Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

5/10

Starring

Eddie Redmayne

Katherine Waterson

Dan Fogler

Alison Sudol

Colin Farrell

Directed by David Yates

For lack of better words, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know how I feel sitting through a long ride of the magic world acting rather dumb.
I don’t know how I feel about the many, many magical creatures that this movie never ran out of.
I don’t know how I feel about the acting of the lead and the supporting cast.
I don’t know if this movie will make it through a trilogy and if I would want to see such a trilogy.
I don’t know if I can say J.K. Rowling has mastered the act of screenwriting, but for a first-timer, good attempt.

What I do know is this was a long ride of a movie which, as a Harry Potter fan, I was hoping to enjoy for the desire of not seeing children learning magic, but adults who have mastered it. The movie had that, which is why I will give it a 5, but the story that surrounded it was not captivating enough.

The movie did have many scenes where I got to see wonderful magical events, but after dealing with the ending of Doctor Strange (2016) the day before—where all the villain had to do was ignore Strange and his silly time loop, avoid killing him, and just take over the world—here is another ending where the villain just had to ignore the hero.

(Spoiler Alert)
The man behind all the chaos in the movie was in disguise from the people of the magic world. The lead, Newt, and his fighting companion Tina were the ones who knew he had bad intentions. When the problem was allegedly destroyed by the Aurors, the villain got mad and exposed himself.

I watched wondering, why did he do this?
This is an act you would expect in a children’s book, but Rowling, who is writing this for a more mature audience, could have found a better way to expose the disguised villain.

Visually captivating? The answer will be yes.
This movie was visually captivating, and although it looked like groundwork for a bigger story with the introduction of Johnny Depp as the lead villain, I have to say Warner Bros.’ first Harry Potter movie had a better intro to this.

In this movie, we are introduced to a new set of characters, with four being the main focus. They are led by Newt Scamander (a magizoologist) who came to America to release a creature native to the country. He is the future author of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He is accompanied by a demoted/former Auror, Tina, who was in search of a way to regain her position as an Auror. She pursued Newt when she noticed he released some creatures into the outside world. At present, America is under attack by what the magical world believes to be magical creatures. Tina thought Newt was the person responsible.

Along for the ride was Jacob Kowalski, a Muggle whom Newt met in the bank when he was trying to catch a creature he mistakenly allowed to escape. Kowalski and Newt later became friends as they went together to hunt down Newt’s creatures that got out of his zoo suitcase. The group also had a fourth party in Queenie (Tina’s sister), an accomplished Legilimens who had taken a liking to Kowalski.

The movie is about the discovery of the creature terrorizing the Muggles and responsible for the death of one.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is not a movie I will be looking forward to seeing the next part of.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

7/10

               

Benedict Cumberbatch

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rachel McAdams

Benedict Wong

Directed by Scott Derrickson

I was blessed to have seen Doctor Strange yesterday, blessed to have witnessed the growth of a man I admired in the British series Sherlock to become one of my favorite actors to watch.

Doctor Strange in itself is a good movie. The storyline did have a lengthy growth phase for Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange, the egotistic neurosurgeon, to become Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme. You do have to bear with the transition, but you won’t notice the time passing because the whole development stage is full of visual pleasure, some comic relief, and many mysteries.

Disney/Marvel went all out in the way the story and buildup showed how Doctor Strange used intelligence, science, and magic to save the world. The movie’s visual effects are so fluid you’ll think you’re in Doctor Strange’s world. The casting is also off the hook—the wonderful performances by the supporting cast made sure that even when Strange wasn’t on screen, you didn’t miss his presence.

Doctor Strange is a superhero film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourteenth movie in that universe. The movie is doing very well at the box office and has high approval ratings from critics and audiences.

The movie plot starts by introducing us to an above-average, intelligent, and egotistic neurosurgeon whose life gets turned inside out when a tragic accident damages the nerves in his hands, making it impossible for him to continue in the profession where he reigns as a god.

After spending everything he has on finding a cure and healing for his hands, he decides to search for a cure in Kathmandu, Nepal. He heard of a man who couldn’t walk but started walking again after receiving teachings from someone called the Ancient One.

His arrival was expected, to his surprise, and his teaching began. But his ego always got in the way, and his constant know-it-all attitude almost ruined the world he desperately wanted to excel in.

I’ve seen little to nothing of Benedict Cumberbatch’s movies, but even just seeing films like Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), and The Imitation Game (2014), I have to admit he has grown to become a leading man in the movie world.
His portrayal here is memorable, and he did it so well it was hard for me to imagine anyone else who could have fit the role or delivered a better performance.

The movie ended with the sighting of an Infinity Stone—all of this is a buildup to Marvel’s Infinity War storyline.
Also, in the post-credit scenes, we catch a glimpse of what could be a sequel to this Doctor Strange introductory movie.

If you’re waiting for any more reasons to go and see this movie, you’re probably never going to watch it. For me, this is one of the best Marvel Cinematic movies out there.

Sully (2016)

Sully (2016)

7/10

Starring

Tom Hanks

Aaron Eckhart

Laura Linney

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Sully is a full Tom Hanks show, with perfect execution by the star director Clint Eastwood. Hanks’ snowy hair and mustache to match jump at you from the moment the movie gets going.
Based on a real-life incident, this biographical drama makes the best of its story and raises a glass to the heroes of the skies whose job is to get us from one destination to another.

The plot is based on the book Highest Duty, written by Chesley Sullenberger (Sully) and Jeffrey Zaslow.
Like I said above, it’s a full Tom Hanks show, with him taking control of the movie. Every scene he was in was masterful. Not that the supporting cast of Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney weren’t also good in their delivery, but Hanks stole the show.
Everyone involved made sure you had a safe flight from the first scene to the last. The movie received accolades from critics and did well at the box office, making more than three times its production cost. However, the movie faced criticism from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board), who saw it as portraying them as villains, as they were placed in a negative light—as prosecutors of the innocent.
They’re right about how they were portrayed in the movie as the villains, but it’s hard to take any sides as I haven’t read the book detailing the incident.

The many CGI effects this movie had on display are worth seeing, and the movie’s pace is well done.

The movie focuses on the event that happened on January 15, 2009. US Airways Flight 1549 (an Airbus plane) took off from New York heading to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Barely after takeoff, the plane struck a flock of Canadian geese, damaging both engines.
With no engine power, Sully couldn’t follow the directions from the tower to land the plane on the possible tarmacs given and had to land it on the Hudson River.

All 155 lives on the plane were saved, as well as the flight crew, but the plane was damaged. After the incident, the NTSB questioned Sully’s decision to land the plane on the river and argued that one of the engines was still operational.

Sully stood his ground and stuck to his story but had to face a board that would determine if the incident would be deemed heroic or a pilot error.

Sully is a good movie to see—that’s certain.