हैरी पौटर और फीनिक्स की फौज

When I first walked into the movie, my expectations were not very high. The first two movies, I thought, were the best of the series mainly due to Richard Harris' dead-on portrayal of Dumbledore and screenplays that closely followed the original books. Though the third and fourth movies were very artistic and dramatic, I couldn't really connect to them in the way i had with the books. They glossed over many of the little things that made the Harry Potter series so magical in the first place, focusing on a select few plot lines and limiting dialog to only what was necessary to further the story.

As a result they've felt more like a collage of scenes, a series of puzzle pieces, thrown at the viewers faster than they can piece together, just leading up to a final confrontation. Pacing has certainly been an issue, leaving fans feeling disjointed, and those new to the series confused as to what exactly is going on. In this respect, Order of the Phoenix was very similar to the previous two movies. As a Hollywood film, it deserves praise, bringing this amazing world to the big screen, telling a compelling tale, and keeping the viewers glued to their seats for the duration of the movie. However, to the die hard fans of the books, you will undoubtedly be disappointed.

Many scenes that one would think invaluable to the story have been cut, replaced by the hasty filling in of plot holes. And while it pains me to ignore some of my favorite scenes from the book being left on the cutting room floor (St. Mungo's, Harry's Quibbler interview, the Quidditch fight, etc.), I realize that yes, not everything could be included in the movie. But in this watered down version of the book, there seems to be something missing. We still have all the drama and excitement, but some of the magic just seems to be gone.

Aside from Evanna (couldn't have made a more perfect Luna), the kids give simply average performances, never really reaching the full potential put forth by JK Rowling's writing. The same goes for Gambon, who seems to have ignored the calm, all knowing, endearing idea of who Dumbledore is, in favor of a more erratic yet powerful headmaster. Sure, this works well in the more dramatic scenes (specifically the final battle), but otherwise, his performance falls flat, lacking the eye twinkling charm we came to love from the late Richard Harris. Thankfully, Imelda Staunton more than makes up for this in an amazing portrayal of Dolores Umbridge, one of the more fully realized characters of the movie. As for the rest of the cast, it's largely hit or miss, determined by how each scene is written.

Overall, I would certainly recommend the movie for everyone, fan or not, as it really was a well made movie, despite a few wooden actors and some bad dialog. But when looking at the books, one really can't help but think how much more potential this movie could've had.

Overall, not a bad film, especially the opening sequence which'll have you quivering behind the seat in front! Great effects as always.

For me, Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge completely steals the show. Her character was fantastically well observed - the odd little hysterical titters of laughter she gave had superb comedic timing. Helena Bonham Carter had a star turn too as Belatrix - she's completely bonkers and HBC totally did her justice! Loved it!

For me, both their successes stood out conspicuously when compared to the horrendously awkward acting from the younger members of the cast. Sorry(!) but there were so many cringe worthy moments (especially the more intimate ones) where you kept begging the director to cut away from the acting. Tighter editing could have prevented these distracting moments from constantly reminding me I was watching actors on a set.

Hermione (Emma Watson), Luna (Evanna Lynch) , and Cho (Katie Leung) were the main culprits, with Daniel Radcliff not falling far behind. Okay, I know they're supposed to be awkward teenagers in the story, but hey! My suspicion is that these poor kids feel so caught up in the huge franchise that is HP that the pressure to perform must be enormous. Couple that with the screenplay's stilted dialogue, and being surrounded by what must have been a huge crew with them all staring at you, it's hardly a surprise that a few cracks were shown. Still, you'd have thought the editing might have been able to get around it.

These cringes aside, I enjoyed the film. Also, a huge congrats to all those involved in the hard work that obviously went into the post production too.

Why do Harry Potter movies give me, but not the children, nightmares? I've been wondering this for the past few years. Today, watching Movie No. 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros., 2007), I got my answer. Simply: Harry's world is the real world. As Harry and his friends mature, the line between the world of wizardry, magic, and Hogwarts and the world of self-centered, manipulative, cruel adults thins to the point of almost magical invisibility.

Fantasy literature has since the beginning of time been about mediating and making sense of the real world; Harry Potter is part of this tradition.

Indeed, one of the movie's first big special effects embodies this idea. As the movie opens, Harry is the subject of a smear campaign that Valdemore has cooked up because darkness works tirelessly to triumph over the light; when his friends come to rescue him from the suburban horror show known as his adoptive family, they take him to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a place that doesn't exist until a row of Georgian homes stretches out to reveal it. It's there, but the neighbors are unaware of it. They have no idea their building grew a house that the wizards and witches of the world can solve an internal problem. Such is life; how seldom do we know the inner workings, the coping mechanisms, the interior life of the people around us? In The Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter again does battle with evil to bring home the theme that when you fight, you fight well with and for your friends and to the death if necessary. Truth and goodness--call if love, if you want--are worth the trouble. The Gothic idiom of Harry Potter brilliantly takes the challenges Harry faces out of the present on one level even though these are very clearly 21st century characters facing contemporary challenges. Alongside the power of goodness over evil theme is the theme of the power of the imagination to find solutions to problems that are the same in every generation: politics, power games, jealousy, stupidity, growing up.

Always in Harry Potter is the clear distinction between the good guys and the bad ones right alongside the good kids and the annoying kids, who could very well become evil people if they so choose. They are tragic because they don't understand the long-range consequences of their petty cruelties--but then, as we learn in this movie, even the good kids are capable of petty cruelties that break souls. Always there is Snape, the middling Hogwarts employee who is not clearly good but not clearly bad but capable of both (until fate forces his hand in Book 6).

J.K. Rowling doesn't let anybody off of the hook of responsibility for their choices. But she does present the internal struggle for goodness and justice for the mess that it can be. Just as the Gothic world of Hogwarts helps Harry and his friends mediate the real world, so Rowling helps her readers see the world for what it is. This is a world that can give me nightmares, though not my daughter and my nephews. Perhaps because all they really need is an honest story.

Once again, I believe that the series is only getting better with each progressive movie. I attended a preview screening tonight and was completely blown away by the movie. While quite a bit of detail was lost in the movie, how can you really expect a three hour movie to capture what takes Rowling hundreds of pages to explain? This said, Yates did a great job capturing the spirit of the book, and he had me on my seat from the first scene all the way through the end of the movie. I cried, I laughed, and I am pretty sure there were a few times where I couldn't breathe from the tension.

What really made the movie for me was the talent of the actors. As expected, the older cast members deliver some of the best acting England has to offer. Sidenote: there is something about Emma Thompson where every time she cries in a movie, I start tearing up myself. I was especially impressed with how much Daniel, Emma (Watson), and Rupert have improved their acting since the last movie. Having come from seeing Daniel in Equus two weeks ago, I was expecting a lot from him. Even after seeing him display more intensity than I thought possible on stage, he surprised me in Phoenix. His emotions were so raw and genuine that I literally got goosebumps.

Well done to the cast and crew! I can't wait for the next one!!

So many great parts were skipped over, rushed with ridiculous cliché transition scenes, or simply changed because, apparently, it's impossible to include everything. But what can anyone reasonably expect?

I went into this expecting exactly what I saw, it's still just a tad annoying hearing people talk about how impossible it would be to follow the book. It's not impossible at all. Look at the matrix 2&3, look at pirates of the caribbean 2&3, look at LOTR (it's all one continuous story). Lots of "stories" have had to be split up into multiple films and they all worked great. It's just a tad short-sighted to say it wouldn't work with a harry potter film. I think a lot of what people enjoy is looking at the wizard world, seeing cool looking spells, and generally learning more about everything to do with the harry potter universe. You don't get much of that when a 26 hour read is condensed into a 2.5 hour film. I personally would love to see more of the "boring" parts of the book simply because it's interesting seeing a high-budget Hollywood interpretation of what was in the book. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if the film-makers simply came out and said "this book is too long to put into a single film with out leaving out a lot of the book and changing a lot of other parts, so we're releasing it in two films." It's completely understandable. It's an 800 page book! LOTR books were only 400-600 pages and the films were considerably longer than any of the harry potter films.

Overall, it was a decent enough movie though. Great special effects, good enough acting (I wouldn't go so far as to say it was amazing). I'd say it's basically a standard high-budget film. Entertaining to watch, well worth my $10 so I could come and complain how it was nothing like the book :)