MOVIE - Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

PG-13 (2:14)

Wide release 11/16/18

Viewed 12/18/18 with Tristan
IMBd: 6.8/10

RT Critic: 38  Audience:  60
Critic's Consensus:  Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has glimmers of the magic familiar to Harry Potter fans, but the story's spell isn't as strong as earlier installments.

Cag:  2.5

Directed by David Yates

Warner Bros. Pictures

Written by J. K. Rowling

Johnny Depp, Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law

My comments:  Okay, I admit it, I didn't know what in hell was going on most of the time.  The funny thing was, when I discussed it with Tristan afterwards, he got most of the stuff I didn't, and I had to fill him in on the stuff I got but he didn't!  It was fun watching him love this movie.  He's becoming a huge Harry Potter fan, but loves the fantastical beasts the best.  There weren't too many of them in this movie, however.  I was actually quite bored....

RT/ IMDb Summary  At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald's plans, Albus Dumbledore (Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

MOVIE - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

PG-13 (2:12)

Wide release November 18, 2016

Viewed Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016 at Century Park Place....for the last time?

RT Critic:  78  Audience: 83
Critic's Consensus: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them draws on Harry Potter's rich mythology to deliver a spinoff that dazzles with franchise-building magic all its own.

Cag:  4/Enjoyed it very much, but it was a bit long

Directed by David Yates

Warner Brothers Picture

Written by J. K. Rowling

Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler (I really liked him!)

My comments:  The first few bars of music at the very, very beginning of the movie are notes from the Harry Potter theme.  After those first few notes, the music hanges.  Yes, this movie is by J. K. Rowling and yes, it is set in the world of wizards and awizardry, but other than that there's not much comparison to Harry Potter.  It's a standalone.  The setting, for one thing, is completely different - 1920s in New York City.  And for the most part, the story is about adults, not kids or even young adults.
     It's hard to compare the two movies, they are pretty much incomparable.  It was okay, entertaining, and had interesting actors.  I loved Jacob Goldstein, he was actually my favorite character in the move.  The Actor, Dan Fogler, was wonderful.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

MOVIE - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

This is all Harry's movie - not enough of everyone else
Released 7-15-11
PG-13 (2:05)
Monday, 8-8-11 at El Con with Sheila
RT: 97%   cag: 79%
Director:  David Yates

This got fantastic reviews, so I was expecting to love it - I loved Part 1, a lot.  But I didn't love it.  I found some parts slow and almost boring.  Hermione and Ron had bit parts, it was all Harry's story.  I missed having more of the other characters.  I'd read the book and I'd seen Part one, but it's been awhile, so some of what was going on took awhile to figure out.  There were a couple of great scenes - the doubling riches in the vault at Gringots and when Harry finally sees the history of Snape's involvement in his life - but I was not enthralled.  I know, I'm in the minority here.

Harry and his two cohorts are on a quest to destroy the final horcruxes that have allowed Voldemort immortality.  They find one, a golden cup, in the vault at Gringot's, they find another, a tiara, at Hogworts.  They know the snake is another.  Much of this final movie takes place at Hogwort's, and it's really sad to see its demise.  Many of Harry's friends and members of the Order are killed, but this is not emphasized.

One of the two YA girls behind us cried through the whole movie.  Interesting.  And her reaction to the end was, "oh, I love this part."  From the book?  I think she'd seen this movie before, and it still affected her greatly.

MOVIE - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1

This part of the book dragged for me, the movie certainly didn't!
Released 11-19-10
PG- 13 (2:27)
12-2-10 with Sheila at El Con
RT: 79% Flixter: 88% cag:
from the book by J. K. Rowling
Part 2 coming this summer (I think it's all finished and ready to go.)
Director: David Yates

I liked this movie much more than I thought I would. The first half of the book dragged for me. The movie was really well done, interesting, thoughtful. The setting was magnificent - from the oceanside to the deep forest. I missed Hogwarts, though.

There were some parts that were quite memorable. When Hermione reads from Beedle the Bard there is a cut paper, shadow box-like diorama that is quite captivating and the perfect way to accompany the story.

Then there is a scene where Harry and Hermione are really uptight, wary, scared, waiting in the tent in the middle of the forest, and they take off the Horcrux and dance to a song on Ron's radio. They laugh, they show the deep friendship they share. It's quite wonderful, actually.

And then there's wonderful Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange. She nails this part, she's so good, I giggle whenever she appears. Bravo!

There were a few places that were ... fuzzy. When the three friends first wait it out at the safe house, Harry finds a piece of paper that leads them to their next (actually, first, I think) clue. I remember from the book how he found it under a dresser in Sirius' room, but it skips from them being in the room to sitting around a table reading the note. If I hadn't read -- and remembered -- this part of the book, I would have been scratching my head. I hate parts that are just....weird. This was. Oh well.

Love the movie. I actually enjoyed this one more than the book!

MOVIE - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

What can I say...we're talking about HARRY POTTER here!
PG
2 hrs. 33 min. (long)
Released July 15, 2009
El Con with Sheila OPENING DAY!
RT: 87% cag: 92%
Directed by: David Yates
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

My knees were jumpin' in excited anticipation as I sat in the crowded theater at 1:30 yesterday afternoon - and I was not to be disappointed. I love the Harry Potter music, by the way, I'd like to hear even more of it, I don't think it was included at the end of the movie, only at the beginning. Ah well, the movie....

Two hours and thirty-three minutes of a totally silent audience immersed in a "take me away" experience. The technical work is extraordinary. HOW DO THEY DO IT??? Crawling skeletal bodies; flames and fire and smoke; the spiraling, floating ink to get into that bowl of memories cauldron (this was also used for the end credits, very cool); incredible setting, inside and out of Hogwarts; and oh, that Quidditch scene. I repeat, how do they do it?

And oh, the head-first tumble into girls and snogging and hormones and all the good stuff that I love about working with adolescents-------and these actors are wonderful. Touching, funny (Ron Weasley/Ruper Grint is a riot!) and really, really fun to watch.

The up-and-down scales between the dark side and the light side of this movie were perfectly adjusted! I particularly loved getting a glimpse of Voldemort as a child. The cold Tom Riddle became much more of a reality. And Helen Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix....well, she's so good. She plays this sort of part so well....wasn't she Dr. Frankenstein's wife and the wacko woman with Johnny Depp in another recent movie? I'll have to look that up......Whatever.

Great entertainment on the grandest scale. Incredible storytelling. Special effects and costuming and sets that are just fantastic. What more could a person ask for in a movie????