🎱🎥 Movie Marathon: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

[Nicolas King]

I really hate the use of muggle clothing in this movie. I feel like we really lose a lot of the world by just letting the kids not wear robes half the time. Or like even a mix of what non-muggle borns kids would have worn. In general, I wished they would have explored costumes more in the movies. There was so much more potential. I was also about to say that it feels so out of place compared to the other movies and didn't realize it had a one off director. GoF does, too, but it just feels more in line with the others.

Unfortunately the lack of imagination in costuming continues forever and ever. In the Fantastic Beasts films apparently wizard and muggle fashion were completely aligned in the 1920s.
I think it makes sense that wizard fashion broadly resembles muggle things from when the statute of wizarding secrecy was passed. Robes were super common among professionals then. And if that's when the societies really split apart, their fashion evolution being divergent from then on makes a lot of sense. But no00o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0 that'd take too much visual world building.

Also the end where everyone clapped for hagrid makes me CRINGE

Ha! Agreed! I had the same reaction. And it being everyone? Pretty sure not everyone was BFFs with Hagrid. Applause is such a weird response to somebody being freed after wrongful detention at a soul-crushing prison, too. A relieved embrace? Certainly. But applause. SMH.

third film - this is one of my favourites ever, just the tone of it, the style, the music, just the vibes of it were *chefs kiss*

Wowwwww. We're gonna have to agree to disagree hard on this one. It's the bottom of my list so far. I'm sure DH1&DH2 will sink below it in the end but this one was a struggle for me to enjoy.

...and as I was typing that I was reminded of Hogwarts Quidditch dropping out of the series, and then of the Quidditch match in PoA, and my biggest question ever - the other team's seeker hit the ground, right? And then so did Harry. So why is Hermione like "nobody blames you, Harry" - THE GAME CAN'T END. There are no substitutions in Quidditch. Touching the ground is disqualification. Game only ends when Snitch is caught. Only Seekers can catch the snitch. Unending Quidditch game achieved.

 

[Aine Thompson]

The costume designers who could make robes were union we didn't want to pay them

I remember the 3rd being my favourite book, movie, less so. And of course 4th has DIDJAPUTYERNAMEINTHEGOBLETOFFIRE??? At least Robert Pattinson has moved on to being a respectable and delightfully weird actor.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I really hate the use of muggle clothing in this movie. I feel like we really lose a lot of the world by just letting the kids not wear robes half the time. Or like even a mix of what non-muggle borns kids would have worn. In general, I wished they would have explored costumes more in the movies. There was so much more potential.

I'm curious what 90s fashion was like in the UK because the clothing choices in the movie are pretty run of the mill could be any era clothes, but I remember 90s fashion to be pretty out there - baggy clothing, lots of athleisure, acid wash, etc. though that could have just been a specific to my area thing.

Also agreed that the book is one of my favorites of the series but the movie is not (I think, will decide once I see them all again).

 

[Monty Pendleton]

third film - this is one of my favourites ever, just the tone of it, the style, the music, just the vibes of it were *chefs kiss* I think it was right to make it more mature, to start darkening the tone for what was to come, and to play with the fact the kids were older.
Remus and harry's relationship is still so interesting, and I absolutely want more characters to toss around

Imma have to agree with Emzies on this one!! I love the third film, it's one of my favourites for sure. I love Remus, I love Sirius, I love the slightly darker vibes of it, just everything. It's not really my favourite film story-wise, if that makes sense, but I love the characters and the vibes a lot. That said, I've never read the books before - I always get stuck on book 3 because I get bored

I haven't watched the movies in soo long. I'm trying to think what stood out to me about Goblet of Fire. Might have to give it another watch some time, the movies always end up giving me tons of inspiration for HNZ haha

 

[Nicolas King]

That said, I've never read the books before - I always get stuck on book 3 because I get bored

I'm not sure if I knew this before.
I wish I didn't know this.

And of course 4th has DIDJAPUTYERNAMEINTHEGOBLETOFFIRE???

This is the meme which keeps the GoF movie alive in our hearts.


I watched the movie tonight. Overall I enjoyed it, though of course this Dumbledore felt easier to dislike. Though, now that I've thought on that, I might appreciate that more. Dumbledore has some qualities we ought to dislike in him. He has seen his worst flaws through to the end and, knowing Harry's likely fate from childhood, actively hid it from him and distracted him and (in the books) often ignored him. Maybe a dis-likeable portrayal of Dumbledore was good for us. Other than "he said calmly" I also wondered why the choice was made to have Dumbledore look alarmed/uneasy during the Durmstrang entrance. This Dumbledore scares real easy!

Other thoughts:
Why isn't The Burrow like the Weasley's tent for the Quidditch World Cup? It'd be a lot less cluttered that way...
Why is this year a year for two major international magical sporting competitions? Dept. for international magical cooperation doesn't want to spread out their work?
I didn't buy why Harry had to compete in the TriWizard Tournament in the books and I don't buy it now. The rules are immutable... except they just added a rule that year on a whim with a minimum age? Also, how would the "magical contract" have any hold on Harry who did not put his own name in the Goblet? I don't believe there would have been any consequences for just saying "nope. disqualified. next." Or telling Harry he was expected to forfeit every challenge (assuming there was some sort of magic, obviously completion of tasks was not a requirement). Just silly stuff to keep the plot on track.

Hermione has a great line about "I am not an owl!" but it did make me think that she may be a more interesting character in the movies if she were an owl.

McGonagall's dance class ahead of the Yule Ball had me wanting to read that on HNZ from some of our HoHs. @Professor Angel Castillo
Harry and Ron are such poor sports at the Yule Ball. I felt so bad for the Patil sisters. But they're teenagers, so I guess that's par for the course.

When Cedric casts Expelliarmus on Krum, for some reason it knocks him out in the maze instead of knocking his wand out of his hand?

When Voldy comes back it looked like they got to reuse some of that awful Werewolf CGI. (Also, I still hated the Sirius-in-the-firething this time - why his face made out of coals instead of in the flames of a larger fire?! Ugh.)

Finally, I like the ending to this film for once, which was nice. it felt like the right note without too much sap. Though, I did rant to my wife about how utterly disrespectful it was to have Dumbledore begin his eulogy for Cedric sitting down. WTF, man. Show some respect for the dead.

 

[Nicolas King]

There's still a lot to hear about The Goblet of Fire but our Marathon waits for no muggle and we press on!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This was probably my favourite book in the series, and it unquestionably has everybody's favourite villain. So I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of this film, remembering that we must not tell lies.

 

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

That said, I've never read the books before - I always get stuck on book 3 because I get bored

But you've seen all the movies, right? I feel like I always encouraged people to read the books because so much is missing from the movies, but I suppose there are lots of movies where I haven't read the original books. I do find it kind of surprising that someone on here hasn't read all the books, but also I read like half a chapter of LotR and noped out of that so I get it.

1. Maybe a dis-likeable portrayal of Dumbledore was good for us.

2. Hermione has a great line about "I am not an owl!" but it did make me think that she may be a more interesting character in the movies if she were an owl.

3. Harry and Ron are such poor sports at the Yule Ball. I felt so bad for the Patil sisters. But they're teenagers, so I guess that's par for the course.

4. When Cedric casts Expelliarmus on Krum, for some reason it knocks him out in the maze instead of knocking his wand out of his hand?

5. When Voldy comes back it looked like they got to reuse some of that awful Werewolf CGI. (Also, I still hated the Sirius-in-the-firething this time - why his face made out of coals instead of in the flames of a larger fire?! Ugh.)

6. Though, I did rant to my wife about how utterly disrespectful it was to have Dumbledore begin his eulogy for Cedric sitting down. WTF, man. Show some respect for the dead.

I decided to number things in one quote to reply to. I also am putting it in a spoiler because this post got too long.

Spoiler: My responses to Nick's post

1. I'm not bothered by Michael Gambon's portrayal, personally, but I understand why others are. We also had a different director with Richard Harris so I look at, while actors do have influence over their roles, Alfonso Cuarón could have had more of an impact on that hard shift with Dumbledore. But I also don't think I've seen Gambon in anything else so it may just be more in his wheelhouse of portrayals to do it that way.

2. This made me laugh out loud.

3. Rewatching, I literally made a note that said "Ron is insufferable." But I think it's the first time (and one of the only times for me) I see the movie versions as like "real" people and not just these manufactured characters. Maybe it's also because I have taught teenage boys, and Ron in GoF is not far off from many I've encountered.

4. I noticed that Expelliarmus has varying degrees of impact through the movies. Some of the spells are just not consistent in their portrayal. I found this video that showns what I mean. And while the impact of a spell can theoretically vary depending on the power/circumstance/etc., it just seems like too much variation for what is supposed to be a relatively simple spell. But then again.... Harry uses it against Voldemort so maybe I'm forgetting something regarding spells.

5. I hate the way they did the face flames, as well.

6. This was definitely a poor director choice. I'm just thinking as someone who has directed stage plays... I could never see going with that choice unless the character was intending to be disrespectful or could not physically stand.

I like GoF for the most part. I don't tend to watch it often just because... sad (which is also why I've seen DH pt. 2 like 4 times ever. I just cry the whole movie). I wish we could have had more interaction from the other champions in the movie, as well as Rita Skeeter so people really, truly understood why she was horrible for the later films. I'm not a fan of how they interpreted the book overall, but it's okay.

I hopefully will watch this next one early next week. HBP is my favorite movie so I'm trying to not skip ahead.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I enjoyed this re-watch more than I expected to! My favorite part still remains to be the tasks, I think they show a lot about the wizarding world and it was cool to see dragons and merpeople and other creatures and that other wizarding schools exist! The movie depiction is kind of odd though as gendered schools. Where does everyone else go for school?

I remember finding it hard to get used to a new Dumbledore when I first watched, but it's gotten easier over the years to see. And I don't disagree with Nick's points on the benefits,and I think it made me appreciate him more so I'm happy I read that before I watched!

I remember finding the characters annoying in this one, and I still do! But I agree with Kiersten that I think it's because they're angsty and hyper focused on how folks perceive them. Ron was insufferable though!

RIP Cedric

Voldemort's official return and the death eaters gathering hit just right for me. So eerie and ominous.

Looking forward to grumbling about Umbridge in a few days!!

 

[Nicolas King]

I'm not a fan of how they interpreted the book overall, but it's okay.

I'd be curious to hear you say more on this!

I do appreciate what you're saying about some of the weird choices being directorial choices. To be honest, I wasn't thinking it was the actor's fault either just like... the movie's? Like the movie portrayed this or that incorrectly but not blaming any specific person.
Though, I also remember Michael Gambon didn't read the books so we can probably blame him to some degree for misunderstanding his character. Do I think it's necessary for an actor to read all the source material first? No, but it couldn't have hurt in this instance!

The movie depiction is kind of odd though as gendered schools. Where does everyone else go for school?

Yes! It didn't phase me this time, but that's totally a weird thing they chose to do.
I suppose since they went feminine to the max for Beauxbatons (really just making it match Fleur as a person) it was simplest for them to just make the schools gendered.

I remember finding the characters annoying in this one, and I still do!

Yup. I was thinking about what somebody said about how JKR was relieved when a director said they really liked Hermione's character because she was afraid they'd say Ron - how Ron is obviously the most likeable but Hermione's got that hidden magic to her... but they've made Ron the least likeable over four movies now. (In GoF him and Harry being on the outs did make him less likeable, though.)

RIP Cedric

I actually thought Cedric came across as a bit of a jerk at various points in the movie and not at all Hufflepuffy. So I didn't mourn him greatly. Felt bad for his dad, though.

 

[Aine Thompson]

I always got the feeling they were making Ron worse because they were pushing Harry/Hermione.

 

[Nicolas King]

I always got the feeling they were making Ron worse because they were pushing Harry/Hermione.

By this point in the films Ron/Hermione is pretty clear.
Harry/Ginny remains completely impossible. I also feel like she looks much younger than just a year beneath Harry, which might be part of why she doesn't seem like a good paring in the films?

Here are my OotP thoughts!

When Harry and Dudley are attacked by the Dementors, Harry first gets free of his by poking it with his wand which... does something? I guess this is a frequent movie reality - non-verbal magic is commonplace and wands do stuff with every wave-poke-and-jab (which isn't random).

I also thought this film gets a lot of cool new sets for us. The Ministry of Magic looks great, and I think was much grander than what I had imagined (which is not often the case - eg. the moving staircases seem far more mundane in the films than in my mind)... though the MoM is a lot more green in colour than I'd imagined. Maybe foreshadowing? And Grimwald place is great, too.

Fudge's portrait on Umbridge's desk - not sure if that was from the book, but it's a real nice touch regardless.

They also changed that god-awful face-in-the-fire effect, which I don't think I noticed before, but was a very good call.

When the kids go to the Hog's Head to form Dumbledore's Army there's a goat there, which is now hilarious given what we know of Aberforth. OotP film was released the same year the DH book was released, I wonder if the filmmakers were given early access to it?

Cho Chang has a great setup for a pickup line in "I've never been able to stun anything before" which Harry just completely lets go? Come on. "I've been stunned by you for years" or something is just sitting right there. I appreciated having the sense of how hopeless both Ron and Hermione felt Harry was about the whole Cho thing, and the eyes they'd make at each other as Harry continued to not make any moves.

Dumbledore's escape from Fudge was so baller, and Shacklebolt's comment standing in for the audience... *chef's kiss*

I really don't get the apparating thing. Fred and George are doing it all the time at Grimwald place with no smokey nonsense, and then in the ministry there's all this smokey stuff. I get that it's visually helpful for the audience, but it's so jarring coming from the books. What the heck is that stuff? And I guess the magical universe just knows bad guys should have black smoke... and/or the bad guys know they're bad. Reminds me of the Mitchell & Webb "are we the baddies?" sketch.

Final thought - I really feel like Fudge's "he's back!" would have been the perfect masterful ending to the movie. We didn't need all the wrap up afterward with Dumbledore, or they could have weasled it into the start of the next film. The actual last line, Harry's "we've got one thing he doesn't have... something worth fighting for" was such nonsense. Pretty sure Voldemort believes in his cause.

 

[Nicolas King]

OH! Something else came to me after reading a reddit thread today - Harry didn't react at all to Snape's recollection of James' cruelty. They should've spared a few minutes to show us he didn't like that image of his father.

(Sorry for the doublepost - ZB used to merge and bump, a feature I should look into for XF!)

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

"Our magic's got skulls on it!"

I think I only saw the last few movies one time each in all honesty though I do think Umbridge was incredibly well done. Skin crawlingly awful. Imelda Staunton was fantastic.

I don't think there's much of a consistent train of logic with how magic works in HP canon, as I think we've all come across trying to RP it semi-realistically. It's I guess the balance of worldbuilding, you want enough to actually make things make sense but you don't want to necessarily overexplain otherwise you get Wookiepedia! Besides, we all know what's happened when she's tried to further explain lore...

 

[Monty Pendleton]

The thing that I remember most about movie 5, other than it being really good, was the score! So many beautiful pieces of music in that one. Also omg I never thought of that before with the James memory Nick but so true haha

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I really feel like Fudge's "he's back!" would have been the perfect masterful ending to the movie

1000000000000% agreed on this point. It would have hit right with the ominous, impending doom that should be expected with the return of the most evil wizard.

Umbridge is such a great villain, and I also agree with Camilla that Imelda Staunton was fantastic in the role.

Also yes about Dumbledore's escape! I love those moments when we get to see him as a clever/powerful wizard.

 

[Nicolas King]

Besides, we all know what's happened when she's tried to further explain lore...

I'm so happy she's not actually writing more books so we can just ignore things for the site canon. That is not how you become an animagus, for instance.

 

[Nicolas King]

We're pressing on to Kiersten's favourite - let's see if it remains so or becomes so for others - Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince!

The end is in sight, and I've been enjoying myself more than I expected to (I had to hold back from just watching the rest of the movies after OotP).
As always, looking forward to the discussion!

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I caught a piece of this on tv over the weekend, and I kept watching until the scene in the cave with the inferi. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I love those moments when we see how bada** of a wizard Dumbledore really is, and that scene does it.

 

[Aine Thompson]

I barely even remember the book but I do vaguely remember this having more of the light hearted and comedic moments. Though I think it didn't necessarily land for me because the whole aesthetic was so dark that it became a bit more jarring than anything. It was perhaps the most endearing Daniel Radcliffe has been in the series (and I like him, especially after watching the Weird Al movie, he was great in that). This is definitely the book I read least, though.

 

[Nicolas King]

I caught a piece of this on tv over the weekend, and I kept watching until the scene in the cave with the inferi. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I love those moments when we see how bada** of a wizard Dumbledore really is, and that scene does it.

I think the movie showing that Dumbledore was still head-and-shoulders above other wizards makes the needfulness of his death pretty suspect. He can apparate within Hogwarts, even! And I'm not confident the double-movie-seven adequately explains Dumbledore's purposes in having Snape kill him. (Double agent solidified, sure - protecting Draco's soul? Attempting to end the elder wand's magic by dying willingly? Not sure that's as clear - I guess we'll see!)
Also, when Dumbledore was disarmed and he knew the wand was Draco's why didn't he just decide he'd let Snape kill him next week after he remastered the elder wand?

Here are my movie thoughts!
I thought the DEs making the Millennium Bridge twist/sway was hilarious given its penchant for wobbling.

Harry's response to Dumbledore's "I suppose you're wondering why I brought you here" of "After all these years I just sort of go with it." seems really random in the movie because Harry's had like... 0 interactions with Dumbledore through all the films? Dumbledore is just the person who he talks to before or after the crazy stuff, never the starter of crazy stuff (this film is really the first time we see it!).

I FINALLY appreciate the work they did on the Harry/Ginny 'ship this film. I clicked in from when Harry sees Ginny in the window at the Burrow this time. I think in all previous viewings I was like "ya, he's relieved to see he's at the Burrow where his people are." not "Oh, he's totally into her." Honestly Harry/waitress might be a better 'ship in the film, though.

The trend of super muggley dress continued with allll those kids at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes being the most muggled out imagineable. I did appreciate that at the slug club Christmas party they made an effort to have gents in robes.
Although seriously, wth is Harry wearing and why are Neville/the other servers in the navy now?

Draco's handling of Harry on the train was adept and I was impressed at how much smarter he suddenly became. Too bad he's still a bit slow.

I know Dumbledore accelerated his plan with Harry because of his cursed hand, but when he started to loop Harry into things I couldn't help but feel like he'd wasted five years. He wanted to give Harry time and space to become himself and have a childhood, but that was already robbed of him at the Dursley's and was never going to be possible in the wizarding world. Slowly bringing him into the fold would have been better, and then looping him in entirely at the latest by the end of GoF seems appropriate. This sudden rush to explain horcrux's etc. is not serving Harry well.

The idea that Lily's transfigured fish disappeared when she died (a person's magic dies with them) is fascinating, but I wondered how that works for ancient enchantments (like on Hogwarts) and how they persevere.

"There are some perks to being me." was a great line.

When Dumbledore says he's going to drink the potion the reasons he gives Harry are he's much older, much cleverer, and much less important than Harry... but how does Dumbledore being cleverer help the situation when the next thing he tells Harry is he must not listen to him because who knows what the potion will do? Surely Dumbledore's cleverness would mean he can help Harry out when he drinks?

Last thought:
Loved the imagery of Dumbledore parting the fire on the water in the cave. Obvious red sea imagery. I think it's intriguing to think of Dumbledore as a Moses figure if Harry is a Christ figure. Like Moses, Dumbledore does lead a people to freedom (a couple times, arguably) and has a dark & haunted past. Moses can't complete the task, doesn't lead Israel to the promised land - and depending on how one reads his death narrative seems to yield his life for the purpose of allowing the next chapter to begin. Really interesting parallels I'd not considered until that red sea moment.

 

[Nicolas King]

With no word yet on if The Half Blood Prince remains Kiersten's favourite, we press on! This film started the terrible trend of splitting stories into multiple films and then not even doing a good job of telling them anyway. The trailblazing Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part One!

I am looking forward to seeing the animation for the Tale of the Three Brothers again, that was quite good. Not sure I liked all the running about (as we see in this poster even ) but I guess that was a big part of the book?
As always, eager for your thoughts and some conversation partners along the way!

 

[Nicolas King]

So, my wife watched this with me (it caught her attention while I was watching, a good sign for it?!) but I felt like I had to explain all of Harry Potter every question she had. Also, I think she's lied to me and has also never read the books (or seen the movies). Hedwig dying, Dobby dying, all surprises to her. Also she wanted to know how/why Dumbledore died. My life is a lie.

On to my notes!
I thought the filmmakers were clever to fade Hermione from family photos to show what obliviate does... but also surely the spell doesn't/can't work that way, right?

Hagrid saying Harry was no bigger than a bowtruckle when he left him at the Dursleys reminded me of this earlier complaint of mine:

First, the scene with Harry looking at the family photo album reminded me of something I meant to say after the first movie - the little Harry Potter in that moving photograph is way older than I thought Harry was when his parents died... but it maths out to Harry being 15 months old when Lily died. Which makes the opening scene of the first movie pretty ridiculous (and I just skimmed the first few pages of the first book and the impression left is certainly that Harry was more infant than toddler... JKR must have decided on dates later. )

I still hold Harry being 15 months old when he was moved was decided late and for JKR's convenience.

Hedwig's death didn't seem significant enough. For all I knew that wasn't Hedwig until Harry mentioned it at the Burrow.

The system of confirming people aren't imposters sucked. Lupin is sure Harry is legit, Shacklebolt is sure Lupin is legit - nobody knows if Shacklebolt is legit? Why didn't Lupin ask him a question back? The authentication handshake was incomplete!

Harry lost every point Gryffindor has ever won when he was in Bagshot's house. Classic horror movie screaming at the TV "DON'T GO IN THERE!" and "HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?!"

I don't get the DEs taking Luna to silence her dad when they wouldn't have had any qualms killing her dad...

Dobby's scenes are so good at the end... but it also made me think: it's pretty handy that house elf magic letting them do things wizards can't is only used by the good guys. If the bad guys were using that work around, too, it'd be a real problem.

Overall I didn't find this movie as frustrating as I was sure I would. The pacing from the being on the run was pretty good overall. Maybe my frustration with that was more from the book? Or just bad memory?

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Ah, yes, like you said the era of 'splitting movie adaptations of books into 2 or more parts' iirc. Which, yeah, to have more faithful adaptations of heftier books (especially fantasy) was not unreasonable - though now they're either 3 hour+ movies or 8 episodes on streaming. I think The Hobbit dealt that a blow when they had to make it 3, nobody on the film wanted it to be 3 parts, and they had to add in a whole lot of padding for time.

(I sound so old saying that when really it was like 10-15 years ago).

I think I remember more of this one than HBP. I definitely remember the funeral and I remember the start and the middle of it is kind of hazy. I also like the way they illustrate Obliviate, sure, doesn't mean the spell would work like that and realistically (yes in this magical universe) the caster would have to go out of their way to remove items that would bring back memories (and now I want to re-watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...) but as a way of signalling it to an audience I think it was a good choice. Now they'd just cut to the parents going "I feel like I'm forgetting something" or something equally as on the nose.

(Don't ask me about Stranger Things 4.)

I do vaguely recall lots of running in the forest/last second deus ex machinas and honestly found that a bit dull but I suppose that's also part of the book. I never really warmed to Dobby in all honesty but it was a poignant ending spot. I just checked the run time and it's still 2 hours 26 minutes, which is still too long, but it sounds like the pace isn't really a problem. Though at 2 hours 26 they could've at least done more of that checking everyone was who they said they were

 

[Nicolas King]

Time for part 2 -

Is it a fitting end? Did we have all the resolution we were hoping for? Did we get to grieve the losses well? Let's discuss it!

 

[Aine Thompson]

What always got me about this was everyone going "omg it's the end of an era, my childhood" and for me that had been when the 7th book came out. By now I definitely realised the movies were not for me but I went to see it anyway because I'd already seen the others. I remember being very glad they included "not my daughter, you b*tch" in the movie because I wouldn't been furious if they hadn't!