My Own Little World

Many films have great concepts. In fact, most films thrive on them, especially in their marketing, and especially if they’re not already part of a franchise. A good concept is the first step to making a good film. A good concept on its own, however, does not a good movie make. There has not been a film recently that shows this more than Bright , Netflix’s latest big film project. Directed by David Ayer ( Suicide Squad , Fury , and End of Watch ) and starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, it has a great concept – a cop action thriller in a world of both human and mythical creatures – but unfortunately can’t seem to make the pieces work. A huge part of this is the script. Max Landis wrote the original script that underwent a rewrite by Ayer, and it just doesn’t work. It’s extremely vulgar, which is not a critique on its own, except that it seems like the profanity is only there to remind you of the film’s rating. I’ve seen plenty of films that use very poor language but do so ...

Harry Potter is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I grew up reading the books and watching the movies, loving every second of it. In my freshman year of high school, a few of my friends and I actually watched all eight films in one sitting.  So, naturally, when I heard that a spin-off was in the works, I got really nervous and really excited at the same time. On one hand, I really like the world that J.K. Rowling has created and wanted more from it; on the other hand, I was nervous that this new chapter might spoil my memories with the wizarding world. Harry Potter is just one of those things that seemed so self-contained and so complete on its own that anything else additional ran the risk of bringing my opinion of it down in my own mind.  That being said, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is absolutely the right next step for the Harry Potter universe. It recaptures all the magic of the original franchise but doesn't come from any of the sam...