'Harry Potter' And The MTV Movies Live-Blog

[NelsonG]

[i]As [url="http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/04/harry-potter-deathly-hallows-dvd/"]previously announced[/url] here on the blog, we're celebrating the release of "[url="http://www.mtv.com/movies/movie/383853/moviemain.jhtml"]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2[/url]" on [url="http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/dvd/"]DVD and Blu-ray this Friday[/url] with the most obsessive and nuts way we could think of: watching all eight movies in sequence in a single day. Thanks to the good people at Warner Bros. I've got all of them here, ready to go. It's roughly twenty hours of magic, so there's no time to waste. Let's get to it![/i]

[img]http://moviesblog.mtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/potter1.jpg[/img]

[b]Year One: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001), Running Time: 2:32[/b]
5:20am: Oh my it's early. But I realize that it's actually an hour earlier than I thought. Never before has daylight savings time worked so fortuitously in my favor. Score.

5:25am: We're off and running with the Chris Columbus-directed first film. If one could say Professor Dumbledore ever looked young, this is it.

5:28am: Oh yeah, the Dursleys. I hate the Dursleys.

5:29am: We get our first look at Daniel Radcliffe, who appears to weigh about 90 pounds, including his ill-fitting outfit. One certainly could not see "Equus" coming here.

5:31am: First bit of accidental magic at the zoo, and the foreshadowing of Parseltongue. Happy birthday indeed, Dudley.

5:35am First real magic as the Durleys' house is swarmed with thousands of copies of Harry's Hogwarts invite. It always seemed illogical to me that Mr. Dursley didn't want Harry to leave to go to school. Like, doesn't he hate Harry and want to be rid of him? His later threats to keep Harry out of Hogwarts as punishment seem oddly misplaced.

5:38am: World, meet Rubeus Hagrid.

5:30am: "You're a wizard, Harry!"

5:40am: Cauldron shopping and our first look at the magical world.

5:43am: Oh, that Professor Quirrell seems nice.

5:45am: First real special effects shot as Hagrid and Harry open up the brick wall to Diagon Alley. By today's standards it looks a little flat. At the time this flick was visually ground-breaking. I recall seeing the first trailer a decade ago and thinking "wow, this movie is going to make a billion dollars." If you add up both foreign and domestic gross, it comes to $974,755,371. Partial credit, then.

5:48am: The Sorcerer's Stone is very briefly revealed. Commonly known fact among "Potter" fans: In England it's called the Philosopher's stone. Less-known fact: In France it's called the large delicious hunk of roquefort cheese.

5:50am: OK, not really. First lie of the live-blog.

5:52am: The wand chooses Harry and Olivander makes first reference to the Dark Lord. I always felt a connection to big V. Can't wait for his return in movie #4.

5:56am: Hey its the Weasleys! Don't worry, Ginny, you'll matter in a few years.

5:58am: Chocolate frog. Love.

6:00am: Emma Watson sighting. She's sporting the kind of hairstyle many 11-year-old girls grow up to regret. Sadly, most other girls don't have motion picture evidence to live down. Still, she turned out all right.

6:03am: Momentarily get distracted by my Facebook for the first time. Meantime, we've arrived at Hogwarts.

6:04am: Tiny Malfoy wants to be friends with Harry. That would have been interesting.

6:06am: Original Dumbledore, the late Richard Harris welcomes us to school and the sorting ceremony begins.

6:08am: Did anything good ever come out of Hufflepuff? Twitter punchlines don't count.

6:10am: As Harry is sorted into Gryffindor, I check the time for the first time. We're at 46 minutes. It's going to be a long day.

6:11am: Nearly Headless Nick! Where'd he go in the later movies? John Cleese was great in this role, small though it was.

6:18am: Missed some first class / first broomstick lessons there when I snuck off to the men's room. But hey, it's like the theater. The show must keep going.

6:22am: First Malfoy/Potter broomstick battle. And we're playing Quidditch in 3....2....1.....

6:25am: Sweeping shot of the moving staircase. Still remember seeing that for the first time. Killer shot.

6:27am: First magical creature: The children discover Fluffly, the three-headed dog guarding the Sorcerer's Stone.

6:28am: Wood teaches Harry to play Quidditch. Wood has both the best accent and the best name in the movie.

6:32am: Halloween feast. Quirrell bursts in and panics everyone about a troll in the dungeon. I trust him. He seems nice, with no ulterior motives whatsoever.

6:35am: The children battle the troll in the girls' washroom. Brilliant.

6:38am: Snape finally says something. Alan Rickman was the best casting in the entire series. And that's not just my opinion. You agreed in the [url="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1667081/harry-potter-world-cup-severus-snape-wins.jhtml"]Harry Potter World Cup[/url]!

6:41am: We're playing Quidditch! I often thought Quidditch was the great failing of the movies. They could have done so much more with it, even if the game's rules are so illogical. I think we get the most in this first movie though.

6:45am: Snape's first questionable action at the Quidditch match. Was he jinxing Harry or trying to save him? I'll keep watching to find out.

6:50am: Christmas at Hogwarts! Wow, I'd totally forgotten the Invisibility Cloak comes in this early.

6:53am: Filch nearly busts Harry in the library restricted section. Does that guy ever sleep? Or do ... anything else? Speaking of which, we've been at this for 90 minutes and I haven't eaten anything. [i]Accio breakfast![/i]

7:05am: First dragon! Baby Norwegian Ridgeback.

7:10am: Kinda sorta Voldemort sighting in the dark woods, as Quirrell dines on Unicorn blood. He looks more like a Dementor at this point. Scary.

7:15am: First caffeinated beverage (mine): Hot green tea. Pumpkin juice was not available.

7:25am: Giant Wizard's Chess! It's your moment, Ron!

7:31am: Quirrell is revealed as the villain, not Snape as the children thought. And his turban is removed to reveal....

7:33am: The Dark Lord! He lives! I never doubted you, my lord. What is thy bidding?

7:37am: Harry melts Quirrell with his bare hands. "You have chosen...poorly." No. Wait, wrong movie.

7:41am: All is well as Harry recovers, Dumbledore ties up loose ends in the story and eats a gross Bernie Bott's every flavor bean.

7:43am: End of year feast and the awarding of the House Cup. With their formal pointy black Wizard hats, the children look like garden gnomes. Especially Malfoy.

7:45am: Dumbledore totally fixes the House Cup by awarding 170 points to Gryffindor for no reason. Other than they totally saved the day and defeated the most powerful evil wizard ever.

7:47am: Hagrid swoops in and makes the end of the movie a tear-jerker with photos of his parents. Which is then totally balanced by his encouragement of magical threats towards Dudley. Which I endorse!

7:48am: Hey that's a wrap for movie number one. Seven more to go. [url="http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/06/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-dvd-live-blog/2/"]On to year two! >>>
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