I hope this one is good, since it is based on probably the best book. However, if memory serves, this is the same director as the last movie, and well, I found his work less than satisfactory. Perhaps he's learned from the experience.

it looks interesting. they always fall short of the books IMHO

Oddly of all the books this is the one I liked the least and found the most boring - up to that point about Dumbledore.

I may get slammed for this, but the books are all seriously problematic anyways, so "favorite" is a relative term.

In what way?

Agreed. You simply can't get the nuances of the story that are the best part of the books through the movies. I find the "world" of Harry Potter in its detail just fabulous.

I may get slammed for this, but the books are all seriously problematic anyways, so "favorite" is a relative term.

the trite ending,

I've never seen any of them, nor read any of the books. But I love the British voices.

Now thems is fighting words! LMAO! I loved that ending it was just what I wanted to hear! I NEEDED to know that stuff. I'm glad she understood the needs of my heart and gave me my ending! (((((((((Rowlings)))))))))))

Ok that part was very annoying!

Enjoy the trailer, because it's all you'll have for nearly a year. Warner Brothers has decided not to release the movie this Thanksgiving and have moved it to next July.

Well... that just sucks eggs.
Still-- I can imagine Ms. Rowling not wanting to "battle" with the minds of movie goers-- too close to the release of the first Twilight ...

Marketing is very important with release dates. I cannot imagine it has any other impetus.
Not that I've really understood anything about marketing in the real world.

I'm a fan... so, you build it, I will go.

In all likely hood J.K. probably had nothing to do with the release date, it was probably someone at the studio looking for a gap in the market that didn't have similar movies being released.

Enjoy the trailer, because it's all you'll have for nearly a year. Warner Brothers has decided not to release the movie this Thanksgiving and have moved it to next July.

Well... that just sucks eggs.
Still-- I can imagine Ms. Rowling not wanting to "battle" with the minds of movie goers-- too close to the release of the first Twilight ...

Marketing is very important with release dates. I cannot imagine it has any other impetus.
Not that I've really understood anything about marketing in the real world.

I'm a fan... so, you build it, I will go.

Really??? She has exerted so much control in other places... one assumed.
But I get it.

Ray-- thanks for Weird Al!!!
Did he, or you , do the vid???
Priceless!!

You didn't go into an instant sugar coma?

Enjoy the trailer, because it's all you'll have for nearly a year. Warner Brothers has decided not to release the movie this Thanksgiving and have moved it to next July.

Well... that just sucks eggs.
Still-- I can imagine Ms. Rowling not wanting to "battle" with the minds of movie goers-- too close to the release of the first Twilight ...

Marketing is very important with release dates. I cannot imagine it has any other impetus.
Not that I've really understood anything about marketing in the real world.

I'm a fan... so, you build it, I will go.

The Weird Al vid above was fan-made. There're a LOT of variants of it on YouTube, apparently. It's fun just to put a show title or other subject in the search box. Never know what you'll end up with!

=^[.]^=

other friends who died like Tonks and Lupin

According to what I saw, WB made the change because summer movies tend to make more money than holiday movies.

I don't think that I will EVER forgive her for that one! I could sort of handle most of the other deaths, but I loved those two characters (and don't forget poor Dobby!).
I guessed that it was because they are making a crapload of money on The Dark Knight and wanted to make sure they had a guaranteed moneymaker next summer as well.

From what I here the Potter movie was moved due to the lack of movies because of the writer strike.

From what I here the Potter movie was moved due to the lack of movies because of the writer strike.

'Harry Potter' stars steel themselves for the final showdown
'HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE' | The wizard and his mentor get serious as they prepare for the daunting task of taking out Voldemort for good

Comments
July 12, 2009
BY CINDY PEARLMAN
NEW YORK -- There are certain rites of passage in a young man's life. There's first love, confusion about the future and the moment when you have to pick up your wand, stand alone and wizard up.

Growing up in 'Harry Potter'

Harry Potter does all of the above in the most serious and sober installment of the popular movie and book franchise.

In a pivotal scene in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," opening Wednesday, Harry is joined by his schoolmates, who raise lighted wands to his inevitable destiny: the ultimate battle of good vs. evil.

"It's truly one of the most moving moments in any of the Harry Potter films," says Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the most famous young wizard at Hogwarts. "When the wands are raised in salute, an ominous dark mark in the sky is eroded by this white light. It was exactly about good trumping evil."

It also marks the passing away of a beloved member of Hogwarts Academy.

"It was a hard scene for me because at the time of filming, I had never lost anyone close to me," Radcliffe says. "You can never imagine what Harry feels like when he loses someone close to him at Hogwarts. If it came even a third of the way close to being real, then I'm happy."

It has been a long and wanding road for Radcliffe, who turns 20 next week. But he hasn't let all this saving of Mugglekind get to him.

"Did the light just flicker in this room? Maybe something is happening with Voldemort," he jokes as he relaxes in a chair. "You can never be too careful."

Emma Watson, 19, who plays Hermione, fakes a shudder, as does Rupert Grint (fine after a bout with swine flu), 20, who is Ron Weasly.

"In this movie, I burst through the water and I'm circled by fire," Radcliffe says. "It was kerosene that was actually ignited on the water. It was horrible, but also great fun. I got to climb up on an island and see Michael Gambon [as Dumbledore] circling fire overhead like he's Moses.

"It was one of those moments where I said, 'No matter how many films I do, I will never have this scene again.' "

The student's now the lieutenant
The sixth film features the return of Lord Voldemort, who dispatches his Death Eaters to wreak havoc on the Muggle and the wizarding worlds. The halls of Hogwarts are no longer safe.

Dumbledore works overtime to prepare Harry for the final battle that's just around the corner. What he needs now is for Harry to uncover a vital key to unlocking Valdemort's defenses from a former potions professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).

This time there is no magic potion to fix what's wrong. It doesn't help that fellow student Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has been "hired" by Lord Voldemort to carry out his mission. Draco has been waiting for this chance for years and hopes it will elevate his status above that of a certain annoying Mr. Potter.

"The difference in Harry this year is his relationship with Dumbledore," Radcliffe says. "Previously, it was very much teacher and student. Now, it's a general with his favorite lieutenant. Harry is a foot soldier in this movie.

"In all the other ones Harry just says, 'Oh, we're going to get Voldemort.' He never really does anything about it. Now he's doing something about the ultimate destruction of Voldemort."

Lips the size of a horse
The carefree days of Harry Potter's institution of wizardry seem very far away. But there is still time to explore the idea of love.

Harry discovers his hormones in this film, as does Ron, who is under the love spell of giddy fellow student Lavender Brown. This is much to the heartbreaking dismay of Hermione, who loves Ron in the most unrequited way.

Harry is also feeling a love connection and budding romance with Ron's not-so-baby sister, Ginny.

"Harry is this great wizard and crap with women," Radcliffe says. "But he's in love and it's pure. It's all that matters to him."

Adds Watson, "You've seen quite a strong Hermione -- a girl-power girl, the brains behind the organization. In this one you see a much more vulnerable and fragile Hermione. She's experiencing her first heartache. It was a challenge for me to play this much more emotional and vulnerable person."

Watson says the dating part of the movie was a nice release.

"If Hermione kept going at the pace she was with all the worrying, she would develop a hemorrhage," she says. "These are dark books."

There's no kissing for her and Grint -- yet. "There is a misconception that it was cut out of this film, but it's for the next one," Watson says. "We only shot the scene two weeks ago."

How was that mystical lip-lock?

"It was strange and tough to even think about doing because we're friends," Watson says. "We also felt the pressure of the kiss. There is so much media interest. It's 10 years of tension and hormones. We had to ace it. But hopefully we did it and now people can critique it. But please be nice."

Radcliffe isn't easy on himself when it comes to Potter's passion.

"My God, my lips are the size of a horse descending from my face," Radcliffe says of his kissing scene. "I apologize to the actress who plays Ginny."

The merits of dating your stalker
The actors aren't clamoring to get out of their magical world. In real life, this cast has dealt with fame and the fallout of being in the most successful teen movies of all time. The three principals just take it in stride, Watson even joking about the overzealous fan who reportedly hounded her at school two years ago.

"I'm dating my stalker," Watson says with a smile. "He is always there when I need him. He's so into me and I can be very demanding. It's the way to go."

"I'm not dating my stalker," Radcliffe says.

But how does he weather dating in real life without spells?

"I don't know," he says. "I'm not really doing the dating thing. I'm not in the world of dating. I don't feel like a young twentysomething. I'm working and happy to be working. It's not a case of 'I don't have time for a girlfriend.' I do. But like everyone else, it's weird.

"People ask, 'Does being Harry Potter help you get girls?' I was 8 when I started 'Harry Potter.' I don't know what it's like to get girls without being Harry Potter."

The cast seldom catches those old films. "I had the whole bushy-hair-big-cheek look," Watson says. "It's easy for me to watch the old ones because I'm like, 'Who is that girl?' "

Radcliffe says a flashback would be "a destructive experience for me. I'd be far too critical. I did see a clip from the fourth film and said to Emma, 'That's awful. Why did they cast me?' "

Of course, he's cast in the two remaining films, likely to come out in fall 2010 and summer 2011. "We're doing something very different for the seventh film. We're not at Hogwarts anymore," Radcliffe says.

As for the end of this franchise, the cast hasn't begun to deal with it.

"For me, it hasn't set in until this week when everyone tells me it's almost over. I was getting along quite nicely until people kept saying, 'Your dream is coming to an end.' We have a year left on [the other films]," Radcliffe says. "There is a long way to go for us. I'm not concentrating on the end too soon."

Adds Watson, "I don't think Harry Potter will ever die. It's so big and so loved. We have the theme park [at Universal Orlando] in 2010. Kids will keep reading the books and new generations of kids will read the books. It will never really go away," Watson says.

"I think we've got longevity," she says.

"My God, my lips are the size of a horse descending from my face," Radcliffe says of his kissing scene. "I apologize to the actress who plays Ginny."

So. What did people think? I was rather underwhelmed.

I thought I saw some great performances from young, budding actors. I knew they had to butcher the novel, even taking two and a half hours... you can't cram 14 hours of story into 90 minutes, let alone the extended version, and maintain the complexity. I thought the old man... damned if I can remember the potion's master's name... but he really was delightful.. creepy, slimy, self centered... and guilty as sin. so, yeah, there were delightful parts.
That they are splitting the next one into two films ... I just heard that the day I saw the movie. Haven't done the sites and followed the scuttlebutt... I am glad, and I look forward to them both.

The special effects were fascinating. The core of the tale, tho, while I'm not thrilled with some of the parts that were left out, still held the tale together. Haven't we said that about each of the episodes???
I did feel like they spent less on the school banquets this time, as opposed to earlier films. The hall has always seemed much bigger... When Beatrice trashes the place, it felt very small. Everything else... I need to re-read to be able to feel bad. I haven't in preparation for the movie. Why have all the lovely detail in your head, when it is going to end on the shelf from the editing for script.

Rhio and I used to re-read just before seeing a new HP movie, but got out of the habit. But this one seemed so emptied-out that she went back and read the novel again afterward. Oh, yeah, there was a lot of detail left out, alright. Nothing absolutely essential, but it took a lot of the richness away from the story. ='[.]'=

Oddly enough, this is the first time I've read the book before seeing the movie. (Mr. Hero forced me to read the books shortly after we got married, and well, we got married the weekend OotP opened. In fact, we went to see it the day we got married. ) So I don't know how much of my disappointment was just different expectations. However, Mr. Hero has always read the books before seeing the movies, and he was disappointed with HPB as well, so I'm guessing it wasn't just me. Anyhow, it's not the subplots and details that were left out that bother me. It was a general lack of energy in the entire movie. (I really want to see it again to figure out just why the movie felt so flat. I think it's partially the script, a lot of the acting, but I really want to look more closely at the editing.)

The real problem is, I really wanted to see the climax of this movie, and it fell completely flat. If they had rallied for Dumbledore's death and Snape's fight with Harry, I would have forgiven the first two hours of the movie. But Dumbledore's big moment came across with all the excitement of "Severus, please...pass me a teacake." I think losing the Death Eater/OotP battle surrounding that scene didn't help the energy level at all. In the book there's so much going on, so much noise and commotion, but it was oddly quite and dull this way. Then Harry's big fight with Snape and the reveal of the HBP was rushed so much, I don't think even AR saved it, and that's saying something.

And that brings me to the problem that the movie didn't have the strong through sense of solving a mystery that makes the books and other movies work better. You have three big mysteries in this story--what's Slughorn's memory, what's Draco doing, and who is the HBP. The first was the only one done well. The condensing of the pensieve scenes was well thought out, and the casting of the young Tom Riddles was extremely well done; those boys were seriously creepy. The way they shot Draco's scenes with the vanishing cabinet were very well done, but I never felt Harry's urgency to uncover what he was up to like I did in the book. And uncovering the identity of the HBP felt like an afterthought.

Oddly enough, this is the first time I've read the book before seeing the movie. (Mr. Hero forced me to read the books shortly after we got married, and well, we got married the weekend OotP opened. In fact, we went to see it the day we got married. ) So I don't know how much of my disappointment was just different expectations. However, Mr. Hero has always read the books before seeing the movies, and he was disappointed with HPB as well, so I'm guessing it wasn't just me. Anyhow, it's not the subplots and details that were left out that bother me. It was a general lack of energy in the entire movie. (I really want to see it again to figure out just why the movie felt so flat. I think it's partially the script, a lot of the acting, but I really want to look more closely at the editing.)

The real problem is, I really wanted to see the climax of this movie, and it fell completely flat. If they had rallied for Dumbledore's death and Snape's fight with Harry, I would have forgiven the first two hours of the movie. But Dumbledore's big moment came across with all the excitement of "Severus, please...pass me a teacake." I think losing the Death Eater/OotP battle surrounding that scene didn't help the energy level at all. In the book there's so much going on, so much noise and commotion, but it was oddly quite and dull this way. Then Harry's big fight with Snape and the reveal of the HBP was rushed so much, I don't think even AR saved it, and that's saying something.

And that brings me to the problem that the movie didn't have the strong through sense of solving a mystery that makes the books and other movies work better. You have three big mysteries in this story--what's Slughorn's memory, what's Draco doing, and who is the HBP. The first was the only one done well. The condensing of the pensieve scenes was well thought out, and the casting of the young Tom Riddles was extremely well done; those boys were seriously creepy. The way they shot Draco's scenes with the vanishing cabinet were very well done, but I never felt Harry's urgency to uncover what he was up to like I did in the book. And uncovering the identity of the HBP felt like an afterthought.

HOC-
I'm so glad I didn't re-read!!!
It has been two years since I re-read the series, and I'm gonna take it as a blessing!

The complexity of the novels has always been my issue when it is boiled down to a film script. The Bourne series... even the 007 movies. Ian Flemming was a good writer. The joy of the movies was the visual pleasure of the Bond and the explosions, at least for me... cause Bond girls... not my thing.

Often, when I know a book is going to be made film, I see the movie first... then go back to the book after. I did it with The Shining... and wished I could have gone back in time for some of the others... cause for a while, Stephen King books were like candy... and I loved The Stand... The series did much better. 20+ hours is more realistic for a good representation of a book. However, I just watched the series Legend of the Seeker--- and that one got butchered. In my humble opinion, pushing characters together can be done, but something is lost; the texture is glossed over, the depth of human experience is diminished. And your are so right-- that 'richness' that a good writer builds for the reader is not just about the 'photos and portraits being enchanted' or the candles magically suspended in the dining hall... That does not make up for the angst of Ron's worrying over being on the quiditch team... or the real difficulties of young people figuring out their feelings. JKR did a good job of capturing that complexity in the novel.

I have a little summer left to myself... maybe I'll fire up the series quick before I'm back in the trenches!

July 20th, 2009 by James

Sanma Akashiya’s “Karakuri Terebi” held a contest last month in which 10,000 of Japan’s biggest Harry Potter fans competed for a chance to travel to the UK and interview the stars of the new Harry Potter movie. As it is a comedy show, they intentionally picked the strangest fans as finalists. A girl named Kana was the grand prize winner, and here are partially subtitled clips of her meeting Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter).

The best part of this interview is her obsession with Rupert’s eyelashes, which she touches with amazement. She also gets a sniff of his wonderful smell.

No sniffing here – only some really weird face-touching. Note that the person responsible for translating Daniel’s answers into Japanese made the subtitles say “this girl’s feelings are so real (genuine)” when Daniel was actually describing the situation as “surreal.”

You know how fangirls can be, right? Sure you do. Well, here's the tale of Harry Potter and the Japanese fangirl. It's actually very sweet; both Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe handled a situation which might have been a little odd with kindness and aplomb.

Words for today's Japanese lesson:

Sugoi = Amazing, cool

Honto = Really?



(Kana-chan was scarcely what I'd describe as weird; only very young and very excited.)

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(Sorry, no real subtitles, here, but Daniel is speaking English, so it helps.)

All in all a very charming adventure for young Kana-Chan, and one which reveals the universality of fangirl behavior. =^[.]^=

Daniel Radcliffe's girlfriend keeps day job
BANG Showbiz
Nov. 8, 2007 09:38 AM
Daniel Radcliffe's girlfriend sells breakfast to London commuters to "keep the pennies rolling in."

Actress Laura O'Toole - who has been dating the millionaire 'Harry Potter' star since May - earns £7 ($13.50 USD) an hour selling juice and yogurt on health food stall Moma at London's Liverpool Street Station from 6am to 11am.

She said, "I have to keep the pennies rolling in. We all have to pay the bills."

Laura, 22, met Daniel, 18, while they were both starring in the raunchy West End show 'Equus', but she is determined to pay her own way in the relationship.

A friend said, "She doesn't want to rely on his cash. She knows she has to stand on her own two feet."

Laura - who understudied for the role of Jill, whose character appeared in a lengthy nude scene with Daniel - will work on the Moma kiosk for another two weeks before she treads the boards again for the UK tour of 'Equus'.

Last weekend, Laura and Harry's blossoming romance was uncovered when they were photographed shopping together.

Daniel recently said he couldn't date an actress - because they're "completely barking."

He said, "I think it would be very hard to go out with an actress, because they're mad."