Revisiting Westeros - GoT 1: Winter is Coming

While we wait for this Holy Motors debate to take over our lives (I'm calling it; it will happen), let's begin the "who knows how often I'll actually do this" series we were all waiting for: REVISITING WESTEROS!  Yes, I actually did sit down and watch the very first episode of Game of Thrones for the first time since its original airing.  Some thoughts from that original episode (Spoilers for anyone not caught up are coming):

• I miss Ned Stark.  Sean Bean, bad ass.  Pretty much all you need to know about Ned is in that initial scene where he executes the deserter of the Night's Watch.  "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."  Good on you Ned.
• The show felt so much more light-hearted, but that's probably b/c the tragedy isn't until the end.  Watching all the Stark kids interact together was heart-warming and depressing at the same time, knowing where all of them are now.
• If you need a reason to watch anything in this episode, go back and watch Tyrion's first scene.  His hair is RIDICULOUS.  They gave Dinklage some emo blonde wig that looks completely insane.  I'm fairly certain the wig didn't even make it to the end of the episode.  I have no idea why they didn't just reshoot that scene.
• Cersei's character has not changed in the slightest.  Every living character has become someone much different.  Not her.
• I forgot Jon's relationship with Catelyn.  What a bitch, huh?  Jon's relationship with much of the family was interesting.  Of course, it was only for motivation purposes.  I can't see how any of it affects the remainder of the story at this point.
• Speaking of living and dying, here's a list of the cast of this episode, and where they are now.  Not surprised which list is longer.  Enjoy!

Game of Thrones 40: The Children

Well, we have 10 months to talk about this one, so make it count!

What does Jon Snow know now? We all happy to see Mance back? Where the hell does Stannis come from? Can you fit that many horse through Castle Black's gate so fast? What exactly is a proper northern drink, anyway?

Can we get Maester Aemon in every episode? Every damn one. Speaking of not Maesters... what's going on with the Mountain?

Welcome back Emilia Clarke, am I right? But, why didn't Daeny tell the ex-slave he can work for his old master, instead of this slave contract thing? Burning toddlers now, Drogon... not cool. Did you get teary eyed for the dragons? Where are your dragons!?!?! Oh, in the catacombs, where you put them.

Skeletons! Any other Skyrim players get excited for this? Any body else get a quick sad feeling for Hodor again? Is that a tree, or a person... it's no raven with three eyes! How's Bran gonna fly?! He could have used that ability in episode 1.

How about Cersei, letting her dad in on the family secret? Shouldn't he be proud.. that's a lot of Lannister blood in those grandchildren!

Who would you have bet on between Brienne and the Hound? More perplexing.. how the hell did Arya and The Hound get away from the gate... I questioned this before, and still do. They wouldn't just let them walk away would they? Logically speaking, Littlefinger and Sansa may have paid good money for Arya, right? Oh well.  Should Arya have given him mercy? Is he dead?!  Anybody forget she was carrying that coin around?

Oh, Tyrion... you just couldn't leave without causing a ruckus, could you? What'd you think about Shae's last moment? In the end, Tywin shit, but not gold, eh? Give me some thoughts on that conversation! Any guess as to where that crate is headed?

I'm sure there's more to talk about... and much to speculate on for next season, especially if you like Dornish things!

Perfect World Emmy's

With the end of Game of Thrones tonight, the 2013-14 Emmy season is basically over.  Nominations get announced next month, and though the Emmy's aren't as clueless as the Oscars, they still make a lot of weird choices.  Focusing on the drama category, I'm curious about which six shows you'd all pick.

As far as shows likely to be nominated, True Detective, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones are sure things, and would absolutely make my list.  Hannibal had a spectacular second season, but it has no chance of recognition.  A season that included a dead woman sliding out of a dead horse, or a drugged psychopath eating his own face, isn't going to make the clip show.  Mad Men is doing the bullshit split final seasons that Breaking Bad did, and though I hate that format and AMC for running out the string, it still had a great seven episodes, maybe the best they've ever done.  It might get a nomination but the Emmy's have been pushing it aside for Breaking Bad and maybe True Detective this year.  Lastly, Boardwalk Empire might've had the single greatest episode of the whole season in its season finale.  Not enough people watch it, it probably won't get a nomination, but a season that ended as perfectly as that one did is deserving of all the awards.

If I gave the award, it'd go to Game of Thrones, but in real life, Breaking Bad or True Detective are going to win, with GoT as a dark horse.

The Americans is in the next six.  So is Justified and Parenthood.  I don't watch Homeland or House of Card, and The Walking Dead is... not great.  What do you guys think?

Our Most Divisive Movies

Since it's Friday afternoon and I'm basically just running out the clock at work, I thought I'd look at the ol' spreadsheet and figure out what movies we are the most divided on.  I copied the sheet to excel and calc'ed a variance on all of our grades.  Here are our top 3 by the number of viewers....

8 of 8 Viewers

None - there is not a single movie all eight of us have graded.  Amazing in and of itself.

7 of 8 Viewers

1) Only God Forgives (Average = 1.12, Variance = 1.8) - Grades mostly range from bad to worse with Joe actually liking it.  I'm the only one who hasn't seen it.
2) Bad Santa (2.9, 1.17) - Lot of range here, with four liking and three mostly meh.  Joe has not graded.
3) Pulp Fiction (3.57, 1.06) - Most love, but Bryan and I were not fans.  I don't know what you all see in this movie - Tarantino has four better movies probably.  Joe has not graded.

6 of 8 Viewers

1) Ted (1.25, 1.98) - Besides Riley and me, this is not a Ted crowd.  A 1.25 grade average for this movie is absurd.  Bryan and Joe have not graded.
2) Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2.39, 1.93) - Not surprising; this is a naturally divisive movie.  Drew's F seems unnecessarily harsh.  The Setnors have not graded.
3) Blade: Trinity (2.14, 1.56) - Shane's A+ is throwing the whole curve on this one.  Bryan and Joe have not graded.

5 of 8 Viewers

1) Requiem for a Dream (3.00, 2.00) - No B's, just A's, a C, and a D.  Bryan, Joe, and I have not graded.
2) This is The End (2.47, 1.92) - Not totally surprising, as you have to have a certain level of insanity to go for this comedy.  Also requires liking Pineapple Express to really enjoy the funniest sequence of the movie.  Bobby, Joe, and Sean have not graded.
3) Big Fish (3.13, 1.7) - Primarily dragged down by Bryan's D, as all others enjoyed it.  Jon, Joe, and Drew have not graded.  It's one of my favorite movies ever personally.

4 of 8 Viewers

1) The Fly (2.25, 2.92) - Biggest variance of the bunch.  Bryan, Joe, Drew, and I have not graded (and I never will).
2) Where the Wild Things Are (2.00, 2.74) - How Jon gave this shitshow an A is beyond me.  My C- feels generous.  Shane, Joe, Drew, and Sean have not graded.
3) Into The Wild (1.42, 2.47) - Once again, Jon and his A- have some explaining to do.  Shane, Joe, Sean, and I have not graded.

Any thoughts on some of these?  Surprised only one "club pick" is on there?  I thought it was an interesting list in some instances.  Many of these aren't normally considered divisive, but I guess we're not normal.

Game of Thrones 39: The Watchers on the Wall

Not many episodes occur completely in one place... and here we are at the Wall for an hour. So...


Give me your thoughts on Aemon... because he's awesome and deserves some Sidepiece time.

Non book readers... when Sam promised not do to die, did you assume he's gonna die (aside from your Team America connection)? I mean, it's the Game of Thrones..  you can't make that promise!

"Jon Snow is mine..."  Did she mean to kill, or to keep?  Why didn't she keep her word when the Magnar of Thenn was fighting Jon!?

What'd you think of the Giants, Mammoths?  Mags running at the inner gate? (a part of me wanted to see what took place down there, and not just the aftermath. It would have been more dramatic at least, if somebody went to check in there earlier, right?)

The contraption on the wall to stop the climbers? Where was that when Jon and them were climbing the wall before?

Ygritte's hesitation to kill Jon... was she going to? How'd her last moments feel for you?

Pyp, Grenn?

How's this compare to Blackwater, for you?

The tracking shot... brilliant. I don't even have a question about it. It was easily the highlight of the episode for me. Shane and I discussed it while playing our NCAA football game online... and the only thing I think we've seen this year on tv that was better was True Detective's single shot scene.

I suppose there aren't many specific questions to ask... since everything happened in one place. I really liked this episode (I saw a bunch of comments about how intense it was, and i think it got my expectations up, but i didn't feel much intensity as much as just quality action), and think it's one definitely in the upper few for this season.

Hannibal Lecter

Once upon a time there was some discussion about Hannibal Lecter on our Facebook chat.  At the time I recall debating Mads Mikkelson's performance on NBCs Hannibal as being on par with Hopkins and potentially even better in moments.  I think my opinions were based on my most recent viewings of Hopkins in Hannibal.  I've just rewatched Silence of the Lambs and two scenes stand out as untouchable.

First- are introduction to Hannbal- standing with his perfect posture very prim and proper he is clearly a type of character we have never seen before.  When he asks Clarice what Miggs said to her and she replied in truth that Miggs said he could smell her cunt.  He paused before saying that he could not.  That pause was a thing of beauty.

Second- the scene again with Clarice in Memphis prior to his escape.  They're pressed for time and speaking much more rapidly now.  His intensity in their dialogue while forcing Clarice to both share and come up with the answers herself by only offering guidance on Buffalo Bill was amazingly good.

I love what Mads has done with the role and I look forward to binge-watching season 2 very soon, but he doesn't quite match Silence of the Lambs Hopkins.

Hannibal performance grades
Silence of the Lambs-Hopkins- A++
Hannibal-Hopkins A-
Hannibal Mads- A


p.s.- Jodie Foster is good too but Julianne Moore holds her own in Hannbal.

Game of Thrones 38: The Mountain and the Viper

What did everybody think? This was definitely one of the most anticipated episodes... as we knew something major was about to happen. Did it live up to the hype, where you let down, was it better than you expected?

The wildlings in Mole's town, Ygritte's decision?

Reek, Theon at Moat Cailin?

Jorah Mormont and the letter... Khaleesi's reaction?

Grey Worm and Missandei?

Littlefinger with the Lords of the Vale... Sansa's performance and change?

Arya and the Hound... the laughter, their future?

Tyrion's tale of the beetles....

And of course the trial by combat? The fight itself, the camera work, the actors, the result... the confession, the verdict?

Satisfying TV Deaths

BREAKING BAD AND SOPRANOS SPOILER BELOW

Joe texted me this morning about how he thinks the murders of Phil Leotardo and Dead Eyed Todd from Breaking Bad are the most satisfying murders in televisions history. I can't disagree on on Phil at all. I even laughed I think.

But Todd made me sad. Jesse, who obviously struggled with Gale's murder, is no doubt going to struggle with this one. The murder of Todd was pure vengeance that solved nothing. I would argue that he lost more of his humanity in killing Todd as opposed to killing Gale. With Gale he was purely manipulated into doing something horrific to save someone's life. With Todd, it was pure, selfish rage. Sure, he's got all that time of being a slave cook to deal with, but that murder will haunt him. It's sad.

(Let's also not pretend Gale wasn't in the game just the same as Declan. Gale's hand were dirty. No one laments over Declan's murder like they do Gale's because Gale was this quirky and relatable nerd and we knew nothing of Declan other than he was also a cook. "You play in dirt, you get dirty.")

So any other TV deaths?

Joffrey was certainly satisfying. Maybe Arzt in Lost as well. (Artz!)

Great Video Game Narratives

Bobby and I inadvertantly fell into a little question of great video game narratives while discussing Taxi Driver.  Kissel mentioned that Taxi Driver is from a time period known as the "golden age" of cinema.  I would say we are currently in what could be best described as a similar golden age for video game narratives.  While it's nearly impossible to have as strong of a story as many amazing movies in the video game space, we are seeing an incredible amount of great stories in games in the 360/PS3 generation, especially later in the generation.  I named a few of my favorites in the Taxi Driver thread, and I figured I'd elaborate on my top 4 here...

4) The Last of Us - A mysterious virus wipes out an extremely large portion of the world's population, leaving the last few humans in a desperate fight for survival.  Set 20 years after the outbreak began, the story primarily follows Joel, a broken man probably in his late-40's who takes odd jobs to survive, who accepts a job to escort a young girl, Ellie, across the wasteland that is the United States.  Clearly drawing inspiration from 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead, Joel & Ellie encounter various packs of "infected" humans, which range from 28 Days Later "fast zombies" to some pretty twisted abominations, most notably the "clickers." They also encounter even more dangerous marauders and savages among their own kind.  It's a series of amazing shorter stories sprinkled into a solid overall narrative.  I could touch on some of the fascinating characters that are met along the way, as each meeting brings a new perspective into a world teetering on the edge of survival.  (Total Play Time: 15 hrs)

3) The Mass Effect Trilogy - The overall narrative of the desparate struggle for the survival of the galaxy doesn't even become clear until about 3/4th's of the way into the first game.  As Commander Shepard, you take it upon yourself to unite the galaxy and stop the impending doom about to befall it.  The story has been done before to an extent, but what hadn't been done quite like this in the past was the individual character development.  You cared about your squad, and it was brutal to have any of them killed, especially when you could have avoided it.  I particularly loved the final game's story, which was absolutely relentless as you sped on to the finale.  (Total Play Time: 40 hrs "critical path"/100 hrs completionist)

2) The Walking Dead Season One - This one can be considered a "high concept" story: a man rescues a young girl and agrees to help her find her parents amid the beginning of a zombie apocalypse.  This drives the bulk of the story, and the relationship that develops between Lee & Clementine is among the most well-realized of any form of media, video game or not.  Every character in their survivor group along the way is also fantastic, each with their own motivations and personalities that were memorable for anyone who played them.  Even Ben, a near throwaway character, was better realized then some main characters in full on trilogies.  (Total Play Time: 12 hrs)

1) Spec Ops: The Line - There are hundreds of military shooters out there, but none of them actually analyzed the real ramifications of war on the innocent and the soldiers quite like The Line.  The premise is simple: you are in command of a small reconnisance team tasked with learning the fate of their fellow soldiers in post-attack Dubai.  The early part of the game is ho-hum enough, but there is a serious turning point about midway through.  We're talking legitimate war crimes here, and the effect they have on those responsible.  Worth noting you can play the ending multiple ways, and the "bad guy" ending is downright chilling.  I've never finished a game and just stared at the credits thinking "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!"  quite like I did after finishing this one.  (Total Play Time: 6 hrs)

Those are my personal favorites.  A few more that I have played if you're curious....

Bioshock Infinite (15 hrs)
InFamous (12 hrs crit path/20 hrs completionist)
Thomas Was Alone (3 hrs)
Journey (2-3 hrs)
Dragon Age: Origins (30 hrs crit path/50 hrs completionist - story is clearly derivative of Game Of Thrones)
Final Fantasy XIII (40 hrs)
Fable II (20 hrs crit path/50 hrs completionist)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (12 hrs crit path/20 hrs completionist)