Seeing "Phoenix" twice

email this story
read comments (10)
post a comment

Fairly or unfairly, it's my expectation that sitting through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros., 7.11) will be less than fully transporting. (I got off the train after Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban segment back in '04.)

Given this prejudice, I'd rather see it at next Monday's IMAX screening on the assumption that the general hugeness and clarity of this process will probably make Pheonix feel more involving on some level. There's just one problem: Warner Bros. publicists are insisting that journos won't be allowed to see it in IMAX unless they've first seen Phoenix in regular 35mm.

If Nehemiah Persoff's gangster character in Some Like It Hot could be inserted into this situation, he would bend over, adjust his hearing aid and then say to the WB staffers, "You mean I have to see this movie....twice?"

When stars die...<< previous | next >>Worst Directors Today

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 4, 2007 at 12:51 PM

comment #1

ZacharyTF says ...

I'm a fan of all 4 Harry Potter movies and I think this is B.S. It's one thing to give people the choice, it's another to demand that they see it one way in order to see it the other way. Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite and hopefully Order of the Phoenix will be just as good.

By the way, it's PhOEnix, not Pheonix.

Posted by ZacharyTF at July 4, 2007 1:21 PM

comment #2

EDouglas says ...

I was supposed to attend the July 9 IMAX screening and that's been cancelled in favor of two regular screenings... no way there'll be time to see the movie again before opening and it's already tough enough having to wait until the 9th (I promised to bring a friend of mine who works during the daytime)

Posted by EDouglas at July 4, 2007 1:33 PM

comment #3

scooterzz says ...

what's up with the 'one guest' thing!?...at last week's screening on the lot entire families showed up....studio publicists are such weird control freaks....

Posted by scooterzz at July 4, 2007 1:40 PM

comment #4

truefaith says ...

To tell you the truth, "Prisoner," was my least favorite Potter movie so far. I found it too dark and depressing, and that "repeat" towards the end was tiresome. I know the repeat was that way in the book, but I think Cuaron could've made it a little bit more interesting in film. The problem I've found with Cuaron films is that he appears to focus more on special effects and not enough on the substance of the story (e.g., "Children of Men").

Posted by truefaith at July 4, 2007 6:59 PM

comment #5

Josh Massey says ...

Each Potter film has been better than the last. Yes, I thought Goblet was an improvement - however slight - over Azkaban.

And the books only get better. I would actually love to just skip Phoenix and get to Part VI.

Posted by Josh Massey at July 4, 2007 8:47 PM

comment #6

le corbeau says ...

I pray, for the sake of you unfortunates who actually go to see this, that they've cut 70% of the least appealing, most repetitive, most endless Potter book.

Posted by le corbeau at July 4, 2007 8:55 PM

comment #7

Terry McCarty says ...

GOBLET to me was the least of the series thus far. Newell didn't seem to connect with much except for the prom-date anxiousness subplot.

Posted by Terry McCarty at July 4, 2007 11:05 PM

comment #8

Ross says ...

"The problem I've found with Cuaron films is that he appears to focus more on special effects and not enough on the substance of the story (e.g., "Children of Men")."

Okay... How exactly is Children of Men a special effects driven story? It was one of the grittiest, real feeling sci-fi films in years. The little f/x that were there served the story, there was no flashy "look-at-me!" type scenes.

And those digital breasts in Y Tu Mama Tambien... breathtaking!

Posted by Ross at July 5, 2007 9:00 AM

comment #9

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"The problem I've found with Cuaron films is that he appears to focus more on special effects and not enough on the substance of the story (e.g., "Children of Men")."

*THUD* Yeah, that just doesn't make any sense...

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at July 6, 2007 2:05 AM

comment #10