I don't know when the lineup for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part I) at the Lloiyd Center began. When I arrived at noon to buy a ticket, there was already a line of kids. They looked very cold. One of them had a scooter! I was clearly out of my nerd league.

HPatDH(P1) is set to make hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office this weekend and Portland definitely stepped up its game for the event. The Lloyd Cinemas sold out, I think, every one of the 'plexes at its megaplex, with back-to-back showings of the film at 12:00, 12:05, 12:07, 12:09, 12:13 turning the evening into an absolute madhouse of candy-crazed fans, many in costume, running around shouting "Expelliarmus!". The crowd was actually older than I thought it would be, with enough nostalgia-seeking 20-somethings in attendance to make me not feel like a pervert.

And the movie! Really the best way to watch it is with a sold-out theater of fans who actually laugh at the parts that are supposed to be funny, squirm during the weird CGI-Harry/Hermione make-out scene, and start bawling at the end. I actually only vaguely recall what happens in the book, but I agree with Alison's review that the movie is intense and escapist and great.

And now, Harry Potter Smoking a Cigarette Outside Lloyd Center:

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