Advance Harry Potter!

Thanks to the Herald Hunt last week, I was able to get 4 tickets to an advance screening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The ticket above noted that the ticket does NOT guarantee seating, so ARRIVE EARLY.

We got to the mall were the movie was going to be held, and we went to lunch. At 1:15pm, we headed to the theater for the 2pm show. When we got there...HUGE line. I mean huge. Like we (the four of us) were probably #600-603 in line. And they were checking everyone's bags/cell phones as well as wanding you with a metal detector...after all, can't let an advance copy of the movie be video taped and leak out on the internet! The line moved slllllooooowwwwwww.....and while I was in line, I ran into Judi Smith, which was cool. She finally got her power back after the storm, and didn't feel as uncomfortable with people being close to her as she did at the Herald Hunt last week.

After awhile, the line got to a point where...it stopped moving. The theater where the screening was being held was full. We were still some 50 people back from the front of the line. And it was past the 2pm start time of the movie. It didn't look good. Then they started taking people, 30 at a time, single file, to another theater...and we got in. Barely. Of my group, I was the first through, and as I was being security wanded, a guy called a halt to letting anyone else in. So I was waiting to be let in, and I was asked if anyone was with me. I pointed to the rest of my group, and they let them in. When we walked into the theater, they only had 7 seats left. So we were among the last 7 let in. We couldn't sit next to one another, but after some moving around, we were fairly close to one another, and Judi Smith was in the row in front of me.

Finally, the movie started. Harry Potter time!


How was the movie? I'm not going to betray any of you who haven't read the book(s)...I really liked it. I'm not sure how much the critics will love it...but it is rather well done. New director, new person for the score (was John Williams, now it's Patrick Doyle), and you could tell the difference. This movie IS darker...and carries more emotional weight, especially near the end...and if you read the book, you'll know when things are about to turn really dark...I was on the edge of my seat. Wow.

It was worth the wait.