Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

[Gan]

WELL?????? ANYONE SEEN IT YET? (Release date for US is July 11th... TODAY).

SPILL IT, SPILLIT SPILLIT!

:wtf:

No threads on the release yet? Whatsa mattah wit joo guys?

[GS4-D]

Going to see it in 3 hrs.

[Sean of the Thread]

reviews say it's lots of talkin' and slownesssss.

[CrystalTears]

And other people say that it's the best Harry Potter so far.

I'm going to see it anyway.. someday.. somehow.

[Sean of the Thread]

There's always the other people.. I was just sharing what the reviews said. I personally never take reviews for shit.. they're usually exactly opposite of how feel about the film.

Also says the first 90 minutes are all talk etc. 900 page book into two hours you gotta cut out the crap.

"The movie, based on the fifth of J.K. Rowling's seven Potter novels, capably serves as a link in the saga. It is good enough to make us believe that Rowling and WB are trying to keep entertaining us, not merely phoning it in to make money as sequels often do. However, the movie doesn't thrill as often or expand as many themes as it's predecessors - or as the final two chapters likely will. This is the minor slump that even the best serials can suffer, and we're too far in to quit now. ..... Order of The Phoenix hit's the books talking points - there's a lot of talk over the first 90 minutes - yet almost could be condensed and attached to the end of 2005's Goblet of Fire or the beginning of Half-Blood Prince due out in 2008."


Sounds really exciting.

[CrystalTears]

Yeah but not much exciting happens for most of that book til the very ending anyway, so it doesn't surprise me. They probably put in a lot of the Order meetings and junk which they need plotwise.

[Sean of the Thread]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. Still not sure how it could be considered the best Potter film yet based on the reviews I've read. Guess I'll find out tonight.

[Parkbandit]

I'm 3 for 3 for falling asleep in the theater. Let me just say that Spiderman 3 was a fantastic film compared to this borefest.

[Bobmuhthol]

It was definitely not the best film. It's a setup for films 6 and 7, and it introduces some characters. You need it to complete the series, certainly, but as a standalone movie? Not that great.

[grapedog]

this book in the series was defininately a transition book...i would expect it to be rather slow for a little while at least.

[Kuyuk]

I agree. Crutial for plot, but solo, boring.

I did enjoy it, dont get me wrong, but it was a lot of drama, not a lot of sorcerery woopass.


K.

[GS4-D]

I did enjoy it, dont get me wrong, but it was a lot of drama, not a lot of sorcerery woopass.

I feel the same way about it. If you're a fan of the book you'll enjoy the movie, if you didn't even read one of them and are just going for the 'Harry Potter' hype, then this movie won't be much of a thrill.

I can't tell you how many times people behind me kept asking 'Who's that?' at characters that if you didn't read the books you wouldn't know who they were.

[Bobmuhthol]

...?

I didn't read any of the books and I didn't confuse any characters.

[GS4-D]

...?

I didn't read any of the books and I didn't confuse any characters.

I'm referring to new characters that if you didn't read the book you would have gone 'Who's that?'

Ex. When all those wizards showed up to get Harry in the beginning, did you know who they all were besides Moody? If you read the book you'd at least have an idea of who they were.

[Bobmuhthol]

No, but then again, I didn't even think about it. I just remembered them from then on.

[Sean of the Thread]

And other people say that it's the best Harry Potter so far.

I'm going to see it anyway.. someday.. somehow.

After the pc consensus.. the "other people" appear to be stupid.

And that's saying something.



I found it transitional but a snorefest. Oh well, at least it was free.

[TheEschaton]

I loved the fifth book, thought it was the best one. Mainly because it WAS character development driven, and not plot driven.

But then, I'm a character person, my favorite book is the Brothers Karamazov, a 1500 page book in which nothing happens but a murder and the trial.

-TheE-

[Gan]

Saw the movie.


Brilliant. Having read the book, (re-read it a month ago to prepare for the movie), I was able to follow it closely. The friend I went to go see it with had not read the book but yet enjoyed the movie as well.

There were parts I would have liked to have seen more development in but squeezing 900 pages of story into 2 hours of movie makes it understandable. All in all, I'd see it again and definately plan on adding it to my DvD collection when it comes out.

[CrystalTears]

After the pc consensus.. the other people appear to be stupid.

And that's saying something.
I honestly don't listen to the consensus of the PC as I've noticed that I hardly ever agree with the reviews here. And you normally say you don't like the movie. I can't remember the last time you liked something except maybe 300. And you said "eh" for Transformers and you saw it twice, so I don't know what your scale is.

The book itself was a transitional book, so I'm not expecting anything else for the movie.

[TheEschaton]

The book was NOT a transitional book (though I have to say, the Prophecy - duh, we all already knew it had to be like that). It was a political intrigue book. It mirrored the ineptness of ignorance on a governmental level. So many different facets.

Can't wait to see the movie on Friday....can't wait even more for next week for the book. In fact, where's the HPVII conjecture thread??

[Sean of the Thread]

I honestly don't listen to the consensus of the PC as I've noticed that I hardly ever agree with the reviews here. And you normally say you don't like the movie. I can't remember the last time you liked something except maybe 300. And you said "eh" for Transformers and you saw it twice, so I don't know what your scale is.

The book itself was a transitional book, so I'm not expecting anything else for the movie.

I ended up seeing transformers 3 times. :)

[CrystalTears]

The book was NOT a transitional book (though I have to say, the Prophecy - duh, we all already knew it had to be like that). It was a political intrigue book. It mirrored the ineptness of ignorance on a governmental level. So many different facets.
Transitional in the sense that it was all basically explanation, character development and furthering the plot. Transitional that this was pretty much the turning point of Harry going from a boy to a man and dealing with adult issues. It wasn't so much about an exciting Quidditch match or a death tournament. Just more info.

[Khariz]

Saw the movie.


Brilliant. Having read the book, (re-read it a month ago to prepare for the movie), I was able to follow it closely.


Interesting. You did realize then that the movie changed every just about everything from the way it happened in the book right? That's what I didn't like about this movie. It was the first one to outright change things. The other movies cut stuff and did bad jobs of explaining things, but this one outright changed stuff.

Examples:

Longbottom doesn't find the Room of Requirement in the books. (which leads to "Where was Dobby?" both in and out of Grimmauld (a word they used once in the movie).

Cho doesn't tell on the Army in the book.

Harry doesn't see that memory in Snape's mind by countercursing Legilimens, he looks into Snape's penseive, when he walks out of the room.

Why go through all the trouble of doing the Thestryls flight scene, and not even pan by Ron who freaked the fuck out the whole time? That woulda been funny.

I could go on ad naseum.

Here my beef:

I don't mind imbelishments. If Rowling didn't say "XYZ happened like this", I have no problem with movies using creative license to show things happening in an embellished way (ie Umbridge making ALL those students write with those quills as punishment). But to strait up change something, when it would have cost no more time or money to do it correctly (ie, having Alan Rickman walk out of the room and use less Special FX to have harry fish a memory out of a penseive) pisses me off.

Oh well. The movie was decent, but I could have done without all of the straight-up CHANGES to the book.

[CrystalTears]

All the movies have changes from the book, some more, some less. Back in the first movie, the punishment in the woods was not with that group. Longbottom was supposed to be there and wasn't. Other situations were similar where the person who said or did something was done in the book was done by someone else because it was going to work better for the movie plot-wise.

The author seems happy with it, and if so, probably because there are reasons that certain people say/do certain things in the movie instead. This is the problem with movie versions of books is that people want verbatim and it's usually not going to happen that way. Every movie has had changes, blatent changes, from the book, and it's an effort to make the movie work. Take the movie for what it is, and as long as it has the basic point of the book, then it will work fine. If you want details and true definition, read the books.

[Back]

^ Spoiler alert!

[Gan]

Interesting. You did realize then that the movie changed every just about everything from the way it happened in the book right? That's what I didn't like about this movie. It was the first one to outright change things. The other movies cut stuff and did bad jobs of explaining things, but this one outright changed stuff.

Examples:

Longbottom doesn't find the Room of Requirement in the books. (which leads to "Where was Dobby?" both in and out of Grimmauld (a word they used once in the movie).

Cho doesn't tell on the Army in the book.

Harry doesn't see that memory in Snape's mind by countercursing Legilimens, he looks into Snape's penseive, when he walks out of the room.

Why go through all the trouble of doing the Thestryls flight scene, and not even pan by Ron who freaked the fuck out the whole time? That woulda been funny.

I could go on ad naseum.

Here my beef:

I don't mind imbelishments. If Rowling didn't say "XYZ happened like this", I have no problem with movies using creative license to show things happening in an embellished way (ie Umbridge making ALL those students write with those quills as punishment). But to strait up change something, when it would have cost no more time or money to do it correctly (ie, having Alan Rickman walk out of the room and use less Special FX to have harry fish a memory out of a penseive) pisses me off.

Oh well. The movie was decent, but I could have done without all of the straight-up CHANGES to the book.

Rowling gave the all clear for adaptation in order for the movie to be a good movie. As CT mentions, rarely will you find a movie that does not deviate from the book.

I think the new director kept the idea consistent with the timeframe he was working with. Now I would have expected things to have been different had the movie been a 3 hour one, which would mean there would have been more time for the items that were deviated.

I could make a huge list from the deviations I saw, some of what you mentioned and others. If I had any complaints at all I would say that I wish we could have seen more of the different rooms in the department of mysteries in the latter part of the film. That was a very interesting part of the book in that it delved deep into all things magical that exist in the world of HP.

I still enjoyed the movie and had no expectations that it would be scripted as the book simply because I've seen enough movies that were books that I had read first to know that its not logical.

In fact, there has been only one movie that I've seen that has been almost step by step from a book... Stand By Me - Stephen King. And that was actually a short story, not a book, which I think made it possible.

[CrystalTears]

^ Spoiler alert!
There is nothing in his post that spoiles anything with the movie. He's picking apart pointless details that aren't going to destroy the essence of the film. If you consider that a spoiler, you read the book and already know everything that's going to happen anyway.

[radamanthys]

sin city and the 300 were step-by-step, too

[CrystalTears]

They were graphic novels, not really the same thing as they don't have the details that regular novels do.

[grapedog]

Longbottom doesn't find the Room of Requirement in the books. (which leads to "Where was Dobby?" both in and out of Grimmauld (a word they used once in the movie).

Cho doesn't tell on the Army in the book.

Harry doesn't see that memory in Snape's mind by countercursing Legilimens, he looks into Snape's penseive, when he walks out of the room.

Why go through all the trouble of doing the Thestryls flight scene, and not even pan by Ron who freaked the fuck out the whole time? That woulda been funny.

I could go on ad naseum.

Here my beef:

I don't mind imbelishments. If Rowling didn't say "XYZ happened like this", I have no problem with movies using creative license to show things happening in an embellished way (ie Umbridge making ALL those students write with those quills as punishment). But to strait up change something, when it would have cost no more time or money to do it correctly (ie, having Alan Rickman walk out of the room and use less Special FX to have harry fish a memory out of a penseive) pisses me off.

Oh well. The movie was decent, but I could have done without all of the straight-up CHANGES to the book.

It wasn't Cho that told in the book either, it was her friend who she brought with her the first time.

There is an issue of creative liscence that you have to deal with when doing adaptations. If you bring in Dobby, you now have to have much more of him in the movie. If the movie uncut is like 4 hours...Dobby is one thing you could lose from that book without losing alot.

Did I like the fact that they cut out characters from the second or third movies...not particularly...but when you have so much content to deliver, you have to pick and choose the most important parts and make the rest work as best you can within the story.

Sorry that you're apparently ANAL beyond reason...but really, get over it. The books are better I think we can all agree, and they are really why we love the movies. Read the book, enjoy the movie and leave it at that.

[circe]

I was actually impressed with the movie. As for the changes from book to movie it was no where near as bad as prisoner.

[grapedog]

I was actually impressed with the movie. As for the changes from book to movie it was no where near as bad as prisoner.


agreed...but still, done pretty well for all they had to get across.

And I wish they had made more changes to the movie version of Chamber of Secrets...my least favorite book in the series.

[Bobmuhthol]

Snape kills Dumbledore.

[StrayRogue]

OMG!!! RUINED

[Zarli]

I just got back from seeing it. Yes there were a lot of changes, but you know, I think they did a great job with it and I really enjoyed it. It was long but i certainly didn't feel like it was a snorefest, matter of fact I felt like it was shorter than what it actually was. I enjoyed the new characters, they were well played and believable and fun to watch.

[TheEschaton]

The only problem I would have with what Khariz said, in terms of changes, is Cho telling on the DA. Cho's too major a character to just fade away in subsequent movies/the last book, and I think she might be relevant to keep in Harry's life. That's why a character LIKE Marietta was introduced in OotP, so that she could tattle on the DA and do her piece, and never be seen again.

Oh, and an article I read said they originally were gonna cut out Kreacher, but JK was like, "Uh, you may not want to do that", which implies to me he'll be important in the Deathly Hallows.

-TheE-

[Drew2]

I agree with whoever it was that said they hated how they butchered the book. I was so mad by the end of the movie. I enjoyed it for what it was, but the TERRIBLE innaccuracies and blatant LIES pissed me off.

And as for Cho, she's supposed to fade away in this movie, because Harry and Ginny get it on in the next one.

[TheEschaton]

But she's strongly connected to Cedric, I think she'll have a part to play in enacting revenge for him.

[Stanley Burrell]

This was absolutely bad ass.

Evil tuchus, yo. Cinematography was insane.

[TheEschaton]

Just saw it. Wasn't bad.

I liked the badass music in the Hall of Prophecies. Oh, and I LOVED the different masks for every Death Eater. That was awesome. Halloween? I know what I am this year.

And would have been better if they actually said things during the fight scene - if you had no idea what they were doing, you wouldn't know what the hell was going on: IE, Voldemort vs. Dumbledore, V's green light was him trying to give Dumbledore the Avada Kedavra, and Dumbledore responded with a stupefy.

I always thought Dumbledore would have been more badass. There's a point in the book where the Order is losing the fight against the Death Eaters, and then Dumbledore comes in and just starts destroying shit. And it would have been cool had the statues actually come to life - that woulda been fucking awesome.

-TheE-

[Anailea]

Brilliant!!!

I loved it.

Movies have to leave stuff out. Unless, of course, they started making two versions, a theater version, normal length, and a home version that matches the book exactly.

[TheEschaton]

I wish they did make movies that matched books exactly. Then they wouldn't suck.*


*not referring to Order of the Phoenix.

Oh, but btw, what's with Kingsley Shacklebolt being suc a buffoon...he's stately in the book, did they need some black comic relief in the movie? Surprised I didn't hear a "Yes, suh, right 'way, massa..."

[Gan]

I liked how Dumbledore kept calling Voldermort, "Tom".

[TheEschaton]

He does that in the book too. He keeps trying to remind Voldemort of his humanity, and doesn't want to empower him with a name he created to mask himself.

It's somewhere in book five, I believe.

[Warriorbird]

I definitely understand why some folks didn't like it.

[TheEschaton]

Yeah, it was eh.

I did like the ending bit, like I said before. And holy shit, Daniel Radcliffe is like ripped now. WTF?

[SpunGirl]

I really liked it. I was glad they stayed true to at least the "theme" of the book - it was an uncomfortable bit of the story to tell, and the movie didn't Disney it up.

I wish they had changed the following things:

1- More Tonks. The actress who played her was great and she deserved more screen time.
2- More Draco. Specifically, the bit in the book where Harry is spying on them and trying to get bits of Draco boasting about his dad's death-eater-ness.
3- More Percy. A bit of dialogue at least would have been sufficient to explain what a dillhole he's become.

Finally, and I think most important:

4- The two-way mirror Sirius gives to Harry. If the theory that the mirror makes a major reappearance in book seven proves to be true, they're going to have to horseshoe that into the seventh movie somehow to explain how it showed up.

-K

PS Love Fred and George foreva.

[TheEschaton]

The whole Fred and George thing coulda been fleshed out a bit more - that it was a whole campaign on driving Umbridge mad.

I definitely agree with the Percy bit. He showed up in Dumbledore's army, and I was like, "Who the fuck is that?" Then I saw the red hair and I'm like, "Oh yeah, Percy's supposed to be in this story."

If the mirror was supposed to be in, it would have been in. I read an article where they were originally not gonna have Kreacher in, but then JK insisted they put him in the movie, and that they might regret later not having him there.

-TheE-

[TheEschaton]

I kinda wish they did St. Mungo's, btw.

[SpunGirl]

RLY, I'm sad that the mirror wasn't as important as I thought. I liked how they did Kreacher, and I'm also sad at the no St. Mungo's - especially if they could have fit Lockhart in there, which was hilarious.

I heard that the reason they did the lame "coal-face" Sirius in GOF was because they couldn't afford Gary Oldman for just that one scene, so I doubt Lockhart would have been feasible either, though. Oh well.

-K

[grapedog]

finally saw the movie yesterday, I thought it was a really good adaptation of the book. I thought the "sirius" scene would unfold a little differently, but overall I really enjoyed it.

As someone else mentioned I would have loved to have seen more Tonks and Draco for sure...and more Percy as well, though he got a bit more screen time this movie than I think in either of the last two movies.

I thought it was odd with Draco having a much bigger role in the Half Blood Prince that he didn't really get much face time in this movie. I definately could have sat through another 20 minutes of screen time to get Tonks and Draco a little more time. Tonks is a fun character, but I wonder if they are going to play up the whole Tonks and ..... character thing since they didn't really touch on it in this one.

Also, didn't Ginny have a slightly bigger role in the book than she did in this movie...shes going to come out of no where in the next movie I think.

[TheEschaton]

I had problems with Sirius's death scene. In the movie, he actually dies of the AK, an then falls through the curtain, in the book, he's stunned, and falls through the curtain, and there's some question (in Harry's mind, and thus ours) of whether he's actually dead.

-TheE-

[grapedog]

I had problems with Sirius's death scene. In the movie, he actually dies of the AK, an then falls through the curtain, in the book, he's stunned, and falls through the curtain, and there's some question (in Harry's mind, and thus ours) of whether he's actually dead.

-TheE-

yeah, i always had the impression of him being propelled into the arch with a bit more force...i knew what was happening from reading the book, but it was definitely much more...open for interpretation, from the movie standpoint. The kind of gentle fade out was probably the only part I didn't really like.

Also, my girlfriend said she was talking with some friends at work...they said that the last half hour, at an IMAX theater, was just awe inspiring.

[Sean of the Thread]

FOR FUCKS SAKE SPOILERS.

[SpunGirl]

I saw it at the Imax at the Palms, the 3D bit was WOW. Thought it was funny, because a little "glasses" thing flashes at the bottom of the screen when you're supposed to put them on, and someone behind us was like, "wtf we weren't supposed to be wearing them the whole time?" and I was like HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh, PS, I was also annoyed that the movie didn't elaborate on the fact that Dumbledore basically hired Trelawney because of the prophecy she made about Harry.

-K

[thefarmer]

I really wish Alfonso Cuaron had continued directing the movies. I would have liked to see his take on this one and the one prior. I've enjoyed his direction the best. I also wish the used the same sets too.

[Khariz]

I really wish Alfonso Cuaron had continued directing the movies. I would have liked to see his take on this one and the one prior. I've enjoyed his direction the best. I also wish the used the same sets too.

Totally agree. Was just saying that to my friend last night.

[thefarmer]

I think Columbus did a good job for the first two by following as much of the (albeit much thinner) books to the letter, but I think he set some bad precedent that thankfully the rest didn't follow.

Cuaron actually gave the characters some much needed depth and the storyline more meat and greater tension. Which ultimately resulted in a much better ending... Even though that face on Harry in the final scene looks straight out of a bad trip.