Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) (2001)

Posted : 1 year, 2 months ago at Sep 3 15:23

In many ways, Sorcerer's Stone is the best of the series. Aside from the books (which were fairly well taken into consideration at the time), they had a blank slate to play with. The cast they chose was fantastic, and they did a good job of translating the story from the book.

I watched this well before reading the series, and so I could see it with fresh eyes that are a great deal more jaded these days. There are additions and changes, but any movie of a book will have that, and the magic and wonder that are needed are there.

I just wish the same could be said of some of the later movies.

Rating : 7/10

Posted : 1 year, 11 months ago at Dec 14 19:19

This is actually only my 2nd Favorite movie in the Potter-verse. I'm more partial to Chamber of Secrets, because of its slightly darker tone...that and Dobby! And, before I say anything more, let it be noted that Joel H should've used the appellation "Troll H", because it seems obvious to me that he only posted to get a rise. If you're really so dense that you could use such contumely with abandon, then more's the pity. Either you have no eye for good cinema, or you just don't like this film, but spare us any nonsense that its rubbish! This movie couldn't have been made any better! It managed to capture perfectly all the essentials from the film, and even made the Dark Lord out to be a superb villain. He even gave me the chills, and that's hard to do in a movie for "children". ...Read more

Rating : 10/10

Posted : 2 years, 11 months ago at Nov 28 15:37

Fucking awful. Dire.

The cinematic equivalent of washing one's eyeballs in treacle whilst bathing the brain in a sinkful of mashed potato.

The overrated Potter juggernaut rumbles on, ripping off everything from the Worst Witch to Lord Of The Rings.

Badly acted (at least on Radcliffe's part), predictable tosh.

As bad as the book(s).

Rating : 1/10

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago at Oct 16 21:13

I was surprised, to say the least. After reading the books, the movie was better than I expected it to be. Usually directors take free carte blanche with Book-to-Film movies and add or take at their leisure. Chris Columbus was able to pull off a superbe film with all the wonderful quips and quotes of the books in only 152 minutes. I loved how there was even room for the small things. Like: Hagrid's "I shouldn't have told you that." and Harry Potter & friends interaction. True there were some things missing: Peeves the Poltergeist (to tell the truth I didn't notice he was not there until after watching the second HP movie) and Norbert the dragon's adventure. Someone knew what they were doing when they choose the cast though. Harry, Ron, and the others were good picks. I ju...Read more

Rating : 8/10