Magic Movie Moments with Harry, Part 5: Order of the Phoenix

This film marks the beginning of the reign of the brilliant David Yates, who went on to direct the four final films in the series, including Friday's much anticipated Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  I really enjoyed Order of the Phoenix, mostly because I went into it acknowledging that adapting an 870 page tome into a 2.5 hour movie is an extremely challenging feat, and so was able to forgive them the minor details that were left out.  Overall, though, the film does a really wonderful job of conveying the ever-present darkness that we get in the novel, and Dan Radcliffe handles Harry's teen angst much better than I'd expected.  Here are some bits that are especially great:

The Worst Teacher You've Ever Had, Times 1,000.
Order of the Phoenix introduces us to Professor Dolores Umbridge, sent by the Ministry of Magic to Hogwarts School to oppress its students.  She is the worst kind of evil right from the start, looking like an innocent grandmother type but quickly revealing that this is not remotely the case.  I particularly enjoy the kind of cheerfully sadistic venom of her first lesson with Harry's class, where she spouts off Ministry bullshit and berates Harry, then punctuates it with an evil little giggle.  Umbridge gets continually worse as the movie goes on, and I have to say, Imelda Staunton is really the perfect choice to portray one of the most hated teachers in Hogwarts' history.

Harry Potter and Sirius Black:  Misunderstood Bros for Life
One thing David Yates was very deliberate about in this film was laying the groundwork for Harry and Sirius' relationship, its importance as well as Harry's increasing dependence on his godfather.  We all knew that Sirius' death was on the horizon, and that knowledge makes it all the more heartbreaking to watch scenes like the one where they study the Black family tapestry and Sirius reassures his godson that he is not, in fact, a bad person.  Knowing that this is the last time they'll see one another before the night of Sirius' murder just tips the sad scale even further.

Harry catches Cho on the rebound, awkward snogging ensues
This romance is just so silly and entertaining to watch, because Harry is so naive about everything when it comes to girls.  He understands nothing of what might be going through Cho's head after her previous boyfriend's death (Hermione kindly explains it to Harry and to us).  The scene where Harry gets his first kiss, though, is just precious and awkward and hilarious, all at the same time.  I love Harry trying not to let his eagerness to mack on Cho come on too strong, and I love that their bodies are like, a full 2 feet apart the entire time they're kissing.  I was a little disappointed by the follow-through with their eventual breakup in the film, but as the lighter subplot they were trying for, I think it still works pretty well.

The Ministry of Magic Kick-Ass-a-Thon
There are so many things to love about this part of the film, the first being that it is incredibly satisfying that they dedicate so much time to it.  From the moment the kids step off the elevator in the Ministry of Magic, you know some major shit is about to go down.  Not only do Harry and co. manage to keep Malfoy and Bellatrix at bay in the Hall of Prophecy (and bonus awesome points to Ginny for literally bringing the house down), but we are then treated first to an Order vs. Death Eaters battle, and then to a Dumbledore vs. Voldemort face-off, also known as the one we'd all been waiting for.  I'm not usually too impressed by the visual effects in films (that or I just don't pay very much attention), but these scenes are just plain cool looking.  It isn't often that these films come very close to replicating the images I have in my head of the stories, but this is one of those rare occasions they did.


The Music
It has to be said, I think this might be one of my favorite scores of all the films.  I like the tracks on Deathly Hallows Part 1 just a little bit more, but this is the film where I think each composition is featured at a perfectly fitting spot in the action, and in this way the music really does help to tell the story.  Nicholas Hooper composed the music for this movie and for Half-Blood Prince, and definitely deserves some major kudos for helping to establish the tone of both films.

This review reminds me forcibly just how close we're getting to the final film!  Excitement and nostalgia are battling inside me with each minute that passes on the way to Friday at 12:01am.

Magic Movie Moments with Harry, Part 3: Prisoner of Azkaban

Now, I know a lot of people have a problem with this film.  And by that I mean I have friends who choose to ignore it's existence because they didn't like Alfonso Cuaron's take on the third book in the series.  And yes, I can admit that there are parts of his interpretation that are problematic, but for me this film is about setting up a change in tone that leads into the rest of the series, and for that I applaud Cuaron.  This installment is appropriately darker and more mysterious than the previous two, just as it ought to be.

Harry and Lupin's friendship
Sirius gets a lot of credit in the books and later films for being Harry's first father figure, but I think something out to be said for his relationship with Professor Lupin in Prisoner of Azkaban.  This marks the first time Harry has an adult (other than Dumbledore) whom he trusts and feels he can confide in about the things that he doesn't even want to admit to Ron and Hermione.  The scenes between them in this film are a particularly good representation of the dynamics of their relationship, my two favorites being Lupin teaching Harry how to conjure a Patronus and Harry revealing that he used the memory of his parents to form it; and their concluding scene, when Lupin gives Harry a final piece of reassurance and delivers one of my favorite parting lines:
"Now it's time for me to say goodbye, but I feel sure we'll meet again sometime.  Until then, mischief managed."

Hermione Fights Back
Because who didn't love this scene in the book?  Hermione is already having a pretty crap-tastic day (year, really), and Malfoy just has to continue to act like a little shit.  You saw it coming and at the same time you didn't, which is what makes this moment so great to watch on the screen.

In the Shrieking Shack
What happens when you put some of Britain's greatest actors in a run-down little house and have them act out a dramatic tale of betrayal and bad blood?  Magic, that's what happens.  I love this scene so much, because it is so true to how I imagined it (which for this particular film is quite an accomplishment).  There is a perfectly tuned sense of urgency in the scene and as a viewer you are completely drawn in, even if, like me, you know how it will end.

Time Travel explained, or, That Time I Read the Book 10 Times But Didn't Get It Until a Visual Was Provided
As the title of this section indicates, I was a little slow to completely comprehend the events which concluded the third book.  Particularly, I couldn't understand, no matter how many times I read it, just how Harry first thought he saw his father only to realize it was himself all along, and then how he was so confident that his Patronus would succeed in saving himself and the others.  It was something that kind of made sense and so I went along with it for the sake of the story, but when I saw the movie everything finally clicked.  I'm not sure if Cuaron is responsible for the illustration of time travel directly or if that was the brainchild of a screenwriter/producer/etc, but it just works so well.  Even the somewhat silly parts of it (Harry getting hit by rocks from nowhere, Hermione studying her own hairstyle) achieve what they set out to do, which was to show that the kids were literally in two places at once.

So there you have it.  Hate on it if you will, but Prisoner of Azkaban will always have a special place in my heart.