Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

About 5 years ago a 20 year old version of me wrote a movie review, and he felt sad at the same time because he saw the last of Harry Potter movies or so he thought. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a fantasy film directed by David Yates. A spin-off prequel of the Harry Potter film series, the film was produced and written by J. K. Rowling, inspired by her book of the same name. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander with Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Ron Perlman and Colin Farrell. It is the ninth installment in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World.

Eddie Redmayne has become one of my favorite actors, not because he was in some tent-pole movie, but because of his performances, the guy commits to the character, even if the director is making a fool out of him, case in point Jupiter Ascending. He portrays a character who is awkward socially, but is a huge hit among the Beasts hence is more comfortable around them. Ezra Miller, to be honest, I am not familiar with his work, all I know is that he is the flash in DCEU and The Perks of Being a Wallflower is on my watchlist, not because of him but Emma Watson.

Fantastic Beasts takes you back to the back to the Magical World of Harry Potter, but the world doesn't feel so familiar, it takes place 60-70 year before the events of the Harry Potter series and takes place in New York and the American Wizarding world is quite different, which brings an interesting new look into the Magical World.



The movie is quite different from what I expected it to be, there is a serious and dark tone to it, people are getting killed left and right. I expected it to be a little lighter in tone and just about, Finding the Beasts let loose by Newt, but it sets up the whole franchise in the first movie itself, there is a huge presence of Grindelwald (basically Voldemort of the series) which I didn't see coming.

Fantastic Beasts is a treat for Potter fans but also people who love fantasy movies, It doesn't require you to know all the lore of the Harry Potter movies you could just jump in and still get the Nectar Out of the Film.

Doctor Strange

It’s been 7 days since doctor strange has released and I have spent 3 of those evenings in a theater. You will ask, is it that good or I am just crazy , honestly it’s a bit of both.
Doctor Strange is a Superhero film, it is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Scott Derrickson(known for directing horror movies) and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton. Doctor Strange is story of a magician, who jumps into a magical cauldron unknowingly. Benedict Cumberbatch loves playing intellectual characters he just has to be a know it all, even if it’s an animated character case in point Penguins of Madagascar. It’s sort of the same character here in the beginning, but it all changes as the movie picks up the pace.
Dr Strange brings an exciting level of humor, if I have to compare it to a marvel movie it’s kind of like Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy. I never read any Doctor Strange comics and if I am not mistaken, he has never been featured in any animated movies either but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie. I am sort of tired of World Threatening situations in movies, it inflates the movie and don’t let it breath, but it makes sense in Dr Strange as he is the protector of the Multiverse. I will end this with, I will be disappointed in this movie doesn’t win the Academy Award for best Special effects, it’s a visual treat.

Into the Wild

For the longest time I thought Gone with the Wind and Into the Wild are the same movie and I never had any desire to watch the former so I missed this master piece until a friend made it clear these are two separate movies.

Into the Wild is written and directed by Sean Penn. It is an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book of the same name, based on the life of Christopher McCandless and his time spent in the Alaskan. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and Kristen Stewart.

I didn't know much about the film, I didn't know what was waiting for me. There are only a few ways by which you can relate to a character in a movie, one of them is if you have lived a similar life to them or the exact opposite, I fall in the later category when it comes to Into the Wild. This movie talks about our life being controlled by the modern society, living with the help of materialistic objects.

Into the wild is about Christopher McCandless a.k.a Alex Supertramp, who leaves everything behind money, car, comforts and family behind to go on a adventure. He travels penniless nationwide to discover how the primitives must have felt living in the dirt without any rules. Now I wanna go on a trip like this but only for a few days.

Into the Wild deals with a lot of philosophies and I don't have to talk about the quality of this movie cause it's great but something else, we mostly end up becoming what we idolize or at least we try to be.

I believe the real Christopher McCandless, wanted to experience an adventure of a lifetime so he could write, like the hundreds' of books he read, he wanted to be one of those he admired he wanted to be a writer. It really shows when he breaks down as he realizes he won't be able to share his story with the rest of the world, hence the quote "Happiness is only real when shared". This quote made a lot of sense to me and brought the whole movie a full circle.

This movie is actually relate-able when you stop and think about it, cause you will fall on either side of the spectrum, someone who's life is dependent on materialistic thing or you can live without them.

Captain America: Civil War. Reflection on MCU

Captain America: Civil War is a superhero film. It is continuing the story started in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and features Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Tom Holland and Daniel Brühl.

My first introduction to Marvel characters was in 1999. It was actually a spoof of the Avengers, The Justice Friends somehow I came to know more about Captain America, Hulk and Thor. During the same time Iron Man Animated series started broadcasting, little did I know that these guys would be in a same movie one day.

I really feel nostalgic and emotional when I see these character on screen. So it has always been difficult for me to be subjective about these movies because of the attachment I have with these characters. I thought I can never dislike comic book movies until Batman V Superman happened, it turned out I can really hate these movies if they are bad.


Some people take issue with comedy in Marvel movies, I have come to terms with it although I didn't like Ultron cracking jokes but if you think about it, his character was an extension of Tony Stark so it does make sense.

Civil War has one of the best action sequence ever picturize in  a comic book movie, which should not be surprise as the action sequences were directed by the makers of John Wick. The addition of Spiderman and Black Panther should be easily accepted as these characters are just likable and in simple terms awesome.

I am not reviewing this movie, cause how can I isolate this movie from the rest of the 12 Marvel movies which came before Captain America:Civil War. It is an emotional journey if you have come to love these characters in the past movies but if you are a casual movie fan, this movie is about friendship at its core and standing for something you believe in, to which anyone can relate to.

Fan - Movie Review - Spoiler Free

I am generally one of those people who skip watching Hindi movies, I watch like 2-3 of them in a year. So basically this meaning I don't know the standard of Hindi movies these days, that being said here we go.

Fan is directed by Maneesh Sharma and stars Shah Rukh Khan in the title role. It tells the story of a Fan who models his life after celebrity he adores and thinks of him as a God, wait a minute this sounds too familiar cause it is copied from a song by Eminem.

That being said, it is one of the better Hindi movies I have seen in a long time, character motivations were well defined. The lack of songs made things better for me more, I just don't seem to get why people suddenly start singing and jumping funny, somethings are just beyond me.

After watching this movie one thing is pretty clear Shah Rukh doesn't need any other actor to make movies he can do that by himself, meaning here he is playing the protagonist and the antagonist in the film. There is no other recognizable actor either in the film.

The film is more than 2hrs long and it doesn't seem that way, which is always a compliment. Yes there are certain far fetched sequences, which ended up working for me because of the character building from the beginning.

The film is categorized under the thriller category and it deserves to be there. Action sequences have certainly become better in Hindi movies in the last few years, I wish Shah Rukh might consider hiring Maneesh Sharma for Ra One sequel cause he can do the job when it comes to character moments as well as with action and make coherent movie at the same time

The Revenant

I have been hearing about The Revenant since the cast was announced everyone proclaiming that Leonardo DiCaprio was gonna win the Best Actor Oscar with this one. It ain't happening, Tom Hardy did a better job than Leo. It is based on Michael Punke's novel with the same title, which is inspired by the experiences of Hugh Glass in 1823.

The Revenant is a survival and revenge film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.  It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter. The Revenant won three Golden Globe Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards

This movie has some phenomenal acting, Tom hardy did an incredible job as John Fitzgerald the antagonist of the film. Considering the story, it seems long for what all is happening. There were several times when it seemed like a drag cause nothing significant was happening but it had some incredible moments which were built by those dull moments.

This movie is beautiful the natural landscapes, the intense environment just added to the struggle of Glass to survive and get his revenge. The film takes place in 1800s' and delicately shows the struggle of Native Americans when America was invaded by the English and the French. It wasn't a walk in the park for anyone literally anyone even the bear.

This movie is not for anyone, it certainly has a lot of violence and moments in which you just wanna look away from the screen.