Chindie

The consoles gave been considered notably underpowered since release, a lot of developers were underwhelmed with the specs and felt they should have been a bit better. A minor upgrade could have knock on effects for titles gong forward and improve the experience. It would split the userbase though and probably would be a difficult sell - consoles aren't phones and that mindset of upgrades just isn't there. 4k probably doesn't sell it either - especially as it'll be just an upscaler.

Numerous developers have apparently confirmed its on the cards so at this point I think it's a matter of when, not if. The rumours of it being 4k capable are likely to be slightly incorrect though. It'll have an upscaler, little else.

I'm interested in the Ultimate Cut simply to see whether the extra 30 minutes is just chucking more stuff in, or whether it smoothes out some of the editing. It certainly adds in characters - Jena Malone was cut entirely and rumour was played a pretty significant character - but I'm hoping it'll develop things a bit. It won't fix the script though, when one of, if not the, significant moments in the movie was so stupid the immediate reaction is absolute bewilderment, no amount of extra scenes are fixing it. Incidentally the Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut makes that into a genuinely decent movie, it makes it into a more obviously ensemble piece and fleshes out whole plotlines to the extent the movie actually makes sense where previously it didn't at all.

Saw BvS. Er. I dunno what to make of it. I don't think it's as bad as Rotten Tomatoes and a lot of reviews would have you believe, but it certainly isn't a masterpiece. There's problems with it everywhere. Throughout the film characters do things for no reason other than the plot requires them to. There are literally dozens of these moments, and they aren't the kind that you notice the next day, you'll notice them sat there in the cinema. Entire plot elements hang off characters doing something that simply doesn't make sense. The movie also writes itself into a corner in a pivotal moment and the way it gets out of it will nearly make you laugh instantly. It's all the more funny when you realise some of the implications of that narrative escape hatch - the idea isn't a completely awful one (it isn't a good one either), but they do it completely brainlessly which makes the entire thing absurd, it also makes a certain character look like a complete clearing in the woods. It's immediately obvious that the script is going to the hobble the movie and that comes to pass. Affleck is actually decent as both Bruce Wayne and this take on Batman, but this is pretty much Batman in name only and is again undermined by the script. He acts like the Dark Knight Returns take on Batman, but this is undermined wholly by his willingness to kill. Batman in this movie must have a body count in the dozens. He quite literally murderers someone at one point, and wracks up the rest of the body count by happily shooting at and blowing up things filled with people. It's also established early on that he brands some criminals which the film gleefully tells you amounts to a death sentence in prison. His entire motivation for the movie is he wants to kill Superman. Batman isn't a murderer. Even in his most brutal interpretation, he doesn't kill anyone, he will go out of his way to not kill. The film nearly grasps the wider characterisation of Batman but then misses. He moves like Batman and fights like him, in some ways he thinks like him, but he does stupid illogical things, and the script ultimately makes him out to be a stupid right wing meathead. It's at one and the same time the best modern era comic Batman, and also the worst as it betrays fundamental elements of the character. Superman is joyless in the film, actually does very little in it, and at one moment acts in a manner completely at odds with the character they've established because otherwise the movie doesn't work. Wonder Woman is on screen for at best 10 minutes total, and has dialogue that could fit on postage stamp, but is a good interpretation of her from the finale's showing. Lex is a weird take on the character, and intensely irritating, with muddied motivation, but kinda works overall. Amy Adams could be replaced by some wood and nobody would notice. There's also the completely bizarre dream sequences. Back to back we get 2 dream sequences that come completely out of nowhere. Both have a purpose but both should have been cut. The first tries to explain Bruce's mindset with a nightmare of a world where Superman has gone unchecked and everything has fallen to disaster. I could hear people completely confused by this, and I would have been too has I not seen some merchandise refer to this Batman as Knightmare Batman. It doesn't need it, by that point we've established Bruce's motivation and distrust of Superman, reasonably successfully, all this does is confuse things. I suspect it's also a premonition of a Justice League movie but can't confirm that. Then we get an absolutely bizarre, and jarringly obvious nod to the Justice League. This serves no purpose in the movie beyond setting up those movies, and is completely odd. It doesn't fit at all, is never referred to again. Very strange. I could go on with the problems. There's loads. All of them relate to the script missing the mark. The script obviously wanted to do a certain story and then it's fit the characters into it, and it also wanted to have a very specific take on some characters that are controversial - Batman for example you feel they wanted to do a comic true version of the character but also wanted to up the grit and they've decided the best way to do that is make him more eager to kill. It rushes to get to moments it hasn't earned. And it's been edited with a hatchet. But there is some good in this. I think the story is cackhanded, and was never going to be a masterpiece, but it fundamentally could work with a more intelligent approach. The main narrative works - Batman hating Superman absolutely works for the reasons they establish. It works too well though and they then struggle to overcome it, a smarter script would work better. The imagery is a bit on the nose (the opening invokes 9/11 far too heavily) and often just copied from the page (the montage of Superman 'doing good' has an image that is ripped from the cover cover of All Star Superman, for instance, and is one of the better in the film). There are some lighter moments, fleeting lines offering some relief from the gloom. The action is good, the highlight being Batman taking on a room of goons and actually, for the first time on screen, fighting like he should. And if nothing else it's entertaining enough. So I don't know really what to make of it. It isn't a particularly good movie, but it's also not without merit. As a comic fan it pisses me off in many respects, in other respects I quite like it. It's intensely stupid in some respects, full of holes and requiring leaps of logic your brain won't allow you to make without question. It develops plotlines it hasn't earned. It has thrilling moments, good action scenes, some emotion, but all founded on idiocy. I suspect this will be liked by audiences more than critics, but it's never going to be more than a 6/10 movie, and for some people is going to 3/10.

Finished Daredevil. A really good season, I'm not sure where it sits with Season 1. I think it's more even, is consistently good, whilst Season 1 had a weaker few episodes but also as number of great ones. It's let down by missing a true villain, and feels a little eclectic at times, but it benefits from better performances generally and a brilliant turn by Bernthal. Wasn't even quite on board with Elektra, but I dislike the character in the first place. And the Hand never really quite clicked. But beyond that nothing was any great problem with the fundamentals. They even got the costume right. Well better than last year anyway. Recommended. And cool teaser for Luke Cage.

Having a bit of a Snyder evening in preparation for BvS tomorrow. Man of Steel and the Watchmen Directors Cut. I don't hate MoS like some do. It's a decent movie if completely overblown by the end, and it's take on Superman is a bit dour for a character who is basically a personification of hope, but it has a decent if very thin storyline and good performances and action. It does the portrayal of Superman's (and others) abilities exceptionally well The rewatch has also revealed that I find supporting baddie Faora curiously attractive... Watchmen remains Snyder's best I think. It nails everything about the look and style of the graphic novel, and has some brilliant casting and a clever adaptation of the finale which simply wouldn't work on screen. Again the action is great. You do get the idea that a lot of the subtlety of the comic is missing though, it really does look like the film was developed just using the pages as a storyboard to work from and it misses some of the layers of satire and commentary in the process. But it genuinely is a good movie, surprisingly. I see BvS tomorrow and my expectation, having never been particularly high, is at rock bottom. With that in mind, if it looks nice and gas some good action, I'll be cautiously happy with it. I'm concerned it goes even further away from the characters than MoS did, and also that is going to be a rushed blancmange of a film, but give me striking images and some good action and I'll take it....

In the right role, Knightley is fine. Otherwise, she usually lives up to the description Mark Kermode gave her (in conjunction with Orlando Bloom) in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies - 'So wooden its like watching 2 chairs mating'.

Giant Bomb have a 2hr play through up at the moment. Not watched all of it but seems they've had a lot of problems with it crashing. Looks nice though, and yeah it's Dark Souls for sure.

Yes reading earlier Wonder Woman is not quite done filming but it isn't far off. When I say they'll look to bin Snyder at the first opportunity I'm not saying they'll get rid of him on Justice League, it would take BvS being an absolutely awful box office performer, which it just won't be, to do that at this point. What I mean is they might say goodbye post Justice League, and shy away from Snyder being the DCEU 'visionary' he's been so far. DC doesn't have a Fiege overlooking the whole thing like Marvel does, with (originally) Whedon having a big influence on things in the wider universe. WB and DC just have Snyder kinda doing both things and it's not really working (although it looks like Goyer dropped the ball big time as well this time) already.

OJ Simpson? Anywho, a sensible sentence for Johnson, and now he'll find out that they don't really do grooming in prison. Or lube.

Mental note, always click the spoiler...

Last I heard about Cruyff was that he was meant to be on the mend. Tragic. The Cruyff turn remains the only piece of footballing 'skill' I can do to any degree. RIP

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto does something similar. He likes to guess the size of objects and carries a tape measure round to check whether he's correct.

I sincerely hope someone called social services on seeing that if it's real.

The Windwaker is undermined by having the back third of the game missing. Ocarina is near enough perfect - Water Temple aside. Windwaker does stand up better today graphically than Ocarina (which suffers N64 Vaseline vision and awful textures) but you'd be surprised how rough the GameCube original looks even with the art style. The Wii U version does a lot of subtle work to bring up to scratch, where it does legitimately look great.

Something something famous line about the Independent being a viewspaper not a newspaper.

Moyes would be a great appointment. There's no chance of it happening though IMO. He won't want to come in a mess that may risk a third fail in a row for him. And I sincerely doubt we're going to tempt him with a package of funds to do the overhaul necessary. But, in the unlikely event we do, that's a big move and a very good one. He is very steady and his teams are always solid. Nothing exciting but you'd wager he'd do well.

Is that the equivalent of fisting in the gerballing world?

In fairness the Metro is just the Heil for a Sun audience that won't buy newspapers. Having read it consistently for a few years, it's the worst kind of right wing idiot on the street nonsense.

Yeah I thought so. In fairness I did suggest to the recruiter I wasn't that keen at the time. I've called this morning and he doesn't seem to be about, typical.

F1 appears to be on a never ending mission to shoot itself in the foot. The season is a race old and already and had a farcical qualification decision quickly u-turned and now they've decided they don't want to be on terrestrial TV in the UK and instead want to suckle full time on the bastard poisoned teet of Murdoch.

I didn't really think about it at the time as I was caught on the hip a bit and didn't realise quite how awkward it would be to get to the place, and looking into the firm combined with the confirmation email referring to things I don't really do makes it clear this is a waste of time.

A recruiter has at short notice got me an interview with a company I've never heard of, for a role I'm exceptionally unlikely to be able to do to any great degree, or will sacrifice so much salary it's not worth my while doing it, in a place that is a nightmare for me to get to. I feel like a prick, because I did quickly agree to the interview as I walking down the street yesterday, but looking into it its an enormous waste of everyone's time, and my money to get there. Even if they offered me the job, unless they were going to pay me a figure that made it a no brainer (which they won't be doing by any means), I'd turn it down. I'm gonna have to say no thanks on the day of an interview and that makes me look like a clearing in the woods.

Indeed. But I've also read they've done him a bit wrong as well. He makes a number of patently stupid decisions apparently. The character never does that. He may make mistakes because he isn't aware of something, but never does something which would logically fail knowingly. He also apparently breaks his rule numerous times. I think this is a combination of Snyder just not getting the character, like he doesn't get Superman, and also trying to do the Dark Knight Returns style unhinged brutal Batman but messing it up.

I was thinking of you when I said that actually BOF! Anyone who is an average film fan who I've chatted to about this movie, the first thing they say is 'Batman loses right? He can't beat Superman'. It's a fundamental problem with it. They've fought loads of times in the comics and yes, Batman usually wins. He's smarter and he's prepared to go beyond what anyone would expect. He's knocked him out with a kryptonite ring, he famously used a threat on Lois' life to overcome him, etc etc etc. He doesn't play fair, Clark is to straight arrow to see it or holds back a little and Batman punishes him. Importantly though, those fights came after years of establishment in the comics, particularly of Batman being this paranoid ruthless but brilliant thinker. When you've read hundreds of issues where Batman does beat the odds through lateral thinking or knowing the situation more than anyone else, you can see him beating Superman in unexpected and devious ways. The movies have never done that. And now we have a new Batman and in the space of a single film, with nothing set up that Bruce is this brilliant bastard, we're expecting Joe Public to buy Batman can win. They've done the Miller robot suit thing to try to make it believable, but they've missed seemingly from the trailers that Miller used the suit to basically let Bruce stay in the fight, just, while his plan came together (and ultimately his plan is to win by losing, kinda. He does embarrass Clark first though).