I was thinking the latest HP would be too scary for my 7 yo. What do you think?

depends, have they read the books? Isn't the movie rated pg-13?

If they know what's coming (uh... I'm assuming you know that a character dies in this book/movie) I guess it should be oookay? Threre is teenage fighting (brawl? competition?), a little bid of blood (scars), and the same kind of "fear" of the bad guy as in previous movies (not more or less).

Dragons and monsters can be tamed but the end of this movie does begin a new chapter in the series with "fear".... (kind of apocalyptic, at least in the world of wizards...) Book 6 is probably a lot scarier - but if they've read it...

I have not read the books but my GF has and she is an adult fan of HP. She liked it, I thought it was ok. She explained it was very stream lined and much of the back story was stripped out. I think that is the challenge of doing a long story in 2-2.5 hours.

As for Superman I guess I am just becoming bored with the remake of movies over and over and over again. The upcoming months have Superman and King Kong again. How many times can you retell these stories? How many Batmans are there?

Batman begins was quite good, but I'm not sure if Superman needs to be done unless it's telling a new part of the story.



Sorry for the hijack

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I liked the Harry Potter movie more than I thought I would. Of all of the books so far it was my least favorite (but I still liked it). The movie was amusing for the first 2/3's then the last 1/3 was pretty intense. I wouldn't recommend anyone seeing the movie if they haven't seen the first two or read the books.

My told my girlfriend that her 7-y-o wouldn't like it, he doesn't like to be scared. My older son loved being scared at that age, my younger boy not.

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oh but it is! (a new story)

from the official site: "Following a mysterious absence of several years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth in the epic action-adventure Superman Returns, a soaring new chapter in the saga of one of the world's most beloved superheroes. While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, Superman faces the heartbreaking realization that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman's bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, Superman embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space."

Well, that might be work a look then.

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I agree its challenging to stuff a book into 2.5 hours but the first two movies did a lot more story telling and less computer-graphics-action-showing. (not that I really enjoyed the first two movies either.) For instance, that World Quidditch Cup garbage - that was at least 10 minutes of useless time (which probably took MONTHS and lots of $$$) completely unnecessary for plot development. The whole crazy journalist woman was annoying and time consuming (although, I can't remember if her character has any more depth in the book/future.) Dragon scene, once again, too much, etc. The Malfoys and Snape seemed to take a back door in the movies but I thought they were more important in the books etc.

anyway the books are all one big blob in my memory (not to mention I've only read them once, long ago) ...

As for these "remakes", Supes is another story (although Singer looks like he's going to revisit the "beginning"). And Batman, well, I loved it. Comic books are kind of funny this way - artists have been drawing the same characters for decades. People just don't seem to mind as long as you keep the basics of each mythology true.

What I don't like are complete hollywood redos of perfectly good films. For instance, Manchurian Candidate (just wasn't as interesting or "shocking"), La Femme Nikita (they changed the "heart" of the character from a psycho/killer to a "wrong place at the wrong time street kid"), Desperado (why?), etc. King Kong, well, it should be a little fun to update the special FX, and was it really a "classic" to begin with?

Potter was ... acceptable. Not great, not bad, but acceptable. Too scary for really young kids though.

I am definitely looking forward to King Kong. Batman was pretty good, but I don't think that they have found the right actor to play the Dark Knight yet. Other than the TV series, he always seemed to be a little more psychotic than the movies have suggested.

Christopher Reeve was the perfect Superman, by IMO the Spiderman series has been the best so far of all the comic book movies.

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