Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[cozmeesah]

I wanted to start a new topic on this as opposed to continuing the talk about it in last year's HBP post.

I'm surprised that, over a month since the first trailer was released, no one is talking about it on here yet. As I know there are several Potter fans here.

What are your thoughts on the first trailer for Parts I & II, as well as the first teaser poster released?

For those who haven't seen them:

Trailer: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harry ... lyhallows/

Poster: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harry ... oster1.jpg

[StewieG]

As always, the trailer looks great. They do a great job with those. It looks like they really are trying to do the book justice by fitting everything in there. I'm interested to see how they do certain things that they haven't given any background information on in previous movies though.

And the poster looks great. I can't wait to see the second half of the last movie. Those are the scenes I've been looking forward to for a long time.

[aoxo1]

I say this about many movies nowadays, but Harry Potter would have worked better as a 7 season (1 season = 1 book) series on HBO. Not my idea, although I don't remember where I read it, but damn if it isn't spot on.

Production values on TV are great nowadays, and movies do NOT do justice to novels. Movies are for short stories, miniseries do great with a novel, and a series would be phenomenal for any series of novels.

Still looking forward to it.

[StewieG]

I say this about many movies nowadays, but Harry Potter would have worked better as a 7 season (1 season = 1 book) series on HBO. Not my idea, although I don't remember where I read it, but damn if it isn't spot on.

Production values on TV are great nowadays, and movies do NOT do justice to novels. Movies are for short stories, miniseries do great with a novel, and a series would be phenomenal for any series of novels.

Still looking forward to it.

I can't argue with that. There are many video games that would work much better as a miniseries or TV season than as a movie as well. There's just too much content to fit into 2 or 2.5 hours.

[motherscratcher]

Vampires are gay

[DarNoor]

I saw Inception over the weekend, and the played the Harry Potter trailer. It looks fantastic. I can't wait to see it.

[cozmeesah]

I can't wait to see the second half of the last movie. Those are the scenes I've been looking forward to for a long time.

Me too. Ralph Fiennes & Alan Rickman are amazing so they will make those scenes incredible, and Dan Radcliffe is becoming a great young actor (saw him on Broadway in Equus....fantastic) so the last half of the 2nd film will be incredible, I feel.

I saw Inception twice at two different theatres and didn't get the HP trailer at either one. I was a bit bummed as I wanted to see it on the big screen.

[DarNoor]

I saw Inception on the Imax. So, it may have been just for that. I have to say, it looked spectacular.

[cozmeesah]

EDIT: Nevermind, apparently it's been said that this following description is FAKE.


They had that HP movie marathon in Tokyo yesterday where they played the NEWEST (not yet online or seen anywhere else) Deathly Hallows trailer after GOF was over.

Here is a description from someone whom was there:

http://littleboyblues.tumblr.com/post/9 ... 7/dh-japan

[StewieG]

EW let slip when the split is going to be.

SPOILERS

It's after Chapter 26 (much later than I thought it would be), which is when Voldemort gets the Elder Wand. I thought it would be around the time Malfoy Manor took place.

[cozmeesah]

EW let slip when the split is going to be.

SPOILERS

It's after Chapter 26 (much later than I thought it would be), which is when Voldemort gets the Elder Wand. I thought it would be around the time Malfoy Manor took place.

MORE SPOILERS:

Actually it's Chapter 24, and it pretty much is around the time Malfoy Manor takes place. All that happens in between MM and the split is Dobby's funeral and Harry talking to Griphook about Gringotts and asking Ollivander about the Hallows. During which Voldy is on his way to get the Elder Wand.

There's a test screening of Part I going on in Chicago right now (2:30pm CT) and Mugglenet will be having people send in reviews when it's over.

[Hikohadon]

David Yates blows goats.

I just hope he doesn't screw the pooch too bad. Which is probably too much to hope for.

[cozmeesah]

David Yates blows goats.

I just hope he doesn't screw the pooch too bad. Which is probably too much to hope for.

Actually, they had a test screening in Chicago a couple weeks ago and the consensus was EXTREMELY positive. Pretty much every reviewer I read LOVED the film, even without finished effects or the actual score. They say the pacing was just about perfect, VERY loyal to the book, any changes (were only a few) were upgrades, the action sequences are intense and the acting (especially by the trio) is easily the best of the series. They loved Nighy as Scrimgeour and say Ifans is perfect as Xeno Lovegood.

[Hikohadon]

David Yates blows goats.

I just hope he doesn't screw the pooch too bad. Which is probably too much to hope for.

Actually, they had a test screening in Chicago a couple weeks ago and the consensus was EXTREMELY positive. Pretty much every reviewer I read LOVED the film, even without finished effects or the actual score. They say the pacing was just about perfect, VERY loyal to the book, any changes (were only a few) were upgrades, the action sequences are intense and the acting (especially by the trio) is easily the best of the series. They loved Nighy as Scrimgeour and say Ifans is perfect as Xeno Lovegood.

I heard that too. But I also heard glowing reviews of HP6, then got to the theater and found myself asking "WTF?" about 37 times. So I'm keeping my expectations low.

[StewieG]

I saw it tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a great mix of humor, action, and tragedy. The pacing was very good, and the acting was fantastic, especially Radcliffe. Anyone else see it yet?

[mitch]

Yep, got drug to the midnight showing.

Very impressed. This series started out being all about the hall-of-fame level British actors who carried the early movies while these kids grew up.

This one was different. No one to mentor Harry now, and therefore the movies now hinge totally on the acting ability of Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint.

And the three of them totally kicked ass in this movie. This series is so different from the Chris Columbus films that they started with. It's moved from kiddie films to something that is just as dark and intense as Lord of the Rings.

I know I said last year that it was nearly impossible for me to review HP films since I was such a fan...but I think I'll find a way to put an article together in the next few days.

[Hikohadon]

Saw it, and was very impressed. Yates finally stayed true to the source material (maybe the advantage of splitting the book into 2 movies) and the acting was great.

And Hermione has gotten damn hot.

[StewieG]

I thought everything was a step up in this movie, from the acting to the music. I thought the cinematography was, for the most part, fantastic. I really enjoyed the fact that they were able to explore the characters more in depth in this one. It was certainly more of a character movie, while the last one will be much more of an action film. All in all, I was impressed.

[municipalmutt]

Saw it, and was very impressed. Yates finally stayed true to the source material (maybe the advantage of splitting the book into 2 movies) and the acting was great.

And Hermione has gotten damn hot.

[cozmeesah]

I can't believe I forgot about this post and never said a word about seeing this film. Needless to say I've seen in three times already and loved it each time. #1 in the series for me but, if this film was any indication, DH2 is sure to take that top spot next summer.

I can't believe that this is the same director as OotP and HBP. He grew by leaps and bounds in this one. I thought it was perfect. Sure, the camping scenes drug a tiny bit, but they did in the book so can't do much there.

It seems to be getting incredible WOM among fans, but I'm kind of baffled as to why it looks to not even clear $300 million domestically. HBP made $301 million and the fans were very split on that one.

Mitch, you get around to reviewing this yet? Or will you?

[mitch]

Mitch, you get around to reviewing this yet? Or will you?

Haven't made up my mind yet whether I'll do a full review, or talk about it in a mini-review as part of the Crystal Ball coming out on Friday.

Last year, I did an entire article about how it was nearly impossible for me to do an objective review of Harry Potter movies since I was such a big fan, and that fact is still pretty much true.

I'll sit down for a bit tomorrow and see if I can put something together that I feel will work. If not, it'll be part of Friday's article.

[StewieG]

Great review, Mitch! Agreed with pretty much all of it.

Trying to take the fan in me out of it, and rate it as a movie in its own right, I think 3.5 footballs. Maybe 3, but either way I thought it was very good.

[cozmeesah]

The reviews that Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 is getting are completely INSANE.

96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with 119 fresh and FIVE rotten. With an average rating of 8.4/10. It's still at 100% fresh with Top Critics, 31/0, with an 8.6/10 average.

Two of the rotten are from a husband & wife team on a random Australian web site, and one is from Armond White, troll-critic extraordinaire.

Some RT comparisons for other films:

LORD OF THE RINGS
FOTR: 92%, 8.2/10
TTT: 96%, 8.4/10
ROTK: 94%, 8.6/10

The Dark Knight: 94%, 8.4/10
Inception: 86%, 8/10


87/100 on Metacritic after 34 reviews.


Broadcast Film Critics Association gave it a 95. Their scores for some other films:

The Dark Knight 96
The Social Network 95
LOTR: Return of the King 95
Inception 94
Wall-E 90
Black Swan 89


Sounds like this series is getting a quite proper sendoff. :)

[mitch]

Armond White has got to be the biggest douche in movie critic history.

Hated:
All Harry Potter movies
Toy Story 3 (one of only three critics on RT giving it a "rotten")
The King's Speech
Inception
Inglourious Basterds

Loved:
Your Highness (26%)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (24%)
Clash of the Titans (22%)
Transformers 2 (20%)
Jonah Hex (12%)

SERIOUSLY???? Someone can trash Toy Story and HP but say Jonah Hex is a good movie?

Douche.

Will be watching Harry Potter tomorrow. I'll put my thoughts here later. For those who don't know, I'm currently retired from writing for Swerb. Continued 60+ hour work weeks at my full time job have taken their toll, so I'm stepping away. But Swerb and Peeker have let me know that the door is always open for a return once the time and mood allows.

[jerryroche]

Taking the 11-year-old next-door neighbor kid to see DH2 on Saturday. To bone up, I Blockbustered all the previous movies, one night at a time, and went through them end-to-end.

I had been fairly uninterested in Harry Potter et. al. (even falling asleep halfway through DH1). It was difficult following all the magical lore from movie to movie when they came out one or two years apart. But seeing them in close succession opened my eyes; and now, I'm like a little kid and can't hardly wait till Saturday.

And come back soon, Mitch!!!

[StewieG]

Heh, yeah I was in the same boat as you Jerry. I saw the first four at various points, and just couldn't get into them (mostly because I had forgotten what happened in the previous films). When I saw the 5th one, it convinced me to read the books. It's just such a well-written story, and they can't quite do it justice in the movies. But even so, the movies are really well done. Looks like the last one is going to be something else!

And I don't believe anything Armand White says.

[hiko]

The new movie seems to be doing OK at the box office.

[Orenthal]

Like Stewie I fumbled my way back and forth on the early films. One of my younger brothers had the first book, never opened, kids don't read anything but facebook, and I got hooked. Just can't replace a books detail of information and the flow and development it allows when well written. The movies are a very good effort and stand alone well, but its just nothing compared to the books...

Still gotta do the Tolkien(sp) books. Only read the Hobbit so far/

[StewieG]

Just can't replace a books detail of information and the flow and development it allows when well written. The movies are a very good effort and stand alone well, but its just nothing compared to the books...

Spot on, OJ

[mitch]

Incredible film. Saw it twice over the weekend, taking my daughter the second time (and taking my wife to her first ever 3D viewing...but she had to watch it in 2D first).

They really did this one right. I was a Harry-Cynic early one...the kiddie type first two films just didn't stand up in my mind to the Lord of the Rings films being released at the same time. But the series started to grow on me with the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I've been hooked ever since.

Nothing but the highest kudos for Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint. Amazing that they started out as little kids 10 years ago, and developed into such incredible actors.

[cozmeesah]

Incredible film. Saw it twice over the weekend, taking my daughter the second time (and taking my wife to her first ever 3D viewing...but she had to watch it in 2D first).

They really did this one right. I was a Harry-Cynic early one...the kiddie type first two films just didn't stand up in my mind to the Lord of the Rings films being released at the same time. But the series started to grow on me with the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I've been hooked ever since.

Nothing but the highest kudos for Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint. Amazing that they started out as little kids 10 years ago, and developed into such incredible actors.

I'd like to get the perspective of someone who hasn't read the books yet on this. Some people (not including me, I thought it was wonderful) were expecting more from the Harry/Voldemort battle. What did you think of it?

The first time I saw it was on Thursday night at midnight. Every Potter midnight showing is always eventful and exciting. But this was like no other. We drove up by the theatre at around 8pm, luckily, as we decided to get in line then (4 hours early) and there were still 60-70 people in line in head of us for our showing. It was almost like the film didn't register for us the first time. We got home and felt hollow, almost like it didn't happen, or were in shock almost. :lol:

The 2nd viewing definitely helped it sink in. Alan Rickman was incredible, his memory scenes (called "The Prince's Tale" in the book) were heartbreaking. Ralph Fiennes was finally allowed more room to shine as Voldemort.

Radcliffe was the best he's ever been. You can see in each successive film how he's improved. I imagine his experiences on Broadway greatly helped in that arena. Especially appearing in Equus. I always thought Grint was great in the films, Watson always overacted (IMO) until around the 6th film. But they were all three great in this.

For instance (highlight for spoilers): The wave of emotions in Harry's face after he emerged from the Pensieve, after learning he had to die. He was perfect in that scene. And Hermione as she said goodbye to Harry. Or the shock/sadness on Ron's face.

Once you read the book you'll notice that there's (obviously) a lot more explanation involved, more of Dumbledore's backstory, explanation of the Elder Wand, and some slight differences/additions, but I think they did the absolute best they could possibly do with this film despite a few things being a tiny bit rushed/glazed over.

Definitely seeing it again this weekend.

[motherscratcher]

Like Stewie I fumbled my way back and forth on the early films. One of my younger brothers had the first book, never opened, kids don't read anything but facebook, and I got hooked. Just can't replace a books detail of information and the flow and development it allows when well written. The movies are a very good effort and stand alone well, but its just nothing compared to the books...

Still gotta do the Tolkien(sp) books. Only read the Hobbit so far/

I've only seen parts of the first movie and nothing after. I'm waiting to read the books first. Word on the street is that the series will finally be available on Kindle sometime in October.

With all of the hoopla, I'm really looking forward to it.

[StewieG]

I've only seen parts of the first movie and nothing after. I'm waiting to read the books first. Word on the street is that the series will finally be available on Kindle sometime in October.

With all of the hoopla, I'm really looking forward to it.

While the movies, I feel, are excellent (especially 5, 6, and both parts of 7)...the books are just far superior. That's not a knock on the books, it's praise for her writing...though admittedly the first couple books are "meh" to me. They feel a lot like kids books, where after that I felt they really started to come into their own.

I guess there's some sort of MMO-type game coming out, and the e-books will be sold through that starting in October.

And Coz and Mitch, I echo everything you guys said. Really, really enjoyed this movie. (Fair warning - If you haven't seen the others, definitely watch before seeing this one...it's not a stand-alone movie, and you'll be completely lost). Had a friend who wanted to start with this one to see what all the hype was about. I told him not to waste his money until he saw the rest.

[jerryroche]

Well, guys, DH2 on the big screen was a well-told story and a fitting end to the series. The most fun thing about seeing all seven flicks in the space of a week was watching Harry, Hermione and Weasley grow up in front of my eyes.

I'd give the last installment a B+, which is about three grades higher than anything else I've seen in 2011.

If the movies are true to the books, however, I have a substantial criticism of J.K. Rowling's writing. Throughout the series, the kids were allowed to get out of tough jams with a simple wave of their magic wands. It almost seemed like, most of the time, they didn't even know what kind of magic was coming out of the wand, just that something good would happen. The wands were consistently used as deus ex machina devices -- when having the kids use their brains and cunning to get out of jams would have been much less of a cop-out

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed DH2, especially the excellent acting by everyone from Harry to Slughorn.

[Orenthal]

IMO, the whole story just evolved with their age. At first a kiddie fantasy, then about as dark as a story could get with its beginning (relatively). Really another testament to how well written and thought out the entire story was...

This coming from probably one of the biggest Potter haters until about the 3rd or 4th movie. Course I judged them from pure ignorance. Something I'm apt to do on occasion.

Another thing not as developed in the movie was the interplay between Rufus Scrimgeour and Harry...

[cozmeesah]

Another thing not as developed in the movie was the interplay between Rufus Scrimgeour and Harry...

I know they filmed a lot more of that scene with Scrimgeour and Harry arguing, but in the end they took out a lot of it for the final cut.

[Orenthal]

Selfish Potter should have endorsed the good faith effort of the Ministry...

[hiko]

Finally watched this tonight. Spoilers if you continue:

Really good up until the part where they brought Harry's "dead" body up to Hogwarts. Then they screwed the pooch.

In the book, Voldemort only relaxes his protection around the snake b/c he thinks Harry is dead, and Harry doesn't reveal he's not dead until the snake is toast. Makes sense. In the movie, Harry decides to show he's not dead b/c Neville made a speech? What purpose does that serve? Neville should've chopped the snake then and there.

And now that Voldemort knows Harry is still alive, why isn't he more protective of the snake?

Then the fight between Harry and Voldemort was stupid, and Hermione and Ron cringing from the snake was stupid.

But worst was the final showdown. Who's there to see it? How does anyone know it happens? "Hey guys, I just killed Voldemort!" "Oh, sure you did."

And how does Voldemort die? Harry doesn't rebound his killing curse into him like in the book. No, he just fades away. Did Harry kill him? Maybe he was just tired? Or extremely thirsty? Did he die b/c his last horcrux (the snake) was destroyed? And, if so, isn't that just further reason for Voldemort to have been protective of the damn snake?

And when everyone finds out that Harry kills Voldemort (allegedly), there is a celebration worthy of a nunnery. "Oh, you killed him? Cool. Have you seen my scratch?" Is Ginny happy to see him alive? No, she just gives him a glance like "Oh there you are. Where have you been?"

I'm still gonna say it was good, but the end, the showdown, was a big letdown. If I were making that movie, the crowd of people would surround them, and they'd be circling slowly, drawn out The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style. Frickin' theater should've exploded when Voldemort went toe up (just like the crowd that should've been around them should've done). God damn waste.

You're building the entire series towards that showdown, and then you get meh. I am vexed.

[cozmeesah]

SPOILERS BELOW

And how does Voldemort die? Harry doesn't rebound his killing curse into him like in the book. No, he just fades away.

Yes he does. They do a close up on the Elder Wand and you can see the green light of the AK curse going back through it and into Voldemort.

[hiko]

SPOILERS BELOW

And how does Voldemort die? Harry doesn't rebound his killing curse into him like in the book. No, he just fades away.

Yes he does. They do a close up on the Elder Wand and you can see the green light of the AK curse going back through it and into Voldemort.

I saw that, but the Avada Kadavra curse went back into his wand in Goblet of Fire too, and he never died then. In the book, the curse didn't back up into the wand, it bounced off Harry's curse and hit V in the chest.

You may be right, it was just unclear to me.

[cozmeesah]

SPOILERS BELOW





I saw that, but the Avada Kadavra curse went back into his wand in Goblet of Fire too, and he never died then. In the book, the curse didn't back up into the wand, it bounced off Harry's curse and hit V in the chest.

I'm pretty sure that's why they showed the close up of the Elder Wand cracking earlier. The wand was weakened/brittle and not working for Voldy and the AK curse going against the wand's new master (Harry) was too much for it.