Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

RegularKarate · July 15, 2007, 10:26:08 PM

I can only speak as a big fan of the books, but I loved this movie almost as much as Azkaban. I can TOTALLY understand people who aren't fans not getting into this one... which is definitely a weakness, but I really got into it.

I agree with almost everything SPARR dot O said except about Kloves, who I think was one of the main reasons the first two movies sucked. He wanted to cram every little detail of the books that he could and it hurt the film. I think they did a good job of trimming in this one (though there were some obvious issues)

Quote from: SPARR•O on July 15, 2007, 12:29:06 AM
Apparently, he wanted to exclude a specific character from this movie but Rowling said no because said character would figure heavily in book 7.

No doubt it's Longbottom. I was upset that they cut so much of his story from this... he's going to be a big part of the last book, I can tell.

Tictacbk · July 15, 2007, 10:38:53 PM

Quote from: RegularKarate link=topic=4514.msg246898#msg246898 date=1184556368
quote author=SPARR•O link=topic=4514.msg246861#msg246861 date=1184477346]
Apparently, he wanted to exclude a specific character from this movie but Rowling said no because said character would figure heavily in book 7.

No doubt it's Longbottom. I was upset that they cut so much of his story from this... he's going to be a big part of the last book, I can tell.
[/quote]

I read somewhere that that was the house elf kreacher.

Pubrick · July 15, 2007, 10:56:00 PM

okay now you're just making up words.

ponceludon · July 16, 2007, 01:03:26 AM

I suppose it's difficult to be objective about a movie that's so completely based on a book, but as a long-time appreciator of the series, I have to say that on that basis, there were some huge problems with the movie. It could be nitpicking, but there were some things that were focused far too heavily on to be entertaining at all, and other things, stylistic flourishes, that could have been included to make it a bit more interesting. For one, Neville and the prophesy are really quite important, and that was just completely blown off in favor of spending a million years on the Cho Chang story line, and Grawp, who was just dumb.

I know a lot of kids and parents complained about how sprawling and "long" the previous movies were, but I think that since the Lord of the Rings movies (to which the series cannot help being compared) were each 3ish hours pre-extended editions, it wouldn't have killed anyone to tack an additional 30 minutes to the movie to flesh some people out (coughTONKSSIRIUSDUMBLEDORESNAPEEVERYONEEXCEPTHARRYcough) and to stop monkeying around with the pivotal plot points. Had I not read this book, I would have no effin clue who anyone new was, what anyone was supposed to be doing, and why anything happened.

Furthermore, it was supposed to be this "dark and moody" film that had all the style that the previous one lacked, but black-tiled room does not make a moody film. Lowering the lighting sometimes and having scenes in the forest at night didn't make give this director artistic. I have no idea why they sign on these cheeseball directors. The first scene was kind of cool; it was so contrasty and felt essentially like a sunny day, but then it just turned into blah blah clouds and blah blah dementors (of which they changed the appearance for some unknown reason). And, of course, nobody except the adults can act. Tilda Swinton IS great. The faculty were fabulously cast, but then again, hiring OBE British actors is a pretty safe bet anyway.

pete · July 16, 2007, 01:05:16 AM

dude for some reason I could not comprehend what you've written. this could be on you or on me.

ponceludon · July 16, 2007, 02:09:15 AM

Oops. I meant Imelda Staunton. Also, it's late. Oh well.

72teeth · July 16, 2007, 04:42:02 AM

ilikedthisalot andthoughttheopening wasfantastic...

whew... that felt good to get off my chest...

diggler · July 16, 2007, 01:50:35 PM

I don't understand all the hate either. There were problems sure, but i wasn't forcing myself to enjoy it like i did with spiderman and pirates. Everyone's making this out to be a huge disaster but i enjoyed it quite a bit.

elpablo · July 18, 2007, 11:53:30 PM

I liked the opening because for the first few seconds I didn't realize I was watching a Harry Potter.

I have never read the books, and when we came out of the theater, I had to ask my friends what the Order of the Phoenix was. That's not a good thing.

w/o horse · July 25, 2007, 09:50:31 PM

This was the first movie I saw at the Fox Theater in Westwood and man is that a great big theater.

Alexandro · July 28, 2007, 12:58:49 PM

Quote from: elpablo on July 18, 2007, 11:53:30 PM
I liked the opening because for the first few seconds I didn't realize I was watching a Harry Potter.

I have never read the books, and when we came out of the theater, I had to ask my friends what the Order of the Phoenix was. That's not a good thing.

I agree...Only after a couple of hours did I realize what the Order was...

I guess is no disaster, but it's still pretty bad. The first hour was almost excruciating. I kept checking my watch waiting for SOMETHING to happen.

The kids can act but of course you could act too if you had to get it on with Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis and all those folks. It's a shame Yates is coming back cause the whole thing felt uninspired and by the book.

To this point, I had an impeccable memoir of the Harry Potter movies. Never really saw them more than once, but each time I went to see one I felt that one was the best of the series. Not this time. The prospect of sitting for two more of these makes me quietly groan.

Redlum · August 15, 2007, 12:54:03 PM

Quote from: ddiggler6280 on July 16, 2007, 01:50:35 PM
I don't understand all the hate either. There were problems sure, but i wasn't forcing myself to enjoy it like i did with spiderman and pirates. Everyone's making this out to be a huge disaster but i enjoyed it quite a bit.

I agree, it was nice to leave a film this summer without feeling desperate>conflicted>let-down.

I'm a bit late to watch these last three films as I found the first two to be very uninspiring. However I agree with the general consensus that Azkaban got the films on the right track (whether that was the book or Cuaron I can't say). Order of the Phoenix seems to have recovered a bit from Goblet but hasn't quite recaptured the sense of momentum in Azkaban. Particularly now that the Voldemort stand-offs are starting to feel so purposefully staggered.

I'm hoping to see some more of David Thewlis' character in the final installment. He has been the most interesting secondary charcter and one of a few that doesn't seem as superfluous as the villains in the Star Wars prequels.