The film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was released on November 16, 2018. After the chaos created in New York City from the first movie, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is forbidden from leaving the country. With some secret help from Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), he manages to get to France hoping to recapture Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) who has escaped from prison.

If you are a fan of Ms. Rowling’s other novel series then you may be disappointed that Harry Potter isn’t in this. Dumbledore and Hogwarts are the only crossovers. There is enough magical action to keep the audience satisfied and the characters are all very good. The CGI is impressive and the story line is good. There are a couple of humorous scenes, but over all the film is decent for this genre.

I can’t say that there were a lot of things wrong with this film. I wasn’t as engaged with this part as I was with the first film. Basically it is a mixture of fantasy, espionage, and a commentary on Mankind’s tendencies towards war. I probably wouldn’t buy it, but I will give it 4 stars out of 5.

The French action movie The Crew (Braqueurs) was released in the US on November 15, 2018. A gang of armored car robbers find themselves in a bigger mess when one of them sells a gun to the local crime gang. In order to pay off a debt, they are forced to hold up a caravan loaded with 80,000 euros (around $90,000) worth of heroin.

Most of the actors were good and very believable. The director was also very good. I don’t know if French action movies are usually this dialogue heavy, but this did tend to slow down the story. The action sequences were good, but had very little blood. The cinematography was good and helped bring a sense of gloom to the film. The soundtrack was good and didn’t overwhelm the story.

Despite the slow section of the movie, it was entertaining. An audience would be drawn into the story more if there would have been more emphasis on the action sequences instead of establishing the relationships between the characters. I give this 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Mowgli was released on 29^th November 2018 and is directed by Andy Serkis who also voices one of the characters in the movie. It is based on Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and stars Rohan Chand in the lead role.

 The first thing that hits you when the movie opens is that this is not going to be the same as the cutesy, sing-along Disney version as there is a lot of blood and death which will probably explain its 12-rating. So, I would not recommend it for a younger audience. The story is very good and the acting from young Rohan was very believable. The voices for the main characters are from very well known, mainly British, actors and I thought they played their parts very well. The usual characters are all there as well as one I have never seen before, a young albino wolf voiced by Louis Ashbourne Serkis. If Bhoot does not make you cry, you are HEARTLESS! The CGI was also very good with a good musical score to help with the tension.

I really enjoyed this movie, it was a lot darker than what I was expecting and Remmy tells me that this was closer to what Kipling wrote in his book. I am glad someone decided to write and release something other than the Disney version (which I also liked!). I hope it becomes available to buy on disc as I want it in my collection. An easy 5/5 from me.

This Korean zombie film was released on November 2, 2018. I must admit that I am not a zombie movie fan. However, I did enjoy this movie. There was lots of action, blood, and beheadings. A prince (Hyun Bin) and his servant (Man-sik Jeong) return to Joseon from the Qin court for his brother’s funeral only to discover that the countryside is infested with zombies (called demons in the film). He must overcome the zombie and a corrupt War Minister (Dong-gun Jeong).

The zombie makeup was good and the story was interesting. Since the story is set in, I think, the 17th century, there is a suggestion that the zombie infection was caused by a Dutch trading vessel. There are various patriotic references to the land of Joseon (part of Korea) and the evils of foreign influence. The acting was very good as well as the director. The only complaint I might have is that a lot of the actresses looked similar and caused some confusion. It also comes with subtitles.

I must say that Koreans seem to have a good way of working with this genre as opposed to American zombie films. But this is, I admit, the only Korean zombie movie I’ve seen. I do, however, give it 4 stars out of 5.

On November 2, 2018 the biographic film of one of rock’s greatest bands Queen, was released. Bohemian Rhapsody covers the time when Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) introduced himself to his favorite band Smile and ended up leading them to be one of the greatest bands of the 1970s. The other members were Brian May (Gwilym Lee), Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), and John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello).

Most biographic films tend to ignore some parts of history, while expanding other parts. Bohemian Rhapsody may be guilty of this aspect, but it is somewhat tempered by Brian May and Roger Taylor’s remembrance of this time and of Freddie. All of the actors did a great job of portraying their characters and the story line was handled very well. The director was also very good. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack. He made a great decision to recreate Queen’s complete concert for Live Aid which revived Queen’s popularity after Freddie Mercury had tried to go solo.

I can hardly imagine anyone who has never heard of Queen or never heard any of their music. Freddie Mercury had a great vocal range and he and the band are experiencing a resurgence. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. By the end of the film, I was starting to tear up and this was the second film I’ve seen where the theater audience stood up and applauded. I give this a 5 stars out of 5 for the emotional experience alone.