Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 5-film series

[crumbs 14,306]

With the first film already looking completely desaturated and lifeless, I guess they'll be fully black & white by the time they reach film five.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, crumbs said:

With the first film already looking completely desaturated and lifeless, I guess they'll be fully black & white by the time they reach film five.

 

So David Lynch might direct one?

[crumbs 14,306]

1 hour ago, Daniel Clamp said:

 

So David Lynch might direct one?

 

Not with Ol' Yatesy around!

[Arpy 4,145]

4 hours ago, crumbs said:

With the first film already looking completely desaturated and lifeless, I guess they'll be fully black & white by the time they reach film five.

If you go back and watch HP1, the colour is so vibrant and warm, by DH, it's like they sucked all the colour out. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

[Arpy 4,145]

[crumbs 14,306]

33 minutes ago, RPurton said:

If you go back and watch HP1, the colour is so vibrant and warm, by DH, it's like they sucked all the colour out. 

 

That was definitely intentional, plus the films became heavily stylised towards the end. HBP in particular looks like the entire film had an orange/urine coloured filter over the lens (distracting from some pretty creative framing).

 

I just thought this series would at least start quite colourfully before descending down the HP desaturation path, given the fantastical title.

[Arpy 4,145]

Just now, crumbs said:

I just thought this series would at least start quite colourfully before descending down the HP desaturation path, given the fantastical title.

Me too.

 

[crumbs 14,306]

At least JNH's score sounds much more colourful than Hooper's scores.

 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Alex 2,835]

Well this is news I didn't need to wake up to

[crumbs 14,306]

I really, really hate the cliched "teal" filter applied to everything in modern DIs. It's soooooo lazy on the part of the colour gradist.

 

And yes, BloodBoal raises an excellent contradiction in the entire, "Yates is making a metaphor of Harry's world with the desaturated cinematography!" with that near-monochromatic epilogue, when everything should be saturated and a refreshing return to the visual style of the first film (no wonder Williams' music feels so forced).

 

Lo and behold, Yates has the exact same dreary monochromatic visual style in Tarzan. Clearly he's incapable of using colour in a meaningful way photographically, so he just lazily desaturates everything into a blend of washed out greys, or slaps on colour filters so heavily they might as well be B&W.

 

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,278]

On 11/12/2016 at 4:08 AM, crumbs said:

And yes, BloodBoal raises an excellent contradiction in the entire, "Yates is making a metaphor of Harry's world with the desaturated cinematography!" with that near-monochromatic epilogue, when everything should be saturated and a refreshing return to the visual style of the first film (no wonder Williams' music feels so forced).

 

The cinematography is one part of why that feels hollow to me. Another factor would be the muted performances/expressions from the trio, where I think Yates and the actors were trying to convey some kind of world-weary peace or acceptance but it just feels mildly depressing with their poker faces and their pasty complexions made even paler by the desaturation. For that music to really work, I think they needed to be positively glowing in that moment. With the scene as it is, frankly I think Desplat should have written something else, or at least re-orchestrated "Leaving Hogwarts."

 

Of course that's the other thing is all three references from the first two scores really have nothing to do with Desplat's work at all, except for rare moments like "Dragon Flight" which still feels somewhat muted in context because of the color grading and the static medium-wide framing of the dragon in profile which isn't a dynamic visual to me. Also Lily's Theme is a minor-key melody that tapers off without a strong resolution, appropriate for the dark uncertainty of the finale but I think it comes back to bite him with Voldemort's death where in that solo voice setting it creates this sad existential emptiness watching him go, which was just a bizarre way to end the series...but I digress! Point is I don't feel the score sets up much context for the full orchestra whirling and swirling around a melody like Hedwig's Theme, so I find it pandering instead of delightful. Also for the Room of Requirement/Great Hall scenes, I'm not sure how well the theme's mysterious, fanciful majesty works against a bunch of kids cheering and clapping, anyway.

 

The spotting hurts the effect to me as well, because in both that earlier Room of Requirement reunion and the Great Hall confrontation with Snape, everything around "Hedwig's Theme" is so sparse that in both of those instances "Hedwig's Theme" comes in unexpectedly and then immediately evaporates. Everything around and in between those two references is either unscored, very subtly blending underscore, or at most just a few brief seconds of a prominent melody or orchestration that "participates" in the action. To me the Williams-orchestrated "Hedwig's Theme" and "Leaving Hogwarts" feel exponentially bigger, more optimistic, and more of an overt musical narrative than the film and score are trying to be otherwise.

 

Btw, my attempts at rescoring those scenes 

 

 

 

[crumbs 14,306]

The 100% RT score seems very misleading to me. Almost all of the star ratings are mediocre and most reviews label the film flawed with overuse of CGI and disjointed tone. Only a few of the reviews give a rating of 4/5 or higher.

 

Even the reviews with 6/10 or 2.5/5 are considered fresh. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Totally rigged!

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Rotten Tomatoes percentages are never not misleading and there's only 11 reviews, anyway. The reviews are solid but unexceptional, critics seem overall willing to forgive its flaws. It'll probably end up in the high 70s at least. Box office success seems relatively secure.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Haha 

 

 

Hufflepuff PSA by Eddie Redmayne

Public Service Announcement from Eddie Redmayne, proud Hufflepuff and star of Fantastic Beasts:

Posted by MTV on Dienstag, 15. November 2016

 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

I'll be going to a screening tomorrow night and regardless of all my David Yates bashing I can't help being excited! We meant to see Inferno first, but as that one seems to be an utter debacle, I'll just wait for the DVD and not waste the 15 euros on that.

[Jay 37,346]

Scathing review from an FSM poster

 

Quote

Saw this empty cgi exercise last night. This is a picture so reliant on digital techniques that the filmmaker couldn't even commit to his actor holding a practical egg prop, instead choosing to unconvincingly render a grey speckled egg with cgi.

The score is better, but the main theme is a strange hybrid of JNH's ALIVE, Silvestri's POLAR EXPRESS, and Elfman's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.

 

 

 

 

AV Club gives it a C+

 

http://www.avclub.com/review/harry-potter-prequel-fantastic-beasts-and-where-fi-245909

[Bilbo 3,709]

Donald Clarke of the Irish Times gave it 4/5 and he's usually spot on with his reviews. 

[toothless 963]

The score works really well in the movie with themes and motifs being more present. It has this old shool treatment and that's great. Of course, there are some generic actions pieces but it's ok. I woul've liked the music to be louder but it's just my taste. 

 

About the film itself. It serves its purpose as a begening of new story. For me it was better than 3/4 of the harry potter movies. I did found some rythm problemes throughout the film but it was not so probematic. It felt like the first half was about presenting us the beasts and then the main storyline takes up and resolves itself pretty quickly.

 

About the CGI they are really OK, it's not bad at all. All the sequences in the suitcases have a purposely "fake" feelling and it looks nice. The beasts looks great also. I do have some complaints over the simple monochromatic and boring effect every spells have when they're thrown out of a wand. And can someone please tell the actors to control and use there wand in a more cool/cinematic/operatic way. It's way too boring (I want HP5 style fights). Also, half of the action scenes are at night or are indeed desaturated giving it an impersonal look. It's not suprising given Yates habit. But It's surprising given the rest of the movie is really colorful sometimes ! 

 

Score : really nice and let room for some tremendously cool developement
Movie : Enjoyable

EDIT : Oh and I had the impression to hear several times the theme from Saw by Charlie Clouser 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Good story and great score, finally the magic's back!

[Alex 2,835]

Well the film was spectacularly average. Far too long and some of Rowling's dialogue was awful. The score and the visual effects were great though. It was quite a spectacle in 3D

[Bilbo 3,709]

I enjoyed the film a lot. My dad, who wouldn't really be into these films, enjoyed it too and really enjoyed the humour. 

 

 

The Niffler is great. I want one. 

 

I really liked Newt too. He's pretty relatable I thought. For a Hufflepuff. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

What do you mean, unnatural dialogue?

 

Also, looking at the screenplay, it's not in the proper screenplay format. You don't wrie 'SCENE 1, the pages don't end with (CONTINUED), nor do they start with CONTINUED:, and the dialogue isn't broken into smaller lines etc.

[Bilbo 3,709]

16 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

What do you mean, unnatural dialogue?

 

Also, looking at the screenplay, it's not in the proper screenplay format. You don't wrie 'SCENE 1, the pages don't end with (CONTINUED), nor do they start with CONTINUED:, and the dialogue isn't broken into smaller lines etc.

 

Formatted for the average Joe. People got confused by Cursed Child.

 

I think her dialogue is as good as always. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Wait, how can you get confused by the Cursed Child format? Only its contents confused me.

[Bilbo 3,709]

12 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Wait, how can you get confused by the Cursed Child format? Only its contents confused me.

 

People weren't expecting a script instead of a book.

 

people are dumb. 

[Will 2,215]

@Bilbo Skywalker or anyone who's seen the film, is the Rogue One trailer attached? I want to see it on the big screen!

[Bilbo 3,709]

2 minutes ago, Will said:

@Bilbo Skywalker or anyone who's seen the film, is the Rogue One trailer attached? I want to see it on the big screen!

 

It was but it works differently in Ireland I think. 

 

 

Getting for viewing number 2.

[Will 2,215]

Just now, Bilbo Skywalker said:

 

It was but it works differently in Ireland I think. 

 

 

Getting for viewing number 2.

 

Oooooh I'm about to leave for the theater. I hope it's attached here!! 

[Bilbo 3,709]

1 minute ago, Will said:

 

Oooooh I'm about to leave for the theater. I hope it's attached here!! 

 

Id be surprised if it wasn't 

 

we had Rogue One, Guardians 2, and Hakshaw Ridge 

[Will 2,215]

Just got back from the film. 

 

Wow. What an experience. 

 

No Rogue One trailer unfortunately, but that was about the only bad thing.

 

The opening scene... It was right then that I knew this was going to be an incredible ride. The surround sound blasting out Hedwig's Theme over the WB logo, then this incredible theme over the title, I think (I'm a little confused about the sequence of music to picture here, I thought I remembered that theme over the newspapers but it doesn't make any sense), followed by the jarring sound effects over the mysterious Grindelwald attack, then finally the joyful ostinato and triumphant, gorgeous statement of the main theme over the wide shot of New York and Newt's arrival. Especially for that figure over the title, the music was mixed so loud it was wonderful. 

 

 

The rest of the film did not disappoint either. The 20s character was really cool. It was light hearted, but also dark enough to set up an intriguing conflict that can continue over five (!) films. Some of the action got a little grating, and some of the blasting sound effects made my stomach churn -- but of course that also meant that I was hearing this in lovely surround sound, which I don't have at home so it's always a really special treat!!

 

The music was absolutely marvelous. Certainly, it makes way more of an impression in the film than, say, The BFG. 

 

The MACUSA intro was stunning as well. So was "Inside the Case," which played over a scene that really brought the fantasy element of Potter, as well as the gorgeous scene in "Newt Releases the Thunderbird," which is almost a graceful dance, only picture and music. 

 

As should be the case in a fantasy film, JNH got many chances to shine, and it was glorious. 

 

Of course, there are moments where terrific music is overshadowed by sound effects -- for example, the Christmas-y stuff in "The Erumpet" was almost impossible to hear, unfortunately. 

 

And of course, the "End Titles" were glorious too. Just the music, blasting out of the speakers, fanfares heralding the end of an adventure. 

 

The end credits music is as follows, I believe:

 

End Titles 

End Titles, Pt. 2

The soaring part of Newt Releases the Thunderbird

The jazzy end of A Man and His Beasts

Some emotional quieter music (maybe Newt Says Goodbye to Tina)

 

Hedwig's Theme was used three times, two of which are on the OST. One is over the opening WB logo, the second is when Newt is holding one of his creatures in the bank early in the film, I believe, and I can't remember what the third covers.

[Arpy 4,145]

The third time was at the zoo. Probably because Newt and Jacob were walking past the snake enclosure.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Nice review! Though I have to ask one thing to everyone here: are you guys never tired of that omni-present Hedwig's theme? Sorry, but it's nowhere near as great as any magical JNH cues in this score. Isn't it time we quietly added it to the past?

[Bilbo 3,709]

3 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Nice review! Though I have to ask one thing to everyone here: are you guys never tired of that omni-present Hedwig's theme? Sorry, but it's nowhere near as great as any magical JNH cues in this score. Isn't it time we quietly added it to the past?

 

Thats preposterous. Still the best theme in the film but I would have used it more sparingly. 

 

In FB I'd only have had it play over the WB logo. Maybe used it when Dumbledore was mentioned. The two times it actually was used in the film itself were random and felt  shoehorned in. 

 

They should only use it for moments that are connected to the Potter films.

 

They shouldn't stop using it altogether though. 

[Will 2,215]

A couple more thoughts:

 

My favorite character was probably Tina, to be honest. 

 

Percival was a pretty darn cool bad guy, 

Spoiler

but sounds like we won't be seeing much of him anymore with Depp taking over the Grindelwald role. 

 

Spoiler

Also interesting that Credence survives (http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1586630/fantastic-beasts-ending-a-key-scene-that-was-cut-and-why). Apparently the main characters for the future are Credence, Grindelwald, and Dumbledore, which unfortunately means less of the fun characters like Tina, Queenie, Newt, and Jacob. 

 

As kind of hinted at by some of the info in the above spoiler, I think things are just going to get darker and darker.  

 

I mean, this film was already pretty dark -- my sister actually said, "How could you make a movie darker than this?" She thought it was pretty dark already. And I'm like, "Oh, boy, you're in for a shock." 

 

But, of course, the next one will be in Paris so it can't be that dark --

 

Spoiler

plus, apparently, the main fun cast will return in at least some role. 

 

[Bilbo 3,709]

1 hour ago, Will said:

A couple more thoughts:

 

My favorite character was probably Tina, to be honest. 

 

Percival was a pretty darn cool bad guy, 

  Reveal hidden contents

but sounds like we won't be seeing much of him anymore with Depp taking over the Grindelwald role. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Also interesting that Credence survives (http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1586630/fantastic-beasts-ending-a-key-scene-that-was-cut-and-why). Apparently the main characters for the future are Credence, Grindelwald, and Dumbledore, which unfortunately means less of the fun characters like Tina, Queenie, Newt, and Jacob. 

 

As kind of hinted at by some of the info in the above spoiler, I think things are just going to get darker and darker.  

 

I mean, this film was already pretty dark -- my sister actually said, "How could you make a movie darker than this?" She thought it was pretty dark already. And I'm like, "Oh, boy, you're in for a shock." 

 

But, of course, the next one will be in Paris so it can't be that dark --

 

  Reveal hidden contents

plus, apparently, the main fun cast will return in at least some role. 

 

 

I don't believe that. It'd be very unRowling to dump characters like that. I'm confident they'll all be in the future films. (Jacob and Queenie could die I guess) but they'll definitely be heavily involved. From what Yates has already said it sounds like Dumbledore only has a small role in the second film and they're all with Newt. 

We also need a Niffler spinoff series. 

Deleted scenes info 

 

http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/fantastic-beasts-films-deleted-scenes-tease-newt-tina-credences-fates-and-futures-105804/

[Will 2,215]

As a side note, am I the only one who's impressed by the rather daring approach of the filmmakers here?

 

I mean, look at TFA compared to this. That was almost a remake.

 

This is something that feels very different than anything Potter before it. It did not use a single fan-favorite character -- even Newt and Grindelwald, for example, are probably known well only by the most die hard fans. Whereas the TFA approach would be to have Dumbledore as the main character, Fantastic Beasts holds him for future films, and merely name drops him! And Harry, Ron, and Hermione are nowhere to be seen!

 

The New York setting, and presumably the Paris setting of the next film, are very different than remote Hogwarts, as well. The character and sense of time and place are clear and unique. 

 

I loved TFA. I'll say that. I'm not sure I can say which of the two I like better, but I think there's no doubt which was the more daring one. Much less blatant nostalgic fan service (however fun that may be!), although there were of course some scattered Easter eggs for the die hards (name dropping "Lestrange," for example). Rowling's extremely heavy involvement might have something to do with it. Who knows. I suppose in that way this film might be more comparable to GL's daring TPM, although I think filmmaking is very different now than it was then -- "franchises" from major studios rule, etc. -- so a TFA comparison might still be more apt. 

 

EDIT: Oh, just saw the second film will be in both the U.K. and Paris. Rowling has already written the screenplay. I think it will be good. But I feel that if Rowling's involvement lessens over time, things could go more in the TFA fan service direction. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

I guess the huge difference is that JKR actively wants to bring us new material and has great ideas too. People who have ideas about trade federations don't really have her talent, which is probably why they came up with a derivative Star Wars story. They knew it would be succesful if they just avoided the prequel problems, and it worked.

[toothless 963]

Speaking about the setting. I look forward to see the story take place in Paris (not because I'm french… well not only because of that ) and London. I felt that New York was really cool but I think I'm just more fond of European setting being "classic" and less "modern". But it's bacause of Harry potter. In my head it better represents the wizarding world. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Is London already confirmed? That would be great! I was surprised that I ended up loving the US setting but 'just 'ope zat ze next film won't sond like zis'.

[Will 2,215]

 

1 minute ago, bollemanneke said:

Is London already confirmed? That would be great! I was surprised that I ended up loving the US setting but 'just 'ope zat ze next film won't sond like zis'.

 

I think it's just the UK that's been confirmed. No specific locations AFAIK. I'm not too happy it's going back there, but it could be really cool. And a little nostalgia can be great. 

[Bilbo 3,709]

I think we will definitely see Hogwarts again but it won't be the main setting of any of the films. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

So, now, not making blatant fan service makes you a daring filmmaker? Oh my...

[Bilbo 3,709]

Just now, BloodBoal said:

So, now, not making blatant fan service makes you a daring filmmaker? Oh my...

 

Thisbis what JJ Abrams and that Buddy Guy have done to cinema. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

No, they've done nothing. Audiences have done everything by lowering their standards!

 

"Hey, it's an awesome movie! I mean, there's barely any fan service! That's brilliant!"

[Bilbo 3,709]

I'm blaming JJ and the Buffy guy and that's that. 

[Will 2,215]

49 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

So, now, not making blatant fan service makes you a daring filmmaker? Oh my...

 

For our time, absolutely. In another age of filmmaking, perhaps not. It's all relative. 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Well, if that is the case, then I am sad for your generation...

 

43 minutes ago, Bilbo Skywalker said:

I'm blaming JJ and the Buffy guy and that's that. 

 

No. As always, the only one to blame is the audience. As long as it'll keep on eating what is being served, the movie industry will keep on giving the same stuff over and over again!