07.22.07
Posted in Reviews at 6:11 am by RavenclawWit
Ok, I’ve just finished it, ladies and gents. All 759 pages. I’ve decided to open up this post for discussions, impressions, rants, etc. on Deathly Hallows. I’ll start with my impressions; and those so desiring can leave their thoughts in the comments. My comments on the book won’t start until after the more link. So if you haven’t yet read the book and don’t want to be spoiled, under no circumstances should you click the more link (and the permalink or comments link for that matter).
Read the rest of this entry »
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07.15.07
Posted in Reviews at 1:39 pm by RavenclawWit
So, I finally went to see Order of the Phoenix yesterday. I’m going to review, but it’ll be spoilery so if you haven’t seen it yet, please don’t read.
First off, my overall impression. It was very good. I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars. (If I had stars that is.)
I thought the movie was great. I have to say that I really enjoyed David Yates style. It’s much different than the previous movies. He uses a lot more close up shots and less wide angle shots, which gives the film a much more personal feel.
The opening scene in particular was awesome. Probably the best opening scene in an HP movie to date. The confrontation with Dudley, though compressed, was terrific and the dementors were a hundred times scarier than they were in the third film.
Now about differences between the book and film. I know some people who’ve seen the film were disappointed in how many changes there were, but as some of you may know, I’ve never been the type of person who thought the film had to be exactly like the book. In this case, Order was such a massive and detailed book with so many subplots, it would’ve been impossible to include everything. But the changes they did make, I thought were fairly skillful. In fact some, like how they portrayed Harry’s posession by Voldemort in the Dept. of Mysteries, I felt were a slight improvement at least visually from the book. Please don’t lynch me for saying that.
One of the major complaints I heard was the fact that in the final battle Sirius was hit with Avada Kedavra before falling through the veil. Well, in point of fact, the spell that Bellatrix hit Sirius with was not named in the book. It probably was not AK, owing to the fact that it was described as a jet of red light, and so far AK has always been green, but honestly does it matter? The end result is the same: Sirius is dead. In fact, I think they might have chosen Avada Kedavra intentionally because unlike the book, they didn’t have time to deal with all the stuff that established that Sirius was really dead (ie. the failure of the two way mirrors, Harry’s conversation with Nearly Headless Nick, etc.). They had to quickly make it clear to the audience that Sirius was dead and not coming back.
There were only two changes that I felt were mistakes from a plot point of view.
First, was revealing that Cho betrayed the D.A. under the influence of Veritaserum. I predicted way back in December of 2005 that they would scrap Marietta Edgecombe’s character and have Cho do the tattling, which would have been fine. However, they shouldn’t have included the tidbit about it being under the influence of Veritaserum. Mostly because that means that the Veritaserum that Snape supplied Umbridge with in the film was real, while in the book Dumbledore clearly states that Snape had been supplying Umbridge with fake Veritaserum. Considering that Snape’s true allegiances are supposed to be a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma, they shouldn’t have “added” this. It’ll be taken as a clue by some fans, even though it’s not canon. They should’ve just had Cho betray the D.A., full stop. Yes, it would’ve made Cho out to be much more of a jerk than she actually is, but since her character ceases to be of any importance after the fifth book, who cares? Also, it would’ve killed two birds with one stone; it would have ended the D.A. and led to Harry’s breakup with Cho at the same time. In the film, he finds out at the end that Cho only tattled because of Veritaserum, so why wouldn’t he just forgive her? It doesn’t make sense for him to just completely forget about her in that context.
The other mistake I felt they made was not revealing the whole prophecy at the end of the film. I quite understand them not going into the whole drawn out explanation of his every action for the past 15 years that Dumbledore gives at the end of book 5, but they should have included the entire prophecy. Dumbledore wouldn’t have had to explain it, going into the whole confusing Neville-was-almost-you thing, etc, but it would’ve been nice especially for fans to be able to hear the entire prophecy. It would’ve only increased the length of the film by 5 minutes at most. Won’t they have to return to it anyways in the next film when Harry finds out it was Snape who heard the first half of the prophecy and gave it to Voldemort?
So those were the only two plotting problems I saw really. Other than that it was great. I especially liked the use of flashbacks from the other films that were featured in the occlumency scenes and in the Voldemort-tries-to-possess Harry scene. It was a sort of really nice way to weave all of the films together, not to mention that it added a lot of emotional impact to the story.
Imelda Staunton was terrific as Umbridge. Like in the book, you really wished something terrible would happen to her because she was so hateful.
We got to see a bit more of Alan Rickman as Snape in this film than in Goblet of Fire, and as always, he was spot on Snape. I can only hope that we get to see much more of him in the sixth film.
Michael Gambon was as usual, a slightly disappointing Dumbledore. He’s a great actor; I’m just not sure he entirely understands Dumbledore’s character as described in the book, or even makes much of an effort to. The scene where he tells Umbridge that Trelawney can stay at the castle was very good until he turned around and snapped waspishly at the students, “Don’t you have some studying to do?”. The real Dumbledore (and I’m sorry but I always picture the late great Richard Harris when I say that) may very well have said such a thing if he wanted the students to return to their business, but he would have said it in that maddeningly detached tone (as if he couldn’t really care less whether the students ever studied) that is so wonderfully Dumbledore. Gambon has thus far proven unable/unwilling to master this.
The battle scenes were without a doubt, some of the coolest scenes I’ve ever watched on a movie screen. In particular, the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort really gave you a sense of two almost cosmic magical forces colliding. It was jaw dropping.
So all in all, a four out of five, in my opinion. I can’t wait for the DVD!
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08.30.06
Posted in Reviews, Scoops at 11:39 am by Headmaster
Another excellent candy review from our friends at Candy Addict, this time for Harry Potter Blood Pops.
The lollipops are a nice size - not too big, not too small - they are about 1.25″ by 1″. When I eat a lollipop, I don’t want a meal, I want a snack. These are just right. The pops are coated with a red film - it looked like crushed strawberries with seeds (you can see it pretty well on the left one in this picture). That stuff is what makes your mouth bloody red. After I had sucked on it enough to remove that coating I looked at my tongue in the mirror and indeed it was “bloody red”. Cool.
Sounds like good stuff. More to my liking than some of the Bertie Bott’s flavors.
Also not available until 2007.
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08.29.06
Posted in Reviews, Scoops at 12:53 pm by Headmaster
Not my review, but Candy Addict’s: Sausage and Pickle Flavored Harry Potter Jellybeans
We know them as Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and now they will appear in Sausage and Pickle flavors.
From the review:
One of the new flavors is sausage and the other is pickle. My five-year-old daughter LOVES pickles so she was excited to try it. She took a few chews and spit it out and said “Daddy, I don’t like it”. My sister and I tried it too and it didn’t taste anything like pickles to either of us. It didn’t taste bad but it didn’t taste good.
Sausage was another story. My sister and I popped one in our mouths at the same time and we spit it out at almost the same time - after maybe two chews. DISGUSTING. It almost made me gag and my sister actually did gag. Sausage was way nastier than any of the other gross flavored jellybeans I have tried - even worse than vomit. It didn’t taste like sausage it just tasted NASTY.
You’ll have to wait until 2007 to try them for yourself, but start here if you want more info online.
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04.05.06
Posted in Theories, Reviews at 1:35 am by RavenclawWit
The Headmaster asked me to “deconstruct” the whole behind the door process and WOMBAT test process, so I’ll give it a shot.
It is interesting that Rowling includes this door thing on her site. Usually when the door opens, it leads to a bit of information on the book she’s currently working on; this time it led to a rather difficult test.
I won’t go through the whole process of getting the door open. If you want to know how that worked (although getting through the door the next time will likely involve an entirely different process, if there is a next time), see here. I will say though that the mirror was interesting. I’ve always thought that the mirror perhaps represented the mirror of Erised. And the fact that you had to break it and that the note behind it spoke of “seven years of bad luck” didn’t escape me. Seven years. The story of Harry Potter, if the last book sticks to a one year time frame, takes place in seven years. You might even say seven years of exceedingly bad luck, depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist.
Once you got in the door, you were treated to an aerial view of Jo’s desk. This in itself was interesting, since we usually only see a partial view of the desk, on the entrance page of the site. The full aerial view revealed her computer, a very messy floor, and interestingly enough a graduation cap. It was when you moved the tassel on the cap to point directly north that it moved aside to reveal the WOMBAT test. First the graduation cap. Maybe this represents that the seventh year for Harry, Hermione, and Ron is supposed to hold their graduation from Hogwarts. However, book 6 indicates that neither Harry or his friends intend to return to school, and there’s even some question as to whether Hogwarts will be open following the death of Dumbledore (oh please, if you haven’t read it by now…). Maybe Rowling is trying to tell us that the trio will graduate after all? Or maybe the “graduation” is for us, if we pass the WOMBAT.
Which brings me to the test itself. As Jo herself said in the beginning of the test, it was no ordinary test of Harry Potter trivia. It was a test on Wizarding law and custom, but it was subtle. It felt like a test about ethics. Most of the questions asked what you should do in a certain situation when a fellow wizard was breaking the law, some even involved asking which crime was worse than the other. For some of the questions it seemed that there was a clear “right” answer, but it didn’t feel right. It was indeed a very strange test. One of those tests where you get done and have no idea whether you passed or not. The kind of test Hermione Granger would hate, I think.
After you finished the test and submitted your answers, you received a Student ID code, and it said that your answers would be available soon. I can only assume that the door will open again sometime in the near future and that entering your code will get you the results and if you passed, perhaps some sort of reward. Usually rewards on J.K.R.’s site consist of either information or Harry Potter artifacts (drawings she’s done of the characters, snippets of her first drafts, etc.).
So, there it is. The door, deconstructed.
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03.22.06
Posted in Reviews, Scoops at 4:58 pm by RavenclawWit
There’s a great post at Blogcritics.org by Adam Hoff about the similarities between 24’s main character Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and the boy wizard, Harry Potter.
It’s quite a good article, and it does indeed point out some interesting parallels between the two characters. It seems that heroes are often the same, at least in fiction, whether tv fiction or book form.
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03.11.06
Posted in Reviews at 7:09 pm by RavenclawWit
Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, been quite busy. I received the Goblet of Fire DVD yesterday, and wanted to let everyone know what I thought of it.
I won’t review the film itself. To see what I think of the film, see here. What I want to do is review the special features. So, if you don’t want to know what is on the Special Features disc, don’t read ahead because there will be spoilers. You’ve been warned.
First let me issue a warning to those planning to buy the DVD. If you want the special features, you must purchase the Two-Disc Special Edition of the movie. If you buy the single disc version, you don’t get any special features. This happened to someone I know, so be careful.
First the packaging. The packaging on this dvd is quite nice. The outer cardboard slipcover is done in a silver foil with the now famous poster picture of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the Triwizard champions. (See here for a picture). Very nice. The inner dvd case is basically the same. Inside, you’ll only find one booklet, the Noble Collection brochure which outlines some cool but pricey Harry Potter merchandise you can buy. Then you get the discs. Disc 1 is the movie and Disc 2 is the special features disc.
When you pop in the Special Features disc, after a couple of short previews for upcoming films and a menu asking whether you want to proceed in English or French, you’ll come to the main menu. It’s done nicely with a sort of 3D panoramic intro. Then you are pulled back over the scene and shown a menu consisting of four locations. The Dragon Arena, The Lake, The Maze, and Hogwarts Castle.
Clicking on Dragon Arena, you’ll find yourself in another menu. The first item is the Triwizard Tournament:Dragon Challenge, which is a game wherein you attempt to avoid the Hungarian Horntail and fetch its golden egg. I hate games, so I didn’t play it, and I don’t know what happens when you get the egg. On past Potter dvd’s you had to win certain games before gaining access to additional scenes or features, which I dislike. I hope that’s not the case on this DVD, but if anyone else plays the game, let me know. Also in the Dragon Arena menu there is Harry vs. The Horntail which is all about the first task. It contains interviews with various members of the crew and Daniel Radcliffe discussing the first task, the dragon, the visual effects used in the creation of the dragon. It goes into quite a bit of detail, but it’s interesting to watch and gives you a good idea of the work involved for this movie. The last item in the Dragon Arena is entitled Meet The Champions. It’s a really great feature that introduces us to the three young actors who played the Triwizard Champions, Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory), Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum), and Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour). It follows all three during a complete day of filming and is very entertaining. Robert Pattinson in particular is a very funny, albeit odd, young man.
Going back to the main features menu, you can visit The Lake. Here you will find another game, the Lake Challenge, and a feature on the second task called In Too Deep. Like the feature on the first task, it contains interviews and interesting clips on how the underwater world was created.
Also in the main features menu, you can visit The Maze. There are two games in this section, the Maze Challenge and the To The Graveyard And Back Challenge. There’s also a feature on the creation of the maze for the third task. The last feature in this section is called He Who Must Not Be Named. It has some interviews with Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) along with the director Mike Newell, Dan Radcliffe, and various other crew, all discussing the character of Lord Voldemort. It’s a really great feature, especially if like me, you thought Fiennes portrayal of the Dark Lord was absolutely brilliant. Just hearing him talk about his preparations for the role, you realize that the man is a genius and that he took this role very seriously. Really hope he returns for Order and movie 7.
The last stop on the main menu is Hogwarts Castle. There are a ton of features in this location. The first is the most exciting, Additional Scenes. There aren’t actually that many (about six or seven I think). For most of them it is apparent why they were cut. Either they just weren’t very good or they were too long without advancing the story. There was only one scene that I saw that I wish very much had been left in the film. It’s a scene where Harry ventures outside during the Yule Ball and witnesses a heated conversation between Snape and Karkaroff. It’s a good scene in my opinion, and it would have given the film a bit more Snape, which is always a good thing. The next feature in Hogwarts Castle is Preparing For The Yule Ball, about the design of the Yule Ball. It has interviews and clips of a lot of the kids. Conversations With The Cast is an in depth interview with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. It’s a nice feature with some interesting questions, and it’s fun to see how grown-up the stars of the movie have gotten. Reflections On The Fourth Film is another great feature with comments from the young cast (Dan, Rupert, Emma, and many others) about life on the set.
All in all, the special features on this dvd are great. Just the amount of clips and interviews is an improvement over the previous dvds, and the quality is wonderful. This dvd is truly worth purchasing the special edition.
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12.28.05
Posted in Meta, Reviews, Stories at 5:58 pm by Michael
As Ravenclawwit posted, JK redid her site. The entrance is much better and the whole site has a holiday theme to it (which begs the question of are there any Jewish witches and wizards who feel alienated due to Hogwart’s only celebrating Christmas). Best of all she has updated the rumors page and her diary.
1) The Diary talks about 2006 being the year she writes Book 7. SO that gives us the pretty much assumed badnews that 7 will not be out this year… However, if things stay on track, we could see a summer 2007 release (my guess not her statement) which would be great.
2) The rumors address a few things… A fictional HP7 title, Wormtail’s Silver Hand, the new DADA teacher, and under the dark mark, a horcrux rumor. Unfortunately, it isn’t the Harry/Horcrux rumor… but the one it addresses has been bandied around a lot. Very good stuff… as always, read and discuss.
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12.11.05
Posted in Reviews at 10:11 am by Headmaster
The inimitable Atlanta blogger Duane Moody, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this past week, brings us his blogged review of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He and I are both big fans of Prisoner of Azkaban, but we both enjoyed GoF. I think this statement best sums up or mutual opinion and experience:
This was by far the best film, both visually, and story-wise; but that is thanks to a great book. In my opinion, the only thing that represented a shortcoming, was the hurried feel, and had a deeper attention to Rowling’s detail, this movie would be even better. With that being said, it was, even given its downfalls, a winner. I give Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, six out of six stars.
Alright, now that I’ve ruined the ending, go read his full review. You’ll thank me for it.
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11.23.05
Posted in Reviews at 3:08 pm by Headmaster
Let me start off by saying that Goblet of Fire is probably my least favorite book in the Harry Potter septology. Sure, it’s right there in the middle of the series and there are some great character developments that happen. Heck, even Lord Voldemort comes back to life, but the book was tedious. Too verbose, incredibly over-written in comparison to the previous and subsequent books and quite the jump psychologically in the series as a student dies.
Having said all of that, I really enjoyed the movie version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Here then, is my review:
The Good:
- Cedric Diggory
I think this film really captured his character. His actions and his death are dealt with expertly. Kudos.
- Hermione Granger
Emma Watson was wonderful as always, but her performance was particularly excellent this time around
- Snape
I loved the scene where Snape kept cuffing Ron on the head, and his confrontation of Harry in his potions closet, after the rendezvous with Karkaroff was spot-on.
The Bad:
- Rita Skeeter
If you’re not going to give us more of her stories or reveal the punny nature of her surname and how she gets her scoops, leave her out. Miranda Richardson was wasted for all of 3 1/2 minutes of screen time
- Dumbledore
I don’t dig the pensive Dumbledore, that’s why he has a pensieve (thank you). They make it up in the end with his speech that foreshadows The Order of the Phoenix, but his performance was too timid for me. He’s Dumbledore!
- The Soundtrack
Bring back John Williams. His theme was like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy, unimpressive and forgettable score.
The Ugly:
- Lord Voldemort
Ralph Fiennes’ make-up was literally ugly, but also, I kinda imagined Lord Voldemort as being a tad more corporeal (hair, a nose) than that. Or maybe I’m mis-remembering the book, but damn!
The Indifferent:
- Viktor Krum
I thought he looked the part, but I didn’t have the same kind of reaction I did when I read the book. I don’t know, he just seemed not enough involved with the action and the story
- Fleur Delacour
I feel the same way about Fleur as I do about Krum. It made me a little sad, because Fleur has a great part in Book 6. Still, she looked the part and had some charisma.
I apologize for seeming overly critical, because I really did enjoy the movie. I just happen to think the source material is not as strong as other Harry Potter books, so I’m naturally inclined to pick nits.
Still, a very good realization of the story, one I’d happily see again and reccommend to others. Maybe not those unfamiliar with the books, because the movies tend to pace really quickly, but to fans and readers.
The gold standard, in my mind, is still Prisoner of Azkaban, both in book form and movie.
Look, if you’re reading this review or visiting this blog, the movie is probably up your alley. This is what we do here: we obsess, we nitpick and we quibble. If that sounds like your cup of tea, feel free to join the fray and start writing here.
At the very least, leave a comment. 
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