Harry Potter Discussion Thread

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

I never had a problem with the harry/ginny pairing in the book(hasnt been done well in the movies though), then again I am the guy who started a thread about dating his best friends little sister.

classic

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I think they were intended.

I don't know how anyone could read the book and then intentionally direct it that way.

Ordinarily I'd say "they probably didn't even read it' but they obviously did this time.

Still, I'd say it was pretty platonic. Maybe right up until the end. I think they're such terrible actors that it's always tough to say exactly what the screenwriter intended.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I don't know how anyone could read the book and then intentionally direct it that way.

Ordinarily I'd say "they probably didn't even read it' but they obviously did this time.

Still, I'd say it was pretty platonic. Maybe right up until the end. I think they're such terrible actors that it's always tough to say exactly what the screenwriter intended.

Dan is godawful but Emma Watson did an incredible job this movie. I think she's very good.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I don't know how anyone could read the book and then intentionally direct it that way.

Ordinarily I'd say "they probably didn't even read it' but they obviously did this time.

Still, I'd say it was pretty platonic. Maybe right up until the end. I think they're such terrible actors that it's always tough to say exactly what the screenwriter intended.

I think the directors wanted people who watched the movies only to think there was some sort of love triangle, even though there obviously never was.

[Big Boy Laroux]

FINALLY watched this last night (that's what i get for having twins... damn kids ruin everything ).

I actually kind of liked the dance scene. Having read the books, i watched it as completely platonic, and it actually made me smile. Just a nice, burden-lifting scene.

i wonder if they'll have the grave stone at all. After all, just mere seconds before his death, Dobby does say "I am a free elf". Maybe they'll leave it at that.

Overall, i really liked it. Liked the darker tone, liked that thay stayed pretty close to the book. didn't know what to think of the animated part when it started, then i ended up LOVING it when it was done.


i know it's tough to make this call when the entire universe is set with magic stuff that can introduce something new at any moment... but this just reminded me how big of a deus ex machina the "sword in the water" scene was (from movie and books).

"we're stuck, don't know what to do... oh look, a deer! and a sword in the water! And here's ron to save me, with his magical deluminator that also tells him where his friends are! um, huh?"

i know it is explained later when we find out the truth about snape, but at that moment, good lord, it seems bad.

[Flacolaco]

I got the DVD on Friday but haven't taken the plastic off of it yet. Are there any good special features?

[Big Boy Laroux]

I watched a netflix instant queue - no actual disc.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Back to the dance scene - I suppose if you saw the pause at the end of the dance and thought, "ZOMG, he's gonna kiss her!" then sure, that would hurt the scene. But I honestly didn't see it that way. I took the pause as a "ok, that was fun, now back to business" as the weight of the task in front of them took over again.

[Big Boy Laroux]

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/w...yhallowspart2/


I see a gravestone!!!


I need to carry a book around the office to hide my harry-rection.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/w...yhallowspart2/


I see a gravestone!!!


I need to carry a book around the office to hide my harry-rection.

Whew!

[Big Boy Laroux]

latest trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYt1qirBWg

[Big Boy Laroux]

So has the Wilhelm Scream officially been replaced by the Voldemort Scream? Geez, non-stop in that trailer.

Still looks awesome, though.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Another Potter announcement coming in like 5 days. Go to:

www.pottermore.com

And click on one of the owls.

[Flacolaco]

I saw that...I assume it's going to be some kind of...legacy thing, or...it's just a marketing strategy ahead of last movie.

She will not be writing any more Potter fiction. She's been quite clear about that, and her people have said as much very recently.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Yeah, rumors are either a huge potter-related website (encyclopedias, games, fan fiction, etc) or a MMORPG.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Well, pottermore is underwhelming. Although the digital audiobook and ebooks announcement should make her a crap-ton more money.

[Flacolaco]

So it appears as though after they made a perfect movie in DH part 1, they've taken to screwing up part 2 rather royally. There's a couple of clips and stories out there about Harry being able to "sense" the horcruxes (evidently covering up for lack of mention of the cup and the tiara in HBP movie) and a video of Hermoine stabbing the cup (I think it's cool that they filmed this, actually, even if it wasn't in the book) and Voldemort "feeling it" when she does, which of course he can't in the books.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/6/30...-disposal.html

[Big Boy Laroux]

yeah a big part of the book was that they were chipping away at Voldy and he didn't even know it.

[Flacolaco]

Well, it's nearly time, and then we'll put all this to bed forever.

I am determined to enjoy the movie no matter what. 8 movies, 11 years... it's been quite an achievement to even keep the whole thing together that long (sans Richard Harris).

And reading through DH again...there are some things that are not very cinema-ready. Including the climax of their "duel", which isn't really much of one. I expect it will be in the movie, and I won't begrudge them that. Expecting a billion dollars worth of ticket sales world wide to grasp the suspense of "to whom the Elder wand is loyal" strains credulity. If they do something a little different with that I am not going to begrudge it.

I did read already (spoiler alert? I guess?) that Snape dies in the heretofore unseen "boat house" under Hogwarts, rather than the shrieking shack. A choice they say was made for a better, more dramatic, set. One question: If Voldemort is there too...wouldn't he be in the castle technically? Wouldnt' that kind of...be severely stupid?

I'll find out tomorrow.

[Big Boy Laroux]

got this forwarded to me from a friend:


Harry Potter Spell Or College Motto?

#1.) Expecto Patronum

#2.) Meliora

#3.) Lumos

#4.) Lux Libertas

#5.) Oculus Reparo

#6.) Expelliarmus

#7.) In deo speramus

#8.) Vox clamantis

#9.) Liberacorpus

#10.) Numen Lumen




Harry Potter Spell Or Legal Term?

#1.) Corpus delicti

#2.) Meteolojinx Recanto

#3.) Avizandum

#4.) Morsmorde

#5.) Evanesco

#6.) Densaugeo

#7.) Deodand

#8.) Functus officio

#9.) Diffindo

#10.) Seriatim



Harry Potter Spell Or Body Part?

#1.) Torus Levatorius

#2.) Infundibulum

#3.) Salvio Hexia

#4.) Furnunculus

#5.) Piertotum Locomotor

#6.) Cauda Equina

#7.) Levicorpus

#8.) Sella Turcica

#9.) Incarcerous

#10.) Conus Medullaris



Harry Potter Character Or Skin Disease?

#1.) Marvolo Gaunt

#2.) Muckle Wells

#3.) Venous Lakes

#4.) Marasmus

#5.) Bole

#6.) Cutis Laxa

#7.) Andromeda Tonks

#8.) Aurora Sinistra

#9.) Eccrine Nevus

#10.) Flavius Belby

[nikeball]

VERY VERY VERY VERY GOOD. I was fine with the changes they made.

There is a reason why it was rated so highly on rotten tomatoes.

Daniel, Rupert, & Emma have made gigantic hagrid-like strides in terms of their acting ability.

Sad that this is all over.

[Flacolaco]

Well...they had me. Right until the end.

The very end, I mean. That climactic, victorious (or what should have felt victorious?) moment...I might need to see it again but...the mood of it was just wrong.

So much of it was excellent.

[sike]

I know it might feel like quibbling, but literally my favorite part of the final battle was the small section where we get to see Big V successfully fighting off 3 other VERY powerful wizards 1 on 3. (I think it was Slughorn, Shacklebolt, and McGonagal?) That small moment in the book where he single handedly takes them on just always cemented in my mind how bad to the bone he really was.

In the movie they basically didn't show V fight anyone but Harry...which I found a let down.

Did anyone else notice this?

[Big Boy Laroux]

All i need to know is - How many times does Voldemort yell/scream in the movie? If i extrapolate the number of screams based on the trailers, applied to a feature length film, i would estimate he screams/yells 451,364,962 times.

Am I close?

[Kirobaito]

How do we rate the books and movies in order, then?

Books:

1. Goblet of Fire
2. Half-Blood Prince
3. Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Sorcerer's Stone
5. Deathly Hallows
6. Chamber of Secrets
7. Order of the Phoenix

Movies:

1. Deathly Hallows, Part 1
2. Prisoner of Azkaban
3. Deathly Hallows, Part 2
4. Half-Blood Prince
5. Order of the Phoenix
6. Goblet of Fire
7. Sorcerer's Stone
8. Chamber of Secrets

[jthig32]

Books:

1. Half Blood Prince
2. Deathly Hallows
3. Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Goblet of Fire
5. Order of the Phoenix
6. Sorcerer's Stone
7. Chamber of Secrets

Movies:
1. Deathly Hallows Part 1
Tied for Last. All the rest.

[Flacolaco]

I have a hard time rating the movies. I consider 1 and 2 to be different animals entirely. I feel very strongly that even comparing them to the others...it just doesn't seem to make sense to me.

In my head I put those two off to the side I guess. But if I had to fit them in there...

1. DH Part 1
2. POA
3. DH Part 2
4. Order of the Phoenix
5. Half blood prince
6. Sorcerers stone
7. Chamber of secrets
8. Goblet of Fire. Which is terrible. Just %ucking terrible.

I put order of the phoenix ahead of HBP in the movies (never would in books, obviously) both as a statement of what they were able to do with the longest book in OOTP, which I thought was pretty good, (It really captured the mood and spirit of the book) and a criticism the many, many continuity problems in HBP. It was a magnificent book that presented itself for cinema quite well and they just mangled the absolute piss out of it for seemingly no reason.

I wonder if they, at the time of writing HBP screenplay, already had the whole "Harry can FEEL the Horcruxes" crutch thought out as a way to fix their many HBP transgressions, or if they later realized they had to invent a mechanism to cover them up and chose that route.

Goblet of Fire is one of the worst movies ever made, and I state that as a casual matter of widely accepted fact.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Yule Ball - 'nuff said.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Woot Shirt today:

[Bayliss]

Haven't watched a movie.

But the books:

Goblet of Fire
Half Blood Prince
Order of the Phx
The rest in no particular order.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Finally was able to get to the theater to see part 2 last night (in 3D). The 3D was actually really well done, especially considering it was a conversion. The scenes with the spells and the "shield" around the school were really cool.

All that said, my review of the movie itself:

I liked it overall (probably just because it was the finale), but my biggest complaint (may sound weird) is there was just too much action. It's like they were trying too hard to make it an epic finale in the vein of "Return of the King" or something. And that's not what Harry Potter is.

One of my favorite parts of the Entire book series is the Snape reveal. And here, it gets a short film montage sequence. It didn't convey the same emotion.

I also felt the film was severely lacking in exposition. I'm not asking for the end of the Matrix ("ergo, heretofor, etc"), but i can only imagine what people who didn't read the books thought. They must have been so lost. The snape stuff, the Aberforth stuff, etc.

But hey, look! here's some more giants beating the crap out of stuff! and harry and voldy flying around as black smoke!

Oh? Tonks and Lupin are dead? Well, here's a quick cut to them dead on the floor... Oh, and let's just mention Fred in passing...

Those horcruxes? eh, they're not so important. Look how easy they are to find and destroy! Cause Harry can feel them!



I thought DH part 1 was excellent in tone and pacing when compared to the books. This one just was back to being wrong again, like HBP.

[Hoops-Nation]

Harry Potter is overrated... 1-2 and then the rest just got boring

[jthig32]

So I finally got around to seeing DH II. And it, of course, left me annoyed and unsatisfied. What was most frustrating was that the majority of the movie was pretty good. Pretty good is of course based on the sliding scale that the entire series of movies has produced, since all but DH I were anything from severely disappointing to absolute garbage. But still, pretty good.

Even the Snape reveal was good, I thought. Certainly not what it could have been, but they hadn't put in the proper groundwork in the previous movies to give that scene its due. But based on what was available to them I thought it was good. The scene where Harry is dead was good, with some actual good work from Gambon.

And then....and then....it all basically sucked after that. Nothing close to the proper emotion when Voldy reveals that Harry is dead. Harry and Voldy flying around. Harry beating Voldy...why...because he's just better? No explanation at all? No Harry in Dumbledore's office being applauded by the paintings? Unforgivable. Harry BREAKING the Elder Wand???

Bleah.Triple Bleah. Awful, awful ending.

Good riddance.

[Big Boy Laroux]

So the next question is - do you ever think we'll see these films remade? It's just such a huge undertaking...

I'd honestly like to see them done as a TV series or mini-series sometime in the distant future.

One of the issues is that while the movies were hit or miss in terms of quality, i don't think you can ever really argue with the casting. And now those actors ARE the characters. Of course the main characters, but even mcgonigal, Lupin, Tonks, Bellatrix, etc. When you read the final books, you pictured these actors as the characters. So those actors are linked with the books forever.

As opposed to something like Lord of The Rings - where the books existed looooooooong before the movies.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

So the next question is - do you ever think we'll see these films remade? It's just such a huge undertaking...

I'd honestly like to see them done as a TV series or mini-series sometime in the distant future.

One of the issues is that while the movies were hit or miss in terms of quality, i don't think you can ever really argue with the casting. And now those actors ARE the characters. Of course the main characters, but even mcgonigal, Lupin, Tonks, Bellatrix, etc. When you read the final books, you pictured these actors as the characters. So those actors are linked with the books forever.

As opposed to something like Lord of The Rings - where the books existed looooooooong before the movies.

I don't think your point about the actors/characters is true for everyone. I read most of the series before I ever saw a movie, and I really don't associate many of the actors with the characters. Especially not Tonks. The interpretation in the movie has to have been close to my own interpretation in order for the characters to have merged.

[Big Boy Laroux]

my point was really in the sense that for the last few books (Order of the Phoenix and on), they were released after the first few movies had already been released. And that's when a large majority of people started reading the series.

obviously if you read all the books available before the movies, you would have formed your own views of the characters - but having a unique situation where movies were being released before the book series was complete morphed my views on the characters. How could it not?

I do agree that Tonks probably wasn't the best example - She didn't match what i envisioned her to be. BUT, when i read DH, i couldn't help but picture her as the actress in my mind after seeing OOTP, even though i had already formed my own view of her when reading OOTP. It's simple visual association.

[xrobx]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Harry beating Voldy...why...because he's just better? No explanation at all?

Seems like I remember this clearly being explained

[Big Boy Laroux]

they did explain the elder wand thing (how draco disarmed dumbledore, then harry disarmed draco, so harry was the true owner), but it was a VERY fast explanation.

[CadBane]

Nerds.

[mcsluggo]

[youtube]tZVdR19E5mU[/youtube]