Take on HP: Order of the Pheonix...

[Alienblue]

First of all, I want to make it clear that as a NEWBIE Moderator, I said what I did in the hopes that Dave (the VGC) would clarify it for me. I myself think it's ok to talk about anything thats not personal or offensive or pornographic,etc.... but I got the impression the VGC thought otherwise...

VGC, please clarify. If someone posts "I GOT A NEW CAR!" and talks about how cool it is and that it..um..looks like the one in the SPY HUNTER game, is that OK to post?

And guys, thanks for the tips but I watch very few movies (I just caught glimpses of the first HP movie at a freinds), and it's been 8+years since I've read a FICTION book. I read TONS of books, but all Science, Antiques, GAMES, Nature, etc....
I'm a non-fiction nut. Also, I don't do fantasy. Sci Fi am I.

[ActRaiser1]

[QUOTE=Mephisto]

Herman Melville is a great author... It isn't the same. Harry Potter drags on and on...

[/QUOTE]

Funny, but I found the Harry Potter novels to completely fly by.  They're a quick read, well, they should be as they're children books.  They're initially a lighthearted romp with the wonder of magic as the glue that binds everything together.  The novels soon take on a dark turn with life and death choices and moral decisions to be made.  As a series they're quite enjoyable.

If anyone rents the Wii game please share as using your remote as a wand is pretty slick.  Even better is if they reversed the speaker to be a mike and you have to yell out your spells.

[Mephisto]

Most of the novels are a flyby, the 5th one wasn't... I read it for a period of time the day I got it became bored halfway through, and then just decided to read some of Terry Pratchett... Anyways shouting out spells out be cool, and lol imagine sticking your wand up Voldemorts arse.

That brings to mind a question... How many of you have played the Halo 3 beta?

[VideoGameCritic]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]
VGC, please clarify. If someone posts "I GOT A NEW CAR!" and talks about how cool it is and that it..um..looks like the one in the SPY HUNTER game, is that OK to post?
[/QUOTE]

Alienblue,
That's a tough call.  Usually I let something like that go, but if the same person is posting too many questionable topics, I start deleting threads with extreme prejudice!
Dave

[qubit]

Back on topic to the original post...

I have just seen Order of the Phoenix (in IMAX no less!) right smack in the middle of reading Deathly Hallows, which gave me a whole new take on how Michael Gambon portrays Dumbledore (those who have read the book will know why).

My verdict: the BEST movie and WORST book-to-screen adaptation I have ever seen.  Everything except the screenplay was fantastic (even Radcliffe, whose performance here is Oscar-worthy when compared to the tosh he's churned out before).  The music was spot-on (but was it necessary to have an electric guitar?), all the new actors were fantastic and the special effects were breathtaking.

On the downside: what the [expletive] did they do to this poor book?  Being in the (very) small camp of HP devotees who list Order of the Phoenix as their favourite book in the series (though, if DH is as good as it has been now - I'm still reading the bloody thing - this will change), I was extremely disappointed with the adaptation.  My main complaint is not what they cut out, but that what was left in the film was undeveloped, unsatisfying and completely uninformative on such important matters as "What does the propechy ACTUALLY CONTAIN???".  The final movie was short enough that they could have added other content to flesh out characters and explain a bit of the plot, without ruining any of the pacing whatsoever.

Oh yeah, and they ruined Sirius' death, too.  They had it so Bellatrix Lestrange uses Avada Kedavra and Sirius slides into the veil (in the book Bellatrix hits Sirius with a powerful non-lethal spell that knocks him back into the veil).  This may sound like a fanboy's annoying detail-mongering, but trust me, it looked completely awkward and the scene was not traumatic in any sense of the word.  Also, if the manner of how Sirius died is as important in Deathly Hallows as it's being played out to be, the film crew will have a serious issue on their hands (no pun intended) when Film 7 comes along.  They should fire the screenwriter and get someone who cares about being faithful to the series, or else we'll have Snape roundhouse-kicking Dumbledore off the Astronomy Tower in the Half-Blood Prince movie.

Overall: 4 out of 5, even with that terrible screenplay.

[feilong801]

Generally I don't mind tangents if the author is good. Tolkien, one of my favorite authors of any genre, goes on extremely long, detailed tangents. But I find them entertaining. Shoot, his letters and personal correspondance is highly entertaining, much less his actual books (I'm referring to the "Letters of Tolkien" book).

-Rob

[qubit]

feilong, I completely agree.  One of the things I loved about the OotP book was the immense backstory, and I nearly pissed my pants with excitement when *SPOILERS* I read parts of Dumbledore's biography and Harry jumped in the Pensieve and saw Snape's love for Lily in Deathly Hallows.

[Blah]

[QUOTE=qubit]

feilong, I completely agree.  One of the things I loved about the OotP book was the immense backstory, and I nearly pissed my pants with excitement when *SPOILERS* I read parts of Dumbledore's biography and Harry jumped in the Pensieve and saw Snape's love for Lily in Deathly Hallows.

[/QUOTE]

I have no clue how they're going to cram the entire plot of Deathly Hallows into one 2 1/2 hour movie. There's just too many plot points and events that are essential to the story.

[qubit]

OotP should have been three hours, and Deathly Hallows will definitely be 3.  There's simply no other way.  The economy demographic of fans who would sit through a four-hour Harry Potter movie is large enough to make a profit imo.