Tag: War

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (NOW PLAYING)

Emma5 Comments

By now, my regular readers know that I’m watching these movies for Richard Armitage… and also Martin Freeman.  Like my lil sis and BIL (they watched w/ me, lil bro, & Mom during the holiday break) said, these don’t come close to the LOTR films. Well, at least we finished the trilogy out.  For those who wanted fighting, you won’t be disappointed here!  For those of us who wanted more characterization, our time has ended (as Elrond said re: elves). 

Bard the Bowman (and his adorable kids) create some family drama with their chemistry/dynamics.  Gandalf is a part of the film, too.  Fans of Orlando Bloom will be happy to see more (unrealistic) stunts and tricks from Legolas.  I honestly didn’t mind the Kili and Tauriel parts, though I thought she was too emotional (in the end) for an elf.  Book readers, I’m sure you didn’t want these elves around!  

Armitage does get a FEW nice moments, though I think more could’ve been explored with his dragon sickness.  As for the other dwarves, they are just hanging out in the background (too bad).  I liked the opening sequence (with Smaug).  Later on, I enjoyed the precision of the army of elves and the regular folk of the town trying to protect themselves (as best as they could).  Overall, see it for the (continuing) special effects and the deaths (NOT a shock to you, I hope)! 

 

Season Finale: Game of Thrones – “The Children”

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Myles McNutt's avatarCultural Learnings

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“The Children”

June 15, 2014

“You remember where the heart is?”

Each season of Game of Thrones has been an exercise in selective adaptation, but its fourth season has been a feat of adaptive engineering. Working primarily with material from the third book but leaning heavily on the fourth and fifth in certain storylines, it is the season that has emphatically taken the “book-to-season” adaptation comparison off the table.

At the same time, though, the season has been organized around key climaxes taken directly from the third book in the series. Moreso than in other seasons, you could tell the writers were having to stretch storylines to maintain the timing they had established, creating material to flesh out the scenes on The Wall to justify the Battle of Castle Black taking place in episode nine or finding things for Arya and the Hound to do so that their scenes in…

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Game of Thrones – “The Watchers On The Wall”

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Myles McNutt's avatarCultural Learnings

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“The Watchers On The Wall”

June 8, 2014

“Blackwater” was about convergence. It was the inevitable collision between Stannis’ claim to the throne and the Lannister powers controlling it. In truth, Stannis’ side of the battle was pretty thin, sketched in without a whole lot of detail beyond Davos and his son. It was really about how Stannis’ attack changed the power dynamics at King’s Landing, whether through Cersei’s steely resolve, Tyrion’s ingenuity and intelligence, or Joffrey’s cowardice. At a stage when this was still ostensibly a show with the Stark family as its protagonist, it was an early example of the richness of stories in King’s Landing, capable of carrying an entire episode on its own.

“The Watchers On The Wall” wants to be “Blackwater.” Neil Marshall has returned as director. Mance Rayder’s not dissimilar to Stannis, in terms of development at this stage in their respective narratives, an…

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Game of Thrones – “The Mountain and the Viper”

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Myles McNutt's avatarCultural Learnings

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“The Mountain and the Viper”

June 1, 2014

“Traditions are important – what are we without our history?”

One of the perils of being a book reader watching Game of Thrones has been the fact that so many of the biggest moments have been “surprises” in the context of the narrative. We look to events like the Red Wedding, or the Purple Wedding, or Ned Stark’s fate on the Steps of Baelor as key events in the narrative, but we can’t necessarily share the anticipation of those events with viewers who have no idea they’re coming.

This is why “The Mountain and the Viper” is such a fun episode as a reader writing about the show. For once, the show has built in its own hype machine, setting up the trial by combat and building suspense for it over the past two episodes. The week off for Memorial Day…

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