“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (PG-13)
The magic of J.K. Rowling is back with “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the first of five planned spinoff films rooted in the author’s “Harry Potter” universe. Forgoing the traditional sequel or prequel route to satiate the legions of fans wanting more from Rowling’s blockbuster book-turned-film series, “Fantastic Beasts” ingeniously taps into Rowling’s witchcraft and wizardry mythology as it examines the adventures documented in one of Harry’s textbooks featured in “Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone.”
The end result is “Fantastic Beasts” feels like a Potter film with no mention of Potter (“Fantastic Beasts” takes place 70 years before the story of “The Boy Who Lived”), and instead concentrates on former Hogwart’s student Newt Scamander (the always great Eddie Redmayne) and his adventures to capture fantastical beasts all over the world.
Listen to Tim’s reviews of “Fantastic Beasts” and “Bleed for This” on “The KQ Mornings Show” with Tom Barnard.
But in an odd twist of fate, a bumbling factory worker (Dan Fogler) accidentally unleashes some of Newt’s creatures during a stopover in New York City – and the exposure creates a panic among a secret society of witches and wizards that fears the persecution of their human counterparts.
While the cast — including Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller and Colin Farrell — is terrific, “Fantastic Beasts” comes off a bit too heavy on the special effects. They’re great effects, no doubt, but unless you’re familiar with the source material (Rowling published the 128-page “Fantastic Beasts” in 2001), you may struggle to keep up with all the wizard-speak amid all of the crash-boom-bang. As for everybody else, they’re in for, well, a magical good time.
Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)
“Bleed for This” (R)
Fans of hard-hitting, true-life drama will want to climb into the ring with “Bleed for This,” the incredible true story of champion boxer Vinnie Pazienza and his struggles to get back into the ring after a head-on car collision nearly left him completely paralyzed.
Led by Miles Teller as Vinnie, the cast is stellar all around, including brilliant supporting turns by Aaron Eckhart and Ted Levine, who are barely recognizable as Vinnie’s trainer Kevin Rooney and promoter Lou Duva, respectively.
Even though the film falls into the trappings of the boxing genre (there are only so many ways you can replicate a boxer training for a comeback), “Bleed for This” is an amazing study of character and determination in the face of adversity. For the lack of better words, it delivers a solid knock-out punch.
Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)
