Nothing To Do With Anything

[jetsniper]

I've never read Old Man but I've been meaning to. Maybe I won't though if you don't recommend it.

In other news, Obama is six delegates away from getting the nomination.

[BTH]

You can never be too carefuly about spoilers, people were whining in 2005 about King Kong spoilers. Theres always someone out there who doesn't know.

I never said Cedric's death was significant over the three books, I said it played a role in most of the 5th book. His death and Voldemort returning act as a large prologue into the main trilogy with 1-3 as stand alone books. The 5th book had probably the easiest to hate villian in the whole series (Umbridge). I found myself hating her even more then Voldemort....it was a shame they barely touched on that in the 5th movie. They've all been garbage since the first one though, especially the 5th.

OotP has the best moment of the series for me as well, Fred and George leaving Hogwarts. Reading all of the mass chaos just beat everything else I read after that. The Dumbledore/Voldemort showdown was great too.

You weren't expecting a lot of people to be taken out? I figured one last kind of epic battle was coming so I thought JKR would take that opportunity to off quite a few people. I never knew exactly who it would be but I thought DH would have a lot of casualties.

Dobby definitely caught me off guard though. I figured Ron or Hermione would've been one of the dead though and reading through the end of the book let me kind of anxious in that regard.

You listed the exact reason why I liked the epilogue. I wanted to know what the main three went on to do. It was kind of sloppily written, seemed a little rushed but I appreciated the effort all the same.

She needs to stop that elaborating BS though. Like with saying Dumbledore is gay. Whats the point? If you have all these other character features, write another book but don't just give these out of the blue comments. Crap like that annoys me.

Part of my English class next year is going to include studying the HP books and ensuing phenomenon, I can't wait, haha.

Agree with the bold paragraph, especially the final sentence. Chris Columbus' movies were the only ones that properly captured the mood of the books. Cuaron was good but he left out a lot of background information about the Marauders (you never even find out who they are). I enjoyed the fourth one but the final three are the three I know off by heart and I practically pray to so the 5th one was a huge loss for me. I just thought it was a mediocre movie but more importantly, it was an absolutely horrid adaptation of a good book. Even the "dark" moments in the movies are campy and magical and aren't even that dark. My dream is (with a huge budget) to film the Battle of Hogwarts in the most kickass way. I just know it'll be ruined in the upcoming movie.

Fred and George's escape is one of the greatest parts of the series ("Give her hell from us, Peeves" being one of the most classic lines) but I just didn't like how Harry is always whining and yelling. I tend to like Harry as a "host" - we see all the action through his eyes and we hear his opinions and I usually agree with him, especially his instincts. But in this book, he was wrong a lot (getting mad at people you didn't feel he should be getting mad at, running after Sirius even once Hermione told him exactly what was giong to happen) and it's annoying to disagree with your guide. I also thought her writing style improved a lot with each book. For example, I just started rereading the 5th book so all I've read is the 1st chapter. There is one part where Harry's mid sentence and he gets cut off - the next line is "WHAM." She skips a line and explains that Dudley punched Harry in the head. I feel that that's pretty weak writing and a pretty lame and kiddy way to explain the scene, just saying WHAM. I also noticed that over the course of the books, she made less and less references to culture which I think was a good move. I think in the first book she even mentioned Mars bars.

Joe, I think the "huge punch at the end" will be the lamest part. That's the thing with these movies, we all get pumped up for the best parts of the books, yet they rarely translate on screen. It'll be a huge disappointment I think, just like how the Fred and George departure and the battle at the ministry were in Order of the Phoenix. I think my least favourite part of the whole movie series was that battle at the ministry. Instead of the classic duels and chases, the characters turn into ghosts and fly around the room. Not only did they skip a classic part of the series, they had to resort to magic that is not possible in Rowling's world to do it. They just made up powers and gave them to every character.

I will still go and see every movie in theatres but there is really absolutely no way they can live up to the books unless a HP nerd director comes along and puts his heart into it.

(Oh, I also just found out that Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has a cameo in Goblet of Fire.)

[jetsniper]

I will still go and see every movie in theatres but there is really absolutely no way they can live up to the books unless a HP nerd director comes along and puts his heart into it.

Thats gonna be hard to do for the time being. I know adults read the books but I don't think many are as fanatical about themas a lot of the younger readers. I could see the HP movies being done over again in 20-30 years by someone about the same age as me. When the first book came out, I was right in the age group it was directed at so I think it's going to have to be someone from my generation to make a HP film everyone loves. It's the same kind of thing happening with comic book movies right now. When they were first being made back in the 70s and 80s, they were being made by people who weren't fans of the characters, they didn't read the characters. Superman notwithstanding, the rest were pretty mediocre. Tim Burton even admited to having never read a Batman comic before or after he did the movies (and holy shit, does it show)

Then you look at, for example, Iron Man. RDJ was an avid Iron Man fan growing up so he knew the character and thusly, played him to perfection. I think we're going to need the same kind of thing behind the camera for Harry Potter (I've never really had an problems with the acting, the cast usually seems to get the job done. Considering a lot of the cast is younger then me, they're just as big of fans. Like Evanna Lynch for example, who plays Luna)

What really gets me with the HP movies, and I especially noticed this in the 5th movie, was the lack of attention to detail. Totally missing the little things. Best example off the top of my head was when they bring Harry to the HQ of the OotP and instead of showing Harry the little piece of paper that Dumbledore wrote, Moody just bangs his cane on the ground. How hard would it of been to show Harry a piece of paper? It's the same charm that plays a big role in the death of his parents so it's not like they won't have an opportunity to explain it. Agreed on Fred and George escaping as well, it just didn't translate at all. Pretty dissapointing considering it was my favourite part of the books and I wasn't even a little excited while watching it.

(Oh, I also just found out that Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has a cameo in Goblet of Fire.)

Oh geez, did he play one of the Weird Sisters at the ball?

Edited June 4, 2008 by jetsniper

[JoeLassister]

Joe, I think the "huge punch at the end" will be the lamest part. That's the thing with these movies, we all get pumped up for the best parts of the books, yet they rarely translate on screen. It'll be a huge disappointment I think, just like how the Fred and George departure and the battle at the ministry were in Order of the Phoenix. I think my least favourite part of the whole movie series was that battle at the ministry. Instead of the classic duels and chases, the characters turn into ghosts and fly around the room. Not only did they skip a classic part of the series, they had to resort to magic that is not possible in Rowling's world to do it. They just made up powers and gave them to every character.

I will still go and see every movie in theatres but there is really absolutely no way they can live up to the books unless a HP nerd director comes along and puts his heart into it.

(Oh, I also just found out that Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has a cameo in Goblet of Fire.)

Same here. David Yates will have to take a HUGE step up because the 6th book will be SO EASY to mess with. I would spend at least 20 minutes of the movie just for the last part of the book to make it interesting.

The main problem of the 5th movie is that they took the longest book and made the shortest movie with, screwing up the ministry part, wich was amazing in the book. They could easily have add a 10-12 minutes and show some fighting and rooms in the ministry instead of just the final Voldemort-Dumbledore fight.

[jetsniper]

Same here. David Yates will have to take a HUGE step up because the 6th book will be SO EASY to mess with. I would spend at least 20 minutes of the movie just for the last part of the book to make it interesting.

The main problem of the 5th movie is that they took the longest book and made the shortest movie with, screwing up the ministry part, wich was amazing in the book. They could easily have add a 10-12 minutes and show some fighting and rooms in the ministry instead of just the final Voldemort-Dumbledore fight.

I complained about this fact so much on....I think it was facebook. Maybe MSN. Anyway, I was doing a comparitive between the length of the book compared to the length of the movie and I believe (I could be wrong here, I did this back in July) that the longer the book was, the shorter the movie was.

[Pierre the Great]

I just want to know how they're going to get around the whole locket at Sirius' place. That really pissed me off that didn't have that in the film.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Pierre the Great

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

anyway we dont need to talk more about it...non alcoholic beer sucks !!

Well if she would have sucked, she wouldnt be pregnant now...

[BTH]

Thats gonna be hard to do for the time being. I know adults read the books but I don't think many are as fanatical about themas a lot of the younger readers. I could see the HP movies being done over again in 20-30 years by someone about the same age as me. When the first book came out, I was right in the age group it was directed at so I think it's going to have to be someone from my generation to make a HP film everyone loves. It's the same kind of thing happening with comic book movies right now. When they were first being made back in the 70s and 80s, they were being made by people who weren't fans of the characters, they didn't read the characters. Superman notwithstanding, the rest were pretty mediocre. Tim Burton even admited to having never read a Batman comic before or after he did the movies (and holy shit, does it show)

Then you look at, for example, Iron Man. RDJ was an avid Iron Man fan growing up so he knew the character and thusly, played him to perfection. I think we're going to need the same kind of thing behind the camera for Harry Potter (I've never really had an problems with the acting, the cast usually seems to get the job done. Considering a lot of the cast is younger then me, they're just as big of fans. Like Evanna Lynch for example, who plays Luna)

What really gets me with the HP movies, and I especially noticed this in the 5th movie, was the lack of attention to detail. Totally missing the little things. Best example off the top of my head was when they bring Harry to the HQ of the OotP and instead of showing Harry the little piece of paper that Dumbledore wrote, Moody just bangs his cane on the ground. How hard would it of been to show Harry a piece of paper? It's the same charm that plays a big role in the death of his parents so it's not like they won't have an opportunity to explain it. Agreed on Fred and George escaping as well, it just didn't translate at all. Pretty dissapointing considering it was my favourite part of the books and I wasn't even a little excited while watching it.

Oh geez, did he play one of the Weird Sisters at the ball?

Yeah, he was one of the Weird Sisters. I only noticed because I was looking at his IMDB page because he made the There Will Be Blood score and I saw it.

I want to be a screenwriter/director or something along those lines when I'm older so I like said, my dream would be to direct the "Trilogy" in a proper way. I think you could dedicate an entire movie to the final quarter of Deathly Hallows, the entire thing would have to be 4 hours long.

Aside for the young generation, Harry Potter has an absolutely loaded cast. Michael Gambon/Richard Harris, Miranda Richardson, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Imelda Staunton, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall... this is basically as good a collection of English stars as you can ask for.

The one thing I dislike most about the movies is how they misread Dumbledore. He's played as a frail old man. In the books, he's energetic and can walk and talk perfectly fine, similar to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.

Then there's Lupin, who isn't represented in the same shabby way he is in the book. And that marriage is going to be completely out-of-nowhere if they bother to include it in the movie.

They also didn't bother to let us get to know the characters. Now, when characters like

Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Wormtail, Fred etc

die, no one will care because no one cares about any of the characters after the trio, Dumbledore and Malfoy.

[jetsniper]

Yeah, I was excited for Tonks to be introduced as well and she really had no screen time at all. No one is going to give a rats ass about her being all depressed in HBP because no one knows who she is.

Another thing that bothers me about all of the movies, and I realize this is extremely petty, is that Malfoy and Harry have every single frikkin class together. I know it's to help develop the animosity between them but it's still not in the books.

Like I said, it's the really little things that bother me. Not even in Harry Potter, anything thats adapted which I've already read. Spider-Man 3 was a huge offender of that as well.

Yeah, thats kind of what I meant with the cast as well. I've never had any problems with their casting, it's been outstanding. Always been a big fan of Rickman, Thompson, Fiennes and Carter.

[BTH]

The details are what make it/ Columbus was the only one who stayed truly faithful to the books. Everyone else misinterepreted their books. Not only were they lazy, cut out some useful background information but even the dark movies remain "kids movies." Harry Potter might be most popular with kids but it isn't a kids story in the way that Mary Poppins is for kids. HP shouldn't have a G rating, there should be blood and no campy, magical score by John Williams. The books have magic in them but the atmosphere shouldn't be about magic. I'd be thinking something like Pan's Labyrinth where the girl steps into a world full of magic, yet when she's on the outside, things are serious, dark and there is no magic whatsoever. People are killed and tortured on screen.

[jetsniper]

Yeah but it's all about the $$$ and thats how HP is perceived. With each movie though, I think there should be less little kids there. OotP didn't really seem suitable for any kid under...say...10.

[Pierre the Great]

Can't decide should I take french or german?

[Trizzak]

Can't decide should I take french or german?

French is sexier.

[jetsniper]

Can't decide should I take french or german?

I took German through all of high school.

It kicked ass.

[Pierre the Great]

People are saying if I wanted a fed job in Canada need I need French.

But gawd this is hard.

family roots

or

french

[jetsniper]

Yeah, French is probably a better choice living in Canada and all. I heard the same thing when I decided to take German. I had to learn French in elementary though and hated it, I wanted something that would atleast be fun. I never intend on taking a government job or something so it didn't matter to me.

[Pierre the Great]

Yeah well I don't know see. I'm not Canadian so my dream job:

http://www.international.gc.ca/about-a_pro...categories.aspx

Is unattainable for reasons like I'm not Canadian. Thus, its pointless for me to think about French imo.

I've got a better chance of learning German, moving to eastern Europe, doing studies on my oppressed people and causing massive protests for Danube Swabian rights and recognitions of mass genocide committed by eastern bloc countries after the war against people of Germanic descent and bringing full rights to the Banat's of Serbia or more rights for us in Hungary or something. Then I do of getting a job in the foreign service because I wasn't born in Canada or a citizen of Canada.

Like hell I'm going to join the US department, lol, I've pretty much severed any reasonable ties of wanting to do anything with the U.S. government or in politics by being a 'traitor' and going to school in BC. So I made that decision, can't really go back if I want a government job (which are zilch only the nationalists partisans get govt jobs). Like hell I'd ever be accepted in Democratic circles ever again. I'm viewed as a traitor even to the so called left. Yeah I could move to a west coast city (Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco) but I wouldn't be happy. The Party would chew me out and the Green party is a joke and aren't the same.

I was going to go to a school famous for International Relations in Seattle, I was purely thinking UN type of career, anyway to avoid the U.S. Foreign Service. lol (as if that were possible) or lol Geography= CIA. hahaha Thought about that too. lol Good thing I declined going to school in the states.

Then in Canada I have to worry about the idiots that always like to chide at me being from the states. Grow up.

lol

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

French, German is so overrated. Who uses it? (only 3 countries in europe and some wide spread small places over the world.) French is bigger (africa/Quebec and some more smaller places)

I think Spanish is big, especially usefull in the states!

Edited June 5, 2008 by Dutch_Habs_Fan

[MAK]

French, German is so overrated. Who uses it? (only 3 countries in europe and some wide spread small places over the world.) French is bigger (africa/Quebec and some more smaller places)

I think Spanish is big, especially usefull in the states!

and so easy to learn !!

[jetsniper]

Yeah, Spanish is a good language to learn, I took that in high school as well.

I was also going to learn Latin but classes for that were after school when I already had other things to do so I didn't bother. Dutchie, I only took German for the hell of it, it sounded fun.

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

Yeah on highschool i had 6 years English, 3 years french and 2 years German. My English is ok, i can help myself in French and German, but its hard for me. Writing it is even harder, i never had any Spanish, but i have been thinking about taking classes. But its quite expensive...

I always hated the language classes in school, but nowadays i really like learning other languages...

[Pierre the Great]

I'm forced to take French if I ever want a job in Canada.

[BTH]

My grandmother's first language is Spanish and my dad is fluent in it as well. I've tried learning it on my own from little "Teach Yourself Spanish Fast!" books but I always give after a couple of days after I try. I just know a few words.

French is a tough language, I love hearing people speak it though. I have this theory that every joke is 20 times funnier in French. I don't speak it well though unless I take my time and go very slowly (if I'm writing, I can double-check each sentence until the grammar is good).

[MAK]

French is a tough language, I love hearing people speak it though. I have this theory that every joke is 20 times funnier in French. I don't speak it well though unless I take my time and go very slowly (if I'm writing, I can double-check each sentence until the grammar is good).

practice and booze will make you perfect. Besides, French chicks love when anglos try to speak french.

[Psycing]

French chicks love when anglos try to speak french.

True story.