I saw HP last night with Kathy A and a friend of hers (whom I have met before and is a wonderful human).
::waves at ChiKat, and agrees on my friend's wonderfulness!::
I think we all really enjoyed the movie, I know I did. I think it's probably my fav of the HPs thus far.
ITA here as well. For me, the direction was better for Prisoner of Azkaban, but the acting from both Radcliffe and Staunton put this one in first place. I was first aware of DR's improvement in his acting skills from his delivery of a throwaway line in PoA ("I think I was lucky not to be arrested, actually"), which struck me as a naturalistic delivery that he was incapable of in the first two films. He still had some stumbling blocks in #3 and #4 (he couldn't cry convincingly in #3, and he had some issues with conveying anger in #4, which got me nervous about OotP), but he's progressed very well indeed in this film.
As for Imelda Staunton, well, I've heard some reviews that said she could get a Best Supporting Actress nod from the Academy for this, and I'd have to agree. It's up there with sheer villainess perfection with La Streep's turn in The Devil Wears Prada, so if they're looking to give another summer flick a slot in the nominations, this would be a good one to go with.
And speaking of HP actors, Sean Biggerstaff, Oliver Wood in the first three films, is in a new Brit rom com called Cashback going into limited release on the 20th. The Flick Filosopher is going to see it this week, and says that SB "is clearly being positioned as the Ewan McGregor in waiting."