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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM - REVIEW

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Because a franchise like Harry Potter is simply too popular to just stop, J.K. Rowling soon delivered Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them , a prequel of sorts following Newt Scamander, a wizard zoologist specialising in the strangest and rarest creatures. Eddie Redmayne is Scamander, the twitchy introvert with a briefcase packed full of "fantastic beasts" who gets stuck in New York after he accidentally switches bags with a wannabe baker. Scamander is then forced to not only recover every loose creature but deal with the stern Magical Congress plus a secret plot to take him down. There's something genuinely refreshing about a prequel that, not only doesn't just copy the original franchise, but expands its universe and introduces us to a new lead character who is very different. The biggest problem with the Harry Potter movies was always Harry himself: passive, bland and seemingly disinterested, he made Neo from the Matrix movies look like he was having the

DR. STRANGE (1978) - REVIEW

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As we prepare for Marvel's new Doctor Strange movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the iconic sorcerer, I take a look back at an early attempt to bring the character to the screen. Dr. Strange is a TV movie from 1978 that was meant to be the Pilot episode for a potential series but it was never picked up. Stan Lee worked as consultant on the project so the goal was definitely to stay somewhat true to the comics but a low-budget, a dull script and some wooden performances all around contributed to a film which is forgotten for a good reason. Reviewing it is, in fact, no easy feat since very little actually happens in the film story-wise: there's an evil witch, she wants to defeat a wizard, she doesn't, the end. The witch is Morgan Le Fay, played by a glamorous and over-the-top Jessica Walter who tries to make the film entertaining but fails due to an underwritten character that's hardly a genuine threat at all. Dr. Stephen Strange is played by Pete

OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL - VLOG 23/03/13

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OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL - REVIEW

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After Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland received mostly unimpressed reviews from critics and audiences alike, that the studio jumped right into yet another fantasy classic reboot/sequel/prequel/whatever is surprising and somewhat risky. Then again Alice In Wonderland made a badgillion dollars at the box office... So yeah, never mind. It makes perfect sense lol This time around, we get Sam Raimi taking on the works of L. Frank Baum, and when I say that I mean it very loosely because we don't get a sequel involving Dorothy and co or even an amalgamation of Baum's third and fourth Oz books (tackled brilliantly in the 80's by Return To Oz ). No, we're following the wizard himself! Not quite what you'd expect but an interesting take on the whole thing, let's see if it works. After all, the first film was called The Wizard Of Oz not "Dorothy's Big Adventure". Mostly... yes. It does work. Ok, I'll get the bad stuff out of the way

GAUNTLET II - GAME REVIEW

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WICKED - REVIEW

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The Wizard Of Oz is great, and I LOVE Return To Oz . I even enjoy The Wiz , as strange as it is. So Wicked , as teen-friendly as it seemed, I was expecting to enjoy at least as a diagonal look into the darker side of that world. The result was pretty much what I expected with the odd surprise here and there. Some good, some not so good. The musical plays out like a Harry Potter / Legally Blonde crossover with green-skinned Elphaba taking her sister to Shiz University where she is soon ridiculed and cast-aside because of her peculiar looks. On the other end of the spectrum is the crazy-popular Glinda, a typical dumb blonde stereotype you've seen in every single US high-school teen comedy. The musical follows both characters as they clash, become the best of friends and come apart again when life in Oz gets a tad too complicated. You've got a basic love triangle going on in which some dude called Fiyero goes out with Glinda at first only to later fall in love with Elpha