Is the next Rita Skeeter episode book 5 or 6? I dont recall, if it was book 5, it should have been in there, book 6 they will write it out and shoulda left it in. *LeSigh*

Rita is supposed to interview Harry for Luna's paper in 5. I don't specifically remember if she's in 6 or not, but I'm going to guess no. Tthey just dropped that entire competing newspaper story arc.

I saw it yesterday and I was pleased with the acting and special effects. I felt that all the salient points were kept in the movie. IMHO, it was the best Harry Potter movie yet. I too have read all the Harry Potter books. I just view the movies as separate pieces of entertainment based on the book; not a direct representation of what's in the books. But I must admit, I'm not really that crazy about J.K. Rowling's writing style to begin with. It always felt a little too emotionally flat. But I suppose that's because she's writing for children?

That's QUITE the conclusion to draw from my statement, Cyn. Generally speaking, I don't like anything to do with house elves in the books because I think the entire "OMG THEY'RE SLAVES OH NOEZ" thing is trite and annoying and some of her worst plotting. More specifically, I really dislike how they chose to portray them in the movies (thanks Chris Columbus) because their voices are like nails on a chalkboard and they're far too cute for my tastes.

Given that, I'm more than happy to NOT have to sit through house elves in the movies. The whole house elf "thing" has been pretty much excised from all of the movies, except for Dobby's role in the second which was completely essential. That removes whatever element it is house elves add to the books, yes. Personally, I don't think that's anything, so I'm happy to not have to sit through it. The director/writer took blood elves out for time constraint reasons, not because they were trying to change a character (Han) or make something more politically correct (ET). I'm enjoying the benefits of that change. You're welcome to disagree.

But Rita is critical to restoring Harry's credibility and getting people to believe that Voldemort is back. The Rita story line is also critical to the kids' rebellion against Umbridge. Especially with Luna Lane's involvement in getting Harry's story told through her father's paper. As for the elves, they are definitely important to the story, especially the house elf at the Order of the Phoenix' headquarters. His betrayal is pivotal to the story. Even Dobby and his girlfriend have a role to play as well.

Sure it is. It adds to Neville's character depth showing that Neville is a better herbologist than he was portrayed in the book and not to Dobby's. Dobby is an established character. He could have easily just shown up and passed on the information in a small cameo to both movies and be done with it. It need not be a long drawn out process to establish anything more than just someone passing him information. Since the character is CGI I'd go with that the director/producers removed him due to cost.

right there are several story holes that exist but are missed because well it is still a happy ending.

Actually, we don't have a higher opinion of Neville by the end because Barty Crouch Jr. admits that he told Neville about it in furtherance of his plan to get Harry to get the goblet. The bottom line is that in movie adaptations, something has to give, and Rita and the house elves (unless they come back with a vengeance in book 7, which is entirely possible) have not been the kinds of things that have needed to be kept around. I think that's a good thing; you clearly don't. Again, it's a matter of how to cut costs or length or what have you which is always going to be a judgment call. There's no need to impugn my taste with sweeping generalizations about what I do and don't like in movies.

On a side note, Creecher's role is something that ought to have been kept in, since the conclusion made little sense without it. This movie was rushed and kept the plot moving without giving us a lot of reasons for why the plot moved. Rita and Creecher would've been much better uses of time than the 500 Filch posting scenes.

Not to mention not seeing the Longbottoms nor Percy's defection. So many minor details that have such strong ramifications later on.

Here's one vote for hoping they do an uncut dvd. I liked the movie too, but I also wish that they'd not left certain things out. I hate when they do that, and change the scenes around so it's not the way the book told it. But I also feel that the majority of the movie felt too rushed along, even for a three hour flick.

After watching "Prisoner of Azkaban" for the first time I remember thinking that it was really disjointed and it did leave a lot out of the books but after watching it again on DVD without having just read the book, it seemed to flow a lot better. Same for Goblet of Fire. Of course there were things in the books I wish would have been put in but it is really hard to take a 700 page book and put it into a 3 hour movie.

What I love about these movies is how the creators visualize everything. It was eerie watching the first 25 minutes of this newest movie and how closely it matched with the visual style I had in my head while reading the books. I figure that we have the books for all of the depth of history and back knowledge in them. We have the movies to see in 'real life' the cool things originally on the paper. Watching the knight bus scene from POA was awesome! Watching this movie with some of the scenes was cool to see the book translated to the page. Plus, as much as we can imagine the characters and how they sound and interact, it is nice to see it on screen.

ColonelSpecial has one of the most original screen names around.

Saw the movie, reluctantly. I'll admit it actually started getting interesting in the end, but I feel like the movie missed out on a lot of substance in character exploration. The only real character exploration we had was Spoiler: Snape's relationship with Harry Potter's father in school. This was actually an interesting segway, and I would have enjoyed further exploration. Sure, the part where Spoiler: there was a battle between the unnamed Voldamort support group and the older members of the Order of the Phonenix, and the loss of Gary Oldman, the raddest dude alive, had me sitting forward in my seat, but visual effects are really only as good as the story they tell. Not only that, but the Harry Potter "The difference between us is I have buddies" thing had cliche written all over it. Meh.

I agree with you here... I thought the Kreacher character in the movie was great (much better than the previous Dobby stuff). I was looking forward to seeing more of his muttering and spitting on the non-purebloods, and his eventual betrayal... but instead he had just a token role, which most likely did not make sense to the non-readers of the audience.

That said, I did not really miss Rita Skeeter. I do wish they had developed more of the Snape/James Potter stuff, because that was the most interesting part about the Occlumency lessons. The Pensieve did not even make an appearance, and damn I love that device in the books. Wish I had one. :D

Oh yeah, and Will... that cliche at the end about the difference between Harry and Voldemort IS cheesy, but is it really any different than the endings of the previous movies? Not that it's entirely different in the book, but it's a bit more subtly stated, and better written than heard in a few soundbites, I think. But yeah, classic fable stuff, moral of the story, etc.

Sidenote: I JUST finally recognized, in the movie (even after all the books), the word "Wizengamot," which hearkens back to Old English, and eventually Old Norse... and it's still used in Icelandic today! The suffix "mot" means a gathering, crossroads, or meeting place ("meet" comes from that word), and in Icelandic we have a word for family gathering, which is "Ættarmót" (related-people's-gathering). Tolkien used it as well for the word "Entmoot" in Lord of the Rings. I love that nerdy etymological stuff. :D

I was thinking about this today. I missed that you didn't see Sirius' screaming mother in the painting. I wanna know what she looks/sounds like on screen. :)

I enjoyed it.

Imelda Staunton was great. She looked genuinely hurt as much as shocked by the "injustices.". When she slapped Harry, the entire theatre gasped.

A few moments really stood out for me.

Filch swaying precariously at the top of the ridiculously tall ladder to hang the Educational Decrees.

The Order's headquarters jostling itself into existence.

Sirius Black's Family Tree

All of the Educational Decrees slipping from the wall together and smashing on the floor around Umbridge. Brilliant!

The Hall of Prophecies slowly, then rapidly collapsing in on itself. I loved how high the shelved extended into the blackness.

Not to mention how the entire theater broke into cheers and clapping with the single line... "I'm sorry professor, I must not tell lies."

I thought the movie was pretty good.

Obviously they've left some parts out. Obviously they've taken a few shortcuts and changed some things to tell the story. They kind of have to, as many have pointed out, because 600+ page books do not translate well to the big screen unless you edit them accordingly. And for that matter, why should they? Different mediums, different visions, different accomodations.

It's like, "Tom Bombadil" all over again, sheesh.

this was by far the most emotional Harruy potter film thus far, and definitely my favourite. With the exception of Syrius dying (I love gary Oldman). I was not a fan of the first two Harry films but as they got darker and more emotional they got exponentially better.