Just got back from the last showing of the new Harry Potter flick. I usually go to movies late on a "school night" to minimize the the number of others in attendance -- especially little kids. Usually that translates into sharing the theater with no more than a dozen people. Tonight there were closer to 40.

The movie isn't as bright and doesn't have a feel-good ending like the previous flicks -- but that's to be expected -- the fourth book ends on an "Empire Strikes Back"-ish tone. The acting was good, with exception of some corny and awkward lines at the end -- that's more a knock on the script than the actors. The special effects were well done -- no surprises there.

The pacing of the film was breakneck until the very end. You seldom had a chance to take a deep breath and take stock of what was going on. This was necessary because the film is quite long and if given a moment's pause, you're going to look at your watch.

Overall, the film stays reasonably true to the book. The major deviation that I noted -- having read the book a couple of years back -- was that Dobby does not make an appearance in this film. Instead, his key task in the book is passed off to Neville Longbottom.

Overall, the film is well worth checking out. I'm planning on checking out a couple more films in the coming days -- "Walk the Line" and "Capote" are both on my must-see list.