Yeah I read all those books, and they all entertained me, but the only one that's much good, i.m.o., is THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. And it is really good. That book had plot, mystery, drama, an awesome charachter cast, and well intricated ethics. Not nearly so much of that gooey fake school kid melodrama and morality that's smeared all over the other books. I didn't bother with the first two but this movie's gonna be a different story.
Posts: 1103 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:I just got back from the midnight showing, and I'm curious--does Ron die in the book, too?
People had an article on this - he's holding out for too much money for the next movie, and everyone likes Harry and Hermione better in the movies, so they just went ahead and killed him off.
Rowling's going to have the 4th and 5th books be a dream and pick up again where they left off in book 3.
Much more artsy than the last two - scenery shots, better camera angles. I think the new director made it a lot more of a film. And there's actually quite a lot of story merely implied here rather than spelled out (like the whole conclusion) that I really appreciated.
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Romanylass, unfortunately I am not a seamstress and I do not have access to a working sewing machine. I was lucky enough to know a woman who is a friend of my friend that dressed up with me, and she helped us and let us use her sewing machine. Incidently, she has sewn professionally for forty years and would probably charge about 80 dollars for the robes we made.
However, it really wasn't very difficult, and the robes turned out very well. We got our fabric very cheap (we were lucky, it was a heavy black polyester for about 2 dollars a yard), we ordered patches on eBay--got mine for 8 bucks, used two buttons and some black elastic to make a closure, and lined the sleeves and hood with some cotton blend fabric in the color of our house. All you have to do is buy a pattern for a cape that has sleeves and a hood (ours was a Butterick, but it was adult size). Patterns for capes are about the simplest ones you can find. Overall, I probably spent a little less than $40.00 on mine. It seems like a lot, but it was as cheap as we could do it and still have them look as cool as they did.
The movie last night was so much fun, but I don't have time to post my thoughts yet because I have to go to work. Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I saw the midnight showing.. And I had mixed feelings about the movie.. I don't want to say too much though, cause I want everyone to be able to read this having seen it or not. -I know that in movies they have to change things a little- but there were a few important parts of the book that I thought were removed or switched around to make room for, well, rather amusing scenes, but still irrelevant scenes, and i think too much went un-explained about certain pieces of parchement and certain people's conditions.. but rather then that, I loved it, I feel the mood of the movie was more enjoyable then the previous two- But I feel that the non-readers were jipped and left uninformed on some important things.
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I just got back from seeing it. I thought it was...well, five times better than the first two combined. Or maybe fifty times better?
You have some points, Sir Montague.
I might have been happier if they would've tacked on a half hour and added more. I don't think people would have minded. I mean, how many people were willing to sit through Return of the King? Still, better to have a shorter movie done exactly the way you've always hoped than something long and somewhat disappointing.
Posts: 407 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Saw it today. Loved it. I would not have minded if it was longer. It was quite good in terms of scenery, landscapes, character interaction, ect.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Fantastic. It's SO much better than the previous two that it's practically in another category -- perhaps "movies worth watching even if you aren't familiar with the licensed property."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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i liked it, but had issues with the pacing.
and the fact that the theater was sultry hot and for some reason never has the friggin volume right. i could barely hear the softer dialogue scenes.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Just came back... I really think that anyone who hadn't read the books would have problems following some of it. It did jump around quite a lot.
I think it was better filmed and certainly better acted than the first two, by a large margin. But I was disappointed by a couple of things; one of them a dramatic buildup that wasn't nearly as dramatic as it could have been, one was a minor point that would have removed some of the deus ex machina feel, and one was a missing exchange of dialogue that would have made the ending more satisfactory for me.
Minor quibbles, though. Excellent movie!
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
chris could you be referring to the part where...
reverse spoiler . . . .
sirius says he did kill harry's parents, because to him he did, by actually trusting peter, etc? i would really like to have seen that part, it would have held the suspense and added an extra dimension of grief and made clearer the strength of the potter's relationship to sirius and his consequent torment over their deaths. i agree with your short assessment. and i felt it was simultaneous rushed but also dragged out. perhaps this was because of the skipping around? it didn't allow a proper simmering of emotions and tension?
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I had issues. I had issues with Hermione punching Malfoy. Not so much the punch as much as her acceptance of it: no guilt and Congratulations from her friends. What exactly separates the good guys from the bad guys? And Potter playing with the goons while wearing the cloak. Even Potter blowing up his aunt was tactless.
These kids aren't decent. I don't care about the fact that they break rules with impunity, as much as they do so without remorse or internal or external consequences which makes it slightly untrue. The Potter gang's moral compass isn't as perfected as it is portrayed and it rings false, dangerously so.
I'm going to wait until the entire epic is finished to jugde, but I'm not so impressed with the Potter gang as yet. I don't like them. I wouldn't want to be friends with them, and I don't especially respect them, the decisions that they make, or the reasons why they make them.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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===================== MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD =====================
First dialogue problem: They noticed Hermione appearing in class abruptly, but never mentioned how tired or cranky she seemed (because she wasn't, apart from slugging Malfoy) (by the way, yay!). When Hermione mentioned the Time Turner, I would have preferred something like "I've been using it to take twice the courses." Instead she said she said something like "I've been using it to get to classes," which made it seem like they gave her an incredibly powerful device to avoid being tardy.
Dramatic problem: When Harry saved himself and Sirius by running up and casting the petronus, it was less of an anguished break and desperate move and more like, "Any second now, dad'll come, and... oh, hell." That could just be me, but I didn't get the sense that he was casting the most powerful spell of his life. Dunno if it was his acting or the directing, but it wasn't there for me.
Second dialogue problem: the ending. The ending would have much more satisfactory to me with something like this:
Lupin: Since I'm not your professor any more, I feel absolutely no guilt in giving you this map back. Mischief managed!
Harry: How do you know how to use it?
Lupin: (points to the names on the front) I helped make it. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. I was Moony. Peter was Wormtail, Sirius was Padfoot. We were all animagi together.
Harry: And Prongs?
Lupin: That was James, Harry.
Harry: My father was an animagi?
Lupin: Of course. He was a stag. (pause) Powerful petronus you produced, Harry. Very powerful indeed.
Lupin leaves.
Or something similar to close off that loop. Wouldn't have taken much screen time, and it might have answered some questions for the poor theatergoers who hadn't read the books and left wondering why a deer came out of Harry's stick.
Let me stress that I greatly enjoyed the movie and felt it was the best one so far. This is just me doing the armchair director bit.
[ June 05, 2004, 02:09 AM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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posted
Irami - it would be easy to say that in context, in the books, the outbursts make sense. It's Malfoy's fault that Buckbeak was being executed and he took a great deal of delight from that fact, really rubbing it in through the book. During a scene where Hagrid was completely broken up over Buckbeak, Malfoy mocked him for blubbering in public and Hermione slapped him, which was much more in character than the punch in the movie. Also Hermione's double classes had her extremely stressed, which is also why she had that outburst in Divination. I would have liked to have seen that point made more clearly and then explained later, as suggested above.
But it is true that they break a lot of rules without hesitation. However, in the books (including this one) Harry has gotten the idea that his father was a great man but an annoying stuck-up bully as a student. In the last book Sirius gets rather petulant that Harry isn't as willing to break rules as his father was.
One of the problems with pacing the movie the way it was is that a lot of plot points and contexts got lost.
[ June 05, 2004, 12:33 AM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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posted
I agree almost completely with Chris Bridges. I liked the movie, but it had some kinks to work out, most especially the map thing, which I conjecture will be in a deleted scene. (I joked that Chris Columbus, being one of the producers, may have pressured them to cut it out)
But all in all it was loads better than the first two were.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
See, I liked the fact that they didn't out-and-out explain the time turner. You have to figure it out for yourself - Ron asks Hermione earlier how she can take both Ancient Runes and Divination when they're offered at the same time. She simply answers, "That's ridiculous, how can someone be in two places at the same time?" - the same line Harry uses when he and Hermione get back to the infirmary at the end.
Also, I think Harry's rule-breaking (Book Spoilers Ahead) is important for later events. He starts developing his rebel attitude, reinforced by Sirius and Lupin's stories about his dad's mischeif, but gets a rude awakening in OOtP when he sees Snape's worst memory - being taunted by James. I think making Harry a bit of a hellion now is important so his maturing in later installments will be more believable.
Posts: 99 | Registered: Sep 2003
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"I had issues. I had issues with Hermione punching Malfoy. Not so much the punch as much as her acceptance of it: no guilt and Congratulations from her friends."
Oh boy oh boy, now I really want to see it, I actually saw that scene already I think. Like KAHWACK! right? Harry an Hermione's actors are awesome, I watched a little news commentary and those two had savvy! Ron's actor, on the other hand, is well, go ahead and kill him off, greedy bastard. Posts: 1103 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Other than cutting out the explanation of Moony,Wormtail, Prongs, and Padfoot, I had no issues with it. In fact, what an artistic movie as compared to the first ones.
My wife and I both came to the same conclusion...this movie put the magic back into the witchcraft and wizardry. "Magical" effects like glowing things and people floating and yadda yadda don't really do magic justice. I think taking the time to follow a butterfly for a second with Hogwarts in the background was beautiful. Just watching the Womping Willow go through the seasons was magical (along with the sacrficial birds! ). Taking the time to appreciate the setting is what I so loved about it.
Looking back on the Map thing, though, it really isn't needed for the movie, especially as it is a series. They will go to greater lengths to talk about the Original Potter gang in The Order of the Phoenix, I would think. The next movie doesn't even really deal with his father at school as much. While it would have been nice, it really doesn't lose anything without it.
Hear hear for putting the art of filmmaking into this series. I can't remember the director for the next movie, but I think he wasn't a bad choice, either. And rumor has it Cuaron (director of Prisoner) wants to come back for the 5th, if he is invited. Things looking up for the series.
What did people think of Gambon in the role of Dumbledore (great man, Dumbledore)? He had big shoes to fill and I think he did well with it. He didn't do an "impersonation" of Richard Harris and took the character into a new direction a bit (a bit more cryptic than his predecessor, if not as old and slow).
Also, missed Lucius Malfoy...I really thought Jason Isaacs was great as Draco's pop in the last movie.
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You know, I don't know why everyone thinks Rupert Grint's acting is so much worse than Daniel Radcliffe's and Emma Watson's. He had a much smaller role in this film, but every time he was on screen I think he was quite good (even better than the other two in some cases). Since the last movie, his comedic timing has improved, and now he is very much the character I envisioned Ron to be. Almost every time I laughed outloud in the theater, Ron was the cause.
I just think his talent is being overlooked.
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
That whole scene with the dream and "The spiders want me to tapdance...I don't want to tapdance!!" was just brilliant. Grint pulled that off and even though it was small, it was a good belly laugh in the middle of the movie. It also showed the depth of his friendship with Harry when Harry answers "You tell those spiders Ron! Tell them!"
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