Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore

Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards and witches. They soon encounter an array of old and new beasts as they clash with Grindelwald's growing legion of followers.

These Fantastic Beasts movies are very hard to review.  The Harry Potter franchise is and will forever be in the upper echelon of filmmaking and no matter how hard they try to recapture that magic with this prequel kind of spinoff franchise, they are always just kind of there.  This one is no different and was even more cursed with the controversies of the cast and the creator leading to changes and recasting that ultimately takes away from the continuity.   It really is a shame that even using familiar characters from the Harry Potter franchise can't really help this one out.  

I would sort of recommend checking this out.  I mean if you saw the others then why not see this one.  But it's just not remotely up to par.  None of them have been and this one least of all. 

Firestarter

A couple desperately try to hide their daughter, Charlie, from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for turning fire into a weapon of mass destruction. Her father taught her how to defuse her power, but as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. When a mysterious operative finally finds the family, he tries to seize Charlie once and for all -- but she has other plans.

Couple of quick things because I refuse to spend a lot of time talking about this.  Was there a demand for this movie to be remade?   Did I miss Zac Efron's career going in the toilet that he is playing the dad in this?   Like wasn't he kind of a big deal?   That's really it.  This movie is complete garbage.  It's like a lame made for sci fi network remake of a movie that didn't remotely need to be remade.

I recommend that nobody bother with this.  Ever.   Like legit no reason at all.

The Bad Guys

After a lifetime of legendary heists, notorious criminals Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula are finally caught. To avoid a prison sentence, the animal outlaws must pull off their most challenging con yet -- becoming model citizens. Under the tutelage of their mentor, Professor Marmalade, the dubious gang sets out to fool the world that they're turning good.

Dreamworks animation has always been known for very fun lead and side characters.   This movie was no different.  They did a great job of giving enough screen time to each of them while using the leads to move the story along.  I wouldn't put them on Pixar's level or even Disney necessarily but they have always been a very solid third animation option.  Great voice casting on everyone.

I would definitely recommend everyone checking this movie out.   Lots of fun and good for the whole family.

The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

Unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, actor Nick Cage accepts a $1 million offer to attend a wealthy fan's birthday party. Things take a wildly unexpected turn when a CIA operative recruits Cage for an unusual mission. Taking on the role of a lifetime, he soon finds himself channeling his most iconic and beloved characters to save himself and his loved ones.

This movie was ALOT of fun.  They didn't take themselves seriously and it made the movie so entertaining because of it. What should have honestly been a SNL skit or a punchline somehow turned into a pretty well done movie with a ton of laughs and the perfect role for Nicolas Cage at this point in his career.  

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out.   It is a very enjoyable watch all around.

Morbius

Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but when his experiment goes wrong, he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

Dear lord.  I think that the Sonyverse might be competing with DC for what can be a bigger joke.   The movie itself was just kind of there.  Felt like it was written by a 13 year old.  The editing job was horrible and it just jumped from random scene/location way too much.   The timeline made no sense with how important it was for him to keep drinking the synthetic blood.  And honestly there was just no reason to care about the character or anything.  Like at all.   And then the credit scenes just completely infuriated me because they will take the whole multiverse thing that Marvel is massively and specifically crafting and just kind of wing it with theirs with nothing making any sense whatsoever.

I would not recommend anyone bothering with this.  This movie was so lame that it managed to make Venom a better movie basically by default.  

Ambulance

Needing money to cover his wife's medical bills, a decorated veteran teams up with his adoptive brother to steal $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. However, when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate thieves hijack an ambulance that's carrying a severely wounded cop and an EMT worker. Caught in a high-speed chase, the two siblings must figure out a way to outrun the law while keeping their hostages alive.

This movie was just high octane and adrenaline fun.  This was a throwback to Michael Bay's pre-Transformers movies.   Well built characters through banter and over the top acting, crazy action with the right slow motion scenes at the right time to build drama/intensity, and you can just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.  These have always been my favorite kind of movies to see in the theater.

I would definitely recommend people who like action movies checking this out.  It's beyond predictable and corny at times but if you just turn your brain off you honestly don't care. 

Father Stu

When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he's meant to be a Catholic priest.

This was a surprisingly good watch.  Probably one of Mark Wahlberg's better overall performances.  Is it sometimes too heart string pulling?  Yes.  Is it beyond the realm of predictable?  Yes.   But even for someone who has very questionable levels of faith, this was a good watch and made you care about the character's and the side characters' journeys.

I would sort of recommend people checking this out.  It's not a must see by any means but it was a better than average watch.  

The Northman

Prince Amleth is on the verge of becoming a man when his father is brutally murdered by his uncle, who kidnaps the boy's mother. Two decades later, Amleth is now a Viking who raids Slavic villages. He soon meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow -- save his mother, kill his uncle, avenge his father.

This movie played kind of weird for me.  It was good BUT it felt too much like it should have been a tv series instead of a film and the movie was all about the filming style not the substance.  Don't get me wrong because the filming style was SO GOOD and made the movie worth watching just because of how it was done visually.  However, that being done led to the story not being as strong or making you care about the character's journey.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this movie out.  It a decent overall watch and a great watch filmmaking wise but was too lacking to get a total endorsement.