The new Dubledore is sad. His body language and facial expression are adequate, but his slurred speech distracts from his performance. Was he nipping from a flask hidden in his robes between takes?

I recently reviewed the latest Potter film here:

http://tinyurl.com/bwwus

Am looking forward to the new Narnia film as well. You might be interested to know that some self-proclaimed atheists are refusing to see this movie:

http://www.denverpost.com/movies/ci_3224090

And how does this make them more enlightened than some rather small-minded Christians who refuse to see/read Harry Potter?

Some interesting material here regarding the film’s content:

[Christians have] engaged in a tug-of-war over scenes and dialogues critical to the book’s Christian message, including precise wording during the coronation scene.

“There was such a brouhaha over that, Disney went bonkers,” says Ted Baehr, co-author of “Narnia Beckons,” and chairman of The Christian Film & Television Commission.

Controversy inspired Time magazine to run “How to Tell if ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ is a Christian Film,” a story that included an “evangelical sniff test” listing specific sentences that must be in the movie for Christians to stage those repeat viewings that made Gibson’s movie so successful.

I’ve seen the trailers for the movie…it looks like they’ve tried to give the story the full-on LotR treatment, with lots of sweeping scenic panoramas, a clash between two great armies, and so forth. My wife and I don’t go to many movies, but I’ll probably catch it on DVD at some point. (As I will with HP:GoF.)

The movie was wonderful, better than some of the others in the series. The humor is terrific and I laughed harder than I laugh at most so-called comedies. The tasks were well done and I loved how we really get to know Neville at last. Fred and George were so adorable — I can’t wait until their fabulous scene in Order of the Phoenix.

Here’s the best part: After the movie, my children were all talking about the parts that weren’t in the movie but were in the book — we listened this summer to the audio CD as a family. That is the best lesson I could give to my kids.

Books are better than movies!

I saw Goblet of Fire on Saturday and started writing a review. Unfortunately, it’s on my home PC instead of here with me on my notebook.

I’ll send you a link as soon as I post my review…probably this evening or tomorrow.

It’s a totally unreasonable hike for you to make it up to the Philadelphia area, I know, but the offer’s good if you want it. (I’ve even got two extra tickets that aren’t spoken for).