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Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 5-film series


Bilbo

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God it really rubs me the wrong way how hard they're trying to shoehorn Hogwarts and Hedwig's Theme into this. That being said, I liked what JNH did with it, but it's just so unnecessary here. 

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1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

Warner's desperate attempt to link this new FB with the HP movies and thus appeal to nostalgia is getting rather funny. :lol:

 

It's like they're begging the audience: "Please, this movie will have everything you liked about Harry Potter, please buy a ticket!"

 

It really does :lol: 

 

But I love the music in that clip - the understated version of the music from the arrival at Hogwarts (and the major key note) work very well IMO.

 

I haven't seen either of the FB movies and I didn't find anything very interesting in the 2nd score, but this does sound more interesting. And to those (like me to an extent) who were curious about what a JNH Potter score might've sounded like... might be closer to getting that than we thought!

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WB must be shitting bricks that this is going to tank the franchise. That is the only thinks that explains the naked desperation behind using wholesale large chunks of Williams to sell this film. I bet JNH was miserable during the scoring (and re-scoring) of this. 

 

19 hours ago, TSMefford said:

Oh boy. MORE Terrible Posters:

Spoiler

276075374_10159275371868937_641209380031

275946375_10159275371863937_657991049582

277103503_10159280315728937_462476384571277095401_10159280315653937_236466080144277172612_10159280315693937_303684407486277157451_10159280315743937_631272735976

 

 

When the first reaction you have on seeing posters for a film from an established franchise is WHO? you know you are in trouble.

 

Who the fuck are these people? And why aren't some people I know NOT on the posters (and in the movie?)

 

And Redmayne still sounds incredibly offputting to me. 

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1 minute ago, TSMefford said:

 

Now that nostalgia is involved thematic continuity is important!

 

Especially when interest in this new series couldn't be much lower.

 

Let's just bring back the things people liked from the older films instead!

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12 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Warner's desperate attempt to link this new FB with the HP movies and thus appeal to nostalgia is getting rather funny. :lol:

 

It's like they're begging the audience: "Please, this movie will have everything you liked about Harry Potter, please buy a ticket!"

Reminds me of the pathetic marketing campaign currently going on for the HP1 in concert tickets in my country. "Make sure you buy your ticket! Have you got your ticket already?" YES!

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5 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Newt Scamander is in there somewhere of course...

 

Somewhat playing devil's advocate here for a minute, but when a movie decides to focus on a certain character's story - provided that character's story is interesting and engagingly-told - does it matter that said character is not the character the movie is "supposed" to focus around?

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15 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Somewhat playing devil's advocate here for a minute, but when a movie decides to focus on a certain character's story - provided that character's story is interesting and engagingly-told - does it matter that said character is not the character the movie is "supposed" to focus around?


for a standalone film, does not matter. For a franchise film, it does.

 

 One of the reasons this thin premise is a 5 film series is because Rowling claimed we need 5 films to tell this story.

 

 People were skeptical, seemed like a cash grab. Turns out people were right, she has barely enough story here and pads out the films with filler and digressions - just to achieve the 5 film length.

 

so it kinda violates the storytellers contract with the audience.

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12 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

for a standalone film, does not matter. For a franchise film, it does.

 

I'm not sure it necessarily does.

 

The Last Jedi is basically about Luke where its "supposed" to be about Rey. Do I mind? Not really, no.

 

The Two Towers is "supposed" to be about Frodo, but its overwhelmingly Aragorn/Rohan centric. Do I mind? Not really, no.

 

So this film will be Dumbeldore-centric (honestly, so was the last one). I don't mind that. Not in principle, at least.

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2 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

I'm not sure it necessarily does.

 

The Last Jedi is basically about Luke where its "supposed" to be about Rey. Do I mind? Not really, no.

 

The Two Towers is "supposed" to be about Frodo, but its overwhelmingly Aragorn/Rohan centric. Do I mind? Not really, no.

 

So this film will be Dumbeldore-centric (honestly, so was the last one). I don't mind that. Not in principle, at least.

 

The Sequel trilogy is a garbage dump, so I wouldn't use that as a comparison.

 

LOTR is a large fully fleshed out tale. It is about Aragorn too. One of the sub-books is named after him. 

 

I don't think the complaint was that this is Dumbledore centric but that you have all these side-ys dwarfing the main characters. Like Leta in the last film. Like wtf was that back story with the ship wreck and babies switched and abusive father and love triangle only for her to be killed. It sounded like an absolutely pointless digression to pad up the series number of films.

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9 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

The Sequel trilogy is a garbage dump, so I wouldn't use that as a comparison.

 

LOTR is a large fully fleshed out tale. It is about Aragorn too. One of the sub-books is named after him. 

 

I don't think the complaint was that this is Dumbledore centric but that you have all these side-ys dwarfing the main characters. Like Leta in the last film. Like wtf was that back story with the ship wreck and babies switched and abusive father and love triangle only for her to be killed. It sounded like an absolutely pointless digression to pad up the series number of films.

To be honest I don't care as long as we get another JNH score. I haven't seen the second film, and found the first film boring. I'm into this series for the same reason I was into the Harry Potter series: the Music. 

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On 27/03/2022 at 11:36 PM, Holko said:

Will they shove in Young Hagrid sometime? D defeats G in 45, the Chamber is opened in 42. Not that that would matter as we saw with Minerva.

 

That's the sort of thing I'm wondering: as this series progresses towards its resolution, will the timetables be massaged in such a way that we would see a young Voldemort "pick-up" Grindelwald's mantle?

 

That'd make Fantastic Beasts much more of a direct prequel rather than the spinoff it currently is.

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Not sure if this was pointed out already but this movie has a strange writing credit. "Based Upon a Screenplay by JK Rowling" and "Screenplay by JK Rowling & Steve Kloves"

 

Screenshot_20220405-145453.png

 

Not even sure what that means. The ampersand indicates she and Kloves must have together rewritten whatever her original FB 3 script was, but I wonder how that constitutes its own separate work and not just an early draft in the same line of development.

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So it's the dreary, dull, bloated film everyone expected, with more of Yates' trademark lifeless direction. I'm shocked.

 

Screen_Shot_2018-10-25_at_11.02.15_AM.pn

 

What's the saying? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

 

The creative team needs an overhaul yet WB continue going back to the same people who keep turning in the same mediocre results.

 

The studio politics are interesting though. Are WB so beholden to (and hamstrung by) Rowling that they can't hit the reset button, or scrap this entire mess and try something else? Are they worried Rowling will go to another studio if they don't appease her?

 

Surely this can't continue if the film bombs as spectacularly as I'm predicting.

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Well we have no reason to assume it will bomb at this point, right? As for Rowling going to another studio, who cares? I mean, haven't WB got enough ways to make money off HP? Do we really need this new story for financial gain? Also, seeing she approved Cursed Child, they could literally ask anyone else to write them a screenplay. She's clearly done writing quality stories.

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35 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Also, seeing she approved Cursed Child, they could literally ask anyone else to write them a screenplay. She's clearly done writing quality stories.

 

My understanding is that Rowling controls the entire IP. I'm not sure WB can proceed with anything without her approval?

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15 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

My understanding is that Rowling controls the entire IP. I'm not sure WB can proceed with anything without her approval?

 

Rowling has an inalienable contractual ownership of anything remotely Harry Potter or Wizarding World related. She gets a say in whatever she wants to have a say. Just the way it is.

 

Trust me, WB would have fired her for the trans scandal if they could have. But they couldn't because she literally owns the entire thing.

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2 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Trust me, WB would have fired her for the trans scandal if they could have. But they couldn't because she literally owns the entire thing.

 

But can she walk out and take the IP to another studio? I assume WB would retain ownership of the existing films, considering they bankrolled them.

 

I'm sure WB could pull the plug on this series, if they so desired. There's definitely politics involved.

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4 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Huh, this one doesn't seem to be great either. Wonder what will happen now.

Perhaps the next FB movies will have a smaller budget and will go straight to HBOMax instead of theaters?

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2 hours ago, crumbs said:

But can she walk out and take the IP to another studio?

 

No. She's contractually bound too.

 

2 hours ago, crumbs said:

I'm sure WB could pull the plug on this series, if they so desired.

 

This they can definitely do. I don't see any overt desire by WB to do so to be honest though.

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WB thinks of the Wizarding World as a very longterm investment.  This film series underperforming would not change that and in fact will cause them to finish it out even if they lose money in the short term on it.

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I think the biggest issue with this franchise is: who is the audience?

 

Did WB think the Potter fanbase was large enough to bankroll 5 of these offshoots? The story relies heavily on political intrigue about the Wizarding World... but without a compelling story to build that intrigue upon, general audiences have no reason to care.

 

You're also dealing with the classic prequel dilemma that audiences already know the ending. Do we seriously need 5 films to establish a showdown between two wizards when we know the outcome?

 

IMO the Potter films were more successful because they had broader appeal and understood their audience. I don't understand who these films are meant to appeal to. Certainly not children/teenagers like the early Potter films (who grew up with the characters and kept returning for new installments). But the casual audiences who enjoyed Potter would've been bored out of their brains (or simply perplexed) watching that last film.

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***spoilers ahead***

 

I was relieved they didn't return to Hogwarts for nearly as much of the time as I thought they would, but when they did I felt it was deserved and respectful without being overbearing.

 

Here's a few things I had issues with:

 

  • Yusef Kama's character and his involvement with the plot felt a little underdeveloped. His memory of Leta was taken and I don't know if he still retained it, or it was an act to deceive Grindelwald? Perhaps he wanted to be rid of the memory of his sister?
  • The Secrets of Dumbledore aren't really secrets and the truth about Credence being Aberforth's son is underdeveloped and when it is revealed it doesn't have the impact it should. All the pieces are there, but perhaps they could've written Aberforth in earlier in the series given the weight of this revelation and the consequences it has.
  • Grindelwald, in an effort to try and appear fair and reasonable, is less malevolent and hellbent in this film. I want Mads Mikkelsen's version to go more evil villain mode!
  • Queenie has two or three small interactions that setup her return to Jacob, but not enough to make the change feel worthy of her betrayal in the first place. Where's the redemption, where's the cost of her actions?
  • Was Vogel acting out of fear when he allowed Grindelwald to run for the election, or was he secretly on Grindelwald's side? This wasn't clear.
  • Grindelwald's henchmen (including Vonda Rosier) get some menacing moments of the standard henchmen fare, but are ineffectual and quite harmless when at multiple parts of the film, they could've killed multiple goodies at any turn.

 

Here's some things I liked:

 

  • Jude Law's Dumbledore has some elements of both prior Dumbledore actors, particularly leaning more into the hints of an Irish accent, and he has some very 'Dumbledorian' lines that Rowling has obviously spent time writing. I also love Dumbledore's abilities in the various duels that shows how skilled he is in a way that makes it look like he's always one step ahead.
  • Mads Mikkelsen could've been Grindelwald from the start, his casting here was a nice resolve from the Depp thing. They didn't draw attention to his character's change of appearance (like Gambon's from Harris) but I wouldn't have minded a line from Dumbledore to say something along the lines of 'So now you've decided to use your real face' or something to that effect. 
  • Lally was a fun addition to the cast and I'd say the scenes with her casting all these complex charms were some of the more impressive ones. A nice little detail you might miss at the start is how her wand is disguised as an umbrella handle.
  • The entire prison escape was fun, utilising Newt's antics with the 'Fantastic Beasts' which leads me to:
  • Finally there's some attempt to reintegrate the Fantastic Beasts part of the title back into the story in both meaningful and entertaining ways. I loved seeing Newt at the beginning tracking down the Quilin, almost teasing the sort of thing I was hoping this series might be about and had the potential to do!
  • JNH's score isn't particularly revolutionary or does it stand out in the entire Potter series, but it's got all the appropriate bells and whistles that make it fun and worth a listen beyond the film.

Here's what they could do next; either they're going full steam ahead with five films, or more likely they'll bring the story forward making the next film the last one. The ending of this one makes it seem like they could potentially end it like it is, but we'll see...

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Spoilerfree review of the new film.

 

I loved it. I have to say, I'm a big fan of the whole Wizarding World. I grew up with it, so it has been a part of my life for such a long time.

I thought it was a very emotional film, with a lot of heart.

 

The cast all round is very strong and used well.

Jude Law is by far the standout. He is just such a charismatic actor and everytime he was on screen he kind of took my breath away. The moment he talks about his sister broke my heart.

Mads Mikkelsen was also good. During the film it didn't bother me that there was another actor, but after I did wonder how Depp would've played some of the scene.

The relationship between Dumbledore & Grindelwald is very well displayed and the way they look at each other sometimes is awesome.

 

Eddie Redmayne is used the best in the 3 films. He has heart but also a lot of good comedic timing. Dan Fogler as Jacob is a standout as always. His scenes in the bakery at the beginning were great and showed a very different side to his character.

Jessica Williams was a great addition and stole every scene she was in. It was cool to see her so powerful.

 

The Production Design, Cinematograpy and Special Effects were all very good as well.

The costumes were also very well created.

 

As for the score. I'm a fan of Newton Howard and I just love the music he creates for these films. This one is a bit more downstated then the first 2, but it fits the film just so well.

There are I think 3 new themes. One for Lally, for a new beast and for the relationship between Dumbledore & Grindelwald.

A lot of themes are reprised, as they should in a sequel film.

For me it will probably be in my top scores at the end of the year.

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Honestly surprised to here a decent amount of positivity about this movie. 

 

I still won't be seeing it right now (probably much much later when it's on a service I already have and pay for) but...interesting.

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And I’m back. This was my first theatre visit since covid and it was really nice to be back and to hear the score on such great speakers, but more on that later.

I’m finding it very hard to summarise my feelings, so it’s going to be a list of random observations. If they crank these movies out, I’m cranking out rants.

Okay, how about this for a start? There’s something to doggedly, stubbornly and decidedly… slow and dull about it! And I’m not even criticising the story yet. It’s dreary, it’s not exciting. And it could have been. But I’m forgetting, it’s a David Yates movie. Maybe I’m to blame, maybe I just want these movies to be something they’re never going to be. I’m open to and interested in political drama, but I also want an adventure. I don’t need brainless action sequences, I just want to be engaged, entertained and transported to a fascinating, magical world. But no, instead we get, what… I didn’t have a watch on me, but it felt like an hour of scene after scene after scene after scene. I’m not saying none of them were necessary, but God, PACING!

Secondly, I still don’t like the beasts. And that’s not my fault. They were just fine in the first movie, but I’m sick and tired of everything being about the effing beasts. Gringotts had a dragon, that’s fine, but now every plot points needs to involve beasts because that’s the title of this wretched franchise. Get your premise straight, do politics or beasts. Oh, and Newt is the only magizoologist in the world? Really? Eddie Redmayne was much better in this one, though, but why does Grindelwald need the Qilin? He already saw a vision of World War II in the second one, right?

So Dumbledore can’t fight Grindelwald because of a blood pact, but the thing is totally okay with him actively telling others to fight him? That’s lousy magic. Urgh, why am I even bothering to write about this stupid blood pact anyway? It was just there because we needed A BEAST to be fetch it for Newt ‘CAUSE IT’S CALLED FANTASTIC BEASTS. Or because we didn’t want to use the word gay in the previous one, or should I not go there? Well, I will. My friend who went with me made a remark that I hadn’t thought of myself: now Dumbledore is suddenly in love with Grindelwald because, oh that’s right, he’s gay. Because he has always been gay. I mean, he came out of the closet in 2009 because we couldn’t have it in the books or in the second movie, so let’s do it now. In the books they were close and as my friend rightly pointed out, you can be very close friends and want the same thing in life. Now, hear me out: I am not doubting for one second that Dumbledore could indeed be gay and in love with him, but it’s ‘Hermione can be black’ all over again. If she was black, write in your effing books, don’t cause random Twitter meltdowns about it later when we need publicity or when we suddenly feel the need to include minorities. Do it properly or don’t do it. I’m totally fine with it if you don’t, just don’t pretend to do it later.

Lally is annoying, person and actress.

Yusuf Kama, why are you still in this movie? Go away, I don’t like you.

Jude Law. Loved him. He was so utterly perfect. Loved his Irish accent. Richard Coyle too, his voice even resembled Hinds’s.

Mikkelsen is also a vast improvement. His accent is sometimes Spanish, weirdly, but no matter, I don’t miss Depp. This guy is great. I liked Grindelwald’s speeches here too, but didn’t we have the same thing in the second movie? Wasn’t that speech in Paris completely unnecessary if he’s running for Mugwump now? Ah, no: we needed that one for a good climax.

And this leads me to my biggest problem with this franchise. Somewhere, somebody is so obsessed with making five movies that they forgot the story they wanted to tell in the process, if there even was a story. I feel like a good fan editor would be able to deliver us three, or maybe even two, great movies after Yates is done boring the hell out of all of us.

Also, what Secrets does Dumbledore have? I didn’t learn a thing, only that Credence is his nephew. Oh, and the fact that they could have had the entire Ariana backstory in a moving flashback in Hallows 2, as I already knew, but we couldn’t do that because… I dunno, really, why? Because they needed to make this franchise? I love Jude Law doing the talking, though.

My heart broke for Jacob when he was being tortured, but I didn’t like him at Hogwarts with the students.

The final 20 minutes had me hooked. Sort of. I was all invested in seeing Grindelwald becoming Supreme MUgwump and seeing him legitimised as a leader while he wreaks havoc, but then they go and reverse it! Why? I get the post-truth parallels with our world, but this finale is just stupid. Grindelwald retreating. Just get it over with! Oh no, wait, we need two more movies, I’m so sorry. Why does the blood pact break in the end anyway? I thought it couldn’t be broken?
Or can it be only broken when the plot requires it?

Is Credence gone forever this time? I hope so, I hate Ezra Miller, and even more so after I read this Wikipedia entry in and about incomprehensible grammar. So now that this weirdo is no longer looking for family, how are they going to fill the next two? I demand, I DEMAND THEY RESURRECT SAMANTHA MORTON!

Oh, and Tina. Why not wait to make this movie until the actress was fully available? Because nobody was really waiting for this entry, were they? I want more Tina!

Also, the plan was to confuse Grindelwald, right? Why did that never come into play? What did they do, in the end, prevent one assassination, free Theseus because he was locked up because… I dunno… Kama doesn’t do a thing, although we’re supposed to love it when he chooses dumbledore, But it all feels so unnecessary. It is unnecessary, it’s only here because we need five movies. Also, how many illegitimate sons are we still going to get in this franchise?

But the biggest proof that this movie is dull and only slightly better than COG is offered, very surprisingly, by James Newton Howard. And that’s not because his score is bad, I’ve been whistling the main theme and Grindelwald’s theme all afternoon. More than half of his score is quiet filler, possibly put there because the studio finally decided to step in. He does what he can all the time and desperately tries to make this drag a magical adventure. I still love the choral element too. Oh, and there’s an amazing Newt the Hero variation in F minor for trumpets! And then there are a few JW quotes. And they made me excited! Which is a serious problem. I mean, it’s always pleasing to hear them, but you shouldn’t need pure nostalgia to make me smile.

Phew! I’m tired. Three pages, wow!

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