Here are some of the costumed folks I mentioned earlier, waiting in line for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:

As I said, I thought the movie was great. Given the inherent time constraints, I thought director David Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg did a wonderful job. They took what looked, on paper, like the most difficult book to adapt into a movie, and turned it into the best movie of the series so far. I also felt the film was made with a level of care and attention to detail that was missing in Goblet of Fire. Whereas I was bitterly disappointed in what I felt were missed opportunities to do something truly awesome with several of Goblet’s crucial scenes, I didn’t feel that way at all about Phoenix. This time around, the stuff that should have been awesome, was awesome. Also, Daniel Radcliffe was much, much better (in part, I think, because Yates recognized the actor’s limits and adapted accordingly). Nothing in the movie made me cringe, and a number of things made me want to squeal with delight. It wasn’t perfect, but it was very good. Bravo.

And now, for the next big countdown:

Holy cow. HP5 = AWESOME. Easily, easily the best Potter movie. Not even a close call. Better than the first four combined.

We're here, and we already have our seats -- on the aisle, for pregnant Becky's sake. :) Lots of nerds in costume. God bless midnight openings.

[I’ve removed the MuggleNet countdown clock that originally appeared here, as it got rather annoying after midnight, with the numbers going all crazy.]

Whee!!!

As of yesterday, Becky is into her 15th week… and as of right now, there are less than 24 hours until we start watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I plead the Fifth as to which of these milestones I am, at this particular moment in time, more excited about. ;)

Becky’s lingering question about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: “how bad will Daniel Radcliffe’s acting be?”

As noted in my previous post about early reviews of the film, the Times of London says he’s improved, but “not enough to truly flesh out the character[] and provide the narrative depth that this transitional, plot-advancing film needs.” The reviewer laments that one key Radcliffe scene is “jarringly awful” (which is how Becky and I felt about his performances in several of Goblet of Fire’s climactic scenes). Newsweek, meanwhile, says “Radcliffe is clearly willing and able to take Harry to deeper, darker places, but the screenplay doesn’t give him enough to play off of.”

However, the Rolling Stone review is much kinder: “One of the joys of this film is watching Daniel Radcliffe, 17, grow so impressively into the role of Harry. He digs deep into the character and into Harry’s nightmares. It’s a sensational performance, touching all the bases from tender (Harry’s kiss with Cho Chang, played by the lovely Katie Leung) to fearful (the dreams of death that wake him up in a cold sweat). This is the film where the actors we’ve watched through five films seem to blossom and mature before our eyes.” Time is pretty effusive as well: “Radcliffe measures up to his character; his bold shadings reveal Harry as both a tortured adolescent and an epic hero ready to do battle. All of which makes Potter 5 not just a ripping yarn but a powerful, poignant coming-of-age story.”

Who’s right? I guess we’ll find out in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

As an aside, I was thinking yesterday about the timing of the fifth movie with regard to the seventh book, and it occurs to me: nobody is going to see Order of the Phoenix on the second Saturday it’s out (the 21st), because they’ll all be reading Deathly Hallows instead. I predict some sort of a record for audience drop-off from first Saturday of release to second Saturday of release.

In exactly one week’s five days’ time, I’ll probably just be emerging from a theater after watching a midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Part 1 of the Great July Pottergasm of 2007.

Needless to say, I can’t wait. The first reviews of the film are up on Rotten Tomatoes. If you don’t want to read any reviews, don’t follow the link (obviously) and don’t continue reading after the jump. Otherwise, click below…

(more…)

I think Yahoo! Movies is a little confused:

Heh. (Hat tip: Becky.)

A Harry Potter Theme Park! Woohoo!! (Hat tip: JG)

JK Rowling has asked those with knowledge of the plot of her final book not to disclose the details to the public.

Never underestimate the wrath of disgruntled Harry Potter nerds.

“If Harry dies, we don’t want to know about it until J.K. Rowling decides to tell us,” Leaky Cauldron webmaster Melissa Anelli wrote. “And if you decide to tell us before that, you’ll incur the wrath of a staff of almost 200, most of whom have been waiting almost 10 years for these final revelations and can NEVER get back the moment you rob by spoiling them.

“That’s some wrath right there. We own pitchforks, hot wax and feathers. And we’re not afraid to use them.”

Speaking of Harry Potter (as I do in my Spider-Man 3 review), Becky — having just finished re-reading books 1-6 — is blogging about her guesses for what will happen in book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She concludes, “I know there are other Harry Potter nerds out there. Got any brilliant suspicions of your own?” Well?

[UPDATE: Bumped to top (from 5/6, 12:18am) because Becky, anxious for more feedback, made me bump it… and if Becky ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! -ed.]

“Who wears boxer briefs while emerging from a mysterious green fog?” –Becky, during Spider-Man 3, wishing that James Franco (the actor who plays Harry Osborn) was instead naked.

Heh.

(Mild spoilers below, as well as a discussion of the Harry Potter 5 trailer.)

* * * * *

Alas, that line was funnier than most of the movie’s attempts at humor, and several of the trailers that preceded the movie had more coherent plots. (Incidentally, the other really funny moment came maybe 30 seconds into the trailer for The Bourne Ultimatum, when Matt Damon’s face finally appeared, and someone in the theater yelled, Team America-style, “Matt Damon!!” … Um, yeah, you have to have seen Team America to understand why it’s funny.)

Anyway, yeah, Spider-Man 3 wasn’t very good, IMHO. The plot was all over the map (if you asked me, “what was that movie about?,” I don’t think I’d be able to answer); the suspension-of-disbelief level was off the charts, and carried over from the action scenes into the character interactions as well; the number of overly convenient plot devices was pretty ridiculous (I mean, really, two lines of dialogue from some random old dude resolve three movies’ worth of angst? C’mon, screenwriters, you can do better than that!); and frankly, the movie just never made me care very much about anything that was happening on screen. It had its moments, but they were few and far between in a too-long, not-entertaining-enough flick. Moreover, the action sequences were hard to follow at times, and even at their best, weren’t good enough to overcome the movie’s other flaws. (And I’m not the sort of person who routinely bashes brainless summer blockbusters. I usually like ‘em. But this one just didn’t do it for me.)

Just one man’s opinion. The Spider-Man junkies will probably love it. But I didn’t. (Nor did Becky, who calls it “monkey bung.”)

I did, however, love the new trailer for the fifth Harry Potter movie. It’s even better than the international version, which I blogged about previously. I realize trailers can be deceiving, but I now officially have really high hopes for this movie, and specifically for director David Yates (who recently announced he’s coming back for movie 6, by the way). I sense that it has the potential to be a hell of a lot better than its predecessor.

Every time I watch Goblet of Fire on DVD (as Becky and I did recently), I — in Voldemort’s words — “confess myself disappointed” to a greater and greater degree. There’s a point where the movie’s version of the plot completely falls apart logically (hint: it happens in Dumbledore’s office), and from that point on, it’s almost like director Mike Newell forgot to try. The remainder of the film, which arguably is the most important sequence of events in the entire series thus far, feels rushed and even perfunctory, like they were trying to squeeze in a bunch of obligatory scenes without a clear idea of how best to tie everything together.

More broadly, Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the Potter books, and I really feel that there were just so many squandered opportunities in the adaptation: scenes that could have and should have been acted better, written better, visualized better. Now, it’s impossible to tell from a trailer whether the adaptation of Order of the Phoenix will be better on the first two counts, but on the last one, it definitely looks like David Yates has done a bang-up job of making sure the things that should look really cool, do in fact look really cool. That gives me hope that he’s a better fit for the Potter universe than Newell (who I will never forgive for, among other things, not giving Voldemort red eyes).

Now, if only Yates can coax a real acting performance out of Daniel Radcliffe, he should win an Oscar for Best Director! :)

There’s a new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix international trailer out!

(Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.) It’s on YouTube, so I don’t know how long it’ll be up before it gets yanked by the powers-that-be. Watch it while you still can!

UPDATE: Doesn’t seem like they’re cracking down, since there are a whole bunch of copies up on YouTube.

Well, I’m trying to beat Brendan to the punch on his own blog on something Potter-related…

Here’s the American cover art for the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

You can watch the countdown till release date over on Brendan’s left sidebar. Cheers.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Thanks, Jay. Here’s a more panoramic version of the cover art, in which you can see Voldemort apparently sneaking up on Harry:

(Hat tip: Mark West.)

Here’s the British version of the cover.

And if anyone wants a more precise countdown, here you go:

That counts down to the release in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-5), since that’s the time zone I’ll be in. As explained here, the first release anywhere will be six hours earlier, at midnight (er, 12:01 AM) British Summer Time (GMT+1):

On 1 February 2007, it was officially announced that Book 7 will be released in English-speaking countries around the world at 00:01 British Summer Time on 21 July 2007. In the U.S., however, the book will be released at 00:01 local time.

Drudge is linking to an article containing a photo of Daniel Radcliffe’s ass (warning: nudity! duh!) in all its, uh, Harry glory. (”All its airbrushed glory” is more like it, or so suggests Becky.)

The boy who plays the boy who lived is appearing nude on stage (warning: near-nudity) in a play that opens tonight in London. Apparently his clothes disapparate for 10 minutes or so. Let’s just hope, for Daniel’s sake, that none of his body parts go all petrificus totalus. ;)

Anyway, I just thought I’d provide a link for those among my readers who are into that sort of thing…