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Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

'Potter' premiere in the pink in L.A.

By Matt Sayles, AP

Magic sign: Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, greets fans at the L.A. premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY

HOLLYWOOD — Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is breaking the rules. The first Los Angeles premiere for a Harry Potter film found its young stars in sweltering heat and feeling defiant at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Sunday.

Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, said the film is about "something every teenager goes through. Whether it's with parents or teachers, they learn to trust themselves and their own instincts rather than always relying on someone else telling them what to do."

This fifth screen installment (in theaters Wednesday) of J.K. Rowling's novels finds Harry clashing with a new teacher, Dolores Umbridge, a cruel agent of the government sent to Hogwarts school.

The role of the pink-clad, kitty-cat-decorative-plate-loving Umbridge is filled by Imelda Staunton, an Oscar nominee for 2004's Vera Drake, who said she was lucky never to have a teacher like that herself. "She is ridiculous, but nothing can stop her because she thinks she's right," Staunton said, adding that her villain is lonely. "And so she should be. She's her own army."

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, said that though he grew up mostly on set since he started filming the series in 2000, he also has butted heads with authority. "Oh, all the time!" Radcliffe said. "One of the things you learn growing up is adults don't always have all the answers. I've certainly had teachers like Professor Umbridge — probably more evil, if anything."

An after-party at the Jim Henson Studios, which was set to look like the provincial European architecture of magical neighborhoods in the Potter movies, was to feature fortunetellers and bathrooms decorated in the Pepto-Bismol hues of Umbridge's office.

Duff Goldman from Food Network's Ace of Cakes traveled cross-country from Baltimore with a giant cake in the shape of the Gothic towers of Hogwarts. Asked which part of the cake gave him the most trouble, Goldman said: "I'd really like to take a bite out of Dumbledore's tower."

Source: USA Today

Edited by ~*Thamizhan*~ - 18 years ago

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Harry too hot for Hollywood

Monday, July 9, 2007

Daniel wowed the crowd at the Harry Potter premiere

Harry Potter's Hollywood premiere was hot, in fact a bit too hot. Paramedics had to be called on to help fans who had waited hours in the baking sunshine in the hope of glimpsing one of their favourite stars.

A handful were even mad enough to don Potter hats, scarves and school cloaks and risk passing out in the heat, a hardcore few had even camped out overnight to secure a prime spot near to the red carpet.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson didn't disappoint their supporters though, spending lots of time signing autographs and greeting the crowds.

When he eventually reached journalists Daniel said he was feeling the heat: "I'm looking very sweaty!"

The actor admitted he was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who'd turned out to see the cast: "It's incredible isn't it? It's just madness out here. It's insane, but it's lovely that everyone has turned out to see us, it's great."

Rupert, who plays Ron Weasley, was also awed by the massive reception they received: "This is easily the biggest [premiere] ever, I mean London we had a few people but this has been amazing."

Rupert was sporting a rather fetching Harry Potter T-shirt and explained he'd picked up the Potter merchandise since arriving in the States:

"Oh yeah, I got it yesterday, we went to Universal Studios and it was in a gift shop."

Even Imelda Staunton, who plays the wickedly mean Dolores Umbridge in the latest instalment, was struggling to cope with the heat, telling journalists: "Boiled, completely boiled I am."

Source: Metro News, UK

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Potter transformed Raincoast

By CRAIG WONG The Canadian Press | 5:37 AM

VANCOUVER — Since the first Harry Potter book hit shelves a decade ago, millions of copies in dozens of languages have been sold around the world — an astonishing publishing phenomenon that transformed a tiny Canadian company along the way.

The privately held, Vancouver-based Raincoast Books has more than doubled in size with the help of the bespectacled young wizard-in-training, and the final instalment in the franchise, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, promises to be the biggest of them all when it's released on July 21.

While Raincoast wouldn't say how big the print run would be for Deathly Hallows, it says demand for the final book is the biggest of any Harry Potter title and it is printing accordingly. The initial print run for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate book in the series, was an estimated 1.2 million copies.

It's been a remarkable journey since the day 11 years ago, when Raincoast president and CEO Allan MacDougall visited the offices of Bloomsbury publishing in London and glimpsed a peculiar-looking manuscript — a sheaf of unbound pages tied with a ribbon. It was the first Potter book.

"At the time, J.K. Rowling was acquired by Bloomsbury after being turned down by a number of other London publishers, all of whom rue the day that they turned down the book," said Jamie Broadhurst, Raincoast's vice-president of marketing.

Two years later, MacDougall managed to acquire the Canadian rights for Potter in a joint venture with Bloomsbury. Hopes for the series were modest.

"I believe our very initial order (for the first title) was 400 copies, and within the first six months I think we had sold somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5,000 copies," says Broadhurst.

"In Canada, any book that sells over 5,000 copies is considered by rough rule of thumb in our industry a bestseller and for a first-time British-based children's author it was quite extraordinary."

Sales in Canada have since topped 10 million.

Finding the next Harry Potter is a near-impossible task, Broadhurst acknowledges. "Securing the rights to Harry Potter was like having lightning strike," he said. "The odds of having a small independent Canadian firm securing the rights to such a global property are extremely long."

So instead of chasing the next blockbuster, Raincoast has spent its time and money building a world-class logistics system that has helped broaden its revenue base in a business where margins are notoriously thin.

"What we take great pride in is that we can ship a book from our Vancouver warehouse to a customer in Toronto faster often than a Toronto-based distributor."

Source: The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, Nova Scotia

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Harry Potter is here

In a top-secret mission, books were flown to Israel Sunday night. On July 21 they will be available in the stores

Reuven Weiss

Published:

07.09.07, 14:22 / Israel Culture

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unwrapped an hour before their official international release on July 21.

Ahead of zero-hour, a mass event will be held in Tel Aviv Saturday evening including magic shows, fireworks and music. Author JK Rowling's speech to 1,700 avid fans at London's Natural History Museum will be broadcast on a huge screen. At 2:01 am Israel time, the book will be released and sales will begin.

The Israeli publishers, "Yedioth Books" and "Aliyat Gag," are getting ready to start translating the book, hoping to publish the Hebrew edition in December.

The Hebrew translator of the Harry Potter series, Gili Bar-Hillel, will fly to London ahead of the book's launch, purchase a copy and read it on the plane back to Israel. From that point on, Bar-Hillel, will be under a strict work schedule aimed at setting a record time of translating a book in less than a year.

So far, over 870,000 copies of Harry Potter have been sold in Israel and publishers expect "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" to sell over a million copies.

Source: Y Net News

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Potter star brings her magic to climate rally

GEMMA FRASER and JOANNA VALLELY

THE actress who plays Harry Potter's on-screen girlfriend is to address thousands of campaigners at a climate change rally in the Capital.

Scottish star Katie Leung, 19, will take to the stage in the Meadows as part of the Cut the Carbon event later this month.

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Katie – who plays the schoolboy wizard's feisty girlfriend Cho Chang in the new Harry Potter movie – will be joined by pop singer Amy Macdonald and award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch.

The rally forms part of the UK's longest-ever protest march, which will see 20 walkers make the 1000-mile journey from Northern Ireland to London, via many UK towns and cities.

The protesters, highlighting the effect of climate change on some of the world's poorest countries, will stop off in Edinburgh on July 21.

Up to 2000 people will then join them in a march through the Capital, taking in Castle Street, Princes Street, the Mound, George IV Bridge and finishing in the Meadows for the rally.

Christian Aid, who have organised the event with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, hope around 3000 people will turn up at the event to show their support.

Miss Leung, who is also speaking on the issue at T in the Park this weekend, said: "The Christian Aid rally is doing something really important – highlighting what climate change is doing to the world's poorest countries."

One of the other speakers is Mike Robinson, head of development at the Royal Botanic Gardens and chair of the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition.

He hopes the rally will do more than just increase awareness - he wants to encourage people to carry out simple methods to cut their carbon emissions.

He said: "I think It's important that we're not just telling people that it's happening, that we are also telling them what to do about it.

"There are so many simple things that we can do, including car sharing and buying food from local producers. Edinburgh has a very strong core of people who are determined to take responsibility for their own actions when it comes to climate change, but who are also prepared to challenge government to do more too.

"I'm really excited about the Cut the Carbon rally. It offers a chance for people in Edinburgh to join together and show the world that we can't just sit around waiting for something to happen, we need to cut our emissions now."

Becky Campbell, a 21-year-old student at Edinburgh College of Art, is another local supporter of the cause, and organised an exhibition to raise awareness of the forthcoming rally.

She said: "It really did make people think about climate change and got people interested in the rally and I think more people will get involved in the rally after seeing the exhibition."

The march through the city leaves from Castle Street at 3pm and the rally in the Meadows starts at 4.30pm on July 21.

Source: The Scotsman

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Review

The bleak film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix smothers the final embers of the series's childish wonder, ushering in a climate of repressed sexuality, paranoia, Fascism, madness, death, and acne. (That last is not by design but comes with the territory.) This is not a family movie. It's not even a borderline gothic horror movie, in the manner of the third and fourth (scary) Potter installments. Directed by David Yates, Order of the Phoenix is Orwellian. The palette is grainy and dank, the faces dour, the hero's alienation beginning to fester. Hauled before a hostile tribunal to explain his use of magic in the presence of Muggles, the hormonal, beleaguered Harry recounts the attack of the swirling Dementors: As they drew the breath from his body, he says, "it was as though all the happiness had gone from the world." That's how the whole movie feels—Dementored. Adding to the unease is the altered appearance of its out-of-joint trio, now on the far side of puberty, each growing at a different rate. Hermione (Emma Watson) is developing into a broad-shouldered Amazon. Ron (Rupert Grint) is even hulkier and might consider upping his dose of benzoyl peroxide. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) hasn't quite kept pace. His visage is pinched: You get a glimpse of the fortyish accountant beneath the teenage wizard. The prepubescent cuties they once were are seen fleetingly, in flashback. Ah, for the halcyon days of vomit-flavored candy and Quidditch.

Did I mention that, for all its portentousness, this is the best Harry Potter picture yet? In some ways, it improves on J.?K. Rowling's novel, which is punishingly protracted and builds to a climactic wand-off better seen than read. (I can't wait to ogle the Imax 3-D version.) Yates directed the great 2003 British mini-series State of Play, a literate newspaper drama with a vein of sublimated violence. (It was too little noticed on these shores when it popped up—with a lot of irritating commercials—on BBC America.) Yates and his crack editor, Mark Day, let loose with horrific montages: Order of the Phoenix is haunted by the image of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), his features still primordially puttyish, in a business suit on some sort of subway platform. He stares at Harry inscrutably. Is there the faintest trace of sadness? Voldemort is now Harry's most intimate companion. The Ministry of Magic has mounted a campaign—through its Pravda-like newspaper, the Daily Prophet—to discredit the notion of the dark lord's return. Fellow pupils regard Harry warily. A little Irish tuffy called Seamus says his mum thinks Harry's a loy-er. Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) has turned frosty and elusive.

Above all, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is dominated—nearly subsumed—by Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the latest and most bloodcurdling Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Plump and pink, a tea-cozy Fascist, Staunton's Umbridge is the distillation of every twisted, reactionary instructor you've ever had. Palpably loathing her students' youth and freedom, she metes out punishment with mocking gentility, with a frozen smile more enraging than any angry rebuke. What inspired the creation of this freak? Rowling came of age when the English director Pete Walker was churning out nasty seventies melodramas like House of Whipcord and Frightmare, films that fed on the tension between Britain's swinging counterculture and its repressed and repressive guardians of middle-class propriety—whom Walker depicted as semi-delusional torturers and cannibals. I wonder if Rowling saw them—and was chilled to the marrow as I was by Walker's leading lady, Sheila Keith. Or perhaps this figure is universal: In no other book do you feel as viscerally the pagan fury out of which the Potter series must have been born. In addition to being a sadist, Umbridge represents an executive branch of government unchecked—liable to hold an inquisition at the first whiff of insolence, using the citizenry's fear as a pretext to abolish civil liberties. Where Rowling goes soft is in offsetting Umbridge and her ministry with Dumbledore, a good liberal patriarch—albeit an increasingly fragile one. (The death of Richard Harris, who originated the role, only reinforces our sense of Dumbledore's vulnerability.)

The trim adaptation by Michael Goldenberg irons out a few of Rowling's dissonances—among them the escalating morbidity of Harry's protector, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), whose fate in the novel makes more emotional sense. He doesn't solve the problem of Cho Chang (Katie Leung), still a cipher (and sexless) even in the course of the smooch heard round the world. (For all the hubbub, you'd think she goes down on Harry.) Ron's sister, Ginny, who's looking more in the books like Harry's true love—which means she'll either die in his arms or bear him little wizards—is virtually anonymous here. But Helena Bonham Carter adds a surreal (and ear-splitting) note as some kind of a shrieking she-demon. And there is an enchanted turn by a young actress new to movies, Evanna Lynch, as the queerly private Luna Lovegood: This flake flutes her lines, but not always on key. (You like her but wouldn't want to be stuck with her in a train compartment.) The supporting cast is the usual embarrassment of British riches: Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Julie Walters, Jason Isaacs. (Where is Bill Nighy? Vanessa Redgrave?) After collecting their Hollywood paychecks, these actors now have no excuse not to do more plays for scale.

Having confidently proclaimed that David Chase would learn the lesson of John Updike's Rabbit and not kill off Tony Soprano too early (Come on, folks, he's dead, dead, dead), I'm loath to predict what July 21—and the final Potter book—will bring. But the film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best enticement imaginable. It rekindles the dread, the ache in your stomach that says, "He can't die!"—and at the same time, "How can he defeat everything racist, repressive, and murderously Fascistic in the world without making the ultimate sacrifice?" — David Edelstein

Source: BBC News

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

'Harry Potter' stars to be 'cemented' at Grauman's today

New, 7 a.m. Actor Daniel Radcliffe, co-stars will be immortalized at famous Hollywood theater landmark.

From wire service reports

It may not be Hogwarts, but Grauman's Chinese Theatre will get some mystical visitors today when the three young stars of the ''Harry Potter'' films sink their hands, feet -- and, of course, their wands -- into the cement in the famed theater's forecourt. Actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the boy wizard in the highly successful film series, will be immortalized at the theater along with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who portray Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry's closest friends and classmates at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The 11:30 a.m. ceremony comes in advance of Friday's release of the fifth film in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.'' And as if that wasn't enough to send ''Potter'' fans into a frenzy, author J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book in the series -- ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' -- is scheduled for release July 21. The previous six books have sold more than 325 million copies worldwide. The latest book is one of the most highly anticipated works in recent literary memory, particularly with rampant questions about whether Harry, Hermione or Ron will meet their demise at the hands of the evil Lord Voldemort. But the answers to such questions will have to wait until the book's release at the stroke of midnight July 21, given the air-tight security surrounding the novel and its plot. The three young stars have said even they do not know their characters' ultimate fate, and they are waiting along with the rest of the world to find out.

So for now, the focus is on the latest film, and the stars who have helped turn the franchise into a multi-media sensation. All three have signed on to star in the film versions of the final two chapters in the Potter saga.

In the two-year interim since the last Potter film, Radcliffe, 17, made international headlines when he made a stark departure from his role as young Harry and appeared in the buff on the London stage in ''Equus.''

Source: The Daily Breeze, Los Angeles

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Warning - SPOILER!

Helen Bonham Carter shines in Harry Potter film

Updated Mon. Jul. 9 2007 12:00 PM ET

Associated Press

LONDON -- Some actors might balk at being cast as an evil witch. Not Helena Bonham Carter.

The British star revels in the role of sadistic sorceress Bellatrix Lestrange -- fanatical follower of evil Lord Voldemort-in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' the fifth film adapted from J.K. Rowling's wizarding saga.

Vivid proof that there are no small parts in the hands of a larger-than-life performer, Bonham Carter blazes her way across the screen in her one big scene-a dramatic battle between Voldemort's Death Eaters and Harry's ragtag band of friends.

"I had about five lines and I think they cut about three of them,'' Bonham Carter, 41, said in an interview before the film's release this week. "So I knew I had to be conspicuous.''

Conspicuous is an understatement. Black-clad, wild-haired and cacklingly sadistic, Bellatrix escapes from Azkaban prison to join the resurgent Voldemort in his quest to destroy Harry and control the magical world.

Bonham Carter says she had a big say in creating the character's voluptuous-but-disheveled look.

"At first they thought, 'Oh, we'll just put her in a sack,' '' Bonham Carter said. "But I said, 'There's no way I'm going to wear a sack. I've got to be a sexy witch.'

"I wanted a sort of bodice thing to give me a shape. There is a bit of the warrior about her-Bellatrix means warrior. She's the right-hand Death Eater to Voldemort.

"I also wanted everything to be splitting at the seams and a bit of 'Sunset Boulevard' disintegration to be going on, because she's been in prison for so long. She has a very posh, aristocratic carriage, because she's pureblooded, but at the same time she's completely divorced from reality.''

Over the five films, the Potter series has become a showcase for some of Britain's finest actors-Bonham Carter jokes it is "like a rest home for British Equity.''

Her "Order of the Phoenix'' co-stars read like a roll-call of thespian talent: Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, Michael Gambon as Hogwarts' headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Alan Rickman as the sinister Severus Snape, Imelda Staunton as bossy teacher Dolores Umbridge and Gary Oldman as Harry's godfather, Sirius Black.

"I spent most of the time in my trailer reading and chatting,'' she said. "It was like my Harry Potter holiday.''

She also enjoyed working with Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, and the other young actors-particularly Matthew Lewis, who plays Hogwarts student Neville Longbottom. A previously meek pupil whose parents were tortured to insanity by Bellatrix years earlier, Neville comes into his own in a confrontation with his nemesis.

Bonham Carter said she took her character's sadistic streak "a bit too literally'' during the fight scene, accidentally inserting her wand into Lewis' ear.

"I sort of bruised his ear inside,'' she said. "He had to see a doctor; there was slight internal bleeding. I was mortified.''

Bonham Carter gained fame in the 1980s in the Merchant-Ivory costume dramas "A Room with a View'' and "Howards End,'' and has worked ever since to shed any hint of period-piece typecasting. Her eclectic list of credits includes 1997's Henry James adaptation "The Wings of the Dove,'' for which she received a best actress Oscar nomination, 1999's "Fight Club'' and 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,'' directed by her partner, Tim Burton.

She's just finished shooting, opposite Johnny Depp, on "Sweeney Todd,'' Burton's musical about the legendary "demon barber of Fleet Street.'' Bonham Carter had to learn to sing for the role of Mrs. Lovett, baker of macabre meat pies-she says it was "fantastic, probably the most fulfilling thing I've done for ages.''

Like millions of Harry Potter fans, Bonham Carter is awaiting the July 21 publication of Rowling's final Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,'' to learn the characters' fate. But she has been given a hint that Bellatrix may play a part.

While she was considering whether to except the relatively small role in "Order of the Phoenix,'' she says, "J.K. Rowling sent a message saying she's going to be very significant in the last one.''

Make of that what you will, Muggles.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' opens around the world from Wednesday.

Source: CTV, Canada

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Warning - SPOILER!

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix': The magic is gone

As the story gets darker, the momentum get muddier.

By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer
July 10, 2007

"HARRY Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is no stand-alone film or even part of a constantly reinvented franchise like James Bond. Rather it's a cog in a brisk, well-oiled machine, the fifth in what ultimately will be a series of seven films that function like chapters in the world's longest-running serial. If you've sampled the previous episodes, you'll likely see this one, no matter what its qualities, and if you haven't seen any of the others, there isn't much justification for jumping in at the middle.

The Potter films are especially unusual because they've used the same actors for the key roles, with the trio of juvenile leads (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione and Rupert Grint as Ron) aging along with their characters. The screenwriter has also been the same, although Steve Kloves took a break here, capably replaced by Michael Goldenberg. It's only the directors who've changed with regularity, and their personas have, up to a point, imprinted themselves on their films.

In fact, the Harry Potter movies have been with us for so long (since 2001) that it's helpful to view them in stages similar to Elisabeth Kbler-Ross' celebrated five stages of grief. But instead of denial, anger and depression, we get risk avoidance, artistic vision and consolidation of gains.

If director Chris Columbus represented risk aversion with the first two Potter films, Alfonso Cuarn and Mike Newell in the third and fourth stood up for artistry while British TV director David Yates seems intent in this fifth chapter on not jeopardizing what has been accomplished up to now.

Though Yates hasn't brought any overpowering directorial style to "Phoenix," he does have some advantages. As the terrifying wizard Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) grows in power, Potter's world noticeably darkens and gets more involving. Plus, having a cast that includes the cream of current British actors — think Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, and that's not the entire list — certainly doesn't hurt.

Yates and his team handle the film's visuals well, including the impressive sets for the atrium of the Ministry of Magic and its Hall of Prophecy, as well as fine flying sequences involving either broomsticks or equine creatures called Thestrals.

The director also works well with the film's juvenile leads, which is important, because these are the raging hormone years at Hogwarts School, and that is especially true where Harry is concerned. Looking so disgruntled in his gray hoodie that you fear he might start rapping, Harry comes off as more Grumpy Potter than the bright light of the wizarding world.

In truth, there are reasons why Harry seems to be headed for his 19th nervous breakdown. His great protector Dumbledore (Gambon) won't give him the time of day, his romantic life is a shambles and the anti-Voldemort fighters, spearheaded by his godfather, Sirius Black (Oldman), think he's too young to be a full-fledged warrior.

Even worse, the phlegmatic Ministry of Magic refuses to so much as acknowledge that Voldemort is back in the game. The unctuous Dolores Umbridge, the ministry's pick as Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, declines point blank to impart anything beyond theoretical knowledge. Impeccably played by Imelda Staunton (the star of Mike Leigh's very different "Vera Drake"), this pink-clad presence comes off like Miss Piggy's noticeably evil twin.

Thinned down from the series' longest book, "Phoenix" can't shake an episodic feeling that makes it difficult to develop momentum. Though many of its elements are strong, including newcomer Evanna Lynch as the spacey Luna Lovegood, it finally can't transcend the limitations inherent in being no more than a way station in an epic journey, a journey whose cinematic conclusion is several years away.

Source: Los Angles Times

Edited by ~*Thamizhan*~ - 18 years ago

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271043

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#10

Warning - SPOILER!

Review: 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'

BY GENE SEYMOUR

The movie version of the fifth Harry Potter novel may well be the most prosaic so far. This, at the outset, doesn't sound at all like the best thing one can say about any movie. And it is not to say that "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" doesn't provide you with as much spectacle and visual thrills as the four Potter movies before it.

But given that "Order of the Phoenix" is the darkest, most densely plotted and distressingly nuanced of J.K. Rowling's novels - up till now, anyway - there's no way that a diligently faithful film adaptation could avoid coming across thick and heavy.

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Of course, if you've read all the books and seen all the movies up to this point, you may not mind the extra weight. But a newcomer to the Potter chronicles making his or her acquaintance with this film may be forgiven for wondering where the magic is; not just the transfigurations, sparkling explosions and assorted phantasmagoria ( which "Order of the Phoenix" has in fair abundance), but the sense of wonder and transport that helped make Rowling's books into a global cultural phenomenon.

"Order of the Phoenix" represents the point in the Potter epic where the fun really ends once and for all for our bespectacled hero (Daniel Radcliffe). Harry's now at that vulnerable point in adolescence where he doesn't necessarily need to be in the crosshairs of a malevolent uber-sorcerer to feel awkward, lonely and resentful at various hours of the day.

What makes matters worse is that not only is that aforemented evil sorcerer Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) bearing down on Harry, but there are few beyond Harry's best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) who believes his warning that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once again threatens civilization.

In fact, the Ministry of Magic has worked itself into such a manic state of denial that its not only discredited Harry through the tabloids, they've installed a priggish, treacherous teacher named Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her job is to put the hammer down on the kind of advanced magic coursework that could protect the school and its students from Voldemort's looming terrors.

It's a scenario whose progression depends as much on back-room intrigue as it does on flying broomsticks and mythological creatures. Director David Yates, best known for his work on an award-winning BBC mini-series, "State of Play," adroitly moves "Order of the Phoenix's" complicated tale through its often-agonizing twists and turns. Much like Harry, the movie is a flurry of jolting mood swings. It fascinates without being a whole lot of fun, except in too-brief sporadic moments.

If there's joy and magic to be found in "Order of the Phoenix", it's in the performances, especially Staunton's deliciously sadistic meanie. Radcliffe, meanwhile, has ripened into a resourceful leading man who can hold his own with Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Brendan Gleeson, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith and the other grand old pros who have hung with the franchise up till now.

Ten days from now, we'll know how it all - ultimately - turns out for Harry and Hogwarts with Rowling's seventh and purportedly last Potter novel. If this movie does nothing but whet our appetites for the denouement, it's worth the candle.

Source: NY Newsday