I can also recommend (500) Days of Summer. Lovely.

Slightly spoilerish casting news for Deathly Hallows which addresses some of the questions brought up by HBP:

1. * Bill Weasley was portrayed by Richard Fish in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. However, he only appeared in a photo of the Weasley family in Egypt. Fish won't return for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; he will be replaced by Brendan Gleeson's son Domhnall.

2. * Despite not being in the Half-Blood Prince film, photos for the Deathly Hallows show Bill with the scars left by Fenrir Greyback.

Emmett and I saw Up today. I would've gone earlier if I knew there would be a Zeppelin in it.

It was excellent. Moving and funny in equal parts, and typically Pixarishly gorgeous.

I've been repeating Doug's (the dog) joke all afternoon: "It's funny because a squirrel dies."

Todd found it somewhat confusing (he has not read the books).

My first reaction, afterwords was "So, they decided to make that the last scene and realized that Ron needed to be there, so they did a bit of pick-up filming, eh?"

My second was "Not a bad movie, but they are so screwed on plot for 7. So very, very screwed, and they did it to themselves."

I can't really explain why I just did not enjoy HPB much at all. There was just nothing to get excited about.

The things that stuck with me: Wow. Tom Felton's genetics and the costume department did a great job with his look. He's much more Malfoy than even my internal image of him given listening to the books roughly 35 times.

Mr. Weasley did my favorite turn of his of all the movies so far.

The chick who played Lavendar did a good job and was much prettier than I see her in my head.

I have to completely agree with DebetEsse's second point. I understand that things have to be left out when making a film from such dense source material but it seems they left out much of what moved the story into the last book and kept a bunch of non-essential stuff. For instance, the comparitively HUGE amount of time spent on the vanishing cabinet could so much better be spent on the build up to Snape's relationship with Lilly or the tension between the school and the Ministry. Without those elements, how will the subsequent battles and their aftermath make any sense ?

Oh, and...

While I can't really argue with other folks' comments about the acting, I will say that I was completely transfixed by DanRad's jawline. He looked fabulous. I thought they all looked good, really.

I was fascinated by the chin and the eyebrows. But it didn't both me very much.

I enjoyed the film. I agree that Neville got completely screwed on screen time. I would have liked to see more of the plots that were left out than see Lavender again.

The effects continue to get better. I think the movie looked great.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by HP6.

I always felt the confrontation in the tower was the strength of the ending so I'm glad they chose to focus on that. I thought the effect of the death eaters flying was cool.

I would have liked to see more Neville, but was happy that Lavender didn't bug me nearly as much as in the book.

Todd found it somewhat confusing (he has not read the books).

I honestly don't get how anyone who hasn't read the books could find the movies enjoyable. None of the movies has made me go "Wow, cool movie." For me, it's all about putting that world up on the screen.

ION, I also watched the original Get Carter this weekend. So disappointing.

I think my favorite part of HP6 was the scene in Fred and George's magic shop. I wish it had been a little longer, just to take in all of the wonderful props and design.

I enjoyed it very much. I know they left a lot out, but it didn't bother me overmuch, except for wanting more Neville. I am assuming that splitting the final book into two films will let them put a lot of that stuff back in, because I fervently hope they will take care of the endless wandering about section in a short scene or two.