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"Plot armor" refers to the level of protection given to a fictional character, and the thicker the so-called armor, the tougher it is to injure or kill them. Having too much plot armor often becomes problematic when it gets in the way of satisfactory character arcs. Usually, it is most transparent when applied to the main character, but in the world of Harry Potter, it applies to several characters.

Rowling always intended for certain characters to have specific endings, but twisting fate to generate a sense of closure made for occasionally weak storytelling. The best and most popular Harry Potter characters had more plot armor than their relatively less-known counterparts. Despite the narrative supporting the removal of several characters, some survived longer than they should have.

Updated on March 6, 2025, by Ajay Aravind: When it makes logical sense for a character to die, but they're still somehow saved, fans lose the...

Quick LinksErnie Macmillan's Boar Successfully Defends Hogwarts Against DementorsGinny Weasley's Horse Patronus Is A Symbol Of Her Strength And ResilienceUmbridge's Persian Cat Patronus Is Great At Keeping Dementors AwayKingsley Shacklebolt's Lynx Is Used To Send Messages From AfarLupin's Wolf Patronus Helps Him Teach A 13-Year-Old Harry To Cast Expecto PatronumTonks' Wolf Is Testament To Her Strength And Bravery As An AurorSnape's Doe Represents His Powerful Love For Lily PotterAberforth Dumbledore Can Cast His Goat Patronus Non-VerballyAlbus Dumbledore's Patronus Represents A Symbol Of Power, The PhoenixHarry Potter's Stag PatronusIs Awe-Inspiring, Considering Harry's Lack Of Positive Memories To Draw Upon

It's important to remember the ongoing controversial statements by the creator of the Harry Potter franchise. Cbr supports the hard work of industry professionals on properties fans know and love, and the wider world of Harry Potter that fans have adopted as their own. You can find Cbr's continuing coverage of Rowling here.

Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan reunite after 43 years in 'The Thursday Murder Club.' Mirren and Brosnan previously worked together in 'The Long Good Friday.' 'The Thursday Murder Club' will be their first film where they act opposite each other extensively.

A handful of cast members of a highly-anticipated movie were announced in April 2024, and Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan were among the names on the list, reuniting them after they previously appeared in a film that was released 43 years ago. Mirren starred as Victoria in The Long Good Friday, a British action movie directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keeffe. Meanwhile, Brosnan's character in the film did not have a name and was just credited as an "Ira man," aka a man who belonged to the Irish Republican Army.

The Long Good Friday is available to stream on Max.

The Long Good Friday...

Enjoying the Harry Potter TV show will mean finally understanding why minor characters like Bill Weasley and Oliver Wood are so important. The Harry Potter series' cultural impact is undeniable, but the TV show has a chance to fill in the gaps left by the original films. Characters like Peeves and Madam Poppy Pomfrey had significant roles in the books, and the TV show should give them the recognition they deserve.

The upcoming Harry Potter TV show has the opportunity to include some brilliant minor characters that the original films failed to focus on. HBO's Harry Potter TV show will once again tell the story of Hogwarts' Golden Trio Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who were played by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in the original movies. The Harry Potter books were groundbreaking upon their release and created an incredible cultural impact worldwide, with audiences falling...

Before Daniel Craig was James Bond, he starred in Layer Cake, a stylish crime drama directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on the novel of the same name by author J.J. Connolly. It’s not a film about a carefully crafted cake with multiple layers and delicious filling. Vaughn’s Layer Cake refers to the layers (or levels) anyone in business goes through while rising to the top of the food chain.

Craig plays an unnamed man in the film known as Xxxx, while Vaughn’s interpretation of the story differs from Connolly’s novel. In the book, Xxxx and his hired gunman wait in a park to kill the off-screen antagonist, Dargon. While in the garden, they shoot an American tourist, mistaking him for Dragon. Initially, the movie would have done the same, but Sony Pictures was uncomfortable with killing an American and asked for the scene to be changed.

Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie slams the Harry Potter film franchise for its lack of casting diversity, lamenting the absence of Black actors throughout the acclaimed fantasy movie series.

Speaking to Inverse, Mackie criticized Harry Potter's shortcomings regarding representation which have been echoed by many critics of the movie series since its 2001 inception. The Marvel Cinematic Universe actor believes the films would have been better served with more young Black actors and people of color integrated throughout. "Harry Potter had no f---ing Black friends. Frodo walked across the entire universe and never met a Black dude. I want to see Frodo in the hood, which if I ever do Saturday Night Live is going to be a skit I’m going to do," Mackie said.

Related: Captain America's Anthony Mackie Addresses Jonathan Majors Controversy

Based on J.K. Rowling's award-winning book series, the Harry Potter...

Hailed as one of the best modern war movies ever made, Ridley Scott's 2001 film Black Hawk Down opens with the title card simply claiming "Based on actual events." Should such a thing be taken for face value, or should we question just how accurate the film really is?

Black Hawk Down follows 1993's real-life Battle of Mogadishu, in which a small troop of American soldiers tasked with capturing two high-up agents (working for a local Somali warlord), were ambushed by a larger-than-expected force of militia.

Famed for its realism and heavy action, the movie works so spectacularly well. Gritty and covered in rubble, sweat coats white faces as they are assaulted by heavily armed forces equipped with rocket launchers, machine guns, and all the gear required to bring down the US army's mighty Black Hawk helicopters.

Gritty Retelling or MTV History?

With a 92 million dollar Hollywood film starring a...

Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

The found footage entries in the Amityville series have been hit and miss. The Amityville Haunting featured a few innovative uses of the format, but the minuscule budget and bad acting hampered its potential. Amityville: Vanishing Point was unable to screen in Canada, though it, too, looked very cheap. The seventeenth film in the “franchise,” Amityville: No Escape, adopts two different strategies for its use of found footage.

Co-written by actor Ira Gansler (he plays the Woodsman), as well as director Henrique Couto, the film opens with cards explaining how the content of the film came to be. The video was cut by the District Attorney’s Office in Suffolk County to “contextualize the inauspicious events that took place on April 15th,...

A judge in California has sentenced Lul G, a 24-year-old rapper whose real name is George Harris, to 21 years in state prison for shooting a man, Rashied Flowers, to death four years ago. Harris pleased no contest to the charges on March 2, according to East Bay Times.

Harris’ plea deal helped him avoid a jury trial for first-degree murder, the Times reports, which could have carried a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. He may have faced other charges, too, since he was previously convicted as a felon and...

To mark the release of Wolcott on 17th August, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray. Displaying the same rough, streetwise vibe as The Sweeney, Wolcott stars the charismatic George William Harris (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Layer Cake) as a tough, loner detective with a gift for rubbing people up the

The post Win Wolcott on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Jason Statham and his producing partner Steve Chasman have acquired the rights to J.J. Connolly's 2011 novel Viva la Madness!, a follow-up to his hit novel and adaptation Layer Cake. The actor will play the same nameless protagonist that Daniel Craig played in Layer Cake. Here's the novel's official description.

"From the many levels of the London underworld portrayed in Layer Cake, Viva La Madness! moves to international crime with trans-Atlantic drug deals, money laundering and high-tech electronic fraud, portrayed with the same uncanny believability. The anonymous hero of Layer Cake is pulled back into the drug game before he can escape to a sunny retirement: in an authentic but dazzling combination of London low-life, Caribbean high-life and Venezuelan drug cartels toting machine-guns in Mayfair. The brilliance and the madness is back: 'Viva la madness!'"

J.J. Connolly is writing the screenplay adaptation of his own novel, like he did with 2005's Layer Cake.

Our readers in the UK have already seen the entire series - the BBC/Sky 1 HD production of Sinbad - that features performances from the likes of Elliot Knight, Sophie Okonedo, George Harris, Ashley Walters and Estella Daniels. The 12-episode series began airing July 8, 2012. French network Canal+ and Canadian broadcaster Bell Media were both pre-sold local rights to air Sinbad in their territories, and those of you in the USA, the Syfy channel finally picked up stateside rights to Sinbad, last September, with plans to air the 12-episode season beginning in the spring, and, according to Futon Critic, the network has set an April 12 premiere date. ...

Our readers in the UK have already seen the some if not all of the new series - the BBC/Sky 1 HD production of Sinbad - that features performances from the likes of Elliot Knight, Sophie Okonedo, George Harris, Ashley Walters and Estella Daniels. It began airing July 8. And while French network Canal+ and Canadian broadcaster Bell Media were both pre-sold local rights to air Sinbad when it finally does premiere, there has been no word on if/when it'll reach North American shores... until today. The Syfy channel has picked up stateside rights to Sinbad, with plans to air the 12-episode first season beginning in April, 2013. ...

"I'd say my character is a cross between Medusa and Eartha Kitt - or at least, that's who I was channelling! Razia is queen of the water thieves and they all worship her." For our readers in the UK.... a quote from Sophie Okonedo, in an interview in which she talks about her role in the BBC/Sky 1 HD production of Sinbad - a TV series that will feature performances from the likes of Elliot Knight, George Harris, Ashley Walters and Estella Daniels - began airing last Sunday, July 8, at 9pm. The next episode will air this Sunday at the same time. You can read the rest of the interview Here. I wish we here in the...

For our readers in the UK.... if you aren't already aware, you should know that the BBC/Sky 1 HD production of Sinbad - a TV series that will feature performances from the likes of Elliot Knight, Sophie Okonedo, George Harris, Ashley Walters and Estella Daniels - is scheduled to begin airing this Sunday, July 8, at 9pm. And while French network Canal+ and Canadian broadcaster Bell Media were both pre-sold local rights to air Sinbad when it finally does premiere, no word (yet) on if/when it'll reach North American shores. When Sky 1 HD announced the creation of the series back in 2010, they promised "a 21st century take...

The BBC/Sky 1 HD production of Sinbad - a TV series that will feature performances from the likes of Sophie Okonedo, George Harris, Ashley Walters and Estella Daniels - is scheduled to air in the UK this July. And while French network Canal+ and Canadian broadcaster Bell Media were both pre-sold local rights to air Sinbad when it finally does premiere, no word (yet) on if/when it'll reach North American shores. When Sky 1 HD announced the creation of the series back in 2010, they promised "a 21st century take on the classic 8th century iconic hero, Sinbad, reinvigorating the hero’s adventures for a contemporary...

It All Ends 7.15. Watch the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 live on July 7 from 8am Pt/ 11am Et/ 4pm BST.

Afterwards, check out the plethora of stills from the film.

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.

(L-r) Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

(L-r) CIARÁN Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

(L-r) Warwick Davis as Griphook, Jon Key as Bogrod and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in...

It's the second ever Guardian film liveblog, and our inaugural effort covering something on the TV. You voted for Michael Hann to sit down in front of Layer Cake; join him from 9pm (when it's on Fiver) and let us know your thoughts

10.33pm: @Wedgemondo's looking forward to The Social Network. It's fine, but it stops short of greatness. It's so specific to its era that I wonder whether anyone will even be able to watch it in 10 years' time.

10.31pm: Another well-handled beating, in which Colm Meaney repeatedly slams Craig into a chest freezer full of frozen goods. I think there's an interesting comparison between this film and Eastern Promises, another one set around London's underworld. This one, I think, has a rather better feel for London - Cronenberg's in Eastern Promises didn't seem too sure, and it certainly didn't feel like London to me. Though it's true I've...

Imelda Staunton has been cast as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Principal photography begins Monday with David Yates at the helm and a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg. Potter series vets David Heyman and David Barron are producing. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a key character in the Harry Potter series, and a new one is introduced in each book. Staunton's character is named Dolores Umbridge. Also joining the cast are George Harris (The Interpreter) as Kingsley Shacklebolt, Helen McCrory (Casanova) as Bellatrix Lestrange, Natalia Tena (Mrs. Henderson Presents) as Nymphadora Tonks and Kathryn Hunter (All or Nothing) as Mrs. Figg. Newcomer Evanna Lynch beat more than 15,000 hopefuls at an open casting call to win the role of Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw student who becomes an important ally to Harry Potter.