harry potter and the half blood prince trailer

[The Grumpy Celt]

My guess is that Lucas didn't want things to get that dark from the beginning...

I don't think Anakin and Tom Riddle compare easily. Anakin was on the bubble, so to speak, and the Jedi Council handled him ineptly, which the Sith exploited.

Tom Riddle was always a bad seed and predestined to be a S.O.B. In so far as that goes, he can compare better to Palpatine than to Anakin. Harry was always a good kid and predestined to be a hero.

 

[el-remmen]

Prisoner of Azkaban the worst? Can I ask you why? I haven't read any of books and indifferently watched the first two movies on cable, but I was blown away by Alfonso Curan's take on Harry Potter. It's one of my top five fantasy films, and only reason I kept watching the series.

It felt like a hackjob that did not capture the conflicts and growth of the characters well, and there seemed to be huge plotholes that only made sense if you had read the book - which I had, but that is not the point when judging a movie.

If anything, of the three I saw, Chamber of Secrets is the best one, but then again - it had the most room to improve over the book (being the 2nd worst of the series - the last one is VERY worst - and basically ruined the whole thing for me).

 

[Darth Shoju]

I don't think Anakin and Tom Riddle compare easily. Anakin was on the bubble, so to speak, and the Jedi Council handled him ineptly, which the Sith exploited.

Tom Riddle was always a bad seed and predestined to be a S.O.B. In so far as that goes, he can compare better to Palpatine than to Anakin. Harry was always a good kid and predestined to be a hero.

I agree they don't really compare well, but that was what I was getting at: I would have like to have seen them foreshadow some of the darkness that was in Annikin right from the beginning. He didn't have to be dripping evil, just a bit more creepy and ominous.

But I guess that would have been strange in the same movie that had Jar-Jar stepping in "bantha poodoo"...

 

[Darth Shoju]

It felt like a hackjob that did not capture the conflicts and growth of the characters well, and there seemed to be huge plotholes that only made sense if you had read the book - which I had, but that is not the point when judging a movie.

If anything, of the three I saw, Chamber of Secrets is the best one, but then again - it had the most room to improve over the book (being the 2nd worst of the series - the last one is VERY worst - and basically ruined the whole thing for me).

Huh. That's my favorite of the movies so far (well, except for Order of the Phoenix maybe). I've never noticed any glaring plot holes.

Or maybe I'm just ignoring them. I dunno.

 

[paradox42]

It felt like a hackjob that did not capture the conflicts and growth of the characters well, and there seemed to be huge plotholes that only made sense if you had read the book - which I had, but that is not the point when judging a movie.

If anything, of the three I saw, Chamber of Secrets is the best one, but then again - it had the most room to improve over the book (being the 2nd worst of the series - the last one is VERY worst - and basically ruined the whole thing for me).

Huh. I think this proves the old adage "different strokes for different folks." VERY different strokes in this case. I thought the last book was the best of the series, and so do the other people I know who've read it. Out of curiosity, was your big beef with book 7

Spoiler

the fact that Snape was a "good guy" all along

?

And I found the third movie to be an improvement on the book, particularly in how they handled the

Spoiler

time-loops, which I found more compelling and believable in the movie version than in the book

. My opinion was even reinforced when I went back to re-read the book after seeing the movie- the movie did it better. But movie three was not the best movie so far, in my estimation- I think I'd put movie 4 there right now (though I have high hopes for how the studio's going to handle book 7- splitting it into two movies was a good start).

This trailer whetted my appetite for movie 6 though. Seeing young Tom's story unfold on the big screen should be Most Interesting!

 

[Remus Lupin]

I tend to agree that the last book was weakest. To some degree Rowling set herself up for that, since she had promised so much, and what she promised was so difficult to deliver.

But what WAS in her control was the direction of the plot and the relationships of the charaacters, and for me the long pointless camping trip in the middle could have been cut out easily with very little change in the overall plot. As soon as I finished, I said to my wife, "I could have skipped about 100 pages in the middle and not been worse off for it in the end."

 

[Vocenoctum]

And I found the third movie to be an improvement on the book, particularly in how they handled the time-loops, which I found more compelling and believable in the movie version than in the book. My opinion was even reinforced when I went back to re-read the book after seeing the movie- the movie did it better.

The time loops were okay, either way, though the movie didn't explain it very well. The movie also left out details that would have made more sense overall and kind of felt jumpy. A lot of folks didn't like magic without wands, but that wasn't a big deal to me.

But movie three was not the best movie so far, in my estimation- I think I'd put movie 4 there right now (though I have high hopes for how the studio's going to handle book 7- splitting it into two movies was a good start).

Goblet of Fire was the worst movie for me since they cut large parts of the book out, but then stretched out parts of the movie that didn't need it. (The dragon chasing Harry ALL OVER SCHOOL while the teachers just ignored it...) In addition, the whole "tongue thing" with Mad Eye was just stupid and was a major drawback for me.

Splitting book 7 is a bad idea IMO. I always figured that was the advantage of book7 was that there was so much filler that was easily cut that they didn't need to worry about losing the important bits of the book. Instead they're making another movie out of it!

This trailer whetted my appetite for movie 6 though. Seeing young Tom's story unfold on the big screen should be Most Interesting![/QUOTE]

 

[Pbartender]

It felt like a hackjob that did not capture the conflicts and growth of the characters well, and there seemed to be huge plotholes that only made sense if you had read the book - which I had, but that is not the point when judging a movie.

I think part of the problem, Nemm, was that Prisoner of Azkaban was a bit too ambitious with the plot. In the books, there are a lot of little side plots happening that are interesting, but only superficially important to the main plot. In the movie, they tried really hard to include everything, but due to the length of a typical movie, they only had so much time to spend on each subject. In order to make room for all those little exposition scenes, they had to dig out a few big gaping holes in the plot. The result was a script that was scattered all over the place plot-wise and made about as much sense to people who haven't read the book as David Lynch's original big screen adaptation of Dune.

I'd recommend watching the later movies, if you haven't... They seem to have realized their mistake, and really tightened up the scripts and plots. It's part of the reason why, as Donovan mentions above, the Dobby never shows up in Goblet of Fire and you don't see Ron on the quidditch team in Order of the Phoenix. While interesting in of themselves and perhaps character building when taken in their entirety, they aren't especially necessary to the overall plot and only serve as a useless time-consuming distraction if they can't be fully detailed.

Notice that they seem to have decided to make Deathly Hollows two movies, in order to fit everything in.

 

[el-remmen]

Huh. I think this proves the old adage "different strokes for different folks." VERY different strokes in this case. I thought the last book was the best of the series, and so do the other people I know who've read it. Out of curiosity, was your big beef with book 7

Spoiler

the fact that Snape was a "good guy" all along

?

Naw, the "spoiler" you mention is not what ruined it for me - it was 100 pages spent in a tent arguing over nothing. It was also the very disappointing confrontation with Volde and the lack of a good role for Neville, and the incredibly schmaltzy postscript that seemed more like it was fanfic written by a 14-year old girl than someone any editor worth his/her salt would allow.

In fact, that is my biggest complaint, the whole book felt like it needed a good edit to tighten it up.

I think part of the problem, Nemm, was that Prisoner of Azkaban was a bit too ambitious with the plot. In the books, there are a lot of little side plots happening that are interesting, but only superficially important to the main plot. In the movie, they tried really hard to include everything, but due to the length of a typical movie, they only had so much time to spend on each subject. In order to make room for all those little exposition scenes, they had to dig out a few big gaping holes in the plot. The result was a script that was scattered all over the place plot-wise and made about as much sense to people who haven't read the book as David Lynch's original big screen adaptation of Dune.

I'd recommend watching the later movies, if you haven't... They seem to have realized their mistake, and really tightened up the scripts and plots. It's part of the reason why, as Donovan mentions above, the Dobby never shows up in Goblet of Fire and you don't see Ron on the quidditch team in Order of the Phoenix. While interesting in of themselves and perhaps character building when taken in their entirety, they aren't especially necessary to the overall plot and only serve as a useless time-consuming distraction if they can't be fully detailed.

Funny thing, Pbar - is that I like Dune! I love the book, and obviously the movie is flawed - but there is something about it that works for me.

However, it is the exception to the general case, which is that I think I just don't like movie adaptations in most cases - I prefer for things to simply remain in the medium it was created in/for (the upcoming Watchmen is a perfect example).

Maybe I'll give movie 4 a chance some day - I am not totally against seeing it, but for now there is always something I'd like to see more. . . Oh, and like I said before Book 7 was so horrible in my opinion that it kind of took the shine off the whole series for me.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Ooh me likey