Top 5 Thursday: Creatures from “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”

Boy was I glad to step into the wizarding world again. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was an amazingly adventurous film and really exceeded my expectations. There are so many beautiful and amazing creatures in this film, that I decided to pick my favorites. Here is my top 5.

5. Occamy
The Occamy is a two-legged winged serpent, that looks liks a mix between a bird, snake and a dragon. Its egg shells are made of pure silver. An Occamy has the ability to shrink or grow to fit the space available to it.

4. Thunderbird
The massive bird can create storms by flapping its wings, but it can also sense danger. Newt rescued Frank the Thunderbird from Egypt and was in America to let loose Frank.

3. Demiguise
The primate and sloth like combi, has the ability to become invisible at will. It can also see the future, making it hard to catch him. His fur can create Invisibility Cloaks.

2. Bowtruckle
The Bowtruckle looks like a cross between a praying mantis and a stick bug. A Bowtruckle is made out of tree stems, with their own little branches. They will get about eight inches high. We meet six of them in the film, named Pickett, Titus, Finn, Poppy, Marlow and Tom. Pickett is the shy little guy who hangs out in Newt’s pocket.

1. Niffler
Nifflers look like a cross between a mole and a duck-billed platypus. Although adorable, Nifflers ca be pretty destructive and they steal everything shiny. They also have a magical pouch that allows them to store their treasures.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Mooncalfs, Nundu, Swooping Evil, Murtlap, Erumpent

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 158: The Maginificent Seven

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Genre: Action/ Western/ Adventure
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Etha Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-Hun Lee, Manuel Garcia Rulfo, Martin Sendmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard, Matt Bomer

Description: Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.

Review: Remakes are dangerous and most often I don’t like them. The original “The Magnificent Seven” is one of my favorite classic westerns. This remake has a double risk. The original by John Sturgess was already a retelling of the legenday “Seven Samurai”, translated to a western. Director Antoine Fuqua doesn’t only have to fight the popularity of the 1960 film, but also has to refresh the well-known story. Luckily for us, “The Magnificent Seven” is not a bad remake.
Fuqua takes his time with the introduction and really focusses on the charisma of Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke. All three are convincing. Washington as the calm bad-ass, Hawke as tence sharp shooter and Pratt as a cowboy with a sense of honor.
The violent opening sets a certain tone, but then “The Magnificent Seven” turns into a more standard western. Lots of action, pretty shots of landscapes and a big dose of testosterone. For the genre it’s good, but it never reaches the same level as the original.
The final battle of the movie is action packed and it’s one giant spectacle. Beautifully shot.
“The Magnificent Seven” is a good film when you think of it as an original film. When you compare it to the original, it’s better than average. Very entertaining and a good cast.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 157: Black Christmas

Director: Glen Morgan
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 84 minutes
Year: 2006
Starring: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Andrea Martin, Oliver Hudson, Kristen Cloke, Crystal Lowe, Karin Konoval, Dean Friss, Robert Mann, Jessica Harmon, Leela Savasta, Kathleen Kole, Cainan Wiebe

Description: An escaped maniac returns to his childhood home on Christmas Eve, which is now a sorority house, and begins to murder the sorority sisters one by one.

Review: When he was younger, Billy killed his family. Now he is improisoned and tries to escape every year around Christmas. His goal is to return to his childhood home and celebrate Christmas there. He never managed to escape, until this Christmas. The house Billy used to live, now belongs to a sorority. The girls celebrate Christmas there, when all of a sudden they receive strange phone calls. From Billy, who warns the students he is going to kill them.
“Black Christmas” is a remake of the 1974 horror classic. The runtime of this film is short, which is perfect for a film like this. The story starts immediately and the tempo is high. But this also has a down side. The characters are very one dimensional, even the killer. You really don’t care who lives or dies, in fact almost every girl in this sorority house is unlikeable. And when they die, they die in the same way. No originality there.
“Black Christmas” is a disposable and forgettable horror flick.

Rating: 1,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (270)

Here are this week's trailers.

The Comedian
Director: Taylor Hackford
Description: A look at the life of an aging insult comic (Robert De Niro).
Starring: Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Keitel, Billy Crystal, Edie Falco, Charles Grodin
Trailer: Trailer "The Comedian"
Comment: This looks like a more darker comedy than all the silly comedies De Niro did the last years.

Wilson
Director: Craig Johnson
Description: A lonely, neurotic and hilariously honest middle-aged man (Woody Harrelson) reunites with his estranged wife (Laura Dern) and meets his teenage daughter for the first time.
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Judy Greer, Cheryl Hines
Trailer: Trailer "Wilson"
Comment: I always liked Harrelson's humor.

The Mummy
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Description: An ancient princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that defy human comprehension.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabella Wallis, Russell Crowe, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance
Trailer: Trailer "The Mummy"
Comment: Not a lot yet, but I can't wait to get more.

The Shack
Director: Stuart Hazeldine
Description: A grieving man (Sam Worthngton) receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called "The Shack."
Starring: Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Radha Mitchell, Tim McGraw, Graham Greene
Trailer: Trailer "The Shack"
Comment: It looks like a Nicholas Sparks film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Gunn
Description: Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' continues the team's adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's (Chris Pratt) true parentage.
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Braldey Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Nathan Fillion, Tommy Flanagan, Michael Rooker, Glenn Close
Trailer: Trailer "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Comment: Already the most anticipated movie of 2017. And Baby Groot steals the show in this trailer!

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 156: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Director: David Yates
Genre: Adventure/ Fantasy/ Family
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alison Sudol, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Zoë Kravitz, Johnny Depp, Ron Perlman, Samantha Marton, Jon Voight, Dan Fogler

Description: The adventures of writer Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

Review: When “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” was released, it was the end of an era for Harry Potter fans. The last film about the adventures of wizard Harry Potter. But writer J.K. Rowling wasn’t done with the wizarding world either. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is a spin-off and she wrote the script for the movie herself. And thank goodness the magic is still alive.
It’s supposed to be a complete new franchise, with five movies in total. And I couldn’t be more excited! We meet Newt Scamander, a zoologist who studies mysterious fable creatures and keeps them in a magical suitcase. He travels to New York, but his animals manage to escape. The story is set seventy years before Harry Potter is even born.
Eddie Redmayne is really good as Newt Scamander. It’s like Redmayne always belonged in this universe, he fits perfectly. He is charming yet very unworldly. I also really liked Dan Fogler as Kowalski, a Muggle. He is the comic relief and he is sort of represents the audience. The one Newt explains everything to. Colin Farrell is the villain, sort of, and he is strong in his role as well.
With traveling outside the UK, the story has created room for many new characters, decors and situations. Wizarding is different in America. Muggles, called No-Maj, aren’t allowed to interact with wizards. But Rowling also connects the parallel tot he real world, to discuss themes as apartheid, oppression and intolerance. This gives the spin-off an extra layer.
But the amazement is what I love about the film. All the great fairytale like creatures we get to meet, like the Niffler, Pickett the walking stick animal and Frank, an eagle like bird.
Also the décor and costumes are fantastic, combined with an amazing musical score by James Newton Howard. Director David Yates, who directed the Harry Potter films since “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoeniex”, knows his material and again did a great job bringing this magical world to life.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 155: Taking Woodstock

Director: Ang Lee
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2009
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dan Fogler, Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Mamie Gummer, Kevin Sussman, Skylar Astin, Demetri Martin

Description: A man (Demetri Martin)) working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969.

Review: Director Ang Lee decided to work with a lighter theme this time, after movies like “Brokeback Mountain” and “Lust, Caution”. “Taking Woodstock” it the end result.
A film with the word Woodstock in the title, will give the audience certain expectations. The rock festival will always be legendary and is seen as a turning point in world history. Ang Lee focusses on the organization of the concert, more than the event itself. The film is based on the memoires of Elliot Tiber, a man that accidentally became important in that organization. Elliot works at his parent’s hotel, that is having trouble. No tourists and his parents don’t see the seriousness of the problem. Elliot sees an opportunity when a city nearby is organizing a concert, but its permit is declined. He arranges a permit himself and shows the terrain. But more people are interested in coming to the concert than Elliot would have ever imagined.
“Taking Woodstock” was criticized, because the movie didn’t show anything from the concert itself. And I kind of see where it’s coming from. I know it wasn’t Lee’s intention to reconstruct the concert, but in a movie about Woodstock they could have given us a little bit of the music. Lee focusses more on the feeling that the concert gave the many visitors and how lots of young people became adults during this festival. Elliot has a tough relationship with his parents and is clearly struggling with his sexuality. Woodstock is a turning point for him.
The movie could easily fall into cliché. Elliot’s development isn’t as present, because it’s alternated with eccentric supporting characters, like Vietnam veteran Billy, the transsexual Vilma, but also the chaos that Woodstock causes.
Like many others, I expected to see more of Woodstock itself. This makes it a little disappointing. But overall, “Taking Woodstock” is a pretty fun film.

Rating: 3/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: Movies I Watched for My Challenge (November 2016)

I watched some really good films this month, but many mediocre ones as well. Mostly some newer films, not a lot of classics Here is my list of November.

5. The Girl On the Train
Despite all the negative reviews, I still think it’s a very strong thriller. Because of the story and the solid acting, “The Girl On the Train” isn’t your average thriller. The fact that people went into this movie thinking it was the next “Gone Girl” was this films downfall. It is a good film.

4. The Walk
I didn’t really expect it to be this good. Especially that last half hour kept me on the edge of my seat. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fab!

3. Hell or High Water
A 2016 film that pretty much flew under the radar. I wish more people would see it, because it’s so beautiful. And well performed by Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster.

2. Beasts of No Nation
An intense drama, touching and grabbing. Idris Elba, whom I’m a fan of, is fantastic in “Beasts of No Nation”. Great film.

1. Arrival
This movie met my expectations and was absolutely phenomenal. I love how they focused on the language aspect and Villeneuve went so in depth. Amy Adams was brilliant and “Arrival” is one of the best of 2016.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Goosebumps, Patriot Games, Schone Handen, Citizen Kane, Cache, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Doctor Strange