Can't Wait Wednesday: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Illustrated Edition

I'm switching over from Waiting on Wednesday's to Can't Wait Wednesday, a meme hosted by Wishful Endings. The idea is basically the same, but it looks like the official hosts of Breaking the Spine have shut down the meme so it's time to move on. Description and cover image taken from Goodreads.

An essential companion to the Harry Potter novels, now fully illustrated!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander's classic compendium of magical creatures, has delighted generations of wizarding readers. With this beautiful, large-scale new edition illustrated in full color, Muggles too will have the chance to discover where the Runespoor lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why shiny objects should always be kept away from the Niffler.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Comic Relief and J.K. Rowling's international charity, Lumos, which will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that this is insufficient reason to part with your money, one can only hope that passing wizards feel more charitable if they see you being attacked by a Manticore.

Why I'm Waiting

I mean how can I not be excited for this? Really words defy me at the moment. Yes, I will be collecting both editions of this book because they're both equally stunning.

The illustrated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them releases November 7, 2017

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

As of writing this I've already made plans to go see it again, since I enjoyed it so much. It's one of those movies that very re-watchable, and, if there was any doubt, I will be purchasing it as soon as it releases.

Returning to the world of Harry Potter was marvelous. I don't even know where to begin in describing how my heart soared at the first few trills of music as they wash onto the screen with the clouds and Warner Bros. logo! Harry Potter taught us that magic existed and this was a continuation of that magic, with none other than one of my favorite actors portraying a Hufflepuff (my own Hogwarts house) who collects magical creatures (basically my dream job, if I'm being honest). Plus, it's set in America in the twenties, which is such a sparkly and interesting time. So, yeah, it was set up to be a huge hit (aside from that scumbag Depp's cameo).

While I really loved it on an emotional level, as a storyteller it did leave me wanting more. Maybe it was the buildup and high expectations that had been stewing since the announcement a few years back. Maybe it was the predictability of the plot. It might even have been that none of the characters seemed to really have any particular closure and the whole book felt very much like a set up for what was to come next. Whatever it was, the nostalgia factor wins out in the end and I can't help but buy all the merchandise, obsess over the physical copy of the screenplay, and fondly recall all of my favorite scenes.

Top nods to go to the casting director, who picked them perfectly. Every single actor was splendid! I didn't expect anything less seeing the lineup, but I was still blown away and taken into the movie so that I forgot they were indeed actors and I wasn't peeping into someone's life. I also think JK Rowling did a great job with the script. It's her first go, and while it would have been hard to mess something like this up, it was well done. As they say- you can make a bad movie out of a good script, but not a good movie out of a bad script; and this was a, dare I say, fantastic movie.

April Trailer Round Up

I am a huge fan of movie trailers.  In fact, I tend to like trailers more than I like actual movies.  There's just something about a shiny new trailer, with all the potentials and possibilities still left to fate, that gets me really excited.  And these last few weeks have been chock full of awesome new trailers.  Here's a collection of my absolute favorites:

Doctor Strange

Release Date: November 4th, 2016

Suicide Squad

Release Date: August 5th, 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Release Date: November 18th, 2016

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Release Date: December 16th, 2016

A Monster Calls

Release Date: October 14th, 2016

What upcoming movies are you excited for?  Any of these?  Let me know in the comments!

Book News: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Movie

Welcome to the newest feature of this blog!  I plan on doing Book News posts whenever something important and bookish happens for a series I care about.  They'll be posted sporadically, since I won't know when the information will be coming out.  You can always see old posts and information to catch up on under the Reviews & Book News tab.