Harry Potter SPOILERS

[piqaboo]

AndyW, happy birthday!

How many movies have there been total, including this one? :confused:
Our local rental place only has two. I thought this new release was the 4th one, but cant keep track of the names....

BTW - Beemer is more beautiful than Fawkes, but he doesnt cry as well or as usefully!

[Schmeelkie]

This is the fourth movie. First is 'Sorcerer's Stone', blanking on the second, third is 'Prisoner of Azkaban'. I haven't seen the third yet and have 200 pages to go in the fourth book (I didn't look at the spoilers here...). Don't get out to the movies much, so figure this one will have to be on DVD unless I can rent the third and watch it soon... even if I do, babysitting possibilities often dry up in the holiday season... oh, well.

Jane - glad to hear it's good. Our paper gave it a 10!

[OperaTenor]

The second one is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Just saw it for the first time.

I haven't read the books(Piq has, and has advised me on them), and have now only seen the first two movies. Both have left me disappointed because the characters, Harry in particular, do the dumbest things, like not asking for help when it's offered, especially when he really needed it from that particular person. Another example: They have their broomstick riding ball game, and when the bad guy team flagrantly breaks the rules and endangers the other team, as well as the spectators, the faculty just sits there and doesn;t stop the game.It's kind of like the B horror movies where the pretty young girl nervously walks down the dark hallway for no reason, looking behind her instead of where she's going as she approaches the corner the monster's hiding around.

Piq says the books are similarly confounding.

Okay, my two cents. I'll now shut up and let you all enjoy the subject.

[piqaboo]

Does anyone know if "Prisoner" is out on DVD yet?

[treebeau]

Does anyone know how to Google?

Regards,
Tim :p B.

[Shapley]

Is Google a verb?

[Jane]

Piq- "Prisoner" IS out on DVD! Yay!

Shapley = Apparently it is now. I am Googling. He\she\it Googles. They Googled. Let see how long it takes to get into a dictionary.

[Jane]

Go figure...It's already in some dictionaries:


Main Entry: google1
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: to search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine
Example: She googled her high school boyfriends.
Etymology: trademark Google
Usage: googling n
~~~

google2
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: to search for information on the Internet, esp. using the Google search engine
Example: We googled to find the definition of the new word.
Etymology: trademark Google
Usage: googling n
~~~

[Jane]

Sorry, it's me again...

One thing that I like about the Harry Potter books, is the growth that Harry goes through. In the first one he acts like a 11 year old, and makes some very stupid mistakes. In the 6th book he acts more like a 16-year old. As the books progress, he seems to learn and grow up. Yes, he still makes some stupid decisions (don't we all,) but he also makes some wise ones based on his past experiences. It's better than some series, where the characters are always the same, and seem go on the same adventure over and over with slightly different details.

As much as I enjoy the movies, I personally like the books more because they are filled with details, and humor, and insights that you just can't get in a movie. I like the movies because they give me a visual idea to work with while I'm reading the books.

[Andy Warton]

I can't remember whether it was on this topic or somewhere else, but someone asked if the new HP movie was any good. I went to see it last Sunday, and I liked it. They missed a fair bit out, though, and that got on my nerves (although, admittedly, it was already 2hrs 15 minutes long). What I and some of my friends commented on was the campness of Lord Voldemort. It wasn't so much "I am going to kill you, Harry, and I'm going to enjoy it," as "I am going to kill you, Harry - and it's going to be absolutely scrumptious!!! But, overall, it was very good. I'd definitely recommend it.

And Jane, I totally agree with your idea. I enjoy the HP films more because I like to see how someone else pictured what I pictured. Although I do think that a good director can bring across the spirit of the story, if not the words in the book.

[Jane]

That's true Andy. There are definitely some directors who are absolutely brilliant in capturing the feel and spirit a story in film. To them I say Bravo! I doubt if I could do it.

I think that the directors who worked on the Harry Potter films all did well in their work on the films, especially since it is such a popular series, they had a lot of pressure to do the films "right."

[Shapley]

I enjoyed the movie, but overall I didn't think it was as well done as the last three.

I thought Dumbledore was out of character when he slammed Harry against the trophy case demanding to know if he entered his name in the Goblet of Fire (although, I don't recall how he reacted in the book, so I could be mistaken). I don't think that Michael Gambon has lived up to the standards set by Richard Harris for the Dumbledore's character.

The movie needed to be longer. There is too much information packed into it, it's like speed-reading the book. The Dursley's, which always set the tone for the books, are completely missing. Several characters had to be left out due to the pace of the film. It was like a bad cut-and-paste job of putting the action scenes into the film, and leaving out the heart of the story.

I didn't like Mad-Eye Moody's character. I guess he just didnt' look or act like I expected. I'm sure the scene with him enjoying performing the crucio curse on the spider was meant as a tip-off to the unsuspecting viewer that he wasn't who he was supposed to be, but I thought it also out of character. Barty Crouch didn't make mistakes like that in the book.

I didn't think the music was up to par. I know a lot of people here don't like John Williams, but I thought his music for the previous movies far outshone the music in this one. I don't think there was anything memorable about it.

Otherwise, they did a fair job of compacting a long book into a short movie. I just think they should have shook off the time restraints and stuck a little closer to the book.

V/R
Shapley

[Schmeelkie]

Well I finally got around to reading the Half-Blood Prince! (still haven't seen Goblet of Fire - it's on our netflix list...)

I smacked myself on the head when Snape said he was the Half-Blood Prince. Don't know how I missed that one. So happy when Harry and Ginny got together - she took the break-up pretty well - I think she knows that he'll need her eventually and she'll get a second chance. Glad Ron and Hermionie stopped hating each other - hoping for a dramatic scene in which they first kiss in book 7 - like one is almost killed and the other goes to the rescue.... I was almost surprised it didn't happen in this book, but I guess JKR has to save something for the finale.

So, will Fleur change her last name to Weasley? or Delacour-Weasley?

At first I figured that since JKR had us suspecting the worst of Snape in every other book, then he turned out not to be the bad guy that she was letting him finally be the bad guy. But now, I agree with the theory of Dumby putting him up to killing him to keep him an insider in LV's circle. Don't know if Dumby is really dead - but what a shock!

My theories:
1-Neville will make a big difference at some point - getting Bellatrix or solving some problem the others can't figure out. Love how he's gone from the butt of jokes to a serious kid just trying to help out however he can.
2 - Draco will also figure in helping Harry get Voldemort - he'll think he's helping himself, but it will help Harry.
3- the gang will go back to Hogwarts, at least for a time - I'd guess the final showdown will be there.

Well, I've enjoyed finally being able to read this thread!!

[Shapley]

Rowling mum on who gets killed off in Harry Potter #7

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I rather expect an operatic body count. The story started with a neglected orphan, proceeded through a resurgent villain and his hidden henchmen, with equally hidden Good Guys and a clueless Ministry of Magic. We've already killed off Sirius Black, and (maybe) Dumbledore, Neville's and Harry's parents are casualties of the last war with You Know Who...

I figure either Harry or Neville has to die heroically at the end of the last novel and I still haven't figured out whether Dumbledore is really dead and if Snape is really a villain or not.

[Shapley]

She has stated that she understands why some authors kill off the main character, not wanting them resurfacing in third-party spin-off books. This may be a teaser, or it may be setting us up for Harry's demise. She's being very clever about it, as she has been throughout the whole series. She's a true marketing whiz.

[Shapley]

Authors Plead for Harry Potter's Life

Now, how would Stephen King like it if J.K. Rowling was telling him how to write his books?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

"Spare Harry" indeed. Hello, earth to idiots - IT'S FICTION!!!
Nitwits needing to perform social service could take an AIDS comfort care and hospital helper course, do volunteer work any number of places on a wide selection of continents. Sheesh!

[Schmeelkie]

I agree with Rowling - it's a cruel literary world. Deaths of favored characters will prepare kids for King and Irving, but also Shakespeare and almost any great author of drama that you can name.

I have been known to cry when a character dies in a book. To me it's a mark of a good book that I became that invested in a character that it affects me enough to cry. I was a mess at the end of Half-Blood Prince and have been known to cry or yell at Guy Gavriel Kay books (not the last one though).

I had my step-mom-in-law tell me that she didn't buy any Thomas the Tank Engine videos for her other grandson because the trains were often mean and rude to each other and that this would make kids model this behavior. I bit my tongue - I think kids need to see that not everyone gets along all the time and that the best thing to do is to figure out a way to work out your problems - which the Thomas videos tend to do. You can't protect your kids from reality forever - yes, I'm holding off on more violent stuff (even more Bugs Bunny) until Pumpkin is older, but kids still need to learn that this stuff happens. As long as it's introduced in a supportive manner - I figure when Pumpkin and little sister are old enough we'll read them things like The Hobbit and the first Harry Potter. We can discuss the scary parts, etc. I do the same thing with TV now. Just always want my kids to know that they can ask about anything...

[BigJon@Work]

So, who did die?