Ed's Review Dot Com

Heyday Films, Warner Bros.,

Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Carmen Ejogo, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Jenn Murray

Newt (Eddie Redmayne) is a wizard and a writer who arrives via ship at New York City to meet with another wizard about some additional fantastic beasts he is interested in. Newt is carrying a leather briefcase with some of these creatures inside. But when some escape, he quickly finds that the wizarding world in America is much more hidden and repressed than it is in England. The Americans have outlawed fantastic beasts of any kind, so Newt is in trouble when first of all he doesn’t erase the memory of a muggle (or No-Maj as they call them in the US) on top of having some of the beasts escape, so he is pulled before the tribunal for punishment. But they don’t realize the danger that they are in, and they may need Newt’s expertise in saving the whole city.

This film is a spin-off of the Harry Potter series of books written by J.K.Rowling and made into an entire series of movies. This takes places decades before Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and tells the story of the writing of one of the text book studied by Harry at Hogwarts. Newt Scamander is credited as the author of one of the textbooks about Fantastic Beasts, and we get to meet him in this film. This was a good extension of the Harry Potter universe and we finally got to see a little about wizarding in the United States as well. It is quite different on this side of the pond, and we get to see what it was like here at the time. The special effects are outstanding, of course, and 3D and IMAX is well put to use in this film, but the story fails a little. First of all, Newt is not someone you really get to like very much. He’s kind of annoying and just not that likeable. Tina (Katherine Waterston) on the other hand is likeable in her role as a demoted Auror in the MACUSA (American Ministry of Magic organization) but the chemistry never gets off the ground and is not that acceptable. Colin Farrel is pretty good as the bad guy, but just not as impressive as the Harry Potter bad guys. All in all, it’s not a bad movie at all, and a must see for Fantasy fans, but be prepared for some really slow parts, and a lot of muttering that is not easy to follow. Boy, Subtitles would have been awesome! Aside from a pressing desire to fall asleep in the middle while things were crawling along, it was worth the effort to stay awake. The magical creatures are revealed to us one at a time and it takes a while to get to know them, but it’s worth the wait as each one appears and gives us his special abilities and features. I really did enjoy this film, so I don’t want to discourage anyone from seeing it, but I also don’t want you to expect it to be as spectacularly done as Harry was. This is a lot more like the later movies in that series where it turned a lot darker and with a lot less hopefulness. This is supposed to be a long series of films as well, and I hope the first one doesn’t turn people off from the rest of them. I know I’ll be there for the next one and hope it will be better.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Dark Castle Entertainment, After Dark Films,

Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight, Rebecca Budig, Paul Freeman, Bruce Payne, Ivailo Geraskov, Dimo Alexiev, Velislav Pavlov, Kaloaian Vodenicharov

Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) is a washed up race car driver whose wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious foe who calls every shot. He steals a car and heads off on a high speed chase following the commands of the villain who is giving him every turn. But when he gets hijacked by a young girl known as “The Kid” (Selena Gomez) the two team up to try to defeat the evil villain before it’s too late for his wife.

I should have hated this film. I’ve even seen it nominated for the Razzie for worst picture with Selena Gomez nominated as worst actress. I actually enjoyed it. I’m not sure why, but it was an exciting story, and I think Selena did a great job in this role. She played what she was given, and she’s supposed to be some hacker kid nerd, which she pulled off pretty good. The action was good, and though the ending was really silly, I thought, the rest of the film was interesting. I enjoyed the high speed driving, and the suspense. There are some ridiculous premises of how the guy can know what he does, and give them the commands, time after time, at the last second, but that’s part of the fun of the film. You can’t watch a chase film and expect it to be totally realistic any more than the crazy car commercials with “expert drivers on a closed track” are realistic. But if you just go into it watching the speed and the tension, it’s a half way decent film. I’m not sorry I chose to watch this one, and I think they did a pretty decent job.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog