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So I'm reading Harry Potter...
- Thread starter Willco
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NLB2 said:
M'lady and I made a compromise. If I read Harry Potter, she will go to the Opening Day of the Washington Nationals. She's not a fan of sports, but moderately likes baseball and dislikes large crowds, so this is a victory for me.
... She's also going to go see Constantine.
Nearing the end of Chamber of Secrets.
Werd.
It's funny how for kid's books (as I assume they are), they lean heavily towards death and fatal consequences. The movies pretty much water down all the dark themes and make Harry Potter a naive goody-goody who bumbles his ways through life, in addition to coasting through school (you never see him do magic or study), and manages to become famous in the process.
The book is a lot different.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
I still can't believe they basically ignored the main theme of CoS the book in the movie.
This is essentially the main point I bring up whenever someone wishes to bash whatever Harry Potter is. The movies aren't that great, usual fanfare for kids.. but it's the books that have the main meat with themes that will give children nightmares. Heck, Stephen Fry narrates the UK audio-books, what a godsend!Willco said:
The books rule, end of story.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
I couldn't stand how each and every director made Ron out to be comic relief. Bleh.
I'm not a big fan of the books, but it was very annoying watching that happen.
I'm not a big fan of the books, but it was very annoying watching that happen.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Chipopo said:
I hope he's wearing a seat belt, because after Goblet of Fire, the series goes back to the stone age. I've read Goblet of Fire 3 - 4 times, and it has yet to grow stale...I've read Order of the Phoenix 1.5 times. Here's to hoping the next installment will kick ass.
I think the biggest crime that the movies committed was inability to make the movies humorous or have any semblance of charm. the books are an entertaining, hilarious and charming read, while the movies are just... just bad...bad, stale, plain, boring, and just plain bad.
I really enjoyed the 5th book. Id rank it, along with 3 and 4, as my favorites
I really enjoyed the 5th book. Id rank it, along with 3 and 4, as my favorites
Love the books, hate the first 2 movies, actually really enjoyed the 3rd one. Of course, the 3rd one was bound to be better than the first 2 considering the plot is so much better in the books as well. But I really enjoyed Cuaron's visuals. My only real problem with it was how horribly rushed everything seemed. It was more like a single day than a year.
IAmtheFMan
Member
I liked the first 3 books or so, but after the 4th, I was kinda torn. On the one hand, they were fun easy reads. However, it seemed like part of Rowling wanted to take it to deeper areas, but on the other hand she wanted to keep it as the same formulaic episodic progression, i.e. Harry's at his foster parents, not happy, he goes off to school, goes through some misadventures, comes home. At the end of the 4th book, I got really excited because I was like "wow, this overall plot is starting to go somewhere" and then the 5th one was just the same thing and I realized that nothing is really gonna happen until the last book. Yeah, a character bit the dust, but there was a large amount of material in the Order of the Phoenix which just seemed like padded filler to me.
And I do realize they're fantasy books geared towards younger readers, but so were the Narnia, and Dark is Rising books.
And I do realize they're fantasy books geared towards younger readers, but so were the Narnia, and Dark is Rising books.
SteveMeister
Hang out with Steve.
The first two movies seem to be mostly fanservice. They're not horrible, but they suffer from "let's be sure to introduce everyone and everything and explain it all"-itis, and the second movie with that gratuitous applause at the end -- "let's make sure we show every character One More Time!" was dumb.
But the third movie is sublime. I watched the DVD for the first time the other day and had forgotten how good it is. There is a lot of material compressed into its length, and they did leave out some things and change some stuff around, but overall the story is what it should be. And the acting, direction, cinematography, visuals, and dialogue are all wonderful. It's a really, really good movie.
But the third movie is sublime. I watched the DVD for the first time the other day and had forgotten how good it is. There is a lot of material compressed into its length, and they did leave out some things and change some stuff around, but overall the story is what it should be. And the acting, direction, cinematography, visuals, and dialogue are all wonderful. It's a really, really good movie.
I always get jabbed at from friends coz Im 19, enjoy the Harry Potter books and have ended up buying hard cover of the whole series. They judge it on what they have seen from the movies and combine that with the fact it's directed towards kids.
There is no doubt where the books are directed but if they were to read them they would find that anyone of any age can get a huge amount of enjoyment out of them. It's a pity the first two movies put such a black mark on it for those who had not yet ventured into the books.
There is no doubt where the books are directed but if they were to read them they would find that anyone of any age can get a huge amount of enjoyment out of them. It's a pity the first two movies put such a black mark on it for those who had not yet ventured into the books.
LinesInTheSand
Banned
The PoA movie was excellent. It's what got me to read the books after the dreadful shite that was CoS
Prospero said:
Prisoner of Azkaban is easily the best film adaptation to date, benefiting from improved source material and a director who does't suck ass. Unlike the Chris Columbus adaptations, it retains a lot of the humor, personality, and charm of the book. The drawback is that fairly significant chunks of plot were dropped in the process. For the most part, this isn't a problem, but there were a couple of scenes that desperately needed a few extra minutes to clarify what was happening. That said, I liked it quite a bit - as opposed to the first two films which are damn near unwatchable.
FnordChan, who really dug Order of the Phoenix
brooklyngooner
Member
Manics said:
I'm heartened to read someone else feels this way.
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