Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I'm not a film critic and so am not even going to try.
Went to see it with the wife and kids tonight and have to say i thoroughly enjoyed it. I was more of the same when compared with the previous films, however it seemed to keep me glued to the screen much more this time around. The obligitory monsters didn't get so much of a descriptive 'preview' during the film , they just kinda happened.
All in all not a bad way for me to spend £20 or so...

Looks like it's going to be an expensive month next month, the wife & kids have already bookmarked King Kong, Narnia and Flightplan in . Still It's nice to all cram into the car and pop of to the flicks as a family..

 

My gf is a big fan but she is a bit worried about this one. She has seen the other films but her concern is how they have managed to compress such a big book down to 100 minutes or so. I'll still encourage her to go as its a couple of hours to myself then.

Personally I detest the whole potter thing. I caution any adult who is spotted by me reading such stuff.

 

Why? Ok, it's not great literature but they are still passable stories. I've read them all, more than once and thoroughly enjoyed them (except perhaps the lastest). Currently I'm reading Frankenstein, The Poems of the Elder Edda (12C source of the Ring of the Nibelungung) and the Algebreist (Iain Banks) and just finished Canterbury Tales. JK Rowling isn't a patch on any of those admittedly but it doesn't mean her books a not worth reading.

 

took the family to see it last night - we all really enjoyed it, thought it was probably the best of the series so far. the cinema was packed with kids who were pretty rowdy before it started - but then silent throughout, so it clearly had a grip on the audience. I am getting a bit irritated by Harry himself though - the others seem to be growing up into normal awkward, gangly teenagers whereas he's stuck with that slap-face cartoon look. Oi, Rowling, you're not short of a bob or two - get the kid some contact lenses!

 

I would say they're more than passable. Rowling can write a good story and can give her characters a bit of genuine life, a relatively rare talent these days. Anybody who can get kids to read in an age dominated by computer games clearly has something going for her.

 

Our younger daughter gave us tickets to this as a Christmas present, so we went last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. To me, this was the best Potter so far.

I do believe Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are starting to learn to act (Emma Watson always could). The terrible problems of early encounters with The Opposite Sex ("I'd rather face the dragon!" says Harry) are nicely done. Naturally the whole thing was reduced in size (had to, given the size of the book), but the essential spirit of the book was captured and the confrontation in the graveyard with the revived Voldemort was appropriately creepy and menacing. With the murder of Cedric, the series has taken a turn for the darker, and it will become darker still.

I was sorry to see that an old favourite, Alan Rickman who plays Prof. Snape, had little to do except scowl. Hopefully that will be remedied in future films. But how much longer can the rapidly adolescing Radcliffe, Grint and Watson stay in their roles?

 

Just introduced to my father a few books, an engineer in his 60's, including the Harry Potter's books since my parents came to stay over the winter. So far he had read 3 of earlier books and absolutely love them. He said the setting were done very convincingly and really like the charactors which were totally believable so much so it reminded him of a lot of people he have met in his working life esp the annoying ones. He had just finished the Lord of the Rings prior to reading these which he also liked but find that unnecessarily tedious in bits but so far I've not heard anything negative about any of the JKR's series.

 

Film was great,story was weak imho

 

Apart from being able to act Emma Watson is also a total babe...

By the time the next film comes out we'll all be able to say that without getting disapproving looks. You wait, she'll be on the cover of FHM (or similar) before long.

Michael.

 

On the subject of "kids" books I can highly recommend Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. The best thing I've read since LOTR and in intelligence and imagination blows Harry Potter into the weeds. Don't get me wrong, I love the Harry Potter books (a lot more than the films it has to be said) but His Dark Materials is on another level (as is LOTR).

Michael.

 

I loved the latest Harry Potter movie. I enjoyed the first three, but always felt the flaws outweighed the qualities, to an especially frustrating degree in the third one, which had such promise - I loved the directing and the production design and the whole feel of it, but the story just clunked along with no direction, continuity, or sense...

The latest one only has a few minor, niggly flaws, and an awful lot of qualities - great directing, AMAZING effects (some of the best I can ever remember seeing in places), decent acting, perfect casting, fantastic action sequences, and even a half-decent script! I was very impressed with the way they managed to distill the very long book into a very workable movie.

The main flaws were a bit of the third movie's chop and stutter in terms of flow, but much less obvious or annoying than the third one. Also, the end bit in the cemetary was great except for the climax where [SPOILER WARNING] the wands lock with a priori incantatum (or whatever it's called), which was very random and not explained at all. Not a problem if you've read the book, but still a bit annoying.

Also, Hermione didn't really get up to much it seemed - just kinda hung around hurling disapproving looks at Harry and Ron, or running off in various degrees of huff...

As for His Dark Materials, I've only read the first one so far, and while I liked a lot about it, I never felt the characters were very well fleshed out - they all seemed a bit two-dimensional and basic. I liked the dark and twisted feel of it, and the world was quite interesting and cool, but it never really drew me in. Also, the plot was pretty much nonexistant - very much an "episodic" adventure style, with one thing happening to Lyra after another a bit randomly, which of course isn't necessary a bad thing, but plot-wise, Harry Potter has a lot more going on.

Anyway, I'll try and get around to the Subtle Knife at some point (I started it, but lost interest a short way into it...) I'm told the trilogy as a whole is excellent, and the first book did have a lot of the feeling of a "prologue" to a larger story, so I'll give it a chance. It certainly didn't draw me in and make me want to tear through each book the way Potter did. Then again, it struck me as a more contemplative sort of book, rather than a page-turner...

Anyway, back on topic......

Dunc

 

Dunc - you really should persevere with His Dark Materials. It's definitely worth it. When I was a kid I gave up with LOTR half way through "The Two Towers" but persistence paid off eventually and I enjoy it more with every read. It's about time I got around to reading HDM for a second time.

I don't want to knock Harry Potter but Harry Potter really is just a kids story compared to HDM which can be read on the "kids story" level but is sooooooo much deeper (meaning of life, the universe and everything - yes, that deep). Harry Potter gives you a transient instant fix whereas HDM has major staying power.

HDM (well, Northern Lights at least) is being made into a film.

Michael.

 

An interesting bit from the Monteverdi Productions website:

BBC RADIO 4's FRONT ROW - REFLECTIONS ON BACH (13 Dec 2005)

Presented by Mark Lawson

Special Programme: Reflections on Bach On tonight's 'Front Row' the writer Philip Pullman and the conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner come together to talk with Mark Lawson about their private correspondence.

The eminent conductor read Pullman's novel 'His Dark Materials' while spending the year 2000 performing Bach throughout the world, and wrote to the author. This has developed into a regular exchange in which each has reflected on Bach, on writing, on music, on language, on the creative process, and on the common ground between their two professions.

Tonight they make this private correspondence public, sharing their thoughts on storytelling, on working methods, on faith and on the extent to which the creative artist should attempt to be in control.

 

Possibly posted to the wrong thread?

 

Seems to be about Philip Pullman, author of the Dark Materials trilogy (good read it is too - subtle knife being the best of the 3). Must admit though not a lot to do with Potter

 

Ah. Okay.

 

No, Markus. Michael mentioned the Pullman trilogy (of which I confess I'd never heard), and I saw this bit on the Monteverdi website and thought it might be of interest. But nowt to do with Harry P.

 

She's also jailbait!!! But not for much longer... Ahem cough cough.

Saw the movie a couple of weeks ago in Liverpool. Initial dumbfounded annoyance at the Showcase running the entire previews/ads on OPTICAL ANALOG soundtracks (in just-about-stereo) soon disappeared within 3 minutes of the film starting; even with all that crackling (it's 2006 FFS - even my early 80s analog laserdiscs don't crackle that bad!) so the film MUST have been good

Moaning Murtle's a bit naughty though, isn't she?