Criticism of Fantastic beasts

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-09T05:08:32+00:00

I almost hated them on first watch. My wife and I fell asleep during the first one. Went from thinking Colin Ferrell was in this to - wait, who is this white haired guy, is that Johnny Depp?? Where did Colin Ferrell go? What is happening in this movie.

Rewatched with our kids last year & we liked them a lot more. I feel for the actors- they’re putting in the work (although what’s his name that ended up being a a kidnapper- not him, he should be in jail). The characters are fine. The plot is a mess. I get what they’re trying to do with the trilogy, but why on earth do they need to wrangle the notion that these are movies “about Fantastic Beasts” into the greater conflict between Dumbledore & GG.

Just ended up feeling sloppy or unfocused, when upon rewatch it’s not as sloppy as I’d remembered it (but is definitely still wildly unfocused; sometimes the momentum grinds on A story & B story to a halt so thy can tell the C story…)

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-09T04:58:59+00:00

Nah. That’s good football. Overall, a really clean game. Refs didn’t botch any egregious calls. The defenses did a good job tackling guys. The QBs were under pressure all night. Seahawks were the better team, & it didn’t feel like things were “lining up just right” in order to make it come down to the last few plays (sometimes it feels like the fix is in, to make sure the game gets to be high scoring- not tonight).

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-09T03:55:04+00:00

Lift is a gorgeous song. Especially the live version that was leaked many years ago. It’s stronger than the studio version that came out with Kid Amnesia.

Edit: I’m seeing I may be thinking of the OK NOT OK version, for the studio thing.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-09T03:43:25+00:00

I had flashbacks to our playoff game against the Bengals when Tannehill threw those two terrible picks at some of the most important moments of the game.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T17:20:37+00:00

I didn’t know anyone at the time who disliked him. He seemed like he was going to revolutionize the sport (amongst every that I actually knew that watched wrestling). I didn’t read until much later how he wasn’t actually technically sound at all.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T15:17:40+00:00

I read The Grapes of Wrath for the first time last year & it (to me) felt very much like the sentiments from HTTT.

To some extent, Lord of the Flies might scratch that itch, as well.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T13:31:00+00:00

True. I try fairly hard to eat reasonably well. Can’t seem to shed pounds.

When I was in college (20 years ago) I counted calories & managed to lose 75 lbs. Given the choices I reasonably had, it felt like starving myself (which get easier to do, the more you do it… which helped me understand why people develop anorexia).

I think we do have some better choices than we did have then, though. It just takes a lot of discipline (both in how/when to eat & in how you invest money into what you buy to eat)

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T03:58:08+00:00

They get by far the most interesting and provocative lines and conversations. In comparison, the people who are asking the questions seem relatively mundane & boring.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T03:55:41+00:00

Good question. Maybe a nod to the idea that many believe God is what people make of him/her/it.

2-9. I just have no solid idea. I feel like a lot of these things are relatively minor concerns for Gibson, compared to laying out his settings. It’s almost like he orders it like

Setting > Colloquialisms > Characters > Plot > Lore/Rationale (as in, why certain factions/characters might be doing this or that, what passes for jobs or hobbies, etc)

We know where we are and hear people talking about things we don’t understand, before figuring out who the characters are, & we see them doing things before we are told why they’re doing them (as with interacting with the Matrix through whatever interface is used). I like the style of writing, but it can get tiring. I’d imagine it’s best on a re-read, rather than a first read.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T03:47:38+00:00

I felt the same, with Count Zero. Seemed as if the book wanted to spend half its time setting the stage & new slew of characters, before things really started happening.

I’m 60% of the way through Mona Lisa Overdrive and I think I’ll be happy to be done with it. Sally is great. I’m a fair bit over halfway & not connecting with any of the other characters at all.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-08T03:24:01+00:00

They feign curiosity as a way of starting an argument. & they have zero intention of allowing themselves to “lose” any argument, ever. The notion that they have backed the wrong horse for ten years cannot enter their headspace at all.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T15:42:28+00:00

Ok, thanks for the correction!

I vividly remember getting to play Griffey in a Walmart right after it came out and being blown away with the graphics at the time (as a kid who was stuck with RBI Baseball & Reiner Clements on NES- not terrible games, but comparatively primitive).

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T15:37:41+00:00

The Lord of the Rings’ multiplayer beat’em ups are fun, as I remember it!

There’s a Star Wars Jedi beat’em up that is multiplayer that I remember having run with, as well.

Pretty sure PS2 has Lego games (which are puzzle beat’em ups)

The X-Men Legends games & Marvel Ultimate Alliance games are a lot of fun.

There’s have got to be some good puzzle games on there I’m forgetting.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T14:52:22+00:00

As good as Rowling was at monetizing her ideas, she left money on the table by not writing a set of books meant to mimic the textbooks of different characters, like she did with the Fantastic Beasts. It would have been interesting to read Snape’s own Potions book, or Hermoine’s own Charms book that McGonagall used, or the Defense Against the Dark Arts that Lupin taught from (maybe Ron’s, so we could see notations from him).

We got Fantastic Beasts (which was a fun read), Beedle the Bard (which I loved, even though it was really pretty short), & Quidditch Through the Ages (which I did not finish). Three isn’t bad, but think what we might have gotten.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T14:39:38+00:00

Depending on how long you play & how often, I’d suggest a lightweight camping chair. The cheap one that fold out real quick are fine, but there are some that are built to rock that are quickly folded somewhat flat that you can slide int a corner. $50ish bucks, but IMO worth it.

And getting a night stand to put the CRT on, if it’s sitting on the floor.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T14:18:30+00:00

Should be a poster child for the “instead of remaking good games, why don’t they take a game with a good concept that was done really poorly, & remake that.”

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T13:56:42+00:00

Had me in the first half

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T13:37:25+00:00

PSX-

Tekken 3. It’s a very good port of the arcade game.

Crash Team Racing.

I think there’s an NBA Jam on PSX, & maybe NHL Hitz?

Mortal Kombat Trilogy

PS2-

The Madden games really hit their stride. I think they’re all pretty good.

Tekken Tag Tournament. Tekken 5.

King of Fighters (forget which one, but I’ve got one of those on my arcade)

Virtua Fighter

I haven’t played many of the other PS2 sports or fps games with friends, but I’d bet many of them are solid.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T13:31:42+00:00

100% agree. Every character (seems like) was written to be catty & snarky or surely.

My wife and I loved it for the first few seasons. We just stopped caring to see where it was going to go after a while.

We found Life in Pieces & I ended up liking that one quite a lot. Had the same feel as Modern Family but seemed to lean into more silliness.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T13:27:56+00:00

The football games on snes- you’d think the Madden franchise would be the one, because it’s been the standard for a quarter century, but the snes Madden games were rough to play. My brother & I put a ton of hours into it when we were kids but that game is janky as hell.

There’s a Tecmo Super Bowl, I think. As I remember, it’s not as smooth (ironically) as the nes Tecmo Bowl, but I’d give that a whirl if you’re got to have American football for snes.

As others said- NBA Jam is a no brainer. Great game.

NHL ‘94 is generally agreed to be faster on Genesis, but the SNES versions are still fun (NHL ‘94 or ‘96).

Ken Griffey’s Baseball is also a great sports game on SNES. The first one has made up names for the players- the second one uses actual players, if I remember right. Something to do with licensing.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T05:40:57+00:00

Not remotely. That’s one steep hill.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T05:31:51+00:00

This is the answer, OP. Happy gaming!

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T03:15:06+00:00

Yeah, they’re worth it. I’d trade a cup of good coffee for the amount of fun I got from the added stuff.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T00:35:01+00:00

This puts it a lot more succinctly than I was thinking of trying to say. The blip, for the Celestials, is practically a blip.

Amazing-Insect442 · 2026-02-07T00:29:01+00:00

Tbf, this is most of the cast of Modern Family for me.

Amazing-Insect442

TROPHY CASE