thatfilmperson

If you liked: Harry Potter Friends: The Reunion

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone first came out in the UK on November 4th, 2001. Let that sink a little. Last year, the iconic Harry Potter movies celebrated a 20-year anniversary, and HBO decided to do a great service to all of the fans by organizing a reunion.

Despite the fact that it doesn't show that much nowadays, I was a huge fan of both the books and the films. I read all seven back in 2007-2008; when they first were translated into Russian, my native tongue. I had a large Lego Hogwarts which, for about a year, I saved money for; and at some point, I might have even owned a wand... Far from a real Potterhead, but definitely still a fan. Then came the movies, and as Harry grew up and went from one form into the next, so did I. Only after watching this, 20 years later I realize that I truly did grow up with these films. This reunion is a mixture of interviews with actors and directors from all eight of the films, original clips from those films, and backstage clips from about their making. It is structured in such a way, that you get to sort of relive the entire Harry Potter story in just over 90 minutes. And I loved every single second of it. I truly don't think they could have made it any better. There might have been a tiny improvement if they sticked to the original movie soundtracks or hired a composer of their own for the score of the reunion; the music seemed off at multiple times throughout; but otherwise, it was just perfect. Because I'm still young, I probably haven't been that nostalgic for something in my entire life. While actors and directors reminisce on the making of the movies, the friendships, and family-like relationships they were able to build during those 10 years of shooting, all of the happy and sad moments on and off camera; you start to reminisce about your own life and think back on the person you were when you first watched those eight films individually. Harry Potter films really did change the world for so many people; and not in a marginal way. HBO have really done a great job.

If you liked: Avengers: Endgame Any Spider-Man movie Logan

! This review features spoilers only related to the things seen in the trailer. If you've watched it, you're good. !

Judging by the fact that this movie passed the $1 billion mark in worldwide box office in less than a weekend; it does not need an introduction or any setup. If you're a Marvel fan you have probably already watched it; and if not, you most likely know what the main premise of the film is and why it was exciting as hell when rumors started getting out and the first teaser dropped. The Multiverse, a concept we saw introduced in "WandaVision" and "Loki" (but don't be scared if you haven't watched much of other Marvel stuff, you don't need it to understand the plot). Peter teams up with Dr. Strange; they have a little too much fun and break the borders between our reality and multiple other realities. Literally anything can happen on the screen from now on, and, as we see in the trailer, Marvel bring old villains from the original Spider-Man movies back to life: Dr. Octavio Octopus, Green Goblin, Electro... That by itself, if you think about it long and hard, is sort of a miracle and is one the most amazing and revolutionary things that could have happened to such a big cinematic universe. This is because a completely different company with different interests and incentives owns the rights to those old characters - Sony (which is why Venom is also not connected to any of the current Marvel films). It is probably unimaginable how much money had to be moved and how much time those two giants had to spend negotiating in order for something like that to happen, taking into account the fact that the whole Tom Holland Spider-Man deal was almost canceled some years ago. Also, they could have just bought the rights for those characters; but Marvel went an extra mile and managed to also recast all of the original actors! And they don't just bring them back in a short cameo; they breathe life back into their stories, they give those characters closure and redemption, and it just makes you nostalgic for things you never knew you needed to be nostalgic for. They even used the original soundtracks for individual villains (like Hans Zimmer's epic Electro Suite); which made me, as a soundtrack geek, appreciate this immense effort even further.

The third film is a lot more dramatic and heartfelt than the first two; think Endgame compared to Infinity War; and Holland is finally getting a lot of chances to show off his acting skills in a CGI-filled universe that doesn't usually require that much acting. Overall, they did an amazing tribute to ALL 7 of the previous Spider-Man films, paying attention to the smallest details and making every wildest idea possible; and if you're a fan of at least one of them, you will be rewarded beyond your expectations.

Go give Marvel your money. In theaters.

If you liked: You Were Never Really Here First Cow First Reformed

"Pig" is a 2021 extremely low-budget film with what looked like a peculiar and interesting idea for a plot. It was shot in only 20 days, and all actors had to get everything right from the first time as there was no budget for re-shoots or delays. It tells a story of Rob - a hermit truffle hunter (Nicholas Cage still acts??), whose truffle pig gets stolen during the first 10 minutes of the movie. It is then slowly revealed that Rob has some burdensome and shady past, as he and his buyer (Alex Wolff; "Hereditary") try to get the pig back. During this little adventure the film turns into a meditative philosophical tale about loss, humanity and human relationships, rather than merely about retrieving a pet pig. It has a strange, almost dream-like poetic-wannabe structure, and gives off a whiff of some global depression that is well-known to each and every human being on this planet.

The film is far from cliché, but even further from groundbreaking or remarkable (reminded me a lot of "Minari" and "First Cow" in that regard). The mere fact that it isn't canonical unfortunately doesn't make it good; under the mask of deep philosophical questions lies an extremely simple idea that could have been expressed in a 10-minute short film. The only truly great things are the performances of both Cage and Wolff: Cage showing that he still can deliver an emotional performance; and Wolff once again proving that he has many great roles ahead of him.

But aside from that - "Pig" is a very simple movie. Too simple.