Watched with my son. My son is thrilled. For me, this is a movie, as for low-budget interesting. Extremism to the fullest. High-profile British humor, atmosphere, very personal Christoph Waltz and notable Sam Neal. And young people look good, too. It's not Harry Potter, but it's a really addictive movie. The final piece of the movie is cool. 👍
My first viewing went under an incessant inner scream: 'Jimm Henson Studio!!!' No wonder I remember a couple of minutes after the first look. I'm reviewing it for the second time. I'm in the first twenty minutes. And it's terrible. You rarely see in a good and not the cheapest film such an armless production.
It usually serves as a beautiful eyeliner to tell about the director. But I have no idea about him. However, in plans to watch the series “Clever Dodger”, where he is the main director. God help me.
I understand why no joke works. One camera. There's only one camera per scene. And it's not an attempt at 'I'm an artist, I see that'. It's a savings. Scarcely disgusting savings. It makes you feel like you're watching a chronicle of the dismemberment filmed on a penny Go Pro. I have a scene on my screen right now where GG, who has just got a job, is led down a corridor occupied by workers and work.
Hero Sam Neal (the main movie of the generation Merlin), who at times barks and makes him call himself Mr. Tanner. Sometimes he pushes the workers in the back, which frightened them pressed against the walls and windows. And then brakes near the stapler placed in the center of the floor, and then (and GG repeats this) bypasses the stapler gently along the wall. Okay, great scene. We have to understand that something strange is going on, that this is a huge world where GG doesn't know the rules yet. What do I see on the screen?
I remind you, one camera. I have no idea what Sam Neal's face is wearing when he's barking, because not only is filming from afar, he turns to GG to give a line. He pushes the workers away slowly so as not to hurt the extras, the joke is zero. Separate the guys who have to snuggle against the walls? Ha! Stapler (hallelujah!) is a close-up. But that's it. Remove the socks of two passing shoes to highlight the absurdity of how they shun a stapler? Ha a billion times!
This is the twentieth minute of the film. During this time, they reveal the character, hint at the magical world, set the first echoes of the conflict. It's a typical plot of "a lunatic in a magical world who falls for a purposeful chick" that was so popular in the '90s. And you know who else developed this story, since the 90s and her youth? Jaro with her character Newt Scamander. And when you compare this film and Fantastic Beasts, you realize that this is not directing, this is wrecking.
I’m not saying there was no money in the movie. Here's the next scene -- they walk past an entire hall filled with typists who have forties-style hairstyles. As the remnants of memory, not erased by blessed amnesia, suggest, these typists will not play any role in the film, they are just for beauty. To build a scenery, to dress statisticians in one style - not cheap pleasure. And the whole scene is completely fused - it is devoid of style, it is not remembered. It has no jokes, no characters. Everything in some faded blue tones, as if the scene was kept in the fridge next to boiled chicken, forgotten in the freezer four years ago.
To sum up. If you can issue a warrant to prevent directors from approaching the cinema, I am ready to file a lawsuit. Where the director could not spoil anything, I must admit, his ability to “break everything” really was not enough – the plot is good. So are the actors. It’s a good idea for the future of the series. Interesting world, interesting door that gives access to other worlds. Amnesia is approaching me again with a large blanket. I'll forget the movie again by tomorrow morning. Pity. The film is recommended to geeks like me who like to watch fantasy. And mocking bad scripts/directors. While I make notes in a separate file, how exactly I will tear apart the wretchedness that the director made of such a potential masterpiece.
We don't have money for special effects, but there's a stapler, you'll be afraid of it.
I bought Christoph Waltz and Sam Neal. It turned out to be a primitive banal completely low-budget "category B" nonsense of the level of an episode of some serial nonsense on the BBC like "Doctor Who".
It all begins with an insanely long exposition, in which we are shown the main character, on whom failures are showered from all sides, and in such numbers that clearly hints at their supernatural nature. And now you are waiting for the owl to finally arrive, carrying a cherished letter in its beak, and a subtle voice will utter the cherished three words “you are a marketer, Harry”, but... nothing happens. It turns out that all this was necessary for the hero to stupidly move from point A to point B. All, after that, the brilliant screenwriters flush all this “intrigue”, which has already spent about a quarter of the film’s time, into the toilet so that they never return to it again.
Further developments also do not inspire any optimism. All plot twists, dialogues, pranks - everything looks completely tortured, artificial and sucked out of the finger. You don't believe anything anymore. "Special effects" - to fit everything that happens. Goblins look like cosplayers on Halloween and cause nothing but bouts of ginger. Well, the "stepler" theme is Bomb! Right, wow, how they wrapped! I will not disclose, so as not to spoil, but just “head fall” (actually not).
I regretted my time. I still don't know why Waltz and Neal got here. They seem to have not yet been written off and have not yet reached the level of treshaks. I do not recommend it to anyone, do not waste time, do not repeat my mistake.
Director Jeffrey Walker shot a fascinating teenage fantasy 12+
Director Jeffrey Walker made a chic film about an unusual company. London is an ambitious city with a hidden world. Director Jeffrey Walker focuses on the global changes that have affected conservative London. Global changes changed the XX century, making it digital in the XXI century. Everyone wants money and power, especially strong magicians who have changed a lot lately. Writers Ford and Holt wrote a story about magic and big money. The trainees – Sophie (played by Wild) and Paul (played by Gibson) – become toys in the intrigues of a company of unusual services. What did you like best? It’s like a conflict between fathers and children in the world of magic. The conflict between fathers and children is played out through the magic and power of big money. The whole world changed after globalization was declared at the end of the XX century. The ideas of global peace and the desire for power over everything are played out in this teenage fantasy. The producing country - Australia - showed London as it is seen around the world.
Mysterious London and clerks Sophie and Paul become the main characters of the plot. I really liked the character Tanner, who plays one of the key figures in the mysterious bureau. The English name translates as “portable door”. So this is not a door, and here lies the whole philosophy of the West: "If life closes one door, it opens another." The door is a symbol of entering something new and unknown. Writers Ford and Holt focused on the philosophy of Western culture. If there are secrets, then there are those interested in keeping the secret. Special effects take heart. A lot of people will say, "It's just a simple installation of different locations." I'll say, "In the plot about the Bureau of Magical Services, the main thing is the magic of the main characters of the plot." There is magic, there is big money, and there is eternal conflict between fathers and children.
Full HD image quality. It's an interesting look at the dark side of London. I was delighted that everything was told in politically correct language and understood by 12+ teenagers. It's a very teenage movie. I liked the storytelling.
Directed by Jeffrey Walker, he directed a fascinating 12+ teenage fantasy that showcases a modern take on the global agenda. Actor Patrick Gibson played his role as an intern.
“The Office of Magical Services” is not Harry Potter in the world not Terry Pratchett or what Christoph Waltz forgot here at all
Central London, which for some reason was filmed in the center of Melbourne, the place is magical and strange. The local knave, who for some reason is from Florida, everything goes wrong. Laces break (twice), a toaster burns, a friend is going to move out with whom they rent a crumbling apartment near the stadium ' West Ham', so also on the street strange people pester the guy, and the dog steals his favorite scarf. A series of accidents lead Paul to some kind of analogue of the Ministry of Magic. There are no less strange people conduct an interview for some work, the essence of which no one can explain.
The whole exhibition occupies exactly a quarter of the timekeeping of the film. After yawning four times, you move on. It turns out that the power in the world of magic took the hero Christoph Waltz. It promotes fascist ideas of changing people and building an ideal society. For this, he even put his father, also played by Christoph Waltz, in a strange prison. Still in the plot and then interfere little green men, who in the film are called goblins (painted in the color of sour apple gremlins from the cult film from the 1990s).
Did you notice how many times I uttered the word ' strange'? This amount of eccentric elements does not make the film a fan-object of geek culture. It complicates and confuses. In addition, the plot is extremely simple. It contains all the stamps that can be found, for example, in such ' film masterpiece' as ' Golden Compass' (still a shame for Nicole Kidman). Almighty hero, eternal McGuffins, grand piano in the bushes, weapons on the walls that will never fire. A good thesis of the Melbourne Film School, no more.
Only a memorable setting could save this film. Sometimes he does copy London scenes from 'Harry Potter'. The promenade scene for the interview is almost written off by intonation from Harry's first trip to Spicy Lane. Does that add points? Not at all. I'll give you the secondarys.
The film also turns to social themes. Building a society for yourself is bad. Influencing people's personalities is bad. Diversity is good. Give humanity a chance - perfect. Even in 'The Amazing Maurice' these ideas sounded more mature.
As a result, 'Bureau of Magical Services' (boo-boo-boo as it could be translated The Portable Door) is a strange venture to legalize real magic. More like nostalgia for her. If the goal was to revive the desire to revisit Harry Potter', then it is fulfilled. But even the very unsuccessful third 'Creatures' it turned out much better.
The Portable Door (Bureau of Magical Services)
The film by Jeffrey Walker, which can be attributed to the genre of “low fantasy”, from the very first seconds meets the viewer not just with routine, but with a routine of decline: in the gloomy attic rooms with, as they say, “grandmother’s repairs”, a lazy (still unknown where) guy, in whose hands everything (either according to Murphy’s law, or because of obvious dilapidity and cheapness) finds his sudden death: shoelaces break, the toaster burns – and the hero himself does not see the box from the apartment. It looks sad and cute at the same time, but the aesthetics of the “innocent raskardash” is aggravated by shots of an uncleaned sink and a literally overgrown shower bowl, on which an already accepted for a “paid internship” knave stands with bare feet without any embarrassment. And in general, the rooms are not just old, they are running, not to mention the fact that they are impossible to small for a comfortable life. From the outside, from the TV screen, this picture looks sympathetic and even cozy, but it depicts, one way or another, reality. Reality cannot only be visual. Behind the scenes are dampness, drafts, fungi, dust and unpleasant smells, which together would make a cute clumsy person a painful and self-hating layman, which, in fact, a pond is a pond.
The leitmotif of decadence is maintained throughout most of the film. But decadence is, firstly, thanks to a well-chosen palette and a harmonious quasi-Victorian entourage, and secondly - thanks to the heroes who exist in it - not simple! Walker’s characters behave in him as if they do not notice the devastation around them. They live and work “with their heads held high”: “so it should be,” “so it should be,” as if they were saying. Acceptance of this order of things is taken from the viewer himself (by no means without pleasure for him), when the new interns Paul and Sophie enthusiastically accept the absurd world that suddenly surrounds them. Why not without pleasure? Why do we like this so much? Why are we glad that the heroes try themselves in this “office”, and so easily imbued with empathy for them, as said about the company J.W. Wells & Co. Sophie, the hole? Because the image of this world is terribly simple! It's a mess! Inspired by the creators of the film, the comparison that, for example, the artist (already, in the view of the everyday man loaded with routine, who soared above the reality of a person) has a certain mythical “creative disorder”, then the wizard, no less quirky type, must have a “magical disorder”, thus prompting the viewer to turn the cause and effect for an easy and pleasant reincarnation: make a mess, live an unorganized and untidy life – and you are a wizard! Please do not claim a decent quality of life.
The characters’ personalities look template and superficial, and their chemistry is built on the “attraction of opposites”: ambitious and strict to herself Sophie, observing her inaccessibility and knowing how to maintain a decent coldness and restraint, gradually (although there is no intrigue: with the first meeting with Paul, a romantic line becomes obvious, largely, probably, thanks to the primitiveness of the characters and their games – you should not expect more!) falls in love with the insecure and clumsy, poorly educated incompetent Paul, redeeming his inability to honestyness and honestyness of life, stupidity. Everything is absolutely transparent and banal, but the director is not satisfied and inserts endless and tactless hints from the magical authorities to his apprenticeships about their proximity. Of course, the message is justified: many bosses sin by thinking it appropriate to interfere in the privacy of subordinates because of the distortions that occur with empathy under the burden of exposing them to “authorities.” However, the lines and hamstrings of fellow wizards look too stupid even for such a frivolous film. We often feel the Spanish shame for the leadership trying to give us “personal advice”, and these “advice” is really funny, but in the film they are simply stupid, do not correspond to the logic of the scene itself and the stated images of the characters, and their number is annoying, so the audience feels shame for the actors themselves, reproducing meaningless lines.
Despite the cliché of everything and everything, the director cannot cope with the simple constructions of relationships chosen by him. The unscrupulous manipulations of Jeffrey Walker with the characters of the characters surpass even the machinations of the evil director of the firm J.W. Wells & Co., the main antagonist of the film, Humphrey Wells, who laid a contract for the sale of Sophie's soul to the Death Bank. If Humphrey limited himself to some ridiculous culinary and aesthetic tastes of his subject, then Walker, raping the already flat image of the heroine, makes a fool of her. Well, people tend to be stupid in love, but here the character changes places with Paul: in a scene in a bar, she turns from just a decent woman into an insulter, Sophie becomes inconsistent in her own behavior, in those manifestations of her character that were not even influenced by the contract. That is, in order for a woman to fall in love with Walker-raised Paul, the director needs to remake the woman herself as Paul. While Paul himself is filled with his identity. His growing up as a character is about accepting himself wisely and recognizing his true essence as a great power. Thus, the author emphasizes gender inequality and covers it with different characters and the power of love: a man is enough to be himself, and a woman needs to adjust.
In conclusion, it is important to mention the secondary characters, whose individuality is distinguished only by catchy costumes and aggressive abuser habits, which are presented in a harmless, and at the end of the film and in a virtuous, light: Kazimir Suslovitch tortured Paul? – it is not out of evil! he said responsibility!; the secretary frankly flirted and sexualized Paul? – it was a game! she is a faithful wife to his troll!; father Humphrey, whatever his son was really forced the child to give him his soul at his disposal? – but he did not see the evil and the victim! Each character is absurdly ambivalent, which blurs the logic and morality of what is happening, leaving the viewer alone with a beautiful but clichéd picture stuffed with rather mediocre humor. But overall, the film is based on the funny acting and aesthetics familiar to Harry Potter fans, which makes it acceptable for a one-time viewing.
The film is good, kind and pleasant - but very superficial. In the course of action, many questions arise "why so?", "why is it?", "why are the staplers?", etc. The film does not give answers, just bounces forward, so it remains only to guess and think. For answers, perhaps, you need to turn to the book source. There are good jokes, there are interesting ideas (you have to read first, and then agree), but in general it works like this. Perhaps such a plot does not need a movie, but a mini-series of episodes for five or six. Shot quality, entourage is beautiful, there are good effects and makeup (The Jim Henson Company, for a second!) According to the actors, the main characters, two interns, do not shine much, but they are cute and cope. There's Christoph Waltz, who's good at everything and always, and Sam Neal, who's also good at it and is frankly fooling around. I would also highlight Jessica De Gau, a very bright woman and her role is eccentric and funny.
Got to see this movie by accident. Fantasy and detective love, and even with a love line. I bought it. According to the annotation, it seemed that the main characters of the magical world are looking for criminals or artifacts in different worlds or, in extreme cases, different countries. I thought there would be interesting investigations with elements of magic.
But she was wrong. I have seen and read this story a hundred times.
A short film about a loser who has nothing, no job, no money, no girlfriend. And suddenly he is offered a contract, and then he suddenly discovers unusual magical abilities. Of course, it is used by an evil wizard who wants to take over the world or souls or something. When I realized that, I was upset. Watched to the end as the hero loser turned magician defeated the villain and saved the world.
Now the question is:
Directors, producers, sponsors are not tired of filming the same thing? Boredom, it's like Groundhog Day. What is not a fantasy film, the pattern is obvious: a loser - a villain of universal scale - the desire to take over the world - all the bad ones won - the loser got a beautiful heroine. Okay. To be honest with you.
There are a lot of interesting stories in fantasy books, but no, you take off this endless gum. And I do not even pity money, yet I have to pay the actors, but my time.
Over. Stupid, colorful film, with charismatic characters of the second plan, according to the plot-template from which already grinds its teeth.
Not recommended.
2 out of 10
2 points only for playing the secretary and the countess.
I wanted to go to the movies and the choice fell on 'Bureau of magical services'. Clerks trapped in the magical world - sounds interesting.
So what do we see in fact? How magical is it?
From the very beginning, the hero is lavishly pursued by failures and every moment of the film shows how clumsy and distracted he is. This is not just a portrait of a loser, but a hyperbolized portrait of a loser.
So our GG gets an internship, where he yells, insults, strangely communicate with him. What he decides not to leave, but to stay and let them yell at him again. And yet, oh yes, neither the GG nor the viewer understand what kind of place he got to, and what tasks the company and its employees face. It's absurd, it doesn't make sense. No magic, just a bunch of weird conversations where bosses yell at employees. Some are afraid of others, and all remain here.
Is it fantasy, not horror? Because it's horrible to watch.
The girl who liked GG also freezes him. It's the exact opposite. She knows where she is, what she's doing. Clear, collected. And she's totally disgusted.
What kind of world? The main character is a complete loser, there are no friends, there is no money to work, fell in love with a girl who feels cold and disgust for him, got a job where he is yelled at and insulted.
This is fantasy. And so is the first hour of the movie. It is already becoming somewhat unbearable to watch, but still interesting how it will end, so look further.
Oh. Of course, the most important task is given to the most important defector. And one incomprehensibility flows into the next. Again, some intrigue, threats... Secret designs.
And it turns out that GG has a special gift! You can't find one. But no one really explains it to him. As well as the viewer. How good is it, or is it like everyone else? I don't understand. But over time, it seems that this is very cool, but in the end, no class position even at the very end after all the merits of the GG does not get.
I didn’t like that for a long time no one could reveal GG with a girl when they traveled everywhere. A clear inconsistency. What is this? Then he comes in and everyone knows what happened to him last night, then they travel around the world every day and nobody knows he's found the door. This is crazy.
Lots and lots of nonsense...
And at the end of the shot, hinting at the possibility of continuing this picture.
It is difficult to understand what the author was trying to convey.
Even if you are a complete failure, there may be a hidden talent in you, and when you reveal it, there will be success, recognition and a girl?
Go to a job where you get yelled at and maybe everything will be fine.
Join the girls who don’t care about you and eventually they will become yours.
Or read the small print in the contract? Otherwise, they'll be exhausted. I think that's the main idea, and I'll go with it.
Modern viewers miss good stories. And when the fairy tale takes place in modern London, where magical creatures and supernatural forces hide behind the usual eye facade - such a fairy tale is doubly expected, because, probably, there is no such moviegoer who would not see ' Harry Potter'.
' Bureau of Magical Services' At first it seems like a wonderful adventure, able to plunge us into the familiar world of magical cinematic dreams. Here is the main character, Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson), after going through a series of ridiculous and ridiculous coincidences, in an absolutely extraordinary way turns out to be interviewed at the firm of J. W. Wells and Co., hitherto unknown to him. An awkward guy needs a job so badly that he doesn’t really care what he has to do in his new place. But we, the audience, are well aware of what awaits the slob Paul - so the baby dragon on the horizon loomed, and a letter from the future employer brought in the strangest way - well, just like Rowling!
Throughout the first half of the film, we are kept, so to speak, in anticipation of a miracle, slipping one after another magical objects and magical situations - but somewhere in the second half, the flair of magic slides, the mysterious goblins overgrown with ridiculous and rude makeup, somehow superimposed on the actors, and a beautiful fairy tale turns into a clumsy fashioned parable about the next Chosen One. And somehow there is a feeling that the source was much more interesting and deeper, but whether the money was not enough for a decent film adaptation, or an adult book tried to shoot so that children liked, and strict critics, carefully calculating the number of colored characters per cubic meter of the film, please.
For some reason I’m pretty sure that the main character of the novel by Tom Holt & #39; Portable Door' on which the film is made is white. In the film, of course, she was made black - well, just to comply with the modern & #39;rules of tolerance & #39; This is neither good nor bad, but for the Russian viewer it is still somewhat unusual. Especially since the main character Paul in the film is a white loser living in a cheap littered rented apartment (even his neighbor sold the sofa), but the African Sophie is certainly not a poor girl: stylish, expensively dressed and initially clearly looking for a millionaire in a pair.
At the same time, outwardly, actress Sophie Wilde is absolutely ' nothing' just like the main character. When the camera takes a close-up of Paul’s face, followed immediately by Sophie’s, the sequential combination of the incorrectness of both characters’ traits just gets dizzy. Add to this a pronounced slouch of the heroine - and the image ' successful lady' scattered like smoke. And then Jessica De Gau in the secondary, but very memorable role of the secretary Rosie constantly looms in the background - spectacular, bright, as a stencil drawn, with stunningly blue eyes and a completely straight back. Overshadows the main character simply on 'one-two'.
In general, as it seems to me, the modern tendency to take on the first roles of unsympathetic debutants, and on the secondary held and flawless & #39; stars & #39; not that does not justify itself - it just ruins many films. Well, at least strange, when the face of the main character you cause rejection, and the secondary (or antagonist) - shines with charisma and sets the heat, so to speak.
Christoph Waltz in the film got two roles at once - the head of the company Humphrey Wells and his elderly father John Wells. With all the tireless charisma of his character (characters), to be honest, I did not quite understand what justified such a choice - perhaps only by the fact that in one of the episodes, the characters, faced with Wells Sr. in the dark, immediately understood who it was? In my opinion, it would be better to give the role of Father Wells to another actor, because he smells like a cabbage.
Another 'Joint' the film is a love story of the main characters. It, it seems, should go through the whole plot, become a guiding beacon and all the other blah blah blah. What do we see in the movie? Sophie doesn’t care about Paul (she even despises him, considering him a complete nothingness) until he opens a magical door that can be transported to any place on our planet. Here the heroine begins to look at young Carpenter with completely different eyes. The message, of course, reads very unambiguously - take the girl to the sea, on a cruise, give her an unforgettable trip - and she is already yours. Ambitious Sophie doesn't need a half-loser - but she accepts the successful Paul immediately and unconditionally. Do you need such a message in a children’s story? Honestly, in modern realities I do not know for sure, but most likely the answer 'no'.
' Bureau of Magical Services' repeatedly defies expectations - promises, beckons and eventually turns out to be a dummy, created only for the sake of a modern vision of tolerance. For there are as many races and varieties in Wells’ firm as there are in all Britain. What is the board of shareholders of this strange holding - here, of course, and white, and African, and Chinese (for some reason with a Romanian or Serbian name), and even, to a heap, a goblin - so that there was nothing to complain about. It all looks like a buffoon with bears, horses and gypsies - bright, beautiful, but too motley and far-fetched.
This film would have more money to meet our expectations, and the leading actors are brighter, so that the secondary characters do not overshadow them, and the script is stronger, so that it does not seem constantly that the original idea was cooler and the most interesting during the film adaptation was cut out. But in the end we have what we have - a very average spectacle of a young London jerk from the lower strata of society, by the will of fate found himself in the thick of a magical conspiracy - and most of the plot does not even understand where and why he ended up.
Before us is a new modern fairy tale about modern life, designed for preschool children. A film about young people trying to get a job.
At first glance, the film “Bureau of Magical Services” is a beautiful picture with good actors and an interesting idea for the plot.
Many beautiful shots - copies of scenes and techniques used in the masterpieces of world cinema. It all looks expensive and tasteless.
In general, the idea is interesting, the idea that all events that happen to a person are not accidental, but behind this there is a certain organization that “helps people fall in love, divorce, open gravity.” A hint that the apple fell on Newton’s head not by accident, but was dropped by employees of this bureau.
It would seem that everything is good, there is money for shooting, there are actors who attract the viewer by their own names, there is an idea for the script, but when a detailed examination of the film, significant shortcomings are found. Immediately striking plot holes, script flaws and violation by the filmmakers of their own set laws of the magical world. Another problem is that in the course of the story, there is no transformation with the main characters. But the main problem opens up when you understand what idea of work and work will remain in the head of the child after watching the film-fairy tale ' Bureau of magical services.
The film does not give the viewer any other answer to the question “why is the bureau engaged in this adjustment of accidents?”, except for one – it is done for money. According to the logic of the film, both good and bad people work only for money.
The film shows how you can get a job to start making money. This story teaches the child to passively submit to circumstances. This story teaches that if you have talent, it will reveal itself when you need it in your work. That after finishing school, hoping for an accident, you can get a job in good company. You do not need to work, you can rely only on your talent, which will give you the status of a master in your business without any effort. And if you demonstrate ambitious ambitions to others, you will be able to undergo an internship under an accelerated program and get a high position.
The original name in English is “portable door”, after which the main characters begin to travel around the world. Money is a goal, a portable door is a dream.
Fairy tales went a long way from folklore (where they were preparations for the rite of initiation), through fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm to literary tales, then to modern fairy tales. ' Bureau of Magical Services' pathetic likeness at 'Harry Potter'.
For children of preschoolers 'Bureau of magical services" fairy tale harmful, and the rest it will be simply uninteresting.