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Post by EGBFan on Oct 12, 2005 14:30:21 GMT -4
Ok, I'm excited - nearly time for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to hit the big screen! I do think this is the weakest of the books - I don't like the plot so much. But I'll see how the movie is before I go saying it won't be as good as the others. I mean, there's gonna be some pretty cool stuff going on: the Pensieve, if I remember correctly (I like the Pensieve - very cool), dragons (very very cool) - and the older Weasley brothers ought to make an appearance too, but I don't see them in the cast on the Internet Movie Database. Hmm... Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are great together - I'm so glad they've been contracted for Order of the Phoenix (or so I've heard). Yeah, ok, so maybe they're getting a little bit old - but it'd be silly to ditch them when the actress playing Fleur Delacore is older than me (she was 22/23 during filming, I think - Fleur is supposed to be in her late teens). Anyone who has read the latest book knows what becomes of Fleur, of course. I'm still rather upset about that one. Anyway. David Tenant as Barty Crouch. David Tenant, I like. His performance in the BBC's dramatisation of Casanova was remarkable, considering how badly the show was done, and of course he is to be the next Doctor! I can hardly wait to see him in Doctor Who at Christmas - but that is a different topic. Right now I'm just looking forward to Harry.
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Post by Fritz on Oct 13, 2005 10:01:16 GMT -4
I know that the show disappeared for fifteen years, but aren't they burning through Doctors awful fast now? What, making up for lost time? #8 only lasted one movie, #9 for, what, one season, now #10 already? They do remember that he only has twelve regenerations for a total of 13 Doctors, right?
Er, anyway...
I still haven't read any of the books yet (I will, someday, I swear) but last week I finally sat down and watched "Prisoner of Azkaban"...I couldn't help but like Professor Lupin (maybe he's related to Barney Lupin lol). And some of the time travel stuff made even my head hurt, and normally I'm good with that...
Ah well...
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Post by EGBFan on Oct 13, 2005 13:56:11 GMT -4
Maybe I should change the title of this thread: Harry Potter & Dr. Who. Ok, quickly then. It was made into kind of a big deal when Christopher Eccleston revealed that he would only do one series of Dr. Who (Dead Ringers gave him a grilling, for example). But personally I'm not sorry. Admittedly he was the first Doctor I watched (clips in nostalgia shows aside) so I'm not really qualified to judge, but he didn't strike me as anything very special. David Tenant should be a good replacement. And yeah, of course it'd be nice if he stuck around for a few years.
Ok then.
Fritz, I'm sorry but I'm going to nag you. I don't like to, normally, but you really must read Prisoner of Azkaban at the very least because the movie, superb though it was, glossed over a couple of important details. There's something you probably didn't get about the Marauders' Map, for example. For what it's worth, I think you'd enjoy reading them, and that's not one of those "I'd recommend it to anyone" things that don't hold water. Based on what I know, I really think you would. You might prefer the later ones (Azkaban onwards, probably) - as to why, I imagine you'd think the same as Iain, and I can have that whole conversation (not quite a debate) all over again.
I was ok with the time travel in Azkaban - actually I thought it made perfect sense. Well, as far as time travel can. You don't get it so much from the book as the movie, but it's cool when you start being reminded of Back to the Future - ducking behind trees (rather than cars) to avoid their past selves and so on - and to a lesser extend Quantum Leap (another thoroughly cool show).
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Post by EGBFan on Dec 2, 2005 15:36:31 GMT -4
I just got back from seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I think this is the weakest of the books; however the movie is pretty cool. Brendan Gleeson as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Is. Brilliant.
It's not without its problems, of course. My brother described it well: the story has been "stripped down to its bare bones". It's two and a half hours long, and yet so much is missed. I think they did the best job they could, but there is a lot missing, scenes are rushed. If you're going to be a fan of this series you really, really have to read the books.
Examples? All right then. The Quidditch World Cup takes up about a quarter of the book; in the film it gets barely five minutes. There should be house elves - Dobby's back, with his friend Winky, who actually does something kind of important - but there's none of that. I've read that people didn't think much of Dobby in Chamber of Secrets, but even so. And I was disappointed not to see the Marauders' Map - it actually provides quite a clue to the secret. Harry does still spend some of his holidays with the Dursleys - they are in every book, though not this movie (they skip about the first five chapters, I'm afraid). Charlie and Bill Weasley weren't in it... but I can't possibly go through them all.
Well, like I say, they had to. Two and a half hours - the book just has too much depth. However they really could have cut down, for example, on Harry's battle with the dragon - they really drew that out - to get in a little bit more of the plot. It was a good scene, very tense, very exciting, special effects they are awfully pleased with. But it didn't need to be that long.
SPOILER ALERT
I enjoyed the humour in this one. It started off pretty funny, and then it gets nasty. Much darker than the other movies. I was prepared, of course, having read the book. By that time JK had realised that she could write whatever the hell she wanted and still get published. Now I am sorry Cedrick's dead - I really am. He was very young, and he really didn't deserve it. But it will get worse - the books get progressively nastier - and anyone who doesn't believe me needs to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - the last few chapters at the very least. Ben.
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Post by Fritz on Dec 2, 2005 17:16:16 GMT -4
Of course Goblet of Fire got cut down bad. Order of the Phoenix will probably get cut even worse, because it's an even longer book--there's only so much you can put into a movie without it running six hours.
One of the local reviewers, a Potter fan, said "It was a great movie if you hadn't read the book first, but if you have you know how much they skipped" (or somesuch).
I probably won't see it until it comes out on DVD (my Dad buys them and I just borrow them) but I know the reviews have been pretty good.
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raysgal
Extreme Ghostbuster
Ooohhh...
Posts: 58
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Post by raysgal on Dec 2, 2005 20:12:59 GMT -4
So, the movie was good. I really wish they had gone for the two movies worth of stuff, but I suppose that was asking too much of not only the actors as well as so many other people. I can understand, yet there were little things shown that did annoy me. Especially the Yule Ball stuff. In the book Hermione was upset. Just not so upset to go all whiny girl on Harry and Ron. I did enjoy how they got around the gilly weed thing by using Neville. His reaction was one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie. The graveyard thing was a bit more scarier than I imagined it would be from the book. I actually had to look away for a moment. Overall I liked it and I hope there are some good deleted scenes on the DVD. I went with a friend of mine though who had only read the first book so she didn't realize anything was really missing, but I explained some of it afterwards. She eventually plans to read them.
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Post by Fritz on Mar 7, 2006 21:49:38 GMT -4
Time for me to Attitude Problem this thread: Well, that was today, and my Dad bought it and we just got done watching it. Absolutely agreed. And because I can, I made a joke about "I want one just like his!!!" when he took his cybernetic leg off. I think I have to agree with a lot of critical assessment--it was probably the best of the four. This may not have been the shortest movie, but it didn't drag in spots for me the way the first three did. And I will say it worked very well as a movie--without having read the books. Actually, it's been true of all four so far that I've never had the usual "I Bet This Would Make Sense If I'd Read The Books" problem a lot of movies based off books have. Lol...with that in mind I'm half tempted to declare "I'm not reading the books until the movies are finished." Because then otherwise I might miss all the stuff that was left out. A couple of spoiler laden comments: I really identified with Ron in this one. It has to be hell being the second banana to the Important One, and having to deal with his increasingly...meaningful relationship with Hermione doesn't help. He has to stand in the shadow of Harry AND that Romanian (or whatever) Beefcake this movie. And Voldemort appears at last. I dunno...I was just a tad underwhelmed. Oooh, a skinny guy with no nose. And I guess I've seen the Star Wars movies too many times because I was struck with a wierd desire to see Voldemort and Harry go at it with lightsabers instead of magic wands
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Yami Mirai
Doberman
dustn00b
Insane fangirl, at your service. :D
Posts: 120
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Post by Yami Mirai on Mar 8, 2006 15:16:24 GMT -4
Lol...with that in mind I'm half tempted to declare "I'm not reading the books until the movies are finished." Because then otherwise I might miss all the stuff that was left out. I wish I had had that mentality when it came to the movies. Instead, I was eager to read the books and now I can't help but think of what was cut whenever I see the movies. ^_^U Of course, even with so much missing, the fourth movie was still really good. In my opinion, it was the best one so far. *Wonders if she'll feel the same about the eventual fifth movie despite all the stuff that's sure to be taken out* I felt pretty bad for Ron as well. Not only is he the sidekick of the series, but in this one his love interest has someone else vying for her affections. Coupled with the normal problems that teenagers go through anyway, he's really getting the short end of the stick here. XD That would have been awesome! I would have loved to see something like that. (and this from someone who's not even a Star Wars fan) ;D I actually thought that Voldemort's appearance was pretty cool. It wasn't what I had imagined, but still freaky nonetheless.
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Post by Dr. Vincent Belmont on Mar 13, 2006 16:54:54 GMT -4
(chuckles) Hey, my avatar says it all, okay?
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Post by EGBFan on Jun 4, 2006 13:04:23 GMT -4
Ok, this is pretty impressive: the bloke who is currently composing the score for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was at school with my mum. She saw him on Saturday, and he told her he was composing the score for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So there.
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Post by SuperStantzio on Jun 4, 2006 14:38:36 GMT -4
Wow! That sounds neat. So when is Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix is coming out?
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Post by EGBFan on Jun 4, 2006 14:53:53 GMT -4
Not until sometime next year.
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Post by SuperStantzio on Jun 4, 2006 15:37:23 GMT -4
Oh okay then.
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Post by Kingpin on Jun 5, 2006 7:42:19 GMT -4
You do have to wonder if the series will continue to get progressively darker...
I really enjoyed Goblet Of Fire simply because it felt a little more grown up and a bit more sinister... the start of the series felt... well, to borrow Egon's line from Legion that 'candy and teddy bears will rain from the sky'...
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Post by EGBFan on Jun 5, 2006 8:54:32 GMT -4
You do have to wonder if the series will continue to get progressively darker... You can never just accept what you're told, can you? I know you didn't believe me when I said the films were going to get darker (assuming they stay true to the books, which Emma Watson is adamant that they will, and of course we must trust her because she's Hermione), but the future releases of the next two installments (at least - we'll see about part 7) will prove me right. And then you will be getting a big fat I Told You So. (Ah, how I love saying I told you so...) Anyway, I take your point about Goblet of Fire being less kiddie. You are not the only person to prefer it (and in many cases, subsequent books) for this reason. But (there's always a but) people seem to forget that the series did start out as children's books (and films, of course). Officially, that's still what they are, first and foremost. I don't think the series is perfect, and one problem is that I don't think there's anyone who can love every single book, due to their changing nature. What's happened is, JK has realised that she can write whatever the hell she wants and no one will question her. While older people might tend to prefer the later books, she has alienated many of her original target audience - I know a great many children who gave up on reading Order of the Phoenix, which I think is kinda sad.
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