Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Daniel Radcliffe)

(Amazon UK link)

We recently re-watched the first four Harry Potter films, so it was evidently time for the fifth. We last saw our DVD of ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ in 2015. However, I have read the book four times, the last time being in 2019 so I was familiar with the storyline. 

The previous film (and book) are much darker than the earlier ones, more suitable for older children and teens than younger ones. It’s not surprising that the film rating is 12A rather than PG (like the previous ones), as there’s a lot of anger and violence in this. 

The book is the longest of the series, with over 700 pages, so it’s not surprising that the film is significantly abridged. I think it was done well, although inevitably there’s so much more in the books. It opens, not with Harry anxiously watching the news to find out whether Lord Voldemort is having an effect in the regular (‘muggle’) world, but with an encounter in a children’s playground with his cousin Dudley. 

A dementor attack in an alleyway forces Harry to use his ‘patronus’ charm to save his life, and that of his cousin. This is witnessed by a neighbour who - to Harry’s astonishment - recognises his wand, knows who he is, and saw the dementors. However it’s also noted by the Ministry of Magic, and Harry receives a letter telling him he has been expelled.

Several friends managed to rescue him although he has to undergo a stressful court hearing. He’s with his friends again, but they clearly have secrets and nobody will tell him what’s going on…

Harry does the teenage angst believably, more and more stressed by lack of understanding, worry about his godfather Sirius, and increasing dreams that are very realistic, evidently of Lord Voldemort trying to get inside Harry’s head. Indeed, all the actors are so good, realistic in their roles, that I was entirely caught up in the film, feeling some of Harry’s emotion, rooting for those who believe in him. 

It’s quite a stressful film to watch. The Ministry of Magic doesn’t believe that Voldemort has returned, and Hogwarts has a new, sadistic teacher called Dolores Umbridge, one of the nastiest of JK Rowling’s creations in my view. Her insistence that the students learn theory without doing any magic is, I’m sure, a dig at educational systems insisting on more and more theory without practice. But whereas, in the book, there is time for a bit of light relief in places, and amusing one-liners, the film is fast-paced and stark. 

However, the basic story is well covered with plenty of visual effects, and it’s certainly worth seeing. But for anyone wondering if there’s more to the story, or feeling they didn’t quite understand all the implications, I would highly recommend reading the book too. It’s also a good idea to have seen at least the fourth DVD (‘..the Goblet of Fire’) before this one; ideally all of them in sequence.

We have a single-DVD edition of this film, so there were no 'extras' for us to watch.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Daniel Radcliffe)

(Amazon UK link)

We decided to continue with our weekly re-watching of the Harry Potter films yesterday evening. A week earlier we saw ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, so last night we watched ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, which we had not seen since 2012. 

The book on which it’s based was my least favourite of the series when I first read it. However  it’s important in the sequence, and when I have re-read it, I liked it better. But it’s not for young children; Harry and friends are fourteen now, in their fourth year at Hogwarts. I find much of the book quite tense, and still really dislike the climactic scene. 

It’s also an extremely long book, so inevitably some sections had to be cut out entirely to fit the story into a two-and-a-half hour film. I understand why they cut out the early chapters with Harry at his appalling relatives’ home, although in the book it gives welcome light relief to the tension of the horrible dream Harry has at the beginning. 

The scenes at the Quidditch World Cup didn’t much interest me in the book, so I didn’t mind that they were somewhat cut short; but I was sorry that there were no house elves. One of the significant story-lines of the ‘Goblet of Fire’ book, and one of its best features, in my view, is Hermione’s passionate defence of the house elves, many of whom are enslaved by unpleasant families. But we don’t even see Dobby in the film, so his current career remains unknown to those who see the films but haven’t read the books. 

However I can see that it’s a side story. It is helpful in understanding Hermione's character butter, but it isn’t so necessary for the ongoing story. As a film in its own right, it's very well done. The main storyline involves the goblet of fire, and the tri-wizard tournament with visiting students from two other wizarding schools in Europe. Three exceptional older students and Harry have to undertake some dangerous tasks, and I found Harry’s encounter with a dragon very tense. I had to hide my eyes in places.

As the final task began, with the four tri-wizard competitors entering a maze filled with dangers, I knew I didn’t want to watch what happened, or the dark scene that follows, forming the climax of the book (and film). So I moved to another room until I could hear the closing, poignant and deeply moving scenes at the end. 

Of course this film is worth seeing as part of the series, if you don’t read the books. It’s well-made, with a rapid pace, and despite missing out so much of the book, it’s not difficult to follow the main story. The acting is superb (even if I still have a bit of cognitive dissonance when I see David Tennant as an evil supporter of Lord Voldemort). 

The graphics work brilliantly, the CGI scarily believable. But although it could stand alone, it’s not an enjoyable film, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s easily disturbed by visual violence or rapid chase scenes. It's rated 12, rather than PG (which was the rating for the first three films) and I think that's correct. While there's no more swearing, and only the faintest hints of teenage hormones, there is much more violence and gore in this film, and many more extremely tense scenes. 

Our edition of this has a second DVD which has some interesting extras: there are games which didn't appeal to us, but also some deleted scenes, and some extensive interviews with the three main characters.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

As Time Goes By (Series 3)

(Amazon UK link)

We watched the first two seasons of the 1990s sitcom ‘As time goes by’ earlier in the year, and liked it so much that I ordered second-hand editions of the third and fourth seasons. We started watching Season Three in July; there are ten episodes, but we didn’t manage to see one every week, so it’s lasted us until now. We watched the final episode of the season last night.

I had wondered if it would start to feel a bit tired or samey, but that hasn’t happened yet. The first episode of this season followed on directly from the last one of Season Two, with Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Jeffrey Palmer) in a hotel in Paris. It’s something they had dreamed of doing for years, but - unsurprisingly - it’s not at all what they expected, and arguments ensue.  

The second episode was one of my favourites. Lionel’s 85-year-old quirky father Rocky (Frank Middlemass) gets married to Madge (Joan Sims). Lionel, grumpy as ever, feels they’re being silly at their time of life, but eventually realises that they’re making the most of the time they have left, and that they really do love each other.  

Subsequent episodes see Lionel and Jean deciding to move in together, with the inevitable confusion as lack of communication means that they haven’t agreed WHERE they will live. This leads to them taking a break in their relationships, only to be thrown together again by Jean’s rather irritating former sister-in-law Penny and her tediously dull husband Stephen. 

Then the last few episodes involve yet more subplots: Jean’s business is so successful that she opens up a new branch, but nobody much likes the person hired to run it. And Lionel is asked to write a mini-series for American television about his romance with Jean, broken off when they lost touch, and resumed thirty years later. But during a visit to the United States, it becomes apparent that the producers want to make something that bears almost no relation to the reality…

There are many more storylines running alongside these broad outlines; Jean’s daughter Judith (Moira Brooker) and Lionel’s always-positive agent Alistair (Philip Bretherton) continue to add humour and a younger viewpoint; Jean’s secretary Sandy (Jenny Funnell) also takes a bigger role than she did in the first two series, and becomes established as close friends with Judith.  

It’s the character interactions that make this so enjoyable, particularly contrasting Jean’s mostly upbeat personality with Lionel’s perpetual grouchiness, which is partly due to lack of self-esteem. But there are some moments of deep thinking and tenderness, and the chemistry between the two is excellent.  

There were many times when we smiled and a few when we laughed. There were also moments when we felt poignancy; although some situations are caricatured, there’s a lot of realism in this sitcom from the 1990s, and the acting is impeccable. 

We’re looking forward to series 4, but although we have been liking this very much, I suspect one more series will be sufficient. At least for now.

Rated PG as there's no violence, nudity or bad language - but the theme and characters are unlikely to be of any interest to children or, indeed, teenagers. Very highly recommended if you like gentle - and genuinely amusing - sitcoms with middle-aged protagonists from the end of last century.

(Note: The Amazon link above is to the DVD of Series 3 on its own, but you can find better deals with combined series of this show, or indeed second-hand on one of the many excellent sites providing used DVDs. )

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Daniel Radcliffe)

(Amazon UK link)

Although I have read the third book in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ several times, and it remains one of my favourites, we’ve only seen the film once, in 2012. Having embarked on a re-watch of the series, with ‘...the Philosopher's Stone’ a couple of weeks ago, and ‘...the Chamber of Secrets’ last week, it was an easy decision to watch our DVD of  ‘...the Prisoner of Azkaban’ last night. 

I remembered that I didn’t like this film as much as the earlier two, not because of the story or even the acting, but because it’s further away from the book. Apparently the director changed with this film.  I could appreciate the scenery, which is stunning at times, and the focus more on outside scenes than inside ones.  I was also impressed with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in their starring roles as Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

Now thirteen, in the story, Harry’s voice is deeper and they’re all taller than they were; Ron, in particular, seems to have grown since the previous film. There are odd moments when they begin to be aware of each other in different ways, too: awkwardness after a hug, or when two of them find themselves holding hands. Harry is becoming a bit more outspoken, too. In the opening scenes, when he’s still with his awful Dursley relatives, he no longer holds his tongue, but does some illegal magic to make fun of his uncle’s aunt. 

The main focus of the story is the escape of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) from the wizard prison, Azkaban. Rumour has it that he’s very dangerous; Harry learns that Black was a friend of his parents who apparently betrayed them. The authorities believe Harry is in serious danger.  And that’s where this film really doesn’t work: there really wasn’t much tension. Yes, I knew the outcome, but that was true when we re-watched the two earlier films; yet I found them tense, at times wanting to avert my eyes as Harry and his friends are in danger.

With this film, however, there’s so little dialogue and such a rapid pace that there’s little time to feel any fear, or to become immersed in the film. If I had not been familiar with the story, I doubt if I would have understood what was going on. And while I understand the need to cut out some of the school scenes that don’t add a lot to the plot, I didn’t see why there needed to be such lengthy sequences of (for instance) Harry flying on a Hippogriff for the first time. 

Worst of all, after the climactic scenes, which were done reasonably faithfully to the book, there’s no final heart-to-heart between Harry and Dumbledore. Without that, the ending feels abrupt, and we don’t see Harry’s increased understanding about what he has done. 

Still, as a standalone film, it’s extremely well done. There's an impressive list of well-known actors, some of them taking fairly minor roles: Dawn French as the 'Fat lady' in the portrait is superb; Robert Hardy makes an excellent Cornelius Fudge, and I hadn't even recognised Emma Thompson as the exaggeratedly dramatic Professor Trelawney.  In addition, Alan Rickman continues to play the dark, brooding Professor Snape, Maggie Smith is a wonderful Professor McGonagall, and Michael Gambon takes over as Dumbledore, similar enough to Richard Harris who played the role until his death in 2002, that the transition seems flawless. 

I expect most people would understand the basic story. But as part of the sequence, it’s lacking the depth of the books. I would recommend watching it anyway; the scenery is well done and it was good to see more of the Hogwarts grounds. But after watching, if you have any interest in the overall story, it is definitely worth reading the book.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Daniel Radcliffe)

(Amazon UK link)

Since we re-watched ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ last week, it made sense to watch the second in the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ this week. Although we hadn’t watched it since 2012, I had re-read the book (for the fourth time!) in 2019. So I was quite familiar with the plot.

Inevitably a movie can’t cover everything that’s in a book, but I thought this was an excellent film, with some of the humour and a lot of the tension from the original story. The Dursley family - Harry’s only living relatives - are as exaggeratedly dreadful as ever, with Harry a prisoner in his room, forbidden ever to return to Hogwarts…

The house elf Dobby is introduced early in the film. He appears in Harry’s bedroom, obsequious but determined that he’s going to save Harry’s life. And he also doesn’t want him to return to school. I find Dobby a bit sad, yet oddly likeable for all his self-abasement. Inevitably Harry is rescued from his room; he is taken to the Weasley family’s home, which he loves. It’s his first experience of real family life. 

Having been watching some of the ‘Father Brown’ series over the past year or so it was interesting to see Mark Williams as Mr Weasley - an entirely different character, yet every so often there was a recognisable expression. There are other well-known actors in these films, of course. Even I had heard of Julie Walters (Mrs Weasley), Richard Harris (Professor Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonnagall) and Alan Rickman (Professor Snape). Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) were the stars, of course, as children and teens, and although they are now well-known names were mostly unknown prior to these movies.

There are a couple of concerning incidents in Diagon Alley, where Harry goes with the Weasleys to buy his school supplies. On a lighter note, he also meets Professor Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) who is considered a heartthrob by many of the otherwise sensible witches (including Hermione and Mrs Weasley). He boasts of his achievements, advertises all his own books widely, and is the school’s new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor.

And so to school, although Harry and Ron have to make the journey in a decidedly unconventional way which has long-term repercussions. We see glimpses into lessons, the common rooms and the dining hall, as well as another dramatic game of Quidditch. And all the time there’s a theme of impending danger. Harry hears strange whispers and the school is shocked by finding different people ‘petrified’.

As with the first book, there’s another dramatic ending when Harry goes on a dangerous quest, and has another meeting that points to the future. I’m not sure I would have understood all the implications and connections if I were not so familiar with the books, but others are better at grasping the subtleties of films than I am. 

It’s a long film - about two and a half hours - but despite being familiar with the story, and knowing what was coming, I found myself gripped. It’s really very well done, in my opinion, and makes an excellent sequel to the first film. Definitely better to have read the books first - or perhaps subsequently, since the book has so much more in it. Rated PG, I assume due to the dramatic tension at the end, and some minor violence; possibly also due to a few instances of minor bad language, implied in the books but expressed in the films.

Highly recommended to people who like exciting films with good characterisation; suitable for anyone of about nine or ten and older.. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews