Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (SPOILERS)

[Alex]

Well, it didn't suck like the last three sucked. Storywise it was much more coherent than anything since the first one. That isn't to say it isn't obvious where great big swaths of exposition were cut out, just that unlike other movies those swaths aren't so important to understanding what is going on.

Only experiencing this stuff through the movies and then not being very entertained by things one signficiant problem I had was that this movie ties together strands from the previous movies and I just don't remember the details of the previous movies (partly disinterest, partly time, partly the last few movies didn't necessarily make much sense without reading the books). I was a little fuzzy, for example, on who exactly Sirius is and why Potter likes him so much. Wasn't vital, just missing.

This one goes a long way towards fixing my primary complaint about the series up to this point. Namely, I've never understood why people like the Potter character, he was simply a passive participant in the story. He never did anything, things just happened to him. He could have been an old suitcase for all it mattered up to now. But finally that is rectified and he is standing up and taking some control, or at least interest, in his fate.

Unlike the rest of you I found Imelda Staunton's performance annoying.

One question, when they flew those bird/dinosaur/horse things (already forget what they're called) from Hogwarts to London does that mean everybody but Harry and the Village of the Damned girl were flying on things they couldn't see?

Like a teenager growing into his large feet, Rupert Grint has finally grown into his extremely wide mouth. And he didn't do that whiny whimper thing that made me want to see him in pain through the previous movies. But watching him I couldn't help but think this is what he'll look like in 15-20 years:

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