Dermot Power

New York is fabulous, and it was great getting to visit its many inspiring 1920s locations in the first Fantastic Beasts film, but nothing can really top the magic of London and Paris for me. Even in my wearied state, the first time I set foot in London (ca. 2am arriving off a delayed Eurostar from Provence) I knew the city for the place of magic that it is. Yes, I’m fully biased by the many many MANY magical books that I’ve read that are set there, but sometimes you just get a feeling of whole-ness from a location that transcends and confirms everything that you thought you knew. For me, London is absolutely that place, so I was expectedly chuffed that we would once again be venturing into its historic streets during the second Fantastic Beasts film. In true London form, the artists who got to reimagine the location during an earlier time period gave us stunning St. Paul’s Cathedral-dominated city-scape vistas, the slow creep of the London fog, and rain-slicked (but still sparklingly-moody) streets, but with a magical twist. Drawing mostly on reality (at least in my mind), the artists did a wonderful job inspiring the filmmakers, and seeing their concept artwork was a treat. And then we set foot (or Portkey) across the Channel to visit Paris. Oh Paris! I have yet to visit it (besides the airport in Roissy and bypassing via train), but I feel like I have so many times from the many other films, novels, and artwork that I continually devour that is set there. Inspired by the Art Nouveau stylings that dominated the Paris landscape (and so much of its continuing city-scape) the designers once again easily tread the line between magic and reality. We visit a new Ministry of Magic, see a strangely morbid travelling circus, and are introduced to a whole bevy of new creatures - which are, of course, some of the main stars of the film. Seeing the designers build up new stories inspired by Paris and French mythology was equally as stunning as their exploration of London, and possibly even more so since the material is absolutely new to the Wizarding World that we are all familiar with. It almost makes me sad after finishing this book that we’ll likely be headed off to different European centres for the remaining films (I expect Switzerland or Germany, and possibly Prague next), since I am loath to leave Paris behind. At least we’ll likely be visiting Hogwarts again, and possibly London, as Jude Law’s Dumbledore is likely to take centre stage and we’ve also been introduced to Newt’s London stronghold townhouse! Too bad we’ll be waiting quite a while for the next film, but at least the exploratory books that we get to tide us over in the meantime are of excellent quality!… (mehr)

It’s no surprise that the Art Of Harry Potter film books are my favourites, besides the books in the actual series, because they explore the creative genius of the teams of artists who put so much work and effort into bringing the stories to life. The author showcases a range of artwork from throughout the story of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, focusing each chapter on a specific major setting and detailing the artwork that went into creating the CGI-enhanced sets, character designs, and of course the beasts that populate the film. Obviously the creation of the various beasts are the real draw to the book, since each went through many different designs before settling on the one that made it to the screen and traditional bestiaries of magical creatures are a passion of mine, so I was engrossed from page one. It was also great to see each artist credited throughout the book, since they may all be working on the same film, but each has their own unique style to bring to the table. I would have honestly liked to see more focus on the artists themselves, maybe in the form of discrete bios which would give fans of fantastic and film artwork more of a portal towards their other work, but the big names and directorial team expectedly take dominance over the team aspect. I have yet to get my hands on the art book for the Crimes of Grindelwald, so I’m curious to see if the art team are the same, or if we see some new members, considering the style of the second film is very distinct from the first.… (mehr)

Zowel Judge Dredd als Batman gaan mij als strippersonages zeer aan het hart. Daarom was het niet moeilijk om deze uitgave te kopen zonder er verder over na te denken.

Daar heb ik nu wel spijt van want o, o, o, wat een teleurstelling. Vooral Judge Dredd valt nog wel eens uit zijn bekende rol zonder dat daar een bevredigende verklaring voor wordt gegeven. Het verhaal begint aardig maar wordt al snel heel flauw. De tekenstijl kan het geheel ook niet redden.

Weggegooide tijd, weggegooid geld en een zeer hart.… (mehr)