It was more than that if I'm not mistaken. There was a time when there was a huge push to promote literacy in US. Harry Potter was one of the books that got pushed into the kids gruby little hands to read. It snowballed from there.
Not to mention, my generation has been hooked on Harry Potter since the first one came out in elementary school and habits are hard to break. Harry literally matured with us, staying more or less our age for the last ten years.
I really enjoyed the first five Harry Potter books, but somehow I just could not get past the first 100 pages of Order of the Phoenix. I don't imagine that I will ever finish the series, so I'm content with waiting for the movies. As for the writing, the books are meant for young readers, so I took them for what they are and simply enjoyed the story and the details of the wizarding world. That was probably the most fun for me - the setting and the peculiars of how wizards live. Then again, I'm trained as an anthropologist, so things like that always grab me even if the story/game/etc isn't so great in terms of narrative quality or craft. (Harry Potter - anthropologist porn?)
I just saw the Half-Blood Prince movie on Wednesday, and I have to say it's pretty awesome. Some people have bitched about its deviations from the book, but film is a completely different medium, and has different requirements for keeping viewers engaged. Really, including every passage would make it both boring and far too long. That aside, the movie is very dark (which is definitely to my taste), but interspersed with comedic moments. The balance between the two was handled quite well, with an overarching tension and sense of dread that carries the suspense without becoming overwhelming. I was quite impressed with the cinematography and the composition of the shots - the movie always manages to hint at trouble and what's coming next, often having Harry Potter &co in the foreground doing stuff, with interesting and foreshadowing things happening with side characters in the background. There are plenty of genuinely moving moments too, mostly involving Dumbledore (the water drinking scene and the memorial), and it seems Dan Radcliffe's acting has really improved. The special effects are also beautiful and tasteful, and one cannot deny Alan Rickman's sexy. Overall, I'd say it's the best Potter movie so far.
My only gripe is the stupid teen romance angst. Too many of the subplots involve who will hook up with whom, and while it might be appealing to shippers, the romances aren't really developed in a way that stimulates my sympathy or feelings. It's a small criticism, however, compared to the other merits of the film.
As far as the books go, I really enjoyed them. I read them in a completely ass backwards order (5, 3, 4, 6, 7), and I saw the first 2 movies before reading any of the books, so I kind of just skipped those books and read the wikipedia articles to see what the movie left out/changed from the books. I'm content with that decision. I really like how the books are targeted to a younger audience, partly because I read some of the books while I was pretty young, and also because I have really shitty reading comprehension skills, so the mostly simplistic language that the book uses is appealing to me.
As for the movies, I can't really be perfectly content with any of them since they really leave so much out, and in the case of a few movies (3rd and 6th mostly), leave a SHITLOAD out. The acting, settings, and special effects (especially in the 6th) are all awesome, though.
My only gripe is the stupid teen romance angst. Too many of the subplots involve who will hook up with whom, and while it might be appealing to shippers, the romances aren't really developed in a way that stimulates my sympathy or feelings. It's a small criticism, however, compared to the other merits of the film.
This. The 6th movie definitely focused too much on all the hooking up. They could have cut some of that out and put in some of the content that they left out from the book.
Rotten Tomatoes gave it 89%
First off, do you realize that RT doesn't actually rate things? It didn't give the movie anything, it just averaged movie reviews. Anyhow, though, it's down to an 86%, and right after the midnight showing in the east coast, it was at a 95%. I'm personally glad to see it come down, because while the special effects were awesome, they left so much shit out that the movie was pretty choppy.
The movie was long!
But not long enough! They really should have made this movie a 2 parter...I mean really, I understand that shit has to be left out and/or changed in order to maintain a proper length, and to make it marketable for Hollywood, but they left out a lot of extremely important shit, and instead chose to focus on a bunch of teen romance for the first half of the movie.
My only gripe is the stupid teen romance angst. Too many of the subplots involve who will hook up with whom, and while it might be appealing to shippers, the romances aren't really developed in a way that stimulates my sympathy or feelings. It's a small criticism, however, compared to the other merits of the film.
This. The 6th movie definitely focused too much on all the hooking up. They could have cut some of that out and put in some of the content that they left out from the book.
I thought so, too. The growing teenage angst-y love was very prevalent in the book, however, the movie focused on it the wrong way. There was so much "snogging" with Ron and Lavender (who did a horrendous job acting the part, by the way), yet Harry and Ginny got one measly peck in a completely made up scene. What I really hated was how at the very end after... the incident... they are standing there talking like "So yeah the next year will be all about these horcrux things..." and then out of nowhere Hermione is like "OH BTW Ron says you have permission to go out with Ginny!" And they are all happy. I mean, seriously, is that really more important than say... the whole plot of the next book/movies??
My biggest gripe with the sixth film is [the absence of the epic battle at the end. After Dumbledore dies there is supposed to be a battle between the Death Eaters and Hogwarts students and faculty. Instead they just walked on the tables and ran out. I call bullshit.]
I completely agree, but they honestly left out a lot of what I consider are crucial moments in the book. As a continuations of the movies, it was decent. I can understand some of the things they left out, and they did a decent job in improvising. Here are a few of the things I really disliked about the movie:
[1. They didn't concentrate enough on when Harry would go with Dumbledore into the pensieve to see all the past memories in relation to Voldemort. That is one of the biggest things of this book. It got Harry to know about Voldemort and his past, and how he came to be. I would have loved to see the first memory of the Minister of Magic employee going to see the Gaunt family, especially Voldemort's mother. 2. They left out the ENTIRE funeral scene for Dumbledore. A whole chapter was dedicated to it. It showed how important Dumbledore was to the wizarding world. I cried more during that chapter then the actual death. 3. The anti-climactic part of when it's revealed that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. The movie is named after it. They didn't focus enough on Harry reading from the book and trying to know more about him. Or the fact that Hermione was very upset about it. 4. The added scenes. Especially the one during Christmas where the Deatheaters come to the Weasley house and Harry and Ginny go running after Beatrix and Fenrir. ]
Here are a few things that I did enjoy:
1. Luna Lovegood. She was brilliant as always. The scene where she is wearing the lion hat was priceless. I adored her Christmas party dress, and wished they focus more on her. They really should have put in more of her lines to where she said the truth, even though brutal, in a very airy manner. 2. Draco Malfoy. I enjoyed that they put more focus on him and he showed how alone he was in his torment of trying to find a way to do Voldemort's task. 3. Quidditch! I love watching those scenes.
The growing teenage angst-y love was very prevalent in the book, however, the movie focused on it the wrong way
I agree with what many people said in which they focused too much on the teenage love/angst parts, when they should have included other parts. Love is a prevalent theme throughout the entire series in which it's what pretty much helps Harry conquer Voldemort. They did focus on the love the wrong way. Some parts where funny, but it took away from the story.
As Dkong said, they should have made this into two movies. I hope David Yates does some justice for Deathly Hallows. We already know there probably won't be a wedding scene in movie seven, so who knows what else he'll keep out.
There were not one, but two Harry Potter conventions going on in my hotel without my realizing, and so I got a Harry Potter overdose during my stay. I must say, Harry Potter fans are out of their minds. I don't mean casual fans, although I tend to wonder why so many people enjoy so many long, poorly written, kiddie books, but the hardcore fans. I'd say of the hundreds of fans I saw, 35% were young women, of the target demographic (12-20 years old), 15% were college-age and twenty-somethings, and the other 50% were women older than 50 or so. I really can't see how so many old women became such rabid fans, but I took special care to try and avoid them at every opportunity, although it was difficult because they were always taking up the elevators and lobby. Those folks were almost entirely crazy.
On to the material itself: I was a HP fan when I was younger, almost a decade ago, and I enjoyed them greatly. It's just a British boarding school tale with a bit of added flavor, and not a particularly good one, at that. I read all the books after I had grown out of them out of a sense of obligation, and I began to realize that these were not, in fact, great works of literature, but derivative and poorly written pulp fantasy books that turned into a soap opera halfway through.
The movies were considerably better than the books, and I enjoy them somewhat. The main thing is the films do a lot better job at telling the story than the books, primarily because there's not all that padding and filler that makes the books thousands of pages long, and with few exceptions the actors are really great at their roles (it was a bit forced in the first two or three, but they have really come into their own). The movies took something long and trashy and made it good and concise.
the other 50% were women older than 50 or so. I really can't see how so many old women became such rabid fans,
Probably by reading the books to their children/grandchildren. I had a friend whose mother was reading them to her granddaughter, and would always end up reading ahead and finishing the book herself long before she finished reading it to the kid.
the other 50% were women older than 50 or so. I really can't see how so many old women became such rabid fans,
Probably by reading the books to their children/grandchildren. I had a friend whose mother was reading them to her granddaughter, and would always end up reading ahead and finishing the book herself long before she finished reading it to the kid.
Trust me, those folks were not of the reproducing sort.
This movie was problematic for me, as it caused me to look back at the books. At the time I read them, I realized, I thought they were awesome. Looking at them last night, however, I found that a lot of the charm was gone and the writing is difficult to cut through. Regardless, though, I enjoy them out of nostalgia, and they're not *too* bad when you can power through any given one in a day like I can.
*SPOILER ALERT. THERE'S TOO MANY IN THIS POST TO WARRANT THE USE OF COLORING THEM OUT, CAUSE THEN THE WHOLE POST WOULD BE WHITE*
1. They didn't concentrate enough on when Harry would go with Dumbledore into the pensive to see all the past memories in relation to Voldemort. That is one of the biggest things of this book. It got Harry to know about Voldemort and his past, and how he came to be. I would have loved to see the first memory of the Minister of Magic employee going to see the Gaunt family, especially Voldemort's mother. 2. They left out the ENTIRE funeral scene for Dumbledore. A whole chapter was dedicated to it. It showed how important Dumbledore was to the wizarding world. I cried more during that chapter then the actual death. 3. The anti-climactic part of when it's revealed that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. The movie is named after it. They didn't focus enough on Harry reading from the book and trying to know more about him. Or the fact that Hermione was very upset about it. 4. The added scenes. Especially the one during Christmas where the Deatheaters come to the Weasley house and Harry and Ginny go running after Beatrix and Fenrir]
1. Luna Lovegood. She was brilliant as always. The scene where she is wearing the lion hat was priceless. I adored her Christmas party dress, and wished they focus more on her. They really should have put in more of her lines to where she said the truth, even though brutal, in a very airy manner. 2. Draco Malfoy. I enjoyed that they put more focus on him and he showed how alone he was in his torment of trying to find a way to do Voldemort's task. 3. Quidditch! I love watching those scenes.
1. Agreed. That was a main focus of the book, but in the movie they only had 2 of those scenes period...I can't believe they completely left out the Gaunts. 2. Yeah, that was a stupid move by the movie 3. Yep, another stupid move. 4. And leaving out fenrir biting bill and then leaving out fleur completely? Garbage.
1. Yeah she was great again. My friend was pissed since the lion head didn't roar in the movie, but the book said the hat roars. 2. There was too much focus on him, IMO. 3. seemed like they left out a lot of quidditch, as usual, though....
My biggest gripe with the sixth film is leaving out the fight
Yep, I agree with that. Leaving out that fight at the end was kinda dumb since it just seemed lame as hell in the movie.
As to point #2, from what I've heard they did do some dry runs with a funeral. However, each time they tried a read through with it left in, if just brought the whole movie to more of a depressing end, instead of a thrilling one like they intended. Most likely it will be mentioned at the beginning of the next book as the location plays an important part in the last book.
If a thrilling end is what they were going for, they failed pretty hard. When the credits came up, my whole theater just hesitated for a bit, and then slowly clapped as if to say "Wow. That was a downer of an end. Good movie, but damn if I'm not depressed." The thrilling way to end this movie would be with the climactic battle.
In the book there were far more tears and mourning over Dumbledore. It was much more somber.
I wonder if the screenwriter was thinking that the funeral scene would be too much of a downer to end on. The ending of the film is hopeful, if not thrilling: "You lot are on your own. Have at it!"
I wouldn't be shocked to see Dumbledore's funeral as the opening bit in the first DH film, thought maybe I shouldn't be too suprised to find that the corpse on the ground scene is all the funeral he gets in the films. The story in DH needs his crypt as a setting, but I don't know if the film would have to show it before the grave robbery scene.
As Dkong said, they should have made this into two movies. I hope David Yates does some justice for Deathly Hallows. We already know there probably won't be a wedding scene in movie seven, so who knows what else he'll keep out.
Bill and Fleur are very important in the 7th book, they are in so many scenes, I don't see how they can just leave them out. I bet instead of showing the wedding, Bill and Fleur will randomly pop in somewhere and go "we got married!" and everyone goes "yay!" and then the movie continues like normal.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Dumbledore's funeral as the opening bit in the first DH film, thought maybe I shouldn't be too suprised to find that the corpse on the ground scene is all the funeral he gets in the films. The story in DH needs his crypt as a setting, but I don't know if the film would have to show it before the grave robbery scene.
What you say makes sense. Assuming the movie people follow the story enough to even include the crypt scene (I do not have much faith in them anymore), I guess the normal audience (non-book readers) don't need to see a funeral first to understand that it's his grave anyway.
I think its a great idea that they are splitting the 7th book into two movies. I am by no means an expert in the subject of movie-making, but I have taken a few courses and realize how hard it is to successfully adapt books like these into proper screenplays that make sense. But I do believe that with two movies they could really keep a lot of the original book material in, even a short wedding scene (After all, Harry learns a lot of information during this scene, plus this is where the trio begins their big journey. As we saw in the 6th film, they love the romantic gushy stuff right? Isn't a wedding the ultimate romantic gushiness?) However, I have a feeling the director and co. won't use this to their advantage. They will use this extra time to leave important stuff out and make up more fake love scenes. Like I said earlier, I do not have much faith in them. -_-; Thus is the life of being a rabid fan of any book that is being made into a movie and being super disappointed in the result.
Bill and Fleur are very important in the 7th book, they are in so many scenes, I don't see how they can just leave them out. I bet instead of showing the wedding, Bill and Fleur will randomly pop in somewhere and go "we got married!" and everyone goes "yay!" and then the movie continues like normal.
I disagree. I don't think they are that important. Sure the wedding scene was cool, because you got the booming voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt telling everyone of the death of Scrimgeour, but he wasn't even mentioned in movie 6. However, from some simple searches, looks like the wedding scene will be in movie 7.
Bill and Fleur are very important in the 7th book, they are in so many scenes, I don't see how they can just leave them out. I bet instead of showing the wedding, Bill and Fleur will randomly pop in somewhere and go "we got married!" and everyone goes "yay!" and then the movie continues like normal.
I disagree. I don't think they are that important. Sure the wedding scene was cool, because you got the booming voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt telling everyone of the death of Scrimgeour, but he wasn't even mentioned in movie 6. However, from some simple searches, looks like the wedding scene will be in movie 7.
(Sorry, I am about to be spoilicious here...) I didn't mean it like they are as important as the main characters. I just meant that I consider them important to the story because they are in some important scenes. Like their house, for example. The trio goes to their house more than once for safety and whatnot, that's where Dobby is buried, they stay there for a long time plotting with that goblin guy (can't remember his name), etc. I suppose they could leave all of that out though and have Dobby die somewhere else and ignore his funeral just like Dumbledore's.
Comments
I just saw the Half-Blood Prince movie on Wednesday, and I have to say it's pretty awesome. Some people have bitched about its deviations from the book, but film is a completely different medium, and has different requirements for keeping viewers engaged. Really, including every passage would make it both boring and far too long. That aside, the movie is very dark (which is definitely to my taste), but interspersed with comedic moments. The balance between the two was handled quite well, with an overarching tension and sense of dread that carries the suspense without becoming overwhelming. I was quite impressed with the cinematography and the composition of the shots - the movie always manages to hint at trouble and what's coming next, often having Harry Potter &co in the foreground doing stuff, with interesting and foreshadowing things happening with side characters in the background. There are plenty of genuinely moving moments too, mostly involving Dumbledore (the water drinking scene and the memorial), and it seems Dan Radcliffe's acting has really improved. The special effects are also beautiful and tasteful, and one cannot deny Alan Rickman's sexy. Overall, I'd say it's the best Potter movie so far.
My only gripe is the stupid teen romance angst. Too many of the subplots involve who will hook up with whom, and while it might be appealing to shippers, the romances aren't really developed in a way that stimulates my sympathy or feelings. It's a small criticism, however, compared to the other merits of the film.
As for the movies, I can't really be perfectly content with any of them since they really leave so much out, and in the case of a few movies (3rd and 6th mostly), leave a SHITLOAD out. The acting, settings, and special effects (especially in the 6th) are all awesome, though. This. The 6th movie definitely focused too much on all the hooking up. They could have cut some of that out and put in some of the content that they left out from the book. First off, do you realize that RT doesn't actually rate things? It didn't give the movie anything, it just averaged movie reviews. Anyhow, though, it's down to an 86%, and right after the midnight showing in the east coast, it was at a 95%. I'm personally glad to see it come down, because while the special effects were awesome, they left so much shit out that the movie was pretty choppy. But not long enough! They really should have made this movie a 2 parter...I mean really, I understand that shit has to be left out and/or changed in order to maintain a proper length, and to make it marketable for Hollywood, but they left out a lot of extremely important shit, and instead chose to focus on a bunch of teen romance for the first half of the movie.
[1. They didn't concentrate enough on when Harry would go with Dumbledore into the pensieve to see all the past memories in relation to Voldemort. That is one of the biggest things of this book. It got Harry to know about Voldemort and his past, and how he came to be. I would have loved to see the first memory of the Minister of Magic employee going to see the Gaunt family, especially Voldemort's mother.
2. They left out the ENTIRE funeral scene for Dumbledore. A whole chapter was dedicated to it. It showed how important Dumbledore was to the wizarding world. I cried more during that chapter then the actual death.
3. The anti-climactic part of when it's revealed that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. The movie is named after it. They didn't focus enough on Harry reading from the book and trying to know more about him. Or the fact that Hermione was very upset about it.
4. The added scenes. Especially the one during Christmas where the Deatheaters come to the Weasley house and Harry and Ginny go running after Beatrix and Fenrir.
]
Here are a few things that I did enjoy:
1. Luna Lovegood. She was brilliant as always. The scene where she is wearing the lion hat was priceless. I adored her Christmas party dress, and wished they focus more on her. They really should have put in more of her lines to where she said the truth, even though brutal, in a very airy manner.
2. Draco Malfoy. I enjoyed that they put more focus on him and he showed how alone he was in his torment of trying to find a way to do Voldemort's task.
3. Quidditch! I love watching those scenes. I agree with what many people said in which they focused too much on the teenage love/angst parts, when they should have included other parts. Love is a prevalent theme throughout the entire series in which it's what pretty much helps Harry conquer Voldemort. They did focus on the love the wrong way. Some parts where funny, but it took away from the story.
As Dkong said, they should have made this into two movies. I hope David Yates does some justice for Deathly Hallows. We already know there probably won't be a wedding scene in movie seven, so who knows what else he'll keep out.
On to the material itself: I was a HP fan when I was younger, almost a decade ago, and I enjoyed them greatly. It's just a British boarding school tale with a bit of added flavor, and not a particularly good one, at that. I read all the books after I had grown out of them out of a sense of obligation, and I began to realize that these were not, in fact, great works of literature, but derivative and poorly written pulp fantasy books that turned into a soap opera halfway through.
The movies were considerably better than the books, and I enjoy them somewhat. The main thing is the films do a lot better job at telling the story than the books, primarily because there's not all that padding and filler that makes the books thousands of pages long, and with few exceptions the actors are really great at their roles (it was a bit forced in the first two or three, but they have really come into their own). The movies took something long and trashy and made it good and concise.
1. Clueless
2. Wacky Hair
3. Has minor angsty moments before dramtic fight scenes
4. Has dumd code of honour that almost always gets him killed
With these modifactions, I beleve that the whole series could be rectified
2. Yeah, that was a stupid move by the movie
3. Yep, another stupid move.
4. And leaving out fenrir biting bill and then leaving out fleur completely? Garbage.
1. Yeah she was great again. My friend was pissed since the lion head didn't roar in the movie, but the book said the hat roars.
2. There was too much focus on him, IMO.
3. seemed like they left out a lot of quidditch, as usual, though.... Yep, I agree with that. Leaving out that fight at the end was kinda dumb since it just seemed lame as hell in the movie.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Dumbledore's funeral as the opening bit in the first DH film, thought maybe I shouldn't be too suprised to find that the corpse on the ground scene is all the funeral he gets in the films. The story in DH needs his crypt as a setting, but I don't know if the film would have to show it before the grave robbery scene.
I think its a great idea that they are splitting the 7th book into two movies. I am by no means an expert in the subject of movie-making, but I have taken a few courses and realize how hard it is to successfully adapt books like these into proper screenplays that make sense. But I do believe that with two movies they could really keep a lot of the original book material in, even a short wedding scene (After all, Harry learns a lot of information during this scene, plus this is where the trio begins their big journey. As we saw in the 6th film, they love the romantic gushy stuff right? Isn't a wedding the ultimate romantic gushiness?) However, I have a feeling the director and co. won't use this to their advantage. They will use this extra time to leave important stuff out and make up more fake love scenes. Like I said earlier, I do not have much faith in them. -_-; Thus is the life of being a rabid fan of any book that is being made into a movie and being super disappointed in the result.