Topic: Harry Potter Fans!

[Kathy]

Sleep deprived and delusional? Sounds like my normal state of being!

[Critter]

 

Well I just woke up from a nice long sleep and am back to normal now... and all ready to see Harry Potter again 

[Dragonfire]

When the decision is made to make a movie based on a popular book, one of the challenges is to adapt the story in a way so that the movie will be entertaining and appealing to fans of the book and people who haven't read the book.  While the movie can still be good and entertaining if it is done in a way that relies on people having read the book to know everything, the movie isn't as good as it could have been.  No matter how popular a book is, there will always be people who won't read it for whatever reason but who may be interested in seeing a movie version.  Those people are going to care if they end up struggling to follow things in the movie because of what is left out of the movie.  Anytime a movie is made based on a book, things will be changed and that's fine.  At times, some of the choices made in the adaptation bug me for different reasons.  I know making movies from the Harry Potter books was challenging..probably more challenging than normal in some regards.  I still think - and this is just my opinion here - that a few things over the course of the movies - mostly in movies 5 and 6 - could have been handled a little different...and that would have made the movies stronger overall, both for fans and non fans of the books.

I really do like the movies.  I don't go into seeing them looking for things to pick at or bitch about.  I really have enjoyed the movies..even 5 and 6.  I know someone who was so disgusted with the movie version of 6 they refuse to see the movies based on Deathly Hallows.  I don't feel like that even though I think the movie had problems and could have been better.  The movies would have had to have been really, really, really bad for me to not like them.  I'm talking as bad as Pete and Jimmy thought that Lizzie Borden movie was.  I'm not obsessed with Harry Potter, but the books are some of my favorites because of how entertaining they are for me. 

Ok..I'm done.

Oh...I am going to see the movie tomorrow at 11:45 am.

[Dragonfire]

Just home from seeing the movie.  I loved it.  Much better adaptation.  Few little things left out here and there, but it isn't as bad as what has been done with the last 2 movies. 

[Critter]

I still stand by my belief that the films are doing as much as they can when it comes to including content from the books. I think that if they added all the content from the books that everyone wanted then the films would be way too long yet at the same time everyone still wouldn't be happy. There would always be people complaining that this is missing or that is missing and they really just can't please everyone. I just feels to me that even if they did add that couple of seconds here and couple of seconds there that everyone wanted, there would just always be more complaints. And anyway, they probably do even film a lot of the content that is removed but they have to cut it out in the editing room anyway.

As for how much people will understand if they haven't read the book then I honestly don't know. By the time the first film had come out I had already read all the existing books three times each, and by the time each other film had come out the same thing has happened. I couldn't even imagine seeing one of those films having not read the books so I find it very hard to even picture myself viewing one of the films without that knowledge. Would I understand it and find them easy to follow?  . There's just no way of knowing of course, but at the same maybe the people who haven't read the books do follow the films a lot better than we think.

Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed it Marie and we should have a massive convo full of spoiler tags soon about all the best parts etc. I'm already having withdrawals of a type, I just want to see it again right away!

[Dragonfire]

I know a few people who saw the movies without reading the books.  They had a few issues with the third movie and the fifth.  After that, my one friend read the books.  I don't if the other person ever did read the books.  We've lost touch.

Anyway...

I got my review done for Epinions.  I'll post one here later tonight or tomorrow I think.  I need a nap now.  lol  I had trouble sleeping last night, so I'm running on like 3 hours of sleep.

I'll be going to see it again..maybe Monday.

Oh..the theater was really full, but it was the best crowd ever...no talking..no texting...no ringing cell phones.  People didn't even get up and down to go to the bathroom that much.

[Critter]

Did you go to a midnight viewing or a normal one? My cinema was much the same, I had worries that since it was a midnight viewing that it might be like one of those dreaded Twilight midnight viewings I hear about where the fans just scream whenever anything happens. Of course it was silly of me to think that, I should have given my fellow Potter fans more credit as they were wonderful. No texting, no talking. And aside from everyone cheering and clapping when it first started, and also when it ended there was basically no sound at all. Everyone laughed in the right parts etc, and of course there was those couple of funny "jump" scenes that got everyone but aside from that the entire audience was just captivated.

Having trouble sleeping? Good luck haha! I couldn't sleep well for two nights after seeing it becuase I couldn't stop thinking about it!

[Dragonfire]

I went at 11:45 am.  There were 3 midnight showings here..I haven't gone to one of those yet.  Maybe someday.

I think most Potter fans have more sense than most Twilight fans.  Although, when I went to see Half-Blood Prince, these 2 teenage girls were sitting one seat away from me..first show on opening day again.  They were like..hmm..15 maybe.  The trailer for New Moon started and they completely freaked out.  I honestly have never seen anything like that before.

This time it seems like there were true Potter fans there than ..hmm..casual fans I guess.  People were reacting to things..laughing at times and stuff like that, but other wise, it was quiet.  It was so nice.  And it just proves that people can shut the hell up in a theater and don't have to be texting nonstop.

[Critter]

Yeah I could tell that everyone in my cinema were huge fans, and have all read the books as people often reacted to things before they happened.

For example,

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I could hear the entire cinema pretty much whimpering sort of when Hedwig came in screen during the 7 Potters scene, as they obviously all knew what was about to happen and were anticipating it. A similar thing happened with Dobbys death, you could just tell everyone there knew what was coming. It was a great atmosphere.

[Dragonfire]

I honestly can't remember hearing a lot before those moments, but I still had the feeling that everyone was anticipating them.  I think I heard a few reactions.

[Critter]

How did your cinema react to...

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The scene in Bathilda Bagshots house after Nagini attacked Harry then dissappeared, then after a long moment of silence just jumped out again? Every single person in my cinema jumped, which was followed almost immediatly by most people laughing at the fact that we all got such a fright haha. It was very funny. I knew it would be coming but I still jumped anyway.

[Dragonfire]

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I think people jumped.  I wasn't watching as close at that part.  That snake freaks me out more than others.  So, I was just peeking every so often until they got out of there. 
I was really jumpy the first time Nagini was shown...in the Malfoy house.  It got worse when she started heading for the body.  I think a boy about 12 or so a few seats away was laughing at me.

[Critter]

Oh yeah I forgot you have the fear of snakes. That must be hard. I thought it was an amazingly well done scene.

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I thought it was especially freaky when Bathilda's body warped into that of Nagini's. For a few seconds during the transition there was this eerie skeletel look on her face. How about "that dance" between Harry and Hermione, what did you think of that?

[Dragonfire]

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What I was able to stand seeing of Nagini did look well done.  It looked real enough to freak me out anyway.  lol  I did see when Bathilda warped into the snake..that was done well.  I did hear a few gasps overall during that..attack.  There were 2 really young kids in the theater...3 and 4 I think.  Too young for this one I think.  Anyway, after that scene, one of them was crying a bit. 

The dance when they were in the tent?  That was....well.  Sort of odd, though I get that Harry was trying to cheer her up a bit.

What did you think of what the locket made Ron see?  With Harry and Hermione together.  I swear it looked like they were both at least half naked, which I did not expect.  I think some others in the theater were a bit...surprised how that was shown too.

[Critter]

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I actually really liked the dance scene. But to me it looked like they were sort of losing their minds a bit. Or that's what I got from it anyway. They had been traveling around for weeks and weeks with nothing happening and I think they were starting to go a little crazy, the dance seemed like a crazy dance haha, but it was funny.

I actually read an interview about that make-out scene that Ron saw during the horcrux. While they were filming it both of them were wearing jeans, and Emma was wearing something that covered the front of her, so they weren't actually both half naked. It did create that appearance on screen. It didn't surprise me or catch me off guard though, but I suppose that could be because I read that interview beforehand haha.