Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ***Spoilers***

There's been a little talk about where the split in the book will be, I still say that the first DH film will end just after Godric's Hollow and right before Ron gets back. it's about halfway though and is a good stopping and starting point.

Imagine starting the second DH film with Harry seeing the Doe!

 

Personally, I think it would be great to make the break after Ron gets back and just as the Death Eaters show up after Harry exposes them by saying Voldemort's name. It wraps up Ron's arc and creates enough suspense to keep people interested to come back to see the next movie.

 

Agreed. I know that we are still two films away from the end of the series, not including HBP, but what Warner Bros. has done with Harry Potter is truly monumental. They announced from the start that they were going to adapt all seven books and now they are with striking distance of achiving that goal. On top of that, they have kept the same cast together for all eight films. Additionally the five films that have been released thus far have been mindbogglingly successful. I really think that Warner Bros. deserves some sort of honorary Oscar or something for what it has achieved with Harry Potter, because IMHO these movies, collectively, are up there with the original King Kong, 2001 and Star Wars as one of the great technical achievements in the history of film. The only productions I can think of that rival the scope of Harry Potter are Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and maybe Jim Cameron's Titanic. As Merlin says, to be six films into an eight film arc and still see the cast and crew bringing their A-game is astounding.

 

Agreed and agreed! Very well said, Chancellor.

The Potter films tend not to be taken seriously as cinema, even among sci-fi/fantasy fans, who largely dismiss the series as children's films. That they may be, but even so they're damn good, sometimes genius-level, children's films, which are maturing perforce with the age of the characters and the expertise of the filmmakers. Contrast SS or CoS to what we're seeing of HBP and it's like comparing early, work-for-hire Hitchcock to later triumphs like Vertigo or The Birds. Insert your own analogy here; the point is the Potter series has come a long way, and deserves to be taken seriously, even embraced by the fan community and the Academy.

 

I have had the thought, more than once, that 20 or 30 years from now, Warner Bros. will be remembered as the Hammer Studios of SFF and comic book films. From The Matrix Trilogy, to Harry Potter, to Chris Nolan's Batman films, Bryan Singer's Superman Returns and Zack Snyder's Watchmen, they have given us string of bonafide classics and a few films that are candidates for masterpiece status.

 

How about replacing "Hammer" in your above analogy with "Universal"? The Hammer horror "classics" of the 50s - 70s are largely garish, low-budget and (IMO) tedious affairs, while the Universal films that inspired them are (mostly) stylish and effective masterpieces. But that's nitpicking. All in all I think you make some excellent points, and the list of recent genre greats produced by WB is astonishing in its consistency and the brilliance of its cinema.

 

Heard some rather interesting reports from the DH set about Dobby's death

 

Link, please?

 

I've seen 2 screenshots of the above. Only with the actors and the setting, of course.

 

Pic, please?

 

It was on mugglenet earlier, looks like one of the pics is down, but here's another: spoiler.

They've also confirmed that Jamie Campbell Bower will be playing Gwindelwald. (the guy who played Anthony in the new Sweeney Todd movie)

Do you htink they'll include a hint that Dumbledore was in love with Gwindelwald in the movie? Or would hinting they're gay be too controversial?

 

It's Grindelwald, and no, their sexuality was not mentioned in the book and so probably won't be mentioned in the film(s) -- except perhaps by implication during a flashback showing that they were friends and that Dumbledore admired G.

 

admired... heh right...
-doodie

 

Well, he did admire him. I realize you're making a joke, I just want to be clear that love -- especially young love -- often includes a kind of awe or feeling of admiration.

 

Lots of pictures and here

I particularly like the dobby doll

One question: Why the hell is Luna not there? She says those parting ords to Dobby and Harry is too sad to speak and Hermione has just been tortured.

Jamie Campbell-Bower will be playing Grindlewald.

 

New clip!

I wonder if the architect for the orphanage is the same one who deisgned the Ministry of Magic.

 

Actor playing Draco looks way to old to be playing teenage kids anymore.

Hopefully he'll get a career of some kind in spite of these movies.

 

Born in September 1987, Tom Felton was 21 when the new movie, HBP, was shot. He's playing a 6th-year student/17-year-old. That's not too drastic an age difference in Hollywood terms, where actors in their late 20s will often portray high-schoolers. But I do see your point.

I too hope Felton continues to get work after the Potter series is done in 2011. Among other roles, I think he would be a good fit for an Elric of Melnibone series. He's made other films in between Potter productions, such as the upcoming 13Hrs and Emma of Lulworth Cove.

 

ONE MORE WEEK until it is out!

Also, Bill Nighy will be Scrimegour in Deathly Hallows.

 

I'm hopefully going to be seeing this on opening night, so long as there isn't some sort of big catastrophe between now and then.

 

Of course he is! The only other actor that could possibly have fit the role was Kelsey Grammar, and his English accent is dodgy. Nighy will be subtly spectacular as usual, I'm sure.

 

I must say that all the HBP tv spots are driving me crazy, and I agree that this Potter movie looks like it will definitely be one of the best. I'm going to do my very best to get a midnight showing.

 

Opening night is a must for me and, I hope, my wife. Of course I'll feel odd if I'm a single 39-year-old man, wearing a "Chamber of Secrets" t-shirt, standing around in line with a bunch of 16-year old girls. Actually, that did happen at the Potterthon in 2004! Yes, my wife's presence will ensure I don't look creepy hanging out at this teenage parade. I loves me some Potter, what can I do? Thank God she loves Potter, too. (But she dislikes crowds, which is why I'll have to talk her into opening night.

 

One scene will make or break this movie for me and that is the Death of Dumbledore scene.

 

The review in todays News of the Screws here in the UK wasn't very good.