Serious About Your Skills

[Infairi]

Title was a teensy bit intriguing, right? :D Well the topic isn't that interesting, I just want to see everyone's order of favorite to least favorite films with an explanation.

Note - everyone has their opinions, we're all here because we're HP fans, so I'm sure I won't see any bashing in this thread. :)

1) Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets: I know I'm all indecisive and whatever, but these two films both had the same director and I feel that they were equally magnificent and true to the books, therefore achieving them a tie for first in my opinion. Chris Columbus truly captured the essence of the stories with a high contrast feel to the films. They were both a bit lighter in atmosphere compared to the others, but they were the first two, after all. Harry's very young in these two and I feel like the magic that we were first introduced to in the books was conveyed seamlessly and artistically in both films. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about them.

3) Half-Blood Prince: Each book got progressively darker and the atmosphere, to me, felt exactly like the book, so it comes in very closely behind Columbus' work. I was slightly displeased with David Yates' previous work, but in my mind he vindicated himself completely, and then some. The romance, the internal struggles, the growing darkness not just in the wizarding community - it was perfect to me. There are very few things I can find to complain about this movie, because I thought it was truly fantastic. I also appreciate that Yates incorporated things from past movies to make a peaceful transition between directors.

4) Goblet of Fire: There was so much going on in this book that I imagine it would have been difficult for anyone to direct, let alone transcribe to a screenplay. I thought that the atmosphere and general feel and color of the movie was perfect. It was a great mix of light and dark, taking the lightness from the past movies and effortlessly sliding in a bit of the struggles to come. To me, the overall color of the movie is vital. A lot of the scenes were jam-packed, but the story came across nicely and ended with an extraordinary bang with Lord Voldemort rising again. The darkness really drew me in....

5) Order of the Phoenix: I was initially quite unimpressed and irate, but it has grown on me over time. I understand that this book was considerably darker than any before, and therefore the lightness and easiness from all proceeding movies vanished completely. I loved the emotion in Harry himself and also shared with Sirius, and the final scene was epic. A bit too many things were altered for my liking, but it was a very lengthy novel to depict in a two(ish) hour film. Also, some of the editing really got on my nerves. But the score was unbelievable! Some of the casting was truly spectacular, too, and everyone's acting in general went up a level.

6) Prisoner of Azkaban: I'm sure it was difficult to be the second director to work on the world-renouned saga, standards having been already set, but I feel that Alfonso Cuaron took a bit too much artistic license. So many things were changed from the first two films, and the color of the movie was very gray and washy, if that makes sense. I'm one of those people (and I think most people felt very strongly on this one, whether favorable or otherwise) who was not fond of the changes made, the scenes cut, or the random things added. Some scenes were great though, especially as we were introduced to Sirius Black. I think all of the films were spectacular, but this one would just be at the bottom of my list.

[Eyriana]

I'm going to try and do this without taking into consideration likeness to the books, because then they'd probably all be tied for last. :P

1. Half-Blood Prince - despite all the differences (SHUT UP BLAIRE), portrayals were amazing, the atmosphere was breathtaking and it was just really well put together. Everyone's just grown up so much, and relationships are so well done and believable. It also cracked me up half the time :P

2. Prisoner of Azkaban - I thought it was just really well done. The acting was good, I especially loved the scenes between Sirius and Harry. (Gary Oldman :elena78: ) I'm not sure what else to say - I've just always liked it.

3. Chamber of Secrets - I just liked it?

4. Sorcerer's Stone - Not much comment here either :hajadeha:

5. Goblet of Fire - This isn't meant as an insult, it's just that I like the other movies more. This one was generally pretty good, it just doesn't stand out.

6. Order of the Phoenix - definitely my least favorite. It seemed kind of thrown together to me. Messy. A lot of things made no sense, and they didn't give Sirius enough time at all - and the death scene was terrible. I loved Grawp's scenes though, I have to admit. :hearts:

[Anna_Black]

Half Blood Prince: Definitely my favourite. The cast, the acting, the athmosphere - everything was perfect. I felt like was 'sucked in' that magical world of Harry's. I loved the small additions and funny remarks. Everyone did an amazing job with the movie, starting from Tom, going to Dan, even to the boy that played the 16year old Voldemort (which was I performance I simply adored, btw).

Prisoner of Azkaban: For some reason or another, this is my favourite book and had high expectations. True, it didn't exactly meet them and was quite far off from the book, but in itself, PoA is a great movie. I loved Alfonso Cauron's job as a director. The feel of the movie was just right. And I like Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, I always have. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that they didn't explain who the Marauders were. But the scene with Sirius, Snape, Lupin and Wormtail was epic.

Sorcerer's Stone: Well, what can I say? It was the first move in the saga, which drew me in the books, since I hadn't read them before seeing the first movie. So, naturally, I really liked it. It is wonderfully portrayed, although I felt there was something missing... the acting, perhaps?

Order of the Phoenix: I know people don't really like OotP in general, but I didn't think it was that bad. It was just ok. The acting was good (relatively) and it just felt right. Though I was too dissapointed not to see the full 'Snape's worst memory'. Ah well...

Goblet of Fire: Just because it is so low on the list, it doesn't mean that I absolutely hated the movie. I liked it, just not too much. Thing is, it is my least favourite book, because it feels like a filler, and maybe that dislike has transfered to the movie. The effects were good (as always), and the choice of the new cast was ok. But as a whole, it was a movie I wouldn't bother seeing again.

Chamber of Secrets: Now, don't kill me, but I just didn't like the movie. It felt like it was made just so that it could be made, because the director had nothing better to do. The scenes were plain and simple, and Tom Riddle was just not right. I prefer the HPB Tom Riddle.


It seems as though I like every movie, which is true, but I do have favourites amongst them lol. Thing is, I feel like every movie got something right and something wrong (apart from the HPB - what on Earth did they do wrong?!) and the every movie, when looked seperately, is actually a very good achievement :P

[Lyn]

Prisoner of Azkaban -- I've watched this over and over and over. It's my favorite because the Marauders are introduced. Even though the director DID miss too many things, I can't help but adore this one! ^_^

Goblet of Fire -- It was an exciting movie, and as far as I remember, most of the stuff from the book were there. I remember enjoying it very much, indeed.

Philosopher's Stone -- This is the first time ever that a movie's first installment isn't my absolute favorite, but it definitely makes top 3! It is brilliant. Enough said.

Chamber of Secrets -- I'd pretty much say that it's a tie with the first movie, and the second one has some favorite scenes of mine, like the snake scene, which is awesome!

Half-Blood Prince -- I couldn't put it last because there are definitely some good parts, and the humor is a HUGE bonus! I enjoyed it, even though I was unhappy with some little things.

Order of the Phoenix -- I've only watched it twice, but both times somehow it didn't leave a good impression. I mean it just didn't strike me as a good movie, and besides, I was outraged at the over-cut scene of Snape's Worst Nightmare. <_<

[Elf_ears13]

Half-Blood Prince - I could watch this movie any day; the pacing is just right for me not to get tired, the humor is enough to make me want it again and again and the effects were supreme - not to mention the all-around improved acting.

Goblet of Fire - To me there are so many laugh out loud parts that it's always fun to watch. I wish they'd included Winky (I thought that was integral to the plot), but they made it work without her. It's just such a shift and they did an amazing job with old Voldemort, while still adding all the funny bits with Cho and the Quidditch world cup.

Prisoner of Azkaban - beautiful. The plot was entirely messed up in my opinion but otherwise I really enjoyed seeing more of the castle and deviating from a literal/boring translation of the books.

Chamber of Secrets - exactly what I pictured for basically the entire movie, which in some ways was very nice but in some ways was quite boring. So while I was pleased with it, I didn't particularly enjoy it as I did the later films.

Sorcerer's Stone - I didn't like the way they did the detention in the forest - I know it'd take longer to have Charlie come and Neville get caught and so on but I really liked that bit and wanted to see Neville trying to do something right and ending up losing points, as that made the very end that much better! But aside from that it was brilliantly done.

Order of the Phoenix - I loved every part with Umbridge, she was perfectly evil, and of course Voldemort v. Dumbledore was awesome. But everything was rushed and the film was too short, and I feel like they could've spent a little more time making the transitions better (which PoA did wonderfully).