The Official ''Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald” Thread

[Marvolo]

This is not a now thing. Rowling's dealing with minorities has always been a question. My brother's best friend still rolls his eyes at Cho Chang. And that is just surface stuff.

J.K. Rowling doesn't know how to write about America

I think Rowling has been tearing herself down for at least a decade at this point. Especially considering how often she contradicts herself in an attempt to make it seem like she has had this all planned out from the start, while writing poor prequels , Lucas style. That is before we get into the Depp situation and her social media game of distraction.

I need to tell a friend that her Asian name is apparently disrespectful to minorities and asians. She and her vietnamese father havent gotten that PC memo yet.

The native American thing is another non issue. Her books have always played fast and loose with fantasy and mythology elements and if she got any details wrong or has some misconceptions about their mythology that's not really a problem for a fantasy writer. Nor is it a moral fault on her part.

The Depp thing is nothing but he said she said gossip at this point. Two exes trying to stick knves in each other. Nothing more.

 

[tanita_mors]

Yeah, I don't get the Cho Chang thing. She is Asian, isn't she, so how is that racial stereotyping ? Are you saying that she should had a more more anglicized sounding name, like Rachel Wu in Crazy Rich Asians for example? I can see that with people who want to forget their roots as they being new lives in a new country, but those who are probably proud of their heritage may want to preserve traditional names.

The MACUSA argument on the other hand holds water, because the country got it's name only in the 18th century, with it's independence, so MACUSA being founded in 1690's under that name seams illogical.

 

[Schlosser85]

SJW outrage culture has gotten so hypocritical that Asian characters having Asian names is racist.

Which is......racist.

Which isn’t so shocking, considering most of the perpetually outraged SJW Twitter types are white people appointing themselves to defend and speak on behalf of minorities who didn’t ask them to.

Issues that actually affect people aren't for privileged white girls to co-opt to get kudos on Tumblr for how "woke" they are. It's not some kind of popularity/scoring internet points game.

 

[Marvolo]

An extended cut is being released on UHD and Bluray on March 12.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 4K Blu-ray

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• 
  
  • EXTENDED CUT OF THE FILM (141 min).
  • THEATRICAL CUT OF THE FILM (134 min).
  • J.K. Rowling: A World Revealed
  • Wizards on Screen, Fans in Real Life
  • Distinctly Dumbledore
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: The Return to Hogwarts
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: Newt's Menagerie
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: Credence, Nagini and the Circus Arcanus
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: Paris and Place Cachée
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: Ministere des Affaires Magiques
  • Unlocking Scene Secrets: Grindelwald's Escape and the Ring of Fire
  • Deleted Scenes

4K BLU-RAY TECHNICAL SPECS:

• 
  
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • ENGLISH DOLBY ATMOS TRACK
  • Subtitles: English, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian French

 

[Marvolo]

Yeah, I don't get the Cho Chang thing. She is Asian, isn't she, so how is that racial stereotyping ? Are you saying that she should had a more more anglicized sounding name, like Rachel Wu in Crazy Rich Asians for example? I can see that with people who want to forget their roots as they being new lives in a new country, but those who are probably proud of their heritage may want to preserve traditional names.

The MACUSA argument on the other hand holds water, because the country got it's name only in the 18th century, with it's independence, so MACUSA being founded in 1690's under that name seams illogical.

I've always accepted the MACUSA thing, because its easily explainable. The states existed and were recognized as states in the 1600s. So the magical communities in those states formed a union and a government in 1690 before the muggles did in 1776. Theres no good reason that the wizards in America couldnt have done this before the muggles. Id go so far as to say in the Wizarding World MACUSA may have even had an influence in the formation of the muggle union and the formation of the muggle's federal American government. Wizarding governments influence and work with muggle governments in Rowling's world.

Honestly I think itd be a cool bit of canon for the Founding Fathers to have been aware of and in contact with the wizards in America. Particularly Benjamin Franklin because of his experiments and curious intellectual mind. I feel like there is potential for a fun novella story there.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I don't think extra screen time will fix this movie, honestly. It was a mess from conception.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I have yet to watch the extended Hobbit films. I intend to at some point, but I don't think this is a movie that 9 mins can fix. The main plot of the film lacked focus and was flawed IMO. That's not something more screen time is going to change. I think this needed another 2-3 drafts of the screenplay and maybe the Fantastic Beasts series itself needed less films. Making this 5 films instead of 3 created a problem that Hobbit had: not enough story to fill in the extra films. So we get loads of filler that brings the main plot down.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I've always accepted the MACUSA thing, because its easily explainable. The states existed and were recognized as states in the 1600s. So the magical communities in those states formed a union and a government in 1690 before the muggles did in 1776. Theres no good reason that the wizards in America couldnt have done this before the muggles. Id go so far as to say in the Wizarding World MACUSA may have even had an influence in the formation of the muggle union and the formation of the muggle's federal American government. Wizarding governments influence and work with muggle governments in Rowling's world.

Honestly I think itd be a cool bit of canon for the Founding Fathers to have been aware of and in contact with the wizards in America. Particularly Benjamin Franklin because of his experiments and curious intellectual mind. I feel like there is potential for a fun novella story there.

Beyond this ignoring the fact that JK clearly didn't know what she was talking about, the phrase "United States of America" was in no recorded history until 1776. The concept of the USA is very specific, belonging to a group of people. The idea that oh, the magic folk did it well before, and this had no discernible effect makes what logical sense?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I have yet to watch the extended Hobbit films. I intend to at some point, but I don't think this is a movie that 9 mins can fix. The main plot of the film lacked focus and was flawed IMO. That's not something more screen time is going to change. I think this needed another 2-3 drafts of the screenplay and maybe the Fantastic Beasts series itself needed less films. Making this 5 films instead of 3 created a problem that Hobbit had: not enough story to fill in the extra films. So we get loads of filler that brings the main plot down.

I have. They make them little to no better really. Some fun little bits for book fans, but yeah. They don't make them radically better films. And that was always going to be the case, because they were extended films in the first place. So when you add more padding, to already padded films, it doesn't really help. Though I have to say the Hobbit films are stunning to watch, as you realize they so clearly just cut things out so they could put them back in later and have an extended edition to sell. It was so shameless.

 

[Ninjablade]

Yeah this film needs a page one rewrite to fix its script issues. Might clear some things up sure, but this movie has issues on a conceptual level which you can't fix without overhauling.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah this film needs a page one rewrite to fix its script issues. Might clear some things up sure, but this movie has issues on a conceptual level which you can't fix without overhauling.

Honestly, it did no favors for the first film either. It's still better then this, but now it is just a kind of boring film, that leads to a disaster. No payoff.

 

[Iceman]

When is the next one due?

 

[Iceman]

November 20th, 2020

Thanks. Hopefully they knock it out the park for that one.

 

[THORin]

Thanks. Hopefully they knock it out the park for that one.

I hope so - I just want people to love the Wizarding World as much as I do; if JK Rowling could help me out in that task, it would be...helpful! Ezra Miller and Jude Law both said we should trust her, so I do.

 

[Iceman]

I hope so - I just want people to love the Wizarding World as much as I do; if JK Rowling could help me out in that task, it would be...helpful! Ezra Miller and Jude Law both said we should trust her, so I do.

Yeah, I hope they can. I want to be more excited about it!

 

[THORin]

Yeah, I hope they can. I want to be more excited about it!

I began to look at the film more critically, and there are things I see now that, yeah, I would have changed: I would have cut out some things, I would have done this or that. But, because this is a series, I guess that things are all leading up to something, and I have to assume Jo knows what that is. Jude Law does, so presumably she does. But yeah, I do get why people dislike the movie - I get it. I just hope Jo can learn from her mistakes and try to make this next film more appealing to a wider range of people.

 

[Ninjablade]

Honestly, it did no favors for the first film either. It's still better than this, but now it is just a kind of boring film, that leads to a disaster. No payoff.

I still kind of enjoy the first one, but it's painfully average. Doesn't help that the only things of importance in that whole movie are contained in the last 20 minutes which they recap anyway, so the whole film feels pretty pointless,

 

[THORin]

I still kind of enjoy the first one, but it's painfully average. Doesn't help that the only things of importance that whole movie is contained in the last 20 minutes which they recap anyway, so the whole film feels pretty pointless,

This would seem to imply that Newtina is pointless...which it is obviously not

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I hope so - I just want people to love the Wizarding World as much as I do; if JK Rowling could help me out in that task, it would be...helpful! Ezra Miller and Jude Law both said we should trust her, so I do.

I love Harry Potter. That doesn't change the quality of these films.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This would seem to imply that Newtina is pointless...which it is obviously not

The entirety of these two films have been utterly pointless. Poor films, that haven't added anything of real substance to the lore, while actually creating continuity issues.

 

[THORin]

The entirety of these two films have been utterly pointless. Haven't added anything of real substance to the lore, while messing with the actually creating continuity issues.

It was a joke.

 

[THORin]

I love Harry Potter. That doesn't change the quality of these films.

When I said Wizarding World, I was mainly referring to the FB universe. I was acknowledging that Jo, through her very unique storytelling technique, makes it difficult for some people to enjoy it as much as I do. Do you like the HP books as much as the movies? Because some would argue that the FB films are very similar to an HP book, especially one of the later ones. Thoughts?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

When I said Wizarding World, I was mainly referring to the FB universe. I was acknowledging that Jo, through her very unique storytelling technique, makes it difficult for some people to enjoy it as much as I do. Do you like the HP books as much as the movies? Because some would argue that the FB films are very similar to an HP book, especially one of the later ones. Thoughts?

What is unique about it?

The HP had basic structure, with each book having their own story, while continuing their overall narrative. Rowling presented a main narrative, and it would work around Harry's year at school, reflecting his own character growth. The main narrative of the novel would wrap up before the end of the book. The major issue with these films is they don't do that. The character work here is scattershot, and poor. It is why characters just seem to exist and their actions are based around what Rowling wants to do with the plot. There isn't even real climaxes to these two films, as they don't really build to their own third acts. The first film's third act is divorce from Newt's main storyline (finding his beasts) and this film's third act... doesn't exist at all.

That is one of the funny things about the first film. Newt is almost Mad Max'ing it, arriving in someone else's story and helping them, but in a very poor way.

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, I kind of immediately made a connection to Roald Dahl books when I first read HP.

 

[THORin]

What is unique about it?

The HP had basic structure, with each book having their own story, while continuing their overall narrative. Rowling presented a main narrative, and it would work around Harry's year at school, reflecting his own character growth. The main narrative of the novel would wrap up before the end of the book. The major issue with these films is they don't do that. The character work here is scattershot, and poor. It is why characters just seem to exist and their actions are based around what Rowling wants to do with the plot. There isn't even real climaxes to these two films, as they don't really build to their own third acts. The first film's third act is divorce from Newt's main storyline (finding his beasts) and this film's third act... doesn't exist at all.

That is one of the funny things about the first film. Newt is almost Mad Max'ing it, arriving in someone else's story and helping them, but in a very poor way.

I wouldn’t say it was divorced from Newt’s storyline - an Obscurus is literally a Fantastic Beast, he has one in his case, why people forget this so often bewilders me.

With regards to the storytelling, I was referencing Jo’s tendency to throw in multiple sub-subplots, especially in Deathly Hallows and Half Blood Prince, making exstensive use of flashbacks, exposition, etc. I said it was very unique: that was pretty much not true, but that was what I was referring to anyway.