Misplaced stories and what to do with them. (Fantastic Beasts spoilers)

First off…

Spoilers ahead…

You have been warned…

So in my Fantastic beasts review I mentioned that there were some minor scenes that felt out of place… .. . These where any scene that contained the unmasked Gellert Grindelwald aka Graves. They literally bookend the story and have no impact at all. This is very much a done story being shoehorned in to a multi movie narrative. Now before someone says to them self “that filthy muggler has no clue of how important Grindelwald is to the story” This is partially true, it has been close to 10 years since I read the last in the core series and have not really revisited them since. Sure I did watch all the movies but they never stuck. So in many ways I had but the vaguest grasp of Grindelwald going in to this movie, add to that my active avoidance of spoilers and previews. I was as close to a blank state as I have ever been going in to a franchise movie. (compare with my encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel and DC lore that have me going in to any such movie with more knowledge than I care to think about.) So I did not really care about the opening scene and once the end scene comes rolling around it was more of a… dafuk… But I am aware of the importance of Grindelwald, I was just expecting them to push that in to the next movie.

And this is where my main gripe comes in, I think the people making the movie had the same idea until some focus group came in and had their say. The scenes with Grindelwald are sloppy and pointless. They serve no purpose at all in my mind and while I get that people new to the franchise need some anchoring for this character seeing how it is obscure to say the least, and that trying to launch an entire movie series built on him would be risky. They did not have to be so bleeding lazy about it.

I still love the movie that sits between these bookends and I think that a movie about Grindelwald will be interesting especially if they perhaps play up the by fans suggested romance between Grindelwald and Dumbledore. Mostly because it would explain a few things about ol´ Albus. It just pokes me the wrong way that this was the way we got introduced to the character.

It was also fun to see Ezra Miller seeing how he is the new Flash, trying to fill the place that Grant Gustin have in my heart… 

Fantastic beasts: A spoiler free review

First off, sorry about the lateness of this post but i simply fell asleep before i could write it up. It is also good to digest a movie a bit before writing about it in my mind. 

Fantastic beasts and where to find them, for the people unfamiliar is the latest movie in the Harry Potter universe. It is a prequel of sorts and is set during the roaring 20´s. As the title suggest it is about the the author of the in universe book "Fantastic beasts and where to find them". This book has been presented as a end all be all source of best knowledge. I am going to leave the story of the movie at that and simply say that it is a very good story. 

Now the movie it self is well crafted, if one discount a handful of scenes, but these does not really impact the movie so that is something i am willing to overlook. Both the female and male lead are likeable and especially Redmayne have that perfect adrokable vibe. But as good as they are they are almost upstaged by the supporting cast, human and beast alike. It is also nice to see the movie break a few tropes that plagues most average blockbusters. 

Now no movie is flawless, and in the case of this movie, outside of those errant scenes most problems in this movie have to do with how the action scenes are cut, they are messy and the use of a first person view in some of them really does not work. Add a rather lackluster use of 3D and you have what sometimes feel almost Michael Bay-ish. I´l go in more detail about my thoughts regarding what worked and not in my spoiler review. 

To sum things up i think Fantastic beasts and where to find them is a great movie and i felt my money was welt spent. But it does touch on some subjects that will leave people who have just read the books or even more just seen the other movies a tad bit confused. Go watch Fantastic beasts and where to find them, you will not be disappointed. 

/T

Trailers... Trailers everywhere.

So... 

This weekend-ish i caught two new trailers, both live action remakes of animated movies and both really good. First was the Ghost in the shell trailer. As someone who have not really read the manga, just watched the animated movie and the series. That trailer is looking really good and it seems to be doing a good job in capturing the feel and look of the source material. There have been accusations of white washing and i am sure they are not uncalled for. But there have been some fairly angry voices raised against the casting of Scarlett Johansson as major Motoko. 

Pisswash... That is what i say about that. Sure the character have a Japanese name but her design have always been "race" agnostic in that way that many anime and manga characters are. In fact i´d say the casting is eerily close to the source material. 

There seem to be a tad bit less nudity than in the original anime, but to be fair that was a smart choice as it did not really fill any real purpose beyond "boobies"... Well the in-universe logic was solid, but while you might need to be naked for the optic camo to work.. there is no need to create a universe where you need to be naked for optic camo to work. Especially when the same universe have  full body prosthetic. 

Now in way this is Ghost in the shell coming full circle, at least in Swden as there at one point was plans for the animated Ghost in the shell to go up on the silver screen. That never came to be, and here we are. 

Anyway.. go look up the trailer and if you have the time give the original animated movie a look.  

Next up is the answer to the question, what will Disney do when they run out of formats to re-release their movies on. Live action remakes seems to be the next thing. With Maleficent, Cinderella and the Jungle Book doing a more or less good job of masking this idea... Beauty and the Beast looks to be a more or less scene by scene recreation with some minor alterations to (i would assume) get away from some of the worst legacy sins of the original one. After all once one peeled back even the thinnest of layers in that movie, shit got dark.. quick. All in all things look good from the trailer and while i think the animated Beast look about... 10 times better, he ofc did not have to contend with reality in any shape. For what it is a like it. Will be interesting to see what they do (if anything) to adress the shortcomings of the old movie. After all you only need some very small tona shifts to have huge impact in that movie, Toss in some extra lines of dialogue and you might create a entirely new story.  Will also be interesting to see Emma Watson break away from her previous character of a witty and strong book-smart girl that sets her own path.... Yeah... Never mind. 

Still again watch the trailer for the nostalgia kick if nothing else. Just avoid the commentary field... It is... sad. 

Until next time, be safe and play fair. 

/T

Blizzcon 2016 my take

                          

So Blizzcon have come and gone. This was as expected a sort of off-year with no really big reveals on the horizon. I would assume that people who care by now have digested the recaps and info dumps sp i am not going to go through it all. I will mainly focus on WoW and Overwatch as these are the Blizzard games that i currently play but i will touch on things i found interesting for other games and beyond. 

Let me first touch upon what might have been the biggest reveal, Overwatch League, a bit like Premier league just way smaller and for a digital shooter game. So Blizzard just slapped a foot of prime meat on the table and asked the rest of the esports scene what they have done so far to advance the.., well.. sport. In short it is a organized league that if it actually reaches what it set out to do will have proper teams and formal contracts, making it look more legit. In reality it will not be much different from how it is today but appearance as we know is key. If people feel a connection to the event they will be more invested, and Blizzards idea to have local teams tied to towns and regions  (not only on a national level) fits very nice in to this. After all i´d love to see the Gothenburg Guthooks take on Kiruna Pickaxes for a spot in the regionals. Time will tell what this will pan out in too and how many teams it can support. But the idea i feel is really fresh and interesting. 

So beyond that Overwatch saw mostly tweaks and QoL stuff beyond the new hero Sombra. Now i had the chance to play as and against Sombra on the PTR today and i think she will be very fun and Tracer levels of irritating in the right hands. But she also seems to have a very high skill bar, being both squishy and fairly low on damage DPS hero. Her strengths ofc lies in  her ability to control the field of battle. Also i like to see that Blizzard continue it´s new path of making female heroes that look badass and kick arse without needing to dip in to the "battle dental floss" outfit category. She will most likely see some serious rounds of nerfing and buffing in the coming weeks. Personally i was more happy to see Torbjörns scrap resource now having a slow auto generation to accompany the usual kill drop way, that way one does not have to suicide dive in to the enemy team to get some packs made. 

I also love and adore the new hero "limit" in quick play. Only one version of each hero per side stops the *insert very foul words here* cheesing that is a two Torbjörn and two Bastion with a tank and a healer point capture or any of the other insane troll builds. I was for a very long time a strong opponent to the limit and had a live and let live attitude. But at this point i have had enough with humanity and its so called right to free will. It will be a joy to play once this patch drops live. 

But no big expansions planned for Overwatch.. Or any other game in reality. 

As for WoW, well we will be taking the fight to the *more bad words* Eredar in their own back yard and trust me you that i will be very happy about that. Because i am so sick of the burning legion that i will even put up with Illidan to get the job done I wish we will get to shot them up once and for all. This would also set up for a new and final expansion next where we shut the door on the last remnants of old gods and titans. A worthy end to the story so to speak. I also like the idea of class mounts. 

Beyond that not much to report, this Blizzcon was mostly a retrospect on Legion. 

Now it was a bit sad to not have Chris Metzen there as he retired before the con, but all in all the quality was as high as it used to be and it was nice to see that games like Overwatch  have gained some real traction now. 

Not sure it is a good idea to teach a AI to play StarCraft... Once it get a taste of the sort of smack talk that accompanies competitive games have it will be ready to go SkyNet on us... But at least it will have a brilliant comeback to the claim that it is botting =P 

But looking forward there are a ton of fun things to enjoy if you like Blizzard games.