What movies are you watching?

[Strat]

not because im uninterested....I just havent sat down and watched them? Which is crazy considering my last couple girlfriends were super fans

[Rangi Guy]

I think we have them all on DVD here for my stepsons, but honestly I just can't be bothered

[epilogue]

I've never seen a full Harry Potter movie

Your results may vary, but I think these movies are such a tremendous joy. I'd highly recommend them. But honestly, the books are far, far better.

[dimejinky99]

dammit I wanna watch a Harry Potter now

[epilogue]

dammit I wanna watch a Harry Potter now

[epilogue]

I watch all of them about three times a year.

[dimejinky99]

I watch all of them about three times a year.

It’s 12:10am. Which one am I sticking on joey? I’m thinking order of the Phoenix

[VinylGuy]

I only saw the first two. I tried to watched them all on my trip to Japan but bailed.

[LoathedVermin72]

Over the last couple weeks, I rewatched the full Harry Potter series. My second time through; it's been a few years since my first. I loved the series a lot this go around. What a beautiful, evocative expression of adolescence and growing into an adult. I think the final scene in Deathly Hallows: Part 2 made me understand having kids.

Ranking:

1. Sorcerer's Stone
2. Chamber of Secrets
3. Goblet of Fire
4. Prisoner of Azkaban
5. Death Hallows: Part 2
6. Half-Blood Prince
7. Deathly Hallows: Part 1
8. Order of the Phoenix

The Harry Potter movies are pure joy.

They really are wonderful. I like them all to varying degrees, but I don't think Columbus gets the credit for the magic he mined out of those first two movies. They have the genuine wonder and creeping menace that all my favorite "kids movies" have. And those Williams scores, oh my. And the production design! Good lord, Hogwarts is such a lived-in, fully realized, atmospheric visual environment. The Chamber of Secrets, in particular, is striking. The use of space, architecture, shadow, monochromatic colors - I was blown away. And that sequence with Harry staring into the mirror, seeing his parents, then Dumbledore warning him not to become lost in there...beautiful stuff.

It moves into some really moving and powerful stuff with those themes in the next two movies - especially Azkaban. Harry realizing he has to save himself, discovering his one family member, and then that family member sending him the broom at the end, which he flies off on, smiling? Waterworks, I tell you. I couldn't handle that.

Yates coming in is interesting. You lose most of the eccentricity and quirkiness of the first four (revolving directors helped that a lot, I think), but I think Yates made the most visually sophisticated and photographically handsome movies of the bunch; there are some truly stunning, evocative shots in Half-Blood Prince - stuff that brought me back to my own childhood memories of disappearing into movies like Labyrinth. Order of the Phoenix is the only entry that feels lackluster, IMO. It just kinda gets us where we need to go without the types of detours and character moments that make this series so great. Thankfully, Half-Blood Prince is a lovely slow-burn, with plenty of heartbreaking moments visually articulating unspoken connections between characters (the shot where the camera floats outside Hogwarts, showing Harry, Ron, and Hermoine before ending on a conflicted Draco is particularly effective).

I think Yates's relatively "serious" approach allows the tone, look, and feel of the movies to grow up with the characters. And that is ultimately what this series is all about: growing up. I find the epilogue of Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to be...well, profound. We've watched these characters grow, change, and experience so many amazing things on this long journey of adolescence, and we leave them as they watch their own children embark on the same beginning they did in the first film, seeing the joy and possibility on their young faces...just perfect. There is so much to be said. And it says it all.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'd agree with most of your rankings if I ranked things, minus DH1. I really enjoyed that one and would put it higher

[LoathedVermin72]

I'd agree with most of your rankings if I ranked things, minus DH1. I really enjoyed that one and would put it higher

Oh, so did I. Everything except OOTP I'd say is good-to-great.

[dimejinky99]

Cool to see you so enthused LV. They are wonderful books and films.

The potter fandom though?

It’s the worst fandom out there.

[Jorge]

Maybe one day I will watch them

I like Harry Potter World in Universal Islands of Adventure. Frozen Butterbeer was tasty but I suspect if I drank more than a third of the cup I'd slip into a diabetic coma

[Biff Pocoroba]

Sorcerer's Stone is one of favorite fantasy films period and the one I have seen the most.
I should rewatch the Potter movies sometime; the later ones kind of blend together in my mind.

[Dev]

are any of kubrick's Spartacus, Paths Of Glory, The Killing or Killer's Kiss good?

[LoathedVermin72]

are any of kubrick's Spartacus, Paths Of Glory, The Killing or Killer's Kiss good?

Yes

[LoathedVermin72]

Spartacus doesn't feel like a Kubrick film at all, but it's solid, classical Hollywood filmmaking with a stellar cast and some great cinematography.

Paths of Glory is a dramatic powerhouse. Some of Kubrick's finest work.

I'm not a big fan of The Killing, but a lot of other people are. It has a unique, semi-experimental, non-linear narrative structure and a killer cast.

Killer's Kiss is lightweight but beautifully made low-budget film noir. Stunning cinematography, production design, and direction. I like it a lot.

[VinylGuy]

Anabelle Creation.

Awesome. Really scary and very well done. Loved the cast, the girls were awesome. TIMES UP!

[bune]

Looking for some Spanish-language* films to watch with my son. I was thinking that since I bought the Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro I should start with those so I was reading the parents guide on IMDB. I know the films are violent - hello bottle - but I wanted to see what other people think because I'm a terrible judge of content.

Speaking of bottle, this one made me laugh:

A man's face is repeatedly hit with a bottle. He dies from that.

*He's in a Spanish-Immersion program so he's very fluent; me not so much but that's what subtitles are for. The problem with the program is the school announced there would be no Spanish 3 class and he (and even the native speakers) would have to take Spanish 1 again. I'm just trying to find ways to have him keep the language that doesn't involve watching say The Avengers dubbed because that's just annoying.

[Jorge]

Latin American Spanish? Or Spanish from Spain?