Film: The Goblet of Fire

fade2black

And the Superman Returns Teaser is premiering beforehand...

playfulkitten

I love Harry Potter. The film def though does mangle the sub plots but this time i am hopeful

NoDayBut2Day

I think it opens this weekend in the US... so the release date in Ireland is the same date? I know there was a discussion in another forum about how one movie being released in the US would be different in Ireland so I was just curious.. (sorry if I missed it somewhere in the thread)?

rogue-entity

LoneGunM@n wrote:

Hit it twice? I wouldn't stop hitting it

I wouldnt, that would be a sure way of getting cooked. Think these words of wisdom, the Hogworts motto: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (never tickle a sleeping dragon).

Speaking of Dragons, I was watching some program talking about the film and apparantly they turned Picidilly Circus, where the film premiered, into a mockup of Hogwarts including an animatronic, fire-breathing Horntail, in a cage. And Daniel said "they had really improved the dragon sequence in the movie". Then they shows a trailer, and the part of the dragon sequence shown was where the Horntail nearly ate Harry.

Siogfinsceal

lol Fluer does actually look like the female terminator - youve hit the nail on the head there I coudnt think who she reminded me of! brendan Gleeson in character looks exactly how I pictured moody when I read the book and hermione looks so pretty - bless!

J.R.HARTLEY

i can't wait for it, just to see what it's like, wonder what it'll be like with so many cuts, the director (mike nichols i think) was on tv last week said he cut everything but the thriller aspects out and made it a thriller film.
i loved richard harris as dumbledore especially the twinkle in his eye but i do feel gambon is a better fit , he seems more able-bodied and stronger physically, dumbledore in the books always had that powerful aura to him, whereas poor richard harris was so old at the time of filming that he seemed a little frail, anyway i'm delighted its gambon instead of mckellan, that means dumbledore stays irish

Scarinae

I agree, while Richard Harris was a good actor he was a bit too old and frail for the part of Dumbledore!

*marie*

It's out today has anyone seen it?

Daysha

SPOILERS

Just came back from the cinema and I must say, I'm impressed. Definately the best out of the four, but the other 3 werent that good anyway

Good Points

Brendan Gleeson is PERFECT as Moody!

Acting by the trio seems to have improved especially by Emma Watson. Daniel Radcliffe was a bit better, plus, for the first time ever he cried without sounding like he's laughing

They've done unbelievably well in getting all the important parts of the book in 2 1/2 hrs.

Some excellent dialogue, especially the fights between Harry and Ron.

All 3 tasks are wonderfully done. Just to let you know, there are NO creatures in the maze. All that happens is that the maze closes in around the champs sometimes and the roots can drag them by the ankles. Most of the freinds said that the maze was really bad, but I enjoyed it because it was so atmospheric.

Some wonderfully humerous scenes, expecially one with Snape in the Hall and the fights between Harry and Ron.

Excellent special effects and images, in particular the dragon and the Quidditch Stadium

Voldemort looked fine. It wasnt what i expected but i'm sure everyone had different ideas of him. I'm listing this as a good point because I was really fearful they would screw him up. I know someone where saying they could have done more with him and he looked too like the actor playing him, but I would much rather prefer a real Voldemort over some screwed up, overly detailed CGI Voldemort.

Priori Incantatem (sp) was well done, even though it wasnt really explained afterwards.

Bad Points

Some serious continuity issues, especially in the opening 15 mins. I know they had to fit the Quidditch WC and the Riddle House in somewhere, but it was very badly rushed.

Not much character development was given to Barty Crouch Snr and Jnr

It seemed like most of the time it was aimed only at HP fans who understood the story anyway. I would worry whether non HP followers would fully understand exactly what was going on.

Some of the jokes do fall a bit flat. One in particular was when Ron told Harry to p*** off. It just seemed so out of place and not in tone with the remainder of the fights. It actually got a good laugh from the audience since it just seemed so...weird.

A lot of the new characters were a bit underused. I dont think Fleur spoke until after the second task. Cedric obviously had more lines then the other champions, but most of the time, any time he was on screen he was doing nothing.

Really Bad Point

DUMBLEDORE! Or, more specifically, Michael Gambon. I dont think this guy has ever even read the books. He had his few warm moments, but most of the time, he is just so forceful. Everything about him, from the way he moves to the way he speaks, is just so unsettling. In other words, everything Dumbledore shouldnt be. When Harrys name is called out of the Goblet, Dumbledore actually says his name twice softely before he does that crazy shout. When watching it, it seemed like it wasnt a shout of surprise, as most people took it, but a real shout of anger. Then, when Harry is brought into the room, he practically grabs Harry by the shoulders and pushes him against the wall. I really hope they consider someone else for OoTP, and especially for HBP.

Cho has a Scottish accent!

Overall

Quite an achievement. A good mix of drama with humour, along with the fact that it really seemed to try to get that comprimise of that feel good feeling of the first two movies with the dark, more serious tone of PoA. I'd say 9/10

Heres a pic of Voldemort aswell if anyones interested

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/FullTiltAuto/marcus.jpg

BlitzKrieg

Back aswell here's my 2 cents.




I wasnt the biggest fan of prisoner of Azkeban, i felt in adapting the source material they did a horrible job, but the direction was good and so was for the most part the atmosphere etc.



So coming into this i was fearing a repeat with another badly mangled adaptation.

first 20 or so minutes go by and i feel my fears were being realised, but thankfully the film got into gear jsut before the first task and alot of the bumps were smoothed out.

Now i dont know if this film was adapted by the same writers, but they did a magnificent job for the most part, they selected the obvious elements of the plot which for the most part would not work well in film (for time or just the media) and changed accordingly, one of these plotpoints

was the central origin of Croach's son, including the house elf and son, all this was cut, instead a more haunting plotline was put in with Harry constently seeing his face and trying to find out who he is.

Of all the books i think it has been the best adapted. Course there are still problems.


First the direction for the most part is uninspired, as is the editing, like i said the first 20 minutes are aweful, but i guess it is the most difficult part, getting all the characters in the one place while covering important plot points. So its rushed, there is no real sense of atmosphere

worse of all both the world cup and death eater attack are almost blink and you miss it moments

But once at Hogwarts, the characters pick up the film. The best part of this film is the interaction between the central characters, it is fast, funny and overall quite pleasent. Action for the most part is dealt with well, but suspense is not the director's strong point, neither is atmosphere. Voldemort and the confrontation is dealt with quite heavy handed as is Dumbledore's scenes.


Overall it was well adapted, very enjoyable, the direction wasnt aweful, but it wasnt great, which is good for his first time, i think the opening 20 minutes could have been handled better. Some of the scenes can be quite cheesy and cringeworthy. But the characters (esp. Moody (GO BRENDON GLEESON!) Ron and Hermoine, Reeta Skeeter) hold up the film so well, that i wouldnt care less about the actual plot and just have loads of scenes of all these characters at school etc.

I'm glad that this time around they are not ignoring the supporting cast. Nevile Longbottom is in it alot more and is quite good, as are filtch and the other teachers beyond dumbledore.

Personal note though, Ginny seems to be shoved into as many scenes as possible, probably because of the latest book, they probably feel they need to build her and longbottom up for the next two films or else they wont be able to hold their end.

BEAT

just now home from seeing the movie,
wow...they keep getting better..I mean it was excellent! everything about it!

sure Id have rather seen more at the begininng and they left out a few key things and characters but all in all I loved it, cant wait to see it again and buy it!

NoDayBut2Day

I thought the movie was awesome .. I liked it a lot more than PoA movie. I kinda wished they had the sphinx scene in the maze ... was looking forward to how they were going to do that.. but oh well. Still a great movie

Sleepy

They've really messed up Dumbledore. I always picture him as serenity itself, like a Tai-Chi master who, while knowing he can throw you across the room at will, refuses to swagger with that power.

Other than that I quite enjoyed the movie, the cast's acting is getting better (Emma Watson in particular) and they did an admirable job of cramming so much of the book into the movie without losing anything massively important...

Civilian_Target

Sleepy wrote:

the cast's acting is getting better (Emma Watson in particular)

lol! To hell with Emma Watson, annoying bint, take me to Beaubaxtons!

I enjoyed it, but still think the third was better. They needed to move away from the books a bit more, cut out mor material so it made sense to people who hadn't read the books, which they didn't do.

440Hz

I went last night... I am a big fan. Disappointed that you dont see much of some of the best characters like Snape (well used to be one of my favs until the HBP) etc, but overall a good movie. The acting is getting better and I was very impressed with some of the *new* characters. Really freaked out by the lack of a nose on Voldemorts face though!! Ralph Fiennes was great! And really Michael Gambon just isn't the same... pity Sir Ian didn't wanna be type-cast as a wizard eh!!!

BEAT

speaking of new characters, can I just add: Viktor Krum

yum...rarrrr.....drool....:D

Siogfinsceal

gleeson is just fantastic. Cho chang not as pretty as I expected and underused really. Krum is a fine thing as is the leading durmstrang lad when they enter the great hall. Much much better than the 3rd film. The special effects just blew me away!! They didnt show that Rita Skeeter is an animagus though!! The weasleys were just hilarious. Voldemort just freaked me out the lack of a nose made him look pure evil!!!! excellent though.
Finding it hard to get used to the new dumbledore i dont lik ehis outfit he looks like he is wearing a dress

Memnoch

Having seen both previous harry potter films, I think my entire experience of this latest installment can be described conscisely in one word. Average.

This latest film does have a few enjoyable special effects. The action however leaves a lot to be desired and seems very forced at the best of times. The laughs even more so, with genuinly funny scenes few and far between in the film. I found it hard to connect with the dilemma's facing any of the charecters and the film makers really did over stretch the entire teenage heart break nostalgia. At times I felt like I was watching more a chick flick made for 13 year old girls than a story of fantasy.

The scenes that weren't aimed at 13 year old girls were probably aimed at 13 year old boys, with a fair few scenes trying to be "kewl". The entrance of the foreign wizard students being an example. Each time I saw one of these scenes that were supposed to fill me with wonder and leave me thinking about how kick-ass X charecter was or how cool the scene was left me with a big "meh" instead.

I agree with the above poster that felt the entire film served only as a preface to something else to come (hopefully better). As a story the film is incredibly thin. The emotional depth of the charecters from the first film has been flittered away for teenage melodrama and the wonder and genuine freshness of magic and fantasy has been replaced by overly glossy special effects that serve to detract rather than enhance the movie.

Overall a very dissapointing showing indeed. 6/10.

DingChavez

Yeah, teenages acting like teenages, how dare they!

And all this aiming scenes towards a core audience of 13 year olds. Those *****!

Memnoch

DingChavez wrote:

Yeah, teenages acting like teenages, how dare they!

And all this aiming scenes towards a core audience of 13 year olds. Those *****!

no they weren't just acting like teenagers, the film producers piled on the cheese and melodrama no end, and really over did it. You could make a commentary about teen troubles in a much more subtle and interesting way. At the very least it shouldn't seem as contrived as the goblet of fire.

Also I have no problem with a film being made for 13 year olds, as long as it doesn't pretend to be something better, which this film does. And as long as audiences realise that's what the film is, which unfortunately many don't. Last but certainly not least, the fact that it is designed for 13 year olds goes a long way towards testifying to the level of maturity and emotional depth one can expect from the charecters.

And please don't get me started on Victor Krum... probably the worst "cool guy, girls want him, boys want to be him" i've seen in a film. Poor acting, lets down even more an obviously hollow charecter. James bond he ain't.

Cactus Col

Not a fan of the books, but sure it was all a bit of harmless fun!

Draupnir

I went to see the movie on Saturday with my girlfriend, both of us being huge HP fans, so we were both very much looking forward to the movie, and what did we end up? Yes, disappointed. Very disappointed.

Reasons? Here ya go:

1. Michael Gambon. This guy has either never read the books, never researched his character or else was intentionally not playing the character of Dumbledore because he is absolutely terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Dumbledore sees everything as having a possible reason for occuring, he doesnt lose his temper and he certainly doesnt attack Harry for his name being in the cup. He is constantly serene and composed. I'm going to shift some of the blame from Gambon, who isnt Dumbledore in this movie at all, to the director who has also never read the book or else is a dìckhead.

2. Storyline. I spent almost 3 hours in a cinema, saw a really long film, but cant remember what made it take so long. Disjointed story that was never explained, editing that made no sense and the fact that I spent most of the movie trying to patch scenes together from my own knowledge of the actual story kinda spoiled this for me. The Crouch's are never developed, no mention is made of the coming war, why is Hermione so sad at the Yule Ball? The scene with the Unforgivable Curses is the worst for me, it just doesnt make sense to me, it doesnt sit right and is totally not how I had imagined it. "Cant you see its bothering him?" Worst. Delivered. Line. Ever.

3. Voldemort. I liked Ralph Fiennes, he will be good I thought. What was he? He was shìte. The most evil wizard to have ever lived, single handedly killing hundreds and orchestrating a huge war, pushing the limits of his own soul to the edge in the quest to survive any death and delving deeper than anyone into dark magic. He gets his body back and Ralph Fiennes plays it camp. Fantastic. There is no menace or intense evil in his voice and I found myself laughing hysterically. Wormtail was far scary than Voldemort. Nuff said.

My last point is on the dragon task.

If a dragon can fly, can break a chain supposedly put on its next by magicians who can put unbreakable spells on stuff and can breath fire out of its mouth. Why does it then walk along a roof to get to prey when it can FLY? It crawls along, really slowly, and looks very unbalanced. Yet it doesnt just fly round and gobble him up? Stupid.

Also, what kind of self respecting Hungarian Horntail, killer dragon, chases one boy on a broom half way round the world, when it can eat about 50 of them who are sitting in the stands around it cheering and pissing it off? Hell, he could even have had a few adults!

Crap movie. Crap crap crap.

supersheep

TurquoiseDream wrote:

speaking of new characters, can I just add: Viktor Krum

yum...rarrrr.....drool....:D

True, he was a bit tasty... And I'm a guy... Cho was NOWHERE near as hot as I expected. Fleur was nice, but not as amazin as you'd expect a half-Veela to be.
As for the film, well, it beat the first three into a cocked hat, but that's not saying much. I think I liked the camp Voldemort. Villains SHOULDN'T just be all about the evil with the maniacal laughter and the like. I'd imagine Voldy as a louche, languid type of person. The banality of evil - I'm loathe to apply this phrase to an imaginary childen's book, but it does sort of show how I feel Voldemort is.
I HATED the way the messed around with the story. No Quidditch World Cup, no Winky (and therefore no SPEW!), butchering of the Crouch story... It's all right, I guess, but just nowhere near as good as they could have made the best HP book.

Scarinae

Draupnir wrote:

If a dragon can fly, can break a chain supposedly put on its next by magicians who can put unbreakable spells on stuff and can breath fire out of its mouth. Why does it then walk along a roof to get to prey when it can FLY? It crawls along, really slowly, and looks very unbalanced. Yet it doesnt just fly round and gobble him up? Stupid.

Also, what kind of self respecting Hungarian Horntail, killer dragon, chases one boy on a broom half way round the world, when it can eat about 50 of them who are sitting in the stands around it cheering and pissing it off? Hell, he could even have had a few adults!

Hmmm yeah I was wondering about this one too. I hate when they waste time putting in these sh!te sequences when they cut out so many good parts in the book

tj-music.com

supersheep wrote:

It's all right, I guess, but just nowhere near as good as they could have made the best HP book.

The film was already 2 1/2 hours long and I still felt it was rushed a bit. I never read any of the books which probably saves me all the time.

I cannot remember one single film ever that was as good as the book.

Draupnir

The Shining is equally good in book and movie form.