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It's less than 50 pages and scandalously omits Bogarts, Dementors and Blast-Ended Skrewts. Plus the final mention of the Yeti is so flippant. However, I was lucky enough to procure Harry Potter's personal edition, which has notes and doodles scribbling in the margins like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It'll take a good bit of magic to make this into a feature-length film, much more for a franchise launch. But then again, 2001 came out of The Sentinel, which was just a short story. I'd say "Milk it for all the butter beer you can, J.K." but she's showed extraordinary restraint with the HP franchise. The proceeds from FB&WtFT were donated to U.K.'s Comic Relief (different than the U.S. org but equally admirable).
I'm looking forward to the film very much.
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To recap, I'm the one who doesn't like Harry Potter, movies or books. That bandwagon is in a whole different time zone than me.
But, enjoy.
I prefer to wait for Suicide Squad.
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11-23-2016, 05:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-23-2016, 05:25 PM by Drunk Monk.)
just like seeing the Force Awakens in Spain, Tara and I saw this in Ireland. Not sure what the next major franchise reboot of this magnitude will be, but we'll try to see it outside of the U.S. too.
This is a prequel set in NYC, with lots of Easter eggs for Potterheads like us. It lacks the pubescent charm of the original series as almost all the characters are adults. Remayne carries his role as the sole English wizard well and the cast chemistry is set up for a sequel especially given the finale reveal. It's a buddy film with a wizard and a no-mag, plus two sisters in semi-romantic roles. Good villains. Lots of cgi beasts and not done that well - expected better. A few 3D at the camera shots, but we didn't see it in 3D so those were silly. Between T & I, we guessed at all the mcguffins, but only had half on our own. I suspect non-potter fans won't care for it as it is dark and nonsensical. But for us, it's magical to be back in the Potter universe again, even if it's the U.S. version.
I was delighted to see this with Tara as this franchise was a huge part of her childhood and I figured she'd see it with her teen friends (she probably will still do that). I'm sad Stacy was too ill to join us.
And there were blast-ended skrewts, despite their glaring omission from the original book, but they didn't blast.
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Is this a movie review in the book section? Very confusing.
I am tempted to see this movie this weekend but the temptation wanes as the rash of bad or mediocre reviews comes in.
Did you get your popcorn salt or sweet at the concessions stand? Sugared popcorn used to be quite the thing in the UK and Ireland.
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Well it's based on a book...
We skipped popcorn. I had a hard enough time keeping my cough quiet without dry scratchy popcorn.
I suspect you won't enjoy this. It's really only for Potter fans.
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You were spot on! I didn't enjoy this. It seemed rather plotless, an excuse to show off these fantastic creatures. And I'm beginning to find Redmayne very annoying. He only seems to have one acting tick and that's looking out through the fringe of his hair.
It seemed to be a very dark story, too. Not a lot of fancy to it except for the one beast that lusted for shiny stuff. That was my only good moment in the film. However, I did see it with my 18 year old niece and her friend, so we have that in common.
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The Crimes of Grindelwald
If you're not into the Wizarding World (and none of you here are) avoid this. It won't make a lick of sense. There were points where I was like 'wait, who is that again?' even, and I know the WW pretty well as it was a major fantasy in my daughter's upbringing. So what can be said for you DOOMuggles? This prequel franchise gets even darker. The coming-of-age humor is completely gone. There's just some sober asides from Jacob (the no-mag) and Flamel (a major easter egg spoiler but y'all won't get it and he was in one of the trailers). Depp eats up scenery and really works his white-iris contact lens. It's a good part for him. And his totalitarian recruitment speech actually makes a lot of sense, strangely relevant in our present teetering hegemonic age. I enjoyed seeing the Paris ministry of magic, and the return to Hogwarts was delightful. The shout outs to the LeStrange lineage was awesome, but I yearned for my beloved Bellatrix.
The Asian offering was interesting. There's a Kappa (which I didn't even recognize until they called it so) and a Zouwu. The Zouwu is like a dragon-lion-peacock, an obscure mythological beast from China. I had to look it up, despite my familiarity with Chinese mythology, and was relieved to hear that most of China had to look it up too. It's very obscure. Then there's Claudia Kim, the Korean starlet from Age of Ultron (I didn't remember her from that - had to look that up too). She was very J.K., a good twist that redeems one of the most villainous characters from the original series, Nagini.
It was fun to see with my family. Tara was conflicted after seeing it because it brought up so many issues. Stacy was amused (she's a huge fan of Depp). I wasn't overly into it until the first major reveal, which was very Rowling, complex and played your assumptions well. Like with any of these prequels, it's the easter eggs and shout outs to the original that really sell it. Those are the best scenes.
Greg, you'll hate this. Don't even bother.
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But I love movies.....
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Well, if you want to see it just to meh about it here, be my guest.
Trust me. You won’t like it.
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I'm going to see it, but have to say that I really can't stand Depp. He only really acted in his first couple of films. The rest is all just tics and shtick. AND I think Depp is too old. Jude Law is about ten years younger, and aren't they supposed to be the same age?
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12-18-2018, 02:45 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-18-2018, 02:50 PM by Drunk Monk.)
The implications about their relationship (Depp & Law) is one of the best easter eggs in the film.
I like Depp. I admire actors who've gotten past the acting part and just make funny faces. There's something impressive about how they get away with that shit. I suppose that's what Trump supporters think of their prez, too.
And age doesn't matter anymore like that. Just wait 'til you see my gal Nicole in Aquaman. She looks younger than Momoa. She's another Hollywood vampire like Salma and Tom.
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Meh. You called it.
So goddamn slow and ponderous. How about a few action scenes for the ADD crowd? We did look up names we didn't recognize including Flamel. He was the best.
The one thing I will give it is the production design. Every inch of the screen has something going on it. It's quite amazing. But a little plot wouldn't have hurt anything.
I knew about the Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship before the movie. Now, did JK have to write this whole series just to show Dumbledore was Gay? Especially after the furor it caused when she announced this fact several years ago.
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The Secrets of Dumbledore
The best installment of the FB trilogy, which isn’t saying much. The first one was world building establishing the difference in period and location from HP. The second - well neither Tara nor I could remember much about the 2nd. That’s why I liked the 3rd best - it chucked out everything the first one had built and went back to Hogwarts. It still pales in comparison to the original, grasping at Easter eggs like the Star Trek Kelvin timeline, most falling flat.
What’s the secret? Don’t say gay. The Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship could be so much richer and feels inauthentic given JK’s anti lgbTq stance.
What redeems this somewhat is we’re finally back to school - back at Hogwarts & Hogsmeade - and there are some decent nods to the original. Mads replaces the cancelled Depp and he’s good at being villainous - it’s basically the same villain he’s played in Bond, Star Wars, & the MCU but it works ok.
This needed more humor, more fun. The magic effects are cool. It’s ponderously long at 2.5+ hours. There’s a flailing attempt at political commentary. Tara had issues with the politics of the wizarding world - her poly-sci degree kicked in. She didn’t care for it. I was amused - it was better than expected, which isn’t saying much. It was just fun to see it with Tara.
We wound up sitting next to the critic who moderated the q&a at EEAAO.
Greg you gotta see this one. You’ll absolutely hate it.
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