Harry Potter Discussion Thread

[Dirkenstien]

Coming from someone who hasn't read any of the books but has watched all of the movies, I can tell you I was deeply disappointed with the movie.

There wasn't much depth, no plot build up and hardly anything that remotely resembled a climax. The movie revolved way too much around the "teenager romance" aspect but never really built that up to amount to anything important. I've really enjoyed the series, but this film was by far the worst so far.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

Coming from someone who hasn't read any of the books but has watched all of the movies, I can tell you I was deeply disappointed with the movie.

There wasn't much depth, no plot build up and hardly anything that remotely resembled a climax. The movie revolved way too much around the "teenager romance" aspect but never really built that up to amount to anything important. I've really enjoyed the series, but this film was by far the worst so far.

read the books, this was the best book other than 7

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

read the books, this was the best book other than 7

If that's the case then I can't imagine the dissapointment felt by those who have read it. Personally, I felt it was a waste of two hours and found myself wondering when it would be over about 3/4 through the film.

[Big Boy Laroux]

ok, so i re-watched GOF last night (still haven't had time to see HBP).

I hadn't watched it in a while, and i have come to the conclusion that many (including me) have given Gambon an unfair treatment for the "dumbledore shook harry" scene. I probably remembered it with a critical eye, thinking that Gambon was playing dumbledore as angry with harry in that scene.

But in rewatching, it is actually pretty obvious that he is concerned for harry's well-being. He wanted to be 100% sure that it was not actually Harry that put his name in the cup. And i wouldn't even say that he shook harry. Dumbledore came running into the room (with all the other headmasters yelling at him, implying Hogwarts had cheated), and he grabbed harry on the shoulders (something my grandfather and great uncles have done to me - the old man shoulder death grip).

Anyway, i saw it as concern, not anger. Does it make it 100% acceptable? No, but the scene worked better for me in rewatching than it did originally.

Still got nothing for you on the dragon chase and yule ball scenes, though.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

If that's the case then I can't imagine the dissapointment felt by those who have read it. Personally, I felt it was a waste of two hours and found myself wondering when it would be over about 3/4 through the film.

I probably shouldnt speak for others but thats the reason flaco, jthig and myself were so miffed at the screen writers/director of this film.

[Ninkobei]

not the greatest movie. completely borked ending. not enough emphasis on the "subtle" key parts (the letter at the end, R.A.B., for one)

[jthig32]

Something I left out of my thoughts but 5-0 touched on....Harry went completely unpunished for the Sectum Sempra incident. I mean how does that happen? It's like it happened and then it disappeared. Does a non-reader even understand why Harry was hiding the book?

I mean it was a pivotal moment in the story, and suddenly they're KISSING so nothing else matters. No one cares that Harry almost killed someone.

Why even have that stupid scene if Harry isn't going to spot the diadem and Snape isn't going to question Harry and ask for his book?

Unless Ginny "remembers where the diadem is" during DH?

Ugggg.

[Flacolaco]

Unless Ginny "remembers where the diadem is" during DH?

And when they find it, maybe they can make out. Heck, maybe they can just #$%@ so at least the audience can get a thrill out of it.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

And when they find it, maybe they can make out. Heck, maybe they can just #$%@ so at least the audience can get a thrill out of it.

They could at least put it in the bonus features...

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Does a non-reader even understand why Harry was hiding the book?

As a non-reader, I wasn't aware the book had any significance in that scene until later when other characters were insisting he hide it and get rid of it. Even then I really didn't understand what the correlation was.

In my mind here's how it played out: "So he thinks Draco cursed the girl and is going to confront him, he sees him in the bathroom crying and then they start to fight, Potter kicks his butt, everyone comes to look, Snape gives him a bad look, Potter leaves. Friends tell him he needs to get rid of the book. He goes to hide the book, then kisses a girl.

??? There was no tie-in anywhere. Nothing added up.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

As a non-reader, I wasn't aware the book had any significance in that scene until later when other characters were insisting he hide it and get rid of it. Even then I really didn't understand what the correlation was.

In my mind here's how it played out: "So he thinks Draco cursed the girl and is going to confront him, he sees him in the bathroom crying and then they start to fight, Potter kicks his butt, everyone comes to look, Snape gives him a bad look, Potter leaves. Friends tell him he needs to get rid of the book. He goes to hide the book, then kisses a girl.

??? There was no tie-in anywhere. Nothing added up.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why this movie fails.

Well that and a hundred other reasons.

[Flacolaco]

Yeah, that's pretty bad.

Let us also then ask, Dirkenstien, if you know what a horcrux is and do you know the importance of them?

[Flacolaco]

I finally saw a review written in a newspaper by someone who is a true fan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071303256.html

And they make some good points.

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Yeah, that's pretty bad.

Let us also then ask, Dirkenstien, if you know what a horcrux is and do you know the importance of them?

Yeah, the movie explained what a horcrux was pretty well in the Tom Riddle scenes, and I imagine it will play a large significance in the final movie(s) considering they will have to find and destroy those objects in order to destroy Voldemort.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

As a non-reader, I wasn't aware the book had any significance in that scene until later when other characters were insisting he hide it and get rid of it. Even then I really didn't understand what the correlation was.

In my mind here's how it played out: "So he thinks Draco cursed the girl and is going to confront him, he sees him in the bathroom crying and then they start to fight, Potter kicks his butt, everyone comes to look, Snape gives him a bad look, Potter leaves. Friends tell him he needs to get rid of the book. He goes to hide the book, then kisses a girl.

??? There was no tie-in anywhere. Nothing added up.

sectum sempra was a spell listed as "for enemies" in the book. Its a dark spell(and we later learn one snape made) so snape used occlumency on harry to see where he learned it(ties back into the lessons from book 5) harry still cant stop snape from using it so snape sees he saw it from the book(and obviously recognizes his own book) and tells harry to go get his book. Harry borrows rons book and hides his own book in the room of lost things in order to keep snape from finding it. He hides it to keep from losing it, not because he might be tempted to come back for it. As for hocruxes id imagine you know what they are and understand why they are important to voldy but id ask a different question do you have any clue what they are, meaning what objects were used as hocruxes not what an actual hocrux is. And do you have any idea where harry should start looking for them?

[Flacolaco]

Well we know he can't know that. They hadn't even mentioned the damn locket until they found it.

I kept waiting and watching whenever Malfoy went into the RoR for a glimpse of the tiara for the next movie. I thought surely they could put something in there that required no explanation or extra time taken out of the film...a nice little easter egg for us fans...a knowing nod, as it were. But alas....no.

Any chance we could scrap production on the last two movies and get the LOST crew to do it? It was practically all LOST people that did the Star Trek movie. I know they would have put cool hints and nods to the fans in there.

[jthig32]

I've already forgotten; did they even mention why they were going to the cave? Did they mention what the locket was?

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I've already forgotten; did they even mention why they were going to the cave? Did they mention what the locket was?

no because they didnt do all the memories. In fact the only memories they did do were the hocrux memory and the orphanage memory which yet again begs the question of why when thats the main story line of this book. Also i cant for the life of me figure out why they threw in that "a hocrux could be any random object" line. I could have understood if they were gonna use that to lead in to the harry/dd conversation with dd telling harry that that wasnt likely at all. If you dont have time to put the conversation about what the hocruxes might be in there thats one thing but why throw a complete red herring in there?

[jthig32]

So someone like Dirke has no idea why they even went to the cave, or what the locket is (or supposed to be)?

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

So someone like Dirke has no idea why they even went to the cave, or what the locket is (or supposed to be)?

should be able to pick up that its hocrux but thats about it(plus they never even actually say that) That it belonged to slytherin or was a gaunt family airloom(or that voldy even came from a family named gaunt which was descended from slytherin for that matter) theres no way that they could know that.

[sike]

I want to re read HBP again...its my favorite book in the series.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Is this humorous Harry Potter rap video more accurate than the movies? Discuss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTHn5oFPmi8

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

As for hocruxes id imagine you know what they are and understand why they are important to voldy but id ask a different question do you have any clue what they are, meaning what objects were used as hocruxes not what an actual hocrux is. And do you have any idea where harry should start looking for them?

I have no idea what object(s) were used as a horcrux or how many may exist. I believe it was said that they could be anything. The idea of Harry searching for them seems like an overwhelmingly impossible search from my perspective. How does anyone find something or a group of things when they don't know how many there are, what they are or where they are?

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

I have no idea what object(s) were used as a horcrux or how many may exist. I believe it was said that they could be anything. The idea of Harry searching for them seems like an overwhelmingly impossible search from my perspective. How does anyone find something or a group of things when they don't know how many there are, what they are or where they are?

*sigh*

What an epic failure of a movie.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

I have no idea what object(s) were used as a horcrux or how many may exist. I believe it was said that they could be anything. The idea of Harry searching for them seems like an overwhelmingly impossible search from my perspective. How does anyone find something or a group of things when they don't know how many there are, what they are or where they are?

And that my friends is why this movie sucked(or is at least on the list of reasons) The hocruxes are all items of extreme magical signifigance because Voldy thought too highly of himself to place a part of his soul in anything that wasnt extremely valuable/important.(and seriously who would want to stick a piece of their soul in a twig or something like that anyway) Thats why the memories are so important a part of the story. It shows that DD spent the time necesarry to learn about Voldy(the old adage about knowing your enemies is helpful here) and because he did these things, DD was able to correctly deduce what Voldy did. In the book there are several memories pertaining to Voldy that arent shown in the movies. Also (and this part was in the Slughorn memory but DD didnt explain it to harry like he did in the book) we know that voldy split his soul into seven parts because he believed that to be the strongest magical number. That leaves 6 hocruxes plus the part in his own body. 2 have already been destroyed(the diary and the ring). We know what another is(the locket though the locket has isnt the correct one). That leaves 3 more hocruxes to find. DD also guessed that their might be something of signifigance from each founding member of hogwarts because of how special hogwarts was to riddle.(the similarities between him, harry and snape are so obvious in this respect)

[u2sarajevo]

I have to believe that they are going to fix that problem by having Harry view some of DD's memories stored in that cabinet. if not then im not sure what to think of the direction of this thing.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

I have to believe that they are going to fix that problem by having Harry view some of DD's memories stored in that cabinet. if not then im not sure what to think of the direction of this thing.

So.... Were just gonna have Harry figure everything out himself? This is why the way they went in this film bothers me. Leaving things out is understandable. Making a 700 page book into a movie and leaving nothing out is impossible without making a 10 hour movie but writing yourself into a corner when there was no reason to just doesnt make any sense.

[Flacolaco]

I expect it to be chalked up to some kind of off camera dealings. I am sure that Harry will say that 'Well, Dumbledore did mention that the snake might be one" and the movie goer will have to accept this as truth, for instance.

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

And that my friends is why this movie sucked(or is at least on the list of reasons) The hocruxes are all items of extreme magical signifigance because Voldy thought too highly of himself to place a part of his soul in anything that wasnt extremely valuable/important.(and seriously who would want to stick a piece of their soul in a twig or something like that anyway) Thats why the memories are so important a part of the story. It shows that DD spent the time necesarry to learn about Voldy(the old adage about knowing your enemies is helpful here) and because he did these things, DD was able to correctly deduce what Voldy did. In the book there are several memories pertaining to Voldy that arent shown in the movies. Also (and this part was in the Slughorn memory but DD didnt explain it to harry like he did in the book) we know that voldy split his soul into seven parts because he believed that to be the strongest magical number. That leaves 6 hocruxes plus the part in his own body. 2 have already been destroyed(the diary and the ring). We know what another is(the locket though the locket has isnt the correct one). That leaves 3 more hocruxes to find. DD also guessed that their might be something of signifigance from each founding member of hogwarts because of how special hogwarts was to riddle.(the similarities between him, harry and snape are so obvious in this respect)

Sounds like the actual story is very interesting and if the movie would have better relayed this information I'd be more inclined to want to see the next one. I'm reading reviews that people who haven't read the books will probably enjoy the movie and I honestly do not know where this assessment is being derived. Frankly, it somewhat offends me. I thought the movie was a complete waste of time. Perhaps if I only cared about seeing some random wizardry displayed I'd be satisfied but when I fork out the money to see a film I want to be both entertained and enlightened. It takes a lot more than some random crap thrown together for me to enjoy it. Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

[Flacolaco]

Has anyone braved the theater again to see this a second time? I'm thinking of going this week.

I think I'll bring a flask and play a drinking game; Every time I see something changed from the book: Drink!

[DirkFTW]

Stirring the tea leaves, I see a picture of your immediate future!

[Flacolaco]

I saw this again last night. It was easier to sit there and enjoy it as a movie.

Still cringed and spat on the floor in a couple of spots, but overall I enjoyed it much more the second time. It helped that I went to the bathroom during the burrow burning scene.

Oh and here's an interesting article about the use of alcohol in the movie. I didn't even think about it. Did you parents?

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/20...f-blood-prince

[jthig32]

I commented to my wife during that scene with Hermione that I didn't think butter beer was supposed to be alcoholic. I always assumed it was something akin to root beer.

[Flacolaco]

The depiction of Winky going through a few bottles a day and being drunk always made me think otherwise.

I always took it as something that has alcohol, but not much.

[u2sarajevo]

I agree Flac - I took it that butterbeer would make you drunk if you had enough. Of course being a house elf you wouldn't need as much.

And as to Hermione being tipsy. I do remember that, but I didn't think twice about it. This must have been a slow news day for an article regarding that scene to make the news.

[Big Boy Laroux]

finally saw this this past weekend and i agree with the major complaints:

1) No battle at hogwarts. not only was it something they left out, it made ALL of the scenes with Draco and the vanishing cabinet pointless. Why did he need to work so hard on the cabinet and get the deatheaters there if all they really needed was draco and snape? The others didn't do anything.

2) Harry not being petrified. I agree 100% that it was absolutely against harry's character to just sit there if he thought dumbledore was in trouble even for a second.

3) The reveal of snape as the HBP. Just ridiculously tacked on. "oh hey, BTW, I'm the half blood prince"

4) and of course, no funeral.

to me, those are pretty HUGE omissions that made this movie absolutely anti-climactic.

[Flacolaco]

To that list of big complaints, I'd add the lack of Harry finding out that it was Snape who told Voldemort some of the prophecy, and Harry's rage on his way to see Dumbledore before they left.

Of course they hardly played up the prophecy at all in the last movie, so...

...Just basically they screwed up Snape's story entirely. That was like the huge buzz after the book came out and everyone read it. Snape this, Snape that, Snape Snape Snape. It makes the payoff (sure to be screwed up) in DH (movie 2) all the more emotional and climactic.

[Flacolaco]

Oh and something nice...I'd like to say something nice.

There are certain kinds of made up movie scenes that I actually enjoy. The scene where Harry and Ron are watching all the little kids, and Mcgonagall sees them and tells them to go to Potions...I don't mind that. I thought that was a clever and entertaining way to achieve a very minor end, and I welcome changes like that. Insignificant and funny.

Like in GOF when Snape is walking behind them and keeps telling them to shutup, pushing them in the back of their head while they talk about getting dates....stuff like that. That minor b.s. is the sort of thing they should take liberty with, not the major stuff.

[u2sarajevo]

Sweet....

Originally Posted by Mugglenet

J.K Rowling working on Encyclopedia, says Ian Rankin
J.K Rowling working on Encyclopedia, says Ian Rankin Yesterday on BBC Radio Five Live Radio Simon Mayo, author Ian Rankin, a friend of J.K. Rowling, revealed that the last time he saw her, she was working hard on the Encyclopedia. He also mentioned he saw her drawing up family trees.

It should be mentioned that Rankin said he has not seen Rowling in some time and that he didn't know whether the encyclopedia was for her own fun or not.

Could the Encyclopedia be nearing its release? Let's hope so!

[Flacolaco]

Well, it's time to start getting all pissy about completely unnecessary changes to the next Harry potter movie again.

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headlin...=16023&count=0

This certainly makes it seem as though Ollivander is telling them about the Deathly Hallows.

Why?