Excepting Professor Slughorn, who was very funny, I found the new film really dull. I'd like these Harry Potter stories to be exciting, free wheeling and challenging but rather find them to be parochial wish-fulfillment. The Half Blood Prince is disturbingly business like as it mechanically judders towards the next installment. A cosy day-dream reminiscent of Richard Curtis, including awkward but self-congratulatory English romance, pervasive nostalgia and bourgeois spite.

Eh?

It is for kids, dude. We all should remember that. Twilight is far more boring parochial and fulfilmenty.

Agreed. He is superb.

This was the first of the films where I really saw what others do in Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. It wasn't as if I thought he was bad before, just that he had so little to do (and his accent did occasionally veer into the realms of the ludicrous, particularly in Goblet of Fire). This time around he really amazed me.

Aye - the accent comes and goes. He makes up for it, though.

First Deathly Hallows teaser trailer and a quick look behind the scenes.

May contain spoilers.
http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/3834710/dh_preview_one.swf

The bit where Ron is looking round the corner of the building, I was stood about ten feet behind the camera watching it on the Video rig!

I;m really looking forward to it - I watched the last one again on the plane and it was as good as I remembered.

I saw the bits being filmed on Shaftesbury Avenue, I was on a 38 bus as they were filming the trio walking up the street on the other side of the road.

Trailer for The Deathly Hallows

As against the idea of splitting the book in half as I am, I have to admit that the trailer suggests they've delivered the goods. It certainly looks like they've given it the scale and grandeur the book deserves, even if the first film will probably consist mostly of desultory walking around and moping.

That does look great.

I've tried to not get overexcited about this, and I've failed.

OMGWTFBBQ!

Snap! I so can't wait!

It looks fab. I can't wait either. November is too far.

Sad to see no Mr Lovegood in the trailer but good to see the noseless Fiennester is still TEH SEX.

It looks very good, though I'm rather annoyed they didn't make a trailer solely for the first part - half of that stuff we're not going to get to see for another year.

I went to a Harry Potter party this week...

Amazing.

I'd be Rita Skeeter.

Brilliant!

Best costume ever.

If I was at that party, I'd have been Luna Lovegood.

The best costumes there, I think, where Moaning Myrtle and Professor Trelawney - both scarily accurate.

Both very good ones to do. The latter is v' easy.

Any Voldemorts? Though I imagine that one's quite difficult when it comes to the nose...

There was a Quirrell, which is half way there.

Harry Potter 7a - a review

I really liked the film. Will spoilerize.

Pros:
- Better acting from the or rather - young adults (which makes me think of this sorry). Much better. Okay the twins are still a bit shit but the overall vibe has improved. Emma is better 10 fold.
- Structure. Much camping - granted. Too much - perhaps? But the dynamic between the 3 leads is essential. I think it worked well.
- Extra flourishes from Heyman (who went to my college!) like Hermione's parents, sexy Voldemorte visions and dancing in tents.
- Cut out the extra fat from JK. All the other characters back stories that are great in the book but cluttered onscreen.
- A beautiful beautiful animation sequence about the Deathly Hallowes.
- The Death Eaters are chilling and suave and believable. Convicingly Nazi in their 'purity' quest. Mudblood in German is Schlammblutter BTW.
- Excellent action sequences like Godric's Hollow and the Ministry.
- Cast are all superb - new additions like Peter Mullan as badass Yaxley and pikey Nick Moran all fitting in well. Rhys Ifans is perfect as Luna's dad.
- Old favourites are welcome back - Dobby and Voldie in particular. Luna did more with her 5 lines than anyone. I love that girl's voice.
- A bit more sex but not too much. Just enough.


Cons:
- The washed out look is good at times - but too washed out? At Malfoy Towers - I found it hard to see clearly enough.
- Too much camping. A valid assertion. I would gladly have more Luna (she is still my favourite female character in the whole thing) or other characters I like than more fighting in tents.
- The plotline with Gellert and the wand was clear enough but could have been clearer.
- Too many characters perhaps. I know they have such a high calibre cast and it is hard to fit everyone in.
- It was long. The middle sagged a bit. But that is also the problems with the book.
- Does Warwick Davis have to play so many characters? Other actors are available.

How many characters does Willow play?

That was absolutely excellent.

Oh and my review: Needed moar Snape. Not looking forward to Part II

He is playing Flitwick and the goblin Griphook. And I'm sure he has played others too. He is good but it seems curious that he is doing them all.

Christ I didnt realise he was that little Ewok in Star Wars. I thought he was too young for it.

NO WAY! Wicket? I had a doll of that character.

Yeah Wicket. I would never have called that. Wickets full name is Wicket Wystri Warrick which made me smile. He mustve been like 13 at the time

Bechawawa.

Nub-nub!

I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't seen the new film (not including people who don't want to see it). Sad times.

No, I haven't seen it either. I can't afford to go to the cinema.

Also sad times.

It's lack of time and someone to go with that's causing the problem here...

It was the HP film I've been the most impressed with- and my boyfriend, who has never read the books, really enjoyed it too


I was crying within five minutes of the beginning when Hermione wiped her parents' memories, but I'm a bit of a softie so that's probably why.

I hope that the second part is as good. And I'm glad that it wasn't as bad as Prisoner of Azkaban, my favourite book but I really disliked the film

Why didn't you like Azkaban? I'm just curious because it's my favourite of the films and I'm always interested in hearing why people don't like it.

^ Despite Alfonso Cuarón's excellent direction, I didn't like Azkaban the first time around either because they really mangled the detail of the plot (they don't properly explain who Padfoot, Prongs et al are, for example, so you never get the link to know that it was James and Sirius etc who created the Marauders’ Map). Azkaban was a lot more complex than the first two books, and I think they fell down a bit in transferring that complexity to the big screen. I saw it again over Christmas and enjoyed it, but it's been a while since I last read the book so I wasn't annoyed as much by the missing content (which I've since forgotten!).

I'd still say The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix are the best films, the first because it is a good ole romp and the second because it trims out all the guff from the book.

I've not yet seen the first part of The Deathly Hallows, but I'm looking forward to seeing Dobby die!

The thing with Azkaban is that it's my favourite book. I wanted it to be amazing. I think my expectations were too high, especially after Chamber of Secrets, which is my least favourite book, but I really liked the film. Not really keen on Order of the Phoenix either, filmwise, but that was because I thought that they kinda mangled the script. Imelda Staunton was amazing though.
OK, perhaps me saying I disliked PoA was a bit harsh, but it is my least favourite.

I think it is the poorest adaptation, if you ignore the fact that none of the kids can act in the first film!

Yeah, but they were babies...I suppose we can ignore that
But the saccharine "I'm not going home...not really" cannot be forgiven in my mind

Order of the Phoenix was mind numbingly boring though. Awful film to watch

I didn't think so, but possibly that was due to relief that they had cut out large waffley chunks of the book!

New Ben and Jerry's flavour?

I'd agree that Azkaban is probably the least faithful adaptation, but that's part of its charm for me since it works as a completely separate work in a way that most of the other books don't. (This has become increasingly true as the series has progressed, I feel.)

For me, Goblet of Fire is the worst of the films for the opposite reason; in trying to fit too much of the book into the film they wound up making something that I find lumpy and unsatisfying. The final twenty minutes or so are particularly bad, since they mangle one of the most important events in the whole series and turn it into an uninteresting, rushed and dull.

Order of the Phoenix I like, but the action climax is poorly handled.

Also, no fucking Sphinx which is the one detail of the book I could remember when I saw it in the cinema.

The last eight words of this sentence are particularly bad, since they mangle one of the most important points of the whole post and make it feel rushed and incomplete.

First snippets of Deathly Hallows pt2.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/at-the-...ows-part-2.html

I really wish they hadn't bothered with the 3D though.

First Trailer for Part 2!

Looks bloody good to me!

Saw it yesterday and I'm really excited for this, can't wait to see how they end it all on film and for the battle.

I watched the first part last week and was pleasantly surprised. I felt the first half of the book dragged terribly in places, but they managed to keep the pace going in the film and I didn't find myself looking at the clock (except to try and work out where the break in the story would be).

I would have preferred to have all of it in the one film, but I'm looking forward to seeing this (though hopefully in 2D or I'll be waiting until the DVD comes out).

This wasn't filmed in 3D, was it?