Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The sequel to the 2016 Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald sees Johnny Depp's dark wizard escape his imprisonment so as to unite his followers against the non magical world while being pursued by Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander and Jude Law's younger portrayal of Dumbledore. Most of the main cast return, as well as new characters and all of their performances are really good. Just like past films in the franchise, the effects to depict the magical world are amazing and breathtaking. However, this entry is the weakest out of all the films I've seen as it has way too many plots going on, some just start out of nowhere while another is going on, and they don't feel like many concluded so as to lead to sequels. What made the first Fantastic Beasts so special was the chemistry between the four leads, which is missing as the four are hardly together and the character of Queenie makes some odd and out of character decisions. The writing doesn't help as while J.K. Rowling writes some really good dialogue and certain revelations work, many of them come out of nowhere and the way certain plot lines occur and intersect don't fit very well, probably due to wanting to add more than the first film and writing the script like one of her novels. David Yates returns as director which, while doing a very good job, there are certain odd camera angles and placements that feel distracting. While small, some of the dialogue and interactions between Newt and Tina is a bit cliche due to their relationship and misunderstandings. Despite these problems, Crimes manages to be entertaining even when you notice the various plot and story issues. Many of my favorite scenes are those involving Grindelwald such as his escape and the warning as to why those with magic should take over as Depp's performance really sell them. Over all: 92%

2018 top list so far:
1. Halloween 2018

2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?/BlacKkKlansman (tie)

3. Incredibles 2

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

6. Bohemian Rhapsody

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story

8. A Quiet Place
9. Deadpool 2

10. Black Panther

11. A Star Is Born 2018

12. Ant-Man and the Wasp

13. Ready Player One

14. Bad Times at the El Royale

15. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

16. Ocean's 8

17. Isle of Dogs

18. Game Night

19. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

20. Venom

21. Thoroughbreds

22. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

23. The Predator

24. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom