Tag Archives: america

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them

Director: David Yates
Writer: J. K. Rowling
Released: November 2016
Starring: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, Ron Perlman and Colin Farrell (In Bruges).
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After 20 minutes of watching this Harry Potter spin-off, I realised it was not going to get any better.

A story of a man (Eddie Redmayne) who was expelled from Hogwarts goes to America to save and conserve magical beasts that have been wrongly accused of being dangerous within the magical community.

Unfortunately, this gets out of hand and his magical beasts escape into New York city and interact with Muggles – or as the Americans call them, No-maj. (Non-magical people.)

I had hyped myself up to see it because I had recently had a Harry Potter movie binge-watch, and had read one of the Potter books. So I thought, to be a real Harry Potter fan, I really ought to see Fantastic Beasts before it ‘disapparated’ from the cinemas.

Unfortunately, it was everything I feared and less:

A desperate clutch at straws to keep Harry Potter cool. Only this time, rather than a down to Earth, scary, gothic English classic, it was drenched in melodrama, and dripping with cringe-worthy, unrealistic American dialogue.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them behind the scenesI am aware it was based in New York. But it was too clean, too cheesey, theatrical and lame.

I think it was a business decision to change the tone of the Harry Potter franchise. Perhaps to draw in the American audience. But, as an English Harry Potter film fan, I certainly felt alienated. I don’t enjoy the faff and bright colours of Hollywood in a supernatural movie. The movie just seemed made of plastic. You could tell every scene was filmed on a stage – I kept waiting to see the edge of the cardboard walls when the camera panned.

David Tennant who plays The DoctorI thought some of the characters had jumped out of an old Doctor Who episode. (You’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen the David Tennant Doctor Who episode ‘Daleks in Manhattan’.)

Finally: What. the. hell. Why did Johnny Depp make an appearance at the end? Did anyone else get confused by this? Maybe the set design lacked in realism because all the budget was spent on Mr. Depp’s two-second appearance. So ridiculous.

If I hadn’t of spent so much on a cinema ticket, I would have walked out.

But maybe the book is better.

Jodie’s rating: 3/10

Hector and the Search for Happiness

Hector and the Search for Happiness - Simon Pegg film posterDirector: Peter Chelsom
Writer: Peter Chelsom,Tinker Lindsay and Maria von Heland. Based on the novel of the same name by François Lelord
Released: September 2014
Starring: Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike and Toni Collette
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I thought this was going to be an English version of Walter Mitty… I think that was the aim anyway, but it certainly wasn’t the final product.

Unfortunately, this potentially deep and meaningful storyline was not achieved due to the general lack of believability, and the distaste toward the main character, Hector (Simon Pegg).

Hector and the Search for Happiness - Simon Pegg filmBasically, Hector is a psychiatrist and he finds himself unfulfilled. So he goes on a journey around the world, visiting countries including China and Africa, to find out what makes people happy.

But right off the bat, the audience stops rooting for the protagonist when he cheats on his wife in China, then meets up with an old flame in America. Suddenly, we no longer think well of Hector and the story goes down hill from there.

So the suspension of disbelief has plummeted, and for the rest of the film I’m hoping his wife Clara (Rosamund Pike) tells him he’s a disgusting excuse for a man and dumps him.

To save you the suspense, here are some of the things he learns makes people happy. Like most other films in the ‘runaway’ genre, he writes down his experiences.

  • Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.
  • A lot of people think happiness is being rich or important.
  • Many people see happiness only in their future.
  • Happiness could be the freedom to love more than one woman at the same time. (Which I’m sure will result in the unhappiness of people around him!)
  • Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Hector and the Search for Happiness - Simon pegg filmAnyway. I was disappointed because I love Walter Mitty so much and I thought this would be just as inspiring. Although, the fact it wasn’t shown in the major theatres here in New Zealand should have been a clue.

 

A great excuse to travel the world for some lucky cast and crew.

Jodie’s rating: 4/10
1) Because I still enjoy movies about travel, 2) it has Simon Pegg in it, 3) it has Rosamund Pike in it, and 4) the trailer is pretty awesome.