Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix | Jacquie Kubin saw, Fantasy, Action | Coming Soon!!
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
As far as the digital transfer, the film boasts vibrant colors and, at times, almost takes on a 3D quality, especially during the expansive outdoor flying scenes and final wizard duels.
This single HD-DVD is also a “combo-disc” with one side offering the movie in high-def version with the flip side containing a standard DVD format version. Having both versions of the movie may be important to some viewers, however it would seem that the space might have been better used for an any number of enhanced “extra features” that would better serve the viewers entertainment quest.
The bads: The HD-DVD does not contain the 45-minute “The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” documentary found on both the Blu-ray and standard DVD releases. However, this may not be such an egregious oversight as it is little more than a promotional piece disguised as an A&E documentary but at least it was something. OK, so nothing bad really, I was just left wanting more.
The mandatory extras: A selection of deleted scenes and a set tour with actress Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks).
What I learned? Actor Rupert (AKA Ron Weasley) Grint’s dream job is to be an ice-cream man. I thought he already had a dream job?
Above and beyond: A commentary track from the director, David Yates is glaringly absent. This would have been particularly interesting as he is the third director, joining Chris Columbus, Mike Newell and Alfonoso Cuarón, to interpret author J.K. Rowling’s mysterious universe.
Fuel the disc revolution: We have a winner folks. With the HD-DVD player hooked into a broadband Internet connection, multiple viewers can register and join in on a “Live Community Screening.” This feature allows multiple disk owners to synchronize their HD-DVD players, from other locations, to watch the movie at the same time and even text-chat amongst themselves.
The host, or person who initiates the Live Community Screening, controls playback and the live text chats. Guests communicate through either Warner software for their PC and WAP (wireless application protocol) enabled cell phone or via the HD-DVD player.).
Another fantastic bonus is the "In-Movie Experience.” It delivers a rotating golden disc about every five minutes. With a click to the disk the viewer can open up various video segments culled from the 28-part “The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter” documentary that relate to the current movie clip being seen.
Also, with the In-Movie Experience on character facts or picture-in-picture vignettes open to present behind the scenes commentary including some interesting anecdotes from some of the young actors who were part of Dumbledore's Army.
— Jacquie Kubin