Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
November 16, 2001
Warner Bros.
Children's, Fantasy, Comedy
DVD
B

Since this series is known for a cast that is relatively consistent over the course of eight movies, we'd better start with a list of the performers.  And because the number of my tags is limited, I'm going to just use one tag of "Harry Potter regulars" for people who appear in at least two of the eight movies, although I'll note with each film who these regulars are for that time.  This will not include anyone who has made at least two non-Potter films I own, i.e., Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith, who play Professors Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall.  Plus Julie Walters, who plays Mrs. Weasley, would have two later non-Potter appearances.  So here in Stone, we have (in mostly alphabetical order)

1. Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood
2. David Bradley as Argus Filch
3. John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick
4. Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
5. Eleanor Columbus (the director's daughter) as Susan Bones
6. Emily Dale as Katie Bell
7. Warwick Davis as a Goblin Bank Teller and Professor Flitwick
8. Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas
9. Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
10. Scott Fern as Terence Higgs (but playing Adrian Pucey in Chamber of Secrets)
11. David Holmes as Adrian Pucey (but playing a Slytherin Beater in Chamber, no idea why the switch)
12. Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon Dursley
13. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
14. Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore
15. Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle
16. John Hurt as Mr. Ollivander
17. Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom
18. Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley
19. Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan
20. James Phelps as Fred Weasley
21. Oliver Phelps as George Weasley
22. Leslie Philips as the voice of the Sorting Hat
23. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
24. Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley
25. Adrian Rawlins as James Potter
26. Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia Dursley
27. Geraldine Somerville as Lily Potter
28. Danielle Tabor as Angelina Johnson
29. Harry Taylor as the Station Guard
30. Julie Walters as Molly Weasley
31. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
32. Jamie Waylett as Vincent Crabbe
33. Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley
34. Luke Youngblood as Lee Jordan

More obscurely, Ben Borowiecki would return in Chamber as Diagon Alley Boy; Maria Coyne and Oliver Lavery-Farag would be students again in Chamber; Lisa Osmond would be a Gringotts Goblin again in DH2, as well as a Quidditch Supporter in Goblet; Amy Puglia who's a Quidditch Player here, would be a pupil in Chamber.  

Elizabeth Spriggs, who was Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility, is typecast as the Fat Lady, while Zoe Wanamaker, who was Oscar's friend in Wilde, is Madam Hooch.  Neither of them would return to this franchise.

My review of the book is here:  http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/11/harry-potter-and-philosophers-sorcerers.html.  Note that I'm not using the alternate titles now, since I am reviewing just the American version of the movie (with everyone saying "Sorcerer's").  Less than two years later, I'm not sure I would describe myself as a huge fan per se.  I see flaws in the books and movies.

To some degree, I agree with those who say that Chris Columbus and Steve Kloves, as director and screenwriter respectively, made this too literal an adaptation of the book.  Furthermore, on this viewing, I'm really struck by what a kids' movie this is, in both good and bad ways.  Columbus did capture the wonder and, yes, magic of this world.  We see things through Harry's eyes and Radcliffe is definitely agog much of the time.  We're being introduced to every person, place, or thing that Rowling created.

There's no room for subtlety, and Columbus is not exactly getting nuanced performances out of the children, especially when they scream à la Home Alone.  But that's OK.  Not every children's movie has to be The Wizard of Oz.  That said, Grint and Watson impressed me even at the time, and they bicker like they've been doing that for forty years.  (Radcliffe gives a blander everyboy performance, but he'd come into his own later.)  It's funny to see the little quirks, like Felton's and Watson's over-enunciation, there from the get-go.

As for the adults, other than Smith and Rickman who are perfect out of the gate and would remain so for a decade, the main stand-out is Coltrane.  It's always a surprise to go back to this movie and see how prominent Hagrid is.  It's a natural, relaxed performance, full of warmth and humor, but also bite.  He becomes Harry's guide and surrogate uncle, far kinder than his relatives, who are also featured much more prominently than they would be later.

It would be easy to go on and on about the movie, but these are the main things I wanted to cover, other than John Williams's score, like so much of the film, is overdone but likable.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility
January 26, 1996
Columbia
Comedy, Drama, Romance, Historical
DVD
B+

My review of the book is here:  http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/sense-and-sensibility.html.  On balance, I think the movie and book are equal, for reasons I discuss there.  So let me just mention a few things, I didn't cover before, in particular, the casting.  As you can see, I've tagged a heck of a lot of people, three of whom were in Peter's Friends:  Emma Thompson of course, and Hugh Laurie & Imelda Staunton, again playing a married couple, although their height difference is used for more comic effect here.  Everyone of the tagged performers, except the two Hughs and Imogen Stubbs (who is Lucy here and would shortly appear in Twelfth Night with Imelda Staunton), would be in at least one Harry Potter movie, while Grant and Jones would be in both Bridget Jones movies.

This cast cosiness adds to the feel of the movie, which is, as it title suggests, very much about thoughts and feelings.   (And Thompson, whose marriage to Kenneth Branagh was breaking up at the time, would find love with Greg Wise, who plays Willoughby here.)  With the female side of the Dashwood family in particular (Jones, Thompson, Kate Winslet, and a quite good Emilie François as Margaret), we see how much they care, not in a corny way but as if the family is central to their identities, romances aside.  Watch for instance how Edward's proposal is told not through Thompson and Grant but through the reactions of her mother and sisters.  Meanwhile, Alan Rickman gives a performance throughout the film that is more about what he doesn't say than what he does.  (And he already has developed the Snapian pauses by the way.)

The other thing I really appreciated this go-round was the scenery.  It's not as lovely as Italy in Enchanted April, but in its own understated way England (Devonshire especially) is figurative as well as literal background to the mood of the story.