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Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

#331
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4/17/09 at 5:26am
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ
We may disagree quite a bit about the last two films, but I'm with you on this one so far. What are the obvious changes you are worried about?
There is a rumor about the target of Fenrir Greyback - that might be one.
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#332
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4/18/09 at 5:49am
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

I had not heard about the change of targets.. that would make strange ripples into the next film.. especially because of how it has to end.

But I LOVE the new trailer.
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#333
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4/18/09 at 3:58pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ
We may disagree quite a bit about the last two films, but I'm with you on this one so far. What are the obvious changes you are worried about?

Warning Spoiler! Click to show
  • Dumbledore appearing to Harry on an Undergound platform at the start of the movie instead of politely tearing apart the Dursleys like in the book. Yates really loves the duality of our world/their world, but all of the contemporary scenery instantly dates the picture. Privet Drive is itself a skewed satire of the real world, so that helps sell the transition a bit better. Not a deal breaker by any means, but it was an unnecessary change and that irritates me.
  • Having the Death Eaters attack the Millennium Bridge instead of a generic motorway bridge bothers me for the same reason.
  • Cutting down the number of Tom Riddle memories. This is probably the most critical loss. Tom Riddle's story is complex and quite tragic. By stripping the flashbacks down to the one at the Orphanage and the one Slughorn is trying to hide, he loses a lot of his dimensionality. Having four or five would have also helped sell that Dumbledore was devoting a lot of time to preparing Harry for what's to come. I'm not sure we'll get that from what's left.
  • Replacing Harry's big kiss with Ginny in the Common Room with Ron and Lavender. My single favorite moment from the book is gone. The moment of sheer happiness of them connecting in this public and really perfect way helped balance out Dumbledore's death. The scenes that replace it, which we saw quite a bit of in the trailer, look fantastic. By transforming the kiss into a private offering by Ginny, it's more personal and (because she's reacting to his willingness to give up the Half-Blood Prince's textbook) plays off the scene in the Chamber of Secrets in a really satisfying way; there, Harry was this paternalistic protector saving a scared little girl from her mistakes. That experience shaped Ginny so that she surpassed Harry and is now the more mature one of the pair. By hiding the Prince's book, she's saving Harry from his mistakes. Visually it works, because Bonnie Wright's gone from being a head shorter than Dan in COS to being an inch or two taller here and possesses just the right mix of maternalism and vulnerability. And in such a context, Ginny has to initiate. But by having Ginny initiate, you lose the key change from the book: that is, the shift from Ginny chasing Harry to Harry chasing Ginny. I think I'm going to like the new scenes quite a bit, but I'm definitely going to miss the Big Kiss from the book.
  • There doesn't seem to be any effort to make Jim Broadbant look a thing like how Horace Slughorn was described in the book. Considering that Imelda Staunton's transformation was of the few bright spots in OOTP, this is very disappointing.
  • Recasting Katie Bell. She doesn't look anything like the girl who played her in the first two films.
  • The vastly scaled down wizard battle following Dumbledore's death, and no time left for reflection afterwards. That lack of proper conclusion was one of my biggest problems with the OOTP movie. When major characters die, you need to give those who cared about them a few moments to come to terms with that. The ending of GOF does this perfectly and poetically in a very little amount of screen time.
  • Narcissa Malfoy's reverse skunk hairdo; who the hell thought that was a good idea?
None of those are deal breakers, because the worst omissions are replaced by something equally valuable and the rest are nitpicks. I'm most worried about them rushing the ending too much.
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#334
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4/18/09 at 4:08pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

The sixth book has a lot less subplots than the fifth (which was my favorite) so it would be easier to make it into a 147 minute movie. That said, I have been disappointed by nearly all of the Harry Potter adaptations. They missed the overall mood of the books, and were not as good most of the times. Considering the fact that the books weren't Shakespeare either (although a very fun read, I have to admit), that has to say something. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to this film, and the final two as well.

EDIT: And this was posted before Adam had posted his message. You make a couple of good arguments, and it's been a while since I read the book. Still, I have to see it for myself how it turns out, but it would add to the disappointment the previous films had. But let's hope it doesn't.

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#335
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4/18/09 at 7:44pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Well, none of those changes is going to upset me too much. At least, I don't think they will. I'd have a comment on most them, but I'm too lazy to deal with all of the spoiler tags I'd have to use.

But there is one thing I'd like to comment on:


Warning Spoiler! Click to show
Quote:
The vastly scaled down wizard battle following Dumbledore's death, and no time left for reflection afterwards. That lack of proper conclusion was one of my biggest problems with the OOTP movie. When major characters die, you need to give those who cared about them a few moments to come to terms with that. The ending of GOF does this perfectly and poetically in a very little amount of screen time.
If this is indeed the case with the new adaptation, then I will be bothered by it and in my opinion it would be a big mistake. Interestingly, one of my biggest problems with GOF is that I didn't think they handled the ending well enough. It was like they got studio notes to make the ending happier. The pacing of the resolution and the closing with the ship and carriage flying away to laughing and smiling kids didn't "feel" right to me.
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#336
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4/30/09 at 6:07pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Warner Bros has released two new sets of posters:
Monochrome


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#337
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6/5/09 at 8:25pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Sounds like the runtime is going to be 153 minutes which sounds pretty reasonable to me. Thoughts?
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#338
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6/5/09 at 9:38pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

A 652 page book adapted into a 153 minute film sounds much better than a 870 page book adapted into a 138 minute film, as the last one was. Maybe this one won't feel so rushed and disjointed, which was one of my biggest complaints about OOTP.

Soundtrack cover art and track listing:


Warning Spoiler! Click to show
  1. Opening
  2. In Noctem
  3. The Story Begins
  4. Ginny
  5. Snape & the Unbreakable Vow
  6. Wizard Wheezes
  7. Dumbledore's Speech
  8. Living Death
  9. Into the Pensieve
  10. The Book
  11. Ron's Victory
  12. Harry & Hermione
  13. School!
  14. Malfoy's Mission
  15. The Slug Party
  16. Into the Rushes
  17. Farewell Aragog
  18. Dumbledore's Foreboding
  19. Of Love & War
  20. When Ginny Kissed Harry
  21. Slughorn's Confession
  22. Journey to the Cave
  23. The Drink of Despair
  24. Inferi in the Firestorm
  25. The Killing of Dumbledore
  26. Dumbledore's Farewell
  27. The Friends
  28. The Weasley Stomp
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#339
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6/8/09 at 1:08pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

IMAX loses Half-Blood Prince debut because Paramount refuses to give up screens after Transformers

The disappointments surround this release continue. I have no interest in seeing the Transformers sequel in IMAX. I was really looking forward to seeing Half-Blood Prince in IMAX opening night. Now I probably won't see it in IMAX at all.
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#340
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6/8/09 at 1:37pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Sigh.... who plans these things, anyway?

(The one saving grace, for me at least, is that with the past couple of films it took me a couple weeks to get a chance to see the IMAX version. I was hoping to catch it opening day as well, but I'll probably just see the 35mm version and try to fit in the IMAX whenever it decides to show up there.)

Well, at least the film is actually longer than two hours... perhaps there might be some actual plot and story this time around. Hopefully the people at the studio heard enough complaints after the last one to say, "Hey, David Yates, we respect your desire to make a short film, heck, a shorter film screens more times a day so we usually make more money off of 'em, but could you please try to make a coherent Harry Potter film this time and not look at the running time until after you're done?"
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#341
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6/20/09 at 9:41pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

In regards to the cinematography, Yates tried to do it again but Warner Bros. stopped him. From an excellent set report in The Guardian:

According to everyone I speak to at Leavesden, Warners has been remarkably hands off. It's only when Yates started to get a bit arty on The Half-Blood Prince that the studio had something to say. "The only major run-in we've had since I came on board is regarding the look of this film. We had a fairly major negotiation about its look. Bruno Delbonnel, who was also cinematographer on Amelie, made it look very distinct and different to the previous Potters by using all these monochromatic washes. The studio wanted more colour added to it and we obliged. And actually it's no less artful with the new grade; it looks more beautiful, more inviting. When you're sending 28,000 prints around the world to goodness knows how many cultures, you need a show that pulls you in."

Thank God. The swamp scene and the memories look interesting in the trailers, but they're not how I want to spent two and a half hours in a Harry Potter film.
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#342
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6/21/09 at 2:17pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
The disappointments surround this release continue. I have no interest in seeing the Transformers sequel in IMAX. I was really looking forward to seeing Half-Blood Prince in IMAX opening night. Now I probably won't see it in IMAX at all.
Well, this is really WB fault for delaying HPs release. Paramount and IMAX had already inked there deal before WB moved HP. Plus, Transformers actually has some scenes in true IMAX, like TDK had, so isn't it a better IMAX fit? Does HP have some true IMAX scenes as well, on top of the 3D?
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#343
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6/21/09 at 4:27pm
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Re: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince discussion...

The problem I have with films like Transformers in IMAX is that the cuts just come too fast to process it all. Michael Bay is too kinetic, for lack of a better word, for IMAX. The Harry Potter films have been edited so that you have time to really let your eyes take in everything. I'm not boycotting the IMAX release or anything; I'm just not likely to pay to see the film twice in theaters. Since I want to go opening night, and IMAX won't be available for opening night, I probably won't see it in IMAX.

I do wonder if Warner Bros. knew that Paramount had locked Transformers in for the full month? If they did, why advertise the day and date release up until the announcement? It seems like a waste to dump the money into 3D for IMAX and then surrender three-quarters of your IMAX business with your new release date.
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