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‘Half-Blood Prince’ is strong warm-up for finale
MSNBC ^ | July 14, 2009 | Alonso Duralde

Posted on 07/20/2009 7:29:41 AM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: halfbloodprince; harrypotter; hollywood; moviereview
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To: alwaysconservative

“Hubby and I thought the movie was excellent: the most powerful HP movie so far. There were some shortcuts taken, but they weren’t offensive to me in view of turning these massive books into a standard movie length.

And I agree that Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore finally became a real Dumbledore before the end...”

I also thought it was the best Harry Potter movie so far. It seemed to me that it took more liberties at deviating from the book than the other movies, but not in a bad way; in fact I liked it better than the book.

Regarding Dumbledore, Michael Gambon has not been nearly as good of a Dumbledore as Richard Harris...until this movie. I had always felt a little sorry for Michael Gambon having to follow up on the excellent Richard Harris, it wasn’t Gambon’s fault that Harris was so much better. In this movie, for the first time, I thought, wow, I really like this Dumbledore as much as the first one.


21 posted on 07/20/2009 8:33:59 AM PDT by Texan Tory
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Well, the left and right have been fighting over Orwell’s 1984 since publication... despite all clear indications that it is a condemnation of a communist society.

Quite a few people have compared Umbridge to Margaret Thatcher, but I haven't found a quote by the author. I find the comparison ridiculous, but it does make it easier to separate thinking people from idiots.

That's always nice.

22 posted on 07/20/2009 8:38:04 AM PDT by Dianna (Obama Barbie: Governing is hard.)
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To: stuartcr

Of course she can say what she wants about her characters, I just meant that it clouded my view of the characters when she made the comment. Jeez!


23 posted on 07/20/2009 8:40:20 AM PDT by EmilyGeiger
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To: Texan Tory
I also thought it was the best Harry Potter movie so far.

We really liked it too! There were some changes, and some things left out that I could nit-pick to death, but it's still an excellent movie. Ron was great and it was much funnier than I had thought it would be.

24 posted on 07/20/2009 8:40:33 AM PDT by Dianna (Obama Barbie: Governing is hard.)
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To: benjibrowder

Yes, Allbright. That’s who the character reminded me of. Thanks.


25 posted on 07/20/2009 8:41:00 AM PDT by EmilyGeiger
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To: stuartcr
As the author of the fiction, shouldn’t she be entitled to say what she wants about her own characters?

She can say what she wants, but we're free to ignore her. She had her chance to say what she wanted in the books.

I think it was Orson Scott Card who called her a coward because if she really pictured Dumbledore as gay, why didn't she put in the books? Because she knew it would hurt sales.

26 posted on 07/20/2009 8:44:18 AM PDT by ConfusedAndLovingIt
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To: ConfusedAndLovingIt

You don’t think she should say anything about her books, after they are written?

Why is that cowardly? Seems like a sound business practice.


27 posted on 07/20/2009 8:46:31 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: EmilyGeiger

They’re just fictional characters. Double Jeez!!


28 posted on 07/20/2009 8:47:58 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: stuartcr
You don't think she should say anything about her books, after they are written?

Again, here's what I wrote: She can say what she wants, but we're free to ignore her. Where did I say she shouldn't say anything about her books? She can talk all she wants. Some things will be valuable, some won't.

Why is that cowardly? Seems like a sound business practice.

She was not running a business, she wrote books. She created a world and characters that she believes in and brought them to life for all of us to enjoy. I salute Rowling for that.

However, if she created a character and then betrayed who they are simply to make more money (if that was the reason), then she is a coward. As an author, she should have been true to the character and to the world she created.

I'm not convinced she thought of Dumbledore as gay when she wrote the books. It really doesn't matter. I can enjoy the books as they are and not worry about Rowling's after-the-fact amendments.

29 posted on 07/20/2009 9:02:38 AM PDT by ConfusedAndLovingIt
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To: DieHard the Hunter

LOL!


30 posted on 07/20/2009 9:08:20 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If I can do it, it can't be that hard!)
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To: theFIRMbss

it is the movie
with weird potions and zombies
and hormonal teens


31 posted on 07/20/2009 9:12:03 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If I can do it, it can't be that hard!)
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To: ConfusedAndLovingIt

You should also quote the part where you said she had her chance to speak in her books.

I bet she wrote the books to make money. To me, that’s business. It’s her product.


32 posted on 07/20/2009 9:16:04 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: Tax-chick
I think there's one, too,
with hormonal teens, vampires
and a baseball game . . .

33 posted on 07/20/2009 9:18:16 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: theFIRMbss

i think i saw that
up all night nursing baby
in the late 90s.


34 posted on 07/20/2009 9:19:35 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If I can do it, it can't be that hard!)
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To: Tax-chick

you are so clever!
a harry potter haiku;
what a fun surprise.


35 posted on 07/20/2009 9:31:08 AM PDT by ccmovrwc
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To: stuartcr
You should also quote the part where you said she had her chance to speak in her books.

All I meant is that if she had something she wanted said, that was when she should have said it. She can continue to give her opinions but very few people will hear those opinions compared to the number who read her books.

How many interviews do we have with Charles Dickens giving his insights into the character of Fagan. Does anyone care?

I bet she wrote the books to make money. To me, that’s business. It’s her product.

My guess is that you're not an author of fiction. If you get a chance, you should talk to an author some time and find out how they feel about their work.

36 posted on 07/20/2009 9:34:31 AM PDT by ConfusedAndLovingIt
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To: theFIRMbss
My apologies.
I meant to ping you as well
To post thirty-five.
37 posted on 07/20/2009 9:35:21 AM PDT by ccmovrwc
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To: Tax-chick

That’s a pretty old baby...


38 posted on 07/20/2009 9:37:29 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: ccmovrwc; theFIRMbss

The poster “FIRMbss”
is an example to all
of cryptic writing


39 posted on 07/20/2009 9:40:15 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If I can do it, it can't be that hard!)
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To: stuartcr

He’s 13 now. ;-)


40 posted on 07/20/2009 9:41:09 AM PDT by Tax-chick (If I can do it, it can't be that hard!)
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