Voldemort... there's something almost weak about him. I hope the movie is at least better than the last one.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I'll also have to disagree. What appeals to me about the books is the strong plotting and the vivid characterization...which I would like with or without the boarding school "but magic!" stuff.
From book 4 (possibly book 3) onward, the "Good Versus Evil" plot has taken more prominence in the text...as the series really does seem to be about the choice between love and selfishness, if it's about anything. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote: I'll also have to disagree. What appeals to me about the books is the strong plotting and the vivid characterization...which I would like with or without the boarding school "but magic!" stuff.
See, and I don't think the characterization works at all in the films. Harry's pain at being the odd one out and not having a family and so on doesn't come across at all in the films.
I think the dance scene in the fourth movie is the closest the films ever got to the atmosphere I liked in the books. (But other than that dance scene I didn't really like the fourth film.)
Still, I suppose it's just one of those things where tastes differ.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Dec 2006
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