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LTTP: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (The Movie)

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marrec

Banned
My LTTP Thread on the Previous Movie:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=488220

You might not click on the link above so here's a brief explanation:

Previous to starting these movies, I had almost zero experience with the Harry Potter universe. I'd read the first book and watched some Harry Potter Puppet Pals. First book didn't draw me in so I put it down and haven't looked back.

That is until a few weeks ago when my SO decided that she was going to force feed me Potter movie after Potter movie via Netflix until I was a fan. Last week I watching Prisoner of Azkaban and this week I watched:

yQMJj.jpg


From the first few minutes this movie makes me want to dislike it since it doesn't have the Evil Family in it. They were just about the only thing about the first two movies that I found redeemable and starting this movie without them (in fact, not having them at all) was kind of disappointing. It helps set up the tone of the rest of the movie and is a cute little parallel story that helps you keep Harry's character a bit more grounded. I hope PoA wasn't the last time that we see them.

Instead Harry has a dream staring David Tennant (we've all been there) and Voldemort. Oh and Ron's rat. After that we're treated to the World Quidditch Cup in which they cheer for people that I don't care about and the Irish team is hilariously stereotypical. We also meet Cedric Diggery who is immediately set up as some very important person even though we've never seen him before or heard of him otherwise.

Death-Eaters (what's the proper syntax on the name?) ruin the party by blowing everything up and nobody tries to stop them. Apparently Wizards have no police and roves of angry and evil magic doers can trounce about casting all number of destructive and deadly spells without a thought of punishment or reprisal because everyone will just run around screaming instead of doing anything about it. There's a Gun Control metaphor in here somewhere. It's like a band of roving maniacs shooting up an NRA convention with deadly weapons where every other person also has a loaded and deadly weapon. It's a small thing, but in my Fantasy entertainment I want a bit less realism damnit!

Only after everything is burned to a crisp do they organize a search party to find those responsible and of course Harry is blamed (although only momentarily).

Now we're off to Hogwarts where in spite of the recent terrorist attacks they are going to hold a competition that gathers 2 other great schools and is extremely high profile (and unnecessary... and unprecedented... is it like the Olympics?) We find out that Hogwarts is the only Co-Ed Wizard school as they introduce Lady School and Man School.

Lady School is from the land of French Stereotypes where women are all wispy and during their introduction dance (lol) they attempt make themselves appear as soft and easy to defeat as possible... which kinda turns out to be true. Their Headmistress is a gigantic woman who catches the eye of a randy Hagrid. The Man School is from the land of Russian Stereotypes and are strong jawed silent types who use staves to spark lightning and shoot fire. Their headmaster is a former Death-Eater who dimed on Dr. Who. It's all back to the silly presentation of the first two movies and reminiscent of Professional Wrestling.

The schools are together so they can compete in the Tri-Wizarding cup and inevitably (even though any Wizard under 17 is banned) our Mr. Potter has to compete. The actual challenges in the competition are not interesting in the slightest. (Okay, the Dragon is pretty dope.) They could treat us to a Scooby Doo style mystery in between the events since nobody knows how Harry's name got in the Goblet of Fire to begin with but instead we get a John Hughes film. I'm okay with this. The focus in this side-story is on Harry and Ron as they desperately try to figure out how to ask a Girl to a dance.

I actually like the Dance scenes and the pick of Krum as Hermione's date. You'd think that Harry would be the jealous one when it comes to our heroine dancing about with a Russian dude, but Ron surprised me by positioning himself as the friend who would be more. I like this personal stuff that obviously wasn't possible in the earlier films. The characters really come alive when they're interacting with each other in such mundane ways.

Sadly, the Hughes film ends and we have to go back to the relatively boring fight to the death.

I didn't mention yet the new Dark Arts teacher, Alastor. They try to make him by turns menacing, caring, and funny. He mostly just ends up funny as that stupid prosthetic eyeball of his spins about comically and he chugs back some unknown potion every scene like a Broadway Hobo. Maybe it was the costuming, maybe it was the direction, but I could never take him seriously even when he was trying to be serious. He is the one who is helping and guiding Harry through the Tri-Wizarding challenges and he is present at the last one. A GIANT MAZE! *dramatic music*

The last challenge kicks off the climax of the movie as Harry and Cedric (one of the other contestants) reach the center of the maze and decide they will grab the Goblet of Fire together and win together. Instead of being teleported to the entrance of the maze however, they are transported to the Graveyard from Harry's dreams where Peter "I'd Give My Right Hand for Voldemort" Pettigrew awaits. Ya, Harry really should have just let Sirius kill that guy.

This whole climax is actually the best part of the movie. Up to this point nobody has really died except for bad guys and when Cedric is killed the movie finally takes a turn for the dark. Harry is forced to watch as Peter resurrects Voldemort using a bunch of stuff and Harry's blood and the wait for a big bad is finally over. Voldemort is menacing and otherworldly. In stills it's easy to laugh at how silly the character looks but in motion, something about the way he moves and speaks conveys a great sense of evil and danger.

I love this villain.

Like any good villain, he's pretty dumb and releases Harry so that he can defend himself while Voldemort kills him. To be fair, the mocking duel is exactly what I'd expect from a dude who was that full of himself and indeed it seems like Harry is on a one way track to meeting Cedric in the afterlife when their duel is ended by previous Voldemort victims who hold him back just long enough for Harry to grab Cedrics body and teleport back to the maze entrance via the Goblet of Fire.

Everyone claps as Harry cries over the lifeless corpse of Edward Cullen. It's actually pretty evocative. The movie should have ended here to close to here, but instead we get about 10 more minutes of everyone ignoring the fact that Voldemort is back and everyone is about to die.

...

This movie was not as bad as 2, but after Prisoner of Azkaban it looks silly by comparison. Everything up to the final scenes in the Graveyard left me wanting the visual style of PoA (but for the dance) and overall it's not a good movie. If it wasn't for Voldemort floating around and holding his wand like a french cigarette I'd write this movie off entirely, but luckily there is some redemption for the person who sits through to the end.

Also, David Tennant sucks in this movie. I expected more from Dr Who and I really hope the next guy who played Hamlet they cast isn't Mel Gibson. :(
 
I personally thought that this was the weakest of the films. The whole tri-wizard tournament being an excuse to bring back Voldemort at the end made it a chore to watch. Moody, the ball, and the finale of it are great though. I still do not understand Mike Newell's decision to make the main characters look shaggy as hell.
 

marrec

Banned
The shagginess may be his way of making sure we all know that they're lazy teenagers now. And Professor Moody made me cringe every time he was on screen. It's really like they weren't even trying to make him a serious character.
 
The shagginess may be his way of making sure we all know that they're lazy teenagers now. And Professor Moody made me cringe every time he was on screen. It's really like they weren't even trying to make him a serious character.

Moody was a badass. :/. It was disappointing as hell to learn at the end that he wasn't even technically present throughout the entire movie. Harry's shaggy hair should NEVER be excused. Looks ridiculous when compared to every other movie in the franchise.
 

marrec

Banned
Voldemort is terrible.

I really dig Voldemort so far, though I can see why some people wouldn't like him. He's very melodramatic in his movements.

2 and 4 are the bad ones, though, so at least those you're through with those!

I'd put this one a bit below 1, it wasn't THAT bad, but there's some stuff in it that's hard to watch.

Moody was a badass. :/. It was disappointing as hell to learn at the end that he wasn't even technically present throughout the entire movie. Harry's shaggy hair should NEVER be excused. Looks ridiculous when compared to every other movie in the franchise.

Something about Moody was just... terrible for me. Maybe it was the way they'd spin that stupid eyeball every five fucking minutes.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Also, David Tennant sucks in this movie. I expected more from Dr Who and I really hope the next guy who played Hamlet they cast isn't Mel Gibson. :(


This is the worst acted of all the films I think. The only bright spots are Ralph Fines as Voldemort, Brendon Gleeson as Moody (even being far younger than I imagined Moody), and the guy who plays Cedric's father.

In a series that otherwise has had excellent casting choices everywhere, David Tennant was just terrible, so was the guy playing Barty Crouch Sr.

I really dig Voldemort so far, though I can see why some people wouldn't like him. He's very melodramatic in his movements.

The problem with Voldemort is that in the end, he really isn't a very good villain. There are just too many things that just make him seem far too stupid.

6-8 movie/book spoilers
Voldemort: I found out Hogwarts secrets! No one but me could have found this room with tons of shit that appears to have been hidden by previous students! And BTW Draco, amazing job repairing that cabinet in the room with tons of shit hidden, sure it's a different room with tons of broken stuff students have hidden throughout the centuries than the one ONLY I LORD VOLDEMORT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY DISCOVERED!"
 
I see it as a sophomore slump. The films finally found their tone with the Prisoner of Azkaban, dipped a bit in this one and climbed for the rest of the series.

Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince are still my favourites.
 

marrec

Banned
This is the worst acted of all the films I think. The only bright spots are Ralph Fines as Voldemort, Brendon Gleeson as Moody (even being far younger than I imagined Moody), and the guy who plays Cedric's father.

In a series that otherwise has had excellent casting choices everywhere, David Tennant was just terrible, so was the guy playing Barty Crouch Sr.

He's great, really sold me on the bad guy. And as always, I love the actor who plays Ron. His face is super emotive in a stupidly hammy way that appeals to me.
 

teiresias

Member
I hated the original book of Goblet of Fire, and I don't particularly care for the film either. The structure of the tournament (almost video game like in its objectives) only further emphasizes the "school year" structure every book and movie had used up to this point. In fact, it only compounded it since the beats all happened at key school year points (as far as I can remember, it's been a while since I either read the book or saw the movie).

I only made it through one more book and movie (Order of the Phoenix) before giving up on the series as I was so terribly tired of the formula. Granted, I was also older than the general target audience, so maybe that had something to do with it too.

However, I can still watch Prisoner of Azkhaban over and over and never get tired of it. Still my favorite of the films that I've seen (and probably of the books in the series I've read as well).
 

marrec

Banned
I hated the original book of Goblet of Fire, and I don't particularly care for the film either. The structure of the tournament (almost video game like in its objectives) only further emphasizes the "school year" structure every book and movie had used up to this point. In fact, it only compounded it since the beats all happened at key school year points (as far as I can remember, it's been a while since I either read the book or saw the movie).

I only made it through one more book and movie (Order of the Phoenix) before giving up on the series as I was so terribly tired of the formula. Granted, I was also older than the general target audience, so maybe that had something to do with it too.

I feel like I've made it through the two worst movies (2 and 4, though 1 was pretty bad as well.) And it can only go up from here. If it wasn't for PoA I'd be pretty depressed about having to watch 4 more movies. *lol* Though I've heard the quality increases from here.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
He's great, really sold me on the bad guy. And as always, I love the actor who plays Ron. His face is super emotive in a stupidly hammy way that appeals to me.

Rupert Grint is the best of the 3 kids as far as acting goes. Radcliffe is passable most times and Watson just phones it in after the 3rd movie.


Something about Moody was just... terrible for me. Maybe it was the way they'd spin that stupid eyeball every five fucking minutes.

The movie really didn't do the eye justice. In the book it's bright neon blue and does spin around all the time. It creeps out the students, but isn't supposed to be silly (and in the book was just a eyeball, not a strap-on).
 
I hate to tell you but the visual style of movie 3 will never come back. Movies 6 7 and 8 are pretty, but they don't match the grim style of movie 3.

Movie 5 is one of the better ones, I think you'll enjoy it. In fact, the rest of the series is actually very well-made cinematically, there's just various script issues in each of the following films. Now that the death of Diggory has happened, you are now ready for a VERY dark turn in the series. Wait til you get to Half-Blood Prince. D:
 

EulaCapra

Member
I watched this movie before reading the book and thought that pacing was so off. It felt way too fast and overstuffed.
 

Verdre

Unconfirmed Member
Movie Moody is pure comedy. Can't think that anyone ever imagined Moody as having that goofy eye patch contraption holding his eyeball in.
 

marrec

Banned
As with everything wrong about this film, I blame the director. We know Tennant's a fine actor. Even Gambon was all over the place with Dumbledore in this one. Director just didn't get it.

Oh that reminds me.

Dumbledore was a freak in this movie. He was by turns SUPER pissed and flighty.

I have a feeling that Dumbledore shouldn't be yelling at Harry, it doesn't seem right.

Movie Moody is pure comedy. Can't think that anyone ever imagined Moody as having that goofy eye patch contraption holding his eyeball in.

I got the feeling that book Moody was meant to be a more interesting character, but this movie version (while well acted) was pretty much just a slapstick steampunk from beginning to end.
 
Also I call shenanigans regarding Watson phoning it in. She doesn't do a great job in the first three movies because I think unfortunately, the writing for her in both the books and screenplays was pretty atrocious. She becomes GREAT movie 5 onwards.

Watson is the only one of the three who is actually quite a good actor. I saw Perks of Being a Wallflower in a screening and she is wonderful in it.

Oh that reminds me.

Dumbledore was a freak in this movie. He was by turns SUPER pissed and flighty.

I have a feeling that Dumbledore shouldn't be yelling at Harry, it doesn't seem right.

Yeah this was the worst Dumbledore ever. It's not Gambon's fault, because he has proved himself to be an amazing Dumbledore in the other movies. The direction of this film is absolutely terrible.
 
He's great, really sold me on the bad guy. And as always, I love the actor who plays Ron. His face is super emotive in a stupidly hammy way that appeals to me.
Voldemort isn't one of my favorite villains but his reveal in this film was great and very menacing. Probably the best Voldemort part in the series.
 
Oh that reminds me.

Dumbledore was a freak in this movie. He was by turns SUPER pissed and flighty.

I have a feeling that Dumbledore shouldn't be yelling at Harry, it doesn't seem right.
No kidding. Dumbledore seemed so out of character in that movie, apparently that scene where he grabs Harry and demanded to know whether or not he put his name in.

I was like... really?
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Oh that reminds me.

Dumbledore was a freak in this movie. He was by turns SUPER pissed and flighty.

I have a feeling that Dumbledore shouldn't be yelling at Harry, it doesn't seem right.



I got the feeling that book Moody was meant to be a more interesting character, but this movie version (while well acted) was pretty much just a slapstick steampunk from beginning to end.

Yeah book fans were very displeased with Dumbledore.

ehKTw.jpg


As for Moody in the book, all the students loved him (Other than Draco). He was a character that everyone feared and respected. He never came off as goofy. He had everyone fooled and the revelation at the end was pretty surprising.

Also I call shenanigans regarding Watson phoning it in. She doesn't do a great job in the first three movies because I think unfortunately, the writing for her in both the books and screenplays was pretty atrocious. She becomes GREAT movie 5 onwards.

She plays the part too much like a diva. After the 3rd movie she lost the "super genius" feel she portrays on other films. She just felt out of place and the most unlike her character in the books.
 

Bo-Locks

Member
One of my favourite books from the series and one of the worst movies. Ugh. Really poor directing on this film. The pacing, the performances from Tennant, Gambon and the guy who plays Barty Crouch are terrible. This was the first movie they really had to chop down to fit Into two and a half hours, and they simply didn't get it right.

I always found it weird how Dumbledore didn't show any guilt about the death of Diggory. If he hadn't continued his little fantasy of letting Harry run wild and do whatever the hell he likes, then Cedric wold still be alive and none of this would have happened.
 

Guri

Member
You'll still see the "Evil Family". In fact, they are in the book, but the movie just rushed everything. Even the World Cup is more interesting in the book. About the Death Eaters, everybody fears them because it is the first attack since Voldemort's defeat. Oh, they're also more interesting in the book.
 

marrec

Banned
You'll still see the "Evil Family". In fact, they are in the book, but the movie just rushed everything. Even the World Cup is more interesting in the book. About the Death Eaters, everybody fears them because it is the first attack since Voldemort's defeat. Oh, they're also more interesting in the book.

I guess it's a bit of a petty problem to have with the movie, but it just seems like those 6-8 people could do whatever the hell they please with no reason not to go on killing everyone.

The only part I liked about the world cup scenes were the huge tent and the even huger stadium. Great visuals.
 

rekameohs

Banned
You're in for a treat with the next Harry Potter by the way.

The 5th one is actually the only one that I would consider better than the book. The book was overly long with the repetitive flashbacks, and a 150 page long final battle that just lost all emotion before it finished up. I thought the movie condensing helped that one out significantly.
 

Honestly, Voldemort is not really the focus of what you should be paying attention to. Voldy is evil and everything...but he himself is not what's interesting or menacing. It's his control over others and how he got to where he is that's fascinating. You'll see.
 

rekameohs

Banned
Yeah, Voldemort is not a good villain at all, but Ralph Fiennes does a fantastic job. I think he's great in all of the Harry Potter films. Just the right amount of camp and viciousness. He also finally does some real villainy in 7 pt 2.
 

effzee

Member
Problem is that they built Voldermort up so much that in the end they had to find ways to lessen him enough so he could be beat.

That said the books treat him, his motivations, and his past so so much better. GoF was my 2nd favorite book in the series. Still is but the movie is terrible.
 

bananas

Banned
Hopefully the next LTTP thread won't take as long as this one did, but I'm really hoping they deal with the return of no-nose in a believable and interesting manner.

They do. It plays into some of the themes you commented on in PoA regarding the wizarding bureaucracy.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
Anybody else think the editing was a bit crap in this one? Seemed to be all over the place at times.
 
Azkaban is amazing and the only one I like. Deathly Hallows Part 1 was the most unbearable movie theater experience of my life. I fell asleep three damn times.

Haven't seen Part 2 yet.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
Goblet of Fire = Great Book, meh movie

Order of the Phoenix = Meh book, great movie

Harry was a total asshole in the OotP book. So much shouting and shitty teenage angst. I didn't think the movie was all that great though.
 
Movie Moody is pure comedy. Can't think that anyone ever imagined Moody as having that goofy eye patch contraption holding his eyeball in.

The book never referred to his eyeball as having a "contraption", IIRC. There was even an illustration for his face at the beginning of the chapter where he's introduced. His eye had no contraption to it, was oversized, always open, reddened, and moved on its own.

The movie version looked like a novelty toy. They probably thought the book version was too scary for children or something.
 
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