OotP & comeback
After PoA, it's my favourite.
The actors:
Emma is cute as a button, but still can't act.
Rupert is subdued.
Daniel improves every movie, though I'm still trying to figure out what they did to his hair.
The S/R scenes were two but evocative - they're domestic! I liked that Sirius hugged Harry and that they fought side by side (except for the 'James' moment). Hated the bloody curtain (I imagined it as a torn rag hanging from the arch) and the AK thing - WTF.
I'm a fan of Helena Bonham-Carter ever since she played Lucy Honeychurch, therefore Bella is a favourite.
What I missed the most was Harry tearing Dumbledore a new one. It's a very powerful scene in the book in which we, finally understand why Harry was such an angsty twat and Dumbledore was giving him the cold shoulder.
I really liked Luna's scene with the thestrals and I found some amusing references to other movies, like Fudge's portrait at the Ministry (Hitchcok) and Luna with the bloodied mouth (interview with a vampire). Grawp was totally unnecessary.
Fred and George have small but fun roles but their exit wasn't as pwerful as I thought it ought to be.
Fiona Shaw was superb. I imagined Dolores Umbridge as someone younger and with a Moaning Myrtle-type voice but her coughs, the smile and the pink everything....
The end with Harry's possession was somewhat anti-climatic. People who don't know the books will have trouble understanding that scene and the conversation with Dumbledore is not very enlightening.
All in all, a valiant effort.
PS - I really liked Luna, much more than I did in the book.
I missed LJ like crazy, but I'm in the middle of end-of-years exams and going to interviews and working part time and reading 'Sentinel' fics whenever I can. I'll try to post more often.