Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

You have been warned.

First off, the gang and I had the most superb yakiniku last night. That was one and a half hours of eat-all-you-can beef, pork, chicken and veggies! I especially love the Karubi beef and short loin! Dip it all in their special tare sauce, and voila! Heaven on a grill. =)

Then we headed off to Lalaport Yokohama to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. I knew from reading the book 4 years ago and again a few weeks ago that the fifth book would be so hard to make into a movie. There weren't so much action sequences yet plenty of emotions from the subplots pulling Harry apart.

Purists would complain that the director took a lot of shortcuts and therefore made this movie the least faithful of all the movies so far. I'll be listing them down now and I have already warned you. So don't blame me if I ruin the movie for you.

1. Harry's time with the Dursleys was pretty much cut out. It didn't show Harry getting impatient waiting for news all summer long. It also didn't explain the need for Harry to stay with the Dursleys.
2. Their flight on the broomsticks, although quite cool, was inconsistent. In the book, they tried not to be seen.
3. Mundungus Fletcher, Rita Skeeter, Marietta Edgecombe, Firenze, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Lee Jordan, Katie Bell were removed from the movie.
4. The entire Quidditch subplot wasn't included. It didn't show Ron trying hard to make the team and also Ginny as quite good to be the Seeker.
5. Ron and Hermione were supposed to be Prefects this year.
6. Tonks wasn't introduced properly.
7. Cho Chang was the person who tattled in this movie instead of her friend Marietta. They also did not show Harry's and Cho's date at Hogsmeade.
8. Sirius' brother Regulus was not mentioned.
9. Luna's dad's magazine, the Quibbler, was mentioned but limited to just that, a conversation. They were supposed to print Harry's interview (c/o Rita Skeeter) in the Quibbler.
10. After Ron's dad gets attacked, all the Weasley children plus Harry and Hermione were supposed to visit Mr. Weasley at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They should have seen Neville and his grandmother visiting Neville's parents. Gilderoy Lockhart should have also been shown to be still suffering from memory loss.
11. Hagrid was the one who taught them about thestrals. In the movie, they replaced it with Luna teaching this fact to Harry. It doesn't explain how the others could ride something they can't see nor barely understand.
12. After Prof Trelawney was sacked, Prof Dumbledore hired Firenze the centaur.
13. The Weasley twins made a swamp by the Great Hall entrance which Dolores Umbridge coulnd not remove.
14. Only Harry made lines, and only in Umbridge's office. In the movie, after the DA were discovered in the Room of Requirement, they were punished by making lines using the special pen.
15. Harry discovered the Levicorpus spell in Book 6. Harry's dad used it to hoist the younger Snape though.

More reviews here -> http://www.nbc10.com/entertainment/13655266/detail.html