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Game of Thrones: Season 2

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THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1!

Released: 2012

Distributor: HBO

Cast:
Peter Dinklage: Tyrion Lannister
Lena Headey: Cersei Lannister
Michelle Fairley: Catelyn Stark
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Jamie Lannister
Emilia Clarke: Daenarys Targaryen
Iain Glen: Ser Jorah Mormont
Kit Harington: Jon Snow
Richard Madden: Robb Stark
Alfie Allen: Theon Greyjoy
Charles Dance: Tywin Lannister
Liam Cunningham: Ser Davos Seaworth
Aiden Gillen: Petyr Baelish
Jack Gleeson: King Joffrey Boratheon
Stephen Dillane: Lord Stannis Boratheon
Maisie Williams: Arya Stark
Sophie Turner: Sansa Stark
Gwendoline Christie: Brienne of Tarth

By the end of Season 1, we saw the death of King Robert Boratheon, and the ascension of his…maladjusted child Joffrey to the throne.  Jon Snow has become a part of The Night’s Watch and encountered his first White Walker.  Eddard Stark was arrested for treason and beheaded, while Jamie Lannister returned to his father, Tywin Lannister.  Robb Stark has been declared the King In The North and marches his army towards King’s Landing.  Daenarys Targaryen loses her husband, Khal Drogo to witchcraft and has the witch promptly burned with the body of Drogo.  Stepping into the flames, it is revealed that she is impervious to flame, because she is known as the Dragon.  With her are three young dragons which could help her retake the throne of King’s Landing.  As you can imagine, there was a lot going on in the first season of Game of Thrones.  The Seven Kingdoms are at war, with the added danger of an ancient undead army possibly coming from beyond the Wall.

Season 2 sees Joffrey Boratheon as the newly-crowned King of The Seven Kingdoms, but because of his lust for power and his execution of Eddard Stark, war has embroiled the country with several lords taking the title of King for themselves.  Stannis Boratheon, who is the legitimate heir to the throne, comes from Dragonstone with a red-haired sorceress at his side.  From Storm’s End comes Renly Boratheon, the youngest of the Boratheon brothers.  Robb Stark, the proclaimed King In The North, comes down from Winterfell to bring his wrath against the Lannisters.  From the Pyke Isles, Lord Greyjoy hatches his plan to bring war to the Starks.  Across the Narrow Sea, Danaerys Targaryen seeks ships and men to help her take back the throne.  At the center of the conflict is Tyrion Lannister who is trying to keep his…maladjusted nephew from making anymore mistakes while trying to keep King’s Landing from being invaded.  Meanwhile, beyond the wall, Jon Snow and a host of the Night’s Watch are searching for Jon’s uncle, Ben Stark while trying to keep the Wildlings and possibly the White Walkers from invading Westeros.  The first season of the show, while excellent, had problems with pacing and an absurd amount of exposition.  It was a bit of a slog, until the last few episodes.  That’s not the case here.  The story is a little more streamlined.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some major twists and turns that will surprise you.

With the continuation of the story that began in Season 1, we see a whole new host of characters, including Stannis Boratheon, Davos Seaworth, and Brienne of Tarth.  All the new characters in this season have a major part to play.  None of them are wasted.  One of the most interesting characters is Brienne of Tarth.  She’s a female knight in service to Renly Boratheon, and she is a force to be reckoned with.  Gwendoline Christie does a phenomenal job as basically an underdog character.  We can expect much more from her.  Some of the best characters are more side characters than anything else like Iain Glen’s Jorah Mormont, who seems to be sworn to Daenarys’s service, but seems to be hiding something from her.  Mr. Glen is amazing.  The acting is still phenomenal in the second season.

Because the Seven Kingdoms are gearing up for a major war, the pacing in the second season is a little bit faster, because there isn’t as much setup that needs to be done.  There’s a lot of thrilling moments in the show, especially the fight scenes that take place.  It’s intense and it’s spectacular.  In fact, the major battle of the season, The Battle of Blackwater Bay is probably one of the most epic battle sequences I’ve ever seen.  It’s absolutely stunning.  From the opening explosion using the chemical known as “wildfire,” to Stannis’ landing at the Mud Gate, it’s an extremely thrilling battle to behold.  It’s very, very gory as people are sliced in half and dismembered left and right.  This being Game of Thrones, nothing is held back.  No punches are pulled, and it is seriously one of the most brutal sequences in the entire season.

As with the first season, the shots in the film are some of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen.  Some of the cities and the environments are really gorgeous.  The set and costume designs are elaborate and insanely detailed.  The armor looks practical and the weaponry is just astounding.  Overall, I think that Season 2 is a vast improvement of the first one.  That’s not to say that everything’s perfect, it’s not.  One of my biggest issues is with the character of Sansa Stark, and it’s not necessarily Sophie Turner’s fault, she does fine.  I don’t like the way the character is written.  I didn’t like her character in the first two books that I’ve read, and I don’t like her now.  That might change over time.

So far, so good.  Season 2 is every bit as compelling as Season 1 and I’m really looking forward to tackling Season 3 tomorrow.  I’m absolutely committed to this project that I’ve undertaken and I’m going to see it through to the end.  When I was finished with Season 1, I was pretty exhausted, but that’s because there was so much detail and exposition that needed to be told.  That’s not the case here, as I wanted to continue, but I’m taking a break until tomorrow to continue this journey.  It’s going to be epic, I tell you:  EPIC!

Score for Season 2: 9/10.

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Game of Thrones: Season 1

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WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!!  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Released: 2011

Rated: TV-MA

Distributor: HBO

Cast:
Sean Bean: Lord Eddard Stark
Mark Addy: King Robert Boratheon
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Ser Jamie Lannister
Lena Headey: Queen Cersei Lannister
Michelle Fairley: Lady Catelyn Stark
Peter Dinklage: Tyrion Lannister
Emilia Clarke: Daenerys Targaryen
Iain Glen: Ser Jorah Mormont
Jason Momoa: Khal Drogo
Kit Harington: Jon Snow
Aidan Gillen: Lord Petyr Baelish
Jack Gleeson: Joffrey Boratheon
Sophie Turner: Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams: Arya Stark
Alfie Allen: Theon Greyjoy

About a week ago, I had announced that I was going to do a marathon of Game of Thrones.  I wasn’t kidding, I planned on doing all 6 seasons.  Several reasons exist for me doing this.  One: Because I can.  Two: Because I want to get caught up with GoT before Season 7 hits the airwaves next year.  Three: I love good fantasy and great writing.  Now, I had seen the first two seasons of the show before, but I thought it would be best to start at the beginning so things can stay fresh in my head while I do this.

The show opens as a group of soldiers clad in black are searching a forest for what appears to be an attack on a group of innocent people.  One of these soldiers discovers a number of bodies arranged in a strange formation, but when he returns with his comrades, the bodies are gone.  So, they split up when they come under attack from said bodies who had mysteriously returned to life with blue eyes.  That’s how the show opens, but the story gets complicated pretty quick.  The first episode of the show introduces us to several of the major factions that are part of the story.  You have the Starks, who reside in Winterfell, in the north and are lead by Eddard Stark.  We also have the Lannisters, who are the Wardens of the West, led by Tywin Lannister.  The capital of Westeros is King’s Landing and that is home to King Robert Boratheon and his family.  Further to the north at a massive wall that separates the arctic north from the rest of Westeros is The Night’s Watch, whose duty is to maintain a vigil over the wall in the event that someone or something might try to get over that wall.  Across the sea, we have the remnants of the previous ruling dynasty of Westeros, the Targaryens who ally themselves with a Dothrakhi raider known as Khal Drogo.

Over the course of 10 episodes, we see the interactions between these factions and the King and his subordinates.  I’m not going to delve too heavily into specifics, because there is a LOT of stuff that happens over the course of this season.  We see the politics at work and it’s rarely pretty.  The tone of the show has its lighter moments for sure, but it’s a very dark fantasy.  There is stuff that happens in the show that are quite frankly, very shocking.  At one point during one episode, one of the Stark kids climbs up a tower and sees Jamie Lannister banging his sister, Cercei.  As a result, he pushes the kid out of the window.  That’s not exactly something that people, including myself, were expecting.  What this shows is that nobody is safe from anything, and the show is not afraid pull punches of any kind.  It gets very violent at times, and very gory.  This is not a show for children, so do them a favor and keep them away.  It’s unpleasant at times.  Nothing in this show is clear-cut or black-and-white.  There’s a lot of grey areas and each faction has legitimate reasons for doing what they are doing.  Nobody here is inherently good or evil, with the exception of Joffrey.  That kid’s a complete sociopath.

The acting in this show is really, really good.  Sean Bean plays the noble Eddard Stark of Winterfell, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is Jamie Lannister, and Lena Headey is Cercei.  They all do fantastic jobs, but I think the guy that steals the show a little bit is Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister.  This is a character, who is a dwarf, but is extremely clever.  This guy is a real wild card in Game of Thrones.  He might be a Lannister, but he’s so much damn fun to watch.  Jason Momoa is pitch-perfect as Khal Drogo, the leader of the Dothrakhi hordes.  This guy is physically intimidating, and the character doesn’t shy away from brutality.  In fact, he kind of revels in it.  Emilia Clarke is in fine form as Daenerys Targaryen.  Her character grows from being a kind of a weak character to a very strong female presence by the end of the season, and her character has a HUGE part to play in the show.  In fact, most of the characters that you encounter in this show are not exactly disposable, which hits you in the gut when one of them dies.  Some of the characters that you love in the show will die, and in fairly horrific fashion, I might add.  Although, some of the more despicable characters definitely have a very satisfying end.  One character has a pot of molten gold poured onto his head.  I wasn’t kidding when I said this show gets brutal.

One of my favorite scenes which highlights some of the fantastic sword choreography in the show is when Eddard Stark goes up against Jamie Lannister outside a brothel.  It’s extremely intense and while short, it’s extremely memorable.  I love the way the film is shot, some of the scenery is extremely gorgeous.  Whether it’s the desert domain of Khal Drogo or King’s Landing, the visuals are simply stunning.  You usually only see production values like this in big-budget films.  The set designs are something to behold and the costume designs are absolutely incredible.  It’s very clear that a lot of planning and passion went into this.

While I’m definitely singing this season’s praises, it still has its shortcomings.  Some of these a nitpicking, but they are worth mentioning.  For one, there’s not a whole lot of action.  For anybody expecting an action-packed season is going to be disappointed.  This is the first season of Game of Thrones, so like the book it’s based on, there’s a lot of setup and exposition involved.  It’s establishing the world, the politics and the characters that populate it.  Also, some of the CGI is kind of suspect in certain spots, but it’s not a terrible distraction.  Some people might also be turned off by some of the liberal use of sex and nudity.  To be honest, that doesn’t bother me at all, but I can understand how some people might not like it.  It’s not a show for everyone, but for anyone who is willing to give it a shot, they are going to find Game of Thrones to be a very gratifying and fulfilling experience.  I like the fact that the good guys aren’t always going to win.  It allows for a more realistic take on the fantasy genre.

Overall, the first season of Game of Thrones is a pretty bad-ass experience with some really outstanding acting, story and character elements that are sadly lacking in a lot of today’s movies.  If you can stomach it, it’s definitely worth watching.  With the first season done, I’ve got five more to go.  This is actually turning out to be an interesting experience for me.  It’s the first time I’ve done a marathon like this, and it may be the last, but it’s certainly worth the effort.  I’ll be back tomorrow night with my review of Season 2, and at the end of this epic marathon, I will give my final review on the series thus far.  We have at least two more seasons left in the show, so I want to get caught up before the whole thing ends.

My score for the season is an 8.5/10.

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The Best of 2016: Movie of the Year

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Well, here we are, coming up on the end of 2016, and what a year it was for movies…except for summer, let’s not speak of that again.  I’m still trying to recover.  In all seriousness, we’ve had a great number of phenomenal movies this year.  Some of my favorites weren’t even big budget films.  They were smaller independent pictures that really had a lot of effort put into them.  That being said, for my last post on this topic, I will give you my movie of the year.  But before we get there, let’s go through a number of films that came really close to nailing it for 2016.  Now, I will be including movies from the middle of December of 2015 onwards because I feel a movie needs to be in theaters more than a month to qualify.  So any movie released on December 15, 2015 or later can be included on this post.  So, let’s begin:

Runner Up #1:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

For a guy who is a MASSIVE Star Wars fan, one would expect this movie to be my movie of the year.  Make no mistake, this is an awesome movie.  It blows the entire Prequel Trilogy out of the water.  This takes some of the best elements from the original movies and it amplifies it.  It’s got incredibly memorable characters like Poe Dameron, Finn, Rey, and the old cast which includes Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.  It’s a well made movie with some really clever and sharp dialogue.  There’s a lot of humor here and there’s plenty of drama to add to it as well.  The villain of the film, Kylo Ren, is very memorable and the action is second-to-none.  The Force Awakens doesn’t get my movie of the year because it does follow the original film a little to closely, and that’s a minor quibble, but it’s enough to keep the film from being Movie of the Year.  It’s still an awesome movie, though.

Runner Up #2

The Witch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_srOOOAgkI

As far as horror movies go, 2016 was a banner year for the genre.  The Witch is quite possibly one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen.  It’s incredibly atmospheric, tense and though-provoking.  It’s a period piece set in the time of the Puritans, so there is bound to be tension in terms of religious symbolism.  It’s unusual for a film that’s not overly gory to be very chilling.  I don’t want to spoil it, but there is a lot that goes in this film between the family members that’s really intense.  It’s a beautifully shot film with a haunting score that’s sure to remain with you long after the credits roll.  It has to be seen to be believed.

Runner Up #3

Blood Father

It’s been quite a while since Mel Gibson took the lead role in a film.  He’s still got it, despite the issues that he’s had in the past.  Blood Father sees Mel Gibson as an ex-con who takes in his estranged daughter after she’s been on the run from a Columbian cartel.  Mel Gibson’s performance in this film is simply one that you have to see.  It’s his best performance in years.  Erin Moriarty plays his daughter, and the two work wonderfully together.

Aaaand my Movie of the Year goes to…..(drum roll, please):

Forsaken

 

What?!  A Western?!  Have I gone mad?   It’s entirely possible.  For me, Forsaken is probably the most compelling experience I’ve seen in movies this year.  One of main reasons is that both Kiefer Sutherland and his father Donald are playing father and son.  It’s truly movie magic seeing these two in scenes together.  The movie itself is a traditional Western, but that’s not a bad thing, but it focuses more on the characters and the story than it does the action.  Everybody in the film does an incredible job, including Michael Wincott and Brian Cox.  It’s incredible how well this movie came together, and it’s a damn shame it didn’t get a wide theatrical release like it should have.  It’s a great movie that outshines all the others that I’ve seen this year.

There you have it:  My Movie of the Year: Forsaken.  That is going to conclude The Best of 2016.  Next year promises to be even bigger, so I’m looking forward to it.  Before the year is over, though, I would like to go over my greatest disappointments of the year.  I may do that after I’ve completed my Game of Thrones marathon, which starts tomorrow.  Next week is going to be a bit of a challenge, but it’s one that I believe I can tackle.

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The Best of 2016: Performances

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For this post, I’m looking for the best acting in films this year.  This post is going to be different because everyone that I mention here is a winner.  Getting a strong performance out of an actor regardless of their experience is not an easy thing to accomplish, so the ones that I mention here are the actors/actresses that put in the best effort.

Michael Fassbender in X-Men Apocalypse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjcBP0ZANG8

Michael Fassbender has come a long way since 300.  His performance as Magneto in the new X-Men films is phenomenal, but it’s his performance in Apocalypse that really gives him an edge.  His character of Magneto has settled into an ordinary life with a wife and daughter until Apocalypse wakes up.  His family is killed and he turns his rage on everybody else.  This scene is an emotionally powerful moment in the character’s arc in the film, and I don’t think anybody else could have done it as well as Mr. Fassbender.  He’s phenomenal.

Kiefer Sutherland/Donald Sutherland in Forsaken

It’s a very unusual thing to see actors who happen to be father and son playing…well..father and son.  Kiefer Sutherland and his father Donald play a father and son who are estranged from each other, because of Kiefer’s character’s exploits.  The scene that I selected is the only one I was able to find, but it’s very cool seeing these two powerhouse actors performing together in the same scene and film.  The relationship between the two actors makes their performances all the more intense.  This is the strongest performance I’ve seen from Donald in years, and there are points in the movie that it’s heartbreaking.  When Kiefer’s character confesses to his father about an incident during his time as a gunfighter, it’s heart-wrenching.  I don’t think anyone else could have pulled it off.  Aside from the movie being a fantastic western, it’s anchored by amazing performances from everyone.

Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcG2fNYJgH0

Say what you will about Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  A lot of people didn’t care for it, and I had my problems with it, but the one thing that most people can agree on is Ben Affleck’s performance as Batman.  Ben Affleck plays on older and more world-weary Bruce Wayne who has seen a lot of terrible things in Gotham, and he witnessed first-hand the destruction of the fight between Superman and General Zod.  As a result, he has a very skeptical view of the Kryptonian and seems to feel that he’s a serious threat to the planet.  Ben Affleck delivers a very grizzled and nuanced performance not only as Bruce Wayne, but he makes his Batman scary as hell.  He’s one of the main reasons why I loved Batman V. Superman.

John Goodman as Howard in 10 Cloverfield Lane

Now, I mentioned this film as one of the best thrillers of 2016, but there’s a reason for that:  The performances.  Everybody here is in top form, but the one who steals the show is John Goodman.  He is one of the greatest character actors alive.  His performance as Howard is not only creepy at times, but also unhinged at others.  You have no idea who this guy is or what his intentions are, but Mr. Goodman manages to make this guy likable at the same time, which allows the movie to play with the audience.  10 Cloverfield Lane was a phenomenal film and John Goodman’s performance is one for the books.  It’s definitely worth taking a look.

Well, these are the most compelling performances I’ve seen this year, so apologies if this seems like a short post, because it is.  For me, anyway.  Tomorrow, I’m going to wrap things up with the Best Movies of 2016.  It will be for the best movies released this year.