Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

This movie requires you to cast a spell of your own: [waves wand] “Explainitous!” Really, it’s hard to know what is going on in much of the first quarter to a third of this movie. The production seems to rely on the audience being so deeply invested in the wizarding world that they will instantly know who everyone is and what they are doing without any particular explanation. Alas, some of us actually have lives, and have not seen the previous installment in a few years, so a lot of the early scenes inspire head-scratching by the rest of us. The story improves in the clarity department as it unfolds, but it does not necessarily do so in terms of being interesting or clever. The overall tale is a muddle, and that’s not helped by a quantity of ham-handed metaphors for real life situations both historical and present day. Some of the magical effects are clever and entertaining, but there are also scenes where the viewer anticipates certain visuals that never come to fruition. Imagination is supposed to be the core quality of this franchise, so it’s not a good sign when the audience is out-imagining the filmmakers. I was overly harsh about the original series and its installments, so I feel uncertain about truly laying into this outing in the franchise’s adjunct storyline. Maybe I just don’t get it, or I’m too old, or who knows? But I can’t bring myself to recommend a movie that comes across as so disjointed, and poorly conceived, and—and this is the same complaint I have about the later outings in the core story—just not all that much fun. Come on, people—enough is enough. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

This movie is not an interesting failure, but its failure does include one interesting element, or at least one interesting moment. It comes late in the proceedings, when--ever so briefly--a provocative point is raised, one that could conceivably turn the entire story on its head. But then they just settle for the light show, and all that goes by the board. Which is par for this course; the entire rest of the movie is a muddle, hard to grasp what's really going on, why it matters, where it fits in the (one assumes) larger scheme. And the ultimate payoff comes across mostly as a "huh?" Rowling does not seem to have the big picture figured out (she's listed as the writer, so this really falls at her feet). An empress who has no clothes should probably know when to duck indoors, and based on this effort, one has to say now would be the time. Enchantment lifted, for sure.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

This may be further evidence that, incredibly, the whole Harry Potter thing was built upon a flash in the pan. J.K. Rowling gets a writer credit on this film, which means she's to blame for the fact that the movie has way too much plot and not nearly enough story. As with her books, this work starts out OK, then bogs down into too much complexity as it goes forward--not to mention that certain story elements wind up just not making much sense. The suspicion has to set in, at a certain point, that she's just not a very good writer, and had the good fortune--and fortune is the right word--to put out her one decent book, in just the right style with just the right vibe, at just the right time. Of course, it's hardly Rowling's fault that the film relies way too much on visual effects versus actual story or, indeed, moviemaking. There's a certain sense that the producers (she's one of them, too) cynically figured that they could just toss an orgy of visual effects in front of the rubes and get away with their lesser efforts, and perhaps they did, in most viewers' eyes. But the Bad Cat, while giving a MEOW, is doing so in a whisper, largely because the cast acquit themselves quite well in a movie that otherwise lacks conviction. Otherwise, this is a HISS.

Les Misérables

Simply spectacular stuff. I was surprised by all the complaints I heard and read about this film; the issues raised never amounted to more than quibbles in my eyes. What I got out of it was a great viewing experience: tremendous performances from several of the cast members (Jackman, Hathaway, and Barks in particular), a lot of memorable music, and a rich visual presentation that truly enhanced the complex and deeply emotional story. I was especially intrigued by how Javert prefigures the soldiers of Nazi Germany, and by the moral contrast between Javert's failures and Valjean’s powerfully redemptive story. Not just bang-up entertainment, but heavy, interesting stuff to think about, too. A must see.