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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

In a sort of planned coincidence (is that possible), after posting the clip from Peter's Friends below, we went to see the above, with Imelda Staunton in rather a different role. Oddly, Emma Thompson is playing a fairly similar role.

Not my favorite film of the series. I felt very little when (spoilers--but is there anyone who cares who does not know this?) Sirrus died while I was deeply affected when I read it. It relied too much on tricks to move things along and found nothing knew--newspaper montage, slow mo over the emotional bits, general montage...etc. A few solid scenes would have served it better. We had all these new characters thrown at us, and no time to get to know any of them. Imelda was horribly wonderful. Rupert Grint was better than he has been before, while Emma Watson seemed less good. Daniel Radcliffe is excellent and since the film and the series rests on his shoulders, that's good. I'm glad to see him breaking free of Potter already. I see him being the next Christian Bale. He was in a film about Rudyard Kipling's son today in honor of Veterans Day. I meant to catch it, but didn't. This would be the son whose death inspired:
If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

As to the movie--I kept feeling like I was watching some piece of Star Wars rather than Harry Potter and that is not a good thing--and the soundtrack drove me from the theater before the credits were over.
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