‘Half-Blood Prince’ is strong warm-up for finale

MSNBC ^ | July 14, 2009 | Alonso Duralde

[ccmovrwc]

Battling the dark forces takes a back seat to romance and Quidditch

By Alonso Duralde Film critic msnbc.com contributor updated 4:25 p.m. ET, Tues., July 14, 2009

Call it the calm before the storm, but “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” goes out of its way to balance its own dark doings — to say nothing of the dire events to come in the two upcoming movies based on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — with more character and atmosphere than we’ve seen in the last few movies.

If you’ve been missing Quidditch matches, love triangles, hanging out in the Gryffindor common room and general Hogwarts-iness, you’ll have a great time with this latest sequel.

[Buck W.]

No problem. Am I right about “The Fugitive”?

[Richard Kimball]

Yes. I took the name Richard Kimball back in the days of usenet. Since everyone was using an alias, I thought it made sense to have the screen name of a guy who was always trying to hide his identity.

Some people think my real name is Richard Kimball. Others think I'm really a doctor. Most, like you, get the inference. The only ones that make me nervous are the people who really think I'm a doctor because my screen name is that of a fictional doctor.

[retrokitten]

I had the same reaction as you. Why burn down The Burrow? Does this mean no wedding for Bill and Fleur? That’s a huge scene in DH.

I couldn’t believe there was not battle at Hogwarts either. The Deatheaters just walked away and no one tried to stop them? That bugged me, too. I guess it will make the final battle for Hogwarts in DH that much more exciting, but I missed it.

It wasn’t horrible, but I guess I expected something different.

[TightyRighty]

That is the one thing that really disappointed me with the movie. It seemed anticlimatic. I was really excited to see the battle at Hogwarts because in the book it gives up a glimpse of how evil the Deatheaters are. And there was no battle.

I also wanted to see Snape say, "Don't call me a coward." Because that was so powerful in the book. Oh, and I love Rickman.

[retrokitten]

I agree with you regarding Snape. They didn’t build up his internal struggle like they could have. They also cut out all non-verbal spells, so Snape didn’t give Harry his advice of learning non-verbal magic.

[Stimpson_J_Cat]

Can’t believe you people would support the deranged writings of this horrible woman who mocked and ridiculed Christians who chose not to read her worthless tripe.

[ccmovrwc]

They also cut out all non-verbal spells

Including Dumbledore's immobilization of Harry on the tower. I thought it was a bit out of character to have Harry remain hidden and quiet during the confrontation without having been involuntarily frozen in place.

[TBP]

I was telling mywife tonight that Muggles sounded like one of those 1960s British Invasion groups. “Ladies and gentlemen, The Muggles!”

So far, we’ve some up with these songs for tehm to cover:
“I Put a Spell on you”
“Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”
“Do You Beleive in Magic?”
“Everything She Does Is Magic”

What else would be on The Muggles album?

[kevkrom]

“Black Magic Woman”
“This Magic Moment”
“Pinball Wizard”
“Spooky”

[kevkrom]

“Werewolves in London”
“Magic Man”

[Da_Shrimp]

Can’t believe you people would support the deranged writings of this horrible woman who mocked and ridiculed Christians who chose not to read her worthless tripe.

Good. I'm glad you can't.