Apparently the makers took it down for a week to make some edits, getting rid of enough of the raunchy stuff to make a more PG-13 production. Other secrets in the article, if you're in to Harry Potter spinoffs.
Okay, I haven't actually seen the movie yet. However, the local cineplex has five (5) midnight showings scheduled for Tuesday night, and I will most certainly attempt to watch it then.
Think I'm just tagging along with the crowds? Perhaps. But then again, I always have. I stood in line to watch the first Star Wars movie (aka "Episode IV: A New Hope) when it first hit screens in... what year was Star Wars first out? 1967? No matter. On to the review of the movie I haven't seen yet: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This comes from the memory of my reading the book a couple of years ago and peeking at some reviews of those folks who've already seen the movie at the premiere this last week. Mild spoilers ensue.
Rated PG, this movie covers the sixth year at Hogwarts and Voldemort is back! Wait, has Voldemort ever been gone? Well, now he's back and above ground and kicking ass! This is underscored by the opening sequence you've seen a piece of in the trailers, where some wanton destruction happens to a famous looking bridge in London, wrecked by Voldemort's henchwizards.
Love the hat, stay for the potion
However, before Harry Potter can even get to Hogwarts, he's whisked away by Dumbledore so that a key wizard can be introduced into the story. I won't go too much into details, but it turns out Snape has made an Unbreakable Vow with Voldemort and a certain Potions teacher is working for the other side now. If you think that being told that Snape is evil is a surprise and a spoiler, why have you read this far?
Dumbledore's relationship with Harry has changed between the last movie and this one.
In the last, Dumbledore was relatively aloof, separate from Harry, lest the Dark Lord read Harry's mind to guess where Dumbledore hides his porn.
Or whatever.
Does this inferno make my nose look big?
This time, Dumbledore gets more personal with Harry and actually needs Harry's help. Dumbledore is on the cusp of solving a great mystery, the reason why Voldemort didn't die when Harry was first given his lightning scar, and we soon learn there's little pieces of Voldemort's soul squired away in various places.
Later on in the movie, Dumbledore takes Harry on a trip to find one of these little pieces, and it's not really one of those nice "Wanna Get Away?" vacation hideaway spots I'd want to visit any time soon.
But most people in the audience want to know about who's snogging whom.
After all, these are teenage kids whom we've seen grow up together. It's about time they started swapping spit.
The movie's first scene with Harry opens up with "The Chosen One" easily scoring the digits of some coffee waitress before Dumbledore whisks him away. Dumbledore updates Harry on the upcoming doom to the point where Harry puts away his wand and forgets about all the potential hotties wanting to jump his bones. Harry has the special wand, but can only whip it out when he senses danger. Yeah, like Spider-Man. Only with less goo shooting. But Harry seems to be the only student not hooking up. Portending death seems to keep our Harry all emo'd out.
For the rest of the students, the hormones are flying about as much as the golden snitch does in the quidditch matches played during the movie.
The fun comes with the Hermoine / Ron angle, and watching this interplay will be a treat. Ron has been occupied snogging on the lips of one Lavender Brown, and Hermoine is ticked that... well, that she didn't think of it first.
But Hermoine has always been just the pal of Ron and Harry. Ron really hasn't thought of Hermoine as anything other than just a girl he knows.
However, as we in the audience all know, Hermoine has developed into quite the young witch.
Cast the right spell, and the men will beat a path to your garden door
So, unfortunately for Ron, he and Hermoine are in denial that there's anything between them, so the romance there just fails to blossom. Yet. Topping off Ron's problems is that other young girls want a piece of Harry.
When Ron gets dosed with a love potion meant for Harry, Ron's wand threatens just about everybody in shooting distance:
The problem is, Harry is busy with his life and death issues, he really can't concentrate on where to put his wand.
You would think Hermoine could have used this confusion to charm her way into The Chosen One's heart. Alas, we know it's not to be.
Eventually, we in the audience know that Ron and Hermoine will eventually hook up.
I'll bet you're sad you didn't read the book and just waited for the movie, aren't you?
After all this snogging and young lust gets wrapped up, the movie comes back around to the plot of -- well, you know... killing and death and all.
It was a dark and death eater night
I mean, the whole Harry Potter series is about second chances. You know, the second chances Voldemort has to kill Harry Potter in every movie/book.
Hey, evil guys need second chances, too, ya know.
Don't let the PG rating fool you. While the topic of death and killing has to be dealt with with a minimum of blood and guts to stay away from the PG-13 rating, there's certainly some less than happy moments in this film.
I'm going to leviosa money right out of your wallet
I know I'm smarter than He Who Must Not Be Named!
Even if you've never cared much about Harry Potter, this latest (4th trailer?) advertisement is stunning in its visualization of mystery and terror. There's only a few glimpses of the cave that Dumbledore and Harry have to master, but that's where some really good sequences happen. I won't say more.
I'm glad I read the books, because if I hadn't, I'd be screaming for spoilers as to what each tidbit of the trailer means. The cool part is I know. I remember. And It's So Cool!
By far I enjoyed this book the best of the series, being a bit disappointed in the final Harry Potter book.
Watch with sound up, for that extra emotional kick. Yes, you've seen most of this before if you've been watching the previous advertisements, but this one has just a little bit more...
It is not nice to fool Pappa Warner
The court said in its ruling Monday that people who have watched the Harry Potter movies and read the books would know the difference between that and an Indian Punjabi film called “Hari Puttar — A Comedy of Terrors.â€
Warner Bros. spokeswoman Deborah Lincoln said the company was reviewing the judgment. “We brought these proceedings because we believe that the proposed title and marketing of the defendants’ film infringed our intellectual property rights,†Lincoln said in an e-mail to the AP.
“It’s clearly great to have won this case,†Munish Purii, the CEO of the company that’s producing “Hari Puttar,†told the AP. “We are hoping for a good release although the timing of the Warner case distracted us from marketing.â€
Personally, I don’t care either way, but I know that several of you out there in Cuppa-Land, actually do.
The Perfessor
It is not nice to fool Pappa Warner
The first one was in India, there it seems that According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner, a division of Time Warner, has filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based producer and distributor Mirchi Movies. The suit is related to the title of its upcoming film Hari Puttar — A Comedy of Terrors. “Hari Puttar†reportedly centers on a 10-year-old Indian boy whose family moves to England. The film is slated for a Sept. 12 release.
(Via: The Wall St. Journal)
Lexicon, isn't that a spell of some sort?
Judge Patterson ruled in Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.†He also wrote that, “While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon’s purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled.â€
I know that this may not be as much fun as Hockey Moms biting people on the leg , er, ah, Pit Bulls wearing lipstick, but hey, after nearly being flooded out, blown away, and (drinking) working all weekend it’s what I have.
The Perfessor