Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...

[fajrdrako]

Possibly my favourite of the Harry Potter movies, which is odd, since it was my least favourite of the books. The direction seemed particularly good. Or maybe I was just in the mood for it last night.

1. It seemed nicely moody. Harry's bad mood put me off in the book, but was very effective onscreen - largely thanks to Daniel Radcliffe's acting. He has become quite impressive. He kept making me think of Clark Kent - not Tom Welling, but Clark as he used to be in the Superboy comics of my childhood.



2. I loved Snape particularly. He didn't have a big part, but it was wonderful. Alan Rickman's voice - ! I like his role here, too. It isn't as adversarial with Harry as usual.
   
   
3. I usually dislike Dumbledore, and liked him this time round. Despite the fact that I find his explanation to Harry that he didn't help him because he wanted to protect him, to be the lamest thing I ever heard. I'm not buying it.



4. The Weasely twins were wonderful, as always.



5. Hermione has become beautiful, and has lost some of her more annoying quirks. I loved her delight in breaking the rules. Even Ron was interesting enough this time round, and has some really good moments.



6. Hagrid's half-brother was fun.



7. Dolores Umbridge was terrifying.

Comments

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

Despite the fact that I find his explanation to Harry that he didn't help him because he wanted to protect him, to be the lamest thing I ever heard. I'm not buying it.

I know! I don't recall exactly what he said in the book, but surely it wasn't that lame? "I didn't want you to be tempted"? Tempted to do what?

I liked how they handled Sirius. I felt just a bit better about Sirius' whole arc after watching the movie. Which is pretty sad, when you think about it. ;)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I liked how they handled Sirius, too. He really did seem connected to Harry and he carried off a certain understated heroic stature.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

"I usually dislike Dumbledore, and liked him this time round. Despite the fact that I find his explanation to Harry that he didn't help him because he wanted to protect him, to be the lamest thing I ever heard. I'm not buying it."

Well, isn't he 'ignoring' Harry in the book because he knows Voldemort is channeling him? And Dumbledore does have that moment at the end of a chapter where he confesses he didn't tell Harry about the prophecy sooner because he felt Harry had already suffered too much and D. cared so much for him. Dumbledore is a softy, despite all his power.

I felt the same way you did, as did many of my friends. Most of us weren't hugely fond of the book and were put off by Harry's angst in it, but really enjoyed the movie. Interesting. My only wish would be that they added in another half hour just to deal a little more with developing relationships. But I didn't miss it either.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore is a softy, despite all his power.

Yes, which is a good part of the reason I don't usually like him. He's too soft for the position he's in, and people suffer for it. Somehow this bothered me less here that in the movie - I got the sense that he really did want to to better, and he misjudged the right approach. That, I can buy. Not weak justifications for doing too little too late! Especially when Sirius ended up dead because of the unfolding of events.

I wish Cho had more of a role, but she really didn't in the book, either. She was just on the edge of being interesting. As it is... just a pretty face.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Total agreement. I have just got back from seeing it. The script was a magnificent filleting exercise, concentrating on the essentials, and produced a story that was far better focussed than the book.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I thought the movie was much better - more entertaining. The visuals and the cutting really helped.

[toraks.livejournal.com]

Loved it, while the book just annoyed me. They did a great job of cutting and casting -- loved Delores Umbridge and Luna Lovegood! Umbridge was especially believable -- tough because inside she was scared to death. sort of, at least! But all in all, she was scary as hell!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't even remember Luna Lovegood from the book, but I liked her in the movie.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

You folks all feel the exact opposite of the way I do about it. All the comments you're making are how I feel about the movie of HP4. This one felt sliced and diced to me, and I was particularly unhappy with Sirius's death. It was so anticlimactic compared to Cedric Diggory's.

It'll do, though. At least till #6 comes out.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I might feel differently if I'd liked the book better. I'm going to see it again next week, we'll see what I think think, then. I don't remember much about the last movie, I confess - including Cedric's death.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I was not fond of the book, either, but then I didn't like book four at all, and I loved its movie.

AAMOF, I like 1-3 and 6. I guess we'll see about 7 [g].

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. 7 is the big mystery!

My favourite of the books was Azkaban. Was that three?

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Mine, too, pretty much. I wasn't as fond of its movie, though.

[walkingdaydream.livejournal.com]

1. I pretty much figured I'd shoot myself in the foot before ever considering Daniel Radcliffe a good actor, but I have to agree with you.

2. Alan Rickman's voice makes me melty.

4. I wished for a lot more of the Weasley twins. They were pretty much my favourite part of the book.

7. Terrifying, but in a delightfully pink and giggly way! I loved Umbridge. Not in the book, but the movie version was oh, so entertaining.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's ncie to see Daniel Radcliffe improving in skills and maturity.

Alan Rickman's voice is like no other.

I'd be happy for a whole movie about the Weasley twins. A whole book, too.

[atheneunknown.livejournal.com]

I absolutly adored Hagrids half brother, and his crush on Hermonie was almost the sweetest part of the movie.

I'm glad Daniel is such a good actor, they could've over done his teen angst so easily, but he did it brilliantly.

The Weasely twins were hillarious, love them to bits.

And may I say, that every single one of the boys is growing up to be quite attractive, even Ron, and I usually don't find Red hair very attractive.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, not overdoing Harry's angst was a good move. Even Sirius' death was understated.

I do like red hair but I don't like Rupert Grint. He was, however, at his best here, for what it's worth, and didn't annoy me as much as usual.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

Glad to see you liked it. The reviews in the Dutch newspapers were devastating. (Basically, lousy plot, doesn't add anything to the book, only good for fankids).
I'll have to wait a bit before I can go see it though. I promised my sister to take her, she lives in Deventer and it will take a bit before she has the energy to spent a weekend overhere.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hadn't paid any attention to the reviews, though my impression here is that they were pretty good. I do think the climax of the story was confusing as to what was happening - but it didn't matter much. Just think of it as Magic Stuff and it's okay.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I picked up the book after I'd seen the movie. I'd been severely put off the books by some of the more extreme stuff in Goblet of Fire, so actually have never finished that book, either. I picked up this one just to see if some of the upsetting stuff in the movie had been in the book as well, and if so, in what form.

What I mean by "upsetting": the house-elf of the Black family; and Hagrid's half-brother. The audience at the movie reacted to each of them as if they were unthinking, unfeeling things. This bothered me. I saw the same sort of audience reaction in The Village: when Ivy, the blind girl, ran full-tilt into a wall that was on the road she was reading with her feet, nearly everyone in the place laughed derisively. Same thing here. When Hermione and Harry took Dolores Umbridge back intot he forest to where Grawp had been, and they saw the rope only, some brilliant and normal person near me said plainly, "Oh, no, he got loose!" as if we were talking about a dumb animal.

Which, I saw from the book, we were not QUITE, but nearly.

The house-elf is extremely problematic for me. First, his name: Creature. Yes, I know it's spelled "Kreatur." Big deal! He's called "creature." The book does explain why he's so bitter and nasty, but it amounts to little more than his being currently held as a slave so that he cannot tell the Order's secrets, being bound to the family meaning he's bound not to harm them. I found the entire thing disturbing.

I find Rowling's writing disturbing on many levels. For one thing, I don't think she's any better than a moderately-good writer, certainly not on a level with, oh, Anne McCaffrey. I have no idea why her books have become so popular. She hit the market at just the right moment, I suppose. And good for her. I hear she's done all sorts of literacy work with her wealth now, and other charitable stuff that does real good in the world. I just don't like her writing, is all. To each their own!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What I mean by "upsetting": the house-elf of the Black family

I hated him in both the movie and the book. The best I can say about the movie is that they only featured him briefly. He really creeped me out. (I don't like any of the house elves; ghastly concept.) Yes, the idea is very disturbing.

I agree with you about Rowling's writing. I would add that I find some of her concepts trite and some of her thinking unpleasant. But I too find her books 'a good read', page-turners, and though I'm not a big fan, I do tend to enjoy the reading of them. Not so with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix so much, but it was okay, and I did prefer the movie.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Not so with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix so much, but it was okay, and I did prefer the movie.

I'm finding that the book is pretty vile. The director of the movie said that he liked how the audiences gasped when Harry shouted at Ron -- well, compared to the shouting in the book, the movie shout was practically not there at all... in the book, this went on for three or four pages. I understand that Rowling said that "any normal child would have been institutionalized" after all that she'd put Harry through, seeing Cedric killed and all... and, yes, she portrays him as a kid in crisis. But for what point, huh? This is H/C fic without the C!

I've always thought her take on "schoolboy fiction" was unimaginative and hackneyed, what with the bullies who never get punished, the unfairness woven into the Hogwarts four-house structure... and now, in the book, I realize that she has crossed my line by writing the Dursleys as utter pigs, and stupid to boot. I see no point in it. But I do appreciate how the movie skimmed over that stuff, I do. I'm with you -- I prefer the movie.

Come Friday, there will be a truck-trailer parked at our loading dock, at the door to the extreme right of the yard if it's like last time, full of Harry Potter books and sealed up tight till a certain hour when we can open it and start distributing the pallets (yes, pallets!!) for dispatch to the towns in Westmoreland County on Saturday. Ah, many letter carriers will have sore shoulders on Saturday....

It's fun being in on it one last time.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The director of the movie said that he liked how the audiences gasped when Harry shouted at Ron -- well, compared to the shouting in the book, the movie shout was practically not there at all...

Yes. I found that a relief. We saw how angry and upset Harry was - he says so - but we didn't have to live with it in the same way.

This is H/C fic without the C!

Hee - well said! I suppose there is comfort in the fact that Harry does get better, and overcomes both his temper and his distress. But maybe mostly because it's displaced by other sources of distress - now he can angst over the death of Sirius, not just the death of Cedric.

she has crossed my line by writing the Dursleys as utter pigs, and stupid to boot.

Yes, always. They're annoying, too.

I definitely prefer the movie. I even liked the way the movie portrayed Dudley in the beginning.

Deliveries of the book on Saturday will have the whole world laden down with paper!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

This is H/C fic without the C!

I have to ask (she says timidly). What is H/C fic?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hurt/comfort. A popular fanfic genre in which one character is hurt and the other character helps and comforts him. I've always notoriously hated h/c stories, though I've been told I've written some. Perhaps it's all in the eye of the beholder!