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Home bullet Forums bullet Outpost Modules bullet Responses to Articles bullet Films bullet Voldemort Strikes Back
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Voldemort Strikes Back

Article Bot ( 64 ) · Group: Site Bots · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 11, 2006 at 07:26 AM

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire spurs FullAuto to scream "Expelliamus!" at passers-by.

Discuss the full article - Voldemort Strikes Back by FullAuto below...

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Pete ( 701 ) · Group: Administrators · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 11, 2006 at 07:40 AM

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Well normally I'd be one of those folks who'd blindly defend the series, but all your points are only points I would make myself.

The characters in the books tend to be slightly more developed, though not so much in the first two as they were almost short enough that the whole thing transferred completely into the film.

Azkaban lost a fair few scenes and, whilst you have to cut some stuff, the studio tends to cut the interaction between the minor characters which leaves them as mere background set decoration in the films rather than actual characters that are friends with our trio in the books.

Goblet is, for obvious reasons, the worst hacked up book in the series so far. I'm not saying this is a bad thing by any means, as there were some fairly long chunks in the book where nothing happened.

In the film however, the Quidditch World Cup screams out for more screen time - they announce the start of the match and then it's like your DVD player's skiped a scene and they're at Hogwarts. I can see why they did it, it's a bloody long part of the book and nobody gets to school until around page 160-odd, but then the director or whoever doea another classic mistake which pains me in every film they've made.

They make a scene far longer than it should be! The dragon fight in Goblet is this film's annoyance for me as the actual fight never went anywhere near the school and in the extra five minutes, they could habve, oh I don;t know, put some of Rowling's story back in the fucking film!

The bit I don't understand is how the studios get away with this crap?! They must bypass the Harry Potter fansites completely where people complain about the bits that are cut out and just do their own thing. It's not like the kids seeing it haven't heard or read the stories over and over or anything, they know what's missing and whilst the simple among them will like the longer scenes and their accompanying eye candy, the die-hard fans, the ones who made these books so damned popular buy actually buying them, are sitting their flabbergasted like me whenever it goes off at a mad tangent at the expense of some plot points which will definitely be appearing in later books/films.

...Just need to get my breath back...

On the other hand, there have been some changes to dialogue which, whilst giving some of the background characters less screen time as a result, have sounded funnier than in the book or just seemed to fit better. I'm sure there's even a few times where Rowling has sat there and thought "Now why didn't I think of that?".

So... the people making the films are good at what they do, no question about it, but the plot's already in place - don;t rewrite it so much and for the love of God, MAKE THE FILMS LONGER if neccessary. Was it jsut me who saw Lord of the Rings and was in a cinema full of children? They will sit through it and they will love you all the more for it.

Aren't the Asgard supposedly technologically superior?

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FullAuto ( 1,042 ) · Group: Administrators · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 11, 2006 at 07:55 AM

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Well, at 160 minutesor so, they think they're pushing it right now, but they're not. Obviously book to film translations will always be incomplete, unless it's a very short book or a very long film, and I think they've done a good job of adapting the series, albeit focusing a lot more on action than the books do.

Rowling does have a degree of creative control, but it's obviously been a battle just to get the film set in the UK with a principally Brit cast. Also, the change of directors is beyond my ken, and I understand for the next film they're swapping writers too, which is just plain mad. I think the current bloke has done a fairly good job. He's managed to stay pretty faithful to the source material while still appealing to people who haven't read the books, which is a pretty impressive feat.

None of the faults are particularly bad, and can be taken care of in short order.

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Azrael Strife ( 66 ) · Group: Members · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 11, 2006 at 03:06 PM

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I liked the movie, but as you said, lots of minor things were missing, which left me not entirely happy about it; but it's not a bad translation to movie, all in all (It'd be nice if they had, at least, explained what Priori Incantatem was, why Harry's parents appeared, which is explained in the books and since they saved Harry's life, it'd be nice if they had explained so in the movie as well.)
Hey, I think The Goblet of Fire was one of the best HP books! disagree with you there.

Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.

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Pete ( 701 ) · Group: Administrators · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 11, 2006 at 06:27 PM

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I've got to say Azkaban is the best written in my opinion, purely because there's no messing about waiting for something to happen for about 60 pages.Goblet has a lot of long bits that really don't need to be there or could be shortened and still have the same impact. "Why use 1362 words when you can use 46 to better effect?" as the saying goes

My gripes start to increase with Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince. Harry should be halfway through his teenage whiny stage, but he gets worse. True, some 15-16 year olds can be a pain in the arse (anyone of that age group who takes offense - you'll see what I mean when you're 20+ and looking back... it's guaranteed), but Harry is so DUMB on occasion andsometimes all three of our trio fails to spot the blindingly obvious.

The most frustrating moments are in Half-Blood Prince. Not to ruin it or anthing, loved the thinking behind the big ending, but how loudly can I shout the words "POINTLESS" and "AVOIDABLE" and, for good luck "BLOODY OBVIOUS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN".

I mean, it's good to wind the reader/viewer up since they almost always know more,but I think in her latest book, Rowling has overdone this. She's given us loads of extra clues, but she's given all the characters more than enough clues and opportunities to avoid bother later in the book. Hermione - by far the brightest - seems to have the memory of a goldfish and doesn't seem to be coming up with the goods as she has in previous books. Harry just doesn't seem as bothered until afterhe fails to get something right and faces the consequences.

Okay, that's a perfect example of being a teenager there, but it's taken too far. You can excuse the not botheredness on occasion if it's everyday stuff, but it#s fucking life or death and it goes decidedly tits-up as a result and instead of feeling sorry for the trio as you're supposed to do, you just slap your forehead and shout "MORONS!" at the pages. Not sure whether that was quite what Rowling intended.

It just gets taken to the point where you're not sympathetic, but you just want to clip them round the ear and say "Look, sort it out or you're all pretty fucked".

The books are definitely progressing with the age of their audience though. The film version of Phoenix will have some shocks in it, and Half-Blood Prince will have little kids in tears and asking parents awkward questions about life and death. Definitely a bit more grown up by this point.

The bit I just don;t get is how Rowling is going to jam everything else into book 7. It's not going to work unless it's non-stop action from page 1 to page 1200, and that might spoil the effect slightly since the previous couple were drawn out a bit with the details.

Just my tuppence worth.

Aren't the Asgard supposedly technologically superior?

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FullAuto ( 1,042 ) · Group: Administrators · Rank: spacer · Posted On: January 12, 2006 at 07:29 AM

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I think GOF had bit too much fucking about, and although it was an important turning point in the series, I reckon Rowling is struggling to make the content more mature along with the characters.

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Mighty Jack ( 7 ) · Group: Members · Rank: spacer · Posted On: April 1, 2006 at 10:42 PM

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but for all its little failings it beats 'the Chamber of Secrets' hands down. I've not read the books so i only have the films to go on (my other half is a a huge fan "which kinda makes me a vegetarian too").

I watched the philosophers stone and was plesently suprised. the plot seemed to develop at a decent pace, you were never to out of the loop with what was happening, but the chamber of secrets nearly put me off watching any other potter films altogether. I felt like i was watching a foreign language film and the second line of subtitles was missing off the bottom of my screen, although i could see generaly what was going on, i always felt like id missed a scene somewhere, certain bits didnt seem to add up, or were nonchalantly explained away, wound me right up!

For me, GOF is the best potter film so far, i didnt notice any 'missing' bits, tho it did sometimes seem to jump where any other film would skip. But for god sake, will Potter ever learn a different spell to use on the hop than expelliamus??? Can you imagine him getting chatted up "so Harry, show me a spell" BANG!

People don't stop playing beacause they grow up; they grow up because they stop playing.

Thumbs Up Friend!

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FullAuto ( 1,042 ) · Group: Administrators · Rank: spacer · Posted On: April 1, 2006 at 10:52 PM

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"I'm telling you, Hermione, it must have been enormous! It knocked me right out!"

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