Author Topic: Harry Potter  (Read 111453 times)

Offline Brian

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #495 on: July 16, 2011, 08:30 PM »
Estimated Friday box office of 92 million, beating the Twilight record by 20 million.  Sounds like the Dark Knight three day record could be crushed as well, nice to see it doing so well.  We went to see it this afternoon, and loved it.  I had much the same feeling after seeing Revenge of the Sith, where it was bittersweet because while I loved the movie I was sad that it was "over".  There were some changes from the book - mostly minor - and nothing I can say I had much problem with.  Although I really like all of the movies in the series, I can see why many say this one is "the best".  It definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat, and I wouldn't mind catching it again in the theaters.  It is really impressive to me how much they've kept the quality up throughout all eight movies.  Sure, some of them have more changes from the books than others - and I know that bothers some more than me - and although some of the effects in the first two seem a little rough now, they are still fun to watch and almost have a bit of "nostalgia" in a way.  Anyways, very good movie, highly recommend catching it if you are remotely interested in Potter.

Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #496 on: July 16, 2011, 08:58 PM »
My wife and I saw this on Friday night and we both really enjoyed it.

I think my wife really enjoyed it because I had been having her re-watch the first seven movies with me at night for the eight days leading up to the movie's release. I have read the books, but she has not, so I wanted her to at least be "caught up" from a movies stand-point.

It was definitely fun to see it with a theater full of Potter fans - everyone cheering at certain moments and getting somber during others.

I would definitely like to see it again, probably not in the theater, but I will buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out. I'd be interested to see if there were any other scenes they filmed but were cut for the final release.
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Offline Neal

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #497 on: July 16, 2011, 10:04 PM »
I liked the movie, but the audio in the theater I saw the film in was just terrible.  It was difficult to hear dialogue, and it sounded like they were mumbling.  It really took me out of the movie. 
Oh well.  I guess I'll just have to see it again.

Offline Scott

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #498 on: July 16, 2011, 10:34 PM »
My wife and I went today.  I thought it was fantastic, my wife gave it a good. There were two changes I really didn't care for but they didn't ruin it for me at all

The whole tone of the book and the movie are sort of downers when you think about it...its not like ROTJ or ROTK where there are huge celebrations and a sense of joy...the series ends somberly and while emotionally it tugged at the right spots it also left me rather melancholy.

When I was reading the Snape scenes near the end of the book/movie I could picture how this was going to play out on screen and they really nailed it...except it was really tough to convey Harry's feelings about their relationship...still pretty powerful stuff and has been said ad naseum, Rickman was born to play the part. 

Hard to say where the series ranks in geekdom film history, it is right there with all of the big ones though

Offline Brian

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #499 on: July 17, 2011, 10:09 AM »
The whole tone of the book and the movie are sort of downers when you think about it...its not like ROTJ or ROTK where there are huge celebrations and a sense of joy...the series ends somberly and while emotionally it tugged at the right spots it also left me rather melancholy.

That is something we noticed as well.  Although I know it is quite similar to the book, I noticed that (although the "19 years later" helped a bit) the movie still sort of ended on a somber note.  There wasn't a big "hooray" celebration scene, similar to what we saw in ROTJ or ROTK.  When Harry is walking back into the hall and seeing everyone, it sort of just looked like "well, its over".  Again, the book is very much the same, so it was accurate.  Still, great movie - already looking forward to the blu ray.

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #500 on: July 17, 2011, 02:30 PM »
That's an interesting point Brian and Scott make.  I actually felt they handled the end of the movie better than ROTJ or ROTK.  In both those movies there are great celebrations but I've always felt they've too easily brushed aside the death of their comrades in battle and go on to party a little too quickly for my tastes.  Maybe it's just conversations I've had with uncles that fought in WWII but I felt the somber mood in the last Potter movie was more fitting.  We won, that's fantastic, but look at the cost...  Struck me as a more pragmatic approach. 
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Offline Brian

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #501 on: July 17, 2011, 04:12 PM »
That's a good point Brent, and something along the lines of what I've been discussing with my wife over the past couple weeks.  She's read I think the first three books (but then went back to re-reading her Twilight series) and has watched all the HP movies several times.  She really didn't like all the death in the HP series, particularly in Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2, and was asking me why Rowling felt it necessary to kill off so many characters.  The best way I could explain it was saying that in real wars, people die, and that it wouldn't be realistic if this was the wizard war to end all wars with huge numbers on both sides that no one at all would get hurt and/or killed.  It did remind me a bit of one of the SW docs where they said many (almost everyone) was pushing Lucas to kill off a main character in ROTJ, but he insisted not to.  Granted, it was a different time, and SW (particularly in the 80s) was really a movie for kids whereas Potter (the books and movies) may have started with kids for the most part but has become much more adult as the series has gone on.  Anyways, I can see what you are saying as well Brent.

Offline Brian

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #502 on: July 17, 2011, 04:21 PM »
New weekend record for Potter as well: estimated $168.6 million (beating Dark Knight by about $10 mil).  I saw this over at EW, which allows fans to discuss some things they would have liked to see done differently in the books/movies (not just complaining, just their opinions) - it is sort of an interesting read.  I can't say I disagree with some of the points posted either.  I am sort of surprised (and granted, it is the internet, so grain of salt and all that) at how many people really disliked Michael Gambon as Dumbledore.  I mean, I've heard that before, but didn't know it was quite so widespread (again, amongst internet posters at least).
« Last Edit: July 17, 2011, 04:43 PM by Brian »

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #503 on: July 18, 2011, 12:29 AM »
I thought he did a good job....but Richard Harris did a great job!  It's a shame he passed away after filming Chamber of Secrets.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #504 on: July 18, 2011, 09:21 AM »
Enjoyed reading all the comments. You guys touched on my two biggest beefs with the film franchise: Sucky Fake Dumbledore Gambon and the unfailing need to change the source material.

Now, I get that they were trapped when Harris died, and in Gambon's defense, I wouldn't have liked anyone else in that role either, but he really is a piss-poor Dumbledore. He lacks all of the warmth and whimsy of Harris. Harris was just so superbly cast, it literally diminished the whole of the franchise when they lost him.

Imagine LOTR without the real Gandalf, or Star Wars without the real Obi-Wan. Just not the same.

That said, I can live with casting changes made out of necessity, but the rampant plot changes and exclusion of important details just became too irritating and distracting to ignore anymore after the first movie. I forget which was the longest book, I want to say 3 or 4, but they cut so much out it was like watching a completely different movie.

I honestly don't know how you make sense of it all without having read the books. You certainly miss quite a lot.

I am trying to make an effort to watch the movies again now as I never even saw the last 2 or 3. I'd like to get caught up so I can still catch the last one in the theatre.

Oh, and just so I can get the frustration out ahead of time, what exactly did the change about this last installment? Nobody lives who dies or vice versa hopefully?
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Offline efranks

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #505 on: July 18, 2011, 09:30 AM »
Oh, and just so I can get the frustration out ahead of time, what exactly did the change about this last installment?

There's a lot changed in part 2.  Some big, some small, but a lot overall.

Nobody lives who dies or vice versa hopefully?

I don't think that's one of the changes.  Other than there may be some characters from the novels that were never actually in the films, I think this all stayed the way it was supposed to.

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Offline name

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #506 on: July 18, 2011, 11:04 AM »
I disagree on Gambon...I think Harris was a perfect Dumbledore when all we knew about Dumbledore was that he was an eccentric, lovable old wizard.  In hindsight, though, Dubledore has a LOT more depth to him...a darker side that I think Gambon is perfect for. 
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #507 on: July 18, 2011, 05:59 PM »
I think Gambon did quite a good job as Dumbledore.  Richard Harris was a great actor, but he never really got much of a chance to sink his teeth into some of the more complex parts of Dumbledore's story.  The closest we even came to that was in the flashback scenes in the second film, and those were quite brief.

I made a point of checking out the movie today.  I was very surprised to see that Ciaran Hinds was cast as Aberforth Dumbledore!  Lots of emotional moments in this final chapter.  And it was fairly true to the book.  The final scene seemed a tiny bit off.  Perhaps I had a difficult time picturing the characters at that point in their lives.  All in all, a very good way to bring the series to a close.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #508 on: July 18, 2011, 06:29 PM »
Gambon's Dumbledore > Harris' Dumbledore 

Offline Jabba the Slug

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Re: Harry Potter
« Reply #509 on: July 21, 2011, 04:55 AM »
Ralph Fiennes' interpretation of Voldemort was beyond words. He definitely is one bad-ass villain. With Vader you see a tragic villain and you feel sympathy with him, but you just wanna hate Voldemort. And to top it all of there's many in-depth scenes in the film where see Voldemort at his emotional weakest. You hardly ever see a villain in a movie like this, I thought it was so interesting to see it.

I saw the film twice and I was both awe-struck in many ways and let down in a few ways, as I thought some of the action sequences were lacking. To say that the series went out with a bang is definitely true. I was definitely an emotion wreck that the series was over, more so than when ROTS came out. I grew up with the Prequel Trilogy only, but I grew up with the entire Harry Potter film franchise.   
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