I really pity all the losers who wanted to see Watson's boobs and downloaded one of the god-awful pirate versions.
On a similar note, I'm off to the movies...

 

Deltora Quest is awesome. Just saying.

 

It was my first chapter book series that I consciously remember. I'm like 90% certain I'd read a few before them, but I remember HP because my mom made me read it. My principal told her that I needed to start reading more after I took some standardized test.

It took me a while to realize that she'd bought the second book.

 

Dude, my first chaptered book series was the Hardy Boys.

I still have like the first six books in the series.

 

Man, my first chaptered series? I really can't remember. Could have been the Borrowers, could have been Redwall. The first one I read on my own, however, was the Foundation series by Asimov. Seriously great films. As I've been fucking around with weird crossovers lately, I'd been thinking about doing an HP/Foundation one. Just can't quite make it work in my head yet.

 

I'm pretty sure that my first chaptered series was Narnia or the Northern Lights et al. (when I was eight or nine). Although, I was forced to read Oliver Twist by my mum when I was seven or something like that (I think she read some of it to me and then made me finish off the rest)... I still harbour a resentment of classics to this day.

EDIT: Back on topic, I went to see it on the Friday with a friend. I put a scar on my face and wore some glasses but didn't have the balls to put on the robes which I had from a fancy dress party where I went as Draco Malfoy... They were Slytherin ones anyway.

 

First book series? Hardy Boys- (I still have the hardbound copies of a few), and I also read my sister's Nancy Drew collection.

Then there's this books series that was really popular in grade school by the author R. L. Stine called goosebumps.

 

First book series was...one of Enid Blyton's. Famous Five, Secret Seven, that kind of thing /British stereotype.
Either that or the Superfudge books.

 

Famous Five for me too. Also, should this be in a separate thread or something?

OT: Not really planning to see the movies (haven't watched any since PoA) but I have a couple of friends who are pretty interested. Depending on my plans for the summer, I might watch the last film with my family, or get in on a US DLP meetup in Chicago or something.

 

The first book I ever remember reading was Tolkien's The Hobbit, when I was six. I don't recall ever reading a non-chaptered book, come to think of it. Unless The Hungry Caterpillar counts?

On topic: I didn't watch the trailers beforehand so as not to spoil anything for myself (that and laziness, to be honest), so I didn't know what to expect from the movie when I watched it. Overall I'd say it was pretty good - it had some uber-awkward scenes, such as Harry trying to cheer Hermione up, which was hilarious because I got to watch Taure cringe at them.

The tale of three brothers was a decent insertion, but a predictable way to go about telling the story IMHO. I noticed that Harry was as useless as ever in the films - most useful thing he did was cast a patronus - which was irritating as ever, particularly as the magic looked great in the film; I would have liked to see more action, but I suppose it didn't feel too lacking, overall.

 

Oh, I remember Goosebumps. The ones about the slime that eats people, and the one where you take someone's photo and they die, and the one where some dead kid lived in a school locker, and the one where some kid learns to fly.

There was even a create-your-own-adventure book. Good times.

 

Goosebumps and Deltora Quest were my introduction into the literary world. Used to have ~30 of the Goosebumps books, but they were discarded to charity at some point. Loved most of them at the time, especially the choose your own adventure ones. I saw a HP fic like that recently, though I can't remember where.

I still have DQ though. Took a look at them earlier this year and found them startlingly simple writing. However, I gather that is due to the target audience being <14. Anyone seen the anime? It's surprisingly accurate to the books from the two full episodes and a couple bits from others I've seen, though the voices bug me.

I didn't even know about the Harry Potter craze until I was in year six (2001) when the first movie came out. My end of year play was Philosopher's Stone: The Musical, featuring the strikingly original "Harry Potter, Can He Fix It?" song. For those who don't immediately get the reference, it was essentially Bob the Builder with Harry Potter themed lyrics. I'm cringing at the memory.

As for DH, seeing it as soon as my exams are over late next week. Although I've been disappointed in the movies since the 3rd, I'm looking forward to this - almost unanimous praise, even from fellow skeptics.

EDIT: Evil post. 666.

 

So went to see it with the girlfriend and I loved it, most of the movies were fairly meh for me but this was the first one that I just honest to god enjoyed for a whole lot of reasons.

Bellatrix who is one of my favorite characters was finally portrayed the way she ought to have been from the start when she completely dismantled the Snatchers like taking candy from retarded babies.

Dobby was a fucking boss, I mean there's just no other way to put it, he was a fucking boss. Every scene he appeared instantly went from meh to hilarious/epic the second he showed up. Him just taking apart everyone in the Malfoy manor is easily in my top three favorite scenes in the entirety of the movies so far and his death scene was just fucking depressing, one of the few moments in a movie in years that honest to god just bummed me out. I will always love his lines though 'Dobby did not mean to kill, Dobby merely meant to main or seriously injure."

I thanked god at the near total lack of Ginny besides a handful of scenes I had to pretend didn't happen.

I've never been a Harry/Hermione fan before now but I have to be honest that dance scene actually honestly sold me on it and I freely admit to looking for some decent Harry/Hermione fics. The whole scene was cute and just endearing overall, a nice little glimmer of light in a whole hell of a lot of angst. Also Emma was very damn nice in the naked make out scene with the Horcrux.

The Ministry overall was extremely well done, I loved the overall Soviet/Nazi propaganda machine feel they created and the statue was an extremely nice touch that just completed the overall feeling. Also was it just me or when Harry was walking around in the Ministry did anyone else kind of expect some Looney Tunes esque music to be going in the background?

I'm a huge scenery geek so I absolutely loved stuff like that snowy forest they landed in, it was an absolutely gorgeous background that just freaking worked.

I loved the Horcrux scene when they opened the Locket, it was extremely well done and genuinely scary. I had not been expecting it at all but they pulled off a miracle in my opinion and actually made it creepy/scary.

As others have stated the Three Brothers tale was epic and one of the best pieces of the film.

I might think of more later but to sum it up 5/5 and the critics can go fuck themselves.

 

Well, I just got back from seeing the movie with a few friends, and I had the wonderful experience of having five H/G fangirls right behind me for the entire fucking movie. Joy.

That said, this book felt very much like DH - and everything that went with it. Keep in mind that I considered DH the worst of the books, so my expectations were pretty low - and they stayed low, and they were met. Spoilers in tags below:

Spoiler

Some scenes were excellent. The opening scene before the title shot was great for setting the mood of the film, the scene at Malfoy Manor was well-done, and I liked the scene at Privet Drive. Mundungus looked NOTHING like what I thought he would look like.

The Ministry was superbly done, and I really enjoyed that whole fight. And whichever actor they got to play Yaxley was a fucking BADASS. Awesome by every stretch of the word.

Maybe it was just me, but while the Three Brothers' shadow play was great, I really didn't like the casting for Xenophilius Lovegood. He looked like a crazier Lucius Malfoy (and props go to Jason Issacs for one hell of a performance (and massive lulz at when Voldemort takes Lucius' wand - that was fucking hilarious)).

And the Horcrux destruction scene was fucking great - it's clear that Rupert Grint is the best actor in the damn trio, and they really amped that shit up (although whenever Radcliffe makes out with somebody it looks like he's mimicking a molesting goldfish).

That said, every problem DH had, this movie has in spades, and a few other problems as well. The chase scene with the seven Potters kind of sucked - I expected more, namely that scene being awesome and actually sticking to canon (although I will give the actor who played Lupin some props for pulling off Lupin's best scene and then give Yates props for completely eradicating that idiotic scene with Lupin in Grimmauld Place).

There were a few other 'deviations' from canon that pissed me off: the damn waitress in the cafe with earbuds (DH took place in 97-98, that's blatantly stupid), Harry's lack of a disguise in Godric's Hallow, the unnecessary and stupid overuse of Dobby, the complete omission of Regulus Black's story, the lack of bikini pictures on Sirius' walls, no letter from Lily found in Sirius' room, the general conditions of the later scenes in Malfoy Manor (namely Pettigrew didn't die, Greyback didn't try to molest Hermione (although Bellatrix did - a little disappointed with the 'torture', though, they really could have gone balls out with that and they didn't), and the fight was so choppy with none of the fast pace/panic the fight in the books had), and some genuinely stupid moments (watch the damn movie, you'll understand). I found myself laughing far more than I should have in that movie, and that disturbs me a bit - namely because I shouldn't have been laughing at some of these scenes. It just undercut all of the emotional depth that many scenes were supposed to have. And what was with the gratuitous slow-motion all over the place? Totally killed the pacing of the action scenes, that's for damn sure.

And what about subplots? Let's talk about everything was cut out, hopefully for the next film: anything of substance behind Dumbledore's subplot, anything to do with Tonks/Lupin, the goblins and Ted Tonks didn't a mention, Potterwatch was gone, Regulus' entire subplot (for as much as this movie likes flashbacks, THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT ONE), and the Taboo wasn't mentioned once.

But really, my biggest complaints remains about the camping scenes, which I hated in the books and I still hated here. Granted, they were very well photographed with a good score and great scenery, but they still dragged on WAY too long (hell, I wanted a scene with Luna, Ginny, and Neville breaking into Snape's office to steal the sword, but NO, we didn't GET that one).

And let me say this: I think this movie was designed to piss off shippers on both sides. For Harmonians, they got to see their main character have long periods alone with Harry (although they wisely chose not to have Harry and Hermione sleep in the same bed together, which, if I remember correctly, was canon), including an incredibly bizarre and utterly out-of-place 'dancing scene', and then the Horcrux memory have Harry and Hermione make out topless - and then come to the stark realization that canon's not changing, and Ron/Hermione is still a reality.

And the H/G shippers... well, from the swearing and 'That's so WRONG!' coming from the H/G shippers behind me, I wager they didn't take the Harry/Hermione topless scene particularly well, or any of the ridiculous attempts Yates made to improve H/Hr chemistry.

On a side note, I'm more than a little irked this movie only has a PG rating - or if it has a PG-13 rating, it doesn't aim to push it. There IS blood, but not nearly enough. I wish there was more dramatic tension, but most scenes didn't have any oomph whatsoever, and I think more violence/disturbing content could have improved that (and no, Nagini's scenes weren't enough). Seriously, I kept imagining this movie with a R rating and I came to the realization that in the hands of the right direction, it would be fucking great. Sure, it might be a bit longer, but why the hell are people so fucking scared of a three-hour movie anyways? And maybe it was just me, but the editing in this movie felt really choppy and rushed, particularly in the action/chase sequences. I still don't think Yates is the best director for this material by a longshot, but I'll wait and see how DH Part 2 turns out before I drop my verdict.

But really, my biggest problem is a simple question: now what? The movie ends well, to be sure, but I really can't see there being enough plot left in DH for another 150 minute movie. Unless they go balls-out and make the Battle of Hogwarts this big epic siege (which, I would remark, has potential to be AWESOME) where all the deaths, on-screen and off, are given screen time, I don't think there's there's enough material, at least the way Yates cuts a filrm, because you just know he's not going to go into huge detail about Snape's backstory - that flashback didn't work well in its placement in the books, let alone the fucking movie.

So yeah, massive doubts about how good DH Part 2 is going to be, and I have no idea how they're going to pull it off. But as for this one... meh, it was okay. Not great, and frankly, if the details had been observed, it could have been a hell of a lot better. 3/5

 

Silens: Yes, you're right on most every count, except for the fact that it didn't suck.

It had problems, most of which you've covered well enough, but through that the movie held together. It had just enough tension to work, and though it would have been excellent if it was darker, the change was still enough to be obvious and impacting. I really saw the difference in tone from HBP to DH.

They get some wrong, but they got enough right to make it a good movie, I'll give it 4/5.

And of course they're going to go balls out at Hogwarts. How can they not? Its the goddamn climax of eight movies and ten years worth of waiting. It has to be epic. And they'll still put in the Snape flashbacks, even if only to have more of Alan Rickman in the damn thing.

You say there wasn't enough attention to detail, and I think thats what they'll try to fix in Part II. They have the space to really be exact there, and hopefully they'll use it.

And Yaxley was so boss I was rooting for him the whole time he was on screen. Him and his little ponytail. In fact, that sequence may have been my favorite simply because of his awesomeness.

 

Wrong. I watched HBP hours before watching DH Part 1, and while there was a tonal shift, it didn't get 'darker'. It got more depressing/miserable, which I approved of, but most of the movie still felt too (un)intentionally stupid, used for cheap laughs that really clashed with the movie's tone. And the way the movie was edited did nothing to help it. The emotional gravitas I was expecting and desperately hoping for wasn't there and that's a real problem, and that's a problem of editing in this case. And the Malfoy manor scene was the biggest culprit of that. The scene felt stiff, sloppily edited, and overall kind of shitty. That scene is supposed to be dramatic, fast-paced, with quick cutting and a lot of high-intensity combat - and it was the stiffest, most unnatural, slow-motion-rife scene in the entire bloody movie.

And here is a problem I've had with all of Yates' HP films thus far: he doesn't push his actors to get angry. The scene with Snape at the end of HBP is a scene where Snape rages, and I was really pissed when that didn't happen, particularly when Rickman is a good enough actor to pull off truly enraged. Sure, we have some scenes where characters get pissed, but that's better acting, not encouragement from the director. So yeah, when episodes of Glee have better 'rage-performances' than the dark action-packed Harry Potter movies, I get a little peeved.

Doubtful. In all due honesty, it's the little things that were missing in DH, things that would have taken seconds in the script or even less time in the set design. It's not hard to slather pictures of bikini chicks and motorcycles on the hideous wallpaper of Sirius' room. It's not hard for a thirty second scene featuring a brawl with Wormtail that has his hand turn on himself and strangle himself to death, thus tying off that canon angle that everyone ignored. Yet we don't see these, and it really aggravates me. Instead we get minutes of otherwise pointless footage that could have been used to show something more, and that annoyed me - and Yates has a bad habit of doing this in all of his HP films.

So I wish I could have high hopes for Deathly Hallows Part 2, but seeing how much Yates disappointed me here, I really don't have high expectations.

 

I didn't see the movie and will not before part 2 is out, but I have one question - since from what you wrote it seems that Wormtail is still alive, is it the same with Moody and Hedwig?

I'm curious how many deaths they will show or even mention in the second part, because DH has quite a big list of killed characters.

 

Spoiler

No.

filler

 

Saw it yesterday. Overall, I think it's good - I don't think I like it more than the PoA movie, but it still ranks in my top 3 of Potter movies, and possibly top 2.

As for the problems? The missing bits have already been covered with varying levels of eloquence by the other posters in the thread. As Silens said, a few of them would not have required much additional screen time to show, so that's disappointing. Though on the other hand, adding more details like that might have just increased the confusion of non-HP readers, and as a filmmaker you have to balance the wishes of the book reading audience with the non-reader audience. Even so, I agree more with Silens and co. than not.

But yet again, I get to wondering how the movie could have been if they showed some of the stuff that was happening at Hogwarts. The assholes had enough cheek to tease me with the concept: that train scene where we get just a hint of students acting uppity. ("Hey, idiot! He's not here...") The actor playing Neville was capable of carrying a greater load, IMO.

As it is, the camping scenes dragged a bit in the movie, just as they did in the book. All of that would have been more tolerable if the camping was interspersed with some short scenes of Hogwarts students stirring up trouble. This is a double bonus, in fact, as it also means that you get to give Snape more screen time.

In exchange, they would have had to split the movies up at an earlier point than they did. Malfoy Manor and so forth would have had to be moved to DH2. But DH2 has a lot of free space in it anyway - they're going to really have to stretch some things out in order to make a full length movie out of it.