Saw Live By Night last night and honestly I'm now worried about the Batman film that Affleck is supposed to direct. This movie was like a watered down mashup of The Godfather, Warren Betty's old Dick Tracy movie, the old 80's cartoon C.O.P.S., and Django Unchained. Affleck seriously played himself with his character's storyline. The movie likely would have been better served if he didn't star in it and was just behind the camera (and not narrating as well). Damn shame because I had high hopes for it.
Arrival (2016). 8/10. Very good movie. Slow-moving and atmospheric, but cleverly-written and both the story and the characters draw you in.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). 9/10. Small disclaimer: I was never a huge fan of the Harry Potter books or movies. I think I was maybe just a little bit too old when they came out, because I really like fantasy and I tried very hard to like them. Read three books and got bored, watched two movies and got bored.
That's why I was surprised to like Fantastic Beasts so much. A large part of that is due to Eddie Redmayne, who is simply brilliant in his role as Newt Scamander, the wizard obsessed with magical beasts and protecting them. Reminded me a little of Gerald Durrell, whose books I read over and over again growing up (or maybe Steve Irwin, if you've never heard of Gerald Durrell). Socially awkward and distracted, it is delightful to watch him become confident and authoritative when interacting with the beasts he loves so much.
His story is quite a simple one, trying to catch the beasts that escaped while on his way to Arizona, but it plays out against a much larger backdrop of political intrigue as suspicion and paranoia build in the wizards' community, who are deathly (and reasonably) afraid of having their existence exposed to ordinary humans.
The Bye Bye Man 7/10
From start to finish a great movie.
No scenes were filler, great acting, great drama from a terrible situation, likable characters, exciting terrific climax, villains that weren't shown until late in the movie so they're in the shadows, great reveals throughout the movie about the Bye Bye Man, great sets and a city in Wisconsin that I don't think other hollywood horror movies have used.
The main villain proves to be a terrifying villain. Also a decent ending.
Great to see Hollywood is still capable of making original horror movies with likable characters and new Villains.
I do want to see this movie again with a friend that also loves movies including Horror movies.