Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Here's another film that was on my most anticipated list for 2016, and I'm happy to say that I am not embarrassed by that decision like I am with a few of my other choices (ahem, Independence Day: Resurgence...). I don't know how to address the magnitude of my fandom for the Harry Potter universe, except that it's 2nd only to my love for Star Wars. I've read the books more times than I care to admit, and I was able to watch every one of the films during their opening weekend of release (except for Order of the Phoenix, but I was out of the country). With that in mind, I was a bit reticent to jump fully on board with this idea when it was first announced, and it was only after watching the teaser trailer that I began to imagine how fun another entry into the Harry Potter series could be.

Doctor Strange

There's a lot going on in the world right now, so let's focus on something fantastical and imaginative to distract us! Marvel has continually risen the bar for superhero movies, integrating sub-genres into their films that keep their formula as fresh as possible throughout the last 8 years. I've been looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced, though I was a bit disheartened when I first saw how some of the imagery looked so similar to my all-time favorite film, Inception. Still, the other trailers seemed to emphasize the mystical nature of the story rather than the mind-bending aspects, and my anticipation and expectation for the movie rose steadily as a result. After so many traditional superhero films from the prolific studio, I was ready for something completely different. Some might even say strange... Can I get away with that?

The Magnificent Seven

What a fun movie this turned out to be! I'm not gonna lie, I was a little worried about going back to the theater to see a Western movie. Historically, the last couple of big-budget Westerns haven't turned out to be all that great (The Lone Ranger and Cowboys & Aliens), though I kind of enjoyed them at the time. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have seen this movie at all if it hadn't been for the intriguing casting of Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt; both actors I don't usually associate with the Western genre. I've personally never been a huge fan of Westerns, and have always been more drawn to the idea of the sci-fi/Western mashups (though they rarely pan out). However, with such a likable cast, I felt this would be worth my time despite my aversion to the genre.

Pete's Dragon

Time for some catch-up reviews. A live-action version of Pete's Dragon was never something I was dying to see, and not being a huge fan of the original, I wasn't really even planning on seeing this in theaters. However, at the behest of my lovely wife, we decided to go see this film at our local theater a couple of weeks after it opened (yeah, it's been a while). The reviews were generally favorable, and from what I remembered of the film, it seemed like it would be an enjoyable enough time. To put it more bluntly, I wasn't expecting much from this film, and I would say that it pretty much met my expectations.