Order of the Phoenix Review

Hey all!

Before I get to the Order of the Phoenix review, I just read that the four day pass for the San Diego Comic Con that I am hitting up this month is already... SOLD THE FUCK OUT!!! Comic Con has NEVER sold out in the close to 15 years that I have been attending and I am genuinely shocked at this happening. Not that people want to attend of course, its the biggest comic / pop-culture / genre movie in the country, but that so many people pre-registered! I have only pre-registered one or two times in the past and certainly not in this millennium, so the sheer fluke that Jason and myself thought to pre-register this year was certainly anything but superflurrious!! I am super excited to see all the cool swag and events going on, this truly will be the biggest San Diego Con of all time, surpassing the early 90's speculator boom that almost crushed comics as we know it.

There are still 1 day and 3 day (non Saturday) passes available, so its not a total loss to anyone still looking to attend, but a helluva lot of people are gonna get stuck buying 3 day and then a 1 day pass to hit everything when they try to buy at the door. I also know that Saturday will be a very GOOD day to cut short. It will be all elbows and assholes end to end in there. Gonna have to really hit James Jean on Friday.

Anyway, onto my review for the Order of the Phoenix. I should point out that this was my least favorite book of all 6 so far, and the one that I thought would make the best movie. There are a lot of scenes, that in the book really flesh out and develop characters, really don't advance the bulk of the plot. This movie really capitalizes on that and keeps the films pace fast enough to hit all the key points, but allows the moments from the book that you like to really flow out. My only minor complaint would be wishing that the had more scenes with Gary Oldman. The Siruis / Harry relationship isn't as polished as would have liked. Or maybe I just wish Gary Oldman had more screen time, one of my favorite actors as my favorite character in the series couldn't hurt. For me, the pacing was the one area that I though The Goblet of Fire got hurt the most one. As my second favorite book, I thought Goblet was the poorest of the films, moving to quickly and not finding the right moments or sub-plots to slow down on. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie a lot, just wasn't the best one.

Anyway, back to Order of the Phoenix. Casting in the Potter movies is always top notch, Alan Rickman, Ralph Finnes, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson, the list goes on, each actor really brings to life the character they are playing. Alan Rickman especially makes these movies for me. He has that ability to make even the worst of people so generally entertaining... see his work in Die Hard for example. The three leads continue to show their range and I really hope that they continue to find work after the series concludes in 2010. I would also say that expansion on the older Weasly Twins was a welcome bit of comedy in what is probably the darkest Potter yet.

Special Effects are phenomenal as always, and I don't want to drop any spoilers, but the final fight scene is awesome!

I belive this movie has trumped Live Free or Die Hard as the best movie of the summer, and with little competition to comes against it I think that you can count on this being he best. Hell.. its already on its way to breaking box office records with a 40 plus million Wednesday haul.

I'll try to post another summer movie update when I catch The Simpsons, Captivity, Evan Almighty, and the Transformers when I catch them, along with the Bourne Ultimatum which looks t be the best of the lot remaining.

Looking for a topic for my next poem and hope to post soon. Thanks!

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Gerrad!