ACTION/ADVENTURE
Venom
Crimes of Grindelwald
The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
Director: David Yates
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Main Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law, Johnny Depp
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PG-13
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2 hrs 13 min
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On Nov 6, Harry Potter fans anticipated the release of the second film in a five part series, The Crimes of Grindelwald. It is the sequel to the successful Harry Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.These movies highlight events around a wizard, Newt Scamander, and how he uses his allies and case of magical creatures to take down Grindelwald, the villain who the second movie focuses on. Grindelwald was introduced at the end of the first movie, and has been previously mentioned in the Harry Potter novels and movies.
The Crimes of Grindelwald was overall a good movie, but the plot left a lot to be questioned. (there will be spoilers). For example, Credence’s origins. He had been adopted into an American home, but after he ran away, he pursued his birth family. First, he thought he was French, then he was led to believe that he was related to Leta Lestrange. It wasn’t until the last scene of the movie that Grindelwald revealed to Credence that he was the unknown brother to Albus Dumbledore. This plot twist left viewers confused, because in the original books, Dumbledore had only one brother, Aberforth, and a sister, Ariana, who was killed. Hopefully, the next movies can make sense of this plot twist, but for now, fans are just left to contemplate.
This movie also introduced some new characters, Theseus Scamander, Leta Lestrange, and the maladictus Nagini in human form. These new characters reminded fans of the bigger picture that the series holds, and that these characters seem to be puzzle pieces in the conclusion that will come from the series.
More magical creatures were introduced in this movie, which had audiences captivated by their unique features and magical qualities. While these creatures were a good addition to the film, there was generally too much CGI. Many backgrounds and aspects of magic were edited in, but sometimes it seemed like too much. But in a movie with so much fantasy, the use of so much CGI would have been hard to avoid.
Even with some uncertainty in the plot, the movie was enjoyable overall. Movie viewers can hope that the confusion in the movie will be sorted out in the future of the series. While the critical view of movie analysts can be understood, The Crimes of Grindelwald is still worth watching.
Venom (2018)
Director: Ruben Fleisher
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Main Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Amhed, Ried
Scott, Jenny Slate
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PG-13
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2 hrs, 20 min
This past weekend, I went to see the newest Marvel movie, Venom. While this movie is based off the comics and is in the MCU, it is not directly affected by the events in the main movies, similar to the TV spin offs based on Marvel comics and produced by Marvel.
This movie has an adept combination of comic-book action, humor, and special effects. This movie was somewhat dark, yet it was balanced out with nitty-gritty humor. The humor kept the movie from becoming too serious, and the audience was chuckling at almost every joke and comedic line on screen.
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist who loses his content lifestyle when he tries to take down Carlton Drake, the fiercely intelligent founder of the Life Foundation. Six months after Brock’s life falls apart, he comes into contact with an alien involved in Drake’s experiments. They merge together, becoming Venom, and they work to take down Drake with the help of Brock’s ex-fiancee, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams).
This movie also had realistically awkward moments because of the unexpected team-up between Brock and Weying. And that wasn’t even the most awkward part, because Anne’s new boyfriend was also involved. Combined with Eddie’s awkwardness and Venom’s encouragement that he’d “get the girl,” the team-up was amusing, rather than uncomfortable.
As the movie continued, Brock and Weying’s new boyfriend, Dan Lewis (Reid Scott) didn’t conflict over Anne as much as one might expect. Lewis was always open and willing to help Brock with his “parasite,” and their interactions did not revolve around Anne, and Eddie didn’t try to directly intervene in the relationship between Anne and Lewis, which I think is a nice change from the possessive love triangles that have overshadowed healthy human relationships on screen.
The fight scenes in Venom were very well done, they weren’t too drawn out and didn’t become repetitive. As the movie progressed, Brock became more and more accustomed to Venom’s power, which is evident in the fight scenes. In the first fight, only Brock’s arms and legs shifted into Venom’s form, but by the end, Brock had completely transformed into Venom. I liked this progression of fighting, because there was variation in the fights because of the different forms Brock took on as Venom.
Overall, I think Venom was a very good movie in my opinion and deserves more appreciation among professional critics. The storyline made sense, the characters had unique qualities that contributed to the plot in their own way, and the script was peppered with humor. The end-credit scene hinted a sequel to come sometime in the future, which can hopefully prove to be as captivating and entertaining as this current film.