Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Official Thread

[Regus]

HBO is showing a first look of PoA, here is the schedule:
http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/Sch...TAIL&ID=105810

May 13th: E! News Live will be showing a "first look" at the third movie.

Saturday, May 15th: ABC will be re-broadcasting the Harry Potter special that aired last Sunday. Show starts 8pm EST/7pm CST.

Also, I'm hearing reports that theatres around the country are converting their lobbies to look like prisons.

[Satsuki]

Just came back from the midnight premire, and wowie zowie, I've never seen so many fangirls gathered in one place before.

I'm sleepy so I'll keep this short, but put it this way: if you havent read the books, you're going to be 1000% completely, utterly lost. If you have read the books, it's the best movie they've made so far by a landslide, the new director is fantastic. They've basically omitted everything that made the movies boring in the first two.

Gary Oldman was SPOT ON. Just, absolutely completely as I imagined him. At first glance I was a little doubtful of the Lupin, but don't let the moustache fool you- he was AMAZING. Very quiet but definately spirited...great stuff.

Also, it was really funny/strange/sad- the audience was fucking huge, and so at the very very last minute before the credits rolled, someone shouted "LUMOS!!!!" and the film stopped and the lights went up. so, then people started getting like, REALLY pissed off =/ (if ya don't get the joke, don't worry, no one else seemed to either--the "customer service" booth outside of the movie was hounded by practically the whole theatre wanting their money back just because they missed the credits. zomg.)
Anyway Lumos= "light up" more or less, in the book. so yeah, I found it hilarious that 75% of the moviegoers wanted their money back because they didnt get to see the credits, and that's that.

someone will have to tell me how those credits went. ha ha.

[epmode]

i am far too excited for this movie. it's not healthy. stupid work.

[Despair]

Here is Ebert's review. 3.5 stars. No real problems with it, but he feels its not as wonderous as first 2.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...potter03f.html

[Captain Vegetable]

I headed out in a bit to see it. I can't wait!

[SonofdonCD]

Just came back from 10:30 am showing in Manhattan. Definitely a great movie. Can't wait to see it again, hopefully this time in a packed theater.

I'm sleepy so I'll keep this short, but put it this way: if you havent read the books, you're going to be 1000% completely, utterly lost. If you have read the books, it's the best movie they've made so far by a landslide, the new director is fantastic.

Everything said here is spot on.

To me, it felt like the first two in the sense that the scenes felt like they are encapsuled in their own sphere, not totally linked together (not the fault of the director, but the decision of the studio to make the movies so short considering the source material). That being said, the movie flowed by very quickly, even moreso to a fan, as they cut out A LOT of stuff. Not just random scenes from the book, but some things directly from the storyline. The story is very streamlined, with them having only kept the bare minimum necessary to follow up the first two and keep the momentum going for the last four.

This shouldn't sound like I didn't like the movie, as I totally did. In almost all ways imaginable, this one is better than the previous two: Acting, special effects, storyline (POA is just more exciting than the first two). You name it, it's more than likely better. My only complaint is simple: I WANT MORE STUFF FROM THE BOOKS!

But since we can't have a 7 hour long Harry Potter movie (my God, if they don't do Goblet of Fire in two movies , how in the hell do they plan on doing Order of the Phoenix?!?), these will do more than well.

[Captain Vegetable]

I agree with both Sats and Son on just about everything they said. Best movie so far, but extremely streamlined to fit it's medium.

The movie was fantastic, but imagining I had never read the book, I would have been lost. There is way too much that just isn't explained, chief among these is just how Lupin knew about the map, and why he knew how to use it. I was very disappointed they didn't disclose that little piece of info. It could have been as easy as Harry asking him at the end of the film, "By the way, professor, how did you know about the Marauder's Map?" But they totally skipped over it.

Oldman was brilliant as Sirius, and I absolutely love the "new" Dumbledor. He's become a MUCH more respect-worthy old-fuddy-duddy, instead of just a fuddy-duddy.

The music in the film was PERFECT. This has, by far, recieved the best ST treatment among all of the Potter films.

I could have done with a much more meaty story (like disclosing just how, exactly, Pettygrew betrayed the Potters, and who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs actually were), but what actually was done is incredible. The atmousphere, the characters, even the humor seemed to recieve a signifigant upgrade.

And before anyone else mentions it, I was seriously (get it? ) upset by the near exclusion of the Forebolt.

[Satsuki]

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed with the exclusion of the Marauders....they were sort of my favorite part of the whole series anyway. But I'm hoping maybe they'll be explained a little in the 4th and 5th movies. (although they didn't even make an appearance in the 4th book really..)

Other that that, I also noticed that they showed a lot more scenery, and I was really happy about that. There were some really beautiful shots in this one. ALso, the music improved 10 fold. I dunno why exactly, but I would actually be tempted to buy the soundtrack for this one.

[Rumpy]

Grrr. Gotta wait til monday to see this, hearing it rules isn't helping things.

[SmoothCriminal]

Great movie, can't wait to see it again.

Could've definately used more quidditch and firebolt.