I enjoyed the original Harry Potter film series a lot. The film series added magic to my teenage years. When its last film was out back in 2011, I felt sad to bid goodbye to the wizarding world wonderfully created by J.K. Rowling. I was very excited when she decided to write 5 films set in the same wizarding world after that, and till now, 2 films have been released including the recent Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The film follows the adventure of Newt Scamander again as he takes on Grindelwald, a powerful dark wizard who had escaped from prison and is on his quest for worldwide wizard supremacy.
The film is a must watch for Potter fans but is certainly a must miss for ordinary moviegoers. You will not understand most of the plot details if you have not been following the Harry Potter universe in the past. I am not an extreme Potter fans (but I do still know some details of this magical universe) and I find it hard to digest the story. It is too complicated and the movie did no good by introducing so many new characters to make things more confusing. There were a lot of scenes with spells and magic but I can’t feel the charm out of them (I felt a lot of that in Harry Potter films despite much lesser spells cast). It’s certainly not about quantity or visual effects but about the building up of material and atmosphere in this aspect to exude the charm and excitement. Fantastic Beasts film series didn’t quite succeed on that although it has better visuals as expected in the current standard.
It’s nice seeing more of Johnny Depp this time as Grindelwald and the young Albus Dumbledore portrayed by Jude Law. As there are too many characters hanging around now, even Eddie Redmayne portraying as the main character, Newt Scamander is getting much lesser screen time. J.K. Rowling tends to go big and further expand the universe but she does it too quick now and the approach becomes a distraction and confusion for the general audiences. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald’ a total of 6.8. Anyway, it’s cool to watch scenes of the Hogwarts school on the big screen again in this movie that gave us back all the Harry Potter memories.
The nomination list for the 76th Golden Globe Awards set to take place on January 6, 2019 is out and it marked the beginning of major Hollywood award season. First of all, I’m surprised of some snubs (director Damien Chazelle for First Man, lead actor Ryan Gosling for First Man, A Quiet Place for best motion picture – drama, supporting actress Michelle Yeoh for Crazy Rich Asians, etc). I’m also surprised by Bohemian Rhapsody making the cut to be in the 5 nominees for best motion picture – drama (I’m actually happy in this case as I find it a great movie). I’m also shocked to see Black Panther in the same category (this superhero movie is super overrated…I have to disagree with a lot of people on this one). Although Michelle Yeoh is snubbed, but I’m still glad of some recognition to Crazy Rich Asians elsewhere (for Constance Wu in best lead actress in musical or comedy and best motion picture – musical or comedy).
A Star Is Born looks likely to win best motion picture – drama while Alfonso Cuaron is the guy to beat for best director from his work in Roma (didn’t see that but saw a lot of praise for his directing of that movie). Since Bradley Cooper looks likely to lose best director to Cuaron, I think he will get the best lead actor – drama instead although I prefer Rami Malek to take that one instead.
(Images in this post are from various online sources)
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