Just finished listening to the podcast -- thanks for an excellent show, guys.

I am a reader and fan of HP but not a slavering book-loyal fan, if you know what I mean. So, I can follow everything in the movies because I know the backstory, but my favorite movies have been 3 and 4 because I think the directors took the source material and really created them as their own movies, with actual themes and things (!). Anyway, I thought the 5th movie was the worst in terms of presenting anything like a coherent movie -- it just felt like a highlight reel from the book. (That was also the only one without the main scriptwriter guy who's done the rest.) This latest movie felt really flabby to me in the first half, but I became quite engaged in the second half and enjoyed it a lot.

So, in the realm of armchair quarterbacking and nitpicking, I am surprised that no one has said anything about the editing of the HP movies. I know you guys talked about Yates' direction of the actors, and especially the kids performances themselves, but here's something that has bugged me particularly about movies of 5 and 6. The dialog scenes, especially amongst the 3 kids, have been poorly edited in my opinion. It seems like at the end of each scene, there's about 3 or 4 seconds where they all sit there with nothing to say. It's as if they're waiting for Yates to yell "cut!!". I think if this is a stylistic choice, maybe it is to give gravity to the situation, like, to let the meaning of what they are saying sink in??? But what I really think is that it's weak editing. I know a few seconds doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're trying to build momentum (especially out of books that have a lot of waiting around), every second counts, and if you drop the energy like this, it keeps the movie hiccuping along.

Anyway, I know it's a nitpick, but what do you guys and everyone else think of the editing?

I understand not putting in the end battle scene as one of you guys put in order to have an emotional payoff. But the things about the end scene that were so compelling when i read them was not the mindless violence but how utterly pissed and driven harry is that snape betrayed everyone. That worked well because the i was shocked as much as the character of harry when dumbledore died and therefore felt the same feelings. In the film in just makes it look like harry is throwing a hissy fit.

I think they could have included the end scene if they wanted (by cutting the utterly useless weasly house attack), it would have distracted the viewer from dumbledore's death allowing the impact to be much greater when the action is all over. Plus not enough hagrid crying, that made me cry more than the fact that someone died.

What was your objection to the way that Ginny Weasley was portrayed? I hope it wasn't with the actress' appearance. If anything her height (equal to Daniel Radcliffe), athleticism, natural beauty and the strength and quiet determination that she demonstrated, were really wonderful messages about women to portray (not common for Hollywood). That this would be the person Harry selects as his girlfriend is a very positive representation, albeit nontraditional.

this harry potter movie was by far the worst movie i have ever seen in my life there was barely any action and it was really quite stupid and everyone in the movie theater thought it was stupid also, even the little kids. All i got out of this movie was that snape was the half blood prince and that dumbledore is dead woohoo thats so scary. the only thing that made me jump out of my seat was when the hand came out of the water but besides that....STUPID! I don't even want to go see the next harry potter movie now cause of what i just saw on this one. i spent over a hundred dollars at chunckies just to see a horrible movie and i would of fallen asleep but i thought that i might miss something actually exciting boy was i wrong! anyway the movie stunk.

Funny story concerning that amazing Cave sequence:

I had seen the movie at a midnight showing before seeing it again with a few other friends, so I was naturally aware of when that jump scare took place. This was probably a little immature of me, but during that moment of tension before it took place, I thought it would be funny if I just slowly started leaning further and further in my seat. Then right as the inferi hand grabbed Harry, I quickly leaned back. (Actually, later on, those friends told my doing this actually made it a lot scarier for them.)

I did something else immature (and funny!) during that scene. I had an empty soft drink cup with just a little bit of melted ice in the bottom. After Harry forced Dumbledore to drink that horrendous liquid, and as Dumbledore was thirstily begging for water, I thought it would be funny if I noisily sipped from my empty cup. No one really noticed I did it, but I thought it was funny.

Totally off topic but what's with the spoiler-free rundown of the movies?

I'm not talking specifically of this episode, but it seems like everyone is antsy to talk about a film but forced to hold their tongue for 20 minutes or else they'll get slapped with the "save that for the spoiler section" line. But by the time the spoiler tag gets thrown in then everyone already lost steam or the entire topic gets forgotten.

Are that many people listening who benefit from the spoiler free sections (which seem to be nothing but a trailer review)? Because my vote would be to skip it entirely and just let everyone jump into the exciting movie discussion.

A book adaptation shouldn't require knowledge of the source material in order for the film to make sense. Unfortunately HP is a series where knowing the book is almost required in order to feel any emotion towards the characters. Characters like the Trio and Snape are handled well but the filmcast nailed it by saying that we are literally being told who to fear and who to respect because on screen then Dumbledore didn't show a glimpse of what his true power an Voldemort was 100x more intimidating as a catchphrase than a fleshed out villain. It's a shame that each film seems to waste a majority of it's time on unecessary filler or redundant coming-of-age plotlines and then tries to squeeze the bulk of the story/action/drama into the last 30 minutes.

So for me then based purely as stories then I think the last two movies kinda sucked. But the big, huge, gigantic redemption for the series is the top tier acting and gorgeous cinematography.

Yeah, I could understand your frustrations. The books are big, dense, unwieldly, and filled with a massive cast of characters each with their own backstories and histories. It doesn't help that the 'Half Blood Prince' book itself is merely a bridge story, getting the pieces into place for the finale.

That said, I think the movies have done an admirable job distilling them down to themes and viewing them through the 'coming-of-age' gaze. It's not entirely effective, nor does it always work, but it puts an interesting spin on things in my opinion, and it definitely elevated movie 6 in a grander way for me personally.

There are serious depictions of Aquaman. Take for example his introduction in the Justice League animated series. This displayed more of a tougher, angrier character, who tried to defend the people of Atlantis from external and internal threats. There were no wacky seals or scenes where they talked underwater with bubbles coming out of their mouths (no chimp jokes please). There is a scene where Atlantean military down a submarine though. You do not have to base it all on your ingrained Superfriends childhood memories. (Though I did like the Superfriends episode where Aquaman turned into a whale).

Aquaman can be done

several writers have made him a force to be messed with

read Justice guys.......end of superhero movies my fin

Oh an I don't mean they ate a submarine sandwich, smartass! I meant "take down" a sub. (As in, they wrestled the sandwich into submission.)

Did you guys seriously just say that the more colorful films were... dull? And David "Hack" Yates' color palette was better?

...my bad, seems you said "Roald Dahl."

Seems you guys outlined most of the major problems with the 5th and 6th movies, but I still think the coloring/cinematography in both is atrocious. It's not that's bad, per se, but it seems to me that David Yates thinks he's directing Schindler's List 2, not a Harry Potter film. There definitely needs to be more color, regardless of how dark the film is thematically.

I'd have to disagree also. I really disliked these last two films but based purely on looks then Cuaron rescued the series by introducing a much more fitting color palette and art style to the films. Visually then this is high art and the mood of the films simply wouldn't work if they stuck with Columbus bright and formulaic color and filming style.

May not work for me? I have a hard time figuring out how it worked for anyone. I think the only scene that the color palette actually fit what was going on, was the attack on the Weasley's home. It's too bad that entire scene made no sense, it's as if both Death Eaters showed up just for fun.

At first I thought maybe they were trying to lure Harry out of the house, which he gladly complied with, but then when they basically decide to pull a "Strangers" move, by... watching them.... from far off, and then disappearing when they hear Lupin and Tonks, whom they should have known were nearby anyway.. the scene loses any sort of... use? I guess.

I just found any scene that involved humor to be put off by the fact that it looked like it belonged in Fight Club (which I realize now would make sense, Fight Club is moderately funny), David Fincher using a similar palette of yellow/green soaked colors. The romantic scenes had an absence of color, and since David Yates has an absence of being able to direct performances (the only reason any of the performances were good was because the actors have talent), and while they were funny, and they were very funny, it's just something didn't click. I don't know, I know I sound crazy.

The scene where Dumbledore dies was angering, considering that Yates' only used the most cliched ideas (slow motion falling) and poor camera angles. Why would I want to see a poorly cut off angle of Dumbledore's head? He only occupied the left upper 90 degrees of the screen...

A prime example of the camera angle issue would be the fight between Harry and Draco, I mean, you practically don't even see when Harry casts Sectumsempra! For the most part it's cut off by a wall, it's like David Yates was trying to be all "gritty" and "cool," like the "young guys do." Sarcasm aside, I was also bugged by Yates' tendency to profile his characters very simply, with no camera movement. It's just like this little quick shot starting at their head and cutting off at their crotch or something. And he'll randomly cut to it in many of the scenes, mostly Slughorn scenes, where their facial expressions may or may not reflect what's actually going on in the scene.

Also, there's something incredibly awkward about the way those scenes were staged anyway, was anybody really 'connecting,' with Harry and Ginny in their romantic scenes? "Here... take my hand..." "I can stay hidden up here if you like..." "*whisper*close your eyes...*/whisper*"

I don't know... I never bought any of it. And I know this whole post is incredibly jumbled, I guess part of the problem is I saw it three times. And I did NOT want to see it three times...

Completely disagree. It may not work for you, but I think Yates' use of cinematography, color grading, and light is simply phenomenal.

About those "time travelling" necklaces, in the 5th book it is mentioned that during the final fight scene the whole stock of them were destroyed, and Hermione returned hers and the end of book 3 so there u go. Also there luck potion can not be drunk whenever because it can cause side effects which i can't recall but its all in book 6... seriosuly the books are much better

You need to write a review for "Half-Blood Prince", Adam.

Well you guys did say that you might be able to knock out a recap of Comic-Con in a special /filmcast so I hope that actually happens.

We'll do our best!