As a fan of the Harry Potter series and the wonderful universe created by author J. K. Rowling, I really wanted to like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But I didn’t find much to love, just a safe, entertaining young adult focused cinematic experience. This new film, the first of a five-part series, is set a century before Harry’s birth and based in 1920’s New York City. Eminently likable Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is…Read More
Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pt 1
It all started with a juvenile fiction novel about a teen boy with hidden magical powers and a grand wizarding destiny that he finds by leaving his non-magical “muggle” family and attending an English boarding school with a magical twist, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That book was published in 1997 with the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and a film version followed in November, 2001. Since then the seven Harry Potter…Read More
Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Six films into the Harry Potter series, it seems like Harry, Ron and Hermione are old friends and family members. Between the books and the films, it seems that they’ve been part of contemporary culture for decades, certainly in my household. Turning the books into films has been a tricky task, however, and each film has had its own distinctive personality. It’s no coincidence that a number of different directors have been involved too, from…Read More