Opinions on the 5 Harry Potter movies - PQ

So far I've picked up Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix. I watched Goblet last night. This one was already an HD-DVD in England. The pq was excellent, on par with OOTP.

However, Prisoner of Azkaban, while much sharper than the SD version, doesn't look like it was re-mastered for HD. The blacks aren't particularly strong, giving a cartoonish look to some of the detail inside dark areas. Anyone else notice a difference between the 2 that were definitely mastered for HD, and the first three movies? Think Warner's pulled a fast one with them? I've seen other people complain about the first movie, so I may be on to something here. If so, I...*zzz...zzzzz....zzzzz...zzz*

The HD DVD version of Harry Potter 1 is clearly superior to the upverted DVD version in terms of sounds and picture.

However some scenes where its very dark (like for instance the opening scene where Harry is left on the doorstep) it good pretty grainy. It actually had me worried at first when I started the movie but then it looked fine after that scene. All others looked great especially movies 4 and 5.

The differences in darkness could also be due to your TV as well. There has also been a very big time gap between the 1st and the 5th movie as well. The 4th and 5th ones definately had the best picture and definately the best audio.

No, it's definitely not my tv. It's a Panny plasma tweaked to within an inch of it's life. As for the 5 years between movie one and movie 5, come on, we're talking about 2002, hardly the stone age. Just yesterday I was watching a few minutes of a movie called "The Trouble With Harry" on Universal HD and the picture was spectacular. And this was filmed in 1955!

Don't forget there have been 4 directors for the 5 movies that have distinctly different styles. Also it is possible that WB did not spend as much time on the transfer because the movies are not that old, but HD was not big in 2002 and mastering in HD was probably standard starting with GOF.

Don't forget there have been 4 directors for the 5 movies that have distinctly different styles. Also it is possible that WB did not spend as much time on the transfer because the movies are not that old, but HD was not big in 2002 and mastering in HD was probably standard starting with GOF.

I love these movies but I haven't watched Phoenix yet, my Blu-ray should be in today. I did notice that David Yates will also direct the next one so, assuming he did well with Phoenix that is good news, I guess. I haven't had issue with the fact we had four different directors for the first five films based on everything I know so far.

Chris

Don't forget there have been 4 directors for the 5 movies that have distinctly different styles. Also it is possible that WB did not spend as much time on the transfer because the movies are not that old, but HD was not big in 2002 and mastering in HD was probably standard starting with GOF.

Well, that's what I'm saying. They didn't re-master the films for HD like they did the last two.

I love these movies but I haven't watched Phoenix yet, my Blu-ray should be in today. I did notice that David Yates will also direct the next one so, assuming he did well with Phoenix that is good news, I guess. I haven't had issue with the fact we had four different directors for the first five films based on everything I know so far.

Chris

Personally I'm not that thrilled that David Yates is doing the next one. OOTP is a lot sparcer than the other movies, there's no incidental stuff going on in the background, and the special effects weren't that great, yet I'd read an article where he was thrilled with the "Hagrid's brother" effect.

As another example, in GOF Sirius Black appears in the fireplace as part of the burning embers. Very cool effect. In OOTP they just superimposed his face in the flames.

Yikes, I'm starting to sound like a fanatic :eyecrazy

Personally I'm not that thrilled that David Yates is doing the next one. OOTP is a lot sparcer than the other movies, there's no incidental stuff going on in the background, and the special effects weren't that great, yet I'd read an article where he was thrilled with the "Hagrid's brother" effect.

As another example, in GOF Sirius Black appears in the fireplace as part of the burning embers. Very cool effect. In OOTP they just superimposed his face in the flames.

Yikes, I'm starting to sound like a fanatic :eyecrazy

I should watch it in a day or two and will know if I agree. The special effects are important to me but I probably don't place as much weight on that as you do.

Chris

It's still a good movie. It's just that the lack of effects and the simplicity of the ones that are there makes it look like he didn't put as much effort into the movie as the other directors.

Personally I'm not that thrilled that David
As another example, in GOF Sirius Black appears in the fireplace as part of the burning embers. Very cool effect. In OOTP they just superimposed his face in the flames.


The whole burning embers thing was totally original special effect, Yates could have done the same thing in OOTP but then it would be like he is just copying ideas of the previous director.

They had some great special effects with the dementors and the folding house but I did enjoy GOF more than the OOTP.

The whole burning embers thing was totally original special effect, Yates could have done the same thing in OOTP but then it would be like he is just copying ideas of the previous director.

They had some great special effects with the dementors and the folding house but I did enjoy GOF more than the OOTP.

The effects in GOF with Sirius in the fire were actually NOT like the book, while the ones in OOTP was exactly like the book. Just something for the fans.

I personally would like to see another Alfonso Cuaron Potter movie. I think that The Prisoner of Azkaban is the strongest one of the set, character-wise. Given his penchant for darker character-driven films a la Children of Men, he would be well suited for the later Harry Potter material. I'm not too excited for another David Yates film, unless he can shake the fact that he's not shooting television here and it's ok to use a finished 10 reels instead of 8.

Interesting feedback so far.

No, it's definitely not my tv. It's a Panny plasma tweaked to within an inch of it's life. As for the 5 years between movie one and movie 5, come on, we're talking about 2002, hardly the stone age. Just yesterday I was watching a few minutes of a movie called "The Trouble With Harry" on Universal HD and the picture was spectacular. And this was filmed in 1955!

5 years? I thought there was significantly more time between the 5 movies. I suppose as someone else stated, it is going to depend on how good of a job they do with the transfer. As for older movies, anything is possible as long as the film master is still in good condition. Blazing Saddles and Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon on HD-DVD are good examples as these movies look very stunning for something that old. Even Spartacus looks good, although it was a bit inconsistant.

Well, that's what I'm saying. They didn't re-master the films for HD like they did the last two.

What I am saying is that GOF and OOTP didn't need to be re-mastered. They were done in HD to begin with. Probably easier to do that then to go back later to do it.

Personally I'm not that thrilled that David Yates is doing the next one. OOTP is a lot sparcer than the other movies, there's no incidental stuff going on in the background, and the special effects weren't that great, yet I'd read an article where he was thrilled with the "Hagrid's brother" effect.

As another example, in GOF Sirius Black appears in the fireplace as part of the burning embers. Very cool effect. In OOTP they just superimposed his face in the flames.

Yikes, I'm starting to sound like a fanatic :eyecrazy

Alfonso did a great job with POA, and whoever did GOF did a very good job as well. The problem I think with OOTP was the screenplay more than the directing of it. I thought the writing (Steve Kloves did all other 4) was weak. While it was the shortest movie, it also seemed to get less of the story accross using the time allotted.

Alfonso did a great job with POA, and whoever did GOF did a very good job as well. The problem I think with OOTP was the screenplay more than the directing of it. I thought the writing (Steve Kloves did all other 4) was weak. While it was the shortest movie, it also seemed to get less of the story accross using the time allotted.

I agree, it seems as though the scenes were too short. They also jumped around quite a bit. The only reason I can give them some slack is due to the large book size.

What I am saying is that GOF and OOTP didn't need to be re-mastered. They were done in HD to begin with... GOF was filmed with JDC film cameras and OOTP was filmed with Arriflex film cameras. The resulting negatives for both films were 35 mm film...no different than the first 3 Potter films. There is no "HD to begin with" in this case.

Let's not forget the fact that film is of a higher resolution than HD. The quality of transfer to create an HD master is another story.

GOF was filmed with JDC film cameras and OOTP was filmed with Arriflex film cameras. The resulting negatives for both films were 35 mm film...no different than the first 3 Potter films. There is no "HD to begin with" in this case.

Let's not forget the fact that film is of a higher resolution than HD. The quality of transfer to create an HD master is another story.

Ok, I am not a cinema buff so my termenology is probably wrong. What I meant to say is this, is that when the first few films went to post-production and preparation for home video, HD was probably not taken into account, at least not nearly in the way it would have been for GOF and OOTP when HD was more of the Home movie standard.

Alfonso did a great job with POA, and whoever did GOF did a very good job as well. The problem I think with OOTP was the screenplay more than the directing of it. I thought the writing (Steve Kloves did all other 4) was weak. While it was the shortest movie, it also seemed to get less of the story accross using the time allotted.

I agree. I just watched it last night. I read the book before seeing the movie and so much was left out and too much was left in that could have been left out. I personally feel the entire giant plot could have been left out while still having the centaurs take umbridge. It was a very long book that really required at least 3 hours of movie to fully extrapolate each story line. I really didn't like the style much at all, way too artsy in my opinion. Azkaban still by far the best. The slow methodical take over of hogwarts in the book was replaced with keystone cop type music and style. The development of Dumbledores Army and the finding of the secret room and the training itself was just glanced over. Plus Cho didn't turn them in, it was her friend who had a problem with it from the beginning and didn't need the truth serum to do it. This is also what ends their relationship because Cho refuses to accept her friend did it. In the movie they had Cho do it under the serum. Didn't like that. Ginny who has more of a role in the book is very scarce in the movie even though she's who he ends up. And no discussion of the twins successful store started with the Goblets winnings. My biggest gripe is the final battle. They didn't explore the hidden rooms trying to find the right room from the dream, they just went there. The final battle was a lot of running on both sides not all the smoky flying. And in the book it was Dumbledore who defeated all of the deatheaters, then when Harry was fighting Bellatrix and Voldemort showed up Dumbledore trapped Bellatrix and Potter then fought Voldemort, Dumbledore won, voldemort freed himself from the water and quickly entered Potter to get him killed by Dumbledore before fleeing. There was no broken glass and Dumbledore never fell and lost composure. I wish they would have stayed true to the book on that part. Hell the title of the chapter was "The only one he ever feared", meaning Dumbledore.

My wife and I watched OOTP last night. I have to first disclose that I have not read the HP series. Fortunately for me my wife has read all of the books twice so she can help translate to me what is going on.

I thought OOTP was probably the worst HP film to date. I really do not care for this director who did OOTP and the previous movie. IMO the best movie was Azkaban, followed by the first HP movie.

On a scale of 1-to-5, 5 being the best, here are my ratings, based on watching this on HD-DVD, Toshiba XA-2:

Picture Quality 5 (excellent, very crisp)
Audio Quality: 4 (very good, but was not blown away. IMO they could get really creative with the audio in this series....and there is room for improvement)
Movie / Story Line: 2

I found this movie very difficult to follow and understand what was going on and why, vs. the other versions of the HP movie series. There was so much skipped over and a lot of scenes that just seemed like a rush or waste of time. Also the previous movies were still enjoybale for "non-HP book series readers" while this movie was not, IMHO. I think the director got really "lazy" with the OOTP movie.

Anyway - while the PQ/AQ were great, the movie itself was a stinker.

Hopefully the final two movies will be better. :2cents

My wife and I watched OOTP last night. I have to first disclose that I have not read the HP series. Fortunately for me my wife has read all of the books twice so she can help translate to me what is going on.

I thought OOTP was probably the worst HP film to date. I really do not care for this director who did OOTP and the previous movie. IMO the best movie was Azkaban, followed by the first HP movie.

On a scale of 1-to-5, 5 being the best, here are my ratings, based on watching this on HD-DVD, Toshiba XA-2:

Picture Quality 5 (excellent, very crisp)
Audio Quality: 4 (very good, but was not blown away. IMO they could get really creative with the audio in this series....and there is room for improvement)
Movie / Story Line: 2

I found this movie very difficult to follow and understand what was going on and why, vs. the other versions of the HP movie series. There was so much skipped over and a lot of scenes that just seemed like a rush or waste of time. Also the previous movies were still enjoybale for "non-HP book series readers" while this movie was not, IMHO. I think the director got really "lazy" with the OOTP movie.

Anyway - while the PQ/AQ were great, the movie itself was a stinker.

Hopefully the final two movies will be better. :2cents

You might not like to hear that the same director from OOTP has been hired to do the sixth one and they are filming right now.

Oh well, I unfortunately won't have a choice. The wife is a HP freak so I will have to buy it no matter who directs the final 2 movies.

Now Lord of the Rings series in HD would be absolutely kick ass! I'd get on the wait list for that a heart beat. HP is not even in the same universe with LOTR, IMHO.

You might not like to hear that the same director from OOTP has been hired to do the sixth one and they are filming right now.

Hopefully the screenwriter was someone different. And maybe he'll have learned his lesson from the negative reviews of the Phoenix.

man - Order of the Phoenix fricken rocks! Watched it again last night - the colors are amazing.