Count_Doodie posted:

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Nate, and Vortigern in what way did OotP "drop the ball"?
i thought OotP was near perfect, what did i mess?
-doodie

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Count_Doodie posted:

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Nate, and Vortigern in what way did OotP "drop the ball"?
i thought OotP was near perfect, what did i mess?
-doodie

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NateCaauwe posted:

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Part of my beef stems from the first two films, which I blame for this common misperception that Harry Potter is a fun little children's story (yes, there's light-heartedness, but part of that is balancing it). I mean, as we move further along in the story, the books get darker and darker, but the films seemed to have failed at capturing that.

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darth_paul posted:

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Damn that's wordy.

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Vortigern99 posted:

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IMO it's a disjointed film with little emotional resonance, especially with the way that Sirius' death was handled. In the book this is an extremely difficult event for Harry to handle; he gets angry at Dumbledore and smashes up his office in a very powerful, wrenching scene that had me weeping for hours. Yet the film glosses over the death as if were a minor bump in the road, and Harry seems to have completely forgotten about it by the final scene.

But that's not my only gripe with the film. OotP never really soars the way the other films do; there is never that feeling of exhileration we get from, say, Harry riding Buckbeak for the first time in PoA, or beating the dragon in GoF. It's not a bad film by a wide margin -- on the whole I'd say it's a very good film -- but it's the weakest link in the series so far, and it has problems of pacing and clarity of plot that cause me to worry about the outcome of HBP.

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Count_Doodie posted:

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Vortigern99 posted:

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IMO it's a disjointed film with little emotional resonance, especially with the way that Sirius' death was handled. In the book this is an extremely difficult event for Harry to handle; he gets angry at Dumbledore and smashes up his office in a very powerful, wrenching scene that had me weeping for hours. Yet the film glosses over the death as if were a minor bump in the road, and Harry seems to have completely forgotten about it by the final scene.

But that's not my only gripe with the film. OotP never really soars the way the other films do; there is never that feeling of exhileration we get from, say, Harry riding Buckbeak for the first time in PoA, or beating the dragon in GoF. It's not a bad film by a wide margin -- on the whole I'd say it's a very good film -- but it's the weakest link in the series so far, and it has problems of pacing and clarity of plot that cause me to worry about the outcome of HBP.

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you know i gotto disagree. i think HBP is in complete safe hands. i reckon Yates did really well. year 5 was a very miserable year for harry and i think the film captured that very well. the lack of the "exhilaration" i feel comes from the fact that there wasnt many exhilarating moments for harry this year. the plot was about him being an outsider and a suspect. the narrative pay offs are where he is vindicated and accepted eg the ending or when seamus and luna say they believe him.
the sirius thing i've discussed before. in short, the way i see it is, in the film harry sees sirius die. in the book there is room for denial. why would harry, who knows the finality of the avadakedavra curse, have a strong denial induced breakdown about sirius death when he knows that like his parents there is no coming back. no i feel that the quiet internal grief that he shows in the film is completely fitting to a character who believes that he has lost his godfather.
IMO the weakest link is the fourth film and that's why im concerned about Half Blood Prince. steve clovis the scriptwriter for GoF has written the script for HBP. i felt that GoF was completely off target and im a little scared for the 6th film. just gotto hope that the brilliant job Yates did for OotP he will do again for HBP and not mess up like Newell did on GoF.

heres hoping!

-doodie

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Vortigern99 posted:

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Count_Doodie, for the record I watched OotP on DVD the other night... and enjoyed it more than I had on my previous two viewings in the theater. (Part of this is surely that my recall of the massive book has faded in the last six months, allowing me the bliss of forgetting what's missing!) The performances (by Dan in particular) are probably the best of any Potter film so far, and the editing is brilliant. However, I still stand by my statement that Sirius' death is underplayed, which weakens the emotional impact of the film; but perhaps some of Harry's loss can be addressed in HBP.

As to Kloves and the script for HBP, I'm glad he's back. Lest we forget, Kloves has written every adaptation of the Potter books so far except for OotP, including the masterful PoA. I think he has a defter hand with the material than the OotP writer, and I look forward to seeing what he'll do with this stunner of a story (HBP).

I'm sorry to read that you don't like GoF, as I count that as the second best of the films so far (behind PoA), and think it really, really works on a level of pure cinema. It's the one I find myself putting into the DVD player more often that any of the others. I must admit, however, that on my first few viewings I did not favor it, since after PoA I was looking for something with style and mood. But it has grown on me, as perhaps OotP will continue to do. Cheers.

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Count_Doodie posted:

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the specific reason i dislike GoF film is because in my opinion if you haven't read the book certain aspects of the film dont make complete sense.
here are some specifics:
-lack of dusleys. i understand leaving out the dusleys... rant...
-crouch's deathharry stumbles across a dead body which no one seemed to care about. sure DD and Fudge are heard mumbling about it...rant...
-the main one- Priory Incantatemthey didnt explain that harry and volde cant use their wands effectively against each other...rant...

now here are the little niggles. these are just niggles. i get that these arent too important to the whole scheme of things.
-Albus Gambondoreto see my beloved albus dumbledore, run and jump around like a lunatic, physically shake harry, fall to pieces in his office, AGREE TO USE HARRY AS BAIT?!
-dragon soo the dragon breaks free and chases harry around the castle? no ministry wizards on hand with stunning spells? no one thought to jump on a broom and chase after the 14 year old who's about to get toasted? no one? so you're all just gonna sit there... right ok... um nice.
-fleur and krum had about three words each.
ok ok i geddit...film makers interpretation... stylistic choice... individual adaptation...etc

so there is my rant about why i disagree with GoF as a film. without readin the book there are some plot holes. ...rant...
i really hope i havnt come across as one of those idiots who condemn a harry potter film just coz hermione's hair isnt as bushy as it should be, coz im reeally not that guy. i see these films as what they are. adaptations.

-doodie

edit: im not all hate. loved the graveyard, the maze, prefect's bathroom, learning to waltz, oh and the "I told Hermione to tell you that Seamus told me that Parvati told Dean that Hagrid was looking for you."

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timmoishere posted:

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You should definitely see POA. It will take over OOTP's top spot on your list.

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NateCaauwe posted:

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he over-covers things in scenes that we really don't need to be paying as much attention to (why do we need three or four shots in a row (and also cross the line) of Harry cowering against the wall (oh, and why doesn't Harry get behind the wall?) while the two greatest wizards in history battle it out behind us?)

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