So after a pleasant Saturday watching the Harry potter years 1-4, I retired early in the evening to rise bright and early for the next three years covered in four films. We started fairly close to on time, something I consider to be quite remarkable, diving into Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix.

From Harry Potter 5 on the series gets progressively darker and more mature. Gone are the whimsical flourishes, and sense of fun and frivolity has been replace by doom and death. I like the final four film much more than the first four, though watching them back to back made the whole story arc stand out in sharp well written relief.

While we watched the next film, Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, our pre-ordered pizza arrived (only a few minutes late, also remarkable on Super Bowl Sunday.) and we enjoyed good food and good films. Well, mostly enjoyed. Sadly a front tooth that had seen extensive work decided that the pizza was a bridge too far, snapped, and abandoned its post. I am currently speaking with a lisp until the dentist can repair the damage.

We finished about 7 o’clock, enough time for a card game with my friends and my sweetie-wife and a bit of argument and discussion about the Harry Potter universe, and just how would it really interact with the muggle universe. The truth of matter is that Rowling kept the two worlds so separated we cannot know what a full scale conflict between the two might look like. Wizards are powerful, but seeming only on an individual level, technology has such fantastic energy level I don’t know if the wizarding world could survive enrage muggles. (I also find it interesting that the Wizard is stuck on a gold standard, so it has a fairly fixed economic system with little ability to grow. Certainly in that respect Muggles Rule.)

I’m very glad I spent a weekend with Harry Potter in the straight though viewing. There are a number of subtle turns of expression and phrases across the film that it plays as a single story very well.