You are late to the party on this.

Me too.

GOBLET's fun, but it never reaches the scope that it should, and it's significantly worse than the book (whereas PRISONER OF AZKABAN, to me, is actually an improvement on the source). I actually think GOF is closer to the worst of the films than the best.

Newell screwing up the graveyard confrontation is as befuddling to me as someone making the parting of the Red Sea boring. How is that even possible? (But you pulled it off, Ridley!)

???

I think the graveyard scene in Goblet is the best sequence out of all the HP movies. From the second they take the portkey until the end of the movie, it's just awesome. (I also love the endings of OOTP and HBP, but not DH). The graveyard scene follows one of the most disappointing scenes compared to the book, the maze. What a letdown that was.

As for POA, I think the shrieking shack scene is too short. I also had a problem with Harry's patronus not being a full on stag. Otherwise it's pretty solid, though Radcliffe's acting was pretty shaky still.

The graveyard scene is an absolute disappointment. It has no sense of scale and its most vital plot point -- why their wands connect -- is utterly ignored, to the point DEATHLY HALLOWS has to awkwardly explain it years later to justify its own story.

David Yates is the only one, starting with the 6th movie, who I think perfectly nailed the tone of the books without pandering to the "include-every-scene" group. Say what you will about them excluding the battle at the end of that movie (by the way, this is 100% necessary and their reasons for doing it make total and complete sense - I will honestly accept no other argument) but the scene where Harry and Snape confront each other and he reveals himself as the Half-Blood Prince is a perfect movie moment.

Cutting the battle from HBP was absolutely the right decision.

I absolutely agree on this. HBP might be my favorite movie of the series. It hits all the right notes.

However, the face off at the end of DH2 was all wrong. I wanted to see the confrontation if front of the whole school as Harry explains why and how he's about to defeat Voldemort. I wanted to see all the fighting stop as Harry walked in. I actually wanted to see the scene staged just like the book. Instead it got changed a lot and in my opinion was far less effective than it should have been.

That was the point though. No one knew why the wands connected. Why should the audience know if the characters don't?

The graveyard scene: Cedric's sudden death is appropriately shocking (would have been even more so if his character had been better developed and the maze had been done better), Voldemort's rise is creepy and fills you with dread, Voldemort playing with Potter, wanting to finish him himself, and then the wand lock are all how I envisioned it when I read the book. The reaction from the crowd and Cedric's father when they return to Hogwarts is excellent.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I truly believe this is the best sequence in the series.

Cutting the battle is the least of that film's problems. Regardless of the fact that it would have been redundant, it is a huge plot point that is the equivalent of ending POA before they go back in time or GOF before impostor Moody is discovered. But I really don't care about that. But really the whole point of the sixth should have been to find out about Voldemort's past and how to defeat him. Instead, all the focus was on who was dating who, who liked who, who was jealous of who was dating who.

And the Snape thing at the end felt really shoehorned. They mentioned the Half Blood Prince about 4-5 times throughout the movie, and people who hadn't read the book were probably like "Half-Blood Prince? What is he talking about? Oh yeah, the guy they mentioned who wrote that book or something that we haven't seen, heard or talked about for a half hour of film." Plus they didn't include Snape's "DON'T-- CALL ME COWARD!" which is absolutely heartbreaking when you know he's really on their side.

For one, the scene with Ollivander in the book set it up.

The audience should know because it both explains the huge Deus Ex Machina in the graveyard, and is the basis for Voldemort's actions in DEATHLY HALLOWS. It's hugely important to both this movie and the future of the series, and it's casually cut because the films are starting to assume the audience has all read the books by this point. "You saw your parents that night, didn't you?" YES, DUMBLEDORE, BUT WHY THE HELL DID HE SEE HIS PARENTS?

What's more annoying is that it's a really, really easy thing to get across quickly. You don't even need the GOF Ollivander scene -- just show their wands connecting and then lay in Ollivander's "It is curious that you should be destined for this wand, when its brother gave you that scar" VO from the first movie.

Cool story breh.

I just realized part of the reason I feel I've seen this one more than the others is it repeats the same finale twice so in a way I have seen if more.

An improvement in terms of story extension, characters growing, pacing and acting. The supporting actors have always been the highlight of Potter movies and new additions in here do amazing job (including the new Dumbledore). The three leads show a tremendous growth here. I don't remember the third novel as much now but based on the past two this is a good improvement.

B+

This is the best Potter movie. It's the only one that felt like a film rather than just an adaptation of the book. Obviously the ones that follow are still very good, but they never hit this peak again. Should have kept switching directors instead of giving the keys to Yates.

Movies:

Prisoner
Prince
Order
Goblet
Hallows 2
Hallows 1
Chamber
Sorcerer

Books:

Hallows
Order
Goblet
Azkaban
Prince
Sorcerer
Chamber