The Ministers Movie Review

Title: The Ministers

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The Ministers Film Review

The Ministers Score: 71

100	New York Magazine by David Edelstein
	For all its portentousness, this is the best Harry Potter picture yet. In some ways, it improves on J.K. Rowling�??s novel, which is punishingly protracted and builds to a climactic wand-off better seen than read.
100	New York Daily News by Colin Bertram
	It's action-packed, darker, more epic and thankfully schmaltz-free. And it's the best "Harry Potter" film yet.
100	Village Voice by Scott Foundas
	In narrative terms, not that much happens, but as for Harry's emotional journey--well, that's nearly epic.
90	Time by Richard Corliss
	Not just a ripping yarn but a powerful, poignant coming-of-age story.
88	USA Today by Claudia Puig
	The special effects continue to be masterful, but villains are given a new twist, and Order of the Phoenix is all the more fun because of it.
88	Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
	It will hook you good and keep you riveted.
88	ReelViews by James Berardinelli
	For those who have gotten their Harry Potter fix entirely through the cinematic incarnation, the script is lucid and fast-moving.
83	Seattle Post-Intelligencer by William Arnold
	Yet, as good as it is in so many ways, there's no getting around the fact that this briefest Harry and first directed by an unknown filmmaker (David Yates) is the least substantial of the bunch.
83	Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow
	The whole film is about innocence and experience, and if it isn't a Blakean song, it is a sturdy and vibrant piece of prose.
83	Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
	The flourishes don't answer the question most on Potterites' minds -- who lives, who dies? -- but they briefly stupefy.
80	Washington Post by Desson Thomson
	Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg and director David Yates have transformed J.K. Rowling's garrulous storytelling into something leaner, moodier and more compelling, that ticks with metronomic purpose as the story flits between psychological darkness and cartoonish slapstick.
80	Empire by Helen O'Hara
	It won't win new fans, but as Potter movies go, this is the most filmic of the lot, suspenseful and action-packed.
78	Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
	Timely metaphors abound in The Order of the Phoenix, but the story (of which there is much) stands on its own magical merits, dark and darker still though they may be.
75	The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
	Is there an admired British thespian who hasn't toiled in Potter's field?
75	Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
	Harry comes through loud and clear as a conflicted, edgy, avid young man. He's turned into EveryTeen.
75	Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips
	Destined to be remembered as the one that handed the screen Harry his first kiss. Like much of the film, the smooch comes and goes briskly, without a lot of fuss.
75	Premiere by Glenn Kenny
	Pheonix is smartly-constructed enough that non-acolytes interested in checking out Harry's world won't need too long to catch up.
75	Boston Globe by Ty Burr
	Darker, leaner, less expansive , and meaner, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is all business, and it casts a spell utterly unlike the first four films.
75	Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman
	Given a choice between this and the navel-gazing of the novel, I'll take the short ride on a fast machine.
75	Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
	The most amazing magic yet for the wildly popular franchise: It is genuinely engrossing.
75	Portland Oregonian by M. E. Russell
	On balance, the filmmakers do a terrific job with one of the weaker stories. It's welcome news that Yates is coming back for one of the stronger ones; he's set to direct "Half-Blood Prince."
70	Salon.com by Stephanie Zacharek
	This is a gangly, confusing sprawl, and yet there are enough patches of beauty scattered throughout that it's impossible to reject it wholesale.
70	Variety by Todd McCarthy
	Considerably grimmer and grittier than the previous pictures.
70	The New York Times by A.O. Scott
	A sleek, swift and exciting adaptation of J. K. Rowling�??s longest novel to date.
70	Slate by Dana Stevens
	The movie is brisk and lively, if not exactly action-packed.
67	The Onion (A.V. Club) by Scott Tobias
	Save for the thrilling opening sequence, there's not much to remember about the film beyond Staunton (Vera Drake), who masks her bottomless malevolence behind a pasted-on patrician smile.
63	TV Guide by Maitland McDonagh
	This fifth film should please fans who rate the films based on their fidelity to the canonical texts. But for the uninitiated, it's a dry and slightly dreary introduction to the world of Hogwarts and Azkaban.
63	Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
	Whatever happened to the delight and, if you'll excuse the term, the magic in the "Harry Potter" series? As the characters grow up, the stories grow, too, leaving the innocence behind and confusing us with plots so labyrinthine that it takes a Ph.D from Hogwarts to figure them out.
63	Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
	Standouts are Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, Harry's sly father-surrogate, and Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge.
60	Wall Street Journal by Joanne Kaufman
	Director David Yates, who is new to the Potter franchise, moves the story along briskly, at the expense of texture and nuance.
60	The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
	"Phoenix" might go down as the problematic film, full of plot but little fun.
50	San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
	Taken as a motion picture, the new "Harry" comes up short. But taken as a visual aid to the experience of reading a book, the new "Harry" does its job.
50	Newsweek by David Ansen
	The storytelling seems occasionally disjointed, but more important, for all the special-effects wizardry, that touch of film magic never surfaces.
50	New York Post by Lou Lumenick
	There are lots of special effects, but sadly, no real magic.
50	Film Threat by Pete Vonder Haar
	Something of a letdown. Previous statements aside, I understand Warner Bros. has to set the table for "Half-Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows," but too much of Phoenix is filler. And with only two movies left, we better get to the main course in short order.
50	Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
	It finally can't transcend the limitations inherent in being no more than a way station in an epic journey, a journey whose cinematic conclusion is several years away.