Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (SPOILERS)

[flippyshark]

In the book, that arch is literally "the veil" as in "beyond the veil." One co-worker remarked to me, after reading the bok, that he thought it rather silly that Sirius was killed by a metaphor. (In the book , Bellatrix did not use the Avada Kedavra spell. She just zapped him through the arch, hence pushing him beyond the veil. Gosh, it does sound kind of silly as I type it here.)

Anyhow, I recall the book going to some length to indicate that once you are beyond the veil, there is no coming back. Whether the upcoming last volume will concoct an exemption will soon be known.

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

In the book, that arch is literally "the veil" as in "beyond the veil." One co-worker remarked to me, after reading the bok, that he thought it rather silly that Sirius was killed by a metaphor. (In the book , Bellatrix did not use the Avada Kedavra spell. She just zapped him through the arch, hence pushing him beyond the veil. Gosh, it does sound kind of silly as I type it here.)

It is silly. Order of the Phoenix was a terrible, frustrating, mindless, bloated, unnecessary book. I was looking on Wikipedia at an article that details the differences between the book and the movie, and it brought back memories of how maddeningly stupid OotP the book was. I'm glad they chopped most of it to make it a semi-watchable movie, but they were unfortunately stuck with the general plot.

That still doesn't excuse the sloppy filmmaking 101 stuff that they failed to do, like remember how to coherently connect scenes together (or explain the POINT of the prophecy!!! It would be like Indiana Jones racing against the Nazis for the Ark of the Covenant without ever explaining what it was or why they wanted it.) Honestly, I think this is the least enjoyable or well made of all the HP films, and certainly the worst of the books.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Chernabog

That still doesn't excuse the sloppy filmmaking 101 stuff that they failed to do, like remember how to coherently connect scenes together

Having seen it twice now, I fail to see where scenes were not coherently connected. Your example of getting quickly to the good stuff in the Department of Mystery turns out to have had a perfectly acceptable montage of each point along the way.

Do you have any other examples?

Originally Posted by Chernabog

...explain the POINT of the prophecy!!! It would be like Indiana Jones racing against the Nazis for the Ark of the Covenant without ever explaining what it was or why they wanted it.

Well, maybe - - Lord of the Rings style - they decided to save something from this story to spice up the complete boredom of the next. (Really, if you hated Order of the Phoenix, I'd like to know what you thought of Half Blood Prince.)

Originally Posted by Chernabog

Honestly, I think this is the least enjoyable or well made of all the HP films, and certainly the worst of the books.

Wow, your entitled-to opinion really stuns me. I've talked with dozens of people about this movie, and it's at or near the top ranks with the great majority. Your opinion is completely valid ... but, to paraphrase you ... were we even watching the same movie????




All that said, did you at least think Ron Weasely was surprisingly hot??

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Do you have any other examples?

Another one that springs to mind is the denouement of Umbridge sequence, from her office, to the forest, to back again. It was just like flip, flip, flip, they're here! They're there! It's nighttime! They're here! It's daytime! I remember other parts I pointed out stuff like that when I was watching the movie, but I'd have to see the movie again to point them out and I don't want to do that.

Well, maybe - - Lord of the Rings style - they decided to save something from this story to spice up the complete boredom of the next. (Really, if you hated Order of the Phoenix, I'd like to know what you thought of Half Blood Prince.)

Haha I actually enjoyed Half-Blood Prince (as the first half of a two-parter). It could have used some editing as well, but at least it made sense and introduced elements we hadn't seen before (i.e. the horcruxes) and some fun action sequences, as well as more Snape (which is always good).

I forgot to mention Alan Rickman as Snape, who was really good in OotP! His lines were fantastic. (Umbridge: "What did he mean by that?" Snape: "No idea.")

Wow, your entitled-to opinion really stuns me. I've talked with dozens of people about this movie, and it's at or near the top ranks with the great majority. Your opinion is completely valid ... but, to paraphrase you ... were we even watching the same movie????

See what is odd is that most of my Disney-netizen friends mostly enjoyed it. All of the people I went with to see the movie thought it was sort of meh. The audience I saw it with opening night was sort of meh. My brother and my parents saw it and they thought it was sort of meh. Roger Ebert was spot-on in his review (and he gave it two and a half out of four stars... I'd probably give it 2 or 2 1/2), so he thought it was sort of meh (though for somewhat different reasons than I). Hell, the people in my Lord of the Rings online guild thought it was sort of meh, and they usually like this stuff. On here and on Micechat, people seem to think it was fabulous! So I'm just as baffled as you are.

All that said, did you at least think Ron Weasely was surprisingly hot??

Yeah hopefully in a year or two we'll see if the curtains match the drapes.