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.

Fury - Movie Review

Fury is a 2014 American war film set during World War II written and directed by David Ayer. The film stars Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Jason Isaacs, and Scott Eastwood. This movie showed war is not about honor, its about people acting like monsters to kill.

Shia Labeouf in this movie is quite good, I didn't hate him in transformers either, he use to scream "Optimus" like a champ. He plays a character who's war name is "Bible". Every character in this movie brings a different point of view cause every character is so much different from one another, which brought so many prospective into it and made the tone of the movie go up and down several times.

It is supposed to be a war movie but it got side tracked which got me confused about the direction of the movie and it was kinda unnecessary, it was a 20 minute thing which was not required, could have been easily edited out. It only made the characters more unlikable.

It begins with Wardaddy's crew played by Brad Pitt in middle of nowhere and their assistant driver dead, here comes Norman played Logan Lerman who fills the empty spot. This film is mostly from the prospective of Norman, a young typist who is dragged in middle of the war. His character makes you feel like you are right there in middle of the war.

David Ayer captured the true essence of war, which is brutality, I mean you don't even feel good even after the good guys win and that's what war is actually nobody wins people die and that's the truth. It tries to comment on wars, its message is simple "war is not about Right or Wrong, its not about heroic actions its only about killing people" and that's the ugly truth.


This movie is suppose to be about a tank, after all it is named after the tank "FURY". In the beginning the movie showed a battle involving tanks Comradery shows between the cast looks real, it looks like this guys have been through some tough shit together. These guys don't seem to like the war but being with each other makes it worthy while for them and they function like one unit, it was handled perfectly.

The Imitation Games

'The Imitation Game' is a powerful and eminently well-made biopic that illuminates the facts whilst respecting the story it is based upon.

Imitation Games tells the story of Alan Turing, who was hired by the British military to crack German cipher codes during World War II. Although this movie might seem about Alan Turing or the World War but it's not about either of them, it's about society how much things have changed, it's about how technology evolved.

Benedict Cumberbatch has been a star  ever since we saw him in Sherlock in 2010 but this time he has given his best performance in a movie. The best complement one can give is, saying that it didn't felt like watching an episode of Sherlock. Benedict usually looks the same but makes his each character different and that's sign of a good actor.

Keira Knightley made her name in Pirates of the Caribbean franchise but she kinda grew out of it in the middle of it, she gained her first Oscar Nomination in 2006. In Imitation games she plays a brilliant mathematician who is not appreciated by society not even by her parents because she is a woman, she recognizes the stigma and fights it.

This movie feels real, one might say that's because it's based on the life of an actual person but the cast made all the difference, everyone felt like a piece of a giant puzzle. On a side note, watching Charles Dance on screen always makes me smile, now if I think about it I kinda hated him in Dracula Untold. This movie is not about Alan Turing but instead it's about prejudice against the feminine, misconception regarding homosexuality. Turing was in the center of all this but it was more about the society.

Taken 3

Taken 3 is a action thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton . It is the third and hopefully final installment in the Taken trilogy. The film stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen and Forest Whitaker.

Saying taken 3 is better than the last one does not mean much because Taken 2 was not a nice movie, it didn't stand as a individual movie at all. Maybe if you watch 1 and 2 together you can enjoy it otherwise, it was just horrid.

 

Taken 3 tried to reinvent the franchise by doing something different from the previous ones but in turn they made the movie which has been made several times, husband framed for the murder of his wife and he is on the run,  there was atleast something original about the 1st one.

Action movie should always be rated R, it doesn't make sense if a guy is not bleeding after getting shot, to be honest I was confused several times if a guy is dead or not. Watching bullet holes is alright for a kid but watching blood is not, how is one better than the another I can't understand this, the rating system is clearly broken.

Liam Neeson is basically Zeus from the Clash of Titan series, you just can't kill him, there were few scenes where he should have died like blown to pieces but in the next scene he is running again without any explanation because he has a set of skills.

Forest Whitaker is playing the cop who is after Liam, it felt like the writers put some extra thought to his character than what was required. He was fondling with rubber bands while thinking, playing with a chess piece, he looked like a guy with issues more than a detective.

This movie is less violent and it felt more like a spy movie than the other two, which might not work for everyone. The twist in the end is so obvious, I am not sure if you can consider it even a twist, it was so much in the open.

This movie has good dialog, every word from Liam Neeson's mouth sound like music. He has one of the most intimidating voice in hollywood and that aspect is used effectively.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

It's difficult to separate fact and fiction, so I am not gonna hurt anyone's feeling and just treat Exodus Gods and Kings as a movie. Exodus told us the story of the Egyptian Empire and how they lived. It is not Ridley's best movie or his worst movie but it is a very much a Ridley Scott movie. Visually heavy, great actors, and great mythology.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is an epic historic film directed by Ridley Scott. It was written by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian. The film stars Christian Bale as Moses, Joel Edgerton as Ramasis, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley. Can somebody explain why there are so many while guys in Egypt though?

The love and hate relation of Ramasis and Moses is well defined and understandable, Rhamses gets conflicted about his bond with Moses with whom he grew up after a prophesy gives clue that Moses is suppose to become a leader and that is a Prince's worst nightmare.

This movie has an excellent cast but other than Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton no one really impressed me, honestly I hated Sigourney Weaver. Exodus is a long movie and it feels like one but the slow burn was required to make you feel the emotions. Few visuals of this movie reminded me of Gladiator which is a good thing, Gladiator is one of the best movie Ridley Scott ever made.

Visually this movie is beautiful and convincing enough to take you thousands of years into the past. Every time I see Pyramids it sent shivers down my spine. So looking Pyramids in their full glory was amazing for me in the beginning but later came the part where they showed how Slaves were tormented to get the Pyramids built.

Big Hero 6

Right now a lot of people might thinking if this is the first Animated superhero movie but it's not. How can you forget The Incredibles, I mean how?  

Big Hero 6 is a 3D computer-animated science fiction superhero-comedy film by Disney. Inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, the film is directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film to feature Marvel Comics characters, whose parent company was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009.

Visually this movie is beautiful, it takes place in San Fransokyo, a mixture of San Fransico and Tokyo. It added a nice touch to the movie it looked pretty. Being a fan of architecture, I really liked this hybrid city.

It's a revenge story, a certain character gets killed, a group of unlikely heroes gets united to avenge him, nothing new. Till the 2nd act this movie is pretty good, the comic elements just worked seamlessly. The 3rd act was actually predictable for an adult but kids will eat it up.

This movie tried to shove emotions down our throat several times.  Being a kids movie it cannot have a dark ending I get that but their solution to get around that was kinda too convenient. The one thing which I really liked about this movie is the fact that, the voice actors are unknowns. Not even for a single second I tried to figure out who voiced the characters, trust me that can be distracting.  

Kids will enjoy this movie for sure,  for adults this is worth taking your kids to the theater but avoid if you will be watching it alone.

Interstellar

Most people kissed Nolan's ass when Interstellar came out and saying it is a stellar movie but truth be told, its his worst movie yet. Well that's not saying much cause all his movie are close to perfect. This movie is a spectacle but Nolan's formula didn't work here. Nolan usually hides the technical things behind the story but this time the Story and technical were travelling in parallel.







Interstellar is a science fiction adventure film directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. It begins with earth in dying state and humanity trying to survive the forthcoming doom. The only option is to look towards space and leave. To explore the space ad go where no man has ever been.


Mathew McConaughey plays Cooper an ex-pilot, now chosen to lead the mission to another Galaxy. The biggest strength of this movie is the emotional bond between Cooper and his daughter, it makes you feel and paralyzes you with the pain characters these characters are in. There are many holy shit moments but overall it leaves you wanting for more and underwhelmed.


 Several times it felt like different ideas were bind together forcefully, it didn't felt like a coherent unit. It looked like certain things were decided at the very last moment, which works for a fast pace movie but for a 3 hour movie everything felt very much different from one another. I don't understand why Anne Hathaway was in this movie, anyone could have played the character she was playing. To be honest I don't even remember whats her name was in the movie and I saw the movie an hour ago, it was that much forgettable. There is a cameo which I thought will make it awesome but it ended up being the worst part of the movie.

John Wick

John Wick is more about cars than Fast and Furious movies ever can be, sure it doesn't have cars jumping off cliffs but it has more realistic stunts. Stunts which doesn't have the wow factor but are compelling enough, you don't want to take your eyes off the screen even for a second.

John Wick is an action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski in his directorial debut and written by Derek Kolstad. Starring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Willem Dafoe. I kinda love this cast, although Alfie Allen basically played the same character from Game of Thrones.

Action movies are suppose to be Rated R, making a movie in which about 500 people die but there is no blood doesn't make any sense to me. This helped the movie, it made the character more vulnerable, you know this person got shot and he could literally bleed to death. In the end this made me care about the characters even more.

This movie is about John Wick who's dog gets killed in a robbery thus he is taking care of some business. This movie proved one thing in my opinion that a director makes or break a movie, you don't need an excellent story. John Wick has the most simple story in the world but you care for this guy from the very beginning and understand his motivation.

John Wick has an excellent cast from Keanu Reeves to Willem Dafoe, I have had my share of problems with Keanu Reeves, lets face it he is not the best actor in the world. Speed and Matrix are one of my favorite movies but he was not reason why those movies are awesome but I like John Wick because of Keanu Reeves.