Tag: Colin Farrell

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

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Plot: The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Rating: 6/10

If I could rate this movie purely on how pretty it all looked I would have rated it at an 8/10  – it looks pretty and the magic is impressive. I have a great love for the magically conjured umbrellas, it looked simply beautiful. Humour is readily available by the movie clown Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), an unfortunate human caught in a magical mess. I enjoyed seeing Colin Farrell in a film again, I feel that he has completely slipped off the radar in later years and hope this beckons a return for him. However, I am not supportive of the move of magic to America – talk about people needing a pat on the head to feel included. I really hated the No-Maj term – just NO – it lacks originality and sounds and looks stupid. Eddie Redmayne generally impresses me when I see him in something, but I was not a major fan of his work as Newt Scamander. He was twitchy and strange and lacked confidence completely. Ezra Miller was CREEPY – that is an achievement of the film as that would probably stay with me forever.

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The biggest flaw was the lack of story – Newt lands in America by BOAT – since when are we not apparating, folks? And somehow is careless enough to set loose some beasts which he tries to capture in. Throw in a female magical president (and a thorough dose of shade to the current American political landscape), Gellert Grindelwald, a badly plotted love story and some new magic terms, and you end up with a queasy mess that isn’t even close to what Potter originally was. As for the two major plot twists? The one is obvious from the very start and the second surprised me – I won’t go into detail for those people who still wish to watch it.

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Sadly, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them wasn’t that fantastic. I think I love Potter too much and notice anything that doesn’t jibe with the original works. However, it looked pretty and is well acted out, which should not be ignored.

Have you seen this film? What did you think?

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Movie Review: Winter’s Tale (2014)

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Plot: A burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her

Rating: 4/10

Well. This seems to be the worst rating I’ve ever assigned to a movie. Ever. I think I rated Grown-Ups 2 higher than this. A Winter’s Tale is NOT as offensive as Adam Sandler’s face, but this movie was so boring that I could crochet nonstop and easily get the gist of the movie. I could probably write a thesis on nuclear physics while watching this – A Winter’s Tale requires no more brain power than picking up a pencil. For a story that first focuses on an epic and pure love and then switches over to modern society to save a child with cancer, it lacked so much heart. The movie might have derailed with the introduction of a white flying horse, but might have been the second Russel Crowe was cast as a demon.

I’ve never in my life seen Crowe in such a bad role. He was atrocious. If that is his way of being a supernatural character he needs to steer clear, eternally. The actors seemed exhausted and bored by the monotony of the film and the ridiculous dialogue. I hope Jessica Brown Findlay thoroughly remorse her decision to leave Downton Abbey – you left them to star in this?!

It was nice to see Colin Farrell in something again – didn’t he venture into the whole “I achieved success and now I will be a drug addict” route? Anyway, I used to think he was quite hot. With the haircut he wears in here as Peter Lake, he looks like a grown man with an emo child haircut. His acting wasn’t that bad – he did the best he could in his main role with the dialogue he had. There was genuine chemistry between him and Findlay and if you completely ignore the dialogue passing between them, it would have been really nice.

I’ve mentioned Crowe as the leading villain, but this also had Will Smith as Lucifer. Is WS busy trying to get into some fantasy? I see he is definitely dipping his finger into the super popular superhero pie – did you see the trailer of Suicide Squad yet?? It’s cool, I think it will work. Smith was the best thing about the movie and I think if he was cast as the main villain things might have gone better. Crowe had no conviction in his villainy and seemed as this movie was below his true capabilities – it is, but that is beside the point.

Apart from the dialogue, the way the story progressed was confusing. The first part ends so abruptly and the second part is so ineptly introduced that you have no clue what is happening or why you are even seeing it.

Then, can we just discuss how many times Peter Lake was referred to as PETER LAKE? Not Peter, not Lake, nope, the full thing: “PETER LAKE”. Does he only respond to his full name and surname? What a weird guy.

I don’t think this movie ever had a chance. The story is stupid, the cast was confused and the white flying horse was just a bit too much. Really, go buy a Unicorn and be done with it.

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