From: isleofcapri@gmail.com   
      
   Just returned from my personal, private screening and here goes:   
      
   The movie opens with an extreme closeup of Rufus Scrimgeour's   
   (minister of Magic) as he's giving a very haunting press conference   
   about all the dangers and horror going around in the wizarding world.   
   The scene zooms out as it turns into a picture in a newspaper. We see   
   the Dursleys packing up, leaving Harry behind, and their house in   
   Pivot Drive completely empty. There's another scene that starts out   
   with Hermione looking worried in her bedroom. The filmmakers then   
   decided to show Hermione hexing her parents to forget their current   
   lives and move to Australia. After she does this, she also makes all   
   images of her disappear from the pictures in their house. This scene   
   was very well done and was one of my favorites in the whole movie. It   
   was very effective because it quietly communicated the dread wizards   
   were feeling due to Voldemort. There's a shot in the trailer of   
   Hermione walking towards what looks like a church. She's not really   
   heading there. It's just part of a shot of her walking down her   
   street, as the camera pans up to reveal the titles. One thing to note   
   about that: since the movie score isn't completed yet, they were   
   using a variety of music from other movies, they had some music from   
   Harry Potter, but I would say most of it sounded very much like a   
   Hans Zimmer score. It was a little bizarre to see the Harry Potter   
   And the Deadly Hallows title set to one of the most recognizable cues   
   from The Dark Knight score.   
      
   If I recall correctly, we then see a shot of Snape arriving at Malfoy   
   Manor, where there's a very chilling sequence of Voldemort explaining   
   to the death eaters about the shared core between his wand and   
   Harry's. The Hogwarts teacher who had been captured and tortured can   
   be seen floating above the table throughout the whole scene. We also   
   get a very intense exchange between Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy, when   
   Voldemort asks for his wand in order to be able to kill Harry. The   
   actor who portrays Lucius does a good job of selling the internal   
   humiliation Lucius feels as his wand is taken away. Then Voldemort   
   brings the teacher forwards, and shortly after she pleads for   
   Severus' help, she is killed.   
      
   We then cut to Harry waiting for the Order of the Phoenix to arrive.   
   One of the things that I was very impressed with in the movie was how   
   despite it being the darkest Harry Potter movie of all, it also had a   
   lot of light hearted humorous parts. The seven Harrys scene is one of   
   the best examples of this. As we see the decoys taking the polyjuice   
   potion, the camera pans 360 degrees around the real Harry seeing all   
   of them transforming. After, when they are changing, there's a very   
   funny moment when they're all commenting on Harry's eyesight, and   
   Fleur comments how hideous she is as she takes of her bra. The sight   
   gag of Dan Radcliffe taking off a bra got a lot of laughs from the   
   audience. The scene plays out pretty much like the book, with the big   
   exception of Harry and Lupin not having the heated argument they have   
   in the book. In fact, Tonks' pregnancy is brushed aside. It was a   
   little frustrating if you've read the book, because they didn't just   
   omitted it, but literally brushed it aside: just as Tonks is about to   
   make her announcement, Mad-Eye pushes her aside and discusses how   
   important it is to move Harry. Mundungus Fletcher is briefly   
   introduced without much background in this scene, though it is   
   established that he's forced to be there and that he's a sketchy   
   character.   
      
   Right before they leave, we see the scene of Harry releasing Hedwig   
   from his front door, as seen in the recent publicity shots that have   
   been circling around the web. The chase scene that follows is very   
   exciting, though it mostly focuses on Harry and Hagrid (who is   
   stupefied or paralyzed shortly after the chase begins, leaving Harry   
   to fend for himself). The chase itself is very exciting, and takes   
   place high in the sky, and on the street level, including a sequence   
   through a tunnel that has the motorcycle doing a loop and Harry   
   tippy-toeing on a truck as he hangs on for dear life. Hedwig's death   
   is a big change from the book; and one, I think is an improvement.   
   Instead of the Death Eaters finding out who the real Harry is because   
   he used Expelliarmus, they find out because Hedwig is flying close to   
   him protecting him. In the movie, as Harry's about to get hit with a   
   death curse, Hedwig gets in the way and gets killed. Hagrid wakes up   
   as they enter the protected area by the Weasley's and one by one the   
   Order of the Phoenix arrives. We do not see Mad-Eye's death, it is   
   only mentioned that he was killed after Fletcher escaped. The scene   
   where Lupin grabs Harry for questioning is identical to the book, and   
   translated great to the screen.   
      
   After, there's a short scene of Harry trying to leave and Ron   
   convincing him to stay for the wedding. We later see them putting up   
   the wedding tent as Rufus Scrimgeour arrives to read the last will of   
   Dumbledore. I thought the scene was very interesting, and the   
   filmmakers made a very good effort of trying to maintain the   
   relevance of the items Dumbledore left them throughout the movie. The   
   golden snitch is usually seen flying around Harry at various points   
   in the film, Ron's illuminator is used several times. The Tales of   
   Beedle the Bard are kind of ignored upfront, but obviously play a   
   large part later on in the film.   
      
   The biggest change in the wedding scene is that Harry attends without   
   any disguise. We see cameos from some old characters like Madam   
   Maxine and Victor Krum (who dances with Hermione as Ron jealously   
   watches in the background). This is also where we meet Mr. Lovegood,   
   who was perfectly cast and portrayed. The camera purposely focuses on   
   his necklace, but nothing is mentioned about it. We do not learn its   
   significance until later, and there is no argument between him and   
   Krum. Then there's a short, but good conversation between Harry, Aunt   
   Muriel and Elphias Doge in which some exposition is given to   
   Dumbledore's past. The actress playing Aunt Muriel makes a very good   
   job at teasing Harry for not knowing Dumbledore. The wedding is cut   
   short by the Patronus announcing the fall of the Ministry and the   
   impending arrival of the Death Eaters. After a chaotic exit, we see   
   the trio go into the coffee shop, where they are attacked by another   
   pair of Death Eaters. There's a nice bookend sequence here where   
   Hermione uses the same memory charm on one of the Death Eaters that   
   she used on her parents.   
      
   The Grimmauld place sequences are very shortened compared to the ones   
   in the book. The trio discovers that RAB is Regulus Black very   
   quickly and there's no doubt it's him who took the locket. Harry then   
   finds Krecher and sends him after Mundungus Fletcher when he finds   
   out he stole the locket. The whole subplot with the dual portraits in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)