Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [with spoilers]

My son is going to be so excited. We missed our town's celebration for the sixth volume (they turned downtown into a temporary Harry Potter themed world, with the bookstore becoming Flourish & Blotts, etc.) We were out of town on vacation and Al3x still complains to me about that. Hopefully we'll be able to go to some cool event that he'll enjoy. And I'll at long last be forgiven!

I am pretty damn excited. And yes, let's skip the spoilers, shall we?

Although I have gone to see the films at midnight I've yet to do so for a book. Will definitely this time.

"OMG YAY!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!!!!" read one excited message from a fan on the site [for those uninitiated in digital shorthand, OMG stands for 'Oh my God.'].

I've already preordered this although I plan on buying it in person too. Btw this, the impending OOTP film and Daniel's lovely pics. . .I'm Harry Potter giddy this week.

What they are as objects are something a wizard/witch can store part of their selves in. They fragment their being and kind of hide it away in something (an object, possibly another person) for safe keeping. It's dangerous and kind of diabolical. Apparently Voldmort is the only wizard who's ever dared fragment himself into so many pieces.

They all must be destroyed to destroy him forever. I can't remember which ones have already been found but I believe the R.A.B. who stole the one at the bottom of the zombie lake will be revealed as Regilus Black, Sirius's brother.

I should probably re-read 6 here soon. Not sure where it ended up after moving though . . .

I'm kind of worried about reading the ending to Alex; 6 has some kind of disturbing moments in it.

Well it was pretty central to OMG SNAPE KILLEDED DUMBLEDORE, but I think a bigger problem is that all the other threads seemed unfinished, as if her editor finally snapped and said that the book had to be smaller than the OED. It's the first book I can think of where the mysteries that fuel the plot aren't really sorted out by the end.

My big worry is that the last book will be very episodic/video gamey. 6/7 is just too big a number of MacGuffins.

Rowling takes her Morrissey fandom TOO FAR.

Harry: "Sing me to sleep..."

A helpline is being set up because (SPOILER ALERT)...

Alright 30 DAYS until the next, and final, book. Who's excited?

I've been re-reading and have one chapter left in Half-Blood Prince. *sigh* I can't believe it's almost here.

23 days actually

Me! I finished reading Half-Blood Prince to my son this spring. FINALLY! We are looking forward to staying up "late" (for a 9 year old), going to one of the parties, and getting the book.

July 21st? My counting is not good.

I do believe I am staying up late for the book. Not so for the movie as I'm old and don't want to be yawning through it.

http://www.spleenville.com/journal/archives/careometer.gif

-- the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, February 1, 2007 10:14 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Link

qft

Obv. you care some since you took the time to find that picture and post it.

We're looking forward to the new movie, too, but definitely won't be staying up late to go the first night or whatever. Alex is worried that it will be "too scary" for him. (xpost)

well you are just the king of cool land for not caring about Harry Potter. I applaud you, sir.

xpost

Yeah some friends are going to see the midnight showing and I thought about it. I'm just not tough enough. I'm usually in bed between 9-10 and I'd like to be able to enjoy it without struggling with fatigue. My biggest problem will be making G. go with me.

harry potter snogging whatserface was the big leader photo in my free paper's entertainment section this morning. Radcliffe has a bit of a schnoz on him, which I now feel like a bastard for pointing out since I just went hunting for a profile shot and discovered his mum's jewish.

That's kind of gross. I'm really good without watching Harry Potter make out with anyone. :(

Link please!

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0373889/HP5757.JPG.html

nyurk

Yeah, that's not too good a photo.

oh whatever its cute

The kiss looks awkward. Which I guess 15 yr old kisses are.

nothing wrong with big noses guys ;_;

harry potter must choose between his powers and a lifelong asian fetish

harry potter and the sideways vaginas

His next girlfriend (and real love) is a red-headed British girl.

Harry Potter love kills book talk. :(

Getting back on track. . .I'm starting to rethink the theory that Harry is himself a horcrux.

I bet Harry dies in the end.

http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/gather/expressions/5/shocked.jpg

The government demand that all "people with magic" are registered and have to use their powers only for devious govt. schemes. Harry rebels and ends up in the negative zone.

I bet Harry dies in the end.

That's what I've been thinking since HBP but now, I don't think so.

He ain't gonna die!

Why she might kill him off:

-He could be the last horcrux. He would have to commit suicide to destroy Voldemort. Voldemort has had chances to kill him yet but hasn't.

-She would eliminate any speculation that there are more books to come and prevent others from picking the story up.

Why she might not:

-Both dying would go against the prophecy. However, it has already been stated that the prophecy isn't stating what WILL happen.

-If Voldemort did need the Harry-Horcrux why hasn't he taken it yet?

-It is just too obvious an ending.

If he doesn't die who are the two most likely "major characters" to go? I say Ginny Weasly, Neville or a member of the OOTP.

He's not going to die.

(said through choked sobs haha)

this last book will be neville's finest hour

I say Snape dies. And that he turns out to be good after all.

I hope Harry dies. Because I am a masochist.

Is Robbie Coltrane still alive? (I've only read the first 4 books.) He's got to be a goner, surely?

I think it might be up in the air?

Robbie Coltrane

I don't even remember who this is! Details please.

Hagrid!

Oh haha, he said he read "the books" so I didn't recognize an actor's name.

Hagrid's still around as of the end of HBP. Personally, don't think he'll die.

Why she might kill him off:

-He could be the last horcrux. He would have to commit suicide to destroy Voldemort. Voldemort has had chances to kill him yet but hasn't.

But horcruxes are things (never documented in a person but we know Voldemort has already pushed the limits here) which must be destroyed to destroy the soul fragment. Also never heard of anyone losing their abilities (except maybe Morphin but then she was portrayed as a Squib who later was able to regain full powers. </pedantry>

And that he turns out to be good after all.

Of course he's good! If you take a look at all interactions between Snape and Dumbledore, you'll find that everything that goes on between the two (e.g. Hagrid overhearing Dumbledore getting angry with Snape (Dumbledore was angry because Snape refused to kill Dumbledore!); Dumbledore's lack of a response after Draco tells him Snape has been working for Voldemort at the end; Dumbledore saying "Severus... please...") can all be interpreted both ways. I bet if Snape were truly evil, JK Rowling would have made it a bit more explicit by now.

If he doesn't die who are the two most likely "major characters" to go? I say Ginny Weasly, Neville or a member of the OOTP.

I for one will be very surprised if Harry, Ron, and Hermione all make it out alive.

I'm really starting to doubt she'd do that. Secondary tier characters, yes. Remember when GOF came out and she had promised a "major character" would die. Cedric Diggory?!

If she killed one of those three there would little kids going postal in bookstores and getting on prozac all across the world.

they're all cylons and bruce willis is a ghost and he's a she

If she killed one of those three there would little kids going postal in bookstores

that would be AWESOME.

I think Draco dies.

I'm betting on Hagrid and Ron.

I've heard that Hermione dies. Though prolly it's potter himself that dies, like LRB conjectured ages ago.

I think Snape will kill Dumbledore.

Snape will reveal himself to be a good guy -- and then die.

Hermione won't die -- they can't kill the girl.

Harry Potter sits in a diner eating onion rings with his friends as Journey plays on the jukebox...

Voldemort eating onion rings with the Death Eaters as Journey plays on the jukebox.

A group at LiveJournal is going through allegedly authentic scans of the whole thing. Truth be told right now I hope these scans turn out to be fake.

Link?

Also I hope Austin is right. Or Alex. Both sound good

http://community.livejournal.com/spoil_me_dh/

But the good stuff is friendslocked.

Ok yeah, on second thought I don't want to read that. Just scanning the comments I realized I don't want to know. Maybe after I've read the book I'll go back for grins.

*Nods in agreement* There are unprecedented levels of WTFery in that group. But it's like a car crash; I can't look away (because if the epilogue is authentic my favorite character presumably lives).

This is the thread where we stop reading ILX for a week in anticipation of Jon spoiling the fucking book like he did last time

killfile

These books are so mediocre in a lot of ways but I still always end up looking forward to them.

ACK!

so glad I didn't explore that LJ link further. They are real:

http://www.hpana.com/news.20105.html

If those scans are authentic, the new book is even lamer than I'd feared.

:(

now on bittorrent. AVERT YOUR EYES FROM INTERNET UNTIL NEXT WEEK!

ah yes coming to post. would be hard to read though.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004923.html

<i>If those scans are authentic, the new book is even lamer than I'd feared.</i>

Given that at least two typographically convincing versions are floating about the Internet, and the publishers so far are swearing that the true version has not been leaked, I think the versions I've seen are deliberate decoys. Supposedly they're spending $10 or $20 million on security, and with that kind of money one could put out really convincing fakes.

This guy knows the ending -- for good reason.

yeah yeah. . .read about him.

I'm sticking with j.lu's story.

So close. . .

F IS FOR FAKE, BITCHEZ

http://www.sea.fi/foto/f_for_fake_2004_2.jpg

Kakutani gives it the thumbs up.

It's out and it's been fully leaked. Why do I think it's real? Because the site(s) that leaked it are themselves throwing a fit about how to deny responsibility for it. It's hilarious to watch.

Step 1: "Hey guys, this new harry potter book is great!"

Step 2: "You want proof it's real? Fine, I'll post some minor spoilers"

Step 3: "Still don't believe me!? Fine, I'll post the epilogue."

Step 4: "Listen, I'm scanning the ENTIRE book. Then you jackasses won't be able to deny that I'm telling the truth when I brag about owning it"

Step 5: *He posts the book, which precedes an investigation followed by a slowly creeping suspicion that he was telling the truth*

Step 6: "I'm glad you guys think I'm cool for sharing it. It's so cool that we're the only people with this secret information!""

Step 7: *It's on torrent sites four minutes later*

Step 8 is unknown at this point? Fifteen minutes of fame for the leaker and the site w/ Scholastic lawsuit?

I read Scholastic paid 10-20M in security for this too. Seems absurd at first but then again I don't know how this works. It'll be hilarious when the leak is confirmed though.

These books are so mediocre in a lot of ways but I still always end up looking forward to them.

I get tired of justifying it. I mean, I read "proper" books the rest of the time, but my lit snob friends can't see how you can combine them. I like a bit of magic and adventure, and of course I now need to know what happens in the end.

I have the opposite problem, I find myself having to justify to people why I don't like them. It's quite amazing how many people don't get why I would dislike badly written, twee, reactionary tosh.

badly written, twee, reactionary tosh

Explain yourself please and name some juvenile fiction that you do enjoy for comparison.

"badly written" -- no style, occasionally weird grammar, bad alliterations and similes abound. Also Dobby.

"twee" -- Dobby. Also the end of every book but GOF, including (if the scans are real) the new one.

reactionary -- See C.S. Lewis. The books OOZE Christian love and self-sacrifice.

I read them 'cause my partner likes me to read them to her.

Good juvenile fiction: Mark Twain, "Huckleberry Finn".

I'll give you the endings but one character isn't enough to condemn the whole series. Also I've never really caught onto any christian stuff but I'm not a christian so don't really care. These books follow an archetype that can be traced back further than chrisitianity.

His Dark Materials? Puts Harry Potter to shame in terms of quality. But that doesn't lessen my love for Rowling's story. When I finished the first book I never wanted anything to be true more than a magic world with a wizarding school. To me, that's a good story.

It's a good idea for a story, which is not the same thing as a good story.

To each his own.

xpost - I've been working.

As well as the above

badly written: Dialogue that reads like it's being tortured.

twee: Tom Browns School Days at Wizard School ffs? How fucking twee do you want?

reactionary: Those not like us are inferior - see muggles

As for children's fiction that I prefer, just within the fantasy for children genre there'd be:
His Dark Materials
Earthsea
The Chronicles of Prydain
Anything by Alan Garner.
Coraline

And that's just off the top of my head.

reactionary: Those not like us are inferior - see muggles

You do realize that it's mostly the villains who espouse these attitudes, right?

And a number of the other characters until their friendship with the mudblood girl Shows Them The Error of Their Ways...

Books Of Wonder in NYC is boasting that they will have "Real Live Owls" at their Potter release party. This strikes me as a promotion that could go horribly awry...

are people queueing at waterstone's london *already*? thats what the bbc pic seeme to suggest. wtf happens at these 'potter parties'??

casual sex

How many people's parents go for the midnight launches? My retired folks do, and my dad always stays up to like 6 in the morning or so reading the thing.

http://www.jivemagazine.com/column.php?pid=3381

"Star Wars fans hate Star Wars....But the idea of Star Wars...the idea we love."
Andrey Summers, "The Complex and Terrifying Reality of Star Wars Fandom," JIVEMagazine.com

For "Star Wars" read "Harry Potter."

wtf happens at these 'potter parties'??

The one I'm going to is boasting a live band (Remus and the Lupins I believe), jumpy house, free food, a labrynith, games, prizes, etc.

Downtown Northfield (MN) is supposed to be "Diagon Alley" tomorrow night. There will be a costume contest, an open mic, art activities, "butter beer," "Muggle dogs" (hot dogs), an outdoor showing of the first film, and crowds of kids. Also, I think some of the local businesses will "change" their names temporarily - for example, the Contented Cow = the Leaky Cauldron.

love leaky cauldron and diagon alley.

The place where I always see the films (Alamo Drafthouse) does it up right. Last pic they turned the lobby into platform 9 3/4. This year it was 12 Grimauld place complete with Mrs. Blacks covered up portrait when you walked through the facade. They also have butter beer and treacle tart on the menu. I'm waiting for the appearing/disappearing feast though.

I will let you know what the butter beer turns out to be. My best guess is cream soda.

I want to try treacle tart! (oh, and also all of the food that I drool over during the Harry Potter films)

I has a Harry Potter. But I haven't read the first six, so it's kind of pointless.

Old ppl round here incredibly nuts about not being spoilered, refusing to read proofs that mention book etc.

Wait, you already have it Milo?

so delicious this anticipation. I'm going to be so sad that it's the last.

Sara, the butterbeer here has a disturbing butterscotch flavor to it.

yeah, I received a copy yesterday afternoon and promptly read the last five pages, promptly spoiling an entire series of books for myself.

Where did you get it?!?

He bought it off eBay from this one guy who was selling to Publishers Weekly...

NARC

xpost

srsly? I wished I had ordered from one of those places that sent them out early by mistake.

According to UPS mine was put on a truck in Austin at 2:15 this morning. UPS man, where are you??? I'll give you beers if you give me my book NOW.

Bookstore shipments arrived yesterday morning (with some weird security requirements - the driver of the truck was not allowed to get out for any reason. guess they were worried about Harry Potter hijackings?).

Security is very tight. Which I understand. Thought not b/c spoiling would truly hurt their sales, I don't think.

Yeah, I thought the spoiling response was a bit out of proportion. Anyone who was going to buy a copy is going to buy it anyway.

Perhaps it's not about the money made as much as preserving the fun and maintaining the suspense for all the fans (who spend the money).

yeah I'm pretty sure anyone who would download the photographs of the book and spend all night squinting and zooming to read the pages is probably going to buy the book. or at least make a ytmnd ruining the book for everyone else.

If you're an HP fan, today's a dangerous day to be on the internet.

DON'T READ THIS THREAD!!!!!

HARVEY POTTER GETS ATED BY A DUMBLYDOOD!

BECAUSE THEN YOU WILL KNOW EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS!! EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

Milo, still hasn't said how he got a copy already.

he doesn't want to get arrested, duh.

THANKS FOR THE WARNING SCOTT, EVEN IF IT'S NOT SINCERE.

I liked that thread a lot when it was funny pictures of people dressed up like wizards.

My friend got her copy a week ago. Well, it was her library's copy, and she had to catalog it.

He doesn't have to name names. Although he seemed to be implying that it was acquired from a bookstore.

xpost

lucky.

six more hours here! i should be going to bed instead of re-reading the last quarter of HBP.

Man, so not fair you guys get it first. They should adjust the release around the rest of the globe to match GMT. Def. staying off the internet after around 4pm.

Thursday afternoon, my gf found out from someone at gawker that a Duane Reade in NY had put a box or two out early (and just left them in the box), so she and her friend left work to go across town and buy copies. Not even her clerk at the store knew they'd put it out, though the manager nearby did ("oh yeah, we got it in yesterday"). Another friend went by earlier and they'd put the boxes back, maybe they got an angry call or something.

woops, I mean the friend went by a few hours LATER, obviously.

haha here's the <a href="http://gawker.com/news/not-afraid-to-be-servicey/-280296.php";>post gawker did about it</a>.

haha html

I should've went around to random stores (like the ghetto ass randall's by my house) to see if they didn't get the memo. Oh well, off now to get line-number for midnight party. It will read the same whenever I get it. :)

oh, I was too coy. Yeah, a friend moonlights at a book chain, she walked out with a few of the 'deluxe' copies yesterday and brought me one.

My deluxe copy will be arriving in the morning. Me and my other not-voucher-having friend have pledged to scour every bookstore on Lamar after midnight to get a copy.

Just got my wristband for the release party. If I had my camera I'd post a picture.

You have NO idea how excited I am.

So I'm guessing you're all reading it.

lol

I'm about to start it now.

so glad i didn't pre-order this at the Borders near my place because the queue has currently extended somewhere around the corner. Just walked a couple of blocks further to my favourite dodgy SF/fantasy bookstore - no lines and about ten bucks cheaper. Suckers.

Enh. My dad already has his by now, i'll read it during Christmas vacation, same as the last two.

I've just read it cover to cover, so...

SPOILER: The kids get on the crystal meth, Ron ends up frying his brain on it and Harry feels so guilty about it that he mends his ways and becomes a born-again Christian, rejecting his pagan crystal meth past while Hermione ends up a crack whore.

no dude that's 'the butterfly effect'

I read about 200 pages, went to a party got kind of tipsy, but managed to come home and finish the damn thing in one night. it is good. that is all.

Picked it up this morning, and just finished. Phew!

The spoiler over on noize is true btw so anyone who hasnt read the book best avoid that.

The spoiler on noise dude has made-up stuff in it. I don't get that at all. It should have been either completely true or completely false.

I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD. and the funny thing about the spoiler on noise is that it is true, but it spoils shit no one actually cares about (guess what, PEOPLE DIE).

It was good.

For the last time, Rowling, a good editor can be your friend. Do right by her, and she'll do right by you.

Do we have a separate spoilers thread going for this? Just finished it up and there's loads to discuss. Overall though: really, really good, The High King good at the very least.

This book was incredibly sad and depressing, but great!

Best line: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!"

Just finished it an hour ago. There is so much that we need to talk about!!

Yes! Can we turn this thread into a spoilers thread now?

Chapter 34 will make you cry.

33 and 34 is incredibly sad true.

*cocks a snook*

WTF Just saw a link to a PDF file of the book.

Whoever is making the final movie will have their work cut out for them, seeing as the previous movies all missed out entire chunks of information that didn't really seem important, but turn out to have great significance by the end.

haha, Roz OTM. Movie 5 seemed especially lost on this point - even before reading book seven it had the feel of trimming a lot of key material. The virtual absence of Ginny Weasley for example, the continued cameo sidelining of Snape, no lectures from Dumbledore about the symbolism of statues at the Ministry of Magic - it's like they hadn't even read book six before they did the thing.

ihttp://careometer.jpg
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, February 1, 2007 4:14 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

i can see why people might not care about harry potter but jesus christ, fuck off already. you hate it, you won't read it, you think it's rubbish, badly-written junk, we get it.

listen this board is only one click away from ILM. Threads are for people to complain about shit in the most boring manner possible, not discuss it. And all fans of shit that you're not a fan of deserve whatever they get. Kapeesh? "JK Rowling is like some kind of white rap starter band bullshit for people who can't deal with Tolkein" etc.

start a new thread - harry potter books: why are they so bad and hated?

btw, i totally realized i shouldn't have posted that earlier but i was in a pissy mood. ner. and i'm really pretty sick of people complaining about harry potter when what they're really hating on is the hype, which they could have started ignoring since 2004 or something.

Got it, read it, loved it.

For the last time, Rowling, a good editor can be your friend. Do right by her, and she'll do right by you.

amen.

Just started a second reading. Am going to blog my initial thoughts a bit later then will come back to read this thread. Also saw OOTP for the second time last night. Right now I need to attend to some basic household chores and personal hygiene which have gone neglected for the past couple of days.

I read a torrented copy as I (wrongly) expected I wouldn't be able to get a physical book here in Moscow on the day.

It was pretty good, I guess. I mean - I have a difficult time faulting anyone who's created such an epic world (and found so much approval when doing it).

That said, thinking about it now - the thing that kind of bothers me is that Valdemort is built up into such the force of evil, but the climactic battle is kind of, well, underplayed. (Not necessarily complaining about the "off-screen" deaths, although that could be illustrative of the problem.) And when you think further, you wonder: if this guy is SO evil and powerful, what about all the witches and wizards in Germany, France, etc etc etc.

Reading it now (only up to chapter seven so far as unfortunately I have work to do, grumble grumble)

Finished it -- the epilogue I'd seen on-line was real, and a little lamer than the rest of the book, which at least makes it ignorable. A few scenes were genuinely moving, and the author's affection for the characters of Luna and Neville lead to the best bits, as it had in the previous books. JKR tied up too few loose ends, tied most of those off-screen through long expository passages, and spent huge chunks of the book writing about her writer's block, though, and I suspect that she will never write again.

writing about her writer's block?

Yeah, I think so. Lots of clues that she was trying to be "writerly" a fair amount in this book, various characters repeatedly not knowing what to do next for no good reason, the "King's Cross" bit at the end.

The worst thing about the epilogue was that I almost didn't notice it and didn't read it. If only. :/

The whole Lupin thing was kind of weird and pointless? Did not get.

Since I don't really want to re-write or cut and paste here are my initial notes. I'm not displeased overall but not completely satisfied with the end of the series. It just seemed to kind of whimper out. I still hold hopes for more in the future.

Also Jessie, what do you mean, Lupin thing?

Lupin about to ditch Tonks and baby, while Harry has a fit.

Ah yeah. Well he was always hesitant about the situation due to his furry little problem. Maybe Tonks pushed him into marriage/baby. Also, well obv. Harry has a thing about parents doing anything to protect their babies.

And look what happened when Lupin did return instead of soldiering out on his own! Now poor little Teddy only has his grandmother and godfather.

well my problem with it is that the whole hesitancy thing, like the whole tonks/lupin relationship in general, comes out of NOWHERE. which is maybe meant to reflect the fact that Harry, et al. aren't really aware of adult matters, etc. but it makes the whole thing seem very forced and awkward and tacked-on. It's kind of the biggest example of a big flaw in the books as a whole (and goes in the line with the JK needs a better editor comment), the cramming in of little details that might make sense in JK's mind, where she has the whole world meticulously planned out, but aren't fleshed out enough in the books themselves to make sense.

ike the whole tonks/lupin relationship in general,

I read it as tying up of loose ends from HBP. Which I liked as I'm a Tonks/Lupin fan and wanted to know what happened to their relationship.

That was a fine line Rowling had to walk with this book: how to wrap up all the subplots and the whole series in one cohesive package. Overall I think she did a decent job considering the size of the task.

I have just registered a DH related domain. Don't ask. I am the lamX0r.

This is a bunch of stuff I just posted in my LJ - trying to avoid specific spoilers - on the series as a whole. It looks quite long when I c & p it!

1. A theme (not the only or most important one) of the series as a whole - fitting in: who fits in where and with who, and what happens when you don't. The in-group and out-group politics of a gang of friends 30 years before the main action is ever more crucial to that action's plot. So one message is that the decisions and choices you take when you're a kid/adolescent are really vital. (Though JKR is much better at doing group politics with the previous generation than with Harry and his friends, where the occasional snits and spats always feel like padding).

2. Rowling is - within the kids/fantasy convention - sophisticated and good on the problem of 'evil' - much is made of the moral ambiguities of the characters but actually they all tend to make the predictably right or wrong decision in the end: what I actually mean is that a) she's clear-eyed about the world's unfairness - the surprise (if any) in the conclusion isn't that some goodies die but that some baddies don't, and b) she commendably resists the temptation to turn Voldemort into a Sauronesque nexus of evil - in the end, for all the prophecies, he's just a particularly badass dark wizard. His defeat doesn't mean the end of dark magic or of bad people, just of him. (Not that I expect any sequels)

3. Another thing I admire about the series as a whole is the way it shifts priorities so well - every time a book got released (after it became a big deal) the news angle was "NOES now Harry's world is DARK" but as a whole the gradual darkening is well-paced, and I like how the people set up to be important at the start turn out not to necessarily be so. Book Seven manages to be a world away from Book One, but with no clear and obvious change of direction in the series. This is especially impressive given that a Rowling weak spot is believable adolescent turmoil and change.

4. The series as a whole is quite neat - not many loose ends and very plot driven in a way that makes me wonder how JKR will be seen in future: will my son want to read HP for instance (ans: yes probably, as the films will be on his cultural event scope, but I'm using him to stand in for "all future generations" as is my right as 1xDAD). The 'test of time' is of zero relevance to the series' worth but I think something the books lack is a sense of the inexplicable and uncanny. (Which doesn't make them bad books!)

I think it makes sense that Lupin would have wanted to leave to protect his family but yeah i agree that the situation wasn't fleshed out enough. Lupin always felt guilty over his condition - endangering his friends, nearly killing Snape at school, and generally relying on other people since most of the wizarding world treats him like an outcast. But this side of him is never really explored in this final book so it does seem kind of tacked-on and out of place. But from a big story point of view, tying up loose ends, etc... I think it works.

I'm pissed no one tortured or killed Dorothy Umbridge. God, I hate her.

xpost I think spoilers are pretty much expected by now, there's been quite a few on this thread already. Nice work, I really agree with your thoughts on it, Groke.

I'm pissed no one tortured or killed Dorothy Umbridge. God, I hate her.

Haha, did we even see her? I don't remember.

Two WTF moments for me:

-Have I missed Charity Burbage in the last 6 books? I don't even remember a "Muggle Studies" class.

-How in the hell did Griffyndor's sword end up in the sorting hat? That seemed to come out of nowhere.

Yeah, if you haven't finished the book, you shouldn't be back on this thread yet.

Yeah we did - Harry got the Slytherin locket from her, she stole it from Mundungus Fletcher. Harry stunned her as they were leaving from the Ministry.

I missed Charity Burbage too - but I do recall that Hermione was the only one among them who did Muggle Studies.

I have no idea how the sword got in the hat either. Somehow, it always just ends up in the hat.

Yeah we did - Harry got the Slytherin locket from her, she stole it from Mundungus Fletcher. Harry stunned her as they were leaving from the Ministry.

Ah yes, of course. That was a great scene. It would have been awesome if she had turned out to be a Death Eater. With a pink mask.

xpost

i think i agree with both of you, jessie and ms. -- there were bits that seemed tacked on (to resolve subplots) or where she just seemed to run out of steam. two towers like, there really is a whole additional book that could be written about what happens to EVERYONE ELSE during that YEAR that Harry and Hermione are just kind of hanging out in the forest, not sure what to do.

i wrote some other comments in your blog.

yeah they were gone for a really long while huh? I mean Tonks managed to have a baby while they were just messing about being depressed over Ron and Dumbledore.

Only mention of Muggle Studies as I remember is Hermione signing up to take it, being made fun of by Ron, and replying that she wanted to see what it was like to study Muggles from a wizard's perspective.

As far as I understand, the Sorting Hat has the power to pull the sword (and presumably the other founder's relics as well) from wherever it is. Someone somewhere implied that there is a precedent for this in one of the earlier books, but I don't remember. Because Neville was a Gryffindor and he needed it and he was been brave and valiant, it came.

yeah, Dumbledore said so in Chamber of Secrets, when the sword also came out of the hat.

(hi jessie, long time no see!)

Hmm, my HP knowledge is showing embarrassing holes. After I finish the second reading of 7 I plan to go back and start at the beginning. I recently re-read 5 & 6 but I haven't read the first couple since I was reading them to my students.

I haven't re-read any of them, that's why I can't remember so many of these details. Throughout the whole book I kept waiting for them to sort of "tick off" the Horcruxes. I was expecting there to be, like, three in the Gringott's vault.

hey mitya!

I just have access to harrypotter.xls

I was going to say something to th effect of "if you thought the loose ends were tied, you weren't paying attention" but I see now that y'all have done that for me.

Mitya, I just read your comment on my blog. All good points.

How much of the Snape love out there is due to Alan Rickman?

True, but I wonder how much of our perception of any of the characters is influenced by the films. I think I enjoyed Snape most in the memories. He's weak and pitiful unlike the terrifying figure he cuts in the present. Also I like the constant ambiguity surrounding him. Each back we're flipped back and forth, is he good or is he evil? Harry's unwavering hatred of him as well was nice. One of Harry's few flaws.

I think I was going to say something else but I forgot. :(

The thing about casting Alan Rickman (and Padfoot and Moony) - is now a little weird as in the book, he's young enough that McGonagall was teaching when he was a student. It's a good thing Snape has solid, black hair.
But I can't think of any other British actor who could've played Snape now, it's true. Other than Gary Oldman maybe haha but dude is already pretty great (though sadly underused) as Sirius.

Personally, the films don't do much besides putting faces to characters. although for me, Dumbledore will always be Richard Harris, and Katie Leung never seemed right as Cho either. I always picture Cho as that crazy Japanese girl in Kill Bill, with a Scottish accent.

Yeah I never cottoned to the new Dumbledore.

Something I noticed about the OOTP film . . .both the way faces in the fire were rendered and the appearance of the Dementors had changed. I understand different directors having different visions but shouldn't there be some consistency between films?

There's only one answer I can't figure out -- what the hell is that thing in King's Cross station?

I think it might be the bit of Voldemort in Horcrux Harry. It was killed when Lord V. blasted him instead of Harry himself.

Yeah, I assumed that was what it meant, but that answer is unsatisfying to me. Harry does note that he doesn't have his scar in the King's Cross station, lending a lot of weight to that interpretation. But I thought it was weird that a) it was a small, naked child (although I suppose that's what Harry was when he became a horcrux), and more importantly b) that it seemed to make the most noise when they talked about Snape not getting the Elder wand. I dunno; it just seemed like an odd thing, and Dumbledore's studied refusal to answer any questions about it other than saying "there's nothing to be done for it" made me think twice.

The description of the thing in King's Cross actually made me think of the freak-baby-thing Voldemort was at one point, which is why I concluded it was the Horcrux soul-piece. I thought the interesting part of the whole thing, though, was how JKR interpreted "mastery over death" as granted by the Hallows--Harry could have chosen to die at that point (hence Dumbledore's line about taking a train).

Also I kind of wish they would let the directors of the different Harry Potter movies do things completely differently (in terms of set design, etc.) or force them to do everything exactly the same, with no little changes that just seem weird.

hmm, maybe Snape? why a child then. . .

xxpost

I just reread it and the part that follows, and I think I get it. The missing piece of the puzzle for me was something I missed the first time around: that Voldemort was knocked unconscious when he tried to kill Harry the third time. And while that doesn't directly relate to what the thing is, somehow that makes it more, I don't know, solid? Anyway, I think you're right.

<i>Something I noticed about the OOTP film . . .both the way faces in the fire were rendered and the appearance of the Dementors had changed.</i>

And the effects of Avada Kadavra--dropping immediately in Movie 4 versus lingering for a moment and then falling.

This is definitely a minority opinion, but I actually like Gambon better than Harris as Dumbledore. Even before reading the last book I knew there had to be more gray if not black to the character.

He's just too lively. Not grave enough.

2. Rowling is - within the kids/fantasy convention - sophisticated and good on the problem of 'evil' - much is made of the moral ambiguities of the characters but actually they all tend to make the predictably right or wrong decision in the end

It would have been awesome if she had turned out to be a Death Eater. With a pink mask.

Pulling from these two unrelated upthread comments - I think one of the strongest things about the series as a whole is that so many of the bad people aren't Death Eaters, and a lot of them are in many ways "good" people. Given that this is children's literature, I think it's a fine achievement: kids are more likely in their lives to encounter Dolores Umbridge than they are, I dunno, "Dolohov" (to name but one of a thousand basically faceless Death Eaters). The flatterable Slughorn, the in-denial Fudge, the craven Mundungus... Not to mention the people we're definitely supposed to like whose flaws we still recognize as potentially deadly: the soft-hearted Hagrid for example. The explanation of Snape's motives, while a bit all-of-a-sudden, only adds to this impressive collection of tainted adults...and of course there's everything we learn about Dumbledore. In the end, the only grownups who seem to survive with flawless track records are McGonagall, Lily Potter, and the Weasley parents...

i just pictured that king's cross station thing as some kind of random existential, psychedelic, end-of-2001spaceodyssey kind of thing. or early 90's overexposed music video. i assumed the baby was voldemort.

but i didn't get how/when the deathly hallows wand chose draco - and then harry picked up his other wand so automatically this one became his too. it seemed even more flimsy connection than how voldemort got it. hm.

i liked how the merlin's "_" exclamations have expanded.

i liked it overall. i guess i'm pretty easy when it comes to HP.

but i didn't get how/when the deathly hallows wand chose draco

She's counting on a close reading of the previous book. Draco was the one who disarmed Dumbledore after D and Harry returned from the misadventure in the cave.

My only big remaining "What the hell was THAT about, then?" items are Tonks (exacerbated by her facetime in Movie 5) and S.P.E.W....

But agreed, the mechanics of the Elder Wand transfer were really unclear, I was doubling back pages during Harry's last big speech to Voldemort - not a good thing. It seems like "holding the Elder Wand" is a kind of curse or status that is imparted to <i>wizards</i> rather than a <i>wand</i>, but transfers from wizard to wizard when one takes another's wand (whatever wand that might be). Which is sort of understandable, but counterintuitive enough that it deserved some sort of explanation. As is the other possibility: that Draco held on to Dumbledore's wand and Dumbledore was buried with some other wand entirely...

Or, wait, okay. Draco takes the wand and becomes the holder of the Elder Wand. Then he relinquishes it and it gets buried with Dumbledore. Voldemort takes it from there, but it doesn't work as the Elder Wand for him because he would have to take it from Draco. Harry takes some completely other wand from Draco and.....oh I give up, it doesn't really make sense.

Draco doesn't take the wand - he DISARMS Dumbledore. So the Elder Wand recognizes Draco as its true master. Harry then disarms Draco, so even though Draco was disarmed of his other wand, the mastery of the Elder Wand then passes on to Harry.

In the end, the only grownups who seem to survive with flawless track records are McGonagall, Lily Potter, and the Weasley parents...

The Weasley parents beat Fred and George.

As if Snape's patronus would be anything other than a bat.

glad I'm re-reading. This elder wand crap totally has me befuddled.

xpost

His might have changed to Lily's after her murder. Like Tonks's changed to a wolf.

Re-reading it again. Easily the best series of books I've ever read.

What's with Snape turning into a bat at the end? That made no sense to me. So he's been an Animagus all this time?

I find it hard to believe that Harry would sacrifice himself to Voldemort even though he knew doing so would not have totally destroyed him. He must've had a lot of faith in Neville.

So who ended up being the traitor that Snape and Voldemort were talking about in chapter one ("My source tells me there are plans to lay a false trail...")? It led to Voldemort knowing that Harry was leaving prior to the 30th. I don't think that was ever revealed.

If Snape is a good guy after all, why did he treat his students like shit all the time?

JKR needs an editor? I didn't think the book was long enough!! I'd have loved to have seen some more of Luna and her father, for example. And Umbridge. And the Weasley family post-Fred's death.

So who ended up being the traitor that Snape and Voldemort were talking about in chapter one ("My source tells me there are plans to lay a false trail...")? It led to Voldemort knowing that Harry was leaving prior to the 30th. I don't think that was ever revealed.

it was dumbledore's plan all along, told to snape directly, right?

JKR needs an editor? I didn't think the book was long enough!!

The book had at least two continuity errors I can think of:

1) A couple of times Harry's Polyjuice disguise lasted what had to be more than one hour without him mentioning the need to take another dose.

2) Why was Muggleborn Colin at Hogwarts for the final battle? (There are at least two different fanwanks addressing this, but the question remains.)

2) Why was Muggleborn Colin at Hogwarts for the final battle?

Couldn't he have been one of the numerous people who received a summons and came rushing back to Hogwarts via Aberforth's passageway?

What's with Snape turning into a bat at the end?

Sorry, did I miss this somewhere?

No, I think when he flies off Rowling compares him to a bat or something. It's just a metaphor.

Colin was in the DA so yeah he might have received the call.

>So who ended up being the traitor that Snape and Voldemort were talking >30th. I don't think that was ever revealed.

I think we were supposed to believe that it was Hagrid. Harry remembers how Hagrid previously gave info to voldemort when duped by a stranger with dragon eggs. He quickly changes the subject when it seems Fleur is about to accuse him.

>If Snape is a good guy after all, why did he treat his students like >shit all the time?

I wouldn't call him a good guy neccesarily, not black and white, just gray. Seems we are to believe that everything he did was out of love for Lily. But didn't Dumbledore claim this was the greatest power? (or something)

Also I don't think he turned into a bat. It just said "a bat-like figure flew". He learned to fly sans-broom like Voldemort but I don't think he actually became a bat.

Read the Confessions of Snape chapter again, you silly people. Snape got the information out of Mundungus on Dumbledore's say-so.

I'm starting to think that not paying attention to what you read may be a prerequisite for Potter fandom.

What Confessions of Snape chapter? Maybe you should pay more attention to the table of contents!

ooh Snape sniping!

I think Snape was driven as much by his hatred for James Potter as he was by his love for Lily. There's all those parts where he says that Harry is just as arrogant as his father and simply a mediocre wizard. And I think there was no doubt that he was still Slytherin through and through.

Another thought I had was that Snape probably couldn't allow himself to like Harry because if he actually got to the point of caring too much, he risked exposing himself as a traitor to Voldemort - no matter how good his Occlumency/Legilimency skills were.

hatred for James Potter as he was by his love for Lily.

good point. But how much of his hatred for James was because he was jealous that he got Lily? I think his hatred of Harry probably stemmed from the combination of these two things. Not only was he the son of a boy he hated growing up but the spawn of that boy and the girl he loved. Gotta hurt!

His last breath, when he demanded that Harry look him in the eye, was gut-wrenching.

that and the Dobby moment were, I think, the toughest in the series. (i barely remember Sirius at this point, though)

If Snape hadn't been a wizard he'd have sorted himself out with a few pints of cider and a couple of Wedding Present albums. Instead his teenage crush alters the destiny of the whole wizarding universe!

haha! I wonder what was on Snape's iPod.

lol

so who's going to start the thread?

haha, I'm trying to think of some playlists, for any of the characters, but am coming up blank at the moment.

I think it would be a fun thread though.

judging from the movies, teenage English wizards all listen to NME indie - Jarvis Cocker and the Ordinary Boys, anyone?

It's all about the Weird Sisters!

Mitya, are you starting a thread? I might in a minute if I can come up with a few good tunes. (I R not real music geek)

haha ok the only song I can think of for Snape right now is Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag".

No, I'm at work and can't think of anything either.

Awesome Asian HP bootlegs:
http://www.mutantfrog.com/2007/07/20/the-ultimate-sequels-aka-asia-loves-you-%e5%93%88%e5%88%a9%c2%b7%e6%b3%a2%e7%89%b9/

Don't let our gentle thread die:

Harry Potter characters: What's on your iPods?

hah i was just in the colorado mountains for a couple weeks and when i came down to boulder on friday and there was wizards everywhere. v confusing for a moment.

lol

Since we took a musical turn, has anyone heard those bands like Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys? Are the tunes decent?

They sound exactly how you'd expect them to sound.

silly?

I heard some of the Harry and the Potters stuff right when they started to get publicity. Neh.

basically they sound like your neighbour's kid's band. Not really musical geniuses and only notable for silly, Harry Potter-based lyrics. But it's ok I guess, I like that they play in libraries.

If Snape hadn't been a wizard he'd have sorted himself out with a few pints of cider and a couple of Wedding Present albums. Instead his teenage crush alters the destiny of the whole wizarding universe!

^^^^^^ BEST POST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dateline is doing a special on the end of HP. JK Rowling revealed somethings she didn't put in the epilogue:

-Ron and Harry have revolutionized the Auror Office. By now, 19 years on, Harry is probably heading it.

-Hermoine is in the office of magical law enforcement.

-The girl Teddy Lupin is snogging, Violet, is the daughter of Bill and Fleur.

how much of his hatred for James was because he was jealous that he got Lily?

Probably some, but James was a snob and a bully, and he had tension with Snape before Lily even went out with him.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!" definitely sold this book for me.

Gah, that damned epilogue. I did mostly enjoy the book, and the last half might be the best in the series, but there are certain things that really bug me about Rowling. I've always liked Tove Jansson's argument, that "every children's book should have a path in it where the writer stops and the child goes on. A threat or a delight that can never be explained. A face never completely revealed."

Rowling does not do this. Ever. (Well, maybe the deformed baby, but that seemed pretty clear.) I wish she'd be content to sometimes let the dialogue, or what we already know, explain her characters' feelings and actions, instead of painstakingly explaining everything. And I didn't need to know that 19 years later, their world is just as insular.

Also, I find the plotline of "ordinary students trying to study, live their lives, and fight a near-impossible battle as their school/home becomes a living nightmare" infinitely more interesting than "bickering in the forest for a few months." When they do a movie, I hope that ends up as more than exposition.

Things I liked:
-Neville
-the last image of the Malfoys sitting at the table in Hogwarts
-the apocalyptic drama disappearing for a chapter of Snape's teen angst
-the truth getting out through the magic equivalent of the Weekly World News (RIP) and pirate radio

Snape's teen angst I think was best of the book.

And yes the whole camping thing was waaay too long and boring. I'm stuck here in my re-read as it just sucks. I wish instead we could have seen more of what Ginny, Neville and the others were up to under Snape's Hogwarts regime.

And I didn't need to know that 19 years later, their world is just as insular.

This felt so tacked on to me, just to satisfy the kiddies. More than any of that I was curious about Draco. Who'd he marry? How did he turn out in the post Voldemort world?

And I don't buy for a second that everything's safe and secure in the wizarding world. There will always be evil and other dark wizards. And she the left the door open for a whole generation to either take after or rebel against their parents.

I'm having a Potter Party next Friday. So excited.

i thought it was the best one!

all the stuff that gets repetitive in the earlier books (voldemort's getting more powerful, snape is mean but he's secretly good maybe or is he etc etc) finally pays off! i liked it.

also i kind of like the fact that harry is not the greatest wizard.

Harry Potter and the One Extra Film

Ugh, David Yates.

Yay! Every single moment of Harry, Ron and Hermione skulking in a tent will be commited to film!

http://beldar.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/15/daniel_radcliffe.jpg

Jerome K. Rowling's Three Wizards in a Tent

Jim Broadbent is playing Slughorn in 1/2BP! Sweet. He better grow the ridiculous moustache though.

Ugh, David Yates.

What's that supposed to mean?

I thought the last movie was very dull and workmanlike.

I thought it did a sporting job considering the books are increasingly unfilmable.

i liked hte last one!

I thought it was better than the previous two, and the plot strands were generally tied up cleverly. I would've been far more impressed had it been half the length, though. Rowling totally forgot halfway through the series that economy is a key feature of good storytelling (or maybe she never knew and started to be immune to editing around that point).

(he's a client of ours, and a lovely lovely chap, that's why I'm a bit tetchy, sorry)

Anyway.

(Discordant sounds of the orchestra tuning up in the pit. The audience hums with that low, sussurative "the audience is humming" noise.)

Saw it last week, had never seen the others or read any of the books but coming at it with an open mind I thought it was a v messy unstructured excuse. Seems clear they didn't need two films here as all the action must surely be in the last one.

'RIP Dobby' trending on Twitter.

The last one was a disgraceful affair.

I came around to thinking they'd become decent entertainment until the last one.

this seems like the type of film that would be complete and utter madness to see without seeing the previous ones

like, this whole thing is a running narrative that builds upon what was there before; the first few were essentially standalone stories but the last ones... not so much (not that I've read/seen the last two so I may be talking out of my ass entirely instead of partially, but the 5th one would basically be a gigantic WHO CARES without the previous 4)

i think even taking that into account, i don't mean i was like "what's going on", just actually they keep acting like doing task x is vital then it takes an hour of character stuff for that to happen, then maybe another task is done, then it ends.

oh ha, see that is what Harry Potter heads pretend is "pacing" but is actually "padding"

Harry Potter and the Padded Plot

Harry Potter and the Last Big Paycheque

One of the Warner heads spoke (for fucking way too long) before the premiere and he made a joke like "so when they all end, let's just hope ms rowling has something else up her sleeve!!!!" which actually caused no laughter and ended up sounding like a desperate plea...

Larry David should write and direct a further film, the wizards all go to Hollywood, meet the actors who will be playing them...

Thought this was generally good, true to the book, but fairly and steadily grim. There's no way in hell I'd take a kid to see this.

Midnight crowd cracked up at Ron describing the wand he found for Harry.

Mr Veg and I think they could have summed up this movie with am introductory "And so they escaped to x place. Then they walked. Then some staring. Escaped. Walked. stared. And now, we return you to the final battle." it was good, but way more brooding and slower-paced.

Wavelength has more plot than this movie.

It really hurt the story to split it into 2 parts. I get why they did it but, welp, you end up with Deathly Snooze

yeah it was really dumb to do it in two parts--i mean the last book was kinda torpedoed by the interminable woods section so it makes no sense to take the part where theyre in the woods and make it its own 2.5 hour movie

i liked hp6 a lot tho. very pretty movie.

plus the redeeming factor for most of these movies has been all of the great british character actors--in this one its all ron, hermione and harry, who are fine, but cant hold a candle to rickman, isaacs, fiennes, gleason (i know hes irish), maggie smith (not even in this one), gambon (obv not in this one), thewlis, etc.

hermione is pretty slamming tho

Who is the actor that played Mr Lovegood? He looked SO familiar

Lol nevermind. Rhys Ifans!

yeah max i agree, emma watson is really beautiful. i was at the prem with gleeson senior's son whom i grew up with, he is older weasley in this. he introduced me to emma for a split second on the red carpet and i was like "erm hi..," was a really fun night out, i was shaking just standing on red carpet watching my friend get screamed at and he's fairly low key in this overall...

I saw this and was kinda into it (still haven't read book 7, weirdly) — slow paced as hell, yeah, but there's something oddly compelling about decompressed teen wizard drama in beautiful desolation — +hermione is pretty slamming tho — whenever I got really bored I just started doing "Wizard People, Dear Reader!"-style narration in my head, which helped

Danielle Radcliffe is right next to Keanu as for acting ability, but only gets a pass b/c Rowling didn't provide him much anything compelling to say in the first place.

I really liked this, except for the super-cheesy dancing scene. The scenery was so beautiful (and Emma Watson) that even the emptier parts held my interest.

Girl I was with kept freaking out at the snake, etc.. Can't imagine taking her to a horror movie.

I can recall thinking when I saw the first Harry Potter movie that it was clear that Emma Watson would grow up into a strikingly good looking young woman, which is not always true of cute kids.

Yeah, she really is beautiful. And for all my kvetching about long and snoozy, it really was beautiful, and I felt like they stayed pretty true to the book, which is always nice.

Lol @ Umbridge's twinset with the cat stole-lapel detail.

dancing scene was bizarre

Nick Cave, lol.

this movie was terrible

^ haven't read any actual reviews of this, but can't imagine any of them are better than this

A+

thanks. at the risk of ruining an A+ review, here are a few reasons:

• it reminded me of the miami heat: lots of potential offensive firepower, but everyone's just standing around; no flow whatsoever.
• all the great supporting actors, who carried the films up to this point, disappear after the first half-hour. the three kids are then expected to carry the film, and they're not up to the task -- well, maybe except for the guy who plays ron.
• it's a franchise in limbo. too mature for kids; too kid-dy for adults; not built to compete with movies like twilight for the teenage crowd.

i haven't read any of the reviews, either fwiw.

this whole thing is a running narrative that builds upon what was there before

repeating what has gone before

lg u know donal gleeson? i may be one of the few people that consider your bad self a triumph, and him in particular.

I really like these movies alot but havent seen this one yet. The wizard battle finales in the last couple were some of the coolest wizard battles I've ever seen in anything ever!

voldemort's just too underwhelming in both books and mvies, i think. though the character imelda staunton plays is like nurse ratchett for kids

YES, this was another point i was going to make. maybe this is being too movie-conventional, but when you've got an "epic good v. evil" franchise like this, i think it's important to introduce the villain in a dynamic way. they just plopped voldemort into this movie, with no buildup or sense of awe or anything, really.

but otoh, i have now scanned some of the reviews, which have been more charitable toward the film. i get some of the point they're making: this film isn't about special-effects as much as it is about mood and character. i could certainly admire that, in a well-made film, when the actors are up to the task.

This was my favorite harry potter book (apart from the ending )and I only read 3-7)) but I agree that the film was awry. It was gloomy and uncolorful. I felt like there was a bit of a problem with the plot having so much "get a -> goto b -> get c" but I didn't see this formulaic plot problem as something so formulaic in the book because the descriptions and other stuff were good. Maybe a bit of my problem with the movie is that I had read the book and new what was coming (as opposed to if I had only watched the movies). Plus this one would be better if you had just seen the previous ones back to back.

they just plopped voldemort into this movie, with no buildup or sense of awe or anything, really.

I don't think he needed to be built up - we've known he's the bad guy for 7 years. Being introduced as a face on the back of Quirrell's head was a pretty cool entrance!

The shot of Dobby standing on the beach bleeding with his back to camera really got me.

Being introduced as a face on the back of Quirrell's head was a pretty cool entrance!

it was, but that was all the way back at film no. one, right? he didn't "need" to be built up, but his appearance at the beginning of the film -- which i'm sure was supposed to be a big moment -- fell flat (for me, at least).

It was gloomy and uncolorful.

HVoldemort's on the brink of world domination!

i prefer megamind's sunnier, more colorful take on world domination.

Being introduced as a face on the back of Quirrell's head was a pretty cool entrance!

it was, but that was all the way back at film no. one, right? he didn't "need" to be built up, but his appearance at the beginning of the film -- which i'm sure was supposed to be a big moment -- fell flat (for me, at least).

Yeah that was film one. I really liked Snape marching to Malfoy Manor, I thought that set the scene and the tone really well. Love Alan Rickman.

i was thinking this film needed more alan rickman. i'm told he'll play a bigger role in film seven, part two.

I still enjoyed the movie but I did have to ask my sister if Harry ever danced with Hermoine in the book - she said no. One thing they cut out was Dean and company's roving camp.

I should have rewatched 5 and 6 before I saw this one though. And this one will probably be better when watched with part 2. (I don't mind them splitting the book because it guarantees extra content)

the final book was a big disappointment, it should have sent all the kids out in roving camps kicking ass and taking names.

Would watch an entire Three Brothers movie done in that animation style.

Yeah the animation was gorgeous

best part of the movie imo

One thing they cut out was Dean and company's roving camp.

I don't recall this at all! What and who's what?

Maybe someone who remembers it better and can explain. They introduced the radio I believe. And I think they were all caught as well and ended up in the basement. I don't remember who all was in the camp, Lee was probably there. They were a rebel camp that went around kicking ass and following "the order of the phoenix" on the radio. They also brought news to Harry's group about Hogwarts etc.

My dad is telling me what he remembers... It might be spotty. He also said that Dean and company said that if anyone says Voldemort's name they can be tracked

Voldemort was pretty damn scary in those early movies.

BURST OUT LAFFING AT/WITH NICK CAVE

enjoyed this, at least in spots, but it's all gotten so awfully dreary. of course, that's been the problem with each movie since the third. every time out, there's less joy, less color, an increased focus on tiresome angst and the spectacle of radcliffe wailing with a body in his arms. plus more and more moody downtime. the breathing room can be nice when the photography and low-intensity suspense are up to snuff, as they sometimes are here, but this movie could easily have been 15-30 minutes shorting without stinting on plot, character or detail. loved the animation, but that had to be one of the worst fake fables this side of m. night shyamalan. lovely but pointless, serving only to highlight the sudden introduction of a trio of magical items the plot hardly required (realize i'm faulting rowling rather than this film, but so be it.) at least as useless as the business about identical wands, which really should have been wadded up and thrown away. frankly, the plotting here sinks on multiple levels, simply pushing the characters from place to place for no good reason, many times in violation of the most basic logic. in spite of that, a great deal of the film works just fine. the scenes in the ministry of magic are marvelous, and i quite enjoyed the slow development of ron & hermione's relationship. and it's one of the best looking harry potter films so far, if not the best. especially loved the overhead shot of the flats on which the kids camped and the scenes at the white cliffs.

nick cave on the soundtrack was strange, but not unsuccessful. i liked how godawful embarassing harry's attempt to lure hermione into the dance was, all goofy and stilted. that the scene evolved not into a romantic "moment" but rather a comical & childish release of tension justified the initial mortification, imo. liked, too, the way the song faded back into static as the moment passed and anxieties crowded back to fill the back. i mean, i totally cringed at the scene, but that seemed to be the point.

My daughter, clear-eyed and practical, said "this wasn't a very good movie, but I really enjoyed being pandered to."

!

i believe my girlfriend has much the same outlook on yours truly sometimes

When it first happened I was watching the Nick Cave/dance scene between fingers, thinking nonononono this is sooooo lame...but once I realized how awkward they were being, I was okay with it...sorta. I mean, it was nicely goofy/cute in the end.

who did nick cave play?

Professor Snape

And Voldemort

Also Bellatrix Lestrange

haha. i wish.

nick cave played hermione, i just know it.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BR-l63C-2iA/R0FwOFaDrII/AAAAAAAAAcQ/2HMxJgWBcLY/s320/birthdaypartylittle.jpg

http://content8.flixster.com/photo/98/97/68/9897686_gal.jpg

Bellatrix most def

obviously the heroin of the piece

Lolol nice one darragh

My daughter asked to hear the full version of the Nick Cave song today, and has subsequently asked for mp3s of the lot so she can put them on her iPod.

Nice!

parent-to-parent advice: don't give her the grinderman 2 disc.

i rewatched all of these this weekend, lets not dwell on that, #3 is the best one i think

OMG, you did waht?!?

#3 was the first one where i could understand why anyone i knew was reading these books. that or order of the phoenix definite head and shoulders over the rest for me.

this was the first HP i have ever seen/read/_______

barely knew a thing about the whole enterprise

it passed the time and hermione could definitely get it but otherwise ehhhhh

Rewarched the first 2 movies this weekend. Sooo cute seeing them all as little babies :) overall they sure make Hallows pale in comparison

#3 is the best one i think

― max, Sunday, November 28, 2010 7:30 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah. series hasn't sucked since, but that was definitely the high point.

....hermione could definitely get it but otherwise ehhhhh

― rip whiney g weingarten 03/11 never forget (history mayne), Sunday, 28 November 2010 15:47 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Rewarched the first 2 movies this weekend. Sooo cute seeing them all as little babies :)...

― Square-Panted Sponge Robert (VegemiteGrrrl), Sunday, 28 November 2010 16:22 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

signs that yr franchise has overstayed its welcome #3432

See: ending credits of Jackass 3-D

first two movies are so shitty

lg u know donal gleeson? i may be one of the few people that consider your bad self a triumph, and him in particular

yeah he is a real good pal as he grew up v near my family home. you might remember a sketch in that where a guy shits in a bottle? and the guy is called "fitzy". thanks for that domhnall...haha.

#3 is the one Alfonso Cuaron directed, yeah?

yes

yeah. he actually made the movie kind of fun--the first two are all home alone chris columbus-style "fun" and the last four dont even try to be fun (maybe #6 does a little bit w/ the love stuff)

the umbridge stuff is fun

like cuaron is the only director to show ron and harry and their bros kickin it in the hogwarts dorm late at night--theoretically this is how like 50% of their time is spent but none of the other directors bother showing it. this is partly jk rowlings fault of course.

yeah. i like yates a lot more than newell or columbus.

oh I just said this somewhere else, but yeah, the first two movies are bad. the first one is so bad I avoided seeing any of the others for years (and I did read the books, at least up to Half Blood Prince). Still haven't seen DH but I thought HBP was a good film, at least, the only one that seemed to approach 'greatness' as a film and didn't seem just like a bunch of rushed set pieces adapted from a very long novel. The pacing was very good.

I think the main thing the HP films do is highlight how uncinematic the plots of the books are, some fun setpieces aside. I mean the later ones are like 80% fuckin backstory.

I remember the music in the first HP film being so bad that I just couldn't stand to watch it. I share the consensus that the Cuaron one is the best. The new one is so flabby in the middle, and dwelling on the long and arbitrary separation period was a brave decision with a dull outcome. It is very odd when Ron and Harry and Hermione are together because there is a lot of chemistry there, but I don't buy it as those characters chemistry- it just looks like three young actors who have grown up together doing time in a killer franchise that they don't necessarily like but can't afford to reject. You can see it in their eyes sometimes.

I remember the music in the first HP film being so bad that I just couldn't stand to watch it.

Haha that's my overriding memory of it as well -- the only clips I saw were so overladen with this treacly/twinkly 'it's magical wonderment film orchestral music!' stuff that I concluded John Williams had just finally given up.

there is a lot of chemistry there, but I don't buy it as those characters chemistry- it just looks like three young actors who have grown up together doing time in a killer franchise

yeah ron/hermione is kinda difficult to believe in the books and even harder in the movies i think

Thought this was pretty bad, my least favorite of the series. Even though the first one is pretty cringey at times, at least it held a sense of wonder that has been missing (obv the "dark" turns have to do with this, but this was the first film in the series where I didn't have a "now that is some cool magic" moment). Way too much emo teens in tents. I laughed out loud at the naked Harry and Hermoine and got some evil stares from people in my row.

Which one had the fight between Dumbledore & Voldemort? That was a pretty badass magic fight.

ok so this one really kind of sucked, way way too long and really important plot points buried or glossed over (like, dursleys are just moving out, what? and what was harry constantly flashing on? and who was the teacher being tortured by voldemort?) in favor of incredibly long two person emo scenes, blah blah blah. at least the ending was kind of cool. but I have a feeling that once part 2 comes out it will have seemed like this whole thing could have been one film.

I hope everything blows up real good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mObK5XD8udk

Don't remember...most of those scenes from the book. Looks awesome anyway!

i caught up w/the last 3 movies this weekend (never read the books):

order of the phoenix - didnt dig this so much. felt very much like they were trying to speed through as many plot points as possible and consequently the movie was sort of... untextured and personality-free. it had some good things going for it though, like imelda staunton, and i was super-impressed by how they staged freakin wand fights in a way that was actually exciting and visceral - thats a tough task!

half-blood prince - this was pretty gangster. upping the romance factor felt like an overdue move and made for a nice change of pace from the usual worrying-about-voldemort stuff. the reveal at the end that snape was the half-blood prince freaking ruled. david yates is clearly a good director, and there's an englishness to his installments that felt strangely absent from the earlier movies. definitely curious about whatever he does next.

deathly hallows pt 1 - worst movie in the series i guess. needed more snape. i hope he snapes out on hella fools in the next movie. found it hard to sit through, and also sorta confusing at times - lots of names & terminology being thrown around that i couldn't make sense of. probably because i can barely remember anything about the first 4 movies, having not seen them since they came out. the best thing i can take away from it is that they've gotten the boring crap out of the way and the next one should be wall-to-wall ass-whomping.

funny thing about the nick cave scene - i didnt recognize his voice at all, but when the song started i was thinking 'lol, what is this dadrock'

british actor i most wish they'd found a role for in the series: tom wilkinson

overall best thing about the last few movies: helena bonham carter. she really goes ham on every scene, seems to be having the most fun and generally has the most presence of any of the villains... hollywood needs to figure out what to do with her, because shit like this & the king's speech isnt really doing her justice

she needs to divorce tim burton and star in some real movies

she needs to put the hurtin... on burton!!!

half-blood prince is my favorite non-azkaban potter movie. i didn't see the last one though.

("favorite" here means i'm probably never watching any of the other ones again, except for wizard people, dear reader.)

Above prediction that Rowling will never really write again: so far so true, yes?

I'm watching this for the first time. Pretty amazing. I bet the snake part was awesome in 3D. The motorcycle chase too! Now I want a flying vespa.

Voldemort was scarier when he didn't talk so much, the movie is really glacial in places, and terribly depressing in other places. But it makes it all for a much more epic experience. Great summer popcorn movie! I wish they made more movies about wizards, tbh.

I kinda feel like as a fantasy fan, in many ways, the Harry Potter movie series has more than made up for the Star Wars prequels.

Really? I enjoyed the books and all, but the movies are kind of meh, except perhaps the third. LOTR films miles better.

i am rewatching these all right now. i don't know if this is, like, already well-recognized, but it seems the odd-numbered entries are really solid, and the evens are very blah to very dull

I watched the 7a on a plane and I was surprised at how well it was paced. I felt like the first three (which were previously the only ones I'd seen) really dragged. Kids have also grown to be respectable actors, thankfully.

If I read one more "It's over and my childhood is ending oh noes" comment...

one of the obsessives on my FEED just posted "Mischief managed!" and i was like aw but idk maybe everybody's saying that, maybe it's a hashtag

ihttp://careometer.jpg

*shits profusely*

DH Pt. 1 draaaaags in places and if you're not a fan the namedropping gets obnoxious, but despite not being a great entry in the series I'm impressed with how it stubbornly, quietly earned its "darkness."

Yeah I thought Part 1 started and ended pretty solidly, given the awkward way things were chopped up to make two flicks, but goddamn did that emo teens in the forest stuff drag and drag and drag.

If she didn't screech too obviously in places, Helena Bonham Carter would be perfect.

Neville Longbottom, he's okay.

Just saw the final one, great job. I admit I was surprised it was only 2 hours long, I expected it to be bloated like every other film these days.