All this time, I've had to keep looking up the chronology of the movies on Wikipedia, because the movies aren't that clearly numbered (it's in tiny little print at the top of the spine, and these numbers aren't included on the library listings). And all this time, the audiobooks have been sitting on Audible with big, friendly numbers printed smack dab on the cover. Wow.
Seriously, whose brilliant idea was it not to be big, friendly numbers on the DVD covers in big, user-friendly print? Not everyone automatically knows the order of these books/movies, so putting numbers on the covers would be very helpful for the rest of us.
CAVEATS:
Just because I decided to watch these movies does not mean that I endorse them in any way. I do still believe there is danger here. I still believe there are references to real world paganism woven into the stories. I decided to watch them purely as reference material, so that I can carry on intelligent conversations about the movies with actual Potter-fans. My decision to watch them was mine, and mine alone. I strongly caution the rest of you to think and pray really long and really hard before deciding to watch the movies yourselves. In fact, I would strongly advise against watching them at all. Yeah, I know, I'm not taking my own advice.
March 7, 2016: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4 down.
4 to go.
I'm halfway done!
For the first time since 2001, the Dursleys are nowhere in sight!
Which was both greatly encouraging and immensely disappointing to me...
...but anyway...
Considering the fact that the last three movies have contained at least one Quidditch game each, we shouldn't be at all surprised when the movie opens with Harry, Hermione, and the entire Weasley family going to the annual Quidditch World Cup Championship Game.
...They would have one of those, wouldn't they...
However, things turn nasty when Voldemort's evil band of Death Eaters (a title which is as weird as it is disturbing) swings through the camp where all of the wizards have gathered for the big game.
All of this weird and disturbingness is countered by the news that Hogwarts has been selected to host the annual TwiWizard Tournament, in which one champion from each of three different schools will compete in a series of challenges (none of which, thank goodness, involve a game of Quidditch) to achieve victory. Contestants must be seventeens years or older to apply for the position of champion of their school by placing their names in an oversized cup that spits blue flames everywhere (you guessed it, this is the goblet of fire).
However, things take another confusing and complicated turn when Harry's name gets drawn as a fourth participant in the game. This has never happened before, as there should only be one participant from each school. Nor should it have happened to begin with because Harry is only fourteen and didn't even try (though others did) to put his name in the goblet. Regardless of this, the faculty of Hogwarts conclude that Harry must compete due to the ancient tradition which states that once you have been chosen by the goblet of fire, you can't back out of the Tournament.
Oh, and for those who were wondering, Edward Cullen dies in this movie.
Thoughts
I remember when this movie came out, there was a huge to-do about the bathtub scene. Rumors floated about that made it sound like it was Harry and Hermione hanging out together in a rather suggestive situation...but these rumors were also generated by those who hadn't seen the movies themselves and misunderstood what other people told them.
First, the bathtube was much bigger than I imagined it would be from the days of the Great Bathtub Debacle Rumors.
Second, it's not Hermione. It's Moaning Myrtle, the ghost who haunts the bathrooms at Hogwarts. She's being flirty. Harry's awkwardly trying to get away.
Not that having a ghostly girl hitting on Harry while he's soaking in a gigantic bathtub and pondering a mysterious egg that contains a riddle is a good thing to be showing our impressionable teenagers. It's a funny sequence simply due to the awkwardness of the situation, but not one which teenagers should be exposed to. I know the original Harry Potter audience was meant to "grow up" with Harry (which also explains why the movies get progressively darker and the characters start using more swear words), but this type of scene is just plan inappropraite for children and teenagers alike.
This may also explain why this is the first of the eight movies to receive a PG-13 rating (I verified this).
Bathtub Debacle aside, I have to admit that I actually really enjoyed this installment of the Harry Potter saga more than the previous ones. This could be, at least in part, due to the fact that this is the first Harry Potter movie to receive a PG-13 rating. It could, perhaps, have something to do with the new director (but they've been changing directors every movie). It could also, partiallcy, be because I got the satisfaction of watching Edward Cullen die (even though Robert Patterson did a much better job acting in this movie than he did in the Twilight movies, so I was a little sad). Or maybe it's because the stories are beginning to "grow up" a bit, to match the maturity of it's every aging original audience.
But also, definitely, because they used the lovely chiaroscuro lighting and awesome Dutch angles again (these were somewhat absent from the 3rd movie).
But mostly because I didn't feel like the pagan references were as noticeable in this movie. The trials Harry must go through in the TriWizard Tournament could literally be any trials faced by any teenage boy in any fantasy world. It doesn't feel like a Harry Potter movie. The previous movies actually kinda made me physically uncomfortable. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire did not...
Concerns
...until Harry and Cedric get pulled into the graveyard and Wormtail brings Voldemort back from...
...well, he's not exactly "dead", per se...
...back from formlessness.
That was just...uncomfortable to watch. The whole "bone of the ancestor, flesh of the servent, blood of the enemy" thing made me physically uncomfortable.
And again, I'm not overly knowledgable on Wicca and paganism, but I have a feeling this recipe has some basis in a Wicca/pagan practice or tradition somewhere. I will have to look this up someday.
That was really the only hint of pagan influence I detected in this movie.
This either means that J.K. Rowlings was focusing more on the intricacy of the Tournament than the interweaving of the pagan references, or that I have become a bit descenitized to them.
Both of which are quite possible.
More Thoughts
However, Harry himself does have some redeeming qualities. In severals of the Tournament challenges, he forgoes winning the game to help other people (teammates and enchanted drowning friends). It was good to see that his otherwise friendly, generous character wasn't sacrificed in the name of victory (even though he, inevidably, ends up winning the Tournament).
Perhaps these character traits are a foreshadowing of the end of the series?
(And, yes, I know what happens at the end of the series...more of less...)
But also, definitely, because they used the lovely chiaroscuro lighting and awesome Dutch angles again (these were somewhat absent from the 3rd movie).
But mostly because I didn't feel like the pagan references were as noticeable in this movie. The trials Harry must go through in the TriWizard Tournament could literally be any trials faced by any teenage boy in any fantasy world. It doesn't feel like a Harry Potter movie. The previous movies actually kinda made me physically uncomfortable. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire did not...
Concerns
...until Harry and Cedric get pulled into the graveyard and Wormtail brings Voldemort back from...
...well, he's not exactly "dead", per se...
...back from formlessness.
That was just...uncomfortable to watch. The whole "bone of the ancestor, flesh of the servent, blood of the enemy" thing made me physically uncomfortable.
And again, I'm not overly knowledgable on Wicca and paganism, but I have a feeling this recipe has some basis in a Wicca/pagan practice or tradition somewhere. I will have to look this up someday.
That was really the only hint of pagan influence I detected in this movie.
This either means that J.K. Rowlings was focusing more on the intricacy of the Tournament than the interweaving of the pagan references, or that I have become a bit descenitized to them.
Both of which are quite possible.
More Thoughts
However, Harry himself does have some redeeming qualities. In severals of the Tournament challenges, he forgoes winning the game to help other people (teammates and enchanted drowning friends). It was good to see that his otherwise friendly, generous character wasn't sacrificed in the name of victory (even though he, inevidably, ends up winning the Tournament).
Perhaps these character traits are a foreshadowing of the end of the series?
(And, yes, I know what happens at the end of the series...more of less...)
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