My LTTP Thread on the Previous Movie:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=487009
Some of you won't be clicking the link so I'll explain a bit of something. Over the years I've kept myself out of any involvement with the Harry Potter phenomena. I read the first book years and years ago and it did not interest me enough to pick up any of the others.
So now, in order to make up for the sins of my past, my SO has decided that we're going to go through each movie in order via Netflix. Last week I watched "And the Chamber of Secrets" and this week I watched:
Where do I start with this one?
The tonal shift in Azkaban is dramatic and sudden, a bit like the shift that every young person experiences while growing up. The best parts, so far, of the Harry Potter films are watching an 11 year old become a 12 year old become a 13 year old and all the drama an adolescent and famous Wizard growing up and going through puberty brings. At 13 I got my first few little facial hairs and was so proud.
At 13, the Harry Potter movies grew a full manly fucking beard. Riker am cry.
We start, as always with the Evil Family and a set-up for Harry to royally fuck up their evening. The Dursleys seem more somber than before and less comical. The two parents obviously fear Harry and don't seem to be quite as imposing as before. Someone is visiting and Harry hates them and it becomes apparent why very quickly. This scene, if done in the style of the two previous movies, would have been raucous and colorful and bright but here it's done very ominously. Harry is portrayed as much as the boy wizard as he is the misunderstood teenaged Stephen King character and eventually goes full Carrie on the visitor, making her float out of the house as the other's watch, helpless.
I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't laugh once during the scene. It was treated with a seriousness that made it more scary than comical. I like this.
We leave behind Evil Family as Harry runs away and is picked up by a magical bus that takes him to a magical hotel where the minister of magic tells Harry that it's totally cool that he blew up his Aunt and they made a bunch of muggles forget it ever happened.
Oh and Ron and Hermione happen to be here too.
And we get the first instance of someone not being a selfish prick in the entirety of the movies so far as Ron's dad actually WARNS HARRY of danger! Not in some vague poetic way either (I'm looking at your Dumbledork) but in a very specific "Sirius Black wants to KILL YOU and here's what he looks like" way.
Thanks Ron's dad, you're a good adult.
These scenes are filmed with a weight that was completely absent in the other movies. Everything feels more real.
They they ride a train and Potter passes out when one of the Azkaban guards assaults him and this brings me to the major fucking problem with this movie... well one of them.
These damn Guards fly around and assault Harry TWICE with zero reason and nobody fucking does a thing and everyone acts like it's perfectly fine. Are there no laws in the wizarding world that say:
"A dementor may not suck the soul out of some kid no matter how traumatic his past may be and if one were too they will be summarily fired."
Can you fire a dementor? I bet Dumbledore could fire one. But no, he's completely cool with one of his students being assaulted on the way to his school by one of the very creatures that now surround his school. Sounds totally reasonable. At least there is a very spine tingling little chorus number accompanied by some equally chilling music to introduce us to Hogwarts this year.
"Something wicked this way comes." indeed, Hogwarts looks amazing in this movie if I do say so myself.
Oh by the way on the train we meet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Prof. Lupin (Which I assumed was a reference to Lupin the 3rd, I was FUCKING WRONG.) And it turns out he is their first capable and prepared Dark Arts teacher so that means he's guaranteed to not make it through the movie. His teaching style is one that helps the kids way more than any other teacher I've seen at Hogwarts.
Quidditch actually matters this time because Harry's assaulted once again, his house loses but nobody cares; they are worried about Sirius Black. The people in this school are actually worried about something! The teachers actually discuss how to protect the children instead of whispering in a corner and letting the children fend for themselves. It's a welcome bit of actual story telling that, again, was completely absent before. These characters that they've been telling stories about take on a new and refreshing bit of realism. Both the main three children (probably due to them aging and growing into their acting a bit) and the teachers. It feels like they're actually running a school with a mad killer on the loose.
There's a bit of exposition about Harry's parents untimely and messy death that's done in an okay way which get's Harry all emo and sets up the climax of the story and once the story starts going it does not stop.
To wrap it up:
Harry gets a map that shows where everyone is and show a dude who's dead! Harry tells Lupin and Lupin flips out! Hagrids bird-horse dies! Ron is kidnapped by a big black dog and dragged off to a haunted house! SIRIUS BLACK IS INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Wait, Sirius Black is fucking Gary Oldman? That's awesome. And he's Gary Oldman's all over the movie and everyone loves it. Back to the summary!
Lupin and Black are working together to kill Peter Pettegrew who is Ron's rat! (Ya, I didn't see that coming.) Peter escapes because Lupin is a fucking idiot and decided to attack Peter on the one night of the month that this is a bad idea! Seriously Lupin get it fucking together man.
He spends however long dealing with his werewolf curse and 12 years plotting to get back at Peter for betraying the Potters and FINALLY when 12 years of planning come together and his friend Sirius Black escapes from being falsely imprisoned in the worst place ever where he was tortured to the point of insanity and they HAVE Peter right where they want him and they decide to spring their trap THE ONLY NIGHT LUPIN CAN FUCK IT UP.
Good idea dudes, no wonder nobody can stop Voldemort you're all the wizarding equivalent of the Three Stooges.
So Peter escapes and Sirius is captured and is going to die. But then this climax continues because of Hermione. (Not like that sickos) She sends her and Harry back in time and saves everyone lives (Including Hagrids bird-horse) proving that this movie should be called 'Hermione Grainger and the Reason We Should Study in School'.
...
This was a fantastic movie. The new director knows how to tell a coherent story and the better direction pulls a better job out of EVERYONE involved. It's easily one of my favorite fantasy movies of all time and I can only hope that the rest of the movies can even hold a candle to this one.
I'm going to be sad huh?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=487009
Some of you won't be clicking the link so I'll explain a bit of something. Over the years I've kept myself out of any involvement with the Harry Potter phenomena. I read the first book years and years ago and it did not interest me enough to pick up any of the others.
So now, in order to make up for the sins of my past, my SO has decided that we're going to go through each movie in order via Netflix. Last week I watched "And the Chamber of Secrets" and this week I watched:
Where do I start with this one?
The tonal shift in Azkaban is dramatic and sudden, a bit like the shift that every young person experiences while growing up. The best parts, so far, of the Harry Potter films are watching an 11 year old become a 12 year old become a 13 year old and all the drama an adolescent and famous Wizard growing up and going through puberty brings. At 13 I got my first few little facial hairs and was so proud.
At 13, the Harry Potter movies grew a full manly fucking beard. Riker am cry.
We start, as always with the Evil Family and a set-up for Harry to royally fuck up their evening. The Dursleys seem more somber than before and less comical. The two parents obviously fear Harry and don't seem to be quite as imposing as before. Someone is visiting and Harry hates them and it becomes apparent why very quickly. This scene, if done in the style of the two previous movies, would have been raucous and colorful and bright but here it's done very ominously. Harry is portrayed as much as the boy wizard as he is the misunderstood teenaged Stephen King character and eventually goes full Carrie on the visitor, making her float out of the house as the other's watch, helpless.
I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't laugh once during the scene. It was treated with a seriousness that made it more scary than comical. I like this.
We leave behind Evil Family as Harry runs away and is picked up by a magical bus that takes him to a magical hotel where the minister of magic tells Harry that it's totally cool that he blew up his Aunt and they made a bunch of muggles forget it ever happened.
Oh and Ron and Hermione happen to be here too.
And we get the first instance of someone not being a selfish prick in the entirety of the movies so far as Ron's dad actually WARNS HARRY of danger! Not in some vague poetic way either (I'm looking at your Dumbledork) but in a very specific "Sirius Black wants to KILL YOU and here's what he looks like" way.
Thanks Ron's dad, you're a good adult.
These scenes are filmed with a weight that was completely absent in the other movies. Everything feels more real.
They they ride a train and Potter passes out when one of the Azkaban guards assaults him and this brings me to the major fucking problem with this movie... well one of them.
These damn Guards fly around and assault Harry TWICE with zero reason and nobody fucking does a thing and everyone acts like it's perfectly fine. Are there no laws in the wizarding world that say:
"A dementor may not suck the soul out of some kid no matter how traumatic his past may be and if one were too they will be summarily fired."
Can you fire a dementor? I bet Dumbledore could fire one. But no, he's completely cool with one of his students being assaulted on the way to his school by one of the very creatures that now surround his school. Sounds totally reasonable. At least there is a very spine tingling little chorus number accompanied by some equally chilling music to introduce us to Hogwarts this year.
"Something wicked this way comes." indeed, Hogwarts looks amazing in this movie if I do say so myself.
Oh by the way on the train we meet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Prof. Lupin (Which I assumed was a reference to Lupin the 3rd, I was FUCKING WRONG.) And it turns out he is their first capable and prepared Dark Arts teacher so that means he's guaranteed to not make it through the movie. His teaching style is one that helps the kids way more than any other teacher I've seen at Hogwarts.
Quidditch actually matters this time because Harry's assaulted once again, his house loses but nobody cares; they are worried about Sirius Black. The people in this school are actually worried about something! The teachers actually discuss how to protect the children instead of whispering in a corner and letting the children fend for themselves. It's a welcome bit of actual story telling that, again, was completely absent before. These characters that they've been telling stories about take on a new and refreshing bit of realism. Both the main three children (probably due to them aging and growing into their acting a bit) and the teachers. It feels like they're actually running a school with a mad killer on the loose.
There's a bit of exposition about Harry's parents untimely and messy death that's done in an okay way which get's Harry all emo and sets up the climax of the story and once the story starts going it does not stop.
To wrap it up:
Harry gets a map that shows where everyone is and show a dude who's dead! Harry tells Lupin and Lupin flips out! Hagrids bird-horse dies! Ron is kidnapped by a big black dog and dragged off to a haunted house! SIRIUS BLACK IS INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Wait, Sirius Black is fucking Gary Oldman? That's awesome. And he's Gary Oldman's all over the movie and everyone loves it. Back to the summary!
Lupin and Black are working together to kill Peter Pettegrew who is Ron's rat! (Ya, I didn't see that coming.) Peter escapes because Lupin is a fucking idiot and decided to attack Peter on the one night of the month that this is a bad idea! Seriously Lupin get it fucking together man.
He spends however long dealing with his werewolf curse and 12 years plotting to get back at Peter for betraying the Potters and FINALLY when 12 years of planning come together and his friend Sirius Black escapes from being falsely imprisoned in the worst place ever where he was tortured to the point of insanity and they HAVE Peter right where they want him and they decide to spring their trap THE ONLY NIGHT LUPIN CAN FUCK IT UP.
Good idea dudes, no wonder nobody can stop Voldemort you're all the wizarding equivalent of the Three Stooges.
So Peter escapes and Sirius is captured and is going to die. But then this climax continues because of Hermione. (Not like that sickos) She sends her and Harry back in time and saves everyone lives (Including Hagrids bird-horse) proving that this movie should be called 'Hermione Grainger and the Reason We Should Study in School'.
...
This was a fantastic movie. The new director knows how to tell a coherent story and the better direction pulls a better job out of EVERYONE involved. It's easily one of my favorite fantasy movies of all time and I can only hope that the rest of the movies can even hold a candle to this one.
I'm going to be sad huh?
). They all have something that make them worth watching. Even if for a single scene. You will know what I mean.
). It happens that dementors can't be controlled. They can be repelled by the Expectro Patronum charm, but thats it. There was not much Dumbledore could do, as he even warns everyone that they won't think twice before attacking the students, thats why they have to stay in the school, etc. Anyway, there are lots of explaining in the book. You really should read them. They are awesome. The first one is actually the worst to read, but once you are engaged with the story you just cant stop. 
