Jove

I know part 1 is not released until the 18th, but is anyone planning on going to the midnight showing? Have you been re-reading the books and watching the movies to get yourself ready for part 1?

I spent most of August and September re-reading the entire series (for probably the 5th or 6th time) as well as watching one movie per week. Also, I decided to make facebook status updates related to the events happening in each chapter of the Deathly Hallows.

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 1 is not in 3D

I am super ecstatic that part 1 is not going to be in 3D. I hope part 2 is not released in 3D, but it looks like it might.

Baraka_Guru

I'm looking forward to it, but I still have to watch the Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince (both of which I have the DVDs from the library currently).

And, no, I haven't read the books. That's why I'm watching the movies. I want to know what this Pottermania is all about. The films are the most I'll get.

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levite

I dunno....

I guess I'll go see it, if for nothing else than the three kids in the lead roles so perfectly embody the characters.

But I am really not expecting anything. They made a dog's breakfast of the last few movies, and the last book is the most complex.

I just re-read the series, and they were such entertaining, well-written books.... It's a shame those are just the kind of books that tend to get made into crappy movies....

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sweet release

harry potter and the half blood prince is amazing.

i got the dvd for christmas last year, but only watched it for the first time a few days ago.

you'll enjoy it.

as for the new movie, i can't wait. though it will be sad because it will be the last one

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I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you, it's hard to find release and people can be so cold.

oliver9184

Looks like the new movie will be something special, just like the past four have been. I read the books when they were new but have mostly forgotten them now. Watched most of the films when they were new too, and have been rewatching them over the years (though applies less to the first two). Prisoner of Azkaban was always my favourite but and Goblet of Fire second but I recently watched all six back to back in anticipation of the Deathly Hallows and I think Goblet's just about the best now. I think I had gotten over-familiar with Azkaban to the point where I would watch how beautiful it looks from a technical standpoint (it and the Half Blood Prince are the best-looking Potter movies) without being able to stand following the long rambling story.

I've been trying to get around to writing something a bit longer about the first six, after watching them all and in anticipation of the new film but still haven't gotten around to it. When/if I do it'll go in 'Rate the last movie you watched' and I'll put a link in here if this thread's still about.

Lasereth

The 7th book was shit. I hated it with a passion. I loved the first 6 books with an even bigger passion, especially 3, 4, and 6, but 7 was just embarrassing. I swear it was written by a different author lol. Hopefully the movie will be better.

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Jove

I will admit the first time I read the 7th book, I thought the section in the woods was pointless, but I believe now that it was essential in capturing their isolation from the rest of the world.

Lasereth

That part was pretty awful but the rest of the book is written like shit. Action packed scenes like riding the dragon out of gringotts seemed like afterthoughts because of the way the book was written. It felt like her heart wasn't in it.

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Frosstbyte

We had this conversation when the book came out, but I'm inclined to agree with Lasereth. The last book had a lot of problems, and pacing was only one of them. There's nothing enjoyable about having solid characters that you'd grown to like over many books be killed "offscreen" for no other reason than to make you say to your self, "OH MY HOW TRAGIC SO AND SO DIED." I mean, sure, you could do that with one character. To do it with a bunch? Not gonna cut it.

I hope the movie can somehow salvage together the story in a more coherent and enjoyable fashion. I'm inclined to think that a very strict recreation of the book isn't going to work very well in movie form. We'll see, though. I'll definitely be seeing it in the theaters.

FoolThemAll

Were we reading the same books? The seventh book was a welcome relief after the many little dragging bits of the fifth and sixth books. The only part that really felt awkward to me was the explanation of the wand's ownership, and the series has had much worse than that.

And they really can't do a worse job with the movie for this than the glanced-over job they did with 5 and 6. Especially with the wise decision to break it up.

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Jove

Four more days and I thought I would share a few Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows video interviews of the cast. I probably will be watching/reading them after the movie is released just to enjoy the movie.

Harry Potter and the class of Hogwarts 2000

Video interviews

EW article on Harry Potter

streak_56

I am going to have to re-read all the books, Order of the Phoenix was my favourite. But I think when I read the last, I was too excited about how it was going to end to care about how well it was written. Although, I will agree with the fact that the movies are crap compared to the book.... For me, I thought the Neville Longbottom/Potter line should've been followed more or had a larger role in the movies.

Jove

Agreed. They should have added the scene in the OOTP where Harry/Ron and Hermione accidentally run into Neville and his parents at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries where they learn about how his parents were tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Instead, they just added a scene between Harry and Neville where he briefly spoke about his parents being tortured.

Charlatan

Saw the film on Wednesday and it was okay... like the book, it drags a bit when they are in the woods. It's been four years since I read the book, so I can't comment on the changes that may have been made to the story.

On the whole, I was not all that satisfying for me.

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Redlemon

The review in my local paper suggested that they should have released all of Book 7 as a 3.5 hour movie. Instead, you get all of the buildup without the payoff.

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Jove

You could say that about The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Right?

PonyPotato

Redlemon, that's a bit of how I feel about this film. All the "action" includes finding and destroying just one horcrux and learning the background of the Deathly Hallows. At least two characters killed, one of their deaths totally impersonal and the other a little theatric (the girls behind me were crying before it even happened).

Mostly character development and discovery of background information for the rest of the film.. but I remember feeling the same way about their time in the woods when I was reading the book, so I can't fault them TOO much for the way it was written.

That said, I loved the artwork for the Three Brothers tale. Loved it. And the movie itself LOOKS amazing. What I've always loved about the Harry Potter movies is that the CGI is done so well (they must have some awesome artists) that it looks like something that doesn't exist (magic) is totally possible AND realistic.

My favorite part of this movie release was my ex hoping it was more "kid friendly" than the last few. Obviously, he hasn't read the books.. but I snort-laughed at that one. This film has more skin in it than any of the rest, and a lot more interpersonal conflict. It's very adult in nature.

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settie

I enjoyed part 1 quite a bit, I saw it last night at the midnight screening.
Found it much better than the last 3 films. Movie 5 was awful, save for the voldemort/dumbledore fight, and movie 6 went on a tangent and made up random shit, with awful screenplay lines. I found this one had the heavy task of trying to piece together all 6 movies, which isn't easy. I felt it had the proper tone, lots of fear, and frustration, and I felt that they stopped at a good spot in the book. You go too far into the horcruxes, the public will hate to wait so long for part 2.
I read the book twice when it first came out, but I can't remember a lot from the books. So during the movie my brother and I would ask each other questions, to try and re-establish our knowledge. Now he says he has to reread the book. I sure as hell won't. She wrote it poorly.
But yeah, good movie.

Jove

I might be exaggerating, but I felt this was the best film of the series. I mean, their acting has drastically improved in every movie, but after watching each film at least 10 times, I started to notice their really annoying habits, which are probably noticed by the actors/actresses as well. I will not list their annoying habits because I am pretty sure members could care less about the entire situation.

Right, so this movie is basically for the hardcore fans of the series that have read the books multiple times to get the subtle references or clues that are presented on screen. One example would be Spoiler: when Harry and Hermione arrived at Godric's Hallow and Hermione states, "We should have used the polyjuice potion", which is what they did in the book, but altering their appearance didn't change the end result, which is getting attacked by nagini and Harry's wand being destroyed.

mixedmedia

I watched all of the previous movies within the last week because I am going to see the new movie in the theater this week with my boyfriend. I've never read the books but I'm not too blown away by the movie series. Seems like a much less rich interpretation of the lord of the rings.

There are elements of the movies that are interesting/good/etc. but I don't get the hype. as usual.

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Jove

Did you watch the film yet?

mixedmedia

nope, not yet. We've been caught up in holiday-ing.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Frosstbyte

It was pretty much as I expected it to be. Enjoyable but not great and suffering from the same flaw as the book: way too much filler. The animated sequence for the 3 Brothers story is fabulous, as previously noted, and may have been the best part of the movie. Simply put, this would have been better as a 3.5-4 hour epic like RotK with some judicious editing. Splitting it into two pieces (and having one or both of the pieces still be 2.5+hours) is greedy and sloppy.

Jove

jewels

I did enjoy the Half Blood Prince best of the series. But I just got back from seeing Deathly Hallows and, although some scenes are beautiful, the plot was lacking and it just felt like it was 45 minutes longer than it should have been. On the other hand, my 17-year old thought it was great.

Maybe it's a generational thing. I read the first two books to my kids when they were little and had them read the third together when they were old enough. I'm not into fantasy or whatever genre it falls into so maybe my expectations are different.

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Jove

Two years ago when they cast Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood, I read she was in the hospital, but the reason for her stay was not disclosed and I assumed it had to do with some form of car accident due to the funky way she walked (watch OOTP scene in which Harry finds Luna feeding the Thestrals). Apparently, she was in the hospital because she was suffering from anorexia

Vaultboy

The movie is better than I thought it would be. I would have liked to see the screenwriter/director fill in the blanks like JAckson did with LotR, but I guess we have to make do with major events (and deaths) happening off-screen. The ending was a good and logical cliffhanger - can't see why people complain about that much.

This movie is behind Azkaban and Half-blood prince, I reckon.


Yup, definitely the best part, IMO.

Yes, my wife couldn't handle the battle with the snake in Godricks Hollow. A bit too realistic for her tastes.

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sweet release

waiting for it to be released on dvd

avoid all the rush at the theaters

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These Stories don't mean anything if you've got no-one to tell them to.


I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you, it's hard to find release and people can be so cold.

mixedmedia

we saw this last weekend. it was pretty good, but it's just not a story that I get into that much.

I will say observe how fortunate the filmmakers were in securing three child actors at the beginning who were able to carry these films through to adulthood without becoming unwatchable actors.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

Cynthetiq

I finally finished the book a few hours ago. I can finally see the movie now and see just how the butchered it.

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GreyWolf

I was disappointed in the movie. I echo the comments on the dragging of the film in the woods, and generally found the attempt to recreate the sense of dread/danger while in Godricks Hollow to be weak. There was nothing engaging about the entire sequence.

Personally, I found the movie lacked the sense of wonder the "window-into-a-foreign-world" feeling engendered by the earlier movies. Rather I had the sense of sort of watered down Indiana Jones film.

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