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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
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Storyline
It's Harry's 3rd Year at Hogwarts, not only does he have a new "Defense against the Dark-Arts" teacher, but there is also trouble brewing. Convicted murderer Sirius Black has escaped the Wizards Prison, is coming after Harry. |
Backdrops
The Director
 Alfonso CuarónAlfonso Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, best known for, Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y tu mamá también, and A Little Princess.
Cuarón was born in México City. He is the son of Alfredo Cuarón, a nuclear physicist who worked for the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency for many years.
He studied Philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and filmmaking at CUEC (Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos), a faculty of the same University. There, he met director Carlos Marcovich and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and they made what would be his first short film, Vengeance is mine. The controversy caused by the fact that the film was shot in English was the reason he was expelled from the Film School.
He began working in televis ion in Mexico, first as a technician and then as a director. Cuarón's television work led to assignments as an assistant director for several Latin American film productions including Gaby: A True Story and Romero, and in 1991, he landed his first big-screen directorial assignment.
In 1995, Cuarón released his first feature film produced in the United States, A Little Princess, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel.
During his time studying in CUEC (Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos) he met Mariana Elizondo, and with her he has his first son, Jonás Cuarón born 1981, in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
News Stories
Harry Potter Wizard Collection Revealed
Im your host Tatiana carrier with the latest on the Harry potter Wizards Collection.
Warner Bros. Home Video has announced the release of the Harry Potter Wizards Collection on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack in a nifty box set!!!! Not only does the set feature all the magical films, ...
User Reviews
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Do They Have Fans Writing the Harry Potter Screenplays?
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First off - I love the Harry Potter book series. I was one of those who dressed up in the wizard costume and stood in line at midnight to get the latest Harry Potter book. I then read the book as soon as I got it - then reread it in the morning when I could, being more awake, understand it better.
So perhaps it should come as little surprise that many of the Harry Potter movies have been disappointing to me. Not that they were bad technically or visually; the directors (usually) did a good job with the screenplay they had.
Indeed, it's the screenplay that killed the films. I know, I know, it's hard to make a perfect representation of J. K. Rowling's 300 or 500 or 800 page books - but really, they could've done better in most cases. It's the important, canonically, parts they cut out, that made the difference. And, in some cases, to replace said parts, the screenwriters added (sometimes subtly) other parts to the plot that weren't included in the book. Maybe it made for a better Hollywood experience, but what about the fans?
Okay, let me back this up a bit. Yes, of course, the movies are... movies, so they need to appeal to a certain kind of audience, one that doesn't necessarily care about the exact plot details and requires a lot of action. But I think the filmmakers could have stayed truer to the plot, that is, not diverge so radically sometimes (I'm talking about you, Prisoner of Azkaban!), while still satisfying the moviegoers' needs.
For the future movies, I'd like to see a better confluence of literary canon and movie action/intrigue/whatever they need. The Half-Blood Prince trailer certainly looks promising, but, of course, we'll only be able to say wh...
View full review
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reviewed by magicofpi (Filmaster.com) on the 28th of May 2009
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While I've enjoyed all of the books, Azkaban remains the best of the lot. It's just the tighest, cleverest and most effective of them all. As for the movie: while it's not without its flaws, I thought it did a good job of recreating the atmosphere of Rowling's universe. It's much better than its predecessors especially in terms of the visuals and the acting. I don't know why they didn't let Cuarón continue directing these.