‘FANTASTIC BEASTS’ and Four Fall Films
Just Touching on the Movies I’ve seen but have been too busy
to write about
Life—it’s busy. There’s 8-hour workdays five times a week,
plus grad school homework, karate practice, time with friends, time with the
roommate, sickness, vacation, and all sorts of things.
Let’s be straight about this: if I wasn’t in grad school and
didn’t have that obligation, I probably would be all caught up on my movie
reviews. But since my Saturdays are usually devoted to homework now, and Sunday
is a lot of hanging out with the roommate or running errands, I’ve been seeing
movies on Friday nights, breaking my typical routine of seeing Saturday matinee
showings and then going straight home to write about them. As a result, I’ve
gotten home and been too tired to write a review afterward, and then—it’s just
slipped by.
That said, all the movies I’ve seen this fall have been
notable in some way, so I wanted to at least toss out a few thoughts on each,
going in order, starting with the most recent.
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND
WHERE TO FIND THEM
Grade: B-
Five and a half years after the last Harry Potter film was released in theaters (summer 2011’s Deathly Hallows – Part 2), here we get a
feature film-length version of a fictional book that was mentioned once or
twice throughout the seven-book Potter series. Written by Potter scribe J.K.
Rowling, and directed by David Yates—who directed the last four Potter films—Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first of, I would
guess, many “Harry-Potter-Extended-Universe” movies we’re likely to get.
I adored Harry Potter. The books, anyway. I wasn’t a huge
fan of the movies, particularly the entries Yates directed (2007’s Order of the Phoenix through the
aforementioned series finale). I didn’t know Yates directed Fantastic Beasts going in, but, once it
was over, I was not at all surprised to see his name atop the credits. Beasts has the same dark, dark tone (and color palette) as the
other wizarding films Yates directed.
This movie is not about Harry Potter. Neither our
scar-headed hero nor his parents have even been born by the year in which Fantastic Beasts takes place. This film
is about Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a bookish wizard from England who, in
1926, arrived in New York City with a mission to research some magical
creatures he’s heard have flourished on this side of the pond. Scamander, who
has never been to America
before, immediately notes the differences between the underground magical world
in America ,
and the one he left behind. There’s a Madame President (Carmen Ejogo) atop the
magical hierarchy instead of a Minister, the biggest magic school around here
is called Ilvermony (as opposed to Hogwarts), and a non-magic individual is
referred to as a “no-maj” (for no-magic) as opposed to a “muggle”, and wizards
are generally directed to interact with them as little as possible.
Scamander is fine keeping a low profile, but, alas, magic
does not mix well with the non-magical world. A pet of his gets loose, leading
to an unlikely series of events in which Scamander and a no-maj he met named
Kowalski (Dan Fogler) are the unlikely guests of a pair of witches (a disgraced
magical government agent played by Katherine Waterson and her mind-reading
sister, played by Alison Sudol) as multiple magical creatures run amuck in the city
and a government agent (Colin Farrell) sniffs out their trail. Meanwhile, a
sinister, invisible magical force is creating havoc and terror in the city—one that
Scamander has had nothing to do with, and one that is threatening to reveal the
magical world once and for all.
I’m glad to know J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay and was directly
involved—thus, these are her ideas, and not just someone trying to add onto her
creation. Thus, there are the usual cutesy, clever magical touches: pictures
that move; dishes that wash themselves; clocks that tell a lot more than the
time; a briefcase that contains an entire hidden world; paper memos shaped like
critters that actually fight each other. Some of the fantastic beasts of the
title get ample screen-time as well, and they’re really something—gorgeously-rendered
CGI creatures that fly, climb, swim, horde jewelry, and even run around on
amorous rampages.
The main problem I had with Fantastic Beasts was its uneven tone. I know this is the Harry Potter universe, where exciting
magic usually goes hand-in-hand with doom and gloom, but for a brand-new story,
it was a little bewildering. In one corner, we have the magic and whimsy of
Newt Scamander’s adventures with a gob-smacked but likably-curious no-maj, and
in the other corners we have Colin Farrell’s cold-eyed government agent, an
invisible destructive force that snatches the life out of people, and a pale,
anti-magic crusader (Samantha Morton) who beats her children and intimidates orphans.
It all makes sense (mostly) once it unravels, but, until then, these other,
darker passages are more annoying than anything. As viewers, we’re quite
content to watch Scamander and his no-maj hurry around trying to round up the
mischievous magical creatures. And then all of a sudden we’re watching poor,
pale, cringing Credence (Ezra Miller) sullenly taking off his belt and handing
it to his mother so she can whale on him for, I don’t know, saying the word “magic”
or something. There are some interesting ideas here, but, as was my opinion
with all four of his Potter films,
Yates doesn’t seem very adept at balancing them or making some of these
elements particularly viewer-friendly.
The one problem with seeing Rowling as the screenwriter is
knowing that all of this, even the elements that did not fit, were of her creation, when she rarely (if ever) made a creative
misstep through her seven-novel series. The cast is fine (with Redmayne, Fogler
and Sudol in particular giving likeable turns), but, overall, Fantastic Beasts is lacking a little magic.
HACKSAW RIDGE
Grade: B
Hacksaw Ridge is
imperfect, but it centers on a remarkable true story that needed and deserved
to be told. Directed by Mel Gibson (his first directorial effort since 2006’s Apocalypto), Ridge tells the story of Desmond Doss (played as an adult by Andrew
Garfield), a young man from central Virginia who, after nearly killing his older
brother during a childhood fight, decided to dedicate his life to God and to
helping people. When the US
entered World War II, he signed up to fight, as patriotic as any young man.
However, his religious convictions meant he would not kill in the line of duty,
or even handle a weapon. Regarded with incredulity by his commanding officers
(Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington) and with contempt by fellow Marines like Smitty
(Luke Bracey), Doss barely avoided a court martial and served alongside his
unit in the bloody campaign for Okinawa near
the end of the WWII Pacific campaign. It was at a murder-hole of a hill named
Hacksaw Ridge that he made his legend—after American units were forced to
retreat before a terrifying Japanese assault, Doss treated and saved 75 wounded
men from the front by dragging or carrying them out of the kill zone.
This is a movie of two halves—a quaint, overly-simplistic
prologue containing the cliché, forced budding romance between Doss and his
real-life sweetheart, Dorothy; and the visceral, terrifying, war-is-hell second
half. That’s no joke. Maybe it’s no surprise to hear that the man who directed Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ,
and Apocalypto has created another
blood-and-guts movie about war, but to see it is another. Any ideas any viewer
might have that war is cool, exciting, or glorious in any way is in for a rude
awakening—Hacksaw Ridge is as gory
and shocking as any war-based film or TV series to date, including Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, and the HBO series The Pacific. Garfield
gives a tremendous performance, and he’s given able support by Vaughn, Weaving,
Bracey, and Worthington
(who utters the real life-lesson of the movie that resonated with me: “the men
may not believe like you do, but they believe in how much you believe.”). The
movie’s not perfect, but it is an astounding testament to courage, in honor of
the real life Doss, who won the Medal of Honor for his bravery.
DOCTOR STRANGE
Grade: B+
The Marvel Cinematic Universe just keeps on rolling. The
well-oiled machine this time churns out Doctor
Strange, about a hotshot brain surgeon (Benedict Cumberbatch) turned
manipulator of time and space. After suffering debilitating injuries in a car
wreck, the unemployed, humbled Stephen Strange receives an ambiguous tip about
a spiritist cult in Nepal .
At first, he’s cynical, but he soon learns astonishing secrets of the universe
from the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and bookkeeper
Wong (Benedict Wong). Showing a surprising knack for the magical theatrics,
Strange ends up being the first line of defense in an ancient war against the
darkest forces of the universe.
Generally speaking, Strange
isn’t a major departure from the usual superhero origin story. But the
intriguing screen presence of Cumberbatch, the solid supporting cast, and
next-level graphics and concepts make this one of the better first films in the
Marvel canon—surely stronger than efforts like Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Ant-Man.
SNOWDEN
Grade: B+
I’ll go ahead and say I liked Snowden the most of any of these five films. That may be due to the
fact that I gained a lot more knowledge about a name I’ve heard a lot for a few
years now. It could be due to another exceptional turn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt—one
of the most gifted young actors around—plus the best Shailene Woodley
performance since The Descendants. It
may be because I truly agreed with Snowden—the end should not justify illegal
and unethical means, such as spying on nearly everyone in the world via pretty
much any means (cell phones, computers, etc…) possible. It is for that reason—that
former special forces operative Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the most dubious
secrets of his former employers, the CIA and the NSA—that the real Edward
Snowden still lives in Russia (with real-life girlfriend Lindsay Mills, Woodley’s
character) under threat of certain trial and imprisonment for treason. As if to
hammer home the point, at the end of this well-acted, eye-opening,
conscientious flick, the real Edward Snowden makes a key, poignant cameo as
himself, stating that he just wanted to wake up every morning knowing that he
was going to do the right thing. I think we could all learn something from
that.
SULLY
Grade: B
For a movie that was directed by Clint Eastwood, that stars
the ever-popular Tom Hanks, and is about a real-life incident in which 155
people were saved from almost certain death by a quick-thinking airline pilot—it’s
amazing that Sully, though solid,
pretty much has no reason to exist. As was true of Snowden and Hacksaw Ridge,
it’s based on an amazing true story. On January 15, 2009, airline pilot Chesley
‘Sully’ Sullenberger, along with co-pilot Jeff Skiles (the always-good Aaron
Eckhart), was piloting US Airways Flight 1529 out of LaGuardia
Airport in New York City . Barely a minute into the
flight, the airbus flew through a flock of birds, some of whom became entangled
in the jet engines and caused the plane to plunge in a downward trajectory.
Believing that he did not have time to turn back to LaGuardia or head for
nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, “Sully” (as everyone, even his wife—played
by Laura Linney—calls him) made the decision to make a “water landing” on the
Hudson River. It would later be proven by simulators that this almost certainly
saved the lives of all passengers and crew on the plane, let alone potential
lives on the ground in New York City .
But the National Transportation Safety Board (embodied here by Anna Gunn, Mike
O’Malley, and Jamey Sheridan) wasn’t convinced, and they investigated Sully and
the incident, believing he’d endangered people when better options were
available.
It sounds interesting, right? But considering the whole
incident lasted about two minutes, there isn’t much to go on. The movie is 96
minutes long, and that’s kind of stretching it. There’s a great message in this
story—a professional’s wisdom and piloting experience, the quick reaction of
the New York City police and fire department that rescued everyone from the Hudson
within minutes, the NTSA made a mountain out of a molehill, everyone survived—but
this movie suggests that maybe this story is more ideal material for a
documentary. It’s a great story, and a decent film (Hanks is great, of course,
Eckhart is solid, and the plane sequence itself is intense), but it’s over
quick.
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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Directed by David Yates
Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterson, Dan Fogler,
Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Carmen Ejogo, Samantha Morton, and
Jon Voight
Length: 133 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense action and scary moments
HACKSAW RIDGE
Directed by Mel Gibson
Screenplay by Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Luke Bracey, Sam Worthington,
Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, and Rachel Griffiths
Length: 139 minutes
Rated R for strong, graphic, bloody violence and gore,
language, and some emotional content
DOCTOR STRANGE
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Screenplay by John Spaihts, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert
Cargill
Based on the Marvel comics by Steve Ditko
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel
McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg, and
Benjamin Bratt
Length: 115 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense action, language, emotional content
and some scary moments
SNOWDEN
Directed by Oliver Stone
Screenplay by Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone
Based on the books ‘The Snowden Files’ by Luke Harding, and ‘Time
of the Octopus’, by Anatoly Kucherena
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Zachary
Quinto, Melissa Leo, Rhys Ifans, Tom Wilkinson, Joely Richardson, Nicolas Cage,
Ben Schnetzer, Scott Eastwood, Timothy Olyphant, and Edward Snowden as Himself
Length: 131 minutes
Rated R for strong language and sexuality
SULLY
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Screenplay by Todd Komarnicki
Based on the book ‘Highest Duty’ by Chesley ‘Sully’
Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow
Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Mike O’Malley,
Anna Gunn, and Jamey Sheridan
Length: 96 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense scenes (including a plane crash),
language, brief bloody images, and some emotional content
