I would really like to see the Harry Potter movies remade 20 years or so down the line with one competent director and the same cast for all 7 movies. So far this series has had 4 directors in 5 movies. That's made the series very disjointed from one another. One director focuses on certain aspects of the novel, while others focus on the complete opposite. Even though the movies weren't the best, the only ones that actually flowed the with each other were HP1 and HP2 because they had the same director.

While thats not a bad idea, at the same time, the novles themselves are different in theme from book to book. The first two films were perfect for a Director like Columbus, because the first two were more magical and kiddie fantasy, as the books matured, so should the films, and Columbus has had trouble being a darker director in the past. I think Yates is easily the worst director of the films so far. Nothing he did was really too far from conventional, but it worked being it was Movie 5 and he had a lot to work with.

Well Yates will be doing HBP, I guess we will see how that goes.

Will he really? Well hopefully he learned a lot from OOTP and is able to improve with HBP. I know a lot of things were cut out from OOTP to make it shorter with the summer crowd, but hopefully he'll be able to keep more character developement in HBP because it comes out in November.

Thegun brought up a good point that the book are different thematically. That's why the series would need a very versatile director who can do the lighthearted movie while also doing a very dark, character driven piece. But it would be nice to have one consistent vision throughout the series. For example, we started to see the beginning of a possible relationship between Ron and Hermione in Goblet of Fire. And then in OOTP there isn't a single mention of it.

HBP should be similar to GOF when it comes to putting the film together. Instead of the 3 Tasks, we get the Voldemort Flashback scenes. With the stuff between those being the usual. And everyone wanted Yates back (Dan also said this on Larry King Live), and Rowling said OOTP was the best so far, so...

Apparently Fs only counts on the blacklisted films then?

What do you mean?

Just because your movie sucks doesn't mean you have to whine about it not being on the level of other, far superior films.

Actually there are some hints of Ron and Hermione. Like when Ron tells Hermione she is a wonderful person, you can see Hermione blush. Also when Harry tells Hermione that she has an admirer (towards Grawp) Ron gets very jealous. Also, OOTP only had small hints like that too.
About Yates, this was his first big film, so I think he can learn a lot about what to do. Oh does anybody else hope they bring back John Williams? The music was never great, IMO and I really would like to see the death have some great music.

He wants the F removed because nobody has accounted for it.

Yet there are hundreds of F grades unaccounted for all over the entire board. Not only Fs. As too. All sorts of grades go unclaimed. Why not remove all of them too?

The Ron/Hermione thing was definitely stressed with Grawp, but other than that it was really kind of ignored.

The music was overall unimpressive. There was no new theme really, and the emotional climaxes aren't done well most of the time. The possession music was pretty nice, and music played over the return to Hogwarts after the holiday was quite noteworthy, but overall it is very noticable that Nic Hooper is not in the same caliber as Williams or even Doyle. His only notable compositions have been for TV, and he was definitely not ready for a project of this size and weight. It was overall sufficient though. Just not as stunning as POA or emotional as GoF.

Yes I agree it just didn't stand out, it was just there. I would love to see Williams come back really. I think he could make a great piece with the Phoenix Lament.

No he wants it removed because I gave it an F and then later retracted it.

I actually found the score of the first three HP movies to be very, very good. I found the score to be very very average in GOF and OOTP. So yes I sure hope they bring back John Williams, for HP7 at the least.

Hooper is also returning for HBP. They are keeping many parts of the crew the same as OOTP.

Not quite shite but below average I'll add.

I only have to quote this to point out your asshole-ishness. Don't even need to say a word.

I don't even need to QUOTE you to point out YOUR "asshole-ishness"

I just want to clarify, that while it's true that there are tons of films with unclaimed Fs, there has been a clear trend for such films as Ratatouille and Children of Men to remove Fs that aren't accounted for. True, it's usually for films that have only As and Bs, but if you're gonna take em away on some big films, it should be expected that fans of all big films will not want possible "fake" Fs on the polls for their favorites, too. Not that any of this matters, since apparently someone not only claimed the grade, but has asked for it to be changed, but I'm just saying...the idea doesn't come from thin air.

I stand corrected. My mistake

I saw it for a third time last night, this time on IMAX 3D. What a fucking EXPERIENCE! Fantastic.

I forgot all about there is a 3D version! Must remember to check it out.

B


Every single Harry Potter movie made thus far could have been better, considering the source material. The newest entry to the franchise is no exception. Sadly, however, this is also the first movie in the series not to improve over its predecessor. The last Harry Potter flick, Goblet of Fire, was definitely my favorite so far and for the first time I felt like the movie captured the book really well. That said, the book was still a lot better, but the movie was more than solid. Now Alfonso Cuaron has already captured the visual feel of the novels, even though I was not completely fond of his adaptation of the source. Newell continued the style, but the movie was a bit better. I must admit, however that it was also somewhat thanks to the fact that I like the Goblet of Fire book more than PoA (both are great, of course).

Now The Order of the Phoenix is a small step down from Goblet of Fire. I think that this time around, cutting large chunks of the book did not quite benefit the adaptation. I was missing several scenes that I really liked in the novel. The Christmas hospital visit for one, the more extended Occlumency lessons for another. Umbridge was not given enough time to develop her evil either.

Much like Prisoner of Azkaban, it's not that Order of the Phoenix is a bad movie, it is just a disappointing one, even moreso given the fact that it is currently my second favorite of the series (still have to finish the seventh book, though). I would put it pretty much on par with Prisoner of Azkaban in terms of quality, but they have their strengths in different areas. Whereas PoA wins hands down in the visual style and music department, OotP provides a more interesting and better flowing story which could have benefitted much more from being about 20 minutes longer, though.

Speaking of the positives, however, the cast was as good as usual. The kid actors have got their stuff well by now. Imelda Staunton was a complete delight as Umbridge, but I really wished more scenes for her. Luna was perfectly chosen for the role and played it exactly as I expected. Ralph Fiennes is a great Voldemort. My small complaints are that I wished more of Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon and Helena Bonham Carter who made a great Bellatrix for the few moments she was on screen. Other character that I really missed were Tonks and Sirius who barely had any screentime. I've also gotta say that Sirius death didn't have much an emotional impact sadly, even Cedric's death resonated much more with me.

There are some truly great scenes among this flawed adaptation too, all of the Dumbledore's Army scenes belong to those as well as Fred and George's Escape. I've gotta say, however, that the final showdown between Voldemort and Dumbledore disappointed me. It was much better in the novel.

So far it's:

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - B+
2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix/Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - B
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - B-
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - C

I don't agree with you Doc, but still an incisive an enjoyable review.

The mark of a good reviewer is a person who can give decent details without seeming like a wanker, thankfully KJ has a few of those. Doc is one of them, Moviedude/Jmart/Trixster is another.

Anyhoo I know I sound like a dick but i'm just giving my opinion.

Thanks, Gulli