reviewsofstuffifind

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The crimes of Grindelwald Review *Spoilers*

So I saw the movie Crimes of Grindelwald a few weeks ago and now that I have had some time to think about the movie and others have had a chance to see it, I wanted to share my thoughts on it. Keep in mind there are going to be spoilers. Also that these are my personal thoughts, so I may not be getting the popular vote on it. I may add more thoughts after I go see the movie again.I am also a fairly big fan of Harry Potter but I would not say I’m the biggest fan in the sense that I know there are many small details that I don’t remember from the series, which may affect my review as there may have been things I missed. Also I am going to be speaking about the things I didn’t like first before moving onto the good, and I want to say first and foremost that overall I enjoyed the movie and the Fantastic Beasts series. I just feel that certain things could have been handled better. *spoilers* 

So here it goes in no particular order for the things I didn’t like:

I think the biggest thing for me was McGonagall. About halfway through the movie you see members from the ministry of magic come to Hogwarts to talk to Professor Dumbledore and interrupt one of his classes. Professor Dumbledore sends his students with a young female Scottish professor named Professor McGonagall. You later see her again in a flash back when Newt and Leta were students at Hogwarts. This Professor McGonagall’s first name was never stated but it is heavily implied that it is Minerva McGonagall, especially that as far as I know there were no other female witches on her father’s side that  would have been able to be a professor in 1937, let alone when Newt  was a student, as he was a muggle. This bugged me as Minerva McGonagall from the original series talks about certain events within her life in which, once you did the math means that she would have been born in the 1930′s (1935?) way after the events of the movie. Although her presence in this movie is not a large one and could be see as a nod for the fans of the original series, J.K. Rowling herself wrote the movie. She generally does not make big mistakes like this and usually does everything for a reason, which leads me to believe that she put the character there for a reason which will be explained in the next movie. Despite this I still find it very odd, especially considering the character was only there for two scenes and for any audience member who was not a huge fan of Harry Potter and did not have a general idea of Harry Potter timeline, her presence in this movie would have been insignificant, so most likely not have payed attention to her if there is some big reveal later on in the next movie.

The next thing that I found odd (although I know it is done a lot in other movies and tv shows) was the whole miscommunication between Tina and Newt about Newt’s relationship with Leta, which ended up driving part of the movies plot. I could understand why the journalist could have misconstrued who Leta was engaged to as in the photo in the article she was standing awfully close to Newt and most people who are announcing their engagement stand next to the person who they are engaged to. But I do not understand why the journalist could why Tina just shut down and basically ran away from Newt. I get that she was hurt by the thought of someone she loved was not honest with her and people tend to not think right when they are emotional. Despite this would she have not stopped and wonder why Newt had not stopped and mentioned to her in any of their communication between the end of the first movie and when the article came out. In the first movie she is briefly mentioned and it is clear that Newt does have some feelings for Leta, but that they are not together. It is also clear by the end of the movie that he has strong feelings for Tina and that at some point between movies he sends Tina his book and presumably have been sending letters to each other back and forth. Newt does not strike me as someone who would intentionally lead anyone on and I am sure that Tina would have come to the same conclusion. If Newt had actually gotten together with Leta, he most likely would have mentioned it in a letter to Tina way before an engagement would have happened. The whole ting could have been fixed if Tina had decided to ask Newt about it, to ask if she ahd misinterpreted their interactions, as putting her aside seems very uncharacteristic of Newt. It could have also been fixed by Newt at any point saying Leta was dating and then engaged to his brother way before the article came out, as the whole dating and then getting engaged would have happened long before the article came out. And the two presumably would have been sharing life events in their letters. I think this storyline is interesting in many other contexts, especially when used as a comedic device in TV shows and movies, but was frustrating for this movie because it caused a lot of unnecessary miscommunications and I feel like J.K. Rowling could have handled that part of the movie better.

Nagini: ok this is a double edged sword as I enjoyed seeing her in the movie and I enjoyed getting a back story as to her blood curse, but I don’t really think she played a major part in the movie past being some emotional support and being someone to bounce ideas off of for Credence. Like most of the movie I think would have still happened if she wasn’t there. That maybe controversial but that’s just the way I think. I’m not saying they should have taken her out, as like I said, it was interesting to learn about her. I am also curious to see if they explain how she eventually ends up with Voldemort because she seems genuinely scared and appalled by Grindelwald. When Credence goes to join Grindelwald she doesn’t follow and seems disappointed that he went. I don’t know why someone who was opposed to one dark wizard would join another dark wizard roughly 60 years later.

I have mixed feelings about Queenie joining Grindelwald. I completely understand why she joined. She wanted something and he offered it to her and he is compelling speaker. But I feel like she went to quickly. Like she is adamant that he’s bad at the beginning and then within a span of two minutes she changes her mind. I feel that considering he knew what she wanted and he was so charismatic, maybe they could have spent more time showing someone good doing something bad for ‘good’ or rather reasons they see as ‘good’ reasons, as it is something that does and has happened. I just wish with Queenie who is a very strong willed and fiery woman they would have had her fight a little more. I get she would do anything to be with the man she loves, but she would also do anything for the sister she loves. Despite the fact that her and Tina are fighting at the beginning doesn’t change the fact that once she and Jacob fight, she forgets all about her fight with Tina and tries to find her. In the first movie she wasn’t afraid to threaten a ministry member to get what she wanted to save her sister. She naturally will always gravitate to her sister, so I would have liked to see her battle more wither love for her sister and her love for her man.

The ending! I do think that Grindelwald was lying as far as Credence’s relationship to ALbus Dumbledore. Grindelwald is the definition of the unreliable narrator. He says things to fit his narrative. Not to mention that with the death of his mother and his father in prison, another Dumbledore child was not possible. It’s just really confusing with the phenix coming to him after we hear that a a phenix will always come to a Dumbledore in need. I mean this all could come to a technicality in the sense that Grindelwald uses a phrase along the lines of giving Credence a name, so it could be considered some from a legally changing a name or adoption, in which Credence is not technically a Dumbledore by blood but Grindelwald goes and legally changes Credence’s name and not tell him in order to get him to think that he is a Dumbledore. But in that instance I don’t know if changing names legally would still allow the phoenix to show up. If it does turn out in the next movie that Credence is a Dumbledore biologically, I feel that it is similar to the McGonagall situation of Rowling changing what was already written.

Things I liked:

I was surprisingly pleased by Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Grindelwald. Although I was not as upset as some people when it was announced he would be taking on the role, I was a bit on the fence. I enjoy him as an actor, but rightfully or not I always kind of see him as the funny character like Captain Jack Sparrow or Willy Wonka, and rarely as a mastermind like Grindelwald. But I think he pulled it off really well and he showed just how compelling a bad guy can be, how he can sound good to many different people, twisting words and using events to his advantage. 

I loved all the beasts explored within this movie and seeing Newt’s basement. It was like a whole world that had not been explored before and I’m glad they showed it. 

I like how the movie kept you guessing on who Credence was. I felt a little bit like Credence in the sense that as soon as I thought there was an answer to his identity, something would happen that would prevent him from getting his answer or the answer would be wrong. I always like being kept on my toes, so I really enjoyed that way of presenting the story.

I really enjoyed Leta. I loved seeing her background and things she struggled with at Hogwarts and seeing the things that tormented her during her life. I also liked that despite having troubled backstory she was not in her core a bad person and she even goes as far as to sacrifice herself to save others. She is one of those characters that based on her backstory I would not have been surprised if she turned bad, but she didn’t. And I really like how they choose to make it ambiguous as to who she is saying ‘I love you’ to in her final moments. Like part of me wants to know for sure, but it also allows us as the audience to guess among ourselves. And I believe small guessing games are always fun, especially among fandoms. 

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The Outsiders (Book)

This book to be honest is one of my favourite books. This book is about a group of young boys/men ranging from 14 years old to early 20s who live in a bad part of town and struggle with the life they were given. Told from the point of view of 14 year old Ponyboy Curtis, you see how he learns just how tough and how cruel life can be. Despite the cruelness that he has to live through, he also learns an important life lesson, that there are two sides to every coin, and that sometimes people aren’t so far apart as they may seem. I would highly recommend that everyone gets to read this book at least once in their life. It is a book that will make you take a good hard look at your life, the people in your life, and even the stuff you hear in the news.