No midnight show, but depending upon the availability of tickets we're going tomorrow. Happily, I might add. I was a Potterhead before my son was.

At my megaplex all 8 of the 2d shows and all 3 of the 3d shows are sold out.  There are tickets for the 3 am show, though.

Well, remember that snafu with the car?  Turned out the only way to make things work was for me to drive 45 minutes each way to my wife's job, drop her off about 6 pm, then bring the kids to the theater, dropping them off about 10:30, then driving the 45 minutes each way to get my wife from work about 1 am, then driving back to the movie theater to get the girls about 2:30 am.  Man did I get snookered by life yesterday, I felt like I'd been cast in an updated remake of a Michael Keaton movie, Mr. Soccer Mom. 

So I haven't even seen the damned movie yet, but three 12 year old girls came out saying it was 'the best movie ever', before they refrained from further comments under threats of violence.

Last edited by Max (7/15/2011 3:37 pm)

I haven't seen it but intend to this weekend. The primary complaint I've heard so far is stuff that was in the book was left out of the movie. I thought that was the drawback of the sixth movie. I understand you can't get every chapter from a 600-page book into a 2 1/2-hour movie, but they left out some of the more compelling parts, which is supposedly why the split DH into two parts.
And the problem I had with DH 1 was the same I had with the first half of the book - there was too much attention paid to Harry, Hermione and Ron wandering around looking for horcruxes when they could have gotten into the action earlier.

forsberg_us wrote:

To avoid playing spoiler, let's pick this up after people who are interested have seen the movie.

Sounds good.

I watch Original Sin the other night.  I saw Angelina Jolia's boobs.  Anyone want to discuss that?

APRTW wrote:

I watch Original Sin the other night.  I saw Angelina Jolia's boobs.  Anyone want to discuss that?

Go back earlier and watch the one where she plays the model who got AIDS.  Not just boobs but good lesbie scenes.

Here's the thing with boobs, if we are to have a discussion, when I was young, any old saggy misshapen boobs were good enough to arouse my interest.  But as I got older and more discriminating, I am a bit ashamed to admit that I have a strong preference for the firm variety, those that express the supra-areolar convexity, as I like to call it.  There's much more to say along those lines, but I'm not sure anyone else is interested.

Last edited by Max (8/09/2011 12:09 am)

Is there any reason not to begin this discussion? I have been a potter-fan long before they ever made a movie, and own all of the books, and almost all of the movies.

I will refrain from posting spoilers for a little longer to be safe.

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE AND PLAN TO, PLEASE SPEAK UP OR AVOID THIS THREAD

Max,

In reading your posts, I take it you did not read the books.  As with many movies made from best-selling books, the movies have to leave certain things out that otherwise wouldn't capture the attention of the average movie-going audience.

Throughout the books, the Sorting Hat plays a prominent role, both in the placement of witches and wizards in their respective houses, but also the ability to provide what is needed.  I can't remember whether the movie accurately depicted it, but in the book, Chamber of Secrets, when Harry is about to become lunch for the Basilisk, Dumberdore's phoenix, Fawkes brings Harry the Sorting Hat, and Griffendor's sword appears in the hat.  In the book version of Deathly Hallows, after Harry's purported death, Voldemort attempts to torture Neville and puts the Sorting Hat on Neville's head as part of a spell to burn him.  The sword appears in the hat, and Neville uses it to kill Nagini.

Regarding Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, one major storyline that was left out of the Deathly Hallows movies was the Rita Skeeter's book about Dumbledore's life.  One of the big issues is that Albus' relationship with Gellert Grindewold (the character who is shown in the movie stealing the Elder Wand).  Grindewold wanted Albus to join him in taking over the wizarding world, and in a fight between the two, Dumbledore's sister, Arriana is killed, which is why Aberforth harbors so much animosity towards Albus.  Again, one of the subplots of the books (somewhat developed in the movie) is that Harry should not place blind trust in Albus, because Albus isn't trustworthy.  Aberforth's perceptions are substantiated when Harry looks into Snape's memory and learns that Albus knew the whole time that Harry must be kept alive so he could eventually be "killed" be Voldemort.  Aberforth's character doesn't really play much of a role in the books until Deathly Hallows, but without the backstory of Dumbeldore, his appearance in the movie makes little sense.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and plan to see it again.  My main issue was with the ending.  I fully expected them to expand on the Battle for Hogwarts because it made for good cinema, but the way it played out didn't make sense.  In the movie, Harry springs back to life and begins his duel with Voldemort before Nagini has been killed.  Harry would know full well that a duel with Voldemort at that point would be futile because until Nagini is dead, Voldemort can't be killed.  In the book, Harry remains "dead" until Neville kills Nagini, at which point he leaps out of Hagrid's arms and confronts Voldemort with the facts that Voldemort doesn't possess the powers behind the Elder Wand.  I get that the directors/producers were trying to add dramatic effect with the hunt for Nagini being carried out simultaneous to the duel between Harry and Voldemort, but knowing that Nagini was a Horcrux, there's no reason for those things to be happening at the same time.

With respect to the Malfoys, keep in mind that Ms. Malfoy actually saves Harry's life (after Harry saved Draco) by pronouncing him dead to Voldemort when, in fact, he was not.  I suppose that get's her and the family a pass.

"the complicated relationship with Snape."

The Snape thing is really kind of glossed over in the movie, but in the book it's one of the more powerful chapters. Thus is the problem I had with the entire series, at least after Prisoner of Azkaban, when the books started getting longer and the producers had to be more selective about what went into the films.
The most disappointing omission for me was the lack of the Tom Riddle storyline. The most fascinating passages in the sixth book, at least for me, were the ones with his ancestral Gaunts. There was absolutely no mention of his mother in the entire film series, unless it was a passing one and I missed it, and he only refers to his Muggle-born father once or twice.
I also would have preferred some inclusion about the line of possession of the Horcruxes. Rowling explains the rationale quite vividly, but in the movies it's kind of just passed off as, "Well, he likes shiny things ..."
Fors' issues with how the Battle of Hogwarts unfolded are mine, as well. Had I not read the book, I would have been entirely confused. For instance, having not been in the movie for the first two hours, Hagrid just kind of shows up at the end. What the hell?
And the very end in the movie, while an accurate account of what happens in the book, doesn't capture the emotion of what was written on the pages. It's just sort of throwaway scene of passing the torch to the next generation of Weasleys and Potters and Malfoys at Hogwarts, but the book gives you so much more description.
Again, on the whole I thought the entire series was exceptional, and I understand the time constraints of fitting a book into a movie. But there were just plot lines in the book that could have been handled better in the movie.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (8/09/2011 11:42 am)

Horcrux selection, great point. They do take great pains to explain that Riddle would not want any ordinary piece of shit housing part of his soul. Instead he chose items that were personally owned by the owners of the great houses, though never getting anything from Gryffindor.

Snape relationship, they at least took the time for Harry to go into the pensive. Thank goodness, otherwise naming his son Albus Severus would have seemed a bit bonkers.

"Snape relationship, they at least took the time for Harry to go into the pensive. Thank goodness, otherwise naming his son Albus Severus would have seemed a bit bonkers."

Especially the part about "He was the bravest man I've ever known."