Hmmm ... I disagree. I wouldn't say Voldemort being a half-blood is really that big of a deal. It gives him motivation but I personally don't care for his motivation. I know he's evil and there is no going back for him. Plus, he's mentioned twice what his heritage is in both Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire.

As I said before. The feeling and spirit of Dumbledore's funeral was kept there (and even done better in my opinion) when the students and professors made the Dark Mark go away. Not only was it bittersweet moment but it completely encompassed the feeling of the war to come.

I agree about the battle though. Actually, whenever I read the battle I never really thought of it as ... well ... a battle. It always just seemed like a small skirmish to me, just a few students and professors throughout the halls but never anything epic at all. We got to see a small dose of that when Snape does away with that guard but a bit more of that would have been nice. Hagrid defending his house would have been great too. Seeing Death Eaters attacking poor old Hargrid would have got the movie fans and book fans really nervous because of the possibility of him dying (just as we were nervous that Hagrid might die in the books too). It's okay though. We'll get our grand battle in the final movie.

I thought that was actually very nice and it totally captured me right from the beginning of the film. It just showed how Harry was in the center of the public eye and how Dumbledore would protect him always (which, if you think about it, makes his death all the more sad).

I don't know ... David Yates just knows how to work my heart (I loved Order of the Phoenix as well).

I liked what they did and I didn't mind that the only follow up was the Daily Prophet article. But I do agree that they could have pulled off something nice with "The Other Minister." I mean it doesn't have to be more than a five or ten minute scene between Fudge and the British Minister. While they were talking about what has been going on we could see it actually happening in B Roll or something. Definitely a missed opportunity but something I'm not too bummed about at all.

Eh, I disagree. They focus on the big beats of the comedic story and the dramatic story. I think Quidditch played itself off much like a high school themed movie would do with Football and the "big" football game (American Football, I mean, of course). I liked everything about the Quidditch and how it was handled. But I guess if it was taken away it would have left room for another memory. But I don't think the memory of the lady who owned the thing of Hufflepuff's or Voldemort's heritage was of great importance and the Quidditch just paces better with the flow of the film they ended up making with Half-Blood Prince.

I already mention my feelings about these cuts. I didn't really need them. I'd forgotten about him asking for a job. I would have liked that though. I actually preferred the teenage Tom Riddle in this one rather than the one in Chamber of Secrets. The Tom Riddle in CoS overacted a bit but was chilling all the same. The actor in this one was much more subtle and much more chilling because of it, I would say. "You don't know what he was like, even then" really rings true for me when I see how manipulative Tom Riddle was "even then."

Different director, different vision. They all choose the way they feel best tells the story visual. For Goblet of Fire Mike Newell thought it would be best if Harry was sitting in the scene (although I don't think it was necassary) and in this one, Yates thought Harry actually being in the scene wasn't very necessary.

Concerning the smoky effect: again, different director, different vision. I definitely like the way the pensieve stuff was done here rather than in GoF, much more eerie. In fact, I would say the smoky effect works better because the memories are concerned with Voldemort rather than a mere trial. Who knows? Maybe memories all take on very different shapes and sizes depending on the memory itself.

I think you read into that sequence way too much. It definitely did not give up anything about Harry being a final horcrux. Connected to Voldemort? Perhaps. But to go as far to say a horcrux? Nah, not at all.

I have to agree. The Harry/Ginny relationship was very weak. Actually, I would say it was the weakest element of the entire film. Though, I enjoyed the kiss. The first time I saw it (I saw it twice) I really didn't like the kiss but the second time I saw it, there was a sweetness to it.

But yeah, there was very little actual chemistry between them. Bonnie Wright seemed nervous in almost every scene she was in and I think that's the opposite of what Ginny's character is. The only scene where I felt she had a shed of confidence was when they were both in the Room of Requirement together. I actually like that the kiss was private rather than public but I'd just wish the scenes leading up to it would have been a bit better, nay, a lot better.

I was quite fine with everything pertaining to this storyline. It was very well done. In fact, I think it was a bit too good because it took away from the Harry/Ginny stuff. For instance, the scene when Hermione was asking Harry how it felt when he saw Ginny with Dean ... I didn't feel like Harry really cared when he said "It feels like this" because previously we saw nothing about him really being that jealous of the two of them. When we saw the scene of Ginny and Dean snogging it was really about Ron and Hermione and Ron being uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Harry was too preoccupied looking for Slughorn.

Ron/Lavender/Hermione though, was done very well. Most people laughed when Lavender got her heartbroken and was watching the trio from another table but I really felt her pain. Jessie Cave did a very good job with the role.

I have to agree. I was a bit underwhelmed by that scene. There could have been a lot more done with it but it wasn't horrible by any means. A sliver of the spirit was still there.

I agree entirely ... up until the point about his exchange withe Dumbledore.

The dialogue between Dumbledore and Draco was quite fine but yes, Harry seemed less obsessed with Draco.

Helena a bit more crazy!? She hit her marks perfectly! And she burned down Hargrid's hut because Bellatrix was crazy!

I have to agree about the battle. There was actually no point to the Death Eaters even being there without the battle.

And with Fenrir Greyback. I'm pretty sure you've read the books ... so why are you worried about people who haven't?

In any case, they could have easily slip in his back story in passing to explain why he looked so grotesque. It actually would have helped the added Burrow scene. It would have felt more dangerous if he was getting on all fours to pounce at Ginny or something.

I agree with some things you are saying and others I don't agree.

Just a side note though, it seems all the things you missed that were cut were small backstory things. Honestly, if you put in all the things you didn't want cut out: like more memories, Snape backstory ... then you would have an incredibly long movie. Creatively Steve Kloves choose to tell a certain story with Half Blood Prince, which I feel carries over the entire spirit of the book to movie form even if it wasn't letter for letter. But to each his own I guess. I just can't speak to it enough: films are a visual medium, while novels are a very detailed and wordy medium. You can't have all the backstory and small details that you enjoyed in the books. But what you can have is the spirit.

First let me say what I agree with. I definitely agree that they completely missed a huge beat with Snape being outraged with Harry calling him a coward. Actually, at the beginning of the movie I thought they were setting it up when Bellatrix called him a coward for not doing the Unbreakable Vow. I was like, "Oh, that'll come up later in the film." I have no idea why Yates and/or Kloves did not write that into the film. To see Snape that outraged is a marvel but they had him play it very bored and stilted.

I also agree that Dumbledore's plee wasn't done too well either and, in fact, made it too obvious that Snape was a good guy. In the book we see that Snape is angry when he casts the spell. In the movie he, again, looked bored. Dumbledore also doesn't do much pleading like he does in the book. Because they both had played it down so much I thought it made it pain-painstakingly obvious that Snape was told to kill him or he wasn't bad at all. Again, I have no idea why Yates and/or Kloves directed/wrote them that way.

Now that I disagree with is the exchange between Harry and Snape below the tower. I actually thought this was handled better in the film than in the book. In the book, Harry is very passive, well, he's stuck under his cloak and can't move. In the film, Harry actually has the choice to attempt and stop Snape but instead, as Dumbledore always wanted him to do ... he put his trust in Snape and let him go up to help Dumbledore. He made that active choice. The one time he puts his trust in Snape and he goes and kills the last father-figure he ever had. Maybe that didn't rub you the right way for but me, something about that was very heartbreaking and heartfelt.

I feel that the only reason the cabinet stuff was obvious to you is because you had previously read the books. I felt it was an okay set up.

I don't think the attack was completely pointless. I just feel it was somewhat pointless but for difference reason.

The reason they wanted that scene in was because they wanted Harry and friends to actually be involved with the Death Eater attacks they had been reading in the Daily Prophet in the books.

The problem with the scene, though, was that it didn't feel dangerous enough. Or rather, it felt dangerous at points and then it became confusing so I didn't know where the danger was even coming from or if it were even present and then it felt dangerous again and then it kinda of suck. That scene was a bit of up and down. The ending of it was nice but I would have liked to see the Weasley's struggling to get out of the house ... maybe a near death situation or something. The stakes in the scene were not high enough. If anything they could have added Bill and had him get bit or something if they weren't doing it in the final battle at the end. Oh well ... they added a complete new scene and it was just average.

Hmmm ... I would agree but you again, you are talking about adding in another scene that would add on another ten or fifteen minutes to the run time. Something had to be cut and I felt the whole "love/good prevails" over all is depicted in the wand raising scene. So much in the scene covers so much emotion for the book. But again, that's just me. Yates just knows how to rub me the right way. And also ... Lupin and Tonk's relationship is not important to the plot of Harry Potter much at all. It's a very nice piece of backstory that carries some of the book's theme but there is really not much place for it a film adaptation.

You say the funeral was vital to the story but your examples didn't seem very vital at all.

I'll bet money that they've moved the Harry and Ginny "breakup" after she gives him his "birthday present" which is all the better. Keep the feeling of that moment in the same movie rather at the end of another. It was sort of weird in the books that they broke up at the end of six and were hooking up at the beginning of the seventh. I'm sure the break up will be in the next one and for all the better.

Also, Tonk and Lupin' relationship, as I said, doesn't matter to the plot much at all (not until the last book/movie).

Again, the wands in the sky did show he was a great wizard and that he meant a lot of Harry and to the wizarding school and community. I guess that wordless scene didn't do it for you, but it did for me (as I've said time and time again). Film is a visual medium and that scene was told all visually. A funeral with a speech would not be optimal in the film medium. I guess people don't understand how visual of a medium film really is.

While I do disagree that the funeral was vital I do feel the final scene in the movie between the trio was a bit wordy. Just a lot of jabber between Harry/Hermione. But it ended well and made it really feel like they had a long trek ahead of them and a huge war to fight.