Harry Potter Day!

[Evil Avatar]

I'm off with the boy to see the new Harry Potter film (in 3D). 2.5 hours of explosions and expository dialogue. Whee!

[SaintBlitzkrieg]

I get to take my girlfriend, sunday afternoon...

Best part, I will most likely be hung over from a buddy's bachelor party.

[divinechaos]

You know how I know you're gay?

But seriously, real men will watch Winnie the Pooh.

[Agnostic Pope]

Watch this (http://www.cracked.com/video_18244_why-harry-potter-universe-secretly-terrifying.html)it is mandatory.

[Abednigo]

Saw it at midnight. It was quite good (although it's only 2 hours 10 minutes). They changed a few things that were mildly annoying but fit well for a movie. I've spoiler tagged it to prevent any accidental giveaways. Sorry for not doing this when I first posted it.

Spoiler start
- I seem to recall Voldemort having no idea what Harry was up to, at least not until much closer to the end (hence wanting Nagini to stay close to him). And I certainly don't remember him feeling every horcrux that Harry destroyed. They showed Voldemort react when they got destroyed in the movie.

- Maybe I just missed it, but when Neville killed Nagini (a cheer worthy scene in the theater), that seemed to be what caused Voldemort to die, not his curse rebounding on him (again) like in the book because the wand wouldn't kill Harry. The wand still flew into the air like in the book, and Harry caught it, but it didn't look like a spell rebounded. Another viewing may be necessary.

- I also don't remember Harry explicitly explaining the deal with the Elder Wand's allegiance to Ron and Hermione, and explaining various things to them along the way. In the book I remember being confused at the end as to how Voldemort died but then putting it together myself (Malfoy disarming Dumbledore, Harry disarming Malfoy, etc.) and having a light go on in my head and thinking it was brilliant that they didn't explain it all to you. They seemed to feed you the whole thing in the movie. Which was actually nice since I know a few people who went having only seen DH Pt. 1.

Overall it was a great ending to a great series (although the movies were hit or miss sometimes). Seeing some characters we haven't seen for a few movies was great. Professor McGonnegal really shined. She's a badass, and it was great to see. Same with Professor Flitwick.

The break in at Gringotts was great. The Battle at Hogwarts was fantastic. Ralph Fiennes has always been amazing in the role of Voldemort and I was glad to finally get to see a lot of him in this movie. Although his goofy laugh after walking back into Hogwarts after "killing" Harry gave the theater audience a laugh.

Molly Weasley got her famous "bitch" line. It felt a little forced, and felt less epic than in the book, but I'm glad it was in the movie and the theater cheered.

Snape's memory did not disappoint. One of my favorite chapters in the book was amazing in the movie. I trust Snape.

I think it was during Snape's memory, but there were a number of flashbacks to Godric Hollow with Harry and his Mom before Voldemort killed her. It was quite touching with her telling baby Harry how much she loved him over and over again, and baby Harry crying. I wanted to rush home and hold my son.

Random comment about the music: They threw in the classic HP jingle at some really great moments. It was almost as great as hearing the Lord of the Rings music in Peter Jackson's production videos.Spoiler ends

The epilogue was a little goofy. Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked decent as middle aged parents. Harry did not. He still looked early 20s. I suspect the makeup folks did not want people to laugh when 40 year old Harry showed up on screen. The entire theater laughed.

Unrelated to Harry Potter, The Dark Knight Rises teaser was kind of a letdown. It was mostly Commissioner Gordon in a hospital bed talking to Bruce (who we never saw). There was a brief shot of Bane's face (less than a second), but mostly just this mystery man talking about how Batman needs to come back, and Bruce asking "what if he doesn't exist anymore", or something like that. But the teaser poster is part of the teaser trailer. The camera is looking up at skyscrapers and the skyline starts to crumble down towards you with the Batman logo slowly starting to appear. That was cool and felt very Inception-like.

[Evil Avatar]

I agree that the Dark Knight trailer was a little lame. I know it is a teaser, but give us something to work with.

As for the ending... it has kinda been known that they changed the ending of the movie and it doesn't match the ending in the books. They wanted the movie ending to be a little more epic.

[lockwoodx]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pcmVQS5CGxk/Th_Lu-36FbI/AAAAAAAAP1E/1GWxkVmpKAs/s1600/hp+reddit.jpg

[Agnostic Pope]

I never understood why Harry never got a M-16 (or the equivalent gun of the time) and just kill the evil guy. You know the darkest wizard ever that relies on his stick that shoots only one thing at a time. Never got how they could not go back in time either to save the old dude. Goddamn plot holes.

[sai tyrus]

The Snape flashback was VERY well done. I didn't think the could succinctly capture all that backstory without it being 30 minutes but they did.

[Anenome]

I never understood why Harry never got a M-16 (or the equivalent gun of the time) and just kill the evil guy. You know the darkest wizard ever that relies on his stick that shoots only one thing at a time. Never got how they could not go back in time either to save the old dude. Goddamn plot holes.
The implication is that toking a firearm would be less than useless. You raise gun, he puts up perfect bullet shield first, next shot kills you.

More implausible is why you couldn't take 'em out with a sniper rifle :P But that's dealt with by having wizarding society not being used to modern gadgets. They simply wouldn't know how to use a gun, much as Ron's dad is fascinated with household gadgets and asks Harry about various ones.

More than likely, it'd be also incredibly easy to put up a charm that simply deactivated all gunpowder within a certain area. Probably a standard wizarding enchantment. Muggle protection charm or w/e.

[Agnostic Pope]

Nuclear guided missiles to the "magic world" would solve that problem. :P

[Evil Avatar]

The Snape flashback was VERY well done. I didn't think the could succinctly capture all that backstory without it being 30 minutes but they did.

I thought the Snape flashback was well done, but as someone who has NOT read the last book I felt there was some serious implications there that Snape was Harry's father.

Spoiler Below.

Also, doesn't Dumbledore come off as kind of an asshole in that flashback? That was kinda weird.

[Evil Avatar]

The implication is that toking a firearm would be less than useless. You raise gun, he puts up perfect bullet shield first, next shot kills you.

The reality is that this is also a children's/teen series and introducing guns -- even to show how useless they are against Wizards -- kinda runs contrary to the entire fantasy.

You also have to remember that the series is written by someone from the UK where they don't have the obsession we have with firearms that we have here in the USA.

I think if we had to address it, you could easily have thrown in a line in the books somewhere that every Wizard/Witch wears a simple first-year charm that protects them from bullets (even the long-ranger snipery kind).

(See how I did that?)

[Agnostic Pope]

The reality is that this is also a children's/teen series and introducing guns -- even to show how useless they are against Wizards -- kinda runs contrary to the entire fantasy.

You also have to remember that the series is written by someone from the UK where they don't have the obsession we have with firearms that we have here in the USA.

I think if we had to address it, you could easily have thrown in a line in the books somewhere that every Wizard/Witch wears a simple first-year charm that protects them from bullets (even the long-ranger snipery kind).

(See how I did that?)

Right because normal people (muggles? FF copyright lol) suck and have no rights in this universe.

That is a bit lazy. Like a death spell bouncing off the protagonists or something...oh wait...

Other than that decent series really.

[Anenome]

Nuclear guided missiles to the "magic world" would solve that problem. :P
Anything physical has no chance against magical defenses. Nuclear missiles rely on u235 being splittable. If I bend the laws of reality to where u235 cannot split, your nuclear missile is now a very expensive paper weight. Same follows for thermonuclear designs.

[Evil Avatar]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pcmVQS5CGxk/Th_Lu-36FbI/AAAAAAAAP1E/1GWxkVmpKAs/s1600/hp+reddit.jpg

Awesome quote.

[Anenome]

I thought the Snape flashback was well done, but as someone who has NOT read the last book I felt there was some serious implications there that Snape was Harry's father.

Spoiler Below.


Yeah, they made some basic point of view errors in showing Lilly before her death, mixing together something really only Voldemort or Harry's father should've been able to see. I think it was there as reminder of what happened in that scene more than anything. It was there to setup Snape crying his eyes out over Lilly Potter.

As for Dumbledore, I'm not sure if they ever adequately explained that
because Harry was a horcrux, Voldemort could read his thoughts, so Dumbledore was holding him at arms length, not letting him in on Order of the Phoenix plans, or actively deceiving him at times in order to hopefully deceive Voldemort--and ultimately it worked, for Harry hated Snape, and that was key to Voldemort trusting Snape, resulting in Snape being able to act as a spy and take down V from the inside.

They also omitted a scene where Nagini is ensconced inside a protective bubble and Snape is trying to figure out how to kill it as the last horcrux right before he's killed himself.

Ultimately the genius of the series is the use of the horcrux as the unifying element.

[sai tyrus]

I thought the Snape flashback was well done, but as someone who has NOT read the last book I felt there was some serious implications there that Snape was Harry's father.

Spoiler Below.

Yeah, to your spoiler bit. But it was their attempt to humanize Snape more. As we know, film and such generally can't compete with books.

[sai tyrus]

And Anenome's astute observations.

[Agnostic Pope]

Anything physical has no chance against magical defenses. Nuclear missiles rely on u235 being splittable. If I bend the laws of reality to where u235 cannot split, your nuclear missile is now a very expensive paper weight. Same follows for thermonuclear designs.

Technology>Magic. ;)

Same thing if you get into plasmids. :P

[Evil Avatar]

Anything physical has no chance against magical defenses. Nuclear missiles rely on u235 being splittable. If I bend the laws of reality to where u235 cannot split, your nuclear missile is now a very expensive paper weight. Same follows for thermonuclear designs.

Not to mention that your nuclear missile might suddenly turn into a bowl of petunias.

(At an Improbability Factor of eight million seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-eight to one against.)

[Anenome]

Technology>Magic. ;)

Same thing if you get into plasmids. :P
Technology relies on the laws of reality being consistent. Magic, by definition, can break the laws of reality, of physics. How then can you say tech>magic? By definition, magic>tech. Magic can invalidate everything tech relies upon to work.

[lockwoodx]

Reality > Magic because magic lacks Atoms.

[Anenome]

Reality > Magic because magic lacks Atoms.
??? how is this even cogent? What do atoms have to do with which system would win in a fight.

You shoot a bullet, with atoms, at a mage and he turns it into air, which puts a nice breeze across his face. Fine, you still have atoms, they're just atoms of nitrogen now. Good going, L-Dub. You're now dead, because he just used magic to cause your heart to stop. Gee, having a heart made out of atoms didn't save you from him making your heart unable to beat.

Please elucidate your point; I don't see it.

[lockwoodx]

My point was, the absurdity of it all. Thanks for providing such vivid examples :D

[Anenome]

My point was, the absurdity of it all. Thanks for providing such vivid examples :D
The absurdity of it was never in doubt. That doesn't mean it doesn't have its own internal logic.

[lockwoodx]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln5eni4EYN1qg1wvp.gif

Use logic, or magic (your choice!) to turn that into a real woman.

[Abednigo]

I thought the Snape flashback was well done, but as someone who has NOT read the last book I felt there was some serious implications there that Snape was Harry's father.

Spoiler Below.

Also, doesn't Dumbledore come off as kind of an asshole in that flashback? That was kinda weird.

I was a little surprised by the emotional elements in Snape's memory, in particular his arrival at Godric's Hollow after James and Lily were killed, but I think it was highly effective to show how much he cared for her. And even though I've read the book a few times, I didn't think once about any implication that he was Harry's father. Especially considering how many times in the books and movies people say he looks like his father (except his eyes). Which was part of why Snape hated Harry so much. He was the spitting image of his father and a daily reminder of how James humiliating him throughout school and how much he loved Lily and lost her to James.

Regarding your spoiler, there are significant sections in the book about Rita Skeeter's book The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore that results in Harry starting to really resent Dumbledore for not telling him things and feeling used. Maybe they made Dumbledore seem that way in Snape's memory to make up for the lack of stuff regarding Rita's book. But Snape's memory is one of my favorite chapters in the book. The movie did it wonderfully.

[sai tyrus]

Well said. It was hilarious, but I almost bawled during Snape's memory. My wife laughed at me, and rightfully so!

[Anenome]

For the people who didn't read the last book before seeing the last movie... did it come as a huge surprise that Dumbledore had ASKED Snape to kill him?

I'll tell you one thing they didn't explain. Dumbledore in his youth was fascinated with the Deathly Hallows. They are the cloak, the resurrection stone, and the elderwand.

Who gave Harry the cloak? Dumbledore.

Who had the wand? Dumbledore.

And who gave Harry the resurrection stone? Dumbledore.

The truth is, Dumbledore is a descendant of the one brother that lived, the one who asked for the cloak of invisibility so Death couldn't find him. Or perhaps it's Harry that is the descendant, I can't recall anymore--which is why his father had the cloak. I think it's Harry.

Dumbledore not only found the resurrection stone, but you probably don't know where he found it. It was actually in Voldemort's father's ring, passed down through the generations, and one of the last things that Voldemort kept of his father.

Dumbledore found it in V's father's grave, IIRC, and took the ring, and he tried to use it!

When Dumbledore tried to use the ring, he activated V's curse, which began to crawl up his arm, and would have killed him right away if Snape hadn't used a method of slowing the curse.

So, Dumbledore was dead anyway, he had less than a year to live, and that's why Snape agreed to kill him, to complete their ruse.

Then, Dumbledore took the stone out of the ring as he destroyed it (i believe it was a horcrux), and gave the stone to Harry.

Dumbledore admits to Harry that he was overly ambitious, trying to use the resurrection stone to bring back his dead sister, and that's how he got cursed. He wasn't worthy of having the Hallows.

And frankly, I think Harry is a damn idiot for breaking the elder-wand. What's needed is good people in control of powerful objects. Not to destroy the power itself. Dumbledore kept them all safe with that wand, and Harry could've done the same.


So, yeah.

[lockwoodx]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dTVZ5ZemeB4/Ti5Ou2CuCWI/AAAAAAAAP9c/ruyj4UiBfus/s1600/tumblr_loib99ts6e1qzt4pgo1_500.png