My review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is spoiler-free!
What do I, a fan of the Harry Potter series think about the Fantastic Beasts films thus far? Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has a broad narrative whose focus is divided between a continuation of the predominantly stand-alone first Fantastic Beasts film (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and a Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald prequel that is reliant on the Harry Potter saga (as the Harry Potter saga fascinatingly is reliant on the subsequently released Crimes of Grindelwald). Though the scene transitions don't always flow (the connective tissue from one scene to the next sometimes feels like it's missing, though the film is never confusing), the movie nevertheless features a masterclass of writing, performances, and music. While Where to Find Them is a wondrous adventure whose touch of deep melancholy is countered by resilient optimism (qualities that make it feel like it could be a Christmas film, despite its events taking place outside of Christmas Day and Eve), Crimes of Grindelwald is a steadfastly tragic tale about discrimination, trauma, rhetorical warfare, and how propaganda that scapegoats can manipulate even wise and empathic souls. Where to Find Them is predominantly whimsical and consistently beautiful in its telling. It is ultimately uplifting like a steaming cup of apple cider, despite it compelling our hearts to break, at times, for someone who commits horrifying acts, by showing us their perspective on what led them there, without excusing their heinous crimes. Crimes of Grindelwald is a tale of two narratives, though the film is more thematically complex. Both movies have a through-line of empathy; it is filtered through optimism in Where to Find Them, while it is filtered through grief in Crimes of Grindelwald. I adore both films. By the way, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore releases in two weeks! ★ Alternate Movie Review Title ★ Before Dumbledore's Secrets Were Revealed, We Found Fantastic Beasts and Grindelwald Committed Crimes
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Poster by phase_runner. ★ My spoiler-free review of The Batman ★ The Batman is an expertly crafted haunting movie, and I'm pretty confident that it's the most thematically complex Batman film to date. It also features the most frightening Batman since it presents the criminals' perspectives on a nightmare entity, whether he slowly emerges from the shadows or pursues them relentlessly with fiery rage. Speaking of which, the film features some of the most thrilling action that I have experienced in any film, though this comic book movie is a refreshing psychological drama and thriller that's patiently paced, rather than an action flick. It's the most melancholic Batman film too, one where Gotham's silent cry for healing through love, hope, trust, and justice (amidst the city's abusers) is amplified by its contrast with a through-line of trauma. The Batman expands on the Dark Knight's themes of institutional corruption and the mutual escalation between law enforcement and law breakers during a war on crime with nuance and much subtlety. The film also presents a deep thematic dive on wealth inequality and the systemic privilege of being wealthy (and the responsibility that the fortunate have to help people who are oppressed). Likewise, The Batman also deals with vengeance, poverty, and hopelessness being major forces for terrorism, as well as social media's role in terrorism's growth. I emphasize that I'm a fan of this film. Poster by Khoa Ho. ★ Who is my favorite Batman? ★ Robert Pattinson is the best Batman, because his Bruce Wayne truly is Batman, and he has no other persona, even without his literal Bat mask; His version is a ferocious yet life-preserving, traumatized but fear-lacking, frightening (to others in Gotham) yet heartbreaking, exhausted but vengeance driven, and flawed yet ultimately inspirational Dark Knight. His version seems as if it's the most realistic psychological portrayal of the Batman character in film. Furthermore, his stellar action features some mistakes and physical trauma for him, which recalls (but doesn't imitate) James Bond's action in Casino Royale (2006), which felt more real for the franchise. Christian Bale still provided the best authentic Bruce Wayne in my view. Batman was ultimately his mask, his burden to bear for a while, while his Playboy persona was a bit over the top (though entertaining). His true Bruce Wayne personality was fearful yet driven to use his fear to ultimately protect others and inspire them to lift one another up (no matter how many times he fell), even if it meant he had to embody a creature of the night to accomplish his end goal. Michael Keaton's portrayal of the playboy persona of Bruce Wayne continues to be the best. It's an eccentric persona which fits the eccentric version of Gotham in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns, a city whose melancholic and barely contained chaotic architecture contains many larger than life characters. Adam West's portrayal of Batman remains the best parody of the character. The brilliance of his portrayal is that it's of a Batman who is unaware that he's hilarious and in a comedic world. Poster by hamletroman. ★ Some of my nostalgic Batman memories ★ Batman & Robin was the first Batman film I saw and I enjoyed it immensely as a kid...it was a live action Saturday Morning cartoon. I haven't seen it in nearly 2 decades but I still remember that unintentionally laugh-riot of a line from Mr. Freeze before he unleashes his freeze gun. Mr. Freeze: "What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!" He said it with so much confidence and seriousness, as if it was the final heroic one-liner that a villain hears in an epic 1980s action film. Later on, around the year 2000 (I was about 7 years old), I discovered a VHS tape of Batman (1989) at a flea market (by the way, the video cassette was in a Blockbuster store sleeve). My parents got it for me, and they were also eager to own a copy of the film since they were fans of the movie. I was blown away when I saw it and it ignited in me an eagerness to experience the rest of the original Batman film series. Though I prefer thematically dark Batman stories, The Adam West starring Batman series and film hold a special place in my heart; it's one of the greatest parodies of all time, whether it was wholly meant to be or not. By the way, my sister and I were familiar with the film but when we discovered that one of our TV channels was showing a re-run of the series several years ago, we tore through the episodes that aired while we laughed our heads off. It was amongst the last rounds of experiences we shared as siblings who lived together and I'm thoroughly grateful for it. 🙂 ★ End ★
[Caution: I only ever so lightly spoil this film by saying whether it has a Happily Ever After or not. I don't reveal what happens in the conclusion.]
𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 1984 is beautiful for its radiance of liberating selflessness which transcends the tried yet true trope of sacrificing one's life (the uplifting musical score is alluring as well), brave for its character driven plot, and loving for its portrayal of human affection. It is different in style than its magnificent predecessor yet it remains true to its spirit.
Check out 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 if you haven't yet. It's a beautifully melancholic and lovingly blissful film. I experienced it last month without sound (but with captions) because I found myself without headphones on a plane (I missed hearing the symphonic soundtrack and the cadences of the actor's voices). Yet it still deeply moved me.
The immediate themes generally aren't what I prefer experiencing in stories (or so I believed before I experienced this art piece) but this film is so phenomenally constructed that it completely won me over. This is a deliberately non-grandiose, emotionally intimate (therefore all the more affecting), and meticulously nuanced created masterpiece. This non-theatric, thoroughly-inhabited-character-acted cathartic classic which empathically challenges ethnocentricity should have at least been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I would have replaced 𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑼𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆...𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅 with this. 🌟 (Spoiler-Free)🌟
This amazing film fights the stigmatization of women who strip (without objectifying them) presents the real life protagonists with symphonic whirlpools of empathy (while not shying away from their selection of flawed decisions) and rightfully depicts almost all Wall Street execs behaving as leeches (in more ways than one). Some may be surprised that the genres don't merely exist as drama and comedy...tragedy thrives amongst them too. Yes, I ugly wept (as typical, with silence) mostly alongside Dorothy (Destiny) as performed by Constance Wu. That point brings me to Jennifer Lopez's work here. Excellence was the manifestation of her performance so she is rightfully being celebrated for her acting though I believe Constance Wu's performance is no less phenomenal. The rest of the acting was fitting while the technical aspects were outstanding, particularly the direction, script, editing, and eclectic music selection (Classical music was employed emphatically too! 😍) P.S. ★ Hustlers presented a theme which I wasn't expecting: Our souls ache to push through the superficiality and interlace with others' who we love; being spiritually nurtured when our yearning is fulfilled. ★ It was refreshing to experience a film which could have easily tipped over into exploitation arrive from a female gaze. ★ One of my favorite lines is one which could be misconstrued as dumb but it's profound in context: "Hurt people hurt people." Captain Marvel is an unapologetically female empowering film whose heroine isn't feminine to those who define that word while perpetuating the male gaze. Yet neither is Captain Marvel a nurturing averse fighter like a gender swapped representation of masculinity as defined by a testosterone overdosing patriarchal society. No, Carol Danvers is a human being who happens to be a woman; a beautiful soul who is a non-caricature to the offense of no feminist audience members anywhere and to the displeasure of no intelligent viewers everywhere.
Beyond their portrayal of a person in the lead role, I love that the filmmakers proudly stuck up their middle fingers (via subtext which was upon the border of non-ambiguity) to the real-world propaganda which posits that refugees are terrorists. I enjoyed this film, as I expected I would, even though this film's first act is in a hurry to meet its latter two act companions. Yet what I wasn't prepared for was how empathic of a film Captain Marvel is. |
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