DavidLindahl

Time for the awaited prequel to the Harry Potter films, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film is set in the 20's, long before Harry Potter's time. It's about the young Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, who arrives in New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures. Unfortunately some of them escapes and he is force to go and look for them together with the muggle (non-magic people) Jacob Kowalski and the witch, Porpentina Goldstein, before they wreak havoc all over the city. The film is the first in the Harry Potter universe that isn't based on a book but an encyclopedia of magical creatures. J.K Rowling has written the script and also decided to keep the long and complicated title, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Seriously, couldn't they have thought of something better?

At first we are greeted with a lot of news articles before ending up with Newt Scamander as he passes through the gates to New York. Honestly, the film has a slow beginning. A lot of the Harry Potter films begin quite dramatically with an evil dementor, a difficult house elf or a quidditch tournament. Here it takes a while before I'm starting to feel that the film really takes a hold of me. It also makes me wonder what's it really about? Newt is chasing his animals with the company of a muggle and a witch but at the same time we also find out that the American wizard world is quite different from the English one. Apparently there is some sort of interesting cultural conflict that we never really get the answer to. Pity!

After a few fat jokes, a strange mating dance and a long almost completely animated scene in a suitcase, it actually starts to happen something. The evil in the film appears more and you start to understand the conflict. Unfortunately I don't feel that this evilness or the conflict is motivated or developed enough. It lacks a clear vision and a path already from the beginning. What does Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them really want to say? Whose story is it? Newt Scamander's, the muggle who wants to bake, the USA vs England conflict or the American ministry's fear of being exposed and start a war? Also in all this, add John Voight as a political leader with a son who likes to bully boys. Very strange.

Behind all these questions and strange things, there are actually a lot of things to enjoy. The director David Yates continues in the same style as before, however with much more animation. It is charming to see the American wizard society and the 20's New York look good. Also the acting raises the film with Ezra Miller as a strange boy and Colin Farrell as an evil ministry man. All in all, an okay beginning of a new series, but what the next films will be about and what characters will fit in, especially considering that it is said to be set in Europe and eventually include Dumbledore, I really can't say. As I said, an okay beginning but it could definitely have been better.

David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se

Yesterday it was time for a visit to the cinema, it's been a while. The film I saw was Deepwater Horizon, the story of the oil platform that started leaking in 2010 and caused one of the biggest oil disasters in modern time. In the film we get to follow Mike Williams, played by Mark Wahlberg. He is an electronics technician onboard the platform and leaves his daughter and wife (Kate Hudson) to go and work for 21 days. Kurt Russell is also in the film playing the manager of the platform and the top ranking employee. After what they first believed would be three normal work weeks, things take a turn of events when the platform explodes from the oil pressure.

At first I could not understand what kind of film Deepwater Horizon wanted to be. Many family emotions, friendships and relationships at the beginning and after that a very technical part begins. About 20 – 30 minutes of the film is about technical aspects of oil drilling which frankly I think goes straight by most of us. Sure It's a little exciting when they are talking about oil pressure and performs test whether to start drilling or not. BUT, the problem is that we already know that everything will go to hell. Therefore I think that when they are building drama and tension on things that really should be standard procedures onboard an oil platform, it gets a little cheap. I'm convinced that had we not known the outcome of the film, these scenes would feel strange and over exaggerated. To but it simply, they are building drama on pure trifles just because we already know the outcome. Clever and viable, but still cheap and boring.

I think it's a shame how black and white Deepwater Horizon is. It's crystal clear who's good and bad. Despite everyone being soaked in oil and mud, BP's logo is still clearly visible on the "villains" helmet. Somewhere here they touch a very sensitive subject without ever really developing it more. Who's fault was it really? Political and environmental impact? The reactions of the world? None of this is included in the film. Now I've arrived at the things that I actually think the film does really well and what could have made it even better, had it been even more focused. Somewhere in the middle of Deepwater Horizon I realized what kind of film this is and should be. A strong emotional drama. We get to know these people and their families. We follow them onboard the platform and gets affected in the same way they do. We suffer, feel their pain, their loss and eventually at the end we also also get emotional scars. This is the real strong points of the film. To take us on an emotional journey that plays out our whole register, from laughter to crying. Skip the politics, the parts too difficult to understand and the good vs bad. Show us, don't tell us. Finally I want to say that the sound in Deepwater Horizon was also one of the things that impressed me the most. So good and strong sound quality that the speakers in the theater barely could play it. Thumbs up for that.

David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se

The Secret Life of Pets is about pets and their world. Just like in Toy Story, the animals can speak and have a life of their own when the humans aren't looking or are away at work. The dog Max is living a quiet life with his owner Katie. One day she gets a bigger dog called Duke and immediately they start to fight to win her love. After having argued and fought out on a walk, Max and Duke gets lost in the underworld and meets other animals that don't live a fancy pet life like they do.

The Secret life of Pets is a film like many other animal films and yet it succeeds in entertaining in a charming way by taking us on an adventure where we get to see life from their side. Films like Oliver & Company, Babe and Homeward Bound The Incredible Journey, comes to mind. Animal films are far from new and often contain a worn out story but despite this The Secret Life of Pets really delivers. I think one of the films central elements is the balance in the humor. There is clarity in the dialogue that is easy for children to understand, but there is also another dimension clearly meant for adults. This is often the thing that family films are having difficulties with, to be appealing for both children and adults. The latest Ice Age film that I reviewed here did not succeed in this. The other thing that I really think is the key to the success of this film is the tempo. With its one hour and 27 minutes, the film is not really that long but the time is well disposed and few scenes contains unnecessary things. It also makes us the audience wanting to see more of these animals when the film is over. I am not so sure that we would want that, had the film been 20 minutes longer and slower.

The characters in the film is well thought out and shaped to fit this kind of road movie where someone travels forward. They usually include some sort of leader, someone who is a little stupid, someone who is a bit dangerous and also someone who is cocky and perhaps too brave. The Secret Life of Pets has all of these characters and also a villain, a white bunny. Perhaps a hint to Monty Python's evil bunny in the The Holy Grail and also ironic because a bunny is usually seen as cute and harmless. Quite fun, much due to Kevin Hart's great voice acting. The film summarizes itself well towards the end with several morale plot parts. Don't judge people (in this case animals) based on their appearance, comradeship, the ability to share and also that certain things that you want are often found right in front of you if you just look close enough. Definitely good messages for a family film, very often already told, but if delivered properly and in a new way like here in The Secret Life of Pets, they are worth telling several times over again.

David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se