Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written December 8th, 2016*

"Magic prequel"


I had my reservations going into this Harry Potter prequel series (Which is the first of a planned FIVE). I felt it might be a CGI heavy and soulless cash-in that would remind me of the enjoyable, but hollow Hobbit films. Luckily, this wasn't not the case, and while Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is far from perfect, it's an enjoyable ride and it feels great to be back in the Harry Potter universe.

It follows a new protagonist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he arrives in 1920's New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures, which break loose and he has to find them with the help of Tina (Katherine Waterson), a witch who works for the 'Magical Congress of the United Stares of America, and a muggle Jacob (Dan Fogler) who gets caught in the middle of all this. At the same time a new evil is rising in the form of Percival Graves (Colin Farrell).

What I am happy to say about Fantastic Beasts is that it is a lot of fun, if a little long, I'd say a good 20 minutes could have been trimmed for a more smooth run-time. Aside from that, this was one of the more enjoyable blockbusters I've seen this year. It has its moments of surprising darkness, but it is pretty lighthearted for the most part. It balances its tones fairly well.

Things are messiest in the story department. Fantastic Beasts is at its best when we're spending time with the creatures, which have a variety of cool and extremely cute designs. The CGI might have been a bit hit and miss, but the creativity is there. When we go to the parts with Colin Farrell, things get a bit muddy. Things aren't explained very well and the stories don't really connect until the final act, and I'm not entirely sure what was going on.

The casting at least is great for the most part. I'm not entirely sold on Eddie Redmayne's Newt, who in all honesty, is a non-character. We don't learn a thing about him, aside from the fact he's writing a book about the animals and is really awkward. His performance felt very similar to The Theory of Everything in the scenes before Stephen Hawking's disease got worst.

Redmayne is outshined by the supporting cast. Especially Dan Fogler as the muggle, who is the vessel for the audience. He is the heart and soul of the film. His character arc also had the biggest emotional impact. By the end of it, I really did love his character. I'm not entirely sure if we'll see him again in the series, but god, I hope so. Katherine Waterson as Tina was decent as was her Alison Sudol as her sister Queenie.

It's hard to say about Colin Farrell as the villain, because in all honesty, he isn't given a lot to work with. He just looks broody and miserable all the time. It doesn't really matter though because he won't be in any more of the films as he's replaced by Johnny Depp. Who manages to be the worst part of the film with only 10 seconds of screen time. It's easy to hate on Johnny Depp these days, but I burst out laughing when his character made it on screen. The design was ridiculous and only further shows he hasn't moved on from these laughable, zany and over the top characters that have become a parody of themselves.

David Yates is directing all 5 entries in this series, which I think I'm okay with (He's directed every Harry Potter from Order of the Phoenix onwards). I like his visual style and the look of 1920's New York is recreated extremely well. I just wish the film was a little lighter, I don't mean tonally, I mean literally. This was such a darkly lit film and I'm not entirely sure why.

I also appreciated the fan service, which didn't feel too obnoxious. There are a few name drops and mentions of Hogwarts, but it never feels like it was living in the shadow of Harry Potter and felt like it's own thing, which is a good thing. That said, this film really feel like set-up for a bigger picture a lot of the time, which is a problem I've had with a few of the Marvel films.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them isn't entirely succesful, but it's a lot of fun and a decent start to this new set of films set in the Harry Potter universe. Either way, it's just nice to revisit this world.

7/10 Dans

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Okja (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 29th, 2017*

"Friend, not food"

I didn't think Netflix had another great film in them after the constant release of utter shite for the past two years after they released Beasts of No Nation, but they've finally done it. Okja is Netflix's first truly great Original Film in some time, and quite possibly their best.

From the director of Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-Ho), Okja follows a young girl who will do anything to get her genetically enginereed super-pig, Okja, back from the government who want it for their own purposes, so she goes on a globe-trotting adventure to reclaim her friend.

It's all very '80s and Spielbergian to a point, but it really has a strong heart behind it. The relationship between Okja and her human guardian is one of genuine warmth and brings a real emotional core to the film. It really helps if you have a soft spot for animals. Okja could have been a disaster of a creation. Making an original creature for a film can be hit-or-miss, but the technical team mostly did an incredible job bringing Okja to life. It's not as good as say the recent Planet of the Apes films when it comes to bringing a CGI character to life, but they did a good enough job to make us care for Okja.

I did not expect how deep this film would be, or how even heartbreaking and devestating the ending would be. Okja makes a big statement of the morality of factory farming and how we should treat animals. There are moments towards the end that made me feel awful for eating meat and wanting me to try and have a serious go at being vegetarian again. not the piss-poor attempts I've tried in the past. Some of the shit here is harrowing though.

Which brings me to the tone of the film. I'm not massively sure what to expect in Okja, but for the most part, I expected a family friendly film, which led me to be confused by the 15 rating for it in the UK. While I'd say this is a family friendly film for the most part, they do drop several uses of "fuck", which feels at odds for a film that is now restricted to an adult audience, despite being a film that young audiences really should see and learn from.

Bong Joon-Ho delivers some fantastic direction and a cinematic feel that has been sorely lacking nearly all of Netflix's films. There are some really inspired and exciting set-pieces and the film looks gorgeous. I really, really wish I got to see this in the cinema, which will always be a disappointing drawback of a Netflix film.

The cast are all great, although some could have done with a little restraint. The lead child actress Ahn Seo-hyun was excellent, she really carried the film. Some of the bigger names I wish had come off better. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton were clearly having fun with their roles, but veered into hammy territory at times. That said, Paul Dano and Giancarlo Esposito were both great and stole their scenes.

Okja is Netflix's first essential film in over two years. A fun, entertaining and extremely touching adventure film that has a lot to say and has a whole lot of heart. More like this Netflix. Not the fucking aids you shit out like 'Sandy Wexler' or 'iBoy'.

8/10 Dans

Okja is available to stream now on Netflix worldwide
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 19th, 2017*
 More my thoughts on the series as a whole:

Well, my Harry Potter journey has come to an end, and what a beautiful, emotional and heartfelt end it came to. Deathly Hallows Part 2 is like the second half of Breaking Bad season 5. Everything put into 2 hours, to bring the series to an end, and it never stops.

This was everything I ever possibly could have wanted from a finale to a series. Everyone has closure and a chance to shine, while the epilogue is touching, beautiful and brings things full circle is the best way possible.

I was pretty hit-and-miss watching all the films back to back a few years ago, but this time they all clicked with me in one way or another. The earlier films have their flaws for sure and are easily the weakest of the lot, but they still were just what I needed right now, and I am happy about the fact I loved them all in some way.

It has been an incredible experience seeing these actors and characters grow in depth and complexity as the series progressed, going through things we've all been through, but in the backdrop of a fantasy world based around magic. The performances of every actor massively improves with each film and it is so noticeable, making each one feel like a genuine improvement on the the last. Even minor characters have evolved and been fully fleshed out, including ones you would not expect. The only exception I'd say was Malfoy, who was just rubbish from beginning to end. There was no reason to fear this villain, every single moment he had a chance to prove his villainy, he proved to be a coward and cry baby, to the point I have no idea why anyone even took him seriously for one second.

In Deathly Hallows Part 2 every scene had meaning and flowed, the action is gorgeous and some of the best of the entire franchise. The heartbreaking revelations are effective and just fucked me. David Yates has truly been a consistent director in the quality of the past few films and as much as I wish a load of different directors got to put their take on Potter on screen, I'm glad someone was able to follow through with their vision for the finale entries. That said, each different director has given something unique and memorable with the films directed.

Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood and I'm sad to see it go once again, but this was a hell of a ride revisiting them, and I cannot wait to do it again in the future. Give me my 4K boxset of the entire series. I will also be reading all the books soon.

10/10 Dans

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is out now in the UK on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD now
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The Lost City of Z (2016) - Film Review

Review:

I'm having a hard time putting James Gray's true life adventure film 'The Lost City of Z' into words. It's a compelling and beauty piece of work, but difficult to talk about. There's a sort of quiet majesty to this. It's not a loud, fast-paced adventure film. It's much slower and more meaningful than that.

It all feels classic. Like an older film made with todays technology. In some ways it feels timeless. Rather than bombarding you with set-pieces we instead get a much more character focused piece about Charlie Hunnam's true life explorer Percival Fawcett who went missing during one of his expeditions to the Amazon to find a lost city he calls "Z".

There really is a fascinating true story here of Percival, who led an incredible life. Never giving up his fateful search for this city, despite the danger and warnings not to. Hunnam is an actor who's not head the best luck on the big-screen, but this is easily his best work since Sons of Anarchy ended, playing a tragic and determined character who loses a lot in order to discover something greater.

Charlie Hunnam and Tom Holland

Robert Pattinson is also pretty good. He's an actor it's easy to mock due to his role in the Twilight series, but much like Kirsten Stewart, he has more or less shedded that teen vampire nonsense and gives an almost unrecognizable turn here.

This is also a beautiful film and Gary directs the hell out of it. Giving us a gorgeous and timeless historical feel of the early 1900's. The set designs and costumes really are something to behold. As are the lavish jungles where the majority of the film takes place.

I wish I had more to say. The Lost City of Z truly is a hard film to take in. It might be a little too long and the pacing suffers at times, but for the most part, this is a gorgeous, classic and compelling adventure that I would recommend seeing on the biggest screen you can.

8/10 Dans

The Lost City of Z is out now in cinemas in the UK
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