My prior knowledge of Ghost in the Shell consists of the following: There was a game on the Playstation 1 in which you drove a red ladybird tank and that the original story is supposed to be kind of a big deal. That’s pretty much it. I ended up deciding not to colour my opinions the movie by searching out any of the source material beforehand. In part because a lot has been said in the build up to this movie and little of it positive. I realised that much of this was to do with the choice in casting and differences in tone. In the end, I thought I’d be better off just going to see the movie and judge it by its own merits, not involve myself in any of the debate that seems to dog the film.
Category: My Thoughts on:
My version of a review section, except generally nowhere near that structured. Sometimes I’ll just pick out a single talking point from a movie or game rather than a full review. It’s generally my reactionary take on recent media.
My Thoughts on: Mass Effect Andromeda
I get the feeling that at this point, everything that can be said about Mass Effect Andromeda has been pretty well covered by the internet at large. Ending controversy aside, the original Mass Effect Trilogy was one of my favourite gaming experiences, like ever. So to wait for so long for Mass Effect Andromeda and for it to turn out like this. It’s a real shame. To note, this piece is going to be spoiler free, so don’t worry about ploughing through.
It almost goes without saying, but I’ll point it out anyway. Mass Effect Andromeda is a bit of a let down. Not only is it a let down for the returning fans of the old games, but it doesn’t really do a whole lot for the newcomers to the series either, especially with other games of the same kind out there right now. We’re not short of really good sprawling open world games by any means right now. And yet I forced myself through over 60 hours of this game just to see the finish. So you better believe I have some thoughts.
Thoughts on: Live by Night
I get the feeling this movie started off life as something more. Like it might have been Ben Affleck’s shot at a real epic crime drama like Once Upon a Time in America or maybe The Godfather series. It has all the hallmarks of wanting to be a longer movie, documenting the rise of one man in crime over a long period of time. All the same though, I liked Live by Night quite a bit in spite of the very mixed reception it got.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 