PING: harry potter fans

[saldana]

found this on mugglenet:

OOTP out on July 13, 2007
It's official: Warner Bros. has announced that the Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix movie will hit theaters on July 13, 2007!



i for one am happy to see they arent trying to squeeze the release into the busy ass weekends between thanksgiving and christmas for once.

[dubb93]

I can't honestly see how HP fans can be happy with these movies. I had never seen any of the movies before last night when I watched Goblet of Fire.

It didn't even feel like the same thing as the book. Didn't make as much sense and felt like a horrible translation of the book to film. I mean they even completely left out characters from the book and display some characters completely out of character!

Seems like they change the script too much from the HP books to the big screen and the movies are too streamlined for my taste. The thing that makes the HP books so great is the detail. The forth movie had absolutely no detail.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by dubb93

I can't honestly see how HP fans can be happy with these movies. I had never seen any of the movies before last night when I watched Goblet of Fire.

It didn't even feel like the same thing as the book. Didn't make as much sense and felt like a horrible translation of the book to film. I mean they even completely left out characters from the book and display some characters completely out of character!

Seems like they change the script too much from the HP books to the big screen and the movies are too streamlined for my taste. The thing that makes the HP books so great is the detail. The forth movie had absolutely no detail.

i agree with this to an extent, i really didnt like some of the characterizations in GOF, but i also thought i did a good job with the adaptation to make it easier to follow in a movie...that said, i think the movies have been 'meh' at best in terms of capturing the essence of the books.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by dubb93

I can't honestly see how HP fans can be happy with these movies. I had never seen any of the movies before last night when I watched Goblet of Fire

You picked the wrong movie to watch.

The first three were much closer adaptations of the books. GOF had so much cut out of it, it wasn't even the same story. I was really disappointed when I first saw it.

[Lathum]

OOTP is much more action oriented and should tramslate well to a movie. GOF was the "transition" book in the series. I can't wait for the scenes from the hall of mysteries or the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the Ministry.

[ISiddiqui]

EEEEEE!!!

Yes, I am screaming like a little girl. Shut up.

I wonder what they'll cut... wonder if the movie will make any sense when it is all done! But, above all, I can't WAIT for the flick.. the final scenes (ie, the big battle), especially, should be a doozy .

Btw, GoF is my 2nd fav movie so far, but not all that far from 1st place (PoA).

[Raiders Army]

Does anyone else read OOTP as Out of the Park?

[Vince]

Yeah, it should be OotP for Harry Potter.

I enjoyed Goblet of Fire -- that book was enormous, and there was no way they could fit half of it in the movie. There were a few glaring errors that I really didn't like, but once I thought about it, it would have been QUITE difficult to get it all in there, and I think they did a good job with what they had to work with.

[JeeberD]

Yup, the books are too long to fit into a two (or even three) hour movie. They're forced to cut scenes and characters...

[Buccaneer]

I agree that GoF was nearly unwatchable compared to the other 3. But I am looking forward to OotP because it will have a different director.

[PackerFanatic]

Especially with GOF and OotP, the books are just so big that it would cost them a lot of time and money to follow them to a T. As cool as it would be, we all know it just isn't feasible. I know that when I go into the movie. No matter how closely the movie follows the book...the books are still 100 times better.

That said, I am very excited for this.

[oliegirl]

I love the HP books, and movies...but I usually try not to compare them too much. The books are so detailed that there is no way they could include everything in the movies...I try to look at the movies at great older kids/adult movies that are enjoyable and based on a great series of books.

My son and I have been listening to the books on CD as of late and are having so much fun with them. He is 8 1/2, still a little young to read the books - not because of content but because of the length and that he needs something in between Lemony Snicket and HP...he has loved listening to them and we had a long conversation today (6 hour car ride home from vacation) about the differences between the books and movies...some small, some big, but it's cool to see that he can compare the book to the corresponding scene in the movie and note the differences.

[Logan]

Damn...your son is impressive. I don't think I could do that.

[Tigercat]

I am surprised at how little respect the CoS movie gets, because it was amazingly faithful to the book, in my opinion.

[Rizon]

Does it have H2H?

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I agree that GoF was nearly unwatchable compared to the other 3. But I am looking forward to OotP because it will have a different director.

Coming from someone who has only seen the movies, I thought the 2nd film was by far the worst.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Logan

Damn...your son is impressive. I don't think I could do that.

Are you serious or just being a sarcastic smart ass?

[Logan]

Entirely serious...I wouldn't be able to have a long discussion on the differences between the books and movies. I forget the small things way too quickly. And I'm 23, not 8.

And it would take a hell of a messed up person to make fun of someone's son!

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Logan

Entirely serious...I wouldn't be able to have a long discussion on the differences between the books and movies. I forget the small things way too quickly. And I'm 23, not 8.

And it would take a hell of a messed up person to make fun of someone's son!

Well, I've learned the hard way no to put anything past some of the people here...but thank you He is pretty amazing, he's picked up on some pretty small details - like when conversations were held or something. The one I can remember off the top of my head is the scene in the book where Harry and Hermione sneak Hagrid's dragon to the top of the tower so Charlie's friends can bring it back to Romania...Draco sees them and they get in trouble. In the movie, that scene doesn't exist and they get in trouble when Draco sees them in Hagrid's hut when the dragon egg hatches. We are on the 3rd book now, I'm interested to see if he realizes how much of book 4 got left out of the movie when we get to that one...tons of stuff at the World Cup, the whole Veela storyline, the Rita Skeeter as an unregistered Animangus...mostly small detail stuff but it was the stuff that made the book so much better than the movie IMO.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Coming from someone who has only seen the movies, I thought the 2nd film was by far the worst.

I agree that the 2nd film pales in comparison to 1 and 3 but GoF should have been much better if they had a different director and filmed/lighted it differently.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Lathum

OOTP is much more action oriented and should tramslate well to a movie. GOF was the "transition" book in the series. I can't wait for the scenes from the hall of mysteries or the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the Ministry.

I still hate the way the new actor is portraying Dumbledore, though. Yeah, he had an impossible act to follow, but they did a horrible job re-casting such a major role.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I agree that the 2nd film pales in comparison to 1 and 3 but GoF should have been much better if they had a different director and filmed/lighted it differently.

Sorry Bucc, no director would have given you the Hermione nude shot.

[Franklinnoble]

GOF was bad for me, for these reasons:

1. Too much got hacked out. I understand the need to make shorter movies, but, dammit... treat it like LOTR... make it bloody epic, if you have to. The timing was too rapid, and too erratic. It was hard to follow.

2. They took a strong female lead, and turned her into a blubbering teenaged twit. Enough said.

3. What's with all of the cast suddenly having these hippie-long haircuts? Honestly - the long hair on every guy in the movie really bugged the hell out of me.

There's a bunch more I could piss and moan about, but those are the big ones for me.

[Celeval]

Was the strong female lead who disappeared there Hermione or Fleur? Because, you know, both were kinda left out to dry.

Well, sortof. The movies had pumped Hermione up more than the books did in the beginning at mostly Ron's cost.

How do the haircuts coincide with British teens? I mean, I was thinking Beatles more than hippies.

I like the movies, but they can't hold a candle to the books.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Celeval

Was the strong female lead who disappeared there Hermione or Fleur? Because, you know, both were kinda left out to dry.

I was referring specifically to Hermione, but, yeah, Fleur got basically ignored as a character in the movie.

[Butter]

My wife thought GoF was the best of the movies so far... you're going to have things cut out when the author suddenly becomes editor-proof and turns out these 700+ page missives. I still haven't seen it, but to complain about things left out is kinda silly, just based on the pure length of the book. Even a 3 1/2 hour movie would've had plenty missing.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I was referring specifically to Hermione, but, yeah, Fleur got basically ignored as a character in the movie.

It'll be interesting to see if they bring her back for HBP when she is engaged to one of Ron's brothers (either Bill or Charlie, can't remember)...

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

GOF was bad for me, for these reasons:

1. Too much got hacked out. I understand the need to make shorter movies, but, dammit... treat it like LOTR... make it bloody epic, if you have to. The timing was too rapid, and too erratic. It was hard to follow.

2. They took a strong female lead, and turned her into a blubbering teenaged twit. Enough said.


There's a bunch more I could piss and moan about, but those are the big ones for me.

Actually, these are really good points. I liked GOF (I watched the movies and swore to avoid the books, until I got hooked in), but after reading it, these are valid points. My one issue is that if anything, Ron is the one who gets cast as the idiot - Hermoine gets a lot of his good lines (the whole saving Harry bit - that was Ron).

[saldana]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

It'll be interesting to see if they bring her back for HBP when she is engaged to one of Ron's brothers (either Bill or Charlie, can't remember)...

she is supposed to be in OOTP as well, when they are all at grimmauld place...so far she isnt listed as a confirmed member of the cast though

[saldana]

dola, its bill

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

It'll be interesting to see if they bring her back for HBP when she is engaged to one of Ron's brothers (either Bill or Charlie, can't remember)...

Bill. If you recall, there's the whole bit at the end of HBP...

[Lathum]

I doubt Fluer would play a part in the movies, her presence in the books is insignificant enough that it would be easy to cut her out.

As for Hermione, I would say most teenage girls turn into blubbering idiots at some point.

I think you can take any book turned to movie and find many flaws, overall I think they do a nice job of telling the overall story, allthough I always wonder what it would be like to watch the movie from the point of view of someone who has never read the books.

[saldana]

my biggest issue with GoF was the maze...i thought that was done really badly...all the tasks were a bit over embelished, with the dragon trashing half the castle and stuff, but the maze attacking them instead of the creatures inside was really bad, imo

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by saldana

my biggest issue with GoF was the maze...i thought that was done really badly...all the tasks were a bit over embelished, with the dragon trashing half the castle and stuff, but the maze attacking them instead of the creatures inside was really bad, imo

Wasn't there a lion or something in the maze that gave a riddle they had to solve? I haven't read the book in a while (since right before HBP came out), but i knew they hacked the maze scene to death.

When did Ron save Harry in GoF? When he warned him about the dragons? Man - it's about time for me to reread the books again!

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by saldana

my biggest issue with GoF was the maze...i thought that was done really badly...all the tasks were a bit over embelished, with the dragon trashing half the castle and stuff, but the maze attacking them instead of the creatures inside was really bad, imo

I do beleive in the book there was a scoring system in place for the tri-wizard cup. In the movie they forget this and you are left wondering why Harry and Krum get a head start into the maze. They never really expand on it.

Also I believe there was something that told a riddle, blast ended something or others and maybe even another type of magical creature in the maze. Also if I recall right there were magical obstacles in the maze such as wells, etc. The whole cup ordeal was kind of stupid, and I think Harry is made out to look like an idiot during the whole competition when in reality no one took him seriously before he handled the dragon so well. In the movie he looks like a freakin idiot during the dragon battle.

Then he showed incredible character when he rescued other people and they agreed to score him(although in the movie they agree to award him 2nd place!?!?!?!? How did Krum not pull out his wand and cast some spell to kill the whole lot of them? I mean it didn't even come down to points. Just 5 seconds and he's got 2nd place even though he came up in 3rd. Seems out of the blue without points being taken into account.) And then the maze is a mess.

[Buccaneer]

dubb articulated on my beef with the script. I have little problems with what they included/not included but they dragged the first half of the movie when it should've been faster paced and they sped through the second half when it should have been slower paced. That's why I have been very critical of the director (who hated the books).

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I agree that the 2nd film pales in comparison to 1 and 3 but GoF should have been much better if they had a different director and filmed/lighted it differently.

The 1st one is the crappiest to me... followed by the 2nd one. 3rd and 4th are tied for best... though I like GoF the best, its the only one that really brought out the humor that was in the books. PoA brought out some lightheartedness that SS and CoS totally neglected due to slavish retelling of the source material (always a bad thing, IMO).

I liked the fact that Cuaron and Newell tried to do an actual adaptation and take the lightheartedness (Cuaron) and humor (Newell) rather than simply slugging through the story. People forget, the early books are REALLY funny! There are a ton of great one liners.

[Buccaneer]

Yet I think the 1st one had the wonder and awe of seeing that world and characters for the first time. It truly was the "Wizard of Oz" for our generation. I would go along with your criticism more with the 2nd movie but I think the 3rd movie really showed us a very interesting world (as in the way Cuaron redesigned the grounds). In other words, I love the 1st one for its interiors and the 3rd one for its exteriors.

[ISiddiqui]

"Wonder" and "Awe" are overrated. Just because it was the first to show people the world, doesn't make it the best. I prefer the story of CoS, so the 2nd movie beats SS for me.

[saldana]

i actuall hate the way cuaron redesigned the castle...the giant clock and the breezeway are complete fabrications and departures from the books, and i really hate the way they did remus lupin. he was one of my favorite characters from the books, and my least favorite from the movie

there was supposed to be a sphinx inside the maze, as well as a blast ended skrewt and one of those giant spiders like Aragog, along with some other magical obstacles

[ISiddiqui]

But the giant clock was really cool compared to the time turner used/revealed at the end. I don't view it as it has to be exactly the same as the book. As long as it doesn't totally tell something the entirely incorrect way (like Seabiscuit and the last race... ARGH!), then I won't complain. I realize that some changes have to be made. Directors are different and want to put their own stamp on things.

[Buccaneer]

Just saw the trailer for Order of the Phoenix online. It looked really good, definitely a better first impression than I got from the Goblet movie.

[Eaglesfan27]

Just realized how old this thread is when I got to the last post. I also liked the trailer and am looking forward to the movie in July.

[saldana]

awesome, thanks for the heads up, i am gonna go find it right now.

[saldana]

if you go to www.mugglenet.com there is a link there that takes you to a 4 minute video that is the trailer with about double the footage, plus a bunch of interviews with cast and crew....is from an HBO first look segment.

[Scarecrow]

The only thing that is dissapointing so far is that the actress that's playing Luna is actually attractive - I always pictured her as an 'Ugly Betty' type of person.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

The only thing that is dissapointing so far is that the actress that's playing Luna is actually attractive - I always pictured her as an 'Ugly Betty' type of person.

Interesting, I never thought of her as an ugly duckling character (though I didn't picture her as a blonde). It's her goofy ass personality that I'm hoping the actress can pull off, though. She has a chance to get noticed if she can actually act.

[oliegirl]

I can't wait! I need to start re-reading all the books again, which I do everytime a new movie or book comes out

[terpkristin]

The girl they cast to play Luna looks almost literally as I'd pictured her in my head. The woman they cast to play Bellatrix, however (Helena Bonham-Carter), looks NOTHING like I pictured (I pictured Bellatrix a lot more like Ursula from The Little Mermaid). As for the DADA teacher, Umbridge, I'm not sure if she's exactly what I expected. I don't have a good picture in my head of her.

That said, I still abhor Michael Gambon as Dumbledore (didn't "like" him in PoA, downright hated him in GoF) and based on the very little bit I saw of him in the trailer, I think he'll be following down the GoF track that I loathed. Alas.

Unfortuantely I actually saw Happy Feet, which is where I saw the trailer. Between the Eragon movie preview (which looks all kinds of wrong to me) and the Harry Potter trailer which really wasn't what I expected, and then the actual movie being a horrific piece of drek, I was pretty disappointed when I left the movie theater on Monday night...

/tk

[Buccaneer]

I read earlier that there were quite a bit of discussion about Staunton and how she appeared as Umbridge (when the pics came out). I have to admit that I am uneasy about a character that was described as a short, fat toad in the book and making her look like a proper English matron in the movie. What do you think?