Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

You know, I really like David Yates. I think that his movies feel more like HBO television shows at times, but what's wrong with that? And this movie is the perfect set-up for Deathly Hallows: Part I and Deathly Hallows: Part II.

I thought that the latest film installment of the Potter saga was beautifully executed. As John Noe said in a recent Pottercast podcast, "it felt like they took cameras into the wizarding world." He was absolutely correct. I loved the opening shot, loved it, loved it, loved it. Have I expressed that sentiment enough? Well, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is my favorite book, so something hearkening back to the end of that film was bound to be awesome anyway. And it was so unexpected!

I loved Prof. Slughorn's story about Lily and charms.... and well, I don't want to give it away, but it was just a beautiful moment. And Harry drugged up on Felix Felicis! That was some perfect comedic acting on Daniel Radcliffe's part.

I know I heard some criticisms about there being no big battle at the end like in the book, but I like the way the Death Eaters and Snape and Draco very subtly left the castle, and Tom Felton did some major awesome acting in this movie. When the students and professors held up their wands with the tips lit up to get rid of the dark mark, I wanted so much to turn on my cell phone and hold it up in the air with them! (I wonder if some people in other theaters actually did something like this?) And most of all, I love the image of Fawkes flying off in the distance. What a great way to end movie six. I'm okay with no funeral, because there was no Rufus Scrimgeour in this movie. If there was, I would have wanted the funeral. But no Scrimgeour, no funeral = that makes sense.

All in all, this movie was a beautiful one, and not just for the Potter franchise, but for movies in general. I hope it is up for some awards now that the academy has 10 nominees for Best Picture. It could at least get acknowledged... set the stage for a win for Deathly Hallows: Part II perhaps? Well, that's wishful thinking. And one more thing: my theater at midnight was completely respectful and there were virtually no little kids in attendance. That was awesome. We go to watch the film uninterrupted and we got sucked into the world of magic on a beautiful night.

A Successful Presentation!

So, my lecture on "The Christian Elements of Harry Potter" was a success. I'm surprised that no one had to leave after it passed an hour (it went about an hour and twenty minutes), but that's the magic of the Potter series and the audience was extremely polite. There were about 20-25 people who attended. I do hope that they get some of the books I referenced which are critical to a literary analysis of the Potter series. But more importantly, I hope everyone had a good time. I think they did - I've heard some positive reviews.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens in theaters, and my family and I will be at the midnight release at our local theater on July 15th (if you recall that midnight belongs to the AM - that's so annoying). Even the theater says Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, to clear up any confusion (lol). Yesterday I was looking at www.fandango.com to look at tickets and saw that my local theater had two screens showing it at midnight, and one was sold out already. But then I thought "hey, that's okay, the other theater with 22 screens has seven showings and they haven't sold out yet." Not the case this morning. When my father and I logged on to purchase advance tickets for the other showing (we got them, thank goodness), can you believe that all seven showings were already sold out. That's the juggernaut that is the Potter films.

I can't believe I haven't blogged yet about "A Very Potter Musical." I've been singing along to the songs and enjoying this for the last few weeks (when it was initially posted and when it was re-posted), and it's just so good... I hope that everybody checks this awesome thing out on www.youtube.com. It's becoming its own phenomenon, a soundtrack should be released and another reviewer suggested the cast and crew go on tour with the show - I agree, I think they should as well.

If I don't post again until after the new movie comes out, I hope everyone who goes has a fun (and safe) time at the midnight releases or whenever you go to see the film. Thanks again to all who attended my presentation this morning.

Harry Potter Lecture: July 12th at 11:00 AM

I am quite delighted to have the honor of delivering a presentation on Harry Potter on July 12, 2009 at my church, three days before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released in theaters. The topic of the lecture (as it will be in a church) is "The Christian Elements of Harry Potter." I expect a decent-sized crowd will be there, as my town was the 9th Harry-est town in America (according to amazon.com), and I'm sure many of the churchgoers have read all of the books. (I have forewarned through the bulletins, etc. that there will be spoilers for those who haven't read the whole series).

I have prepared my notes that draw from my own thoughts and also what I've studied from various HP analysis books on the subject. Hopefully this will get some of the people who attend to read these wonderful works, and maybe even get the local library to stop stocking the companion guidebooks/encyclopedias of the series and turn to books that focus on academic analysis. One can only hope!

I've prepared this presentation for about a month, as it is not the easiest thing to explain the Christianity of a 4000+ page book series in an hour, but it is possible. I have the utmost respect for people like John Granger who manage to speak about alchemy, Christianity, the five keys to Potter and eyeballs in about an hour and a half (as I heard his last talk up in Forks at the Twilight conference? was).

I'm working some more on his some new essays and the continuation of my essay on the music of the Potter films (which I'm holding off on until I hear the score to Half-Blood Prince), so I hope to post on that soon. At any rate, I hope all is well!

New Book by John Granger!

Oh, I'm so excited! I just ordered John Granger's new book, Harry Potter's Bookshelf from BarnesandNoble.com, which has free expedited shipping this weekend! Hopefully that means it'll arrive on its official publication date, Tuesday the 7th, and I'll have it read before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released in theaters. Anyway, here's the specs. on that book:

ISBN: 0425229793

Publisher: Berkeley Trade

Page Count: 336! How freaking awesome is that?

Anyway, if you've read John Granger's books before, you know they're some of the the best Harry Potter critical analysis out there, and this is another priceless one to add to the collection.