PeterDavid.net

Too funny! Hope it doesn't happen to me, but if it does, I'll have a bunch of people in the theater wondering why I'm laughing hysterically at a broken bit of film.
Definately want to go see this one. The trailers make it look really good, and I've enjoyed the book quite a bit too.

Also looking forward to Spider-Man 2, especially since I read the novelization. Was planning to see it anyways, but the book definately helped convince me. Great job, PAD. The movie sounds terrific.

Since you mentioned both Rocky Horror and film breaks, I have a similar story to mention...

My fiancée has long been a Rocky Horror fanatic. She had never actually seen it in a theater, however, until the fall of last year. (Despite only having a mild interest, I had seen it in a theater once prior to this, myself.)

Being the nut she is, of course, she knew tons of call out lines. During the floor show, when everyone gets up and dances, she calls out, "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is where the choreographer died!"

And the film promptly split.

The audience waited patiently and entertained themselves for a while, they got the film spliced back together, and we finished watching the film.

We have since gone back to that theater many times for Rocky Horror. Hell, I've even become a member of the cast (Hi, I'm Brad Majors.) and she has guest-casted as Magenta when there has been absences.

But since that first time, she has never used that call-out line again.

It's not up here in Brazil, until a few hours. It's my favorite book from the series, and hope it's as good as I've been reading everywhere. Going to watch it later tonight with a bunch of crazy pals.

And here I thought it was only me that had this kind of experience at movies.

During the original run of Empire Strikes Back, as soon as Yoda appeared, the film broke, and I had to come back the next week.

During Phantom Menace, the movie was without sound for the first few minutes. So after waiting HOW many years for a new Star Wars movie, I missed out on hearing the first notes of the famous music as soon as the Star Wars logo appeared. Thankfully, the theatre was full of fans so we spontaneously broke out singing the theme ourselves.

During the crapfest that was Snake Eyes, the movie broke, and they restarted the movie 5 minutes later, although 20 minutes of the movie had passed. Talk about confused.

And my favorite, during the movie Unbreakable, what happened? The film broke half way through.

-Scott

Gotta add my experience to this one.

Several years ago, my family and I went to see the original Jurrasic Park on opening night. My brother and I both commented about how much my son resembled Joe Mazzello, the young actor who played Tim. They were the same age, same hair color and length, similar facial structure and body build. They even moved and talked alike. It seemed odd, but okay, it was kinda cool. About half-way thru, the film broke and the theatre announced that there would be a twenty minute intermission waiting on the spool from the other showing. Of course, everyone made a dash for the concession stand. While we were standing in line, I commented to my daughter about a mass of teenage girl that were all huddled together off to the side, and I wondered what they were so excited about. And then I heard my son's cry... "Dad, Where are you?!!!" Trapped in the middle of this fanatical throng was my ten year old son trying to convince every girl in the state that he WASN'T a famous actor. Needless to say, he's made a point of seeing every Joe Mazzello film since.

Nowhere near as funny, but definitely annoying.

Years back, I took a group of friends to see "Z", Costa-Gravas' superb political thriller. The repertory theatre it was playing at (that night only) had it as a 'special' showing which meant no passes and no discounts.

Add to this the fact that much of the 'fun' of the film is trying to guess what true event it recounts.

Then wrap it all up by having the script worked out such that you literally only find out what it is really about in the LAST MINUTE (the title of the film is explained in the LAST SPOKEN LINE!)

And one can well imagine how royally annoyed we were when the subtitles cut out TWO MINUTES before the end and I had to translate on the fly from the original French.

Monty Python's "Meaning of Life".

Mr. Creosote.

Yes, the film broke at the explosion.
All that build up... then *poof*. Rather anticlimactic when it was fixed 15 minutes later.

The local Brew n View was showing Temple of Doom about 2 years ago. It was the midnight show on a Thursday, so we had to work in the morning, but c'mon, it's INDY!!!

So, we got there early to get good seats, endured the first movie, The Mummy, absolutely loved the second film, Big Trouble in Little China, and settled in for Temple of Doom...

Well, right as Indy was about to grab the Sankara Stones for the first time, as Willie and Short Round look on, the film jumps to evil Indy threatening Short Round! It played through past the mine chase, and then jumped BACK to Willie and Shorty first getting captured!

The crowd was howling, half of them left, but I had to stay and enjoy the original, "Projectionists Cut" of Temple of Doom.

-Joe

My wife and I went to see Spy Game in the theater. Shortly after the truck bomb took out the building in Central America (right before Pitt and Redford parted ways in the movie), the film cut out and the fire alarm went off. The theater and the ENTIRE MALL were evacuated.

Now remember, that movie came out only a month or so after 9/11. We were so freaked out we didn't even hang around long enough to get the complimentary tickets. We just went home and hoped the planes weren't falling down again.

Yeah, we (for bloody once!) got the Harry Potter movie out here before you lot did (seeing as it's filmed and cast in Britain I don't see how its too much to ask... :) ) and when I saw it on Tuesday it was totally amazing. Loved it. They couldn't have found a better suited actor for Lupin (and that werewolf SFX was brilliant!) and the shots of Glencoe, the Glenfidden Viaduct and the Cairngorms were stunning - the best I've ever seen them... And I live around there!

Comiserations on that annoying film breaking thing. Where I saw it, there's only one screen in this one tiny cinema, in the whole city. If that had happened, we may have had riots... or a strong cup of tea*

(*read: 'brandy')

We got screening passes for Wednesday night in Atlanta (bringing our nine-year-old to her first advance screening), and we also had the film break! It happened right as Dumbledore was telling Hermione and Harry that they could save innocent lives. Seeing Dumbledore's face melt was truly, well, surprising. :-) It took about twenty minutes for them to get another copy of the reel, and they gave us all free popcorn coupons (which they sure didn't have to do, since it was a free screening).

Still, a damned good movie. So much better than the first two.

Film breaking just as the axe descends?

Geez, you just have to make subtle Joss Whedon references in every entry, don't you? :-)

Looking forward to the film -- I've heard good things from the diehard Potter fans I teach, and this just strengthens the optimism.

TWL

I stayed home with Caroline and will see it sometime soon.

My surreal film moment had to do with the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. Somehow I got press passes for the film. So we are in the ship with the boxed up arc and G-d starts to burn the nazi symbol off of the crate. The film melted right at that point. Took us a minute or so to figure out that this was not part of the movie

My story isn't quite so funny either, but I'll share anyway.

It was 1983 and my parents had taken me to see Return of the Jedi on opening weekend. Just as Luke, Han, and Chewie were being taken to the Sarlacc, the theatre lost power. I remember sitting in the dark theatre, utterly bewildered. Turned out that some guy was burning leaves nearby and lost control of the fire. The fire quickly spread and burned down a power pole, naturally taking the lines with it. We had to come back the next week to finish the movie.

During Matrix Reloaded, the sound to the theatre cut out near the end, right before Neo's conversation with The Architect. Fortunately, the sound came back mere seconds before their encounter.

I am a big Harry Potter book fan too... I can't wait to see it on the big screen soon...

Many years ago, when TERMS OF ENDEARMENT was in the theatre, the film broke at a critical juncture; it marked the last time I ever saw a film at that particular theatre, since they had a history of such things and I'd had enough, but...

...on this particular occasion, they never fixed the film and gave passes (I demanded, and got, a refund).

Later, I asked friends who had seen the film whether I'd missed anything of importance that merited buying another ticket.

"What was the last thing you saw?" they asked.

I said, "Debra Winger's character says she has a doctor's appointment."

There was stunned silence.

"Yeah, you missed a little..."

Well, I have my own little experience, only it was a lot more unsettling. I went to see "Cruising" (the Al Pacino film) and, of course, it was during a very loud thunderstorm. During the film's first on-screen murder when the killer has his victim tied up on a bed, face down, and has been drawing a knife over the man's back for a minute or so before lifting the knife to begin stabbing him several times, not only is there a very LOUD and very sharp crack of thunder as the knife begins its descent, but the film chooses the very instant of the knife's entry into the man's back to break. I think everyone in the audience either jumped or gasped/screamed when that happened.
For a slightly more absurd experience, I watched (the original) "Night of the Living Dead" on TV one Saturday night (it was showing as part of USA Network's "Night Flight" series--which should give some idea of how long ago this was). Now, having heard of the film's rather gory reputation, I was trying my best to keep from being too grossed out when, just after a scene in which the various zombies/ghouls have started feasting on some not-so-lucky individuals, the show goes to a commercial break--for Milky Way candy bars! When the movie came back, it was a bit hard to regain the same feeling of disquiet--that 30-second-long or so commercial prompted a laughing fit that continued even after the film resumed.
I'm hoping to see "Azkaban" either Sunday or Monday.

As a teenager ,i went to see ROBOCOP2 at the theater in downtown Philadelphia.To make a short story short,in the middle of one of the many gunfights in the movie a guy ran in with a gun,screaming like an idiot.I was immediately out the exit door at hi speed.Seems the guy was being chased by the cops for a robbery and he darted into the theater.The bad part (for him),He pulled a fake gun on the place he robbed and the police.He was caught outside the theater i guess thinking he would blend with the crowd.Policeman was not very happy with him pulling a gun on them ,especially a fake.By the way i waited about two weeks and saw the end of the movie....
at a different theater.

In 1986 I had just finished registering for my sophmore year college classes and decided to drive into the city (Lexington, KY) and catch ALIENS. This was a Wednesday matinee, and I was absolutley *alone* in the theater -- not another soul there. On top of that, there was a thunderstorm raging outside, and on top of the movie's pyrotechnics I could hear the occassional BOOM! from outside.

To make a long story short: in the scene near the end where Ripley, Newt et al are escaping on the space pod from the planet as it blows up, trying to outrun the nuclear blast, suddenly the entire theater shakes as the loudest BOOM! of all reverberates around me, and all the power goes out. There I am, alone in the theater, plunged into total darkness, after sitting through two hours of what is likely the most intense monster movie of the 1980's.

Needless to say, I made a dash for the lobby.

Turned out that lightning had hit the theater(!) and fried the wiring. The manager was nice enough to give me a free pass to come back later. But I don't think I ever used it -- in fact, I remember the theater getting torn down not long after. I guess being a lightning magnet is bad for business.

Well, if we're getting into "Aliens" stories...

I saw it opening weekend, at a late-night showing (11:30 or so, I think) at a crowded theater in midtown Manhattan.

Relatively early in the film, you have Ripley and the rest (including the slimy Paul Reiser character) checking out the lab where some of the larval aliens are stored. There's the moment where one of them jumps towards Reiser and thumps against the side of the tube: everyone jumps, as expected.

About half a second later, there's another big thump -- on the roof of the theater.

Needless to say, the crowd was more than a little jumpy after that...

TWL

Funny, but I was just thinking about an incident like this that happened to me when I was a kid.

My family went to see MURDER BY DEATH at the Kon-Tiki in Dayton, Ohio. At the end of the film, as the credits rolled, it looked as if the film was starting to smoke, then, the film frame caught on fire.

The flames finally ate up the film as the last credit ran.

We thought it was all part of the movie . . . until we saw the smoke coming out of the projection booth.

The mention of a projectionist messing up the film reminded me of another story - my brother and I went to see TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE at a midnight showing back in the early 1980s. SPOILER HERE! -> The girl manages to stop the truck and get into the back of it, only to have Leatherface come up and raise his chainsaw above his head to bring it crashing down on her.

And then the film ended. No credits, no nothing. Lights came up and people starting booing.

Myself, I thought it was a great ending to the movie - Wow! It's like a bad dream, with the audience "waking up" just as death was about to strike.

Of course, later I found out that it was just a bad print missing the last two minutes of the movie. The girl does get a way at the end, leaving Leatherface howling as the film comes to an end.

Kinda bummed me out in a way when I saw the complete print finally.

Remembering the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he ended the short in the nick of time with a pair of scissors.

My friend Dev and I went to see the original Harry Potter movie back a few years ago.

During the dramatic climax (the chess game), the film wound down and stopped.

Silence.

I turn to Dev and ask, "So, how do you like the movie so far?"

Five minutes later, it grinds back up to dramatic music. Some breakneck chess action. Thirty seconds later, it winds down again.

It does this for a while. Plays for a few seconds, dies for a few minutes.

A girl comes in during a ten minute shutdown (the fourth time) and sits in front of us.

We ask her if she's there for the next showing. She says "Yes."

We tell her that we're still about ten minutes from the end of the movie, and that the projector is playing games on us.

"No, that's cool," she says. "I've read the book."

FINALLY, the movie starts up again, and concludes without a disturbance.

We got both free passes AND our money back for that one.

The last film stoppage I experienced was during the climactic battle in THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. Unfortunately, it was because an audience member was having a seizure. The audience was very patient and understanding -- it was a free screening paid for by my employers, so the audience was entirely made up of my co-workers and their guests -- and the film started up right where it left off.

"...dramatic music. Some breakneck chess action."

Now there's a string of words I never thought I'd see!

No dramatic movie moments here, but one did happen to my brother, shortly after he got married. He and his new bride went to see "It's Alive" (no, I don't know what they were thinking - or should that be drinking?). During the sequence in which the horror-child is revealed, dramatic music builds...

...the camera moves in on the crib...

...and as the child's clawed hand emerges, my brother picks that exact moment to grab his wife's knee, hard!

I don't think she ever went to a movie with him again... :)

My funniest movie moment:
I was sitting in a dollar cinema (remember those?) watching a beat up copy of the first AIRPLANE movie. Just as Robert Stack says "The Sh*t is gonna hit the fan."...YEP! Film breaks.
Best movie moment:
Watching Star Trek 2 & 3 back to back at a drive-in (yeah, I'm showing my age here). It was a starry, full moon night and you honestly could not tell where the screen actually ended during the outer space scenes.
QUESTION TIME:
Any extra bits during or after the credits for Harry that are worth sticking around for?
Thanks in advance if anyone answers.

I haven't seen HP yet, but my friend has one of the best theater breaking stories. I ended up seeing the Passion at a pre-showing several days before it premiered, but my friend went a few days later. And just after the nine-inch nails had been hammered in, Christ's cross was being erected and that's where the film died. They had to come back a week later after all of the emotional build-up. Eesh!

Chris

"For a slightly more absurd experience, I watched (the original) "Night of the Living Dead" on TV one Saturday night (it was showing as part of USA Network's "Night Flight" series--which should give some idea of how long ago this was). Now, having heard of the film's rather gory reputation, I was trying my best to keep from being too grossed out when, just after a scene in which the various zombies/ghouls have started feasting on some not-so-lucky individuals, the show goes to a commercial break--for Milky Way candy bars! When the movie came back, it was a bit hard to regain the same feeling of disquiet--that 30-second-long or so commercial prompted a laughing fit that continued even after the film resumed."

I don't know if this is still the case, but a few (choke) decades ago, whenever they showed NOTLD on late night TV in upstate NY they would post some subtitled warnings on the bottom of the screen to let people know that the scenes where the characters are watching TV and seeing news reports of flesh eating ghould running amok was entirely A DRAMATIZATION and not the real thing.

How funny would THAT be? You turn on the tube and see a few snippets of rednecks shooting at the reanimated corpses of the recently deceased and just then the network kicks out.

I had a surreal movie happening a few decades ago.
A group of us had gotten together to go see The Exorcist.
When we got back in the car and turned on the radio, the first lyrics we heard were "Thank you for lettin' me be myself, again."
Spooky.

Lee Houston, Junior:
"Best movie moment:
Watching Star Trek 2 & 3 back to back at a drive-in (yeah, I'm showing my age here). It was a starry, full moon night and you honestly could not tell where the screen actually ended during the outer space scenes."

Showing age here as well. Original Star Wars. Too young to legally drink, but drinking beer at a drive-in with other Star Wars fanatics. Talk about not knowing where the screen ended and the stars in the background began! Especially during the hyperspace jump.

Not a film break story, but many many dog years ago, some Disney movie took place at a ski resort. There's a scene where the cast falls thru the ice into a cave (I hope I'm remembering the details right), and there's about 2 minutes of movie where the screen is in total darkness and very low dialogue. Needless to say, the audience got very upset thinking the film or projector broke.

Cruel movie story. Again, showing age here, I saw Jaws in the theater at 12. Scene where Hooper is exploring the bite at the bottom of the fishing boat, and the owner's head pops out of the hole is probably one of the scariest things I had ever seen. Fast forward about 1 month and going to see the movie again. Sitting in the row in front of me is a girl I knew from school. She had already decided her major was going to be "Bitch" and had on multiple occasions took her general nastiness out on me. Well, as Hooper is starting to explore the hole at the bottom of the boat, I took my umbrella (rainy day...parents...you understand...LOL) and stuck it under the seat and tapped her ankle. She jumps up shreeking, then turns around to bitch me out. Just she turned back around, you guessed it, the head popped out of the hole in the boat.

Ah, memories!

I have only one question for Mr. David.

How, in the name of all that is geeky, were there empty seats in the other theatre?

Did everyone in your town decide, "Well, I could go to the 12:10 showing, but then I couldn't say I saw it FIRST" and the auditorium was nearly empty?

I worked in a movie theater one summer. I started work a few weeks before the big movies of the summer came out. Another guy started the same day I did. I got popcorn duty, he was to be a projectionist. That night was a preview of one of the summer comedies - "Soapdish" I think. The new projectionist had spliced one of the reels on incorrectly. It was playing backwards! We had to give everyone a free movie pass as they exited.

As people started coming out angry, I explained that since it was a preview film we didn't have a chance to pre-view the film as we normally would have and that the production house much have labelled the reels wrong. It was a lie, but people bought it. The other workers caught on fast. It kept a lot of people calm who otherwise would have wanted the head of the brand new projectionist (or the manager who didn't supervise him). The manager thanked me for my fast thinking :)

Re - the unintentional end of TEXAS CHAINSAW ...

I've only seen two films where the INTENDED ending produced such a reaction from the crowd - setting aside mine of MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLE GRAIL where, after five minutes of static (it was the last thing shown LATE that night) I called long distance a friend I knew to be up at those hours, explained the scene I'd just seen and had her assure me this was indeed the end.

The crowd in the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa howled at the [VERY effective] ending of THE MEDUSA TOUCH - an underrated ESP/horror film if ever there was one - protesting "you can't end it here..."

And then there was MISSING. A Really odd Japanese film supposedly studying the phenomenon of people who suddenly drop out of society so thoroughly, no one can find any trace of them. They aren't dead and buried, they've just slipped into another life as it were. The director chose to concentrate on one case. Just as he has a break, a witness who supposedly saw the man on the last day, the following happens:

(SPOILER ALERT)

Witness is just getting into the meat of his story when the director waves him off.

"No, no, this isn't working for me. We'll have to do it again. But we're losing the light anyway. Let's try again tomorrow."

Witness: "What are you talking about? I took time off work to be here. I can't just do that every day."

Director ponders this, shrugs.

"OK, it's a wrap."

And everybody wanders off ...

Maybe the title referred to a missing ending?

Ok, the film didn't break, but when I went to see Man on the Moon, the audio was about 3 second out of sync with the video. Most movies, this would be obvious right away. However, being a Jim Carrey movie, about Andy Kauffman, it took about 2 scenes to realize this wasn't on purpose. The theater, being oblivious, let the whole movie play. THe bongo scenes were hilarious, and the dramitc scenes were oddly lacking in impact. :-)

i've had so many craptastic moments in movie theatres. The sound cut out at the end of The Two Towers, The sound kept coming in and out at Return of the King, and the same thing happened when i saw it again with my free passes, and i got MORE free passes and went to see Calandar Girls with the same results (after they swore they fixed it). If it wasn't for the fact that the midnight showing of harry potter was an event that i wanted to participate in to bond with the other nerds, I might not have gone. We've been catching everything on video. at least then we can control the home theatre envrionment.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the movie PAD. Its my favorite Harry Potter book so far. Just a really great story, IMO. I can't wait to see it (will prob go see it tommorrow).

Too bad about the film problems though..*sigh*

I've had that with a few movies I've seen...

I can't remember any specific movies though..

I do remember one really annoying thing that happened one time was at the end of X-men 2.

Had nothing to do with the film breaking and everything to do with a stupid people who worked at the thearter.

At the very end of X-men 2, one of the people who worked at this thearter turned on the lights right as the hint of the next movie happened..if you've seen the movie you know what I mean..

Well, since it was so bright in the thearter, I could hardly see what was happening on the screen...

I knew something was happening...but I wasn't completly sure what until I read about it on the internet and I was like, " Oh! So thats what that was! " Ugh.

But anyway, I have had the film stop on certain movies too. Very annoying.

Everytime though, the thearter got the movie up and running again. Never had to switch thearters or get a refund.

DF2506
" Can't wait to see the new Harry Potter! "

This actually happens a lot at midnight showings. The theatre sisn't run the film through the projector before showing it, and the film was wet, or hasn't been stretched properly, is the explanation I heard from someone who works at theatres.

When I went to see Two Towers at midnight, and we're in the middle of the battle of Helm's Deep, and Olympic runner Uruk-Hai is running with the torch to set off the bomb that is going to bring down the walls. He jumps in, the explosion goes off and... the film breaks. Everybody runs to the other screen that it's showing at, and, swear to God, it broke in THE EXACT SAME SPOT!!!! It was a very angry two theatres, believe you me.

Speaking of craptastic effects...

Anyone remember Sensuround? Big honkin' bass speakers set up to bring out louder explosions and effects? I saw "Earthquake" in Sensuround, and it was OK. "Midway", not bad. The theatrical release of "Battlestar Galactica", the sound effect was about 10 seconds off of the movie soundtrack. So, after an explosion on the screen or an exterior shot of the Galactica, 10 seconds later you couldn't hear any other dialogue because of the bass rumblings. Very frustrating to a young geek! LOL

As is the usual custom, the San Jose Worldcon in 2002 showed the various nominees for the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo. One of these was the Buffy musical, Once More With Feeling.

However, it seems that what was sent was an early DVD where the sound didn't cut in until after the overture. So it starts off with no sound...and the audience didn't know it'd be coming. So, of course various smartasses started yelling out comments. From the other side of the room came "Once more...with VOLUME!". And from someone sitting in my seat, "Damn, it's the wrong episode; they're showing Hush!" :-)

I was in a theatre out here in the San Fernando Valley watching "Courage Under Fire." We had just gotten to the part which viewers are told not to reveal, and a massive power failure hits Souther California.

Never did see the ending (just couldn't sit through it again), but I've been told about it.

I was watching "Shane" in an old theater run at that time by my friend. There's a part of the movie where Shane is demonstrating how to shoot a six-gun to the farmer's kid. (It's VERY loud and scary to the kid. Good scene). Anyway, the camera is "worm's-eye view" in front of a rock that Shane take aim and shoots. Of course, that's the exact second the film breaks. I muttered to myself "I'll be damned. Shane just killed the cameraman."

So many film break stories, but I;'ll share just two...

1) Midnight showing of JURASSIC PARK 2, right when the T Rex sticks his snout into the tent and all hell breaks loose. Dramaticus interuptus.

2) I can't remember what film it was, but I knew that there was a tag (a la FERRIS BUELLER) after the credits. However, they turned off the projector bulb half way through the credits while most people were filing out and I had to yell back at the projection booth to turn the durn bulb back on as the movie wasn't over.

No there isn't a bit tacked on at the end to stay for (like with Chamber of Secrets) but, the credits are wonderfully clever, and worth sitting and watching. Rather hypnotic too.

Enjoy yourselves!

Another movie story:My Best friend and i go to see
CANDYMAN with a another friend of ours .One scene in particular scared my best friend so much she must have jumped about 5 feet in the air.Those who have seen the movie know that if you say his name three times in a mirror CANDYMAN will appear and murder you .For about a week or so we both slept with the lights and freaked anytime we were near a mirror.The other girl with us thought we were ridiculous and started to say his name at which made us both go screaming out the room so he wouldnt get us.Tony Todd still scares me whenever i see him in movie or t.v show

Mine story isn't a break, but it was just as annoying:

I went to see Mission Impossible 2 with a couple of friends, and as the movie got going there was a barely audible humming noise just behind the soundtrack. Five or ten minutes in, it was definitely audible. A little while later, it was even louder. Finally, it got to the point where we could no longer hear the dialogue, and they stopped the film. The lights came on, and we were told there'd be a brief "intermission" while they fixed things. My friends headed off the the washroom & the concession. A few minutes later, without warning, the movie started again, in exactly the same spot, and my friends had to hustle to get back in so as not to miss anything.

And, this didn't happen to me, but I remember reading about one showing of The Poseidon Adventure where, just as the Captain (Leslie Neilson, as I recall) looks in his binoculars and says "Oh My God!" (because the tidal wave is coming, though the audience doesn't know it, yet,) the power went off. Talk about timing!

Ok, just came back from seeing the movie. No breaks but I thought about PAD during that scene.

As for the movie, I thought it was good, but not as good as I'd hoped. I think I need to see it again, because right now I saw more of what was left out than what was kept in.
Azkaban is my favorite book in the series, and while I knew there were going to be some devations, I thought they really should have had Lupin explaining both the origins of the map and why Harry's Patronus took the form it did.

Lots of good previews. I saw the film with a fellow children's librarian and we let out a simultaneous "oooooooohhh" when we figured out what the Lemony Snicket preview was.

David

[This actually happens a lot at midnight showings. The theatre sisn't run the film through the projector before showing it, and the film was wet, or hasn't been stretched properly, is the explanation I heard from someone who works at theatres.]

I worked as a projectionest for a few years and never heard of this. if the theatre is of any size it uses platters. This a a large platter that the film is wound onto from the different reels (1 reel ~= 20 minutes). The movie is then ran from a platter through the projector and back to another platter.

if anyone wants more info on platters post and I'll provide details.

does anyone remember the intentional "film break" that happens in Gremlins 2? I remember the sheer anger of the audience when that happened, and then the gremlin shadow puppets started... best fake out I've seen.

I just got back from seeing HPatPoA and quite liked it. I thought it was the best of the three filmed so far, mostly because it wasn't an almost faithful scene-by-scene recreation of the book. While I did think they missed out on a few bits of exposition (where the map came from and why the Patronis was a stag, among others), mostly the shortened film captured the feel off the book almost perfectly.

The grainy, almost gritty visual texture of the film really added to the magic that seemed to be missing in the first two films.

In preparation for the movie, I watched the first two with my sons so they could refresh the details. In watching Prisoner, I was continually floored to see how much the main characters have changed and grown since the first film. It's quite interesting watching the actors grow and grow up.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

My favorite part, by far, though, was the CGI werewolf. It was, in a word, brilliant. Rather than a huge wolf or a guy walking around wearing a fur coat, it was a stunning amalgam of man and wolf that partook of the horrors of both species.

X-Men:

We're in the theatre not five minutes into the WWII stuff, and the sound starts to come and go, and finally, bout just after the Jean Grey/Senator Kelly scene, they stopped the movie adn we had to come back to a later showing.

I can't rememebr which Friday The 13Th it was, but at the beginning of the movie, they did a retrospective type thing where they talk about the previous films.

I went to the dollar theatre during a summer rainstorm. I was the ONLY person in the theatre at this showing and I'm 13 years old.

During the line:"No one has seen Jason Voorhess and lived." A body comes crashing out of the window. KRAKOW! Thunder goes off and I am surrounded by darkness.

I am GLUED to my seat because of fear and then I hear the door creak open and my only recourse was to say,"YOU BETTER BE AN USHER OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

Needless to say, the usher fell down laughing his butt off. I also got a free pass,popcorn and a refund just for making the manager laugh too.

Not a film break story but we found this kind of amusing. My wife and I were an early "internet relationship". We met online playing GemStone III. We were married exactly one year after we met. A couple of weeks after the wedding, I'm still in Edmonton & she's in Las Vegas, I get e-mail from a producer of The Shirley Show, a talk show based in Toronto. They wanted us to be the sucess couple on a show about the new online relationship phenomenom. They flew us to Toronto, put us up in a hotel, all the bells and whistles. After the show aired we heard that a clip of us had appeared on Talk Soup. This is back when Greg Kinnear was hosting. We never did see the clip but we heard from a lot of people who did. Flash forward five years. We're sitting in the theater watching You've Got Mail. It's about Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan meeting via the Internet. The co-star is Greg Kinnear. About halfway through the show, my wife an I turn to each other and say "This is weird." We're watching a guy how talked about us meeting online in a movie about people meeting online. We still smile when we think of that moment.

About ten years ago, Channel 21/27 out of Lynchburg, Virginia showed Star Trek reruns every night at ten o'clock instead of a local news program. Their showings were, to put it mildly, peculiar. It wasn't uncommon for commercial breaks to be spliced into the middle of a scene. (I remember one in "The Conscience of the King" where Kirk reveals that Anton Keridian is actually Kodos the Executioner to the man's daughter, and instead of carrying on with the scene, we get a commercial, and come back to her stunned reaction shot.)

One night, the episode started. "City on the Edge of Forever." Teaser, first two acts.

Then, an extra long commercial break.

When we returned to Star Trek, Kirk and his crew were stranded on a lifeless planet menaced by a beautiful woman, and Spock and the Enterprise were hundreds of light-years distant! Yes, instead of 1930s New York, we were finished up the hour with "That Which Survives"!

I don't think I have had any moviehouse horror stories, unless of course, you count the zombies you could loosely call a "crowd" when seeing ID4. Only Person laughing was either me or a member of my family. No cheering, no gasps, no nothing.

At Daredevil (last year) at the $1 theater here in Salt Lake City, the sound was out for all the trailers, because this was April and some of the films previewed had come out between the Film's release in Feb. and the Cheap Release the last week in March. I was wondering if there was going to be no sound for the whole movie, but they ultimately got it right. Still in a movie where sound is an important plot point I find it intersting that the trailers didn't have any.

I was watching the remake of the Fly. A friend and I snuck in, because we were underage. ((well, we payed for another movie))

The scene where he steps out of the second telepod. We saw smoke billowing out, a leg and then..

The power in the Mall went out. That was freaky.

We did get passes to go back the next day....

PAD and company were probably fortunate that the two showings of the movie were at opposite ends of the multiplex. I say this because in some complexes a movie is shown on two screens with a single print, which is threaded to goes from the projector for the first theater to the projector for the second, where the audience sees the film on a slight delay. Had this been the case, the 12:10 showing would presumably have broken down five minutes after the 12:05 showing (just as Peter and Ariel were settling in to watch it, I imagine).

Interesting. All the movies I've gone to and I only remember one film breaking - "Speed." During the beginning credits.

Daredevil, broke right before the final fight scene between Daredevil and the Kingpin. The sound was still playing so at first we weren't sure if it was suppposed to be on purpose like we were supposed to be blind. It wasn't. We got vouchers.

Just got out of "Harry Potter;" dug the heck out of the third flick.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the second "Matrix" movie. Saw it with a group of friends, all of whom left wanting their money back. A few us stayed through the credits to see the trailer for the third movie.

Instead of the audio for the trailer, the in-house music comes up with some "love" song by a country act. The trailer played in its entirety, eerily synched to the action. As Agent Smith and Neo rush towards each other in the rain, the crescendo builds... ending in what looks like a mid-air embrace. The theater roared.

Easily better than either movie...

Okay - here's my favorite film tech flub story.

I was at the premiere (yes the world premiere in NYC) of Time Bandits. All the actors were there - Michael Palin, Shelley Duvall, etc, the director, Terry Gilliam.

Obviously a film with lots of great special effects and many bizarre time distortions.

So no one has EVER seen the film before (including the cast and much of the media). And at a reel change suddenly we are watching a segment of the film in which everything is upside down and backwards.

And the audience sat watching for, perhaps, a good five minutes before people realized that this was not part of the film... it was a projectionist mistake - which, because the film was playing off a platter system (new back then) could not be corrected quickly. Two or three hours until the film could be re-looped and reshown. Obviously everyone had to leave, the film unwatched.

Oy.

(We all got free tix to a future showing, BTW)

Not sure if this counts, but...

I was a big fan of Back to the Future and went to see Part II as soon as it came out.

However, my brother was not as keen and waited until the video came out. Moreover, he waited until *I* rented the video and then watched it after I was done.

During the alternative-1985 scene, when Marty is accosted my Biff's cohorts, they hit him on the head and say something like "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" then they crack him on the head, the screen goes dark and you hear a voice that slows down as it speaks say "the easy way...."

When I saw this in the cinema, I thought nothing of it, but my brother assumed something had gone wrong with the tape at this point, so he hit rewind, watched the scene again and saw the exact same thing happen.

Needless to say, I found this quite amusing!

I took my "Army of Darkness" to see the movie, last night. Five neices, three nephews and $200 later, and all I can think is that as good as it was, it should have been longer. So? Who wants to start a campaign to get WB to do a "Kill Bill" volume one and two for "Goblet of Fire"?

I can remember wayy back when seeing Jaws 3D ...
the theater owner who was also a slum lord collected the cardboard 3D glasses at the end of the film to use them for the next showing..not only is it cheap but it wasn't too healthy to hand out those used things.....

I can remember a very teed off theater manager who wanted to go home at the 9PM showing of "Mars Attacks"...I remember I was the only person who was there to see it...it was the last day of it's showing and I needed those laughs to get me through the evening...my grandfather was very sick in the hospital and I was very much in need of some humor.....

When I was a little girl in Cuba, we had the oldest possible movie theater imaginable. It had the original Deco columns and ancient velvet chairs. The reel machine was really old,and when it would screw up, the people would scream the name of a guy. I didn't know who the guy was, so I asked my dad. Mathias was the old guy who changed the reels. He liked drinking a whole lot, so he fell asleep on the job, and forgot to change the reels. The funny thing was that, even though Mathias died when my dad was a child, people would scream his name in theaters all throughout the country when I was a child. His name became symbolic with broken reels. Aw, little towns.

Also, I agree with you about the Marauder's Map. That needed more explanation. :o)

So the showing of X2 that I saw at one of the Ottawa theatres wasn't the only one where the sound kept cutting in and out during the final battle at Alkali Lake. I'd wondered about that for a while there. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Given the tension level at that point, it was almost a relief to have reality kick in like that.

I just about wrote myself an in-plot explanation for the sound issues. :-D

Yours,

Dwight

I saw the movie last night, and was very happy with it. I adore Cuaron's "A Little Princess", one of my all-time favorite page-to-screen adaptations, and just from what I'd seen in the trailer, I was sure this would be terrific.

I think I read in Entertainment Weekly that Cuaron & Co. chose to save the reveal of the Marauder's Map for the next movie. Which, I suppose will make sense since Mad-Eye-Moody is one of the map-makers, but it's a little odd, considering the massive amounts of exposition & plot in the 4th book, it hardly needs any extra. (It also said that Cuaron convinced Warner Bros that they should keep Goblet of Fire as a single movie, not a two-parter)

The one bit I was sad not to see was Snape's backstory, about his schoolboy rivalry with James Potter, explaining his undying hatred for Harry. I'd just like to see Alan Rickman get a chance to do a bit more with Snapes than the menacing lurk. Ah well, maybe in Goblet of Fire.

Sorry, Mara, but Mad-Eye Moody is not one of the mapmakers. The marauders' map was made by Moony (Remus Lupin), Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew), Padfoot (Sirius Black) and Prongs (James Potter), when they were students at Hogwarts. Moody had nothing to do with it.

Saw the movie for the second time last night (this time in IMAX), and I liked it better the second time around. The first time just fealt rushed to me.

Not to nitpick, but I really didn't like the werewolf. Lupin looked more like were-rat to me. Oh well, different strokes....

I used to work as a projectionist in a theatre with four screens: two were platter systems, the other two were still reel to reel (each projector held two reels, with most films being four). The reel systems had to be synced to startup and change at the right times. There was a pegboard automation system to "program" the projection changes.

"The Living Daylights" had opened the Friday of my first week. I accidentally started the SECOND projector instead of the first. Since it started in the middle of an action sequence (car chase on ice?) it was about 20 min before anyone noticed...

Hermoine?

sigh...

Hang your head, PAD!

It wasn't that great, really. I mean, when you get Harry facing the Boggart, only to get a scene where Harry talks to Lupin about why wasn't he allowed to face the Boggart, and Lupin doesn't know that Harry was thinking of the Dementors (taken straight out the book, only it actually fits there), you know something's gone wrong, at least in the editing. (Similarly, despite Harry seeing the stag-patronas from across the lake, there's no sign that it's a stag when he actually casts the spell in the timeloop).

Plus the bit about Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs needed to be in there.

> I think I read in Entertainment Weekly that Cuaron & Co. chose to save the reveal of the Marauder's Map for the next movie. Which, I suppose will make sense since Mad-Eye-Moody is one of the map-makers, but it's a little odd, considering the massive amounts of exposition & plot in the 4th book, it hardly needs any extra.

Umm... Mooney (i.e. Lupin, who's not in the fourth book), not Moody.

Urp - thanks for the correction, guys. My best friend & I were sharing a senile moment last night, walking back to the train afterwards neither of us could remember all 4 names of the mapmakers and who they corresponded with. Mooney was the name we both blanked on, so I was thinking that Padfoot was Lupin, and then Moody popped into my brain and seemed to fit. The rest of my faulty memory aside, I'm sure I read that bit about the map-revelation being saved for the next movie.

Ah well. My best friend had confused Lupin & Moody while before going to the movie, and was disappointed that they didn't give him a crazy eye. Heh. That was the only thing she hadn't liked about Thewlis, so once I corrected her, she was perfectly happy with him.

And though it has made me look foolish here, I'm glad I had such vague memories of the book while watching the movie, as it made the ending more exciting.

For what it's worth, I saw the movie but have not read the book, and thought it was fine. The identity of the mapmakers was not something I thought was in the least bit relevant while watching it -- I didn't find out its significance until it was explained to me afterward, but it wasn't something that I felt was a lack in the movie while watching it.

---KRAD

I remember going to a theater in Manhattan in early 1992 to see a double feature of an advance screening of "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" and "Naked Lunch." "Memoirs" played through, then about 20 minutes into "Naked Lunch," the film shut down, and an announcement was made that there had been a bomb threat, and that the theater was being evacuated. However, we were told that we could pick up tickets for another showing on our way out (which seems strange if one is trying to quickly empty a theater, but if I recall, they simply handed passes to everyone as they left the building). On the way back to her apartment, I asked my then-girlfriend if she wanted to go back the next week to see the rest of the movie. She replied, "I was actually thinking of walking out anyway, so this worked out well." So, in short, we saw the film we went to see initially, avoided sitting through something we both found incomprehensible, and got a pass to return at our convenience to see something else we wanted to later on. Good deal!

Yep, the second time is even better. One get the opportunity to catch more details and differences from the second movie, like the janitor's cat (sorry, don't know its name in english) whose eyes are no longer red, the landscape and so one...

I remember seeing the original release of "The Exorcist when I was 14 or 15. I believe it was up to where Regan (sp?) was up to yelling and screaming and stuff was flying and suddenly the frame froze on her face with the purple-white eyes...... and then it began to melt!!! Then it broke and there was this huge *BLAT!* of sound and the white light blinded everyone! I ducked down and people were screaming and carrying on, it was something! They actually had to bring in another copy and set it up like 15 minutes or so later.

Re: the Mathias story told above. Movies at MIT are run by the student group Lecture Series Committee (which use the proceeds to bring in lecturers, such as, say, PAD, Harlan, and Neil, the Three High Verbals :-)). The group's commonly known by their initials, LSC.

Now, as you'd expect at MIT, they're a pretty competent group, and the projection and sound system quality in the lecture hall where they show movies is usually first-rate. But, sometimes something will go wrong. At which point, someone in the audience will yell out "LSC..." and the entire audience will respond with "SUCKS!".

I've personally not witnessed it, but I've heard second hand that you can yell "LSC" out in various Silicon Valley theaters, at least for the expected movies, and get a fair percentage of the audience responding with "SUCKS!".

I do believe the following, which while second hand, I was told by a whole bunch of different people who were there within a few hours of it happening. Back in '83, Return of the Jedi opened. Most of LSC went to the first big Boston theatre showing. Of course, there was a line, so the theater was packed a half hour or more before the movie would actually start. So, to pass the time, someone yelled out "LSC..." and a sizable majority of the audience responded "SUCKS!".

While watching the second Charlie's Angels movie at a local discount theatre several months ago, I quickly became aware that the story didn't make any sense. My wife observed that the characters seemed to be showing up in different outifts in the middle of a scene. I realized what was happening and went to tell the management that the film's reels were being shown out of order. Many apologies and tickets to future shows made me happy enough but...
my wife and I seemed to be the only people who noticed the problem.

"my wife and I seemed to be the only people who noticed the problem."

Which tells us something about either the movie, or the audience... :)

"(Similarly, despite Harry seeing the stag-patronas from across the lake, there's no sign that it's a stag when he actually casts the spell in the timeloop)."

I don't know about the whole Dementor/Boggart thing, but this one actually makes sense. We remained consistently within Harry's POV, and it's clear that from Harry's side of the Patronus spell, all he sees is a shield of light. That's where the camera remains at all times, over his shoulder. The only reason the stag is ever visible is that Harry sees the spell being cast from the other side of the lake. You have to look at it straight on, but since the camera is always sharing Harry's POV for that sequence, the stag isn't visible except when staring at his time-displaced self (whom he mistook to be his dad.)

PAD

During a little shore time at the Admin Support Unit in Bahrain, the movie theater was showing "While You Were Sleeping." About 20 minutes into the move there was a loud crash from the projection booth and the screen went white. Turns out the reel fell off the projector. They had to rewind the reel and start the movie from the beginning. Somehow it seemed twice as long the second time around.

When seeing Highlander 3, the film broke midway,
My friend and I turned to each other and questioned if we should just leave, as this was like the first showing on the first day....
We decided to stay, as it couldn't get any worse...

It did...

We then realized one of two things had happened. Either the projector just couldn't stand the movie being run through it's sprockets so it ripped the film apart, or, the film itself, despairing at the thought of a life spent as a print of Highlander 3, tried to commit suicide!

Peter David: Easily the best cinematic representation of "Harry Potter...
Luigi Novi: No way. The first two, despite the criticisms that it was "too slavish" in its adaptation of the source material, far captured the books than this one did. The longer the books get, the more you have to compress into a two and and a half hour film, and because of this, the entire first Act of the film totally lacked any subtlety or patience. The entire thing felt rushed, and much of the rest of the film felt that way too. The lack of explanation of who made the Marauders Map, the neglect in mentioning who "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" were, the lack of any pacing during the Marge incident, etc.

I was really disappointed by this one, and since Goblet of Fire is even longer, I wonder if Mike Newell, who just starting filming it, will be forced to rush that story even more. Given that Goblet is the best installment in the series, IMO, I'm dreading how it might be mutilated.

Kid's movie or now, I'd much rather invest a good three or three and a half hours in the theater if the depth and detail were retained.

I also missed Richard Harris, and felt Michael Gambon a poor substitute. Harris enunciated his words with a aged feel in his voice. Gambon talks like just about anyone, his beard looked gray rather than white, and I didn't understand the tie in the lower half.

"the lack of any pacing during the Marge incident, etc."

I thought that bit was fine. Did you REALLY want to have to put up with Marge any longer than neccersery.

Shame we lost all the stuff with Oliver Wood (his last Quidditch season as a pupil and see Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup) and Draco and his cronies dressed up as Dementors.

I wonder if there's a longer cut out there somewhere. How much of the book was filmed before being paired down to 2 and a half hours?

I agree with an earlier post, Goblet of Fire needs the Kill Bill treatment (though with the scenes hopefully in order)

I think drawing Marge's insults toward Harry out a bit more, as well as Harry's SLOWLY stewing anger, would've been better. That's just me. :-)

I've been to several movies where the film has broken, and the theatre has apologized and offered free passes.
I do, however, remember one occasion when the movie broke down in the last 10 mintues. Being a polite Canadian crowd, we sat patiently, assuming they were fixing the problem. About ten minutes later a staff member from the theatre comes in, demanding to know what we are all doing there, telling us the movie was over and we should go home.
So someone explains, no, the movie isn't over, it cut, and we'd like to see the last 10 mintues.
But the staff person is sreaming insistantly that the movie ended, and we should get out. And we're trying to explain, "It was mid-sentence, there was no conclusion, there were no credits!"
Eventually, after much frustration, we were grudgingly given free passes, the theatre still insisting we had seen the whole movie. And I've never been back to that theatre again.

As far as things omitted from the HP&PoA movie go, yeah, I missed the explanation of who made the Mauraduer's Map, but the moment from the book that I really missed was how godfather Sirius signed a permissions form for Harry so he could join his friends on Hogmeade trips.

Sure, the movie's ending with the gift of a new broom was nice (and more visual; always good for a movie) but I always liked how getting that form represented a brief respite from Harry's fundamental loneliness.

That said, I can see how these scenes might work well for a future movie. Telling Harry the story about the Maurader's Map might be a good way to introduce Lupin in the next movie. Having him sign off on the out-of-town permission might be a good way to introduce Sirius. So maybe it'll all work out for the best.

Regardless, HP&PoA was an enjoyable night at the movies for me. Just as the time I spent reading the original novel was loads of fun, too.

Haven't seen any of the Harry Potter films, or read the books, but I'm reminded of a recent bit of unbelievable timing I experienced. Two weeks ago, a friend and I went to see "Life of Brian", but the theatre had some sort of technical problem, and the film wasn't being shown that day. So we decided to go to the nearby McDonald's and catch up over dinner.

As we walked past the drive-thru from the parking lot, I was reminded of the "Man From Atlantis" episode where Mark Harris, recently arrived in the surface world, walks up to a drive-thru order sign. The voice over the speaker asks what he wants to order, and Mark, naturally, has no clue what's happening. I pointed out that even as a kid watching that episode, I wondered why the McWaiter (to paraphrase the Joker) didn't seem to think it odd that someone had _walked_ up to the order sign. Didn't they see that on their closed-circuit camera?

Anyway, we ate, talked and left, continuing our conversation at our cars. Then we glanced over and saw a woman standing at the drive-thru order sign.

In her case, she was a limo driver who couldn't get her car through the narrow, winding drive through lane. She ended up walking up to the pay window and ordering from there. Why she didn't just go inside and get her food to go, I have no idea, but it was an amusing coincidence to see someone walk up to a fast food drive-thru sign only a few hours after I'd commented about a fictional character doing the same.

I'm sure Rod Serling was in the neighborhood somewhere.

Rick

I had a similar experience with The Matrix.
S
P
O
I
L
e
r
s...
Having already revealed that the regular world is a lie, Keanu is aboard the ship which has powered down hiding from the machine. At a tense moment the film suddenly breaks.

My instant thought: That was creative, I didn't see the "2nd reality is fake, too" plot device coming. Hey, howcome it's taking so long to get to the 3rd reality?

I have a theory which I invite people to shoot down...but first

SPOILER ALERT !!!

OK - having dispensed with that...

I had a nagging problem with " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire " as I was reading it - and when I got to the end of the book it was a big, stonking, really quite annoyed response.

And it was the marginalisation of Ron Weasley.

Now - way back in the fisrt book it was made manifest by that magig mirror than Ron's gerat desire was to do better than his older brothers. This was understandable and presented with great sensitivity by JK - it wasn't that Ron resented his brothers in any particular way he just wanted to achieve an identity of his own, something other than " the youngest of the Weasley boys"

When I read Goblet of Fire I understood Ron's frustrations with Harry such that they cooled towards one another - everyone is the hero in their own head, but poor Ron was finding himself in the position of " sidekick" and didn't like it. Again, I thought that was a very sensitive handling of the feelings of a 15 year old boy finding himself eclipsed by his flashier pal who is achieving the recognition that he hoped to achieve himself.

So when Ron got made a prefect I thought - great, about time, well done Ron, now your going somewhere, nows your chance. That Harry was a bit resentful for it made it all the sweeter - not that I have anything against Harry but it was nice to see his reactions at not being made a prefect himself, since he had expected to.

Good for the Weasley lad, I thought - and when the final scenes with Dumbledore took place in " Order of The Phoenix " I expected some reason to be advanced by the great Professor that would make sense, and advance Ron as a character - something he was manifestly in need of. I expected there to be some positive reason for his choice of Ron - that Ron works at being a wizard whilst Harry breezes along ( which would also have been in keeping with the hints we are given as to James Potter's character ), or that Ron has leadership abilities that Harry lacks ( in the same way that whilst, say , Patton or Monty were better fighters Ike was a better coalition general ) or some such.

And JK Rowling bottled it.

Dumbledore said something along the lines of, well, Harry, you would have been prefect by natural selection, but I thought it would be too much pressure on you given that you also had to fight off Voldemort's attack, so I went for Ron to relieve you of worry.

And as I read it I thought - gee, what a swizz. What a gip, what a rotten thing to do to Ron.

It seemed phony in some way - as if Rowling felt that the alternative approach would suggest Harry wasn't so perfect, that Ron was better at him in some things - and that would never do.

So, on Ron's behalf ( and because he is my favourite character ) I felt a bit aggrieved.

Then I went to the new movie.

And where were Ron's scenes ? Where were his LINES ? A few mutters about Hermione's cat and that's about it. All the subtext of their love/hate relationship was expunged near totally.

But then I noticed something else that has nagged at me ever since. I'm sorry, I hate to say this, I don't WANT to suggest this but - I don't think Rupert Grint can act.

He was fine in the first film, when he was acting with the other kids, but whilst Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe are maturing into fine young actors, with some very sensitive playing by the latter in his scenes with David Thewliss in particular, Rupert Grint reamins stuck in the one slot - gawky, constantly near-hysterical buffoon. Look at the scene where Hermione suggest they go up to the spooky mansion but Ron misreads her suggestion as a come-on. In the book, its nice and touching and probably the first manifestation of his secret, um, feelings for her. In the film, Rupert Grint plays it on one level - surprise, nerves and too stupid to realise what she's talking about at any level.

Not Ron at all.

Which brings me to my theory - I think JK Rowling realised this. Indeed, I think that Ron is the one character who has been adversely affected by being put on screen. Rowling has substituted the filmic Ron for the Ron of the first four books beacuse, at some level, she realises that the flimic Ron is just close enough to book Ron to eclipse the latter in peoples' - particularly kids - minds. From now on Ron = Rupert Grint.

I don't blame Rupert - I do blame JK Rowling to some extent, but who can blame her. No-one would ever accept that Grint/Ron can do ANYTHING better than Harry - the films, particularly Chamber of Secrets, have gone out of their way to establish his inability at anything ( that's your sister in there Ron - but you're going to stay out here and look after treacherous Professor Lockwood are you ? Let Harry do it, eh ? Yes - its a big load of rocks, but if my sister were in there I'd be trying to dig through with my fingernails ) Ron is now a cut-price Inspector Clouseau.

Poor sod - he deserves better.

In fact, I think that bbok Ron is actually in there. There's a kid at the back of Harry - no, not Neville, another kid - wee chap with close cropped hair. He's the lad that asks Harry for the next ride on the broomstick at the end of the film - thereby getting the last word.

HE'S Ron !!!

Oh, he's had to lose the hair, and give himself a false name and stuff. But there he is - Ron of the book, keeping an eye on his mate, taking delight in his victories - watching his pals back.

More power to him!

That's what Dumbledore told Harry about why he made Ron a prefect, but I'm sure balancing the scales to protect Harry from Prefect Malfoy played a major part in it all too. Especially since the way Rowling has written Ron's character, while he's a great guy and tries hard, I imagine him as the c-student who tries his best. Now Hermione I can easily see getting prefect status on her grades and abilities.

And frankly, Harry was just so frustrated at everything that was happening to and around him by OotP that he was lashing out at everyone, can you really blame him? Everyone had told him how special he is for surviving Lord Voldemort's slaying of his parents, and everyone (well, almost everyone) holds him to such a high standard because of it, yet he's stuck with the Dursleys in the off-season, and he only finds out at the end of book 5 why he's stuck with them?

C'mon, growing up with that kind of abuse, I wouldn't blame him if he joined Voldemort. Ron and Hermione help keep Harry grounded too.

Ron's better at chess...

Plus, Ron had one thing Harry never had growing up, a loving family. Ron, being the youngest boy, was always picked on by his older brothers, he was always mistaking the fact that they were older and had more practice and training for a deficiency on his part, where none existed. He just needs time to come into his own. As far letting Harry go ahead, Ron had a broken wand, and low self-confidence. He's confident in Harry, not in himself, so he let Harry go ahead out of fear that he'd fail his sister... Rowling wasn't short selling Ron, it was actually another facet of who Ron is.

With his growing confidence on the Quidditch field and the fact that the only Weasley's left at Hogwarts are he and Ginny, he can finally grow into his own. (Although the spectacular nature of the twins departure will truly be the stuff of legends at Hogwarts for as long as the school remains).

I don't disagree - that is all totally true.

For Ron of the books. T

he Ron of the films is a dunderhead however, and I fear he is beginning to manifest himself in the books - if you follow me.

Yeah - Ron's a c-student. But as I suggest - Ike was never the greatest of fighting generals, but he had attributes that were in many spheres outstanding.

Ron should also be allowed the opportunities to show what he can do - but he isn't getting them. And in both film and book this is looking increasingly artificial - he's being pushed to the back in favour of more exotic characters such as Syrius and Mad Eye Moody ( who should be played by Geoffrey Rush by the way and no-one else ).

The expansion of the cast and of Harry's gang is at the expense of Ron. And its getting worse

Oh, I wasn't insulting Ron about being a c-student, some of the best people in the world don't always test well...

Considering how much of PoA had to be cut to get the movie to it's current size, it's unfortunate that Ron is getting the brunt of it.

He's actually my fave too, although it's a close race with Lupin.

I dunno, I think he started to develop with his slowly improving Quidditch skils in OotP, and you couldn't ask for a more loyal friend. Hopefully in book 6 he and Hermione will quit fighting it and admit they love each other already.

The movies aren't going to push Ron, he's just a sidekick in Hollywood, where every frame of film has to count and everyone expects the hero and the "special characters" (Syrius for example) to be the main focus. That's more Hollywood's fault.

Ron someone I could gladly call friend and trust.

And on that, we can heartily agree.

warmest regards

dave

Dave Moran: I don't blame Rupert - I do blame JK Rowling to some extent, but who can blame her. No-one would ever accept that Grint/Ron can do ANYTHING better than Harry - the films, particularly Chamber of Secrets, have gone out of their way to establish his inability at anything ( that's your sister in there Ron - but you're going to stay out here and look after treacherous Professor Lockwood are you ? Let Harry do it, eh ? Yes - its a big load of rocks, but if my sister were in there I'd be trying to dig through with my fingernails ) Ron is now a cut-price Inspector Clouseau.
Luigi Novi: I dunno, I think Ron acquitted himself brilliantly during the chess game at the end of Sorcerer’s Stone. He not only played well, but was willing to sacrifice himself in order for Harry to go forward, because he knew that Harry, not he or Hermione, was the one to confront Voldemort. I also think he came into his own as Quidditch Keeper.

Bladestar: That's what Dumbledore told Harry about why he made Ron a prefect, but I'm sure balancing the scales to protect Harry from Prefect Malfoy played a major part in it all too.
Luigi Novi: In what way did he protect Harry from Malfoy?

With Ron and Hermione as fellow prefects, they could block a lot of prefect-based trouble that Malfoy could drum up. Those two in particular as prefects kept Malfoy from abusing his position as much as he would have from lesser prefects...

But wouldn't making Harry a prefect have been a more direct and effective means of "protecting" him?

Yes, but I didn't say Dumbledore was lying about Harry not needing the extra pressure. Harry would've failed all his classes and self-destructed had he the addition duties of prefect to go with everything else he went through in book 5...

Leading us to the next volume, "Harry Potter and the Bottle of Thunderbird"...

Oh I don't know about the crit of Rupert Grint, I figured he was one of the more talented cast who got the short straw in the third film and therefore way fewer scenes. It doesn't shock me much, because the director cut out so much stuff that he was obviously going to lose out. It was still a very cool film, but to be honest the only way it could have been more about Ron is if they'd actually raised some hell in the fight between him and Hermione - which they didn't for the sake of the plot.

All said, I think Rupert Grint is a fine choice to play Ron, because Ron is gawky, unfortunate, moderately clueless and as loyal and sarcastic a friend as you can ask for. Grint does alright with him. Good for him, I say.

Oh I don't know about the crit of Rupert Grint, I figured he was one of the more talented cast who got the short straw in the third film and therefore way fewer scenes. It doesn't shock me much, because the director cut out so much stuff that he was obviously going to lose out. It was still a very cool film, but to be honest the only way it could have been more about Ron is if they'd actually raised some hell in the fight between him and Hermione - which they didn't for the sake of the plot.

All said, I think Rupert Grint is a fine choice to play Ron, because Ron is gawky, unfortunate, moderately clueless and as loyal and sarcastic a friend as you can ask for. Grint does alright with him. Good for him, I say.

Oh - and that thing about Dumbledore canning Ron's choice as a prefect is completely in character for that old guy. As has been repeatedly noted, Harry is Hogwart's First Student so far as he's concerned and I have no doubt that he chose Ron over Harry for the Harry's sake, and not in ackowledgment of Ron's abilities.

Dumbldore does indeed play the favorites game, more so even that Snape who isn't shy about sticking up for his Slytherins and doesn't care who knows it.

A great wizard Dumbledore may be, but he lets personal responisibilities to Harry completely override the presence of a thousand other kids in the school on many occassions. He should be equally loyal to them all, but he isnt. Its a good lesson that JK Rowling includes in the books - that even the best example of goodness they've got still has some vicious flaws.

For what it's worth, I think Bladestar is exactly right. The thing I liked most about the OotP novel was how wonderfully Rowling's writing has developed, to the point that she can portray an extremely-stressed adolescent mind perfectly, and the Harry that she describes at the beginning of the novel resembles nothing so much as a boiling teakettle. Harry could not have handled any more responsibility than he already had dumped on his shoulders, particularly once he became the de facto Dark Arts teacher. Besides, Bladestar's description of Ron as a "C student who tries his best" captures Ron's essence nicely. The kid got some well-deserved recognition, he and Hermione got to run interference between Malfoy and the rest of humanity, and Harry manages not to have a stroke.

But Grint is clearly the worst actor in the film series. The cat who plays Crookshanks can act better than he.

With Dumbledore's knowledge of the prophecy though, he has to play favorites and protect Harry. Dumbledore DOES have the safety of the school and all it's students in mind, but he also sees the bigger picture, and knows that Voldemorte's return could spell the doom of a lot more than just Hogwarts.

Dumbledore doesn't let protecting Harry overide the presence of a thousand other kids at the school, he just believes the prophecy that basically only Harry can defeat Voldemorte...

Fair enough Bladestar, but he plays favorites in ways that don't help the Harry vs Voldemort cause on a regular basis.
One example that always struck me was that Harry and Ron didn't need 200 points apeice for nearly getting themselves (and a teacher!) killed in the Chamber of Secrets... rather than fetching a teacher. The only reason for that was to give them the edge over Slytherin - who frankly, always have really high house points because they must be pretty damn good! - which is a shameful way for an impartial headmaster to behave. Ron and Harry were overjoyed to get Ginny out alive, and survive themselves. What more could they possibly have needed?

If Dumbledore is really thinking about the future of all the kids at the school, and the ramifications of Voldemort's return then he'd do well not to alienate a quarter of them and send them right into Voldemort's recruitment drive! He'll rue it later, because all he's shown the Slytherin kids is that there is no fairness in higher institutions, behaving as a law unto yourself only works if you have a powerful backer who'll protect you from the consequences, the qualities that landed them in Slytherin will do them more harm than good in the outside world, and that only 'favourites' suceed.

Hell, if I'd had all that demonstrated to me that succinctly I'd join Voldemort!

Considering he saved the school and stopped Voldemorte and killed the basilisk, I'd say the points are warranted.

Besides, Snape is so heavily slanted against Harry that Dumbledore has to fight fire with fire on that front. And since when does Dumbledore have to be impartial, he's a product of Griffindor anyway...

Bladestar said
"Besides, Snape is so heavily slanted against Harry that Dumbledore has to fight fire with fire on that front. "

Not really true, IMO. While I feel that there’s no love lost between Snape and Harry, Snape is doing what he does with Dumbledore’s encouragement and blessing.

The man’s a double agent, as revealed in OotP. The Malfoys, etc, have to think Snape is on their side in truth for him to be effective. Hence his very obvious aversion to the famous Harry Potter.

Personally, I think Snape is still carrying a torch for Lily Potter, who was always kind to those who needed kindness. And he will sacrifice himself for her son in a glorious and heroic fashion in the final book. I just hope Rowling figures out how to write a death scene by then.

Cheryl, I wasn't referring to Snape's work with the order, I meant the way he treats students in class, especially Harry. Granted, Harry's father was a total tool to Snape, but still.

As for the other side of things, I'm still not totally convinced Snape is 100% on Dumbledore's side against Voldemorte.

I hope Snape is not involved in saving Harry when the final book rolls around. That should fall strictly to Harry himself, Ron, and Hermione...

Badestar, I didn't mean the Order, either. The adults have been working toward this since Harry's first defeat of 'you know who.' Snape has to be known to dislike Harry, and Draco isn't shy about telling daddy Lucius everything. So while I see it as his natural incliantion to be rough on Harry and his crew, it's also his job.

I don't see Snape as dealing a final blow in the struggle, but rather an important strike.

Actually, my son thinks that in the end Harry and Draco will team up.

...the explanation of who made the Marauder Map was oddly missing...

I've read only the first book (so please don't kill me), but I had just assumed it was Potter Sr., Lupin and Black. I picked it up just from the performance, notably how Lupin reacted when he walked in on Harry and Snape.

Mr. Wesley writes:

I've read only the first book (so please don't kill me), but I had just assumed it was Potter Sr., Lupin and Black [who made the Maurader's Map]. I picked it up just from the performance, notably how Lupin reacted when he walked in on Harry and Snape.

Well, you've gleaned three out of four of the mapmakers. But don't let that be an excuse to not read the rest of the novels ;-)

Huh? Just how tense do you think this film made us?