Ep. 52 - The Franchise Who Lived! part 4

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] J.J.: It's been a while. It's been a couple of months since we actually visited this franchise again, so I'm kind of glad that we're heading back into it.

[0:11] Olaf: Yeah. We both love this franchise, and we're gonna jump back into it here. But you know what? Before I even go any further, the first thing we need to do is get back to the movie theater.

[0:22] J.J.: Let's go!

[0:30] Olaf: We are going to be jumping back into a huge franchise that we've been talking about. We're kind of right in the halfway point of it, right in the middle of it.

[0:51] J.J.: Yeah, pretty much.

[0:52] Olaf: And that is the Harry Potter series.

[0:54] J.J.: And that's right. We're gonna be talking about Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.

[0:58] Olaf: And this is when the books get really, really big.

[1:01] J.J.: Well, I think these two are the biggest books in the series.

[1:05] Olaf: In the series. I think so. And the irony is that these two books are big, but the length of at least Order of the Phoenix is one of the shorter.

[1:14] J.J.: Is shorter, yeah.

[1:15] Olaf: Right.

[1:16] J.J.: Yeah, because Goblet of Fire, I always thought was a short movie to a long book, but it's really not that short. It's like the second longest or something like that.

[1:24] Olaf: Yeah, and the book is huge.

[1:26] J.J.: So much so that there was a thought there where they were gonna make this movie into two movies.

[1:31] Olaf: Into two movies.

[1:32] J.J.: They were gonna make this book into two movies.

[1:33] Olaf: Yeah. But the director, Mike Newell, thought, nope, I can do it. And he just got rid of a bunch of stuff.

[1:38] J.J.: We're just gonna cut a bunch of stuff.

[1:40] Olaf: Yeah, which, as someone watching the movie and doesn't know what was cut, yeah, it was good. I enjoy this movie.

[1:46] J.J.: I struggle to watch this movie. It's just, there are elements of this movie that just don't appeal to me. They don't entertain me in any way.

[1:53] Olaf: Well, let's get into it. Goblet of Fire came out 2005. It's one of the rare PG-13 episodes.

[2:00] J.J.: This is two hours, 37 minutes, which I believe is like the second longest. The longest being the second one.

[2:07] Olaf: I think that was like two hours and 40 something minutes.

[2:10] J.J.: Rotten Tomatoes has this at 88%.

[2:12] Olaf: Okay. I mean, that's, I mean, I can't fight that. I mean, that's great. It's a good, critically, it's a really good movie.

[2:18] J.J.: And the audience score is 74%, which doesn't surprise me because I always get this feeling that there's this, a lot of hate for this movie.

[2:27] Olaf: I guess I can understand it, granted it's coming from a lot of people who read the books, so.

[2:31] J.J.: Well, there is that. They do cut, he did, like we just said, he cut a lot of stuff out of the book to get this into a two, over two and a half hour movie.

[2:39] Olaf: There are elements of the book that I don't really enjoy that much that made their way into the film that needed to be in the film, obviously, that I just didn't like.

[2:46] J.J.: This was, like we said, directed by Mike Newell. He's done a lot of stuff, including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco and just a lot.

[2:56] Olaf: But he's never done anything really like big tentpole fantasy type movie before. And he even says that this is not his forte.

[3:05] J.J.: I thought he did a great job, though.

[3:07] Olaf: Yeah. John Williams, not here. We get, for our composer, we get Patrick Doyle. He's done Carlito's Way. He did Thor. He did Pixar's Brave and a few other things.

[3:20] J.J.: Yeah, he does a lot of Kenneth Branagh. I mean, he's sort of Kenneth Branagh's guy.

[3:25] Olaf: The cast for this one, we have a handful of people joining the show this time around. We have David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr.

[3:33] J.J.: We have Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory. And this is his film debut. Jeff Rall as Amos Diggory. Stanislav Yanevsky as Victor Crum.

[3:44] Olaf: Katie Leung as Cho Chang. Francis De La Torre as Madame Olympe Maxime. Clemens Posey as Fleur Delacour. Doing great with these names.

[3:55] J.J.: You're doing fantastic.

[3:57] Olaf: Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody. And the amazing Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort.

[4:05] J.J.: The last two, Brendan Gleeson and, of course, Ralph Fiennes, their addition to this film make this film for me. The highlight of the film.

[4:12] Olaf: The fourth film in history to gross over $100 million domestically in its opening weekend. This is after Spider-Man, Shrek 2, Star Wars Episode 3. Not bad.

[4:24] J.J.: And not surprising. I mean, when you consider the anticipation for every single one of these was at an all-time high.

[4:30] Olaf: And then one other fact that I thought was kind of interesting, this was David Tennant's first American film.

[4:36] J.J.: Yeah, I had forgotten that he plays Barty Crouch Jr. And it wasn't until I started watching and I went, when he shows up at the beginning at the Quidditch thing, I was like, oh, okay, cool. I had totally forgotten that that was him.

[4:50] Olaf: I was surprised that that was his first American film. He's been around for so long.

[4:55] J.J.: Well, the Doctor Who stuff really sort of puts him in everybody's forefront.

[4:59] Olaf: So the movie opens, we get that logo, Moody. The music is really good.

[5:04] J.J.: Oh, Patrick Doyle is great. This was a cool opener because it was the first time we don't get like a Harry-centric opening.

[5:12] Olaf: Oh, yeah.

[5:13] J.J.: It's totally op. I mean, we find out that it's his dream, of course.

[5:16] Olaf: You're kind of like, wait, what's happening?

[5:17] J.J.: Yeah, what's happening?

[5:18] Olaf: Who's this guy?

[5:19] J.J.: Yeah, who's the old dude, you know, watching over the...

[5:24] Olaf: The old caretaker with the...

[5:26] J.J.: Yeah, the old caretaker.

[5:27] Olaf: Get off my lawn energy.

[5:29] J.J.: I feel like I'm too critical on this film.

[5:31] Olaf: Yeah, I would agree.

[5:32] J.J.: Because even watching it, there were moments that I really liked. They just were overshadowed by a lot of things I don't like.

[5:38] Olaf: I thought they did such a great job of capturing what came before and really nailing the aesthetic and the doom and gloom.

[5:47] J.J.: Also, I think we're only like five minutes in, if not less, when we get for the first time, I believe, Avada Kedavra, the killing curse.

[5:54] Olaf: Yes, I think so, too.

[5:56] J.J.: Yeah, less than five minutes into this movie. Here we go.

[5:59] Olaf: Yeah, no Dursleys in this.

[6:02] J.J.: No.

[6:03] Olaf: But really, that's because they wanted more money and they were like, sorry. So they just cut them out of the movie completely.

[6:09] J.J.: Which is crazy. I mean, from a story standpoint, it works.

[6:13] Olaf: Harry's at the Weasleys. Like, honestly, I don't know why I just didn't move in with them.

[6:17] J.J.: Well, you find out and I read and I read this somewhere as well. The reason why he goes back to the Dursleys at the end of every year is because Petunia, the sister, carries, unbeknownst to herself, I think, the ability to be able to protect Harry because of the lineage and all this.

[6:34] Olaf: So that's why. Because I think the same thing. I'm like, why are you with them? They clearly hate you. You could be having such a great summer with the Weasleys hanging out and doing shenanigans. But that's why.

[6:46] J.J.: We get our intro to Cedric Diggory and he literally falls out of a tree out of nowhere because right before he drops down, there's an establishing shot of the Weasleys walking up to his dad who's standing by this big tree.

[7:02] Olaf: And there's a giant like branch thing and no one's on it. Right. And then they cut to his dad and out of nowhere, boof, out of nowhere.

[7:11] J.J.: I found it interesting that Henry Cavill and Eddie Redmayne both auditioned for Cedric, but Robert Pattinson had gone on record saying, I would have loved to have played Cedric again instead of the Twilight Saga.

[7:24] Olaf: Yeah, it's one of those things where I think he found far more success, but I don't think success was something he was after. I think he's one of those that really enjoys the work and the art.

[7:34] J.J.: Which is really cool that he's been able to find that, like strip away that success, quote unquote, to get to do what he really loves to do.

[7:42] Olaf: Because I really enjoyed him in a lot of other stuff.

[7:44] J.J.: Agreed. And he was good and he was serviceable in this.

[7:47] Olaf: Yeah, there's not a lot for him to do in this. Right. But what he did was great. We get an introduction to port keys.

[7:55] J.J.: Yeah. So it seems like every year we get a new way of getting around. I wrote that they also seem incredibly unsafe.

[8:05] Olaf: Well, I love it. They're like, hold on to the boot. Let go. Just let go of the boot.

[8:10] J.J.: Let go.

[8:11] Olaf: Who's tested this thing?

[8:13] J.J.: We're not going to even try to tell you how to land.

[8:15] Olaf: We're not. And then what you're going to do is you're going to fall flat on your face and then you're going to watch us sort of coasting on our feet.

[8:23] J.J.: Yeah. And then we get the Quidditch World Cup. It's Quidditch outside of the school grounds.

[8:31] Olaf: In my opinion, not enough.

[8:33] J.J.: It was really cool.

[8:34] Olaf: And I would have loved to have seen actual matches being played in this environment because we get Quidditch in the other films in the school setting.

[8:42] J.J.: But they make such a big deal about this being the World Quidditch Cup or whatever.

[8:46] Olaf: And the introductions are so elaborate. But then we don't actually get to see any sort of play.

[8:52] J.J.: I did have this question about the Quidditch World Cup and how this works. Is Victor Crum, is he a student and a professional Quidditch player?

[9:01] Olaf: Is that a thing? I mean, in the worlds we know, you're kind of either one or the other.

[9:05] J.J.: Yeah, right. So maybe he's got a year of eligibility left and so he can still be at the school because you're right.

[9:12] Olaf: I don't know. So he's like necessary roughness.

[9:15] J.J.: I don't know, because obviously the whole one of the main themes of this of this movie and book is the Triwizard Tournament.

[9:22] Olaf: But I'm always under the impression that it's schools that are coming to.

[9:26] J.J.: So maybe he's that good that he is still in school.

[9:29] Olaf: But he is a superstar.

[9:32] J.J.: But he's not asked to play Quidditch in the Triwizard Tournament.

[9:35] Olaf: He just happens to be really good at it. And so he does that.

[9:38] J.J.: Well, there's no Quidditch in the Triwizard Tournament.

[9:41] Olaf: You know, like kids play league soccer or league whatever in their school. Maybe he's that good.

[9:46] J.J.: Yeah, I don't know. I found that very confusing on how that actually.

[9:49] Olaf: It's like LeBron was playing high school, but he could have played NBA, you know.

[9:53] J.J.: But I understand at the same time. I don't know. It's a good question.

[9:56] Olaf: I'm not nearly as critical about this movie as you are.

[9:59] J.J.: But there was one thing that I thought was stupid and unnecessary.

[10:03] Olaf: The ball. Oh, sorry.

[10:05] J.J.: We've been watching this movie for like 10, 15 minutes now.

[10:08] Olaf: And they've gone to the cup and there's been attacks and all this stuff right out of nowhere.

[10:13] J.J.: They're on the train going to school.

[10:16] Olaf: And Ron is just suddenly like got a problem with Harry being hairy and rich and all of this stuff.

[10:22] J.J.: It just comes out of nowhere. It's like.

[10:24] Olaf: And then it just snowballs from there to the point where they're not even talking to each other.

[10:29] J.J.: This is one of my major problems with this film.

[10:32] Olaf: And it's no it's not a hit on Rupert Grint because he plays this character very well.

[10:37] J.J.: I'm not. I'm not. Right. No, I'm.

[10:39] Olaf: This is more about me. There's more. It's not what I'm about to say is nothing to do with him.

[10:43] J.J.: I can't take his character in this film.

[10:46] Olaf: I and Ron is one of my least favorite characters.

[10:49] J.J.: A lot of people love him because of the comedic all this and the way he plays it.

[10:52] Olaf: Well, I know he's he's more loved in the books than he is in the movies.

[10:57] J.J.: I cannot stand his character in this movie. And you're right.

[10:59] Olaf: It subsequently does come out of nowhere. Yeah.

[11:02] J.J.: I feel like they try to explain it, but he's such a jerk in this movie.

[11:08] Olaf: It's so poorly explained. But then immediately after the first challenge is done, they're best buds again.

[11:15] J.J.: It's all water under the bridge. And it's just weird to me.

[11:19] Olaf: So you mentioned that on the train he starts showing signs.

[11:23] J.J.: That's the first time we see it there at the candy cart.

[11:26] Olaf: And he doesn't have money to get the things he wanted.

[11:29] J.J.: And Harry's like, oh, I'll get it for you. He's like, no, thanks. Oh, right, right.

[11:32] Olaf: And that's the first time we get any sort of like, oh, trouble in paradise.

[11:37] J.J.: Right. And then, of course, Harry's name gets thrown into the goblet.

[11:41] Olaf: But even after the first challenge and then they're like best buddies, he never apologizes to Harry.

[11:48] J.J.: He's like, sorry for being such a jerk. Yeah, sorry.

[11:50] Olaf: I was being and I'm like, dude, I can't, man.

[11:53] J.J.: Well, they have they have this weird little makeup session that even Hermione is like, boys, I know.

[12:01] Olaf: But it's it the whole thing was weak and stupid and pointless because it did not affect anything in the story.

[12:08] J.J.: Really. Now you can chalk some of these things up to this time in their life, which I thought was done very well.

[12:15] Olaf: The puberty element of their characters as they're now 14 years old and the dynamics between the guys and the girls and the winter ball, which is heavily prominent in the book as well. They did a really good job getting these sorts of emotions and these things out of the actors.

[12:32] J.J.: Oh, yeah. I every film and I've said this before, is capturing this moment in time for kids growing up and the things that they're the problems they're dealing with and the challenges of puberty and all of that stuff.

[12:44] Olaf: We get the other schools arrival, the Bobaton School of Girls.

[12:49] J.J.: They show up. All the boys entrance is great, by the way. It's very ballet like and dancey and it's it's it's great.

[12:58] Olaf: And the boys are in love when the Durmstrang School shows up and they do their flips and everything.

[13:04] J.J.: They have the exact same intro music that the Hungarian Quidditch World Cup team had for their intro music.

[13:11] Olaf: It's probably Victor Crumb going, hey, I got a great walk in for us. We use it on our team, my team.

[13:18] J.J.: So are you saying that the Hungarian team is the Durmstrang school?

[13:23] Olaf: It could be. I mean, at the end of the day, only one of those people is going to be in the tournament.

[13:28] J.J.: Very confusing. Very confusing. We also get introduced to the idea of an aura, and these are like basically dark wizard catchers.

[13:35] Olaf: Mad-Eye Moody showing up, and he's taking over the class for Defense Against the Dark Arts, which, classic, it's not going to go well.

[13:44] J.J.: Mad-Eye Moody in this film is very much like Snape was in the first film, where you don't know if he's good or bad. He's there to help Harry, but for his own gain, because Snape is not in this film.

[13:54] Olaf: He's in this movie, but he's not in this movie.

[13:59] J.J.: Not a lot, yeah. I think it's just because there's just so much to do, and they had to really focus on what they're going to show.

[14:05] Olaf: So yeah, I think a lot of people took back seats, but from a movie story standpoint, it didn't bother me, because this was more world-building that we needed to do to move forward, and I thought they did great.

[14:21] J.J.: Mad-Eye introduces in the class the three unforgivable curses, which he asks, why are they unforgivable? And Hermione's first answer is, well, because they're unforgivable.

[14:37] Olaf: We get it. The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and Avada Kedavra. You're pretending to be a teacher, that you have to teach these kids this thing.

[14:48] J.J.: If you're one of the kids, do you feel like you're learning anything? Are you questioning? This whole plan of the Dark Lord's, having his guy infiltrate the school as a teacher, not a great plan, because he has to have an entire syllabus, an entire plan for the year.

[15:07] Olaf: Curriculum's got to be set. He's just walking in the day before in the rain, drinking polyjuice potion, which we don't know what he's drinking.

[15:16] J.J.: First of all, you just think he's got a drinking problem, which he plays very great. I mean, he plays great. We get the Owl Aviary Tower, which we'd never seen before.

[15:27] Olaf: Makes sense that they would have it, I guess. It's like, where do these owls go? Harry's never carrying his animal around, ever.

[15:33] J.J.: Sirius Black makes a brief cameo in the fireplace.

[15:38] Olaf: He does this twice, because he does it in this movie, and then he does it later. And I'm going to tell you, this version, I prefer.

[15:44] J.J.: I agree. The goblet of fire fire thing is really cool. When they do it again later, it's more like his face is projected on a flame.

[15:52] Olaf: Yeah. It looks cheaper. It doesn't look as good.

[15:55] J.J.: I agree. We get the first challenge of three, 58 minutes into the movie.

[16:01] Olaf: Yeah, because we were too busy on the winter ball for like 30 of those minutes. Like, we get it.

[16:06] J.J.: I think the only thing that was really wasted in the first 58 minutes was this whole forced fight between Ron and Harry.

[16:14] Olaf: But other than that, I didn't have a problem with anything, because I was like, oh, I'm learning stuff. I'm seeing the world being built, so it didn't bother me.

[16:23] J.J.: But I did note, I was like, how much time has it been when this first challenge starts? Oh, 58 minutes.

[16:29] Olaf: Right. And we still have another hour and a half or hour and 40 of this movie left.

[16:34] J.J.: And I gotta say, the dragon challenge was great. The dragon effects were great. I really liked it. It was a lot of fun.

[16:41] Olaf: The dragon breaking free from the chain and then landing on the school itself, that stuff's not in the book. They did a really good job of creating that chase sequence through the school.

[16:51] J.J.: I thought that was, yeah, I thought that was done really well. There's your favorite part, the ball.

[17:05] Olaf: After that first challenge, we get the ball.

[17:07] J.J.: Oh, is that when it happens?

[17:08] Olaf: Yeah. We get the ball after the first challenge.

[17:10] J.J.: Oh, my goodness. And I wrote down two things. One, I wrote the director does a great job capturing the young teenage problems with love and friendships.

[17:20] Olaf: And you feel it, you relive it. And then I wrote, oh, the dance. But I followed that up with just brings back bad memories.

[17:29] J.J.: You get the people that are super confident in themselves at an early age, or if they're not, they're doing a great job of faking it.

[17:35] Olaf: And then you get Harry and Ron who are sitting like off in to the side with their dates who are having a miserable time.

[17:43] J.J.: And yeah, and I completely because I have definitely been in that chair off in the back at an empty table.

[17:53] Olaf: Yeah.

[17:54] J.J.: Oh, boy. I just felt like, can we get this moving? Now, I do want to get into this next part because it's going to show up later and completely feel forced and unearned.

[18:03] Olaf: But Neville Longbottom, his date for the ball is Ginny Weasley.

[18:08] J.J.: And it makes so much sense when you see them together at the dance. It feels way more earned than Harry and Ginny later on.

[18:17] Olaf: It's explained way better in the books. Apparently, Ginny dated a few dudes.

[18:22] J.J.: Neville was just like you just throw in Neville because he did ask her to the show. I think in like every film or she's with or every book, she's with somebody new until she finally gets to Harry.

[18:30] Olaf: And we don't get that. We get Neville and then we get Dean right later on. But in this movie, we get Neville. All of it makes way more sense than when we get Harry and Ginny later.

[18:42] J.J.: I just had to say that I had to get it out.

[18:44] Olaf: Hey, you're not going to get an argument. We're covering those movies, too. And we'll get more into it then.

[18:49] J.J.: But they try in the film with Cho and Harry.

[18:52] Olaf: But even that feels like it feels forced. It doesn't go anywhere in the film because of because he had to cut so much.

[19:00] J.J.: A lot of that gets lost.

[19:03] Olaf: The bath scene.

[19:04] J.J.: Oh, thank you for bringing this up. Moaning Myrtle.

[19:06] Olaf: It's so awkward. It's such it's an excuse to bring Moaning Myrtle back.

[19:11] J.J.: Sure. But and I know why you think it's awkward. I don't even want to steal this from you. So I'm just going to let you go ahead and complete your thought because I'm so glad you brought it up.

[19:18] Olaf: The age gap between the two actors is like what? 20 years?

[19:24] J.J.: 20, 30 years. She's so much older and she's playing a student trying.

[19:29] Olaf: You don't notice it when she was in it before, but you notice it.

[19:33] J.J.: You start to notice it now. She does look older, but she's very flirty.

[19:37] Olaf: She's definitely seeing things that she shouldn't be seeing.

[19:41] J.J.: Completely agree with you. One hundred and fifty percent rewatching it. I was like cringe.

[19:45] Olaf: She is so over the top flirty with him that even if they were the same age, it's still cringe and still awkward.

[19:52] J.J.: Also, I had to mention the bath is enormous. It's like the whole room is so bubbly.

[19:59] Olaf: Like, does he have to add the bubble? Like, what's going on?

[20:01] J.J.: I'm sure there was a spell for that, but like this is the same room that opened into the chamber of secrets.

[20:07] Olaf: And now and I was like, I don't remember seeing a bath. Why is that bath need to be that big?

[20:12] J.J.: Yeah, it's huge. What's going on? It's a pool. It's not a bath.

[20:16] Olaf: So the second challenge shows up an hour and a half into the movie.

[20:21] J.J.: So we waited an hour. Then we had to wait another 30 minutes for the because we got the ball because we had 30 minutes of the ball.

[20:28] Olaf: And when they're all underwater swimming around, I wrote that they were some way easier, less intrusive ways to breathe underwater because, you know, Cedric and Flora, they've just got like these bubble masks, then growing gills and fins or turning into a shark.

[20:43] J.J.: Yeah, but the shark, the shark thing was a little over the top for Victor Crumb.

[20:48] Olaf: But it almost feels like in character.

[20:50] J.J.: So on brand.

[20:51] Olaf: Yeah. But with Harry, I was like, that looked incredibly painful. If he wasn't given what is I can't remember what it's called.

[20:58] J.J.: Gillyweed. If he wasn't given that, how was he supposed to complete this task?

[21:02] Olaf: Well, because they've said people have died on these.

[21:06] J.J.: Right.

[21:06] Olaf: Well, Cedric and the girl clearly had this sort of thing, which makes you think there are ways to breathe underwater.

[21:13] J.J.: And Harry just didn't know them, I guess.

[21:16] Olaf: I mean, although the gills fin thing was cool.

[21:18] J.J.: And then my other question for this challenge was, was Flora's sister just going to die if Harry hadn't tried helping?

[21:25] Olaf: Yeah.

[21:26] J.J.: And that's that's what would have happened to Hermione, too. That's why he was trying to save Hermione also.

[21:30] Olaf: And he's like, she's my friend. Also, you can only choose one. Fortunately, Victor saved her.

[21:34] J.J.: Yeah.

[21:35] Olaf: But yeah, the sister would have would have died when they mentioned that people have died in the Triwizard Cup.

[21:41] J.J.: I didn't think that it was just innocent bystanders being used as an incentive to do the challenge.

[21:46] Olaf: I assumed it was one of the students in the chair. Are these are these sacrifices or these participants?

[21:53] J.J.: Are they willing participants? Are they are they snatched in the middle of the night?

[21:57] Olaf: All of a sudden, they were snatched.

[22:00] J.J.: Yeah, they they were snatched. And then all of a sudden they're underwater. They have no idea what's going on and they're just hoping for the best.

[22:04] Olaf: Yeah.

[22:04] J.J.: So I just was like, so if he hadn't rescued, I guess she's and they don't seem to mind that they were like they were underwater.

[22:12] Olaf: Like when they get rescued, it's like sweet.

[22:15] J.J.: Like I would have been like, why? Why did you take me? I don't want any part of this.

[22:20] Olaf: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe there was maybe they weren't kidnapped. Maybe they were just there was a discussion.

[22:26] J.J.: Yeah, I don't know.

[22:28] Olaf: And then they were like, sure, if they don't get you, you'll be fine.

[22:31] J.J.: Yeah. And again, everybody, these are clearly plot holes of the film.

[22:35] Olaf: Yeah, I'm sure.

[22:37] J.J.: I mean, this book is huge. There are ways that the book's going to fill in a lot of these holes and questions that we have.

[22:42] Olaf: But we're not going off of the books. We're just going off of the movie because some of us, like myself, have read the books.

[22:49] J.J.: And I'm sorry.

[22:50] Olaf: Yeah, I'm sorry.

[22:53] J.J.: I try. There's still there's still time for the movie. The Pensieve makes its debut where we get to look into memories and then you basically just go back in time, which I thought was really cool.

[23:04] Olaf: Yeah, I thought they did a cool job of throwing him into the trial of a Hungarian Death Eater.

[23:09] J.J.: And then we do get that moment, I think, prior to this, where Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody does the tongue thing, which David Tennant sort of just chose to do.

[23:19] Olaf: He made this sort of actor choice to do the toad tongue thing, which I thought was cool.

[23:23] J.J.: Yeah. Did we need it?

[23:25] Olaf: Well, we need it as a characteristic because that's how Barty Crouch suspects that his son might be Mad-Eye Moody.

[23:31] J.J.: And that's why he ends up dead in the forest.

[23:32] Olaf: I guess.

[23:33] J.J.: The third and final challenge, just under two hours.

[23:37] Olaf: So we waited almost another 30 minutes is about 25 minutes before the final challenge shows up.

[23:42] J.J.: The hedge maze doesn't make a lot of sense and it feels a little rushed.

[23:47] Olaf: I agree. J.K. Rowling was inspired by Kubrick's The Shining.

[23:51] J.J.: Which is fine. I love a good spooky hedge maze, but it's so rushed and nothing's explained.

[23:57] Olaf: So I don't really know what's going on. And then Victor Crumb almost immediately is hexed.

[24:04] J.J.: So now he's got these weird eyes and he's like, what is happening here?

[24:08] Olaf: I didn't understand it. They sort of try to explain it.

[24:12] J.J.: I feel like the French girl gets totally shortchanged through this whole tournament.

[24:17] Olaf: Oh, yeah. The first challenge, we don't even see the other three do the dragon thing. You just hear another dragon has been whatever, blah, blah, blah.

[24:25] J.J.: The second one, she gets taken out. The third one, she gets pulled it like she does nothing in this tournament.

[24:32] Olaf: I feel bad. Can we at least let her sort of succeed a little bit?

[24:37] J.J.: No. Okay.

[24:38] Olaf: Harry mentions that Victor Crumb was bewitched. But I'm like, when did that happen?

[24:42] J.J.: We didn't see it.

[24:43] Olaf: He just is. Who did it? Did he do it himself?

[24:45] J.J.: We spent 45 minutes learning to dance and going to a winter's ball.

[24:51] Olaf: So we couldn't we had no time.

[24:53] J.J.: I want to get into this. We don't have to spend a lot of time on it because we still have another movie to cover.

[24:58] Olaf: But this is the best part of the movie.

[25:01] J.J.: The last 30 minutes are the best part of this film.

[25:05] Olaf: Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort makes his appearance.

[25:08] J.J.: He has eight minutes of screen time.

[25:10] Olaf: Kill the spare.

[25:12] J.J.: He is so good in this.

[25:15] Olaf: Cedric gets killed immediately.

[25:17] J.J.: And then Voldemort in the movie, at least, has seems to have forgotten that Harry's even there.

[25:22] Olaf: And he's just talking to his Death Eaters and everything.

[25:26] J.J.: And he is killing it. It's just so good.

[25:29] Olaf: This is one of the best portrayals of a villain ever, I think.

[25:33] J.J.: He's awesome.

[25:34] Olaf: He shot two days on this movie.

[25:36] J.J.: I'm surprised it was two days.

[25:38] Olaf: I know. It's so perfectly done because you get just enough to go, I want more.

[25:42] J.J.: You're going to have to wait.

[25:44] Olaf: Oh, man, you leave that theater like, whoa, because it really ends on such a dour note.

[25:51] J.J.: Harry in this scene, when they get back, he gets Cedric back to his dad because Cedric's like, take me back to my father.

[25:57] Olaf: That moment with the dad is one of the best scenes in the movie.

[26:02] J.J.: Yeah. The last 30 minutes of this film.

[26:05] Olaf: So good.

[26:05] J.J.: It makes up for that 30 to 40 in the second third of the film that are just like, can we?

[26:11] Olaf: I enjoy this movie. I really do.

[26:13] J.J.: But especially this time around when I was watching it, I was just waiting to get to the end.

[26:18] Olaf: Because that ending is just so good.

[26:21] J.J.: Fortunately, the last half hour is that strong that it does sort of go, OK, you haven't lost me.

[26:27] Olaf: So now it's 2007 and we get The Order of the Phoenix.

[26:32] J.J.: I love this book and I love this movie. A lot of people.

[26:36] J.J.: Give it a lot of flack because a lot was cut because it is a very long book and it's only two hours and 18 minutes.

[26:43] Olaf: Yeah, it's not that you're right. Yeah, he shot a three-hour movie though. Yeah, but it's really short. Rotten Tomatoes gives this a 78% but the audience gives an 81.

[26:50] J.J.: Okay, Rotten Tomatoes could be higher.

[26:54] Olaf: Well, they both could be higher but 81.

[26:56] J.J.: Okay.

[26:56] J.J.: The director and the composer that take over from here take it the rest of the way. We got David Yates and Nicholas Hooper. All they do now is Harry Potter.

[27:03] Olaf: Yeah, David Yates wasn't even like the fourth choice to make this movie.

[27:11] J.J.: But clearly was there the right choice because he sticks with it till the end. Nicholas Hooper, wow, his music from here to the end is so good.

[27:22] Olaf: Yeah, I was watching the movies and just enjoying the music. Yeah, it definitely sets the tone because this movie is subsequent dark.

[27:30] J.J.: Oh, it's very dark. Yeah.

[27:32] Olaf: I mean, they just get darker. The cast, Catherine Hunter as Mrs. Fig, apparently this is a character that is in the books a lot more but we only get her introduction in this movie. Natalia Tina or Tana is Nymphadora Tonks.

[27:50] J.J.: Yeah.

[27:50] Olaf: George Harris is Kingsley Shacklebolt. He's got one of the best lines in the franchise. You gotta hand it to Dumbledore, the man's got style. Style, I love that. I love that line.

[28:02] J.J.: Imelda Staunton is Dolores Umbridge, as one of the worst villains ever. Dame Imelda Staunton brings it. Ivana Lynch as Luna Lovegood and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange. Helen McCrory was originally cast as Bellatrix Lestrange. We see her in the next film as Mrs. Malfoy. She would have been good too and she's fantastic.

[28:27] Olaf: But she was pregnant at the time that she was cast as Bellatrix, so she couldn't do it. So they replaced her with Helena Bonham Carter, and then she was invited back too as Narcissa Malfoy, who is Bellatrix's sister.

[28:40] J.J.: Stephen King is on record saying that the character of Dolores Umbridge was the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter.

[28:45] Olaf: Yes. Hey, okay. Yep. Yep. Awful she is, man, and it's just a testament to how brilliant she is as an actress. Prior to this, I mean, laundry list of things. She was in Much Ado About Nothing with Branagh and Emma Thompson, and the scene that she and Emma Thompson have, which we'll talk about later, is great too. And you know, this had the biggest first day gross of a Harry Potter movie. That's amazing.

[29:12] J.J.: We got our logo draped in black smoke and everything is super creepy. The opening of this movie just feels mature and helpless. It reminded me of Terminator 2, this sort of like playground merry-go-round.

[29:27] Olaf: Yeah, where are we? What's happening from here on out? Everybody's an adult. Harry has clearly grown up. Dudley is a full-on bully with his posse.

[29:37] J.J.: I know.

[29:39] Olaf: The Dementors attack in the Muggle world, which was pretty intense, but I did write down, weirdly, I really missed the Dursleys in the previous film. We didn't get to see them in the last film and now we get them back in this one. It was like, oh, hey guys, missed you. They're not in this movie. They're in like five seconds of this movie, but that's kind of the other ones.

[29:57] J.J.: Well, I mean, the other one, they're in quite a lot because in the second one, it's like a dinner party. There's like things that they're doing. There's a gradual decline because they're not important anymore.

[30:11] Olaf: Right, get it. We know where he's from and all of that stuff, so we don't need them as much. But seeing them again, I was like, oh, yes.

[30:16] J.J.: Yeah, it was cool because they're part of this world.

[30:22] Olaf: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I thought the Dementor attack was pretty spooky.

[30:25] J.J.: No, I thought they did a cool job because obviously that's the catalyst for this first portion of the film is that, you know, he has to use magic to save himself and Dudley.

[30:34] Olaf: Yeah, and then immediately gets expelled for using magic outside of school grounds.

[30:44] J.J.: Automatically, he's expelled. Clearly, Cornelius Fudge has it in for him.

[30:48] Olaf: The whole ministry does.

[30:55] J.J.: The whole ministry does. The theme throughout this is there is no Voldemort. He is not back, right?

[31:01] Olaf: So where are you thinking? Well, is Voldemort have a hand in the ministry? No, the ministry is just like, yes.

[31:06] J.J.: Well, yes, but you don't know that at this point.

[31:09] Olaf: Yeah, you're just thinking the ministry.

[31:13] J.J.: Well, I see, I had my suspicions because it just seemed like he was putting people in the ministry that were Death Eaters, that were supporters that were influencing everything, just not enough yet to expel him because clearly Dumbledore gets there in time to defend Harry. And this is where we get the first scene of Imelda Staunton as Umbridge, who's just all like that smile, yeah, raising her hand like, yeah, let's expel this kid.

[31:35] Olaf: And before we even get to the trial, we get introduced to the Order of the Phoenix. They rescue him from the Dursleys. They take him to their headquarters, which is also Sirius Black's old home, I guess, where he grew up.

[31:46] J.J.: Yeah, his family and such a cool effect. Their headquarters is hiding in an apartment building that widens to show the actual building, but nobody notices or feels the building move. You see like stuff shaking, but they're just watching TV.

[32:02] Olaf: Another tremor, I guess. So does that happen every time somebody leaves, I guess?

[32:08] J.J.: Yeah, I gotta do is look out the window and see that your building's moving. But yeah.

[32:11] Olaf: Yeah, and so Dumbledore has ordered everyone, including his friends, to keep him in the dark.

[32:17] J.J.: Okay, it's a tactic and a plan and all this stuff, and I totally get it. But Dumbledore's last line in the previous movie, remember you have friends, you're not alone, right? And then immediately over the summer decides he is alone. He doesn't have friends.

[32:28] Olaf: Right.

[32:30] J.J.: Nobody talked to him, and the whole movie he is just actively ignoring Harry. He shows up to defend him, and he does a brilliant job of doing it, but at no point does he look at Harry? Does he say hello? Nothing, it's tough.

[32:51] Olaf: No, absolutely.

[32:52] J.J.: But it forces him to build on relationships that he already has with his friends and with Sirius. I wanted more. I wanted more of Harry and Sirius. That's going to be a critique of this film is, you know, their dynamic is so good and his character in Sirius Black is so good that, yeah, we criminally did not get enough.

[33:10] Olaf: Yeah, the set for the Ministry of Magic is incredible. What an amazing set with the whole hallway because that's real. Like there's plenty of CGI stuff like the giant statues and stuff like that, it's all fake. The actual hallway and stuff that, oh yeah, it's coming to work and walking in, that is so incredible.

[33:30] J.J.: I just look at that, I'm like, wow, so cool. I would have loved to have been on that set.

[33:34] Olaf: Yeah, we get Dumbledore's full name. He comes in and says it, doesn't he?

[33:38] J.J.: Yeah, my favorite one because they're all like out these outrageous names and then Brian's so pedestrian.

[33:46] Olaf: Yeah, I wrote this note, the adult cast is killing it. Welcome back Snape for starters. Snape's back.

[33:56] J.J.: Like all the heavy hitters are back in this movie because we've got Professor Lupin, we've got Sirius, we've got Snape, we've got Dumbledore, we've got every big name British actor who has even come and gone.

[34:08] Olaf: Yeah, are back for the most part. Even Trelawney, Emma Thompson, and she's wonderful. Yeah, they're all serving first-class these high-caliber actors, these legends. They're all doing these tiny parts where they're almost just like background characters for most of it if they're even in it, but when they are, oh my gosh, they just deliver.

[34:31] J.J.: It's just what a privilege to watch even the smallest amount of stuff that they get to bring. What I also love too is that the kids now, who are now young adults, have all gotten better.

[34:45] Olaf: They've not really, right?

[34:47] J.J.: It wasn't like any real, and did nobody really had a drop-off in acting where they're just like, they're not cute anymore, so they're not good.

[34:55] Olaf: No.

[34:55] J.J.: No, they leveled up, which makes the scenes with the older actors that much better because now these older actors have more fun because now it's almost, yeah, absolutely cool playing field.

[35:07] Olaf: Especially with Oldman. Look, we already know, I'm not saying anything that nobody already knows. Gary Oldman, it doesn't matter what he's doing, who he's playing, the guy is inherently cool and awesome.

[35:20] J.J.: It doesn't matter if he's playing Dracula, if he's playing Lee Harvey Oswald, if he's playing Sid Vicious. I mean, it doesn't matter. He is a rock star in this.

[35:26] Olaf: Yeah, he even looks like a rock star.

[35:33] J.J.: This movie really does. Like this dude could be a front man for a band. I would go listen to his band.

[35:40] Olaf: He looks so cool and suave. It's just a treat on the world-building side. We get the festivals. We hadn't seen those before, and they're only seen by those who have seen death, which is Luna.

[35:52] J.J.: Yeah, which at the same moment we also get Luna Lovegood's introduction, and she's brilliant. I don't know the character from the books. I only know her in this, and I thought she was fantastic.

[36:02] Olaf: She's great. She was like stood in line at an open casting call or something, beat out a ton of people.

[36:07] J.J.: I did write down, she was exceptionally strange, but she does it in such a subtle way. Like even Neville, like everybody, you've already mentioned it, you can see definite characters. Ron becomes more palatable in this one. I don't know what anybody sees in him, but okay, he becomes more palatable.

[36:22] Olaf: Luna, you know, she has to show up with a developed character. She didn't have previous movies to grow. Like we've seen all these other students that have like one-liners or they're in key scenes in the background that we're like, oh yeah, I remember you from all the other ones. No, she has to just show up ready and as if she's been there the whole time, and she fits right in.

[36:45] J.J.: Yeah, like right, this falls right into place, slots right in.

[36:49] J.J.: We see Umbridge's office.

[37:01] Olaf: It's so great.

[37:02] J.J.: Oof, and apparently super expensive, the pink office with all the china plates with cats on them.

[37:08] Olaf: That are even the pen was designed by like the design department, the pen that he's got to write is...

[37:13] J.J.: Yeah, the pen. I could see where this wouldn't really be allowed anywhere, especially out of school.

[37:20] Olaf: It is full-blown torture. Like who's hiring?

[37:24] J.J.: Well, this time no one hired her. The ministry took over.

[37:28] Olaf: I couldn't point her because this is now the fifth Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and they're over five.

[37:35] J.J.: Yeah, the ministry's just taken over the school. Umbridge is put in all of these doctrines, and so like in the book, it's like 25. In the movie, it's a hundred. There's so many.

[37:47] Olaf: Which visually and grace is great, and from a comedic levity standpoint, it's hilarious to have Finch just like, he's all in. He's like, well, he's loving it. I'll put this ladder all as high as you want, wherever you want. Elch is like, this is what I wanted the school to be.

[38:04] J.J.: Yeah, this is great. That brings us to the students deciding enough's enough. Harry and Hermione and Ron deciding we've got to really do something. We're not being taught how to defend ourselves when we've got Voldemort out there, despite the fact that even the students aren't sure if that's real because the ministry's done such a thorough job of quashing any idea that Voldemort exists, right, and putting all the blame on Sirius Black. But they were like, yeah, Harry, you're the one who has all the experience. You can do all these things, so let's get people to sign up, and they go into town.

[38:38] Olaf: They meet all the students are there, or not all the students, but a big...

[38:43] J.J.: No, but you know the main players, the key players.

[38:45] Olaf: Yeah, and I really liked the scene. I liked how they handled it because like they have questions, and Harry's frustrated, and he's just like, look, I'm not here to talk about Cedric and all of that. If that's what you're here for, you can get out. And I just, I like that. And then everyone comes around, and they're like, is Voldemort back? And even Hermione makes a conscious choice to say Voldemort.

[39:06] J.J.: Yeah, I did like that because you're right, up to that point, nobody is really saying his name, and she makes that choice to take a moment. I'm gonna say his name, which I thought was a really cool moment.

[39:16] Olaf: Yeah, and we get everybody signing up, and then we get a brief moment of talking about how everybody signed up, and Hermione's like, well, definitely one thing that happened was Joe couldn't take her eyes off of you, which was like, okay, whatever. But Ginny is right behind them, and they give her this shot of like, and I'm like, there it is. This is them trying to set a moment.

[39:35] J.J.: Yeah, gross. Yeah, they find Neville stumbles upon the wall that then allows their Room of Requirement.

[39:45] Olaf: Yeah, the Room of Requirement, which in the book is a Dobby thing. I think Dobby tells them about the Room of Requirement, which I love the Room of Requirement scenes when they're actually...

[39:54] J.J. Gonzalez: Training and learning. I thought it was really cool. It's one of the things that I've always remembered about this movie is those moments. Yeah, as you get to see these kids sort of find ways to shine. We'll get our whole training montage. You see how everyone's supporting each other, even Neville, who's just constantly struggling just to do a simple defense spell. But when he finally does do it, everyone's just they're ready to hoist him up on their shoulders, which is great. We see how good of a teacher Harry ends up being despite his reluctance to do it in the first place. And then we get Harry and Cho's kiss, that's the first kiss in the franchise. Oh, it was this is what I don't like about it.

Cho is clearly going through some stuff. She's seeing Cedric's picture. She's, you know, she went to him. She was sort of dating him, I guess, in the fourth one, and they went to the ball together. Yeah, and so she's having this sort of grieving still moment and then they talk about it and then mistletoe. Let's shoehorn a kiss into this thing. And it was so awkward and uncomfortable. I was like, let's move on. I wasn't bothered by the kiss itself; I was just bothered of how they got to it. And then of course, that's it. Like they share this moment and then he's talking with Hermione and Ron about it and Ron's being his Ron self. How was it? And he goes, "It was wet." That moment, those two scenes that are kind of back-to-back to me were just kind of like, yeah, okay, there's a little dip in quality for me before we just sort of quickly pick back up into how great this movie is.

[41:30] Olaf Adzit: So Mr. Weasley gets attacked at the ministry. Apparently, Rowling had considered killing his character, but he was such a popular character that she changed her mind. She couldn't do it. And then later on, she almost killed him again in the great battle and just she's just was like, I can't do it. But what's interesting is in "Order of the Phoenix," she's like, I'm not gonna kill Weasley, so I'm gonna kill Sirius instead. Like that was her.

[41:57] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, well, you had to have someone of importance die to Harry.

[42:05] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, especially to Harry. Haven't gotten there yet.

[42:06] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, no, you're right.

[42:07] Olaf Adzit: So then we get a whole scene with Dumbledore and Potter and Snape shows up, and this is when Harry learns that he has a connection with Voldemort. Their minds are connected. So now Snape is in charge of teaching him to close his mind off and defend himself against Voldemort taking over his mind and stuff. And Alan Rickman being brilliant, he's just so good. And he sees great, and even in the subtle moments when he's summoned by Umbridge or when he's summoned by somebody else, he comes, he walks into these scenes and he's just so like, "You wanted to see me?"

[43:04] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, I can't help you.

[43:05] Olaf Adzit: Don't go.

[43:06] J.J. Gonzalez: But then, you know, in character, he'd be like, "No."

[43:10] Olaf Adzit: He would. You're like, "I'm gonna ask. I'm gonna have you come back in about 20 minutes, work you down."

[43:16] J.J. Gonzalez: We're getting there. Yes, I'll break down your defenses. It's true. No, he is brilliant. And obviously, as it's well known, he's the only one who's known what his endgame is. So knowing that on rewatches is fun to see how he's playing these things because he wants to help Harry here, but he does it in his own way.

[43:36] Olaf Adzit: Well, in the end, he does care about Harry because of Lily, but he sees so much of James in Harry that he makes it hard.

[43:44] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, he hates him most of the time.

[43:46] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, but yeah, we get Hagrid's first appearance in this is an hour and 15 minutes into the movie. And he doesn't do a whole lot.

[43:54] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and then the Death Eaters blow up as Caban basically, and there's a big breakout and all the other Death Eaters, including our first look at Bellatrix Lestrange, making her escape. And it's just one thing after another because then, you know, Umbridge breaks into the Room of Requirement and takes everybody hostage basically, and Dumbledore escapes from the ministry that we're trying to arrest him. That's when we get that great line, "Dumbledore's got stuck." That's a cool scene.

[44:16] Olaf Adzit: This is Michael Gambon's third now film as Dumbledore, and so he's getting more to do. He's sort of putting his own little flavor on it, and he'll admittedly say, "I didn't read the books. It wasn't gonna do me any good. All of the characters I play are just branches of my own personality."

[44:34] J.J. Gonzalez: That's one way to go.

[44:36] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, then we meet Hagrid's half-brother, Grop.

[44:40] J.J. Gonzalez: I think Grop or Gop.

[44:43] Olaf Adzit: Yeah.

[44:44] J.J. Gonzalez: He's all CG. He's a giant who's childlike. He's tied up by the waist in the dark forest. It's really strong rope.

[44:52] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, which at one point they're like, "I just want you to look after him because now that Umbridge is taking over, I'm probably gonna get fired and I'm out of here, but if you can just check in on him, you don't have to feed him. He gets his own food." And I was like, "How to line up to a tree a long strong rope?" And it's not even that long.

[45:09] J.J. Gonzalez: We see how long it is because he comes out towards them, and that's when we see that he's tied up. And I just was like, do things that he can eat just happen to keep getting within his circle?

[45:25] Olaf Adzit: Right. I mean, later on, you see that he has broken out of the rope, but he's been, he clearly hangs out there for a while. So, uh, yeah, the feeding thing, I was like, I don't know.

[45:37] J.J. Gonzalez: Okay.

[45:39] Olaf Adzit: Right. In a fun scene, we get to see Snape and Harry's parents as students, right? Harry kind of puts the old reversal on Snape and does the spell that, or allows us, I should say, and allows him to see in Snape's mind, in Snape's mind, in Snape's past.

[45:58] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and we see James and Sirius bullying Snape, and that was tough.

[46:04] Olaf Adzit: It is. This is the first time you, I believe it's the first time we see that part of his world in that time, and I liked it because it explains more of who Snape is, that he still holds on to that stuff, and it's sort of, it's a big deal. It informs how he walks through this world.

[46:23] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, in his life, all those scars that he carries with him.

[46:27] Olaf Adzit: Yeah. And what's interesting is that when Umbridge finally sort of has Harry where she wants him, Snape comes in and is like, "You summoned me?"

[46:32] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah.

[46:37] Olaf Adzit: Sorry, you used all of the stuff to get what you needed out, and Harry's is saying, "Hey, look, help us," and Snape's like, "Not interested." No. He goes, he mentions like Pat, like he meant, so Sirius goes to leave, and Harry, Snape goes to leave, and Harry, using nicknames as a coded message, says, "Padfoot has been taken to something or other," and he tells Umbridge, "I have no idea what he's talking about," right?

[47:07] J.J. Gonzalez: But we know that he passed on the information. He took that and passed it on.

[47:12] Olaf Adzit: Who was he referencing and like what was the message? Like what's the coded message?

[47:16] J.J. Gonzalez: He was saying that the Death Eaters are going after the prophecy, and his vision was that Voldemort had Sirius right in the room where the prophecy is. So he was telling him that so that they could, he could go warn the order. Now, it turns out that that's not true, that Voldemort, but we wanted him to think to see that.

[47:36] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, but that's how the order shows up to have the fight, the duel.

[47:41] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and we get that duel, and it is awesome. Dude, that whole scene, much like the last movie, the last 30-ish minutes of this movie or something, you're great. This whole movie is solid.

[47:49] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, last 30 is.

[47:53] J.J. Gonzalez: So they show up in that mysterious room with all the orbs and stuff, which is CG. That room is CG.

[47:58] Olaf Adzit: I see that whole thing because they did the math of how many of those orbs they would need to do it.

[48:04] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, CGI. We see the Death Eaters show up, and it's versus Death Eaters versus the students, which, yeah, because of their training, they do an okay job. But then we get the order. The order shows, Sirius comes in looking like a rock star with his wand.

[48:20] Olaf Adzit: He's winging that thing, the wands are going off, and it is exciting. It's like our first wizard battle that we've ever really, yeah, like the closest I think we've ever had was the wand duel in "Chamber of Secrets."

[48:34] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and that's why this is the part where I said earlier I wanted more, not only more of Harry and Sirius because Harry and Sirius are both fighting together against Lucius and somebody else, another Death Eater, and I'm like, I want more of this.

[48:50] Olaf Adzit: Longer scene or multiple scenes of another movie, a whole other movie.

[48:55] J.J. Gonzalez: Because then like two minutes later, Bellatrix comes in and takes out Sirius, and that moment, yeah, that is tough. They muted Harry's scream in the movie.

[49:06] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, in the movie, his cries and his scream are all muted because it was apparently so traumatic. A lot of a few of the other performers on set started crying, which is interesting because like it reminded me of Diggory from the fourth movie, that same idea. But this one must have been times like a hundred, and you can kind of see it. I mean, you can see him in anguish. You just can't hear anything, and it's still powerful.

[49:34] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and you just love that character, and he's just gone.

[49:38] Olaf Adzit: Oh, and then he goes off after Bellatrix, and then Voldemort shows up, and then Dumbledore shows up, and this is like Yoda walking in. Thank you, "Attack of the Clones."

[49:50] J.J. Gonzalez: Okay, lightsaber. Okay, so I'm watching this scene with Ralph Fiennes and Michael Gambon just going for it. It is, and I'm going, amazing. How would this have gone with Richard Harris? Love Richard Harris.

[50:05] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, yeah.

[50:06] J.J. Gonzalez: But it was almost like if Richard Harris had been there, it would have been like the puppet version of Yoda where it would have been very limited because he would have been able to just from the waist up, or it would have been a lot of cutaways or a stunt guy.

[50:22] Olaf Adzit: I really feel like I'm sure they use, I would imagine on certain elements or certain angles, they use a stunt, but you can't, you can't tell. Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes are going after it.

[50:34] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, it would have been great to have a little bit more, but it was so effective, and it was so good the way they shot it when I shot it. Well, you can understand why they're like, "Dave, we're gonna need you to come back and do all of them big," because this is great.

[50:50] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, and then it basically just ends right there on a cliffhanger. The ministry shows up, and they're like, "He's back." I was like, that's the best take you got?

[51:05] J.J. Gonzalez: Wasn't it?

[51:06] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, couldn't have him say something else?

[51:10] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, or say it a better way, a different way. It was kind of funny and not in a good way.

[51:13] Olaf Adzit: At the end of this, I wrote the last four movies are the grown-up movies, including the end of Goblet. So from the end of Goblet to the end of this franchise, it is grown-up.

[51:24] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, and it was really wonderful to know that the kids also grew up and were still bringing it in a very great way. Like there wasn't a drop-off in the acting of it. You still believe everything that they're going through.

[51:37] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, my one critique is how boring the end credits are compared to the other movies. Like the other movies, they get all real stylized with the credit endings with the truth. In this movie, it's just like names.

[51:50] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, I think that made it more effective because it ended the way it did. Well, this one, Harry says, you know, we've got something that he doesn't have, and that's something to fight for and all this other stuff, and you're like, okay, you're left with a very "Empire Strikes Back" sort of feeling of we're coming, we're ready, we'll be ready, or we're gonna do what we can to be ready for the battle ahead.

[52:14] Olaf Adzit: Larry having everybody. That's two movies.

[52:17] J.J. Gonzalez: That's a lot.

[52:17] Olaf Adzit: Yeah, it is a lot to cover, but guys, we hope you enjoyed listening to us talk about these, and if you haven't seen them a while, give them a watch. They're so good. Like we said, we're moving our way towards the back half of the franchise.

[52:27] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, "Half-Blood Prince" is next, but until then, to be continued.

[52:31] Johnny Clay: "Back to the Movie Theater" is hosted by J.J. Gonzalez and Olaf Adzit. Produced by me, Johnny Clay, J.J. Gonzalez, and Olaf Adzit. Theme song and incidental music by The Dimes. Visit us at www.bttmtpodcast.com for trivia, play-alongs, merch, and more. That's www.bttmtpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok and find us on Twitter. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok and find us on YouTube at "Back to the Movie Theater" with J.J. and Olaf.