Following the ‘Red Wedding’, we now have the ‘Purple Wedding’. This review is going to be a bit more heavy on spoilers (or rather, one particular spoiler) than the last three, due to the fact that a major death kicks off the plot-lines of the season.
RELEASED: April 6th 2014 – June 15th 2014 SHOWRUNNER: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss WRITTEN BY: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman & George R. R. Martin DIRECTED BY: D. B. Weiss, Alex Graves, Michelle MacLaren, Alik Sakharov & Neil Marshall MUSIC BY: Ramin Djawadi STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Charles Dance, Natalie Dormer, Jack Gleeson, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, John Bradley, Rose Leslie, Kristofer Hivju, Rory McCann, Gwendoline Christie, Jerome Flynn, Sibel Kekilli, Iain Glen, Liam Cunningham, Stephen Dillane, Carice van Houten, Alfie Allen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ivan Rheon, Conleth Hill, Aiden Gillen, Hannah Murray, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ellie Kendrick, Kristian Nairn, Michael McElhatton, Lino Facioli, Kate Dickie, Michiel Huisman, Dean-Charles Chapman, Finn Jones, Diana Rigg, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Daniel Portman & Pedro Pascal
This season is an interesting one, in that, so far, it’s probably had the largest collection of great episodes, but at the same time, a lot of the season doesn’t quite live up to the overall greatness of season three.
This season we reached the famous ‘Red Wedding’. I finally understand. So much so that season two seems slightly worse in hindsight (that review has been edited ever so slightly to reflect that opinion).
Anyway, same as last week, I’ll try not to spoil anything from this season, but there may be some spoilers for season two below.
RELEASED: March 31st 2013 – June 9th 2013 SHOWRUNNER: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss WRITTEN BY: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Vanessa Taylor, Bryan Cogman & George R. R. Martin DIRECTED BY: Daniel Minahan, David Benioff, Alex Graves, Alik Sakharov, Michelle MacLaren & David Nutter MUSIC BY: Ramin Djawadi STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Richard Madden, Iain Glen, Michelle Fairley, Aiden Gillen, Charles Dance, Liam Cunningham, Stephen Dillane, Carice van Houten, Natalie Dormer, John Bradley, Jack Gleeson, Sophie Turner, Oona Chaplin, Sibel Kekilli, Rose Leslie, James Cosmo, Jerome Flynn, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, Joe Dempsie, Rory McCann, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Kristofer Hivju, Diana Rigg, Finn Jones, Daniel Portman, Art Parkinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ellie Kendrick, Natalia Tena, Iwan Rheon, Kristian Nairn, Tobias Menzies, Clive Russel, Michael McElhatton, Gwendoline Christie, Noah Taylor, Ed Skrein, Jacob Anderson, Nathalie Emmanuel & David Bradley
This show really starts taking strides this season. While season two was mostly just build-up, a lot of season three is the pay-off. The War of Five Kings highlights some big events. Stannis Baratheon and his ilk make some power plays. Even Bran Stark gets a destination. In fact, the only character who perhaps does not progress this season is Theon Greyjoy, who spends the ten episodes as a captive of a mysterious torturer. And I’m willing to forgive that because I don’t much care for him anyway.
Being so late to the game, I understand that spoilers are everywhere when it comes to Game of Thrones, and avoiding them can be a difficult task (I literally just had an event in season 4 spoilt for me while sourcing pictures for season 2).
However, due to season two of Game of Thrones building off the big events of season one, I can’t really discuss it without discussing spoilers for season one. So this is a spoiler warning. I won’t spoil anything that happens in season two, but unfortunately spoiling season one seems to be a necessary evil.
You’ve been warned.
RELEASED: April 1st 2012 – June 3rd 2012 SHOWRUNNER: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss WRITTEN BY: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Vanessa Taylor & George R. R. Martin DIRECTED BY: Alan Taylor, Alik Sakharov, David Petrarca, David Nutter & Neil Marshall MUSIC BY: Ramin Djawadi STARRING: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, Emilia Clarke, Aiden Gillen, Iain Glen, Kit Harrington, Liam Cunningham, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Richard Madden, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, John Bradley, Jack Gleeson, Rory McCann, Stephen Dillane, Carice van Houten, James Cosmo, Jerome Flynn, Conleth Hill, Sibel Kekilli, Natalie Dormer, Gethin Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, Finn Jones, Patrick Malahide, Gemma Whelan & Charles Dance
As you’ve probably noticed, I’m pretty late to the party when it comes to Game of Thrones. But having got the first two seasons on Blu-Ray for Christmas (thanks mum), I’m finally getting involved. You may have also noticed that I was previously attempting to review each individual episode, but I’ve decided to forgo that in favour of a complete series review. I’ll stick something up in place of those now-missing articles, but for now, here are my thoughts on the first season of Game of Thrones!
RELEASED: April 17th 2011 – June 19th 2011 SHOWRUNNER: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss WRITTEN BY: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson & George R. R. Martin DIRECTED BY: Tim Van Patten, Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan & Alan Taylor MUSIC BY: Ramin Djawadi STARRING: Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Iain Glen, Harry Lloyd, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Richard Madden, Alfie Allen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Jack Gleeson, Rory McCann, Peter Dinklage, Aiden Gillen, Jason Momoa, James Cosmo, Joseph Mawle, Art Parkinson, Donald Sumpter, Conleth Hill, David Bradley & Charles Dance
I have tried to watch Game of Thrones before, managing the first two episodes, both viewed some months apart. Obviously, with a viewing pattern like that, it didn’t hook me.
Now, however, ploughing through a few more episodes, I found myself enthralled by what was before me, despite having seen parts of it and having had a fair chunk of things spoiled for me beforehand.
Straight out of the gate, the music is the first thing you notice. It’s bold and powerful; a lot more captivating than the theme tunes of a lot of other things on television.
After the opening credits wrap, Game of Thrones introduces audiences to Westeros; a land made of seven kingdoms, with the crass King Robert Baratheon sitting on the Iron Throne in King’s Landing. When Robert’s right-hand man (known as the Hand of the King) passes away, Robert enlists his good friend Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North, to serve as his new hand. Travelling to King’s Landing, ‘Ned’ becomes embroiled in a web of treachery and deceit, as he must contend with the ruthless Lannister family (whose number include Robert’s wife, Queen Cersei, the handsome and valiant knight Sir Jaime, their cunning dwarf brother Tyrion and Cersei’s vile son Prince Joffrey) while uncovering a conspiracy that could rock the whole kingdom.
Meanwhile, Ned’s bastard son, Jon Snow, heads to The Wall to join the Night’s Watch; a band of soldiers who protect the Kingdoms from supposed monsters north of The Wall, while across the Narrow Sea, in the Land of Essos, the Targaryen siblings Viscerys and Daenerys – children of the former ruler of Westeros – align with the barbaric Dothraki tribe led by Khal Drogo in the hopes of reclaiming their Kingdom.
RELEASED: August 5th 2016 DIRECTED BY: David Ayer WRITTEN BY: David Ayer PRODUCED BY: Charles Roven & Richard Suckle MUSIC BY: Steven Price STARRING: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Adam Beach, Karen Fukuhara, Cara Delevingne and Jared Leto
‘Where do we even go with this movie?’ is a question asked both right here in this review and also, most probably, some years ago by the people who made the film.
Because watching it, it’s pretty clear that there’s been a lot of disagreements over what Suicide Squad should be, and as a result, a lot of differing opinions over what Suicide Squad is.
Suicide Squad follows the exploits of Task Force X; a unit of super-villains created by government agent Amanda Waller to protect the world in light of Superman’s passing at the end of Batman v Superman. However, before Waller’s pet-project can kick off, one of its members, the Enchantress, turns out to be too much to handle, and with the help of her demonic brother, begins wreaking havoc in Midway City. Now it’s up to the ‘Suicide Squad’ to bring down the rogue gone rogue.
Forget Star Wars, Superman or even Doctor Who, as this week, New to Comics delves into the opening of one of the most bizarre first chapters of a comic-book we’ve ever seen. There’s magic, space-ships, ghosts, spider-lady assassins, TV-headed robots, foul mouths and a surprising amount of nudity all wrapped up in Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga: Volume 1.
Published by:Image Comics Written by: Brian K. Vaughan Art by: Fiona Staples Year: 2012 Pages: 160
WHAT’s THE STORY?
Saga has been described as Game of Thrones meets Star Wars. It’s a cosmic odyssey, wrapped in a family melodrama, wrapped in a fantasy epic. It’s also been said to be evocative of other classic stories like Lord of the Rings and Romeo and Juliet. It’s a pretty bizarre mish-mash of genres, but its home at Image Comics means it can essentially do whatever it wants, as the character and world are owned and dictated primarily by its creator, and as such, isn’t like characters like Spider-Man and Superman at Marvel and DC Comics, respectively, where writers essentially have to return things more or less to the status quo when they’re done with them, so future writers aren’t hampered by extreme storytelling choices.
I haven’t quite finished reviewing all the older Marvel films yet, although I did finish watching them, so that’s half a victory. But having seen Infinity War, I’m not sure I can hold back my thoughts and feelings, so it’s review time! [Spoiler-free]
RELEASED: April 26th 2017 DIRECTED BY: The Russo Brothers WRITTEN BY: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely PRODUCED BY: Kevin Feige STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pratt, Don Cheadle, Zoe Saldana, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Chadwick Boseman, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Benecio del Toro, Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillen, Idris Elba, Benedict Wong, Sebastian Stan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Letitia Wainwright, William Hurt & Josh Brolin
Wow, just wow.
Back in 2012, the world watched in awe as Joss Whedon assembled the six Avengers. In 2016, the Russo Brothers brought together twelve heroes to throw down over the Sokovia Accords, and it was even more exciting. Two years on, and the Russo Brothers now have nineteen heroes under their command (and that’s not even including the various other side-characters like Wong, Okoye and so on) and would you believe, they’ve somehow managed to pull it off again. But this time, it’s even better.
After his various lackeys fail to claim the Infinity Stones in Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos leads his children on a cosmic rampage towards Earth to finally complete his spiritual journey to gain ultimate power. With the Avengers shattered after the events of Captain America: Civil War, what hope do the remaining heroes have against this threat of unspeakable proportions, even with the help of Star-Lord and his Guardians of the Galaxy?
