( continues...) score, no dialogue, and it's supposed to stand in for the growing tension between the trio.

This is a section where there really should have been some more insertions from the screenwriter (like the dance scene) to flesh out what was happening.

Final scorecord:

Very good things: as noted, all three teen actors were excellent. It's easily Emma's best performance, and Rupert's been really solid for the last three films. Daniel's good, but most of his stuff will come in the last film.

Also excellent, the animated segment recounting the Deathly Hallows backstory. The special effects were great, particularly the Doe patronus. The rendering of Dobby and Kreecher was great, and all the Dobby scenes worked very well.

Really liked the scene of rescuing the sword from the water, and destroying that Horcrux. Though my audience laughed at the brief scene of Harry and Hermione in the nude kissing that the Horcrux conjures to torment Ron.

Bad: Pacing, especially the travelogue shots. Missed comic opportunities. Some easy grace notes that would have been lovely. Also, there were unexplained or barely explained things like, what the broken mirror is, or the backstory on Bill or Mundungus. Those two characters show up for the first time and they should've found space for them earlier in the movie sequence because they're important.

I suspect this is the HP movie I will rewatch the least on DVD.

my audience laughed at

mine too

I really loved the way they depicted Umbridge's patronus keeping the dementors at bay.

I was distracted by how much Death reminded me of General Grievous... but maybe that should be the other way around.

We didn't get the trailer for Green Lantern but we got one for Green Hornet (programming error?) that looked pretty darn awesome.

I don't know if I'm ever going to be not pissed at the Green Hornet. IO9 said that it's getting good reviews, and that the new trailer was Kato-riffic, but apparently Seth Rogen is still in it, and he's still playing a moron. And Chou's fight scenes, at least for that trailer, were crappy and chopped up.

I wasn't asking for a grim and gritty Punisher-like treatment, but come on. This has no tonal relation to the original, and I'm old school and pissed.

I agree with all of that, however, my biggest complaint about DH1 is the distinct lack of Dursleys. That final farewell to the Dursleys was pretty paramount in the book and it would have wrapped things up nicely with Harry revisiting his cupboard and all. Like Luna's bedroom, it wouldn't have cost anything in special effects and while it would have added about ten minutes to the film, it would have been worth it. What we got just left me pissed off within the first five minutes of the movie and it took me about 30 to get back into it.

I am anxious, however, for the Snape's memory scenes in part 2. Should be rocking, if they do it well.

I'm miffed that they excluded the Potter Memorial statue and graffiti. Like the missing handshake with Dudley it would have pulled at the heartstrings and had so much emotional payoff.

Oh yeah, Suzi, that was also a thing I was really looking forward to and they biffed it.

That and Luna's room were two of the most affecting things for me in the last book.

Reading your comments makes me glad I don't read the books until after I've seen the relevant films.

I enjoyed it very much, and I even managed to follow most of the plot. I think.

(Though this time around the "where have I seen that actor before?" game kept me pretty distracted).

Anyone who saw Megamind, is there any need to see it in 3D? (We're taking the nieces and nephews tomorrow afternoon and are torn between the old-school talkie and the newfangled tri-dimensional cinematic film.)

Our friend Andy was propmaster on the Green Hornet and saw it last week and said it was lots of fun. It just got obscenely high scores in previews. He's was a bit surprised, as it was not a happy shoot. Not due to Rogen, who he was very surprised to find was a very together and smart guy, but due to tension between Gondry and the Studio.

Steph - Nah. It was pretty fantasmagoric without the 3d.