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Author Topic: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-22-2010 09:39 PM                    What, no reviews yet? The movie has only been available on the web since last Tuesday. Ah well, I guess I'll start. I enjoyed it. As a fan of the books, I was very satisfied. There were quite a few things missing and changed slightly as there always are with these movies, but the changes didn't bother me as much this time. Most of the changes seemed to be for pacing or simplifying things for an audience receiving the shorter version of the story. After all, you can only cram so many characters into a 2.5 hour movie without starting to confuse and lose your audience. In the book world you have much more time to flesh out and explore all of the characters. There's no reason to bring back Stan Shunpike for a quick cameo for example. Those who read the book know what I'm talking about. But on the other hand, some scenes seemed word for word from the book, so hats off to that. Other things that played a part in the book, like the Erumpent horn in Xenophilius's house, were not even mentioned in the movie - however if you look you'll spot it hanging on his wall right where it's supposed to be. I enjoyed those little touches and attention to detail even if they didn't discuss them in the movie. I've seen some reviews where people were complaining about the story being slow. I don't agree with that at all. I thought the pacing was just fine. The acting has once again stepped up a notch for all of the "kids" - which also happens with every new chapter in this franchise. This one, like the others before it, definitely darkens the story even more. It's kind of funny going back and re-watching the first one and seeing where we came from in this series. It's not quite the kid's movie it used to be. I'm eager to read reviews from fellow Film-Techers who have NOT read the books.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 11-22-2010 10:09 PM                     I have not read the books, so my only knowledge is of the films. On that note, this one was fantastic. The pacing, I felt, was perfect for the story. The movie really took its time just going through story, and made it very coherent, and this is only part 1! The acting has been great throughout the series, and its just getting better. Not only the young actors, but the veterans as well. I liked it! AJG  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-22-2010 11:50 PM                        I'm not a Potter fan, but the audience comments for this one have been pretty uniformly ecstatic. We've had a few repeat viewers already. Our ticket sales have been slammed by the weather, however. We've had continuous cold weather (10 degrees and under) since it opened, and the first two days we had blizzards. We only had 20 people to our midnight show because of it. So I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend, should boost things.  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 11-23-2010 03:38 AM                     All the above comments shit on the theory that you need 3D to have great takings. This is a good thing. As always, it's the story and the telling of that story.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-23-2010 11:31 AM                        Yeah - I hope that they decide not to make the last one 3D too. These movies by nature are too "dark" to be in 3D.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-23-2010 02:36 PM                        They look almost monochromatic to me, kind of like Lord of the Rings (which it seems to be trying to emulate the look of).  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 11-23-2010 04:52 PM                     I started thinking about the fact that this was going to be a 3D release. After watching the film, I have no idea why it ever would be. I also figure by the time part 2 comes out, the theatre I've seen all of these at, in 35mm, will most likely be all digital. I guess I have to fully embrace the future. AJG  |  IP: Logged Sean Weitzel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall) Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-23-2010 05:53 PM                     Movie: I enjoyed the movie, but felt it was rather slow and depressing. Good performances from the core cast. They do seem to grow into their roles well with each installment. I have not read the books but have seen each of the installments in their first run at the cinema. Very dark and moody tone - definitely not a full on kid's film. Presentation: Having just relocated north east of the Bay Area, we saw the film at the Brenden 16 in Vacaville, Ca. I must say that I was DEEPLY impressed. The facility itself was spotlessly clean, the box office, floor, and counter staff were very pleasant and courteous. Apparently all 16 auditoriums in the complex are THX certified. Our show was on screen #16 and was a 35mm print. The image was bright (as this film could be), tack sharp, and not a speck of dirt or scratch on the print. This was Sunday morning at 9:55am after running the print the whole weekend. I was even surprised that they added a THX Bounty snipe between the trailer pack and the feature. The sound seemed very well balanced and packed a good punch. I would give a 10/10 review of the theater, but am going to give it a 9/10 because I felt the trailer pack ran a little too long for my taste (7 trailers plus snipes)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-23-2010 07:39 PM                        We've been keeping an unofficial tally of people who thought this movie was going to be in 3-D. Some are glad it's NOT in 3-D. Some are disappointed (kids mostly). Others are disappointed, but glad to save the bucks. None of these groups are in the majority, interestingly.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-23-2010 07:58 PM                    I'm REALLY glad Warner Brothers ditched the 3D on this. I enjoy seeing these kinds of big movies in the semi-local 15/70 IMAX King of Prussia theater. I was going to avoid it if it was in 3D, but as it turns out, that's where we went, and as usual the presentation was pretty awesome. I hope they ditch the 3D on part II too.  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-25-2010 01:51 AM                     Will there be a rerelease of part 1 in 3D before part 2? Just my cynical opinion.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-25-2010 11:06 AM                        I'll bet not, because Warners probably would not like to have a gargantuan amount of bad press about lousy 3-D coming out right before Part 2 opens. They'll save it for the Blu-Ray version and then that will suck, but by that time it won't make any difference.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-25-2010 12:20 PM                     If they are "smart." They will forgo the 3D on Deathly Hallows as it would make part II the ONLY 3D version (theatrically). When you have something with that sort of success...why chance mucking with it. How many HP fans are demanding 3D for this franchise? Better to experiment with it at the home as they will have both versions. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Joseph L. Kleiman Master Film Handler Posts: 380 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 11-26-2010 01:35 PM                     Quality on the Harry Potter conversion actually was high. Clash of the Titans was handled by Prime Focus. They cut too many corners to make their deadline and the end product was not too good. Both Deathly Hallows films, on the other hand, are being handled by IMAX. After producing partial 3D on the last two Potter films and Superman Returns, as well as converting scenes from Destiny in Space to 3D for Hubble, their co-production with WB, IMAX secured the contract in May. However, they did not get the first footage until August and did not realize until too late that they could not complete the first Deathly Hallows film in time. In the last few weeks before the 3D was canceled, they attempted to subcontract with other conversion and vfx houses, but were unsuccessful.  |  IP: Logged David E. Nedrow Master Film Handler Posts: 368 From: Columbus, OH, USA Registered: Oct 2008 posted 11-26-2010 04:27 PM                        Here's my take on the film... I thought it was easily the weakest of all the films. Far too much action takes place off screen -- "Hey, Mad Eye is dead, he fell off his broom fighting Valdemort. Hey, the Ministry has fallen and the Minister is dead". All of those would have been more interesting than watching Harry brood away in the woods. And, way too much inaction is onscreen. I don't mind movies that take their time telling a story, but it has to be a story more complicated than a Twilight redux. Hey, look, it's Bella and Jacob, er, I mean Hermione and Ron mooning at each other. Oh, and there's Jacob and Edward -- whoops, Harry and Ron -- fighting over Hermione/Bella. The other problem, is that there is no sense of time passage in the film. When they mention that they've been searching for weeks, I cringed. It sure seemed like that insufferable segment happened over the course of three or four days. I think somebody here has previously mentioned the lack of scale, when it comes to time in recent movies. It also bothered me that, sometimes, you couldn't even tell what time of day it was. One second, they're in brightly lit darkness -- I can't think of a single night scene that didn't appear to have a zillion chinese lanterns hanging overhead -- then all of a sudden, seemingly in the same scene, it's daytime. WB unfortunately fell into the LOTR fan-boy trap with this book adaptation. I found the LOTR movies insufferably long. It doesn't take much of a scriptwriter to format a book into script-ese. One of the things I liked about the earlier HP films is that they still told the essential story while cutting the fat. I know this is basically a money grab on WB's part, but that doesn't make a good movie, or pair of movies. I'm not sure what happened to David Yates. He's never been a particularly strong director, but he turned out a couple of mechanically serviceable Potter films before this one. HP7.1, however, looks clumsy and out of control. I suspect that once I see HP7.2, my thoughts here will be confirmed, at least for me. I haven't seen any reason so far that precluded this book from having been done in a single go. Heck, nearly an entire reel is just credits! Oh, and the credits. Is this the first one that didn't have something going on during at least part of the closing credits? I've taken to letting people know -- when they buy a ticket -- that once the end credits start, that's the end. No footsteps on a map, no flying parchment, no teaser for the next film, or coda for this one. Just one long, endless (not literally), series of credits. As for 3D, I'm glad they didn't do it. I don't mind IMAX conversions, though I'm just not a big fan of 3D. And when we ran MEGAMIND, we had people coming here specifically because we weren't showing it in 3D. And as someone else noted, the success of this film is more proof that you don't need 3D to make a blockbuster. Just look at INCEPTION. If WB is smart, they won't bother with 3D for the last film, just to keep things consistent in the series.  |  IP: Logged

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