Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

“You never met a monster you couldn’t love.”

Well, this is a very different beast to its nice little understated predecessor. No more do we get a nice little New York adventure with a small, likeable cast; no, this is a big, world-building epic more the style if the Harry Potter movies. Indeed, not only do we have a couple of scenes in Hogwarts (Jude Law’s youthful Dumbledore is already headmaster), we even get a younger Maggie Smith, presumably cut and pasted from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Mostly, though, we get the awesome spectacle of 1920s Paris, and lots of cool CGI monsters.

The big bad is Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp... and I wish I could make head or tail of the claims and counter-claims between him and Amber Heard. Which one of them is the abuser? Which one of them is it ok to like? It’s weird seeing either of in films at the moment although J.K. Rowling is clearly very much on his side for insisting on casting him despite a great deal of criticism. Anyway, he’s rather good as a persuasive demagogue between the wars, a type of character which has certain associations. Interestingly, his rally near the end doesn’t make it clear that he’s a baddie. But we shall see.

Tina, Jacob and Queenie are back although, in a powerful scene, Queenie’s allegiance is changed, while Zoe Kravitz impresses with a powerful, tragic performance as Leta Lestrange. But the focus, and the mystery, is on Credence, clearly a powerful pure-blood ripped from his true family, and only at the end do we discover who he truly is. It’s a mystery used to splendid dramatic effect.

This is a fast-moving, eventful epic, and feels more like a chapter than a film in itself. All the same, I much prefer it to the Harry Potter films in similar style and am enjoying the world building in spite of not being any kind of Harry Potter fanboy. I’m greatly looking forward to the next one.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

“Well, the first symptom would be flames out of his anus...”

 Ok, I admit it- I'm finding it difficult to watch Eddie Redmayne in anything without thinking of The Theory of Everything, and Mrs Llamastrangler concurs. But that's no reflection on him as an actor, and his standout performance here simultaneously reminds me of Matt Smith in Doctor Who and something entirely new. Not only that, but this is a splendidly entertaining film full of magical beasts, imaginative concepts and fast-paced excitement from the pen of J.K. Rowling.

The Doctor Who connection extends, perhaps, to Newt's wonderful suitcase being bigger on the inside, with one of the funniest scenes being Jacob trying to force his portly frame inside it, but then I'm a Doctor Who fanboy. If I were a Harry Potter fanboy, on the other hand, I'd be squeeing over this look at the world of magic in 1920s New York, where Muggles are "no-maj" and there is a new witch hunt from the "New Salemers", with that song from the little girl being the creepiest thing in the film by far.

But we also see the different ways wizards organise themselves in America, and still have time to namedrop both Hogwarts and Dumbledore, although the mythology is never allowed to overshadow the tumultuous events, where even the baking of a strudel involves some awesome CGI. It's a film that triumphantly mixes the epic, the cool, the funny and the tragic, with budding lovebirds Queenie and Jacob forced to part, with his muggle memories having to be erased. Still, there's a hopefully ambiguous ending and there are many reasons to await the sequel. Good, exciting, fast-paced fun.

Steve Jobs (2015)

"I play the orchestra."

Five years after Aaron Sorkin scripted a biopic of Mark Zuckerberg he does the same for the late Steve Jobs, another scion of the Silicon Valley aristocracy, this time helmed by Danny Boyle, whose London Olympics opening ceremony has certainly not harmed his career. The result is gripping, full of quick-fire dialogue (that'll be Sorkin, then) and plenty of zingers and little nostalgic touches. Throughout it all is a portrait of a confident- nay, arrogant, bordering on unlikeable visionary who, while not an engineer or a programmer, is the conductor who cannot play an instrument but plays the orchestra superbly.

The film is structured around the preparation to three distinct big speeches in 1984, 1988 and 1988, all big product launches. It's a brave yet ultimately successful way of limiting the palette in order to produce a cohesive narrative. Michael Fassbender is spellbinding and the excellent Kate Winslet is barely recognisable; a leading Hollywood actress actually playing a role that isn't sexualised.

The emotional centre of the film is Jobs' relationship with his daughter Lisa, starting with his denial of paternity but ending with his actually delaying his speech- a big thing- for her sake. We also see his abrasive relationship with his underlings, but he inspires loyalty in spite of everything. In the end, his vision triumphs, although it's interesting that the film ends in 1997, before Jobs' biggest wave of successes.

I like the nod to the fact that you can't get inside any Apple device without special tools, the grainy picture, the nod to the iPad's origins in Jobs noticing the clinginess of Lisa's Walkman, but at its heart this is a masterful character study. It is an artfully constructed and fascinating little film.