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[filkertom]

Expecto Patronum!

Who's looking forward to the new movie? I admit I'm not. The whole Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione thing, not to mention the UTTER CRAP of the last two books, has just sucked the fun out of it for me. I'm gonna see it so I can keep up, but meh.

Comments

[allisona.livejournal.com]

Me, I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to go see it tomorrow.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

I've read several reviews that say this is the best of all the movies...maybe judged by movie criteria it won't be as bad as the books were? I hope not, anyway.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

I'll see it, but probably not soon. I started re-watching the old movies on DVD. By the time I get caught up I may be burnt out and ready to wait for the DVD release of this one.

I have to admit that I liked the Harry/Ginny Ron/Hermione pairing. *ducks*

I did read a cute interview recently. Rupert Grint was talking about filming the kissing scenes with Emma Watson. He said that it was weird. He's known her since she was 9 years old, so it was almost like kissing his sister.

Damn movies are making me feel old now.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I liked the Harry/Ginny Ron/Hermione pairing. *ducks*

Lots of people do. Heck, my dad does. It's canon and all that. It just doesn't make sense to me -- Hermione's two passions (besides helping another boy, which makes things a little tricky) are books and learning, both of which Ron mocks. Ginny thinks Harry likes chasing after Voldemort.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Valid points, but attraction and romance don't always follow rules of logic.

I always viewed Ron's mocking to be him writing off something he wasn't very good at doing himself. "Aw, who wants to do that anyway?" People grow up, and apparently she sees something else in him you don't.

As for utter crap, I guess I'm just easier to please than you are. :)

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to it, if only for Snape. This is not one of my favorite books at all, though. I'm really trying to figure out why Harry Potter and the Long Camping Trip is being made into two movies.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Hermione's two passions (besides helping another boy, which makes things a little tricky) are books and learning, both of which Ron mocks. Ginny thinks Harry likes chasing after Voldemort.

One more thing on this: these are kids. Teenagers. Salt of the earth. You know ... morons.

When I think of some of the outrageous and stupid things I said and did as a teenager ... bleah. If I had a time machine and just went back smacking myself around I'd get carpal tunnel from all the dope slaps I'd have to give out. With luck you grow up and get over it. I liked the fact that the characters made stupid mistakes like every other teenager in history.

One of those (whether you view it as a mistake or not) is the idea of "What the hell does he see in her? Well, apparently he loves her. Go figure.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Snape. Rickman.

I'm there. :-)

And they did a pretty good job of making Phoenix coherent, so maybe this won't be so bad.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I'm actually looking forward to how they do the flashbacks, especially the ones of Snape and Lily. I'm not in any big hurry to see it, though.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

At last! I disagree with Tom about something. The last two books were in fact my favorites of the series, and I thought JK did a fine job tying everything up in a nice little bundle. Certainly moreso than many series I have seen.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Dale is looking forward to it; I'm not really because I didn't much enjoy either HBP or DH. However, I told Dale that I will go see it with him if he wants.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

The kids and I will see it, on the Monday following release. Part of me wants to see just how bad it will be, and part of me is hoping it will be better than I think.

At this point, I'm thinking of waiting for the video

[capplor.livejournal.com]

1). Lack of time, 2). I can't go see it without taking the kids 3). The kids may be a bit young for it -- a lot of that stuff is safer to watch in the home, where I can turn it off or pause it without losing money, and I don't have to consider other patrons.

But me, I'm a sucker for Origin stories, so I rather liked the book.
(FWIW, the origin of Darth Vader was so bad, I couldn't watch past the first movie. That never happened before or since.)

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one. The last two books left me feeling very "meh" about the whole thing. I suspect I will go see it eventually, if I can overcome the inertia before it leaves the theatres, but I won't be heartbroken if I don't manage it.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I thought that about Order of the Phoenix, to me the most depressing and painful in the series, and maybe the least magical (more than the usual amount of the story is spent either out in the real world or in a Hogwarts with Umbridge actively suppressing the use of magic). Turned out, my experience with the movie was much better than that with the book. I especially loved touches not from the book, such as the Wall Of Edicts and its fate, and Harry's final zinging use of the "I must not tell lies" line. I appreciate the way the movies tend to assume familiarity with the story and add a bit to it that way.

...On the other hand, it is possible to assume too much and chop out so much that the story makes less sense, as they did with Scenes From "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (With Spoilers), which was the longest trailer in movie history.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Seems to me, Ron doesn't mock studying so much as grump about his own poor ability to learn from books. Seems to me he and Hermoine have a symbiotic Felix and Oscar thing going, where she helps him pass his exams and he helps her to enjoy life and stop being such an uptight prig.

At least, if they're going to be a couple, that's the excuse I make for them.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Maybe they learned something from the fiasco of Scenes from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (With Spoilers). That final book is just too long to squash into one movie without removing several vital organs. Heck, even as long as the book is, its biggest flaw is squashing so much action compactly. Given that movies will want to draw out the action scenes (be prepared for long epic depictions of the escape from Privet Drive, the escape from the wedding, the escape from the Ministry, the escape from Malfoy Mansion, the escape from Gringotts, and the most pyrotechnical Battle of Hogwarts this side of nuclear winter), I'm glad they're breaking it up.

Either that, or the producers saw no reason to settle for seven guaranteed blockbusters when they could have eight.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I'm concerned that the flashbacks will be the first thing they skimp on. I'll consider us lucky if they're any more detailed than the flash-forwards in Run Lola Run.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Hermione's two passions ... are books and learning, both of which Ron mocks.

Opposites attract.

For everything else, I must agree with bryanp.

And I must disagree with you on the books. I just finished re-reading all of them (UK edition, thank you) and was still quite caught up in them.

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

Having just re-read the whole series, yeah, it's a long camping trip, but otherwise I find myself in agreement with admnaismith in that it takes somewhat less of the book than I remembered, and to put it into one film would be a *big* gut job of the book - or the longest film of the franchise by far.

That said, there is also a part of me that says "they're in it for the money", too...

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

I suppose.

As much as I love the actors, though, I've never been impressed with the movies after the first one. They're great as supplements, but I wouldn't want to watch them for the actual storyline.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

It was "just okay". This new movie doesn't cover any new ground visually. The story you already know, it's pared down to the bare bones and still runs 153 minutes.

Really, the only flashbacks seen were the key Pensieve scenes, so don't hold your breath for Lily/Snape goodness. Nothing on the elder Weasley brothers and their relationships, we barely see the twins.

Jim Broadbent was quite good as Prof. Slughorn, as celebrity-stalking, brilliant but flawed as written. Alan Rickman still delicious as Prof. Snape.

I have more to say about the last two books - I agree with Tom here. After reading Book 6, my speculated ending for the series was So Much Better than the one that came out in book 7. Sigh.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched any movie since the first- which I paid full theater price for and spent two hours with the vertical hold off trying to link one extremely chopped-up bit of story to another.

And I thought the last two books were on the same level as the other five- not bad, but not re-readable.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Oh I don't know... Dune [1984 version] might be a contender for that title. I called it "Scenes From DUNE", then and now.

[solarbird]

Weak - even terrible - books sometimes become great movies. It's the really good books that tend to suffer so. So I'll see what the reviews say and not prejudge.