The Official "Goblet of Fire" Film Review Thread

[diskobolus 3]

I was lucky enough to see it this weekend at a press screening. Easily the best of the four films thus far. Formal review follows. I don't discuss the score at all, my review for that is coming next week.

--------------------------------------------

See post #55 for an updated version.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Thanks,

thats a great read.

[Incanus 5,714]

A very good review. Perhaps I should see the film after all.

[deimos 0]

I've been missing any of the events related to this movie after two weeks ago clips from the movie were leaked on to the internet. But now I'm getting anxious again about this movie. Epecially after that 100% fresh from rotten tomatoes. I know it will go down, but this is promissing.

By the way, anyone knows how this is getting released on DLP? Did they use digital cameras or they just made a digital copy out of the digital intermediate process? I'm thinking of presuading my friends to go to the digital thetre here but I wanna know if it's worth (as it was with Episode III)

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

a giant snake slithers from the mouth of a human skull, sinisterly poised at the entrance to a pale tomb. It leaves a spoor of mucus in its wake

Not to be picky, but snakes do not ooze.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I'm looking even more forward to this film now. Over a week to go.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Potter's lost its potency with me.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

And no review of the SFX?

Bah

[MSM 126]

And the music?

[QMM 4]

Newell was the guy that WB originally wanted to start off the HP franchise,

just think about how good the first few movies could have been with him on it, although we may have not have gotten JW to score it...

Max

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Newell was the guy that WB originally wanted to start off the HP franchise

That's the first time I've heard that. Where did you find that?

[King Mark 3,631]

He pulled it out of his ass

K.M.

[nightscape94 965]

I thought Spielberg was orginally going to helm the first pic?

Tim

[Hlao-roo 389]

From Variety's review

After Mexican helmer Alfonso Cuaron elevated the series so considerably last year, producer David Heyman gave a second chance to Mike Newell, who turned down "Sorcerer's Stone."

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I thought Spielberg was orginally going to helm the first pic?  

Tim

no, never, thank goodness

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Actually, yes that is true.

~Sturgis

[jamesie 1]

The Spielberg thing is a total rumor... They never considered him, mainly because, I would guess, he is so closely associated with more science-fictiony films (even though the majority of his films are not those).

[King Mark 3,631]

Qiunt from AICN says this about the score:

"The score was a non-entity for me. I never really noticed it except during the big Dragon chase and the opening Warner Bros logo. For good or ill. It's played dark, which I like, but a lot of the awe of the first few movies was missing and I think a lot of that had to do with the absence of a strong score. However, that also means we don't have an intrusive music track getting in the way"

K.M.

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

And the music?

Good remark! There's very little talk (if any) going on about the score anywhere at all. From the snippets of the score I've heard so far, it doesn't sound as bad as the thin interest would suggest it to be.

I'm buying the album just for the sake of completing the series as score-wise. Not to mention Patrick Doyle's scores have their place in my collection.

Roman.-)

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I thought Spielberg was orginally going to helm the first pic?  

Tim

no, never, thank goodness

Spielberg would have been fine. He wouldn't have touched the script, as Jo was keeping a hard eye on it, so the rumours of his potential "Americanisation" are unfounded. The result couldn't have been any more sappy/sentimental than what we had for PS.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Seems like the only way these film critics know how to praise Doyle's score is by taking a piss on Williams' scores. Not cool at all.

[Incanus 5,714]

Seems like the only way these film critics know how to praise Doyle's score is by taking a piss on Williams' scores.  Not cool at all.

I have run into the same kind of reviews. The comparison with Williams scores is inevitable but Doyle's score is no way superior to Williams' 3 scores.

Perhaps Doyle's score is mixed in a way it drowns in the movie (basing this assumption on the AICN review KM quoted earlier in this thread) And the soundmix is very much in director's hands so the scores usually are mixed audible or inaudible according to the tastes of the director and soundmixers. In some movies the music blares at you and in some you wish they would crank up the volume of the music because the music is clearly trying to express something but loses the chance because of a lousy soundmix. HP PS was a movie where score was mixed too loud in places and that can't blamed on Williams. Of coursea composer can write too loud music but usually director and composer talk these basic things out.

It is funny how Doyle chastised Hollywood composers for taking the obvious route and composing predictable music when his own Potter score is a prime example of just the thing Doyle accuses others. I think that the score is just fine. Not special but average with few great tracks. How it works in the movie I do not know (I am waiting for the film to be released this Thursday here in Finland. I plan to see it after all the premier fuss has settled down and I can get decent seats in the theater)

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

I haven't heard that much from the score as yet but I do hope Williams fans are fair enough to admit of the Doyle's score qualities even if that meant to "admit" some weaknesses in previous three scores. Myself I am convinced PoA is hard to beat for anyone including maybe Williams himself, as same as I believe new Love Theme in this fourth chapter won't overshadow Fawkes' theme. I just can't imagine that happening. I know Patrick Doyle's style too well to get so much surprised and eventually admit this fourth score superior in quality to the previous three.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I thought Spielberg was orginally going to helm the first pic?  

Tim

no, never, thank goodness

Spielberg would have been fine. He wouldn't have touched the script, as Jo was keeping a hard eye on it, so the rumours of his potential "Americanisation" are unfounded. The result couldn't have been any more sappy/sentimental than what we had for PS.

I love to say this

How wrong could you be.

Spielberg wanted HJOsmet for the role, and he's all wrong,

Spielberg wanted to do it in an animated fashion.

There is nothing wrong with sentimental, except when your a kid and it embarrasses you.

[Incanus 5,714]

I haven't heard that much from the score as yet but I do hope Williams fans are fair enough to admit of the Doyle's score qualities even if that meant to "admit" some weaknesses in previous three scores. Myself I am convinced PoA is hard to beat for anyone including maybe Williams himself, as same as I believe new Love Theme in this fourth chapter won't overshadow Fawkes' theme. I just can't imagine that happening. I know Patrick Doyle's style too well to get so much surprised and eventually admit this fourth score superior in quality to the previous three.

There could be an element of denial in all the bashing of the GOF score on the Williams fans' part but on the other hand the new score did not have the same impact on me that HP PS or POA had. They are in my mind better scores but I do not say Doyle's score is not good. As I said before It is average with some great tracks. But I must listen to it more. In time I might even learn to like it more.

[Morlock 11]

Sounds great to me!

[QMM 4]

The Spielberg thing is a total rumor... They never considered him, mainly because, I would guess, he is so closely associated with more science-fictiony films (even though the majority of his films are not those).

latest issue of Entertainment Weekly said Spielberg turned down helming the first movie

[Morlock 11]

EW often isn't the most reliable source.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

So did Rowling.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

She's often drunk.

~Sturgis

[Lurker 5]

She's often drunk.

~Sturgis

And writing for EW.

Neil

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I love to say this

How wrong could you be.

Spielberg wanted HJOsmet for the role, and he's all wrong,  

Spielberg wanted to do it in an animated fashion.

There is nothing wrong with sentimental, except when your a kid and it embarrasses you.

No, Spielberg never said any of those things. It was fans' speculation that became grossly exaggerated. He considered PoA back when the first one was in its early stages, so clearly he wouldn't cast HJO or make it animated, even if he did say those things.

Looking past all that nonsense, do you think he could have made a great HP movie?

[SturgisPodmore 0]

I fear he could perhaps have trouble handling the deaths correctly.

~Sturgis

[deimos 0]

I think he would have made a great HP movie, but a better job in PS and CoS than the rest. Spielberg is great getting good performances out of children, and though some here say he is related to sci-fi, he has always put some magic and out of this world feeling on his sci-fi and children movies. ET, and more obviosuly AI are good examples

[SturgisPodmore 0]

True. He would have been better than Columbus for the first two films.

~Sturgis

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I haven't heard that much from the score as yet but I do hope Williams fans are fair enough to admit of the Doyle's score qualities even if that meant to "admit" some weaknesses in previous three scores. Myself I am convinced PoA is hard to beat for anyone including maybe Williams himself, as same as I believe new Love Theme in this fourth chapter won't overshadow Fawkes' theme. I just can't imagine that happening. I know Patrick Doyle's style too well to get so much surprised and eventually admit this fourth score superior in quality to the previous three.

Why admit to something I don't believe?

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

Ok, I should have put more stress on the conditional in the paragraph, apparently. I meant to say that I believe in earnestness of JW Fans in the way that they would never hesitate to point out the forte of non-Williams scores generally. I don't say GoF is superior nor I say it's inferior to the two Williams' complete scores for Potter. It's not because I'm indecisive in this matter, it's that I have not heard the fourth score yet.

And if I eventually happen to like GoF more than the others, I'll make it clear hear. :-)

[Incanus 5,714]

Yeah the conditional would have made your last post easier to understand. It sounded little absolute in the way you said you think Doyle score is going to be better in any case than Williams'.

[diskobolus 3]

Are people mostly seeing GoF on Thursday or Friday night? I'm going again with friends late Friday night.

[Incanus 5,714]

As I said in my previous post I think I see it next week when the premier fuss is over. I am not that big fan of the Potter books or films anyway.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Quote from SOundtrack.net:

The last three tracks on the album are songs by Jarvis Cocker, and all appear performed on-screen in the film,

Yuckie! At least I know now when to go to peeing.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Got my tickets for Thursday night, with a group of nine!

Ray Barnsbury

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

7 days to go...

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I love to say this

How wrong could you be.

Spielberg wanted HJOsmet for the role, and he's all wrong,  

Spielberg wanted to do it in an animated fashion.

There is nothing wrong with sentimental, except when your a kid and it embarrasses you.

No, Spielberg never said any of those things. It was fans' speculation that became grossly exaggerated. He considered PoA back when the first one was in its early stages, so clearly he wouldn't cast HJO or make it animated, even if he did say those things.

Looking past all that nonsense, do you think he could have made a great HP movie?

again you are wrong,

very wrong.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

And you are vague . . . unfathomably vague.

~Sturgis

[diskobolus 3]

24 hours to go now. I can just feel the excitement.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

And you are vague . . . unfathomably vague.

~Sturgis

Indeed.

Joe, provide me with a statement from Spielberg. Heck, I'll settle for a vaguely reliable source (that sn't a rabid Potter fan). Until then, I'll take anything you say on the matter with a barrel of salt.

~Pete, who realized how much he missed arguments with Joe and how uch they made the board interesting.

[nightscape94 965]

Roger Ebert just posted his review at his site. For those curious.

Tim

[gkgyver 1,645]

I just saw it.

Pretty awesome movie if you ask me! There's just one thing that threw me: if you were a dragon with flying abilities, wouldn't you prefer flying through the air to crawling on a wall?

Plus, the scene in which the "song" by Jarvis Cocker is played live is totally out of place. We see all of Hogwarts jumping up and down, and I just thought "this isn't Harry Potter". It gets especially painful when we see Professor Flickwit doing some stagediving.

The score is a total and utter failure, I have to say. I hoped there would be at least *some* extraordinary unreleased music, but the best things are already available on CD. This movie could have been so much more exciting with better music.

The movie provides A- grade stuff, but Patrick Doyle makes nothing out of it.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

Saw it tonight. Good movie, with some great moments. Good/very good acting mostly (Radcliffe does get better with each installment). It does have the same problems as COS though - it's essentially a patchwork of very good blocks from the book without enough links to bind them together. The beginning felt particularly rushed - great announcements of a Quidditch match followed by a sudden cut back to the tent, it took me a moment to realize that they had just skipped the entire match. There were a few other very harsh cuts as well which made me wonder if more was filmed for these moments.

On the other hand, on some occasions, what could essentially be very good scenes are somewhat weakened by gratuitous humour (I admit I can't think of any specific examples right now). The big "funny" section is the Yule ball, and it mostly works very well and really is great fun. The songs are awful though. The final task is very good mostly, and the first time the film creates real tension. The graveyard sequence is equally fine, but somehow some of it seemed to miss a certain punch - it's certainly much more intense in the book, and the "brutality" *is* pretty much toned down here, though I don't think that's the important bit.

Still, enjoyable as it all is (and I loved many moments), the lack of "binding material" and the direction (fine but nothing special) don't let it come close to Cuaron's perfectly balanced POA. And if you complained about important plot points missing from that one - far more of them are missing in GOF, and crucial moments to the story are never even mentioned.

The score was fine. Not great, but not bad. The opening moments did give the film a more "serious" feel than the previous three, and part of it probably was to a certain Doyle touch that was noticeable in these cues. Surprisingly, for large stretches the score was very restrained. I haven't heard Doyle's most recent scores, but he used to provide very intense underscore, particularly for emotional dialogue sequences. GOF seemed more restrained than Hamlet, for that matter. But it did work well, and I really enjoyed several moments - looking forward to hearing it again on CD.

All in all, certainly a good movie, and very enjoyable. Perhaps this comes across more negatively than it is meant to be. I guess my main point is that I have many reasons why it's not in the same league as POA (and I do believe it could have been much better if they'd made it longer - whereas POA, though leaving out *some* plot elements, IMHO works brilliantly and is extremely well-paced). Very much looking forward to seeing it on DVD.

Marian - wondering how OOTP will turn out.