Fantastic Beasts. The Secrets of Dumbledore.

    

        Poor franchise of J. R. Rowling did not deserve this fate. The third movie of the series was cinematically better than the third, but... The whole meaning of the story has disappeared because of disappearance of Johnny Depp and now-you-see-it-now-you-don't homosexuality of Dumbledore. 

    There was a motivation difference between chief antagonists Voldemort and Grindelwald, which the producers erased between the second and the third series, not unlikely to Benioff who forgot the character differences between King Jeoffrey and Ramsey Bolton so by the end they acquired virtually identical personalities (Game of Thrones). Voldemort's agenda had obvious parallels with Nazism: striving for a society of the elect based on racial hierarchy and headed by a leader of questionable racial purity. Grindelwald of the first two series had a completely different motivation, even if it was not sufficiently enunciated, based on the revolutionary movements of the early twentieth century. Namely, the old world ("muggles") let the world into a catastrophe of the Great War and promises even worse disasters in the future (it did). It persecuted sorcerers and witches. Now it is the time for a new world, safer for everyone and led by the magi for the benefit of all. The strength of the premise and its connection with the previous "Harry Potter" franchise was in the message that the desire to make people happy by force can be as destructive as the desire to oppress everyone by force. 

Outfit.

 

Soviet-era comedienne Ranevskaya (see the footnote) was so popular that people came to some mediocre play only to watch her cameo and then left. Artistic director told her that this was ruining the performance. On that, she retorted: "If this is needed for the theatrical art, I can play worse".   

Not so much a movie as a filmed theatrical performance. The plot is very well wrought. Chekhov's remark that if in the beginning of the play, one hangs a gun on the wall, in the end it must fire is well followed with the scissors. But not so the blood dripping from the chest with the fresh corpse. Mark Rylance is towering over the other actors so much that they serve only as a background. There are a few smudges in the movie: even the best tailor ("cutter") cannot do seams as good as a sewing machine, etc.