Okay, I just saw HP:HBP and I liked it, but I didn't love it.

My ranking of HP movies from best to worst:

Prisoner of Azkaban (3)
Order of the Phoenix (5)
Half-Blood Prince (6)
Goblet of Fire (4)
Chamber of Secrets (2)
Sorceror's Stone (1)

I think the movie needed just a tad less of the swooning and more in service of the larger story. I think some of the script choices did a disservice to what I feel is important for the last 2 movies. Spoilers involve the movie, and the 6th and 7th books:

For example, I thought the gravity of the situation was not fully developed or shown. Sure we saw bridges getting crushed, etc. but what about people in the Ministry of Magic? MoM was getting decimated when the Death Eaters reached prominence. We didn't really see this.

I thought they didn't really give us enough hints when it came to Dumbledore's wand - which I HOPE has some prominence in the future. Showing Draco messing with a cabinet several times during the movie was a little much. Especially when we know he had help hexing the student and poisoning the beer.

What I liked:

Dumbledore's death scene was pretty much as I imagined it. No joke. That was pretty excellent. I loved the scenes attempting to get the horcrux. I thought that was really great. It would have been nice for the writer to show us Dumbledore acquiring the ring, but that's minor.

I liked the Quidditch match too, that was done really well. And I liked the set of scenes with HP and the lucky potion.

Radcliffe has very little range - especially when he is supposed to be yearning or in love. I mean damn. I like Emma Watson better than some of you here. She's nearly as skilled as Meryl Streep acting against a few of the others.

Is it not about romance and cooking?

It's tangentially about marriage, but not "romance" in the classic Hollywood sense, as both Julie and Julia are already hitched by the time the story starts.

It's tangentially about marriage, but not "romance" in the classic Hollywood sense, as both Julie and Julia are already hitched by the time the story starts.

God, I love the idea of seeing Julia and Paul in full romance bloom because they were so awesomely be-smitten with each other, from everything I've read. And it's Stanley Tucci as Paul, right? SO PERFECT! Especially given his role(s) in BIG NIGHT.

I just got back from HBP. I'd go with le nubian in the movie rankings, although I was a bit more favorable to this one--I'd give it 3.5 out of 5. Liked the stuff she did, although I didn't have as many down sides. However, I'd go with Emma Watson not improving over the years, and I did like Dan Radcliffe's performance more than some, especially the lucky potion scene, which was very well done on his part.

Broadbent does steal the film, and I love that Rickman gets some great stuff here. Also, Fenton was very good. Bonnie Wright, OTOH, was just way too stiff for me. Oh, and Grint was hilarious--he has a real light comic touch.

I did have to make a bathroom run, and I think I missed the hookup between Harry and Ginny. I left right after Ron's poisoning--Hermione was holding his hand--and came back when Harry was quizzing Katie Bell about who cursed her. Is that what I missed?

let’s see, you missed:

Ron saying Hermione's name when he was recovering in the hospital bed. Some discussion by the teachers of how the beer was poisoned and who the intended recipient was. Draco standing around feeling eyes of accusation for poisoning the beer. Ron's ex-girlfriend was giving Hermione and Ron dirty looks across the dining hall.

And it's Stanley Tucci as Paul, right? SO PERFECT! Especially given his role(s) in BIG NIGHT.

Yes! God, that was a good movie.

Not having read the memoir, I got the sense from the ads that Julie and Julia was sort of about finding yourself, and how they used food to do it.

Oh, good! I caught the stuff in the sickroom, but missed anything between that and Katie Bell. So, the only Harry/Ginny stuff was the handholding and kiss in the Room of Requirement ?

Yeah, that was it.

I loved it and it's probably my favorite of the three. I liked how they handled everything, though I could have done with less of the mooning and more of the Moony. And the Tonks. I predict it's their wedding at the beginning of DH movie since we have no Bill.

There was a lot they left out and most of it I was ok with, but I don't like that they left out the Gaunt memories. I wonder how they'll handle the Gaunt/Peverell/Potter connection with the Hallows.

What I thought was pretty cool, and I don't recall having seen it before in any of the movies, is that the shot of Katie Bell in the air looked a lot like the illustration in the book. >[link]

I need to see it again. I had to sit in the very front row and feel like I missed a lot.

Oh, I'll be seeing this again. I'm heading out to see my mom, brother, and his family next week, and my niece will be coming back from three weeks in Europe a few days after I get there. I'm hoping her friends will have already seen it and she might want to go see it with Aunt Kathy instead.

If not, I'll wait until the IMAX/3-D version is out at the end of the month and go see it there, which I probably will do anyway.

I think the second one is underrated, and it has one of the best final shots ever.

True dat! It's not a great movie but the last 20 minutes are kind of amazing for pacing and twisting the narrative expectations. You really don't know what's going to happen at the end.

HBP: Emmett's bathroom break coincides exactly with Kathy's!

I didn't love it. It was good and it had a lot of good bits. I'm sorry they desaturated it so much, as apparently they hired the designer from Amelie to set the color scheme and Yates loved it and the studio hated it and it was all grayed out.

I thought Rupert Gint's love potion bit was even better than Daniel's lucky potion bit - which was good. Nice to see Rupert far from the broad mugging that Chris Columbus encouraged.

The story suffers in part for the whole Bill mauled by Greyback being cut.

I get why they cut that, but there really is very little action in the movie.

Tom Felton was very good.

I'd go with Le Nub's ranking but preferred Goblet to this.