Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – MOVIE – Episode 111
The Buddies watch movie # 6 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on this week’s episode. The Buddies get to chatting about: Hogwarts “three strikes policy” for attempted murder, how Ginny and Harry’s on-screen chemistry makes a flobberworm look charismatic, and whether Dumbledore the worst wingman in wizarding history. So, grab yourself some Felix Felicis, don’t tie your shoes, because we’re all getting real lucky on this episode.
Intro (0:00-1:17)
Stock Up/Down (1:18-26:33)
Favorite Scene/Character/Studio Notes (26:34-39:05)
Love/Hate (39:06-48:03)
Conclusion (48:04-50:33)
NEXT Episode: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by – MOVIE
NEXT BOOK: TBD
Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂
Alright. Welcome to the book club. I’m Dylan here with the king tosser himself, Keith. Pardon me? King tossler what?
Now, close your eyes. Close your eyes. They’re closed. That’s it. That’s when I come over and and sexually assault you by not asking for consent.
Here at the buddy book club, we’re breaking down some box office bangers. And this week, we’ll be discussing 2000 nine’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince film. If you’d like to recommend a book or movie for us to read or watch, reach out to us by any past episodes. You can visit our website, buyoutbook.com, send us an owl on Twitter or Instagram, buyoutbookpodcast. You listen to us, IG and Spotify.
If I review your podcast, please download and subscribe. And just so you we’re both aware, like, you know that’s a direct reference from this movie. Right? I’m thinking about, the one scene where Dumbledore is, like, he collects people, and then Harry looks at him and he’s, like, do you want to collect me? Yeah.
I don’t know what that was. It was way too sexual, though, the way he said it. Actually, there’s no really nonsexual way to say, do you want him to collect me? I don’t understand. Yeah.
I agree. That’s a weird weird choice of words. Yeah. And we’ll talk more about more about the Ginny thing, but it’s just a good thing Harry was into her because if you did that to somebody, like, holy smokes. I, you can’t be doing that.
That’s assault. Alright. Let’s get into some stock up stock down. Keith, what do you have for stock up? Awkward social interaction?
Stock up. My life. You ever right before you go to sleep, you just think of all the terrible things you’ve done in your life? You go in for for the hug and they wanted a handshake or you’re at the TSA airport and they say, hey, I have a good flight. You say, you too.
Mhmm. Or, like, I have this one time, and there’s people visiting in town. I didn’t really know very well. They’re, like, friends of our friends. We were driving around, and I was, like, oh, and this is obviously, Central Park.
We’re in Boston. And they all laughed. And I think about that all the time because I thought it was Central Park. It’s called Boston Common in the Central Parks of New York City. But, yeah, those are the type of things that keep me up at night when you just, like, think back and you’re like Yeah.
Can’t believe I did that. It’s funny you say that because, legitimately, yesterday, I was walking my halls of my house. I thought about something I had said to someone that day that made no sense. Like, I was trying to be funny, but it came off as, like, probably dickish and rude. And I was like, oh my god.
This person hates me. I’m just never gonna talk to them again. Like, that’s it. It it’s over. Yeah.
Yep. So we all have those, but I realized after this movie, none of that stuff is really that big of a deal when you compare it to the interactions of Perry and Ginny. Oh my god. Because You wanted to get right into it, didn’t you? Comparison wise, no conversation you’ve had or no relationship you’ve had is as awkward as the relationship they have.
I’ve been waiting for it for 6 movies. Mhmm. You keep on talking about it, and then we watched this, and I was, like, oh my god. I know exactly what demon’s been saying this whole time now. Because to say it was tough to watch and under and it’s not Harry.
It’s a 100% not Harry because Harry and Cho had good chemistry. I even thought, like, Harry and Fleur. I think I almost should’ve just took Fleur as actor and given her red hair and just pretended she was Jimmy because I think that would’ve been good. Yeah. This was just wasn’t there.
It was the opposite of sparks flying. No chemistry at all. Whatever the, like, neutron bomb or the one that, like, just keeps blowing up and blowing up and blowing up, it it was one of those because, yes, the spark of this whole issue is that the actress who plays Ginny is terrible. We had seen inklings of this in the past that now have carried to this her opus, really, which is this movie of of how terrible she is, and it’s just it’s also cringey. But we have to also put some blame on Daniel Radcliffe because their chemistry is just terrible.
The chemistry they have together is so uncomfortable. It’s it just doesn’t make any sense that it would be believable that he and Ginny could possibly like each other. But we also have to blame, like, the directors and the screenwriters because we know Ginny from the books, and she’s awesome, and she’s more outgoing and d g a f like, doesn’t give a fuck than anyone else. And in the movie, she just seems so robotic and zombie like. But but if someone’s gonna give her lines when they go to, the rumor requirement, and she does the close your eyes things that I referenced at the top, which is whatever.
Close your eyes, then she gives them a kiss. Fine. Whatever. But then after that, she looks deep into his eyes and says, I can stay hidden up here too if you like. What does that even mean?
What? Why would he want you to stay hidden up here? What? What? They already did the shy, innocent thing with Cho.
So, like, that’s already been done, and she did that well. Yeah. So, like, we don’t need another we need someone that’s, like, gregarious and We need Ginny. We need Ginny. We need Ginny.
Yeah. Ginny character. Yeah. And instead and it’s and I get in the first two books how she’s, oh my god. This is Harry Potter.
I saw him for the first time. I have a crush on him. Fine. But we know by now that Ginny’s been around the block. She’s had a bunch of dates.
Like, she’s very comfortable in her own skin. Mhmm. Yes. She likes Harry and she wants to be with him, but she’s not, like, scared of him or nervous around him. She’s more just chill.
So yeah. And they put her in this movie so much, and every single time, it’s why are we here? This is so uncomfortable. Like, I was trying to think of what good chemistry looks like. It’s one of those things where, you know, you see it and you’re like, I don’t know how to make it better.
I don’t even know there’s no direction I could give them. I don’t even know what you’d do. Yeah. You can’t explain it, but when you see it, whatever that phrase is Pornography. Yeah.
That that’s what I was thinking of. That’s what you’re thinking about? Yeah. I can explain it, but I know it when I see it. Yeah.
And that’s what good chemistry is. Even movies, like, with like Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, They’re in movies together, and they have good chemistry. And you’re like you wouldn’t think about it. You know? You wouldn’t be like, oh, they have good on screen chemistry, but they do.
And I feel like the director or someone had to step in front of this and be like, hey. You guys are gonna we’re gonna get you a yurt in Mongolia, and you’re gonna take ecstasy together for 3 days straight. And when you get out of there, we’re gonna have a Ginny Harry relationship that we need because she just I don’t think she blinks. She doesn’t blink in the movie. It’s creepy.
I I don’t know. I’m over it, Paul. Well, we had to get that out of the way. Anyways Thanks for thanks for getting that out of the way. I was like, I gotta we gotta go off the top.
Otherwise, it will it’ll derail us the rest of the episode. Yeah. My first stock up is attempted murder stock up. So Harry gets zero punishment, and not even a stern talking to after gutting Malfoy like a fish with his sectum sempraing. I found that to be quite interesting.
In the book, it’s obviously Snape comes in and he’s like, you wait here, and Snape gives him detention and this, that, and the other thing. But in the book, it’s like Harry does the sextum sempa in a little well, it did have the American History X vibes to it, the, you know, black and white bathroom scene. But, yeah, he gives him the sextum sempa. Snape goes in there, gives him, like, a look, and Harry runs off. And it was like, alright.
Move on to the next thing. So, yeah, I guess if you wanna murder a fellow student in Hogwarts I mean, we’ve kinda been over this before about Hogwarts. You know? I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is this is, like, completely fine.
We’ve already had multiple instances of this. Yeah. Remember Draco’s dad and and, like No. In the movie. Yeah.
In terms of all the camera. Yeah. Yeah. That’s fine. Malfoy tries to kill 2 people.
It doesn’t get any punishment for that. So, yeah, there’s there’s no attempted murder is fine in the wizarding world. I don’t know what you’re not understanding here. Yeah. He tried to abracadabra him, as you said.
That’s that’s what it is. Don’t worry about that. Yeah. I I just I just found that interesting. It feels like you could just do a quick follow-up with, like, the next scene Harry is says I can’t I can’t go to the Quidditch match because I have detention with Snape for the rest of my life after I attempted murder on my own.
I do think there’s a lot of cuts that are happen that occur that, like, they probably would have had something and they just really, we gotta tighten this the ship up here. Yeah. I was thinking about that earlier when I was thinking about this movie was when Harry tells Slughorn during the Felix Felicis stuff, which I’m sure we’ll get into shortly. But he tells Slughorn, he says, I am the chosen one. And because of that, Slughorn I mean, because of that and other things, Slughorn gives him the memory.
But in the book, it’s the exact same thing, but we also get inside Harry’s head where Harry’s like, oh, he’s so drunk. He’s not gonna remember this, so I’m just gonna tell him I’m the chosen one. But we don’t get that in the movie. So in the movie, Harry just tells him he’s the chosen one. And if you were watching this and didn’t read the books, you’d be like, oh, so Harry is the chosen one.
And then you move on. And I know it’s a small thing, but still I think a lot of it luckily with the context of the book. Yeah. Yeah. The more and because these books are so long, the deeper and deeper you go into the movies, I feel like they’re really directed for book readers.
Because I I would be interested for someone that had only seen the movies to to to see if they thought they were comprehensible in terms of the deeper plot plot lines or whatever is going on. Yeah. Do you have any other stock ups? Yeah. Speaking of needing book context because if I just watched the movies, this would be the stock up.
How Harry’s a coward stock up. Ending scene, he kinda just sits on the sideline instead of just disarming Malfoy or doing anything. I know Dumbledore tells him not to do anything, but at the same time, you know, game up one time for me. Right? Like, we’re we’re just gonna let him sit there and get attacked.
I didn’t really understand. In the book, obviously, Harry’s under the invisibility cloak, and he’s stunned. So, like, he can’t he can’t move. So Yeah. Dumbledore is forcing him to stay there.
But he just sits there and just watches. And then even, Snape walks up and says, like, what’s going on? And he’s like and he just keeps on goes in there. Yeah. Which it was it was a little bit more understandable because he’s like, oh, Snape’s on our side, which makes sense.
But at the same time, like, game up one time for me. And then also, he never tells Ron about him and Ginny. So another cowardly cowardly act there. Yeah. In the book, he fesses up immediately.
Well, not immediately. Well, in the book, he gives him the the look of, and then Ron gives him, like, the the head shake. He makes out with her directly. Remember? Yeah.
That’s true. But he does give a That’s after the make out. They make out and then he connects sides with Ron and Ron’s, like, drooling. Wow. And he’s like Well, in the book, he’s, like, also just goes up completely makes out with her immediately.
And I’m like, you don’t know that she likes you. I’m like, I’m that’s that’s assault, brother. It’s the reverse. Yeah. It’s the reverse of what Ginny did to him except Ginny told him to close his eyes.
Well, the chemistry was explosive on the screen. So he he had to go over the kiss. Because someone had to make a move. It was so obvious. Someone had to make a move.
Oh my god. It was so cringey. So cringey. I never even thought about that, honestly, because I just came from reading the book. But the point about the Astronomy Tower and Harry, it makes me like this movie less because of that.
Because Harry is the most courageous and brave person. Yeah. He will throw himself at the fire. The idea that he would sit back even though and I now understand why they had Snape him see Snape because that was also a, difference from the book because that does make sense that he saw Snape. He said, okay.
Snape’s on our side. He’s gonna take care of it. But at the same time, Harry would be up there, wand out him and Dumbledore versus the Death Eaters. Let’s go get them. Yeah.
Dumbledore says, go and hide. And he’s like, okay. Cool. Deal. Yeah.
And that that’s it. Yeah. My second stock up is 2nd Chances. So David Yates, who directed this movie, directed the previous movie, Order of the Phoenix. And if you listened to our episode on that, if, you didn’t, shame on you.
But if you did, we hated that movie. Terrible, terrible movie. I feel like he was a lot to blame for that, personally. I am not gonna bear the lead here. I liked this movie.
I thought this was one of the better movies. And they they I agree. They gave him a second chance with this one, granted, you know, the story is kind of unclear of how of how that worked. But he was still in post production for Order of the Phoenix when they started preproduction for this, and they needed a director. And they approached him to direct it, and he he said yes.
And it’s a it’s a really good second chance. The movie, 2 and a half hours long. It’s like pornography here where I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is, but I didn’t know when I saw it. It just felt fluid. Like, the last movie did and and some of the other ones in in the past too, it was, I think, 4 as well, felt like a bunch of different scenes that were from the book that were just kinda, like, chopped together and put into this.
This one felt like it was actually telling a story. And although there’s a lot of stuff that, you know, we’ve already discussed and we may discuss more, that that’s obviously either on the cutting room floor or just never got put into it from the book itself, I was okay with it. At no point was I upset they didn’t put something in because it felt like they were telling the story well enough that it was clear, concise. We were moving from scene to scene with these characters. It wasn’t just kinda jumping all over the place.
I was glad they gave him a second chance for this one, And and granted, if you look at Rotten Tomatoes or any of the reviews, it’s kinda funny because Order of the Phoenix is higher and people like that movie more seemingly than they do this movie, and I That’s crazy. Couldn’t feel different. So you you thought this one was good? It didn’t feel rushed. It felt like it was they added a few things, but I wasn’t upset about the matting stuff.
Nothing really distracted you or took you away from the movie. There’s no point where I was, like, just rolling my eyes because that happened the last movie that happened numerous times. And a lot the last movie I was like, wait, what? Why are they doing like, what’s going there’s a lot of whys in what’s going on. This one, it just felt very, like, a normal movie Yes.
Which is which is rare for these ones which have all seemed to be that’s, like, the first and second one. I think those were pretty or similar to this. But since then, it’s been a lot of, like, cut up scenes, quick montages, things like that where this one didn’t didn’t have that. Although, I will say at the beginning when they turn into smoke monsters, I was, like, here we go. And they never did that again for the rest of the movie.
I was like, oh, thank god. In reading Deathly Hallows, I’m at, where they’re at the Lovegood’s house. And Harry peeks outside, and he sees all these death eaters flying around the house on brooms. And I was just like, god. This is what it’s supposed to be.
Not smoke monsters flying around, destroying bridges somehow. So, yeah, I I agree. When they first opened with that, I was a little hesitant. I was like, oh, here we go. There’s just breaking muggles.
Like, you know, how many muggles are gonna see wizards, and we’re just gonna move on with this thing. But from there on out, it was it was a very you understood what was going on. Like, you knew the whole Malfoy backstory. They touched on it frequently throughout that you were remembering that, and they planted the seed with Snape and Narcissa, you know, at the beginning. So, you got that as well.
And, it really just stuck with Harry and his story, and then they interwove the Dumbledore and pensive stuff pretty well, I thought. The only one that they really missed out on was the gauntlet stuff, and I can understand why that wouldn’t make it in there. Although, you know, I wish it had, but I get it. The movie’s 2 hours and 30 minutes long. What do you have for stock down?
Dumbledore’s wingman abilities, stock down. Not to beat a dead hippogriff here, but, I’m gonna beat a dead hippogriff. I mean, I’m not sure why that scene in the beginning was, added into the movie where Harry’s at the coffee shop and he talks to the coffee waitress or coffee barista for Who’s Harry Potter? Is he a big tosser? He’s a tosser.
I mean, the chemistry between them 2 Yeah. Because the whole movie movie. That was a rom com. I was ready for I was locked in. I really wanted to go on that date.
I was like, alright. I don’t mind where we’re going here. And then Dumbledore, let me just give you his resume. Comes in. He hasn’t talked to Harry for 5 movies.
He literally has not done anything. The one time my guy is finally starting to talk chatting up with a a female. Dumbledore comes in right away cock blocks him. He’s like, I need your help. What does he need his help for?
Just like a sales pitch. It’s not like I’m gonna help you out. It’s just like help me out. Haven’t talked to you 5 years. Show up.
Cock block you. Do that. So I’m like, alright, Dumbledore. That kinda sucks. And then later in the movie, this kinda really just threw me off too.
This might have been like ad libbed because that’s how dumb I think this is. Dumbledore is he’s supposed to be perceptive. That’s like his biggest thing is he knows kind of everything about people. In in book 7, we we see that, like, oh, he gives things to Ron and Hermione and he’s, like, I know you so well that these things are gonna come in handy for you down the road. And so, like, that’s kind of, like, where he is.
He knows Harry really well. He asks Harry in the middle of the movie What’s up with you, Hermione? Dating? Yeah. Yeah.
Hermione. Uh-huh. I was like, what? Do so you’re just you don’t know anything? And the only thing I can think of is that he just is a giant cock bug, and he saw her him talking to Hermione.
He’s, like, you gotta come meet me and talk now. That’s the only reason. Right? That’s so he’s just cockpawking him again. He’s he thinks he’s he’s getting with Hermione.
He’s collecting him. Rita Skeeter wrote about this, like, 3 books ago. Is he just, like, catching up on Rita Skeeter articles? Like, wait. They’re dating?
Oh, wow. I didn’t realize that. Like, is he just an idiot in these movies? I don’t get it. So one of my stock downs was was consent, which we’ve already discussed because, you know, Ginny goes she goes right in.
That’s a stock down. Alright. There you go. Ginny goes right in. I’ll take it.
But I wanted to just talk I wanted to use that as a vehicle to talk more about the relationship stuff in this movie because it’s really getting hammered. And my note was that, you know, even Dumbledore is asking about it, which, you know, your point is is better in just that, how is he not this perceptive? He should blatantly know that Harry and Hermione are are not a thing. So it’s concerning, but also we have to talk about Ginny being there with the whole after the sectum sempa when Ron and Hermione are telling Harry that he has to get rid of the book. And Ginny’s like, yep.
Yep. You gotta get rid of it. You gotta get rid of it. And then she’s the one that, like, takes him to the room of requirements to to force him to get rid of it. It’s like, where did you come from?
You don’t even know what this book is. Ron, Hermione, and I have been talking about the half blood prince. Who are you? They really shoehorned her into that scene Yeah. Which I didn’t understand why.
Because this girl is not even your girlfriend who you, like, kinda like and she kinda likes you, tells you you have to get rid of the most important textbook you’ve ever had that’s actually changed your year for the better? And she’s coming out of the woodwork. I don’t know. Also, did they, patch up the room of requirement after blowing out through the door the last movie or what? I guess I guess it just required itself to be fixed.
Yeah. Just fixed it. Okay. I think my biggest qualm is just they really hit the relationship stuff over and over and over again throughout, and I feel like if there was any space to cut a little bit of that and add something like the Gaunts, which I would have really enjoyed, that backstory, that’s probably where I would have cut it. There’s just so much lavender brown in this, and I do understand that it’s to, you know, you can’t have the Ron Hermione situation without putting lavender brown in there.
But over and over again, it’s just that lavender brown thing and then the Harry and Ginny thing, which is it’s just so bad that when you’re editing it, you just say, hey. Can we just cut some of this Harry and Ginny stuff? It it’s not working. So, yeah, I just thought the relationship stuff was kinda was kinda funny. And I know it makes sense.
Like, they’re 15, 16 year old kids. Yeah. They’re probably, like, round and 3rd in the prefix bathroom. So, yeah, I don’t know. How do you how do you feel about the relationship stuff?
And or was it whatever to you? I think when you look back at it, you’re like, yeah, I guess there was a lot of scenes with them focusing on relationships, but it did ground it. I also think like in the past when there’s just too much going on and then there’s no you need like some slowdown for the movie for the, the uptick of the movies to to pay off. So, that’s like the problem with a lot of like the Marvel movies and new Star Wars movies and like their whole thing is like we have to have constant constant action. Otherwise, we’ll lose people.
It’s like no, the action is not good when when it’s 90 minutes of action. It’s good when it’s 30 minutes of action with 60 minutes of stuff in between that, like, makes the action better. I don’t know. That’s what I just thought. No.
That’s that’s a great point. That’s what I was trying to say earlier when I couldn’t put my finger on it, and and that’s exactly what it is, I think. The other movies, or at least definitely the last one, is they were just trying to force all of this, like, action and content and content on top of each other and but there was they were conflicting. They never made sense together, and this one has a that slower underlying pace with just the guys and gals, you know, going to school, falling in love, and then stuff goes down. So, yeah, I think that’s it.
I think that’s that’s what makes this a better movie in my opinion. So, yeah, okay. You talked about the cliff. I’m I’m down. I’m down.
Close your eyes, Keith. My first well, I already did the consent one, I guess, but my my other stock down was was color. Who needs it? You know, people don’t like to watch black and white movies, but this is pretty much a black and white movie. There there’s a real lack of color going on.
Most most of the scenes are totally muted. You know, there’s no bright colors whatsoever. It’s all in this, like, sepia tone situation. The flashbacks are very green. When we see Voldemort as a as a kid, it’s, like, all green, the Oh.
Flashback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s because he’s, like, the Slytherin.
That’s the reason that’s supposed to be. Interesting. Which is funny because I thought a lot of those pensive scenes when they go into them, the color scheme there was very similar to the precog premonitions for minority report. Oh, yeah. Good point.
Yeah. But, yeah. And so, you know, the the whole sectumsempra scene was totally black and white. It was American history acts happening all over again. Harry and Dumbledore in the cave was primarily black and white with then some, like, fire going on.
Yeah. It was interesting. Just the entire movie was and it was this was obviously done on purpose. And supposedly, they they did it in the studio. They wanted to do it to make it kind of, like, a darker, you know, more moody type film, which cutting back to my previous stuff, even, like, Snape’s house, when they go to Snape’s house to do the unbreakable, the unbreakable vile, I love that.
The colors worked great, which was, like, no colors. Great scene. Yeah. They gave it to the studio. The studio said, we need more color.
And, supposedly, they edited it, sent it back to the studio, and the director was like, you’re still not gonna like it. And they were said, nope. We’re fine. So yeah. But it it works out.
It doesn’t feel like you’re watching a movie that has muted color. It’s just tonal. You know? It just feels like the tone is different. So I think it was a good good choice.
Yeah. I liked it. Other stock downs for you? Problem solving skills stock down. Okay.
In the book, we talked about Harry being obsessed with Malfoy and, like, everyone else around him being, like, alright. Like and you mentioned like, I think you said gaslapping was a a term you threw out there that like everyone’s kinda like, nah, you’re not seeing that. That’s not happening. I mean, Harry had Harry had to make a like a bunch of logical jumps in order to prove out that Malfoy was a death eater. He kept on being like, well, his like his wrist wasn’t showing as we showed him.
He must have done that. He was like kind of just making all these guesses. Mhmm. And then everyone’s like, I don’t know. Maybe.
And this, he sees Malfoy going into the what what’s it called? What’s it called? What’s it called? Birkin. Dark Bergen and Botts?
Bergen? No. No. Those are Bergen and Botts every they were being whatever. He he sneaks away there.
And who is he with? Like, 5 death eaters. And he they’re, like, hearing another conversation, talking about, like, this is what we need to do. Fenrir Greyback is with them. Yeah.
He’s really on the lookout. And then on the next scene on the train, he’s like, I think Malfoy might be a death eater. And they’re like, what are you, an idiot, Harry? Like, why would you ever come to that conclusion? That makes no sense.
I’m like, what? What do you mean? Yeah. That’s it’s, like, the only rational conclusion is that he’s working with or is a death eater. That’s the only two things you can take away from that.
Mhmm. There’s no other conclusion, and every and even, like, the the order of the Phoenix are like, yeah. We looked into it. I don’t think so. And it’s like, What?
What? And then, like, at the same scene, Ron’s dad’s like, yeah. They’re trying to fix something, like, that, helps people transport. But, yeah, he’s definitely and nothing’s happening. Don’t worry about that.
When they give him the we looked into it, but, yeah, definitely not, is basically what happens at work when someone asks me, oh, like, hey. Are you able to pull this kind of report? And I’m like, click click click. Oh, I I looked into it, but, no, I actually can’t do that. You’re gonna have to ask somebody else.
Done. Yeah. That’s like the you forgot the email, and then 3 days later, you’re like, like, shit. You follow-up with someone, and you’re like, yeah. I’ve been waiting for them this whole time.
I’ve been looking into it. They just haven’t gotten back to me even though you just read it and sent over something. Yeah. That that works. Just throw someone else under the bus.
I’m waiting on this person to get back to me and just pray they never go directly to that person. Yeah. Yeah. It didn’t it didn’t make a lot of sense. Also, the vanishing cabinet in the room of requirements when Harry’s standing next to it, but it’s just covered in a in a tapestry, He has no no acknowledgment of that thing.
It’s like there’s a bird in there. They open it up. Bird comes out. No. No.
No. No. It’s like, you saw this. It you know? That you you saw this, not Mario.
There’s a little too many breadcrumbs. And I understand it’s it’s for the viewer. You know, you’re supposed to be able to put put it together yourself, what’s happening. And I under I understand that. I I’m not I’m not actually upset about it.
It’s just if you think about it, it starts to kind of unravel. Yeah. Just don’t think. Alright. Okay.
Just don’t think. What about a favorite scene? I just really liked the whole ending. Oh, okay. Where does the ending start for you?
Them going to the cave. That’s where it starts for me. We talked about, like, the whole lead up really meant something because there wasn’t a ton of action. They did throw in, like, the whole burning down the laziness. It’s just Yeah.
I wasn’t I didn’t really understand the motive for that other than so that we didn’t have to see Ginny and, Harry on screen for any longer. They’re about to, like, kiss or she’s about to, like, tie his shoes and do something else a little awkward. I don’t know what’s going on. This movie with with, you know, the wife and and actually my my mother-in-law was in town. And so we were watching it, and I was like she bent down on her knees.
I was like, close your eyes, everybody. Geez. You said your mother-in-law. She’s a good egg. Wow.
You are that’s a savage move. Holy shit. Maybe it was the camerawork, but the camerawork, I was like, what is happening here? Or or I’m just maybe I’m sick. I’m just sick in the head.
That’s definitely it. No. That was too that was too much. There’s nothing, like, romantic about someone bending down and tying your shoes. That’s not romantic at all unless there’s some other inclination that you’re getting when they do that.
I would never understand why someone would tie someone else’s shoes. I don’t know why someone would want to tie someone else’s shoes. I’m, like, a mix between Jerry Seinfeld and Pauley from The Sopranos, which is, like, and then tie their shoes. Yeah. Yeah.
Definitely not. The only time I can think about when someone else would tie my shoes would be a wedding situation where we’re getting ready, and those pants can be kinda tight because you don’t wear them that often. Yeah. And the thought is I’m gonna split these pants in half, and these dress shoes are very complicated to to tie because they’re all waxed laces. Mhmm.
Can someone else tie? Adult, if you’re having someone tie your shoes, you put the your foot onto a ledge. Yeah. Or you’re, like, on a bed and you’re like, yo. Do you mind tying these real quick?
Something like that. That’s the only time you’d ever you wouldn’t be like, bend down. No one’s on a stairwell and says, don’t take one more step. I’m gonna get down on my knees and tie your shoes. Okay.
Why are you spitting on your hands? That’s a weird thing to do to tie the shoes. Oh my god. Yeah. The the the burning of the burrow was, interesting decision.
But according to the director or whatever the case was, there wasn’t enough, or there wasn’t a lot of action, and so they wanted to introduce an action scene in there to kind of bring it all together, which I’m fine with. And I appreciate that they weren’t forcing all of the action and just threw something in there. It it didn’t obviously make make a ton of sense, but they also weren’t gonna put Skrimjor or Percy Weasley into this film. So if you’re not gonna have that Christmas situation, you know, put an action scene with people trying to burn down the borough. Why why not?
Yeah. Although, for for if Harry’s the the head of the DA, him and Ginny standing on, like, a piece of mud in the open while a bunch of death eaters are shooting curses at them from cover. It’s just tactically, it’s a terrible move, so he he should know better than that. Yeah. So for my favorite scene, I’m thinking the cape was pretty cool, for one.
It’s very my mine of Moria, mines of Moria situation. It it was good to see Dumbledore do some real magic. It was the only time we get to see Dumbledore do real magic. And even though it was a little bit of Moses parting the Red Seas there, I enjoyed it. I I thought that was that was pretty fun to see.
The Infuri themselves were were scary. The the the scene when he Harry’s getting dragged down, and you see all of them attached to the walls or the walls of the inside of the cave, like, on the different, I don’t know, giant stalagmites or whatever they are, was super cool. Although it was just visually, it was like, this is this is messed up. So I I like that. You know, the only issue I really had with that scene was that Dumbledore didn’t seem to need water that bad.
You know, in the book, he’s legitimately dying for water. And this one, he’s like, Harry, pass me some water. And Harry just goes over to the water and then You’re telling me that he underacted a scene where every other scene he’s complaining about, he’s overacting? Yeah. Michael Gambon in this one is just like, yo, is there any water?
Does anyone have a little sip of water? I mean, I’m fine, but I’d like an itch in my throat. Do you wanna have anything? I’m totally fine. I could go without, but if there was water, I’d take it.
Yeah. So that’s up there for me. The scene I liked more was Harry’s Felix Felice’s scene. I thought that in every part of it, I enjoyed. From Daniel Radcliffe’s acting, which I thought was impeccable.
I don’t know if they actually had him drink, like, 3, 4 beers and have him do that. I did read a note that he was, he said this is his least favorite movie because he was struggling with alcohol. So Oh. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I don’t know if that’s true. No. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah.
The pinchers. I mean, this value, he’s he’s what’s it called then? Method acting. Yes. Method acting.
When you talk about the 2 to 3, twitties on the last episode, he was just he was taking that to heart. Yeah. So I just thought that was the whole way that story was told. They added in this fish story for for slughorn. This the the fish story about Lily Potter giving him this fish.
It was touching. It was a touching story. I thought it perfectly fit the idea of what was going on at the time. I I thought it was really good. You know, for for things that they’re just making up for the movie, this was one of the better ones in the entire series, that that that conversation.
So, yeah, I I just I I like I like that a lot. We’re we’re gonna get into some other stuff because I wanna talk talk later about some of some of the jokes. And for the ending too, just the ending in in general, they ended the movie pretty well, I thought. Did you agree? Because we’ve had issues with this in the past.
Overall, good ending. It was similar to the book. I thought it was it was a great, in terms of, like Well, they didn’t have the funeral. They didn’t have Dumbledore’s funeral. The whole everyone coming together type thing at the end on the lawn.
Raising their lawns up? Yeah. That was that was a I think that was a a good tribute. I don’t think the funeral would have done anything. But they end the end to end is pretty much a a throwback to the end of Goblet where they all go out on that same ledge and look over the lake, this time instead of thestrals or whatever, it’s Fox.
And the 3 of them kinda say, oh, well, it’s gonna be on us, this, that, and the other thing. I was almost waiting for Hermione to be like, are you guys gonna write me? Are you guys gonna write me? Come on. You’re gonna write me this summer.
Right? So, yeah, I thought it was ended. I thought the ending was was much better than some some of the other ones. So No. Yeah.
I agree. What about characters for this one? Did you did you like any of the on screen characters? I think we had you know, we obviously like we talked about before, we had Slughorn played by Jim Broadbent. We also Ernie McLaggon is in a lot of this movie.
Freddie Stroma plays Ernie Mc Ernie McLaggon. He’s in a lot of it. And then, naturally, Jessie Cave as as Lavender Brown. I feel like those are kind of the 3 characters incredible. I think he was a really, really good actor in this.
I thought he was shown way more, and instead of just saying putter and, like being a bully, he, like, kinda had some depth in this one where you almost feel bad for him at times. Yeah. Interesting. I didn’t even think about that, but but, yeah, I would I would agree with you that Malfoy is really good. He almost is in his own movie here.
His scenes, he’s not really in scenes with anybody. It’s kind of him just toiling and trying to deal with the task at hand. So yeah. I I agree. Before, he was kinda like this ratty little kid that was, like, just a snob.
Mhmm. And now he’s kind of like this tall menacing like oh he’s grown up and he’s like actually a real person now. Yeah. He was a caricature before I felt like now he’s actually it felt like he was a real person. I agree.
Yeah. I agree. I I I think that that’s probably the best call. I do think that Jim Broadband, who played Slughorn, was great. I think that was very well cast.
Ernie McClagan, for some reason, has a has a little place in my heart. That guy is just such a perfect dick. He’s so he plays that hot dick character so well. You do love a hot dick. I love her.
Just creepily staring at Hermione, but he’s not understanding how it’s so creepy just to be staring at her. And his one lines are are great. What? You wanted him to go up and kiss her without saying anything? That Yeah.
I wanted him to just walk up to her in the hallway and say close your eyes and then start making out with her because that’s totally cool. Isn’t this the Disney song? I can show you the world. And then it’s like close your eyes or something. Right?
That’s from that. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. That’s where he’s getting it.
Alright. No. No. It’s don’t you dare close your eyes is what he says. Oh.
Yeah. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay.
Never mind. Don’t you dare tie your shoes. Don’t you dare. Yeah. But that’s because they’re, you know, they’re flying on a magic carpet, you know, over That’s true.
Different places. So don’t you dare close your eyes. Studio notes, 8378 on Rotten Tomatoes. Order was 7881. So a little flip floppity doodah.
This one cost 250,000,000. It was the most expensive movie of the series. And like I said, another long one, 2:30 run time. I talked about some of the other studio stuff as we’re going through it. And then some some casting notes.
Supposedly, Danny Radcliffe here and Rupert Grint were hesitant to return for this movie, and Emma Watson also considered not returning. I don’t necessarily believe that. I didn’t dig too much into it. That’s agent talk for we want more money. Yeah.
That’s how I felt. That’s how I felt as well. Well. Because it’s just there’s no way. Right?
It’s the 6th movie. I don’t think they knew at this point that the 7th movie was gonna be 2 movies. So in their mind it’s like, but, you know, they’re saying the reasoning behind this was that they didn’t wanna be typecast, But who’s gonna turn down a bunch of greenbacks to re reprise a role in which no one the studio would go crazy. You couldn’t imagine in the 6th movie changing out. So, yeah, I agree.
It has to be this trying to give more money. Have you ever seen the, the George? What’s the actor that plays George in Seinfeld? Oh, yeah. I did.
Jason. And what’s his name? On why they’re, like, asking him, like, oh, why why did you deserve a $1,000,000 an episode? And he’s like, well Yeah. It’s like there’s 5 different aspects to the show that need to be covered and they’re one of the 5 and so they should have the Yeah.
20%. But the biggest thing you said is that I’ve done everything I can with the character. So now you have to pay me so that I don’t because because now I’m not gonna get jobs for other things. So you’re basically you’re paying me for all the other work I’m not gonna get because the more I play this character, the the more likely it is I’ll never able to get out of the shadow of this character. So he’s like, that’s you’re paying me for.
Yeah. He’s paying me for his type of things. Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t I didn’t know if it was the same interview or a different one, but he talks about how because of that, it ruined TV.
He’s like, oh, we ruined TV for the next, like, 20 years because, yeah, because they were able to get $1,000,000 an episode. Oh, I understand. Yeah. Yeah. The friends people were able to do that as well.
That then they started giving it, you know, the same deals. It’s kinda like the NFL how if someone gets a bigger contract then, okay, you have to match that or get it in a higher. Gotcha. So then it’d be like Spin City, and they’d be giving that to some people. It just can’t float.
Like, that that show’s not getting enough eyeballs to to do to make sure that it’s worth it. I like Spin City. I just use that as a random example. It it’s probably something way worse than that, but, you know, that we’re commanding these these big dollars. That makes sense.
So yeah. It’s it’s crazy how much money they made from that show. It’s crazy how much they made Larry David. Yeah. Larry David made for that show.
Holy smokes. And then he has curve on top of it. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
Crazy. Let’s get some love hates. Keith, what did you love about, Half Blood Prince film? You already mentioned the Unbreakable Vow scene. I thought that, like, got the movie off on the right foot.
I think I mentioned in the book, I almost wish they didn’t have it, but I thought the scene was was great. I thought Snape, in the books, like, again, even I I know it’s gonna happen, but I still am never gonna be on Snape’s side based off of this reread. In the in the movies, he just comes off as someone that’s in turmoil and not someone that’s, like, cold blooded and hates everyone and hate deep down, he’s not really that upset about things. You can tell, like, he doesn’t wanna do what he has to do, where in the books, you don’t get that. You don’t get his interlock monologue.
Yeah. If he was actually a death eater, he would’ve in this when in the astronomy tower and he saw Harry, he wouldn’t have shushed him. He would’ve just grabbed him and be like, alright. Let’s kill them both or kill Dumbledore and take him to the dark lord. Yeah.
I I agree with you. The the characters are very different in in the movies than he is in in the books. What I loved about this, and I feel like this is the first movie to do it, but this movie had some actual funny parts where I laughed out loud, I will say. I LOL ed. Oh.
It started when Slughorn was at the 3 broomsticks and ran into Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And he’s standing over Hermione, and he spills his drink on her. And she’s like, oh, and he doesn’t even miss a beat. He goes, all hands on deck. Granger is just like, what?
Just spells your drink at someone. You go, all hands on deck. And at one of Slaghorn’s parties, he’s asking some kid about potions or his great grandfather. He’s like, oh, yeah. My dad doesn’t talk to you anymore.
My dad says the only potion worth having is a stiff one at the end of the day. Love that. Slughorn, basically calling Ron the wrong name the whole time. I thought that was funny too. He delivered those lines as well.
Yeah. He delivered them really well. I was like, rookie of the year. You know, ro ro Rosenhauser. Ron, under the influence of the love potion, Rupert Grint acting his face off in that one, I thought it was great when he does the whole, can you introduce me to her or whatever the case is?
And there’s like, what do you mean? You’ve you’ve been snogging her. He’s like, I haven’t been snogging her. You know? And so I thought that was awesome.
And then Harry high on the Felix Felicis. It’s I I was just laughing with Harry the whole time. I mean, I talked about the pincers thing. So he’s, like, talking about the spider, and he goes, not to mention the pincers. Like, that was funny.
Even when Slughorn at the beginning, Harry, like, sees him in Sprouts’ tent or whatever, and then he’s like, alright. Peace out peace out. I’m going to Hagrid’s, and Slughorn jumps out. He’s like, Harry. And Harry turns around, and he goes, sir.
I don’t know. I don’t know. It was the I don’t remember that, but alright. Okay. You just you gotta you gotta go.
You gotta go rewatch it. It was, I thought it was it was good. The all hands on deck actually slayed me when he said it. I was like, that if you spill now if I spill a beer on someone, I never would consider a Harry Potter movie to be quotable. But if I ever spilled a beer on someone, instead of saying sorry, I’m just gonna say all hands on deck.
What else do you love? I thought the young Dumbledore or young Voldemort rather was great. I thought he was really good. I looked at him up. He’s actually his name’s Hero Fiends Tiffin.
Oh. The nephew of Ralph Fiends. Ralph. Okay. Yeah.
Oh. Is it Fiends? I don’t know his name. Fiends? I don’t I honestly don’t know.
F I e n n n I’ve always heard of it as Fiends, but I don’t know. That kid could have been in The Good Son. Have you seen that movie, The Cawley Culkin? Yeah. I don’t think so.
But it’s just like his it’s really, like, dark messed up movie. But he was like that, like, just a super creepy kid, but acted very well. He can put on the charm, but also he’s, like, a psychopath? Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. And it’s funny you said that thing about, oh, young whatever, because we’re watching it and young Dumbledore comes out and hair Caroline’s like, oh, so to be younger in the wizarding world, you just need shorter hair and a shorter beard? Because he looks pretty much exactly the same except his beard hair and hair hair’s a cut different color. So give it. Yeah.
I guess so. There’s also references to Dumbledore being, like, off his rocker at some points in this movie, which is interesting. Yeah. It’s not really talked about, I feel like, but No. Yeah.
They just kinda say, you know, that’s that’s why, but I think there’s also some pretty scary stuff in in this in this movie as well. Like, I love that part. I talked about the Infuri. Katie Bell’s being possessed was straight out of The Conjuring. There’s X Resist type that I use.
Yeah. It’s like they pull her up in the air. It’s like all this crazy stuff. And then they slam her. Like slam her into the ground.
If you were a child that took your 10 year old kid to see this, that’s one of those scenes that would, like, stick with me, I feel like. It’s like, I think the 6th sense people will say the 6th sense is a scary movie. I think it’s pretty scary, but the part of the thing that stuck with me was when the kid just says, do you wanna go see my dad’s guns? And then turns around, and there’s a hole in the back of his head. That scared the shit out of me, and I couldn’t sleep for, like, a week because I was just seeing that scene.
So this the Katie Bell scene would be like that for me if I was a kid because Yeah. They really squish her into the ground. On top of that, the sets, you the astronomy tower, that was really good. Whatever they did with the potions classroom with Slughorn, it’s, like, bigger. There’s, like, urns everywhere.
I thought that was super cool. The cave, the landscape shots. I mean, even Snape’s house, we talked about that, but even that house is just in this, you know, those very unique neighborhoods they have in England where they’re all the houses are just kinda stacked on top of each other, townhouse style. I thought it was just it was it was great. It looked great.
It looked great. Mhmm. Yeah. Agreed. Well, let’s jump to hates.
What do you feel about that? I already mentioned it. The collect do you want him to collect me thing? Mhmm. There had to be some other way to say that.
There’s just had to be. You can just whisper Confunded under your breath without using your wand or sending any sort of spell from your wand, which every other spell in the movie has, like, a laser beam come out, but you can just do that, I guess. Good one. Yeah. And they’re they’re also learning at this point in the book.
They’re learning how to do spells without saying anything. Obviously, you can’t do that for a movie. It’d be very confusing. But she could have just poked her spell, her her wand, you know, just give it a little shimmy. So, yeah, I agree with you.
Yeah. And also, is that how Confundus works? It just it moved him. It didn’t Yeah. Like, it physically moved his body.
It didn’t make him go like, Yeah. It seems like that would be a little bit more obvious too that someone casted a spell on someone after the force push. Yeah. Exactly. I got, Fred and George.
This is more of a movie series in general, but it really came to head for me in this one because Fred and George give very little screen time. But Fred and George saying the same thing at the same time in all the movies, I didn’t I never understood that. It just seems like such a boring, low brow, bottom branch kind of Twins are all the same. Extreme humor. Exactly.
Yeah. It’s just like basic twin humor where they say the same thing all the time, and I I don’t understand it. It just bothers me. I don’t know why. It just seems so stupid.
Yeah. It doesn’t happen at all in the book. All the the whole time in the book, they’re just playing off each other. So Yeah. Making jokes for each other, not, like, which is funny.
They’re avid in Costello. They’re, like, setting each other up. They’re not just saying the same thing at the same time. The shop itself was cool, though. The shop was awesome.
That’s, like, right before peak school season. Mhmm. Is it just no one in there after that? Like, because all the kids are gone. Like, so how are they staying in business after?
Like, I get that at one weekend, it’s gonna be bumping. But after that, how are they staying in business? So it’s a good question. My counter would be that there are still kids. You know, there’s kids under 11 that aren’t at Hogwarts, and there’s people over 18 who are buying gifts and buying stuff, whatever.
There’s also, we assume, people that don’t go to Hogwarts. Like, Hogwarts only has we’ve talked tried to break this down in of the episodes, but it only has a few 100 kids. So there’s lots and lots of wizarding families, presumably, that their kids go to a different school, and I’m sure there’s other schools, like, within London proper that maybe aren’t boarding schools. You know? They just have day wizarding schools.
It’s it’s a business. People liquor stores are open, and people work during the day. Well, there’s a thing called alcoholics. Yeah. Well, you don’t think there’s joke shopaholics?
Yeah. Well, I do think the joke shop would be pretty awesome if you’re a squib because you’re basically you’re basically like Batman now. Oh, yeah. Just get that Peruvian darkness powder and Yeah. You have, like, stuff you can actually now be part of the group.
You’re like, oh, I got stuff I can throw out of here and and then actually, like, be magical and everyone else is actually superpowers. That would be an interesting kind of spin off is some sort of group of Aurors, but one of the Aurors is a squib. Yeah. But he just uses all the magical elements properly, and then has a gat, and he’s just blasting dark wizards in the face. Some other ones I had, Dumbledore’s hand should look worse.
It doesn’t look that bad in the movie. It’s supposed to be withered and, like, almost falling off. Disgusting. He looked like a raptor. So his hand looked like, you know, from, like, Jurassic Park?
Yeah. Like a raptor hand. I don’t know. That was weird. Yeah.
I just thought it should’ve been should’ve been more. No gaunts, like I said. I don’t wanna talk about talk about Ginny anymore, but I have, like, 30 on Ginny. Oh, I’m sorry, Ginny. I’m sorry.
Didn’t make positive. She, worked behind the scenes in the art department and helped decorate the Weasley house, creating and placing different objects around the home where she, should be acting. She said, okay. Carrie should be right here. Martha.
And I’m gonna squirt a bottle of Jergens on this wall here. That’s good. You’ll know why later. Alright. So would you recommend Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and how many buddies out of 4 buddies do you give it?
Yeah. I would. I think this is a good one. I’d probably give it a solid 3 out of 4. Oh.
To to rank it right now, I’d go 4, 6 Wow. 1, 2, 3, 5. You hate threes so much. 5 is a 100 times worse than threes. Okay.
I gave it, I think, 2.75, which is Alright. So pretty much. Pretty pretty good for Yeah. These movies in general. I have I’m gonna say 431625.
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that was that was the movie.
I’m really glad we we watched that movie. I liked it. What do we got coming on next? We have the final installment. I mean, I’m almost already done with the book and I’m already getting getting, like, upset thinking about it being over.
Yeah. Just like I’m already it’s so the it’s such a good book. It’s it’s such a good book. Oh, man. It’s so good.
Oh, I can’t believe it’s been a multi month journey. You know what I mean? I think we started this in May or something like that. Mhmm. May or June.
And look look look where we are now. So, yeah, we’ll, we’ll get the Deathly Hallows book next up. You know, we’ll probably we’ll definitely talk about that book itself and probably some higher level just Harry Potter stuff in general. But I don’t even wanna think about where we’re gonna go after that because I honestly have no idea, but we’re gonna have to discuss it. I’ll catch you for, for Deathly Hallows.
Alrighty. I like it. K. Alright. Bye now.
