I went to see this movie today with my sister who, in a few weeks, will be moving to Hawaii, and leaving me to freeze my ass of this coming winter. The bitch.
Anyway ... I'd heard negative reviews of this movie from some people I worked with, but I think they were just upset that it wasn't a faithful word-for-word adaptation of the book.
Well, personally, I thought the PoA was a much better film than Chamber of Secrets. I haven't read PoA in at least two years, but the film crew seemed to cover all the major bases, and while some of the secondary characters didn't get as much time as they have in previous films, this film didn't drag as a result (although I did miss John Cleese).
The new director's style (I can't think of his name) is rather sharp, but I did get slightly tired of all the fade-to-blacks that we had to sit through. Anyway, hurrah for PoA! And now I'm left wondering how GoF will be handled ... one film, two film? Eeek! Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
I was really excited to watch this movie, as PoA is my favourite HP-book. But the movie turned out to be a major disappointment.
Some secondary characters only appeared somewhere in the background without speaking lines (Percy, Ginny, Sir Cadogan). Almost no screen time for one of my favourite characters, Prof. McGonagall. No scene at the end with Dumbledore explaining everything to Harry. Important plot points left out like why and how Sirius escaped from Azkaban, why Lupin knew about the Marauder's map, why Harry's patronus was a stag, etc. Instead, new and unimportant things were added like talking shrunkheads, animal imitating, and the toad choir.
But most irritating was the lack of continuity between PoA and the two previous movies. Hogwarts looked way different. The picture of the fat lady was suddenly in the staircase instead of a hallway, Hagrid's cabin and the Whomping Willow were on different places too.
What I liked about the movie were Buckbeak, the Dementors, the Whomping Willow, the scene on the Hogwarts Express, Trelawney, Lupin, and the performance of the actors/actresses in general.
BTW: Why did the innkeeper look like Uncle Fester?
quote:I'm left wondering how GoF will be handled ... one film, two film?
God, I so hope for two movies. Maybe it won't feel as rushed as PoA then.
[ June 08, 2004, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: Spike ]
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
I really liked the movie. Especially liked when the Whomping Willow kept "brushing off" for the start of a new season.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Well, personally, I thought the PoA was a much better film than Chamber of Secrets."
Well, Prisoner was a much better book than Chamber.
"...why Lupin knew about the Marauder's map, why Harry's patronus was a stag..."
Wait, so they didn't go into any of the background about the Potter/Black/Lupin/Pettigrew cabal? There were just people turning into animals all over the place with no explanation?
"The picture of the fat lady was suddenly in the staircase instead of a hallway..."
Well, to be fair, the staircases do move.
As long as we're talking about HP, you can thank Ultra Magnus for this link. Check the picture on the "About Me" page.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Wait, so they didn't go into any of the background about the Potter/Black/Lupin/Pettigrew cabal?
Most of it was explained in a rushed and not very detailed way. But as far as I remember nothing was said about Harry's father beeing an animagus too or why they had decided to become animagi in the first place. The true identities of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs weren't revealed either, nor their common history with Snape.
I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't read the book.
quote:Well, to be fair, the staircases do move.
Yeah, but the entrance to the common room does not.
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
TSN: "As long as we're talking about HP, you can thank Ultra Magnus for this link. Check the picture on the "About Me" page."
What? Is that anyone we know? A Flareite? Or do you just mean he has a lot of HP-stiouvh?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Oh, God, put a warning there or something! I feel dirty now. That's just really, really twisted and sad.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:That's just really, really twisted
Especially that last picture (and comment) in the picture section.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Is that anyone we know?"
I fucking hope not.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
He looks like every paedophile I've ever seen on TV news programmes. . .
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
I feel I should not look at that link...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"What? Is that anyone we know? A Flareite? Or do you just mean he has a lot of HP-stiouvh?"
No. The picture just shows that he's a grown man. A grown man who runs a Web site counting down to the eighteenth birthday of a fictional character portrayed by a fourteen-year-old girl.
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
AHHHHH!!!
Somebody needs to have the FBI show up on that guys doorstep before he accidently wanders outside.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I did wonder if I could locate the company he supposedly works for - Centripulse Network Systems - yet I can't find anything on Google. Indeed, the only mention of the word 'Centripulse' found was on that About Me page itself.
. . . And probably on this page, eventually, when Google's bots pick it up!
Posted by Nim the Fanciful (Member # 205) on :
Quickly, call in airstrikes on the Capps mansion, containing this tainted server, before the Vorlon Planetkiller blocks out the sun with its tremendous girth.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Hey! I just saw this last night. I've never finished any of the books (I bailed on the first one after about 100 pages), so know almost nothing about the stories. Can someone explain to me why Sirius Black was convicted for having a part in Harry's parents' murder? Why did he come to Hogwarts, if it wasn't planning on killing Harry? Why did the rat man betray Harry's parents? Why was the volume of ice in the bottle on the train was not greater than the volume of water?
Thanks!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Can someone explain to me why Sirius Black was convicted for having a part in Harry's parents' murder?"
Because Pettigrew framed him. He made an explosion, disappeared during it as a rat, and left one of his fingers behind so he seemed to have been blown up. Since he did this while Sirius was confronting him about the Potters' deaths, it looked like Sirius blew him up.
Of course, that just made him look bad. The main reason is that everyone thought Sirius was the Potters' secret-keeper, which would have made him the only person capable of betraying them. No-one else knew that, at the last minute, the Potters had made Pettigre their secret-keeper instead.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
What's a secret keeper? Why would Pettigrew want to betray the Potters anyway?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
You should probably read the book.
Secret-keeper: Part of a magical spell, the Fidelius Charm. According to Flitwick in the book:
"An immensely complex spell, involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find � unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting-room window!"
As for why Pettigrew betrayed them, it was because he was working for Voldemort.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
And he was working for Voldemort because he was weak, insecure, etc...
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Why did he come to Hogwarts, if it wasn't planning on killing Harry?
Because he saw a picture of the Weasleys and Scabbers in the "Daily Prophet". Hence he knew that Pettigrew wasn't dead but close to Harry.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Thanks, guys. I might have to see the movie again. I don't know if I plan to read the books, though.
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