There seems to be at last few additions to Vampire movies subgenre every year nowadays. There are big, loud, obnoxious blockbusters with vampire mythos thrown in there just to attract more audiences and there are small, contemplative movies that won't make big money and won't win any awards (horror genre and everything connected to it is notoriously overlooked when awards are handed out) but they have a chance of becoming cult classic in the future.

Decades ago it happened with Tony Scott's Hunger. It didn't get any accolades upon its release and now it's considered to be one of the most famous and atmospheric vampire movies out there. While Only Lovers Left Alive is not lacking flaws it has that one thing that distinguishes good vampire films from shameless, soulless cash grabs - sensuality.
The film follows two vampires - joyful, outgoing Eve (a wonderful Tilda Swinton) who lives in Tangiers and suicidal and gloomy Adam (perfectly cast Tom Hiddleston), who lives a sheltered life in Detroit. Eve meets with her friend Christopher Marlowe who helps her get blood and spends her nights appreciating books, nature and the world around her. Adam only goes out to freak the local doctor into giving him blood and then stays home, playing music.

These two are lovers - they are not currently living together but they got married centuries ago and they still keep in touch.When Eve calls Adam she senses something being wrong and she flies over. Her presence helps Adam, who is growing increasingly disenchanted with the world and the way that people (or as he calls us - zombies) are treating our planet and things and individuals that could improve it.
Adam shows Eve around his house, which he mostly designed so he wouldn't need to depend on anyone. He takes her for a drive and shows her the local attractions, while she tries to cheer him up and loves him so much she voluntarily wants to hear the stories he told her before just to make him happy. Their peaceful existence in Adam's house is disrupted by the arrival of Eve's sister - Ava (Mia Wasikowska).

Only Lovers Left Alive is one of those movies you feel and cherish rather than understand and ponder upon. It's a movie that focuses on details without ever giving us the whole picture. Everything in between is filled in with atmosphere, sensuality and ultimately - mystery. Its script is minimalistic and the characters painted without much subtlety, but then again maybe the perfect vampire movie should be experienced, not meticulously put together by the director and then deconstructed by the audience?
Take the character of Adam, for example. Mysterious, charismatic, handsome. A perfect vampire. But you start to analyze his character and it all doesn't make sense - he loves music and loves Eve yet he wants to die. He has a gift of immortally and he is wasting that and staying hidden. He is full of paradoxes - ones that were designed to make him more interesting, but because of the way they are shown and the lack of explanation for them, they are also a sign of a weak script. Adam is not a strongly and convincingly written character, but I'll give the movie benefit of a doubt and I'll assume it was by design.

Because by making those characters so strange and making their life so odd, the film, while lacking a strong story and probably boring many to tears, has this aura of mystery around it. We don't know much abut Eve and Adam. We are not given explanations for their separate lives or answers to questions, such as what did Ava do 80 years ago in Paris? What is up with the gloves? How did they meet? When exactly did they meet? And that makes the movie fascinating.
What adds to movie's charm is a wonderful love story between Adam and Eve. These two vampires have known each other for centuries and they never stopped loving each other. Hiddleston and Swinton have wonderful chemistry and because of their talent they sell something that was not easy to sell - that these two radically different people love being next to each other, are interested in each other's stories and opinions and are bonded by true love and respect.

They are both so convincing not even the ridiculousness of script - why did Eve leave Adam on different continent if she knows his tendencies? Why would Adam even consider dying when Eve exists? - passable. You feel the love they have for each other in such sweet moments - Eve being impressed with Adam's brilliance when she sees the contraption he built to power the house and Adam letting Eve's sister stay even though he hates her, but he knows how much Eve cares for her.
The film really revolves around these two and paints a very unique portrait of the vampire - they don't harm people, they evolved past certain things - fear, jealousy, worrying. Adam is held back by his suicidal thoughts but nothing holds back Eve - she takes time to appreciate nature, she is grateful for being alive. Eve is one of most fascinating and likable vampires I've ever seen on film and Tilda Swinton's understanding and quirky way of playing her is the best thing about the movie.

The film adds, like most vampire films do, something new to the mythos - when vampires drink blood they are experiencing a sudden high that lasts several seconds. Then there is the gloves thing - it looks like they cannot remove their gloves without the permission of the owner of the house. We are never given a reason why, but given Eve's ability to tell the object's age with touch, perhaps every vampire has some sort of ability via touch.
The supporting characters doesn't really leave much impression - the doctor played by Jeffrey Wright could have been played by anyone, Anton Yelchin's Ian is cute and provides some humour (though film has already a lot of it with Adam's one liners and Eve's childlike and sweet exclamations of joy at the surrounding wildlife). John Hurt is good as Marlowe, but he isn't given much to do. Wasikowska however gets to play a different character - I've never seen her as wild and fun as she is in this movie.

Sadly, once her character leaves the frame the film's pace drops to alarmingly low rate and there is not enough to keep you as interested as you were in the beginning - the couple travels together and they see Marlowe one last time, but during those moments I thought that Jarmusch trapped his own movie by making it so minimalistic. Right into the cage of missed opportunities.

Still, I cannot remember the last time I saw a vampire movie with such interesting portrayal of vampires, good performances and wonderful atmosphere. It's greatly aided by just terrific soundtrack and amazing score by Jozef van Wissem and SQURL. The cinematography is gorgeous and even the shots of lifeless Detroit at night have curious beauty in them.

While I'm sure many people will hate this film because of its pace, if you like vampire movies or the lead actors you should definitely see this one. It's been years since I saw Swinton this adorably joyful.

(Only Lovers Left Alive, dir. Jim Jarmusch, 2014, 123 min)

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Ah, happy times. I can finally call Matthew McConaughey an Oscar winning actor. And his road to that point as well as to the acclaim and respect among movie critics and fans was quite an interesting one.

Matthew was just a young kid, who wanted to become a lawyer, when he was discovered in a bar - Richard Linklater offered him a role in Dazed and Confused, now a cult classic movie. From that point while there were roles in some pretty bad films - McConaughey actually stared in Texas Chainsaw Massacre flick, which is at least really entertaining, there was also a lot of high profiles roles like his work in A Time to Kill, Contact and Amistad. It was the first one that made him a star.

And then in 2001 came the Wedding Planner - amusing and charming movie, where Matthew stared as every woman's dream (enter the angry feminists who will yell at me now) - handsome pediatrician who repeatedly saves the protagonist. The film was successful and that caused McConaughey to star in several more romantic comedies - How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - 2003, opposite Kate Hudson, Failure to Launch, 2006, opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, Fool's Gold, 2008, opposite Kate Hudson and Ghost of Girlfriend's Past, 2009 opposite Jennifer Garner.

There were also really bad films like Sahara and Surfer's Dude, but the ridicule McConaughey met was quite disproportional - he was a laughing stock, with people like George Clooney making fun of him always being shirtless. The fact that I claim he wasn't shirtless enough aside, some of these films had actual charm and McConaughey always had chemistry with his female partners. How often does that happen? This is a man who managed to convincingly portray being in love with Sarah Jessica Parker. That's masterclass of acting.
McConaughey gave his honest effort. So many actors out there - mainly Johnny Deep, just care about getting their paycheck and seem not to put effort even when it comes to doing their job. In the meantime when promoting things like Sahara and Fool's Gold McConaughey had fun, he talked about the projects enthusiastically and it really seemed like he had a blast working on them.

Even during that time McConaughey was trying different things which those who ridiculed him often forget - he stared in dark and surprising Frailty, he was badass dragon hunter in Reign of Fire and I'm told he was good in Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, there was also We Are Marshall - a far from great, but very entertaining movie with his solid performance.

But it's not until several years back and by that I mean when Killer Joe was released, when people stopped and went 'wait...this guy is good!'. For the last 5 years it was great role after great role in daring, unique and provocative brave movies.

10. Tropic Thunder (2008)

All right, you killed a hooker. Calm down. Here's what you're gonna do. Get your hands on some bleach, some hydrogen peroxide and a shitload of lime.

While I'm sure most will say that McConaughey's comeback started with The Lincoln Lawyer, back in 2008 when he was still making shit - remember Fool's Gold? -  he also starred in Ben Stiller's hilarious Tropic Thunder where he played his agent Rick Peck. From his hilarious expression during Tom Cruise's screaming moments to his perfectly timed 'A G5 airplane?', not only is he funny, he is funny in an actual good comedy.

9. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

I checked the list of people I trust and your name ain't on it.

While this film may not be something hugely memorable, it is very entertaining and it's worth seeing for its cast alone. McConaughey plays badass lawyer Mick Haller who is not only compassionate but also very clever. He gets into trouble when he realizes his client is guilty and he can't get out of defending him. McConaughey is one of those actors who keep getting cast as lawyers - are people under impression that all those lawyer dudes running around in courthouses and law firms are hot and charming? Yeah, my life ain't that sweet. Anyways, back to the point - it's a strong performance and the movie wouldn't work without it. His character is flawed, but because of McConaughey's charm he is also someone you are rooting for.


8. Bernie (2011)

Now, come on. That's got to be about the lowest thing a man could ever do, ain't it? Shoot a little old lady in the back? Four times. 

Another legal system representative figure, Danny Buck. Here Matt plays the villain of the film - close-minded DA from the hick town who is focused on catching Bernie. Well, yeah, sure Bernie was guilty, but McConaughey makes his character so ignorant - hilariously so, in fact - that it's hard for you not to root for Bernie to get away with murder somehow.

7. Killer Joe (2011)

Now suck this.

This is by far my favorite McConaughey's film, a  movie that has very secure place in my all time top 20.  This film is just outrageous and the stuff required of actors to do is outrageous too. Joe Cooper is a horrible, horrible man. He is into teenage girls, he kills people and in spite of his seemingly well mannered behaviour, he is a beast. He's like the Devil the poor, stupid family signed the contract with. And when the facade of calm, cool, well mannered exterior slips, the horror ensues.

6. The Paperboy (2011)

Better be late and be right than be first and be wrong... boy!

This is another really provocative film. People keep taking about Kidman pissing on Zac Efron's face or the scene in which she is having sex with John Cusack even though he is siting few feet away from her. But McConaughey's character, Ward Jensen, is involved in some seriously rough stuff too - for me the scene involving him lying in the pool of his blood was truly shocking to witness.

5. Magic Mike (2012)

Fact is, the law says you cannot touch! But I think I see a lotta lawbreakers up in this house tonight...

This is probably the closest McConaughey was to an Oscar nomination until Dallas Buyers Club. His Dallas is a charismatic, cheerful but also aging and selfish owner of a strip club. Dallas looks down on education and thinks that perseverance and ambition is all you need to get ahead. It's amazing just how much McConaughey is able to do with such short screen tome. All of this culminates in his dance. I heard stories of electricity shutting down in cinemas during that. I'm not even kidding here. Nor am I surprised.

4. Mud (2012)

There are fierce powers at work in the world, boys. Good, evil, poor luck, best luck. As men, we've got to take advantage where we can.

In Mud McConaughey plays a romantic hero who would do anything for the woman he loves. Sounds like his romantic comedy work? No, no, no. As handsome as he looks in this movie, his Mud is a wayward man who lives outside of world and common sense. While him and Reese Witherspoon only have one scene together, it's the look in McConaughey's eyes in this moment that sells that love story - you can see it in his eyes, their years of romance and the love he has for her. It's one of the many reasons that scene is one of my favorites last year.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Cocaine and hookers, my friend.

It's a sign of incredible charisma if an actor can appear in a handful of scenes and still be on your mind once the film is over. So it's quite the charisma this man has, if he only appears briefly in the beginning of The Wolf of Wall Street and you still can't forget his scene after 3 hours. In one of the film's most memorable moment McConaughey steals the scene away from DiCaprio as a man who knows the secrets of Wall Street and coaches the young protegee how to survive. Jordan Belfort partied hard. But can you imagine what Hannah must have been doing?!

Cause I try to image that.

Every day.
2. Dallas Buyer Club (2013)

Let me give y'all a little news flash. There ain't nothin' out there can kill fuckin' Ron Woodroof in 30 days.

While there's no denying that the tremendous physical transformation McConaughey went through to play this part contributed to his win last Sunday, people tend to forget that Academy - and I think audiences as well - love when an actor takes quintessential traits of his or hers and amplifies them, tweaks them, uses them to make the performance feel more real. And Ron Woodrof, while he was a homophobic asshole, also had plenty of charm - and that's something that McConaughey brought in with him along with his charisma and yes, even some comedy skills - his banter with Jared Leto is incredible and infuses the film with so much energy. It's a moving, dedicated and utterly convincing performance.

1. True Detective (2014)

It's all one ghetto, man, giant gutter in outer space

Now this right here is my favorite work from Matthew. The biggest strength of True Detective is its great writing and when it comes to his character - Rust Cohle, that writing is downright brilliant. Rust is a hopeless nihilist, who after losing his daughter and getting a divorce from his wife just cruises through life - all he cares about is catching bad guys and getting drunk. The case that the plot of True Detective revolves around takes 17 years of his life during which Rust never gives up on chasing the answers. It's a beautiful work - McConaughey sells a character that is odd, harsh and truly bizarre but he makes him seem so vulnerable and heroic at the same time.
This year Matthew stars in one of the most anticipated movies - Christopher Nolan's Interstellar which for me can either be a true mess or an absolute masterpiece. The script revolves around his character and Matthew said it's the most ambitious movie he ever made, so at the very least we can expect another wonderful performance from him.

He will star in Gus Van Sant's Sea of Trees - the scriptcenters on an American man (McConaughey) and a Japanese man (Watanabe) who meet in the Japan’s infamous "Suicide Forest," where people go to commit suicide. But instead of killing themselves, the duo embark on a reflective journey through the forest together.

There is also rumoured sequel to Magic Mike and I'm sure I'm not the only one hoping that Dallas will return in this one.

In the meantime - alright, alright, alright!

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John Travolta mispronouncing Idina Menzel's name as Adele Dazeem is the single most hilarious thing I saw happen on the Oscars since Bill Murray lost for Lost in Translation and wanted to leave.

I spent better part of Monday just laughing out loud. Seriously that was surreal. Apparently something like this didn't happen just this once. 

The fact that the build up to him messing up was so epic and long only made it funnier. 

There is a bunch of people yelling "Travolta has dyslexia!" - even if it had anything to do with this situation and it doesn't, since apparently Travolta did show up to rehearsal and said her name right, do you think having dyslexia justifies the fact that he wouldn't even rehearse saying her name right before getting on stage during THE LIVE SHOW? What the fuck? Was Angelina passing her diet pills around or something?

I love how Kevin Spacey in real life is essentially like Frank Underwood but he is like in this alternate universe where he is nice, good Frank Underwood. He was so gracious on the red carpet and during the ceremony.

I still haven't finished season 2 of House of Cards but I warmed up a little bit when it comes to the show. I still think that anything not connected to Underwood, mainly Corey Stoll's arc in season 1 was cliched and boring as fuck.

Buzzfeed asked Spacey some retarded questions that actresses get asked all the time - you should see the video where he answers those, it's fantastic.

 I love that whenever he goes to all those ceremonies nowadays he is essentially presenting stuff as Frank Underwood:

Before we talk about Matthew on Oscars let's talk about Matthew on Spirit Awards.

Actually I don't wanna talk I just want to post those gifs here:

 Can Samberg and Hader have a show where they talk about TV series they like? Cause their The Yellow King rant was awesome (my gifset of that is blowing up on tumblr btw). When they got to 'are you all ghosts?' part I was crying. Not as much as during Travolta thing, though.

I thought I can't possibly love Matt more and then this week I found out that he was arrested back in 99' for playing bongos in his house while he was stoned and naked. This is the most joyful mugshot I've seen in my life.

I read that in this really cool breeds of McConaughey article - they are totally right about the pictures of him with his kids btw.

BTW Jared Leto is awesome, I don't even care how ridiculous it is that 42 year old man wears eyeliner and has an emo band. He said that about Lawrence. Rock on, man.

Matt's Oscar speech was amazing. I love how he talked for 4 minutes and no one cut him off. No one cuts off McConaughey.

Of course people have a problem with him mentioning God and talking about his faith a lot.

As much as I wish he did, Matt didn't pull his cock out on that stage yet there is so much hostility - he won HIS Oscar for HIS work and in HIS speech he talked about HIS beliefs. What's the fucking problem?

I didn't see any of Matt's pictures during after parties - apparently it's because he announced him and his wife 'will make another baby right away so they won't be staying long'. Normally I'd say his wife is lucky but if someone told me they want to have 4th kid I'd fucking run.That woman has just had his 3rd kid only a little over a year ago. Get off that poor woman, dude!

So True Detective. Just how epic is this shot?!

You should check out the meaning of symbols used in the show. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Check out True Detective pick up lines, too.

That Game of Thrones reference in one of he recent Parks and Rec episodes was awesome. Check out the extended version of the scene while you're at it.

Turns out anyone can buy an Iron Throne for 30,000$. I need to save up some money...

If Emilia Clarke gets any more beautiful I may die. This is a picture of her from Flare magazine.

We know the titles of the first four episodes of season 4 - Two Swords, The Lion and the Rose, Breaker of Chains and Oathbreaker. This season is going to be very much focused on the events in King's Landing. I wouldn't be surprised if Daenerys shows up for the first time in 4x03.

They made hip hop album based on the series. I'm not kidding.

There will be a new featurette - it will air on HBO on March 11th. It's supposed to be a look back at season 3, but considering that we got a final full length trailer around this time last year I'm hoping HBO drops another epic promo along with that special.

After Lawrence whispered and talked during McConaughey's speech it now goes 1. Her 2. Dunham 3. Von Trier on my list of the worst people. I'd pay to see her get Joffreyed.

Close your eyes and imagine Lawrence saying that. Is she still cute as Lupita, a naturally humble, classy, gracious, genuine person? Or do you hear ugly noise coming from self-absorbed human garbage?

People complaining about Matthew's mention of God is shockingly not the dumbest complaint I heard about the Oscars. Michael Fassbender went out to, as he said 'take a piss' during Lupita's speech. Now people are calling him an asshole. What was he supposed to do? With the size of his penis there is a big chance if he tried to hold it in, it would backfire and he'd die. I'm only half-joking here.

Angelina Jolie covers EW as Maleficent - there is also a slightly disturbing photo of her in character with one of her six kids (don't expect me to know their names) who plays younger Sleeping Beauty. That kid must have had nightmares.

Meanwhile Alfonso Cuaron appeared on very cool Variety cover.

Check out awesome poster for new season of Veep, which premieres the same night Game of Thrones does - April, 6th.

Conan O'Brien will host MTV movie awards which means for the first time ever, I'm gonna see that ceremony. The nominations are pretty awesome. 

So the trailer for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For...it has some good moments but the effects so far make it look like cheap copy of the first movie - they overdid the color thing with Green, she looks ridiculous in the final shot. Also what the hell is Levitt doing in this? He doesn't belong in this movie.

Transcendence marketing campaign reached the new low with this awful poster.

I saw I, Frankenstein and Winter's Tale this week. They were both retarded.

I've been continuing watching Shameless. It's fucking hilarious 

Also the little girl who plays Debbie is just sensational - that scene where she went to Steve's family house? Wow. And I love Kevin. He is like Shameless equivalent of Andy Dwyer.

Can someone explain to me how Emmy Rossum and William H. Macy didn't get any major award recognition for that show? That's just insane!

OK some blog news - the site will cross 1,000,000 views before next Rambling Friday so thank you so much for all your kindness, visiting, commenting and being awesome!

On Monday I'll announce my first ever blogathon. I hope many people will participate and hopefully you'll like the idea behind it.

There is a new thing on the sidebar called 'in case you missed it' - I'm gonna be linking some older posts there that I'm proud of, so check them out if you, well, missed them.

MettelRay and Elina share their favorites from 2013, while Nikhat shares her list of favorite 2013 movies

Katy from DramaLama is now blogging from the new place so update your bloglists!

Chris reviews Only Lovers Left Alive

Alex lists awesome things about Independent Spirits Awards which were so much fun this year

Keith reviews entertaining Rush

m.brown reviews Blue Jasmine

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With 27 days left, HBO has released another epic trailer, this one entitled Secrets - we have some new images here, but sadly no Brienne or Margaery. However we did get the first look at Roose Bolton, new look at Melisandre and plenty of Daenerys.


The show returns on April 6th with the premiere entitled Two Swords.

Deanerys and her army:
Sansa to Tyrion - Do you know what they did to my brother? And my mother?
Sansa: I lie awake all night, thinking about how they died
Very cool maneuver of including the primary villains during her voice over, with the first look at Roose Bolton, here meeting with Ramsay
Cersei and Oberyn. Cersei: What good is power if you cannot protect the ones you love?
Cersei looking at Jaime and Bronn practicing
Oberyn: We can avenge them
Jon Snow: All that time I was gone the world has fallen apart
Littlefinger: Always keep your foes confused - if they don't know who you are or what you want, they can't know what you plan to do next
A look at new Daario:
And another look at Arya and The Hound
Barristan: Sometimes it is better to answer injustice with mercy
Daenerys: I will answer injustice with justice
Most likely Arya during the inn scene:
New look at Melisandre:
Very impressive first look at Titan of Braavos:
Tormund to Ygritte: If that boy is still walking it's cause you let him go
Jorah: You're a Targaryen, you're the mother of dragons
Daenerys: I need to be more than that
Daenerys watching her dragons feed
Tyrion looking at Shae
Cersei: Who can we trust?
Tywin: Ourselves alone
We know what this scene is:
A look at one of Ramsay's companions:
Oberyn with..I want to say Ellaria?
A new look at Bran:
Cersei and Jaime:
Tyrion: We must't disappoint father

I've never hosted a blogathon - I never seemed to have an idea for it. And then while making one of my lists last week and asking people about its subject on twitter I thought - hey, let's turn that into a blogathon.

The list I was making was a list of characters that were on screen for few short scenes but you would like to see a whole movie about them. Someone so mysterious, fascinating and charismatic that you wish they had more scenes in original film and you just couldn't get enough of them.


My choice is:

Black Swan is my all time favorite movie and no matter how many times I see it, there is always something new that's bothering and intriguing me at the same time - a single shot that looks odd, mysterious paint of Lily's face that has no business being there (I'm never gonna let this one go, on my death bed I'll still be asking about this), the odd behavior of Nina's mother. And almost every time I watch it I can't help but think how wonderful would a stand alone movie about Beth Macintyre, an aging ballerina, be.

Darren Aronofsky, in his interview for Empire online, had this to say about the casting of Winona Ryder in the role - I cast her because, in many ways, Natalie – not Natalie herself, but someone one like Natalie, her generation – has replaced Winona. I mean, Winona used to be as big as Natalie, if not bigger, and now Natalie is there. And now there's Mila Kunis coming through... I was trying to use their reputations as actors a bit to play off what was happening in the dance world.

As practically every woman in the movie Ryder has physical similarity to Portman, to the point that I always thought it was her standing in the room, all bloody, when Nina gets back home from visiting Beth in the hospital. It took a lot of zooming in and editing to see that it was actually Portman standing there.

In the first draft of the script Beth had a handful more scenes. In this version, Nina was a 'friend' of hers - or to be more accurate she was hanging out with Beth a lot because she admired her so greatly. In the actual movie the first time we see Beth is after she trashes her own room and then yells at Nina, who is startled and scared. Nina goes into Beth's room and admires it, as well as Beth's things.

Beth is angry because her mentor and lover Thomas is replacing her as the star of ballet and he is forcing her to the early retirement. Beth doesn't want to go and it's clear that her fame and career are the most important things to her.

The next time we see Beth is when Nina is announced as the new Swan Queen. Beth is visibly upset when Thomas announces that she is leaving the company and then, drunk and erratic, she starts screaming at poor Nina in the hallway. She then lashes out on Thomas and proceeds to yell after Nina that she should enjoy it while it lasts and make the most of it.

The next we hear of her she tried to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a car. Thomas remarks how destructive Beth is and that it is one of the reasons she is such an incredible artist. She survived her suicide attempt but her leg is badly broken. Nina comes over to see her in the hospital while Beth is unconscious.

The final time we see Beth is when Nina comes over to give back the things she stole from her - the earrings, the lipstick, the nail filer. Beth seems shocked and slightly amused that Nina stole her things. She starts saying that she is not perfect and she is nothing after which she starts stabbing herself in the face. What happened in this scene - whether Beth stabbed herself or Nina did - she drops a bloody filer in the elevator - is left ambiguous. We never hear of Beth again in the movie.


While most people subscribe to the straight froward theory of Black Swan being a look inside the mind of mentally disturbed young woman, I always liked the horror explanation - the possession theory on which I wrote a lengthy article about - the most. In my theory the ballerinas - Beth and Nina - are possessed by some sort of force. The first time, apart from the opening Black Swan title card, that we hear the mysterious laughter is when Nina picks up Beth's lipstick - almost as if the destructive force was going inside her then. And then after Nina takes Beth place - perhaps in more ways than one - Beth is tossed aside and almost dies.

I'd love to see a prequel movie about Beth - how she became who she is and how devastated she was knowing her fame and her 5 minutes of being the one is slipping away. While Black Swan was about the rise of Nina, the movie about the rise and inevitable fall of Beth would be just as, if not more so, interesting. With such strong horror undertones and Beth and Thomas being much closer than Nina and him, I think that would make a very sensual, creepy film.

If it was to go on horror route perhaps it could explore just what Beth did to become the most famous ballerina in the company - sold her soul, perhaps? Or was she just a victim of malevolent force living in the theater? Think Suspiria but with more focus on just one victim, not many and with demonic force instead of witches.

And finally there is the Winona Ryder factor. As much as I love the movie and it is my all time favorite film, a little part of me is saddened that Aronofsky didn't make Beth a central figure of the movie - giving Ryder the comeback she deserves.

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The Game of Thrones photoshoot by Annie Lebowitz and the article in Vanity Fair are gifts that keep on giving.

 We all worry that George R.R Martin will not be able to finish the books especially that he seems to be doing everything else (including fanboying over True Detective on his blog) but writing them. I'm not the one to judge, since I am blogging instead of studying, but hey, no one is paying me to study. Anyways one of the show runners - David Benioff has good news - “Last year we went out to Santa Fe for a week to sit down with him  and just talk through where things are going, because we don’t know if we are going to catch up and where exactly that would be. If you know the ending, then you can lay the groundwork for it. And so we want to know how everything ends. We want to be able to set things up. So we just sat down with him and literally went through every character.”

Personally,. I think there is no way we are seeing the final book unless his editor threatens to shoot him or Martin actually already wrote it, has it in his apartment's safe and has been trolling us this whole time. I think Winds of Winter is getting released but the Dream of Spring? I think we can only dream indeed.

Unfortunately, the plan now is 7 seasons which I think is one season short. Things are going to get cut left and right starting next year and I'm now 90% sure book 3 epilogue will be merged with a certain noble character witnessing something horrific as the final scene this season. I don't like this idea at all as I consider the epilogue of book 3 to be the scariest sequence in the books and merging it with the other character's chapter takes the focus away from my most anticipated character.

I just hope they won't cut the Northern conspiracy subplot in the future seasons. I really want to see Frey Pies and the show making the point that the Northerners really never forgot and have so much respect for the Starks.

I can actually hear fandom screaming as I look on that gif on the left. A Song of Ice and Fire, indeed.

Apparently the screeners for the first episodes have been sent out so hopefully the first reviews will start appearing online soon. I can't wait to read about the second episode. What I really can't wait for, though, are fan reactions to it. I don't think many things about season 4 were spoiled, considering how many plot twists and unexpected events there are in this upcoming season.

Winter is Coming has two awesome on the set of photoshoot videos with the cast being all adorable. 

Iain Glen''s loyalty knows no bounds:

And how about that new trailer? I actually still like the first trailer the most but the new one had some awesome editing. Tywin was a boss in every single moment of it.

HBO also released a wonderful recap of season 3 with interviews from the cast.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, Betty White:

And the person who got her going is none other than Jason Momoa, our very own, Khal Drogo.

McConaughey can't sing for shit, but you gotta appreciate the effort. And the visual side.

 I saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past last weekend. It wasn't that bad - Emma Stone was in it and she is always cute and Matthew looked amazing plus he had several very romantic scenes. It was also so much fun seeing Jennifer Garner playing his love interest, considering they were both in Dallas Buyers Club.

OK let's talk about that True Detective finale.

That moment Rust cried? Oh God. I can't look at shit like that - he cries, I cry. Someone hold him!

The scenes with him walking among those branches and looking at that spiral were so beautiful.

As much as I liked the ending, I kinda kept hoping they went with Matthew's idea:

I'm gonna miss these guys so much:

 Lena Dunhammay quit acting after Girls. Please go. Just crawl back into whatever trash can you came out of. A world without her face and opinions? Sounds like a dream.

How is Hannibal airing on NBC?! Although the most shocking thing about the show is how imaginative gore from season 1 turned into tasteless shock value gore in season 2. That recent episode's opening was nasty but the worst thing about it was how painfully unnecessary it was.

Unlike new Maleficent stills the newest poster is impressive. 

It's disturbing that when Michael B. Jordan was cast as a white guy in Fantastic Four no one was as outraged as with this whole Mara is Tiger Lily news. So it's perfectly fine to cast someone black to play a character that was white but it's a horrible casting for a white girl to play a Native American character? I see the same people who rejoiced about Jordan's casting now bitching about Mara. Have some integrity, for the love of God.

I didn't see recent SNL because Dunham was hosting it and I didn't want to get blinded but thisLiam Neeson bit is hilarious. 

Occasionally watching Shameless is like a visit to the House of Horrors. The birth scene in 2x11 was fucking horrific - why would any woman do that?! No way I'm doing that, ever. And then the whole circumcision talk in season 3 - America, what is your obsession with that? That procedure is barbaric. Here in Europe you don't see this often. Leave your sons alone.

Kevin finding out him and Veronica are having triplets was fucking priceless:

 Ladies and gentlemen we finally got to meet little Swanson in new Parks and Rec and it was awesome.

I'm all caught up on Conan, I also tried giving Seth Meyers a shot - holy shit that first episode was disastrous. I like Amy Poehler but she has such an annoying laugh. Also she shouted most of her answers. Joe Biden was actually the only watchable person this episode.

m.brown reviews charming About Time. He didn't like Harry, though!

Chris reviews The Grand Budapest Hotel. I'll see this one for Ralph Fiennes even though I think Anderson is a sick fuck - he hates animals. Just look what he does to them in his movies.

Brittani reviews Blue is the Warmest Color

Ruth interviews Divergent author Veronica Roth

Courtney lists her favorite 2013 movies

Alex gives glowing praise to Enemy

Katy writes about lovely Chris Pratt

Keith asks about your opinion on recent questionable casting choices in superhero movies

Fisti reviews 12 Years a Slave

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You may remember this post I made a while back, about 15 of my most anticipated moments in the entire series - out of those at least 5 will happen this season. You may also remember last year's list of the most awesome things to look forward to in season 3. Out of those only 1 didn't happen but let's hope it will happen this year.

With 21 days left, take a look at what we can expect from season 4:

(no major spoilers)


Daenerys' dragons are starting to transform from their mother's fierce protectors to actual dragons - hungry, angry beasts. Daenerys is going to realize that she can't control them - and they are just one of the things that she loses the power over this season. In addition they continue to grow, especially Drogon who is officially scary now.



With the show becoming the most popular series in HBO's history, the showrunners got more money this season and it already shows in trailers - the impressive Purple Wedding ceremony, the pyramids of Meereen and Titan of Braavos are just some of the amazing wonders we will see this season.



Last season we saw the beginning of amazing redemption arc for Jaime - after he reaches King's Landing he continues to be one of the good guys, alienating his sister and his father and trying to become the man he was supposed to be. He also has special plans for Brienne...



This season will bring some amazing moments for Arya, including the incredible scene in the crossroad's inn, the same inn her mother took Tyrion once. She also continues to bond a little more with The Hound.




Sansa finally flies from her cage and has a brilliant, though very creepy, teacher this season. Sansa begins to see how the game is played and in the process she does have several great moments, especially the snow castle scene.



According to my calculations and crappy memory, Tyrion and Jaime only shared two scenes so far - the scene in the whorehouse and the breakfast at Winterfell. In the book Jaime only visits Tyrion's cell near the end of the novel, but the show is making a smart decision of including Jaime in Tyrion's story much sooner. Waldau and Dinklage really did an amazing job at establishing just how much the Lannister brothers care for each other and Tyrion's heartbreaking story about Jaime and him meeting his wife Tysha will come into play in major way this season.



We don't have just one big event this season - the whole season 4 is one big event chasing another. In addition to Daenerys' laying siege to Meereen, we are getting the big Battle of Castle Black with the wildings attacking the Wall. The battle, directed by Neil Marshall who also directed Blackwater, will happen in episode 9.



Last season we met Olenna Tyrell, perhaps the most dangerous out of Tyrells. This season we are finally meeting the member of House Dorne - prince Oberyn, also known as the Red Viper. Oberyn is the sexiest character in the series - it's clear from the previews alone that while Tyrion can't visit the brothel this season, Oberyn and his lover Ellaria Sand (played by Indira Varma from Rome) will be there a lot. Oberyn is featured in some of the most exciting scenes this season and his quick wit and charisma will make them even more entertaining.



So far everything was going relatively well for Cersei - Ned Stark didn't take the throne from her as a regent, Blackwater battle was won, Robb Stark was killed. But this season things will start going the other way for her - she will begin to lose everything she holds dear and start to lose her sanity in the process.



I can't say why Tyrion is arrested but the whole trial is filled with many amazing scenes. In addition Tyrion gets visitors in his cell which will no doubt make for some memorable lines and moments.



There are several big twists and turns in the second part of Storm of Sword. One of many is that we become aware of just how many events in the novels had Littlefinger's scheming behind them. His last scene this upcoming season is one of the most devious, shocking and memorable things in the series.



Prince Oberyn's true purpose in coming to King's Landing is vengeance for the death of his sister Ellia at the hands of the Mountain during the sack of King's Landing, led by Tywin Lannister. The trial by combat scene is extremely intense on paper and from the quick glimpses it looks like it will be even more intense on screen.



The royal wedding episode is the episode 2 this season, scripted by Martin himself (and including the cameo from him). The scale of the event is quite astonishing and the wedding itself will take half of the episode. Charles Dance compared the making of the scenes of this one to the making of the short movie. Considering what happens during the wedding and the number of great moments for Tyrion and Cersei, this one will become one of your favorite scenes in the show.



This is my single favorite chapter in all the books in the series. It's Tyrion's breaking point and I just can't wait to see Dinklage play that scene of not one or two but three major confrontations.

(x)

I kept hoping we will get to see the glimpse of the character last season but hopefully the long wait and even more hopefully relative lack of spoilers regarding the event will make the last scene of the season almost as chilling as it was in the books for everyone. Reading that epilogue was both awesome and horrific and I can't wait to see the look of the character on the show.

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I never choose the easy way. And an easy way would be to pair Spike Jonze's Her with Sofia Coppola's Lost Translation - people kept banging on about the similarities between the two for months now, hell I even saw comparison gifsets of tumblr. But kids, yours truly always tries to make her life harder. So here we go, from the scratch.

When I was watching Her I didn't really think of technology or healing after a breakup. Granted the film is in a big part abut those two things but the thing I kept thinking about was how Theodore was looking for connection. Like he had all those feelings to express and things to say and he was looking for someone - or something to help him out.

I saw hat before.

In Lars and the Real Girl, beautiful, little movie, Ryan Gosling plays Lars - painfully shy, quiet man who buys a sex doll, gives her a name - Bianca - and treats her like she was his actual, human girlfriend. Much like in Her, an inanimate object gives the protagonist the comfort he needs.

Lars and Theodore both have a traditional couple in their lives - for Lars it's his brother and his wife and for Theodore his neighbors. They both have goofy co-workers, as well as someone who understands them - for Lars it's a doctor played by Patricia Clarkson and for Theodore his neighbor Amy. They also has someone who doesn't get their feelings at all - Lars' sister in law and Theodore's ex-wife.

Both films slowly and gradually show how protagonists can finally embrace life in a better way because of their relationship with the surrogates. Lars overcomes his crippling shyness and Theodore finally lets go of all the negative feelings the change in his life brought with it.

The women in their lives who help them out tend to have angelic qualities - Amy has messy curly hair unlike Theodore's ex and Margo, Lars' colleague from work, is a cute blond as opposed to his sister in law, always looking very strict, in spite of her desire to help Lars as much as she doesn't understand his actions.

Both films, while dealing with similar subject, frame the characters in similar way - we often see Lars and Theodore all alone, they even leave that impression if they are surrounded by people or they are at work. We often see them with their feelings surrogates in bed or outside, surrounded by nature - as if the precious bond they have was their own little, private haven.

Tonight was the premiere of the 4th season for the cast and the crew of the show. The event was broadcasted live and hosted by True Blood's Steve Nevlin doing absolutely awful job,. However it was worth sitting through all the awkwardness to witness new, amazing trailer for season 4 with plenty of new footage.


New footage from Tyrion's trial:

some clever editing here:

Jaime: Arya Stark hasn't been seen since her father's death
Brienne: I will find her

Sooner or later Cersei always gets what she wants

The opening shot of the trailer with Cersei's joy to ashes line

New shot of Sansa looking unhappy, probably still in King's Landing:

Oberyn and Ellaria doing their favorite thing, looks like it's just before the trial by combat:

New shot of Cersei leaving her meeting with Tywin:

New footage from the Battle of the Wall

Ramsay: The Starks have always ruled the North if they're alive the country will rally to their side

New look at Bran and Jojen
This isn't the end - you need to make it

Stannis' ship heading to Braavos

Oberyn: Can I tell you a secret?

Jon: Mance has all he needs to crash us

Tyrion: Come for the last look?

New look at Theon:

Jaime: Why have the Gods make me love a hateful woman?!


There was also a new featurette released about the bastards of Westeros with some cool new footage:

Ellaria being introduced to the Lannisters:
First look at Roose's wife - Fat Walda Frey

As I predicted Oberyn/Ellaria make out session was for Tyrion's benefit:

Oberyn taking his pick in a brothel:

Holy shit!

I can't with all the feels. This is just such an amazing trailer. And Oberyn and Ellaria! SPOILERPedro is already getting so many fans. Oh, you poor clueless bastards... END OF SPOILER

 You guys thought the Tyrells were challenging the Lannisters? Here come the Martells and the epic game of sass. 

What the hell is Ellaria wearing, though? She looks like an escapee from Phantom Menace.

I'm 90% sure Pedro is with Lena but I keep seeing all those photos of him with Sarah Paulson. I thought Sarah was a lesbian. But then again so was Amber Heard and she is marrying Johnny Depp. Celebrity gossip makes me confused.

And here we have lovely pictures of Jack Gleeson and Natalie Dormer from the new issue of EW:

I'm never getting married but If I were I'd wear something like Margaery's wedding dress:

This is my favorite Thrones costume. So clever - the delicate flowers - roses of Tyrell sigil - and the spikes imitating the thorns - because you don't fuck with the Tyrells. Amazing work.

So George R. R. Martin has become delusional.

He actually thinks the show runners will use book 4 and 5 for at least 3 seasons. They are already using the books - Daenerys's storyline this season will have some events from book 5 and it looks like Brienne's storyline is gonna take from book 4. Then there is Bran who had only one more chapter in book 3 given what was in season 3. I know there is communication between Martin and HBO, so just what the hell is he thinking? He has no time left. 

I mean the showrunners talked to him before the premiere and after the premiere he said this shit. What is he on?!

The whole premiere event was just awful to sit through. Steve Nevlin from True Blood was hosting this and he tanked worse than Aisha Tyler during Critics Choice. The questions sucked and the one chosen for Dinklage ('you SEEM to be BORN to play Tyrion...') was so offensive. I mean he looked so uncomfortable and he is such a sweet and polite guy. Out of all the interviews only Emilia did very well, talking about her three dragon children - she is always so sweet during interviews and genuinely excited. Also - she cut her hair a little bit! It must be for Terminator movie.

 Finn Jones was on fire. He looked like he did speed but at least his ideas about unicorns were funny.

There were two new TV spots released today - I screencaped all the new footage here.

I'm so happy I did all of my studying in advance. After 9 months of nothing, HBO is dropping stuff on us like motherfucker and I'm like a bloodhound hunting it all down. I may give up on sleep soon. Seriously, any fansites looking for bloodshot eyed mad woman to look for information? HBO, how about you? Finding out what secrets fans know? E-mail me. Trailer or a spot drops, within an hour I have screencaps up. Cast member says something secretive? BAM! Tweeted. Have you guys seen my twitter lately? It's like secrets about upcoming season galore.

 Word is that Clooneyis into lawyers nowadays. *waves around*. George please come by and save me.

He looks so sad....having to wear clothes...

 Apparently Matt's wedding wows involved him swearing to wear a shirt. If this is by his wife's request she is mad. You do not put clothes on THAT.

Here are 6 Hardy Boys book covers with Rust and Marty.

Meet Shailene Woodley or JLaw 2.0 (or rather she is to Lawrence what Amber Heard is to ScarJo). Her movie flopped hard, so now she is giving out her opinions hoping to appear in the news. When you are in an adaptation of young adult novel don't act like yours is awesome and others are bad - your franchise's fanbase likely covers those adaptations too. And hey, at least people went to see Twilight.  

She also said this - "Another thing I like to do is give my vagina a little vitamin D". Christ, what kind of a world do we live in where people like her and Lawrence are presented as the right role models for women? Shut up about spreading your legs so that the sunlight can get to your vagina, stop quoting your herbalist and go to college.

While I'm on the subject of wrong...

This is the design for Scarlet Witch in Avengers 2:

You can't just give someone a red jacket and call them Scarlet Witch. By this logic I can just grab Gustav, put his red sweater on him and go 'dude, you can hex me now!'. I'm sure Elizabeth Olsen, young actress I actually like because she is 1. talented 2. focused on her work and not on generating ridiculous public persona of herself, will be fantastic in the role but that outfit is a disgrace. Not a red dress? Not even a red coat? This would look so much more badass if they just lost the jacket and made that shirt and skirt red. 

HOWEVER she looks really cool in the leaked photo from Captain America - Winter Soldier mid-credits. I hope she is really crazy and the hexes aren't pink. She is the only reason I'm super psyched for Avengers 2.

New trailer for Maleficent is out - Angelina has wings which actually looks quite amazing. I'm just not sure why the wings are angelic, if she is a witch and has more to do with dragons? I get that the movie is making her to be an angel of vengeance, but still, dragon wings would be cooler. In the trailer it's her raven that turns into dragon which met considerate amount of whining on the Internet. I think the raven turning into a dragon makes more sense. Who the hell would like to turn into a dragon if they were horned, winged Angelina Jolie?

Also I got chills during her delivery of  Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday she will fall into a sleep like death! - just outstanding

 Lena Dunham is - ready for it? - NAUSEATED by Woody Allen. This is all about the hearsay (or is it actual slander since the investigation was concluded? Yeah, it's slander) about him molesting Dylan Farrow.  Dunham saying she is nauseated by someone is just too good. After I saw the first season of Girls my sex drive died for 2 weeks.

I'm so sick and tired of reading the claims that Shame is homophobic. WHAT. THE FUCK. Brandon is straight. By this point his addiction reaches peek. And for a straight person this is this peek. McQueen portrays it as hell not because it's gay sex but because Brandon's addiction has reached new heights. I swear people just look for reasons to call something homophobic or racist these days.

Man, I'm really hoping Shameless will be lighter in tone next season, as the rumor has it. This season is so dark, too dark - Mickey is doing all those great things (my heart melted when he made out with Ian in that club) and Ian is acting all weird, Frank is on the verge of dying, Debbie is a bitch, Mandy got beaten up by her asshole boyfriend (I hope someone cuts his dick off) and Fiona's storyline is some cold shit.

Keith asks about your opinion - who is the bestBond?

MettelRay writes about True Detective

Ruth lists her favorite 10 Irish actors working in Hollywood today

Jack reviews The Grand Budapest Hotel

Brittani writes about the latest episode of The Walking Dead

Fisti reviews This is the End

Alex shares 42 Things he Loves About SHAME (that no one talks about) 

m.brown is a fearless guy. The last time he saw Lars Von Trier's movie, his TV set committed suicide. Yet here he is reviewing Nymphomaniac part 1.

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Since I haven't been watching many films lately, I figured I'll spend some time appreciating my favorite ladies in movies and TV to give you all something to enjoy here on the blog...

...and something to possibly get seriously frightened too - the amount of disturbed, often murderous, female characters is truly alarming here, but as you probably noticed already - I love entertaining villains. My favorite female characters can be divided into two groups - characters that I admire for their bravery and charisma and the characters who are few steps ahead and take no shit from anyone. But what they all have in common - they are played by wonderful actresses who were perfect choices for their respective characters and truly brought them to life.

Honorable mentions:
Mandy Milkovich, Shameless
Temperance Brennan, Bones
Selina Kyle, Batman Returns
Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones
Ling Wu, Ally McBeal
Sarah O'Connor, Six Feet Under
Claire Fisher, Six Feet Under 
Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones
Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values
Atia of the Julii, Rome

10. Tae-ju
Played by: Ok-bin Kim
in: Thirst
description:Richard Corliss from TIME magazine wrote in his review "she is Lady Chatterley and Lady Macbeth in one smoldering package." It's such a perfect description of her - master manipulator but with certain innocence about her - real, childish innocence, playfulness, clouded by her dark side to the point she relishes her thirst and murdering ways. There are many wonderful things about Thirst but I always find the character of Tae-ju to be the most fascinating aspect of it. She is one of the most wonderfully complex and entertaining villainesses I've ever seen on film.

9. Marla Singer
played by: Helena Bonham Carter
in: Fight Club
description: Marla, Marla, Marla. Self destructive, independent and twisted. Marla who goes to support groups because the coffee is free and it's cheaper then the movies. Marla who steals pizza and gives monologues about the similarity a condom shares with Cinderella's slipper. Marla whose life's philosophy was that she could die at any moment, any day. Fight Club is a story about so many depressing things, but unlike the Narrator, Marla refuses to be depressed about those depressing things. Her life may not be ideal but she seems to be having fun with whatever it throws at her, always finding the way out.

8. Lisbeth Salander
played by: Rooney Mara
in: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
description: Lisbeth has had a tough life. But she never gave up. She took control, she took revenge and she avenged others. As played by Mara, Lisbeth is much more vulnerable than when she was played by Noomi Rapace. Lisbeth understands there is love and friendship out there and despite all the things that happened to her she is still willing to open her heart to someone else. One of my movie wishes that seems destined not to come true is that Fincher, Mara and Craig finally make that sequel. Mara created something wonderful here and it deserves two more movies just to give her more opportunities to bring Lisbeth to life again.

7. Gillian Owens
played by: Nicole Kidman
in: Practical Magic
description: Practical Magic is one of my all time favorites. The whole story is so beautiful and I love the depiction of sisterhood - the one formed by blood and the one created by the union of women. Nicole Kidman's spirited, fun loving and superstitious Gillian is such a joy to watch as is Sandra Bullock as her grounded and responsible sister Sally. But it's Gillian that is my favorite of the movie - with her meditation in crisis moments, fondness for lucky charms and free love. And Kidman never ever looked prettier and sexier than she does in this movie.

6. Lana Winters
Played by: Sarah Paulson
in: American Horror Story: Asylum
description: Ryan Murphy is not the best writer out there, but he sure created someone truly special in Lana Winters, the main heroine of American Horror Story: Asylum. Played with so much fierceness by Sarah Paulson, Lana is a survivor. She defeated not one but two serial killers. She endured torture, rape, abortion. She didn't bother with tears or depression - she stood up, took revenge and turned her horror story into the story of a true courage and strength.

5. Suzanne Stone
played by: Nicole Kidman
in: To Die For
description: I love an entertaining villain. A villain that is so ridiculously deprived of morals they really do not have many redeeming qualities, if any at all, but because of the sharp script and charismatic performance they are just so much fun to watch. Enter Suzanne Stone. Suzanne wants to be famous. She wants to be on TV. She wants people to know her. When she gets the gig as weather girl she has so much enthusiasm an charm doing her job the world almost stops spinning. And Suzanne will do anything for fame - even plan a murder. Nicole Kidman has delivered countless wonderful performances over the years but she still hasn't topped this one.

4. Alice Morgan
played by: Ruth Wilson
in: Luther
description: Alice is so interesting that I'm willing to forgive her the only thing that can truly make me wish the character rots in the deepest circle of hell - killing a dog. Alice is a genius. She is also a sociopath, to an extent. She doesn't seem interested in others or particularly fond of people. Until she meets John Luther - someone very similar to her, in that he doesn't like rules, but also someone who recognizes several boundaries she crosses routinely. Luther is a great show but what made it particularly entertaining and interesting was the connection and the chemistry between Alice and John.


3. Mavis Gary
played by: Charlize Theron
in: Young Adult
description: Suzanne Stone is an entertaining to watch villain. Mavis Gary is an entertaining to watch catastrophe - she is a disaster, with her gig as a writer of young adult novels coming to an end and her having nothing lined up, endless amount of meaningless one night stands, the feeling of superiority over everyone, drinking problem and let's face it - awful people skills. But her failures and indifference towards changing her life come from the pain she experienced once. Mavis may never change her ways, but her sense of worth and the protective delusions she created make for a rich and interesting character. And someone as perfect as Charlize Theron playing a character whose life isn't perfect only adds to the impact of the film.

2. Lady Catelyn Stark
played by: Michelle Fairley
in: Game of Thrones

Yeah, let me just type this - if you believe Catelyn started the war, if you hate her and if you think she is weak or stupid or as bad of a person as Cersei, take your shit, leave my blog, get a castration and a lobotomy. No, not the latter, you appear to already have gone through that with major success.

My journey with Game of Thrones began when I saw entire first season in one day.  It remains my favorite season of that show.  Partly because the big focus was put on the court intrigue but also because we spent so much time with Catelyn. In the books she is an admirable character. but not as admirable as Fairley makes her. Most people's chief complain with her is her hatred towards Jon, her husband's bastard (book readers - wink wink). While Catelyn's handling of the situation wasn't perfect, it's certainly not a reason to call her evil - she is human and I wonder just how many of you could look past the fact your husband brought another woman's, someone he cheated on you with (book readers - wink wink), child home and forbade you from asking questions about it.Catelyn's fearless devotion to her family, her fierce bravery and dedication, her unflinching pride, make her the strongest female character in the series. She has flaws but they only make her bravest moments more impressive.  BOOK SPOILERS I for one cannot wait to see Stoneheart on the show and hope that she dies in more dignified and less painful way than the first time in the book series - Catelyn Stark deserves to rest peacefully, ideally after finding out her children are still alive. END OF SPOILERS


1. The Black Swan
played by: Natalie Portman
in: Black Swan
description: One of the many reasons Black Swan is my favorite movie of all time is the mystery of it. Is Nina mentally disturbed or is she possessed? And if it's the latter - what is this creature that haunts her? We see Black Swan a number of times in the movie and as frightened as Nina is, the force, or her inner demons taking the control of her, frees her. All Nina wants is to be perfect and she achieves that with the help of her dark side. I love body horror subgenre - the most disturbing horror subgenre there is - and the whole appearance of the Black Swan - a beautiful swan-female hybrid is simply ingenious. The whole story is something that I think a lot of people can relate to - perhaps the only way to be who we want to be - and the best version of it - is to embrace all the parts of ourselves, even those that frighten us. I can only hope Darren Aronofsky goes back to making movies like this one soon.

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There is so many interviews with Thrones cast members showing up. Pedro clearly has a gift for explaining stuff.

Sophie Turner's concern for Jack Gleeson is simply adorable and very touching.

I have so much new appreciation for various stuff while rewatching the show and re-reading Storm of Swords. How about Noah Taylor in that bear pit scene? -You gave her a wooden sword?! - We've only got one bear. And how about that sweet scene where Margaery gives Sansa advice regarding her marriage to Tyrion? Bronn's small nod of respect while Sansa walks down the aisle? Or Jorah's sad expression where after Dracarys Daenerys doesn't even look at him and just passes him as she walks over to Unsullied?

And also - Stannis. I just hope they won't turn the awesome thing he does this upcoming season into some sort villainous act. It's time to get the character right, people. This is the point in the books I started to understand why book readers love him so much. The show made some improvements, though. That scene with Shireen was so sweet and show Stannis, unlike book Stannis, smiles which is SUCH a welcomed change.

British silver foxes' game is seriously fucking strong in this one, y'all.

Yeah, sir, that ain't weird. Jorah is supposed to be plain - ladies almost faint whenever Iain Glen is on screen. God forbid he opens his mouth and speaks. It poses actual problems when I read the books - I couldn't understand Daenerys repeatedly turning Jorah down. I hear talk of ladies swooning whenever Roose Bolton is on screen. We have an army of Charles Dance's fangirls. And to play Stannis who is uncharismatic in the books they got Stephen Dillane. Let me use a metaphor here - watching this show is like seeing the book characters after many, many drinks. They are suddenly freaking hot.

Oh Good God in heaven - thisMcConaughey interview is so great.

Chris Nolan said he wanted 'an everyman' that's why he got Matt to play the lead in Interstellar. He is an everyman? Where are those men, Chris? WHERE?

Tom Hiddleston was there for Jessica Chastain's birthday party! This is only reminding me that Crimson Peak is closer and closer.

HBO attempted to make the next Emmy ceremony Sophie's Choice for me. True Detective was submitted in Drama series category, where Thrones is. 1. Why are those bitches piling up the competition for their own most successful show? 2. Thank God everyone in Thrones is supporting 3. Not that I should care after last year's Fairley/Waldau snub 4. Not that anything or anyone beats Thrones, since Deadwood is over 5. Can Matthew and Cranston just split that fucking award in half and share?

Remember that Cinderella movie where Blanchett is playing evil stepmother? More importantly than this, THE KING IN THE NORTH  Richard Madden plays Prince Charming. Here is the description of the first trailer.

Jimmy Fallon did something fun on his show - it involved the always delightful Kevin Bacon reprising his Footloose dance

J.Law 2.0 continues:

I'd comment but I'll just use these:

 While we are at it, I saw Nymphomaniac, part 1 (here's my short and accurate review). The film was boring, unpleasant and long and the only shocking thing about it was that Thrones has more sex scenes than this movie. Thrones however (in most cases, sadly) has far less shots of dicks. I'm with m.brown on this one - couldn't the dicks be cheerful? They were just sad and depressing.

Seriously, a freaking horror show, ladies.

So Prometheus sequel. Just when you think they can't possibly find someone worse than Lindelof to write this, they got the dude who wrote The Green Lantern. I'll still going to watch it, though. I love Alien franchise and I'm one of the very few people who actually greatly enjoyed Prometheus.

Now THAT is Scarlet Witch.

I'm not that into Marvel movies but Elizabeth Olsen and the inclusion of that character are enough to get me excited for Avengers 2.

Rumour has it they want to reboot Indiana Jones with Bradley Cooper in the lead role. Are we really surprised that nothing is sacred when they are making Rosemary's Baby miniseries?

Speaking of which, as bad as the first poster for that is, nothing beats the awfulness of the new poster for X: Men Days of the Future Past. But I've gotta admit - imagining those things on the left are the army of Iron Men flying over to crap on Lawrence's head is very amusing.

Nikhat saw Blue Velvet for the very first time while Elina enjoyed the first time viewing of Reservoir Dogs

Alex lists 10 movie passion projects

m.brown reviews American Hustle

Brittani reviews Oldboy remake

arap.virtuoso reviews Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Fisti reviews The Wolf of Wall Street

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Here we are! My first ever blogathon came to an end and I want to thank you all for your participation and so many wonderful, creative and fascinating ideas. I received so many different and amazing to read posts -  the variety of entries is simply stunning - big movies, small indies, characters from well known cult classics and little known, but as this blogathon shows, adored films. What's really stunning is that out of all the entries not one character showed up more than once - there are so many fascinating movie characters out there and you all did such a wonderful job highlighting why each and every one of those seemingly minor characters deserves their own movie.

 74...MORE...HOURS

SPOILER Does anyone else panic a little/feel sad because we are losing Joffrey soon? He is a twat, but he is so entertaining to watch. Jack Gleeson has done a hell of a job over the past three years. A magnificent performance all the way END OF SPOILER

*inhuman fangirl noises intensify*:

 Well, actually it's about 2 months until this particular moment to happen on the show and for me to explode, but what the hell.

If I'm not on twitter before/after the premiere airs it means I died. Or I am laying on the ground laughing manically and punching the air because Thrones is finally back. 

Also if at any point this season Stannis beheads something with his sword, while riding on a horse, my chance of survival drops to zero. I live in constant fear they will rob me of him kicking ass this season. Please don't do that. I ask for so little. Do not substitute that awesomeness for some sappy melodrama DO. NOT. DO. THAT. I'm a very forgiving person - no, that's a lie - I'm a very forgiving person for GoT writers but if they deprive me of Stannis kicking ass I'm gonna bitch about it as long as I've bitched about Mhysa ending scene. It's been 10 months. I still bitch about it. Don't get me started on what happens if they mess up the epilogue.

These sadistic bastards are doing the hiatus for 4th of July again this year. Before episode 8. I'm not gonna say why it's particularly cruel, but book readers know why. I can barely keep it together from Monday to Sunday when Thrones is actually on. They take it away for two weeks? Nightmare.

This is awesome. Even the people who don't watch the show should see it:

 "Peter Dinklage will get every good dwarf role until he dies...or Warwick Davis kills him"- I seriously cried from laughing. Although fuck off at the Stannis bit. I'd hit that. Hard.

Finn Jones's unicorn obsession - which I do believe is a side effect of him taking some sort of drugs I'd love to take - is freaking hilarious.

Pedro Pascal is best friends with Sarah Paulson and they are both adorable:

Here you can listen to the preview of The Rains of Castamere by Sigur Ros. The band plays the musicians on Joffrey's wedding in episode 2 and I bet their rendition is the ending credits music.

Rumor has it Cersei/Jaime sex scene from episode 3 is even more gross than in the books....how is that even possible?!

We are also getting Ramsay's huntin first three episodes. Yeah, I can hear your joy from here.

Ladies and gentlemen, misery porn:

Team Dragonstoneis dark...and full of grumpiness. This is an actual promo image from the second episode and these are the looks on Stannis and Davos' faces as Melisande is burning people alive around them. As I look at that picture I can actually imagine Davos say frantically in his head 'Your Grace...NO!' as Stannis is brooding sexily with confused "what is happening right now and whatever it is what the fuck am I doing this for?" look on his face. I think his crazy wife (the baby jars lady, remember, guys?) is in the scene too so that explains the extra amount of unhappiness. She's probably throwing more wood in the pyre and high fiving Melisandre while she is at it.

I hope that the trip to Bravos is just gonna be Davos and Stannis, Brokeback Blackwater style. 

I was making a lot of edits lately, my fav out of the ones I made this week is this one which is my attempt at showing both ice and fire in the series (here's the whole thing). Pretty, huh? I keep making those because 1. it's good practice and I finally figured how to style the edits for weekly recaps 2. the alternative is staring at the countdown clock...and that's just mental...

 We talked about silver foxes on the show last week. Apparently this gifset exists. *breathes into a paper bag*

I thought I knew everything there is to know about Thrones. I was wrong:

This is so sad, Shireen and the actress are both so cute.

I really can't re-read the books every time the show comes back on. I mean I read them and I can't wait for all those awesome moments to come in season 5,6 and beyond. "Tell me, Turncloak, what battles has the Bastard of Bolton won that I should fear him?. Oh, God. Then there's whole Cersei/Margaery thing. Please get Polly Walker to play Cersei's lesbian lover.

The week GoT returns they release this. That's attempted murder.

 Um....*raises hand*...I can cook...

One of the few people who can make me watch something is Louis C.K. And he was hilarious hosting last SNL. 

I've been watching The Tunnel. Because of reasons.

The show is good,  which quite shocks me given how most I've seen of British TV either deteriorates in quality quickly or is simply unwatchable (there are some truly outstanding exceptions, though). Dillane and Clemence Poesy have such sweet and chemistry and she is surprisingly great - her character is really awesome.

I saw Nymphomaniac, part 2. Amazingly it was even worse than the first one. Jaime Bell's scenes have to be seen to be believed. What. the. fuck. I am not sure who was more uncomfortable - the actors being asked to do that sick shit or me watching it. Watching it sober, too, which was a serious mistake.

I finally saw Frozen. It was cute and everything, but it was just too much singing for me. I did like what the final act of true love was, that was great. And the snowman who acted like he was high was so cute.

Oh my God, Shameless. That was awesome. Mickey is amazing. But where is Mandy? I hope she does something graphic and brutal to her asshole of a boyfriend in the finale. Also - again, let me just say - Kevin is my hero.

Brittani reviews Afternoon Delight

m.brown reviews Frozen

Keith and Alex review Noah

MettelRay writers about the recent trend of killing off characters in TV series

Andrew shares his 2014 Oscar nominations predictions

vinnieh reviews The Skeleton Key

Courtney writes about True Detective

And finally you should all check out Mara's blog - it's filled with so many incredibly well researched and gorgeous posts. Here she writes about Dallas Buyers Club director - Jean-Marc Vallee

Let's get psyched!

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There's Thrones...and then there is everything else.

After nearly 10 months of waiting the series is finally back. I can't find the words to describe just how happy I was to finally hear that opening credits music again. But before the opening credits there was a very skillfully put together 'previously on' clip that included all the information that Unsullied needed to understand the episode as well as absolutely chilling cold open.

In that opening we see Ned Stark's great sword, Ice, being pulled from the wolf pelt. It's Tywin's hand that is holding the sword. He gives it to the blacksmith who reforges the sword into two new ones - Oathkeeper, for Jaime and Widow's Wail for Joffrey.
The opening has no lines except for somber, sad Stark theme turning into Rains of Castamere as Tywin symbolically indicates that House Stark was defeated by the Lannisters. Ned Stark's sword is now remade into Lannister swords and once this is done Tywin throws the wolf pelt into the fire and watches it burn with a chilling look on his face.

About opening credits that followed - we now have Dreadfort (held by Boltons) and Meereen added to it, as well as finally featuring Gwendoline Christie's name. One thing that surprised me was the lack of Pedro Pascal, who is only mentioned in the end credits.
Enter Jaime. Tywin gives him Oathkeeper, which Jaime is thankful for. Tywin intends for Jaime to return to Casterly Rock and inherit the place. Jaime refuses - he always wanted to be in the Kinsguard. Tywin tells him it's impossible now that Jaime lost his sword hand. Jaime is insisting and Tywin is furious. Jaime leaves with a smile on his face. I should note this was the first time Dance and Waldau shared the screen since season 1.

In the next scene we see Tyrion, Bronn and all grown up Podrick (that was him, right?) awaiting the guests from Dorne. Bronn attempts to make jokes but Tyrion is all stressed out as there was always bad blood between the Lannisters and the Dornishmen. Tyrion brags about being a skilled diplomat while Pod impresses them with his sigil knowledge.
The arrivals are only the members of houses sworn to the House Martell. Prince Doran who was supposed to arrive did not. Tyrion is informed that instead prince Oberyn Martell arrived to attend the Royal Wedding. Tyrion and his companions set on finding him.

Oberyn is in Littlefinger's brothel. While his lover, Ellaria Sand, lies on the bed he is choosing a girl for them to enjoy. Once they settle on the one who is not timid Oberyn makes his move on the guy who is now managing the brothel. After little resistance the guy is convinced. Suddenly Oberyn hears Rains of Castamere being sang in another room. Ellaria urges him to stay with her but he goes to inspect.
He finds Lannisters soldiers who make fun of him being Dornish. Then Ellaria comes by and they comment on her beauty and say she is too good for Oberyn, taking her for one of the whores. Oberyn is acting all cool during this and tells the Lannisters that the entire world hates their house because their money and lions cannot change the fact they are weak men. After the soldier goes for the sword Oberyn pins his hand to the table by stabbing him through the wrist.

At that point Tyrion and Bronn arrive and after quick jokes and introductions Tyrion asks Oberyn to talk outside. Very quickly Oberyn reveals his real reason for being in King's Landing. Years ago his sister Elia Martell was married to Rheagar Targaryen (Daenerys' brother). Rheagar left her for another woman (that would be Lyanna Stark, mentioned in season 1, the sister of Ned and great love of Robert Baratheon's life, called 'a blue rose'). After the sack of King's Landing Elia's two children were butchered and wrapped in Lannister cloaks and lied before Tywin in throne room.
As for Elia, Gregor Clegane, the Mountain (brother of the Hound, someone you probably remember from the charming scene in which he beheaded a horse in season 1) raped Elia and split her in half with his sword. The details in the books were even more gruesome, so those not familiar with the novels - you got lucky the story was vague in the show. It's very clear Oberyn wants vengeance. He tells Tyrion to tell his father he is here because 'The Lannisters aren't the only ones who pay their debts". That line was met with loud cheers and deafening applause from the audience of 7,000 gathered at the fan screening a few weeks back.

Meanwhile, our Khaleesi is spending some time with her dragons.Rhaegal and Viserion (the dragons were actually still not named in the show) are flying above the sea as Drogon's head lies on her lap and she pets him. When Rhaegal and Viserion drop sheep's corpse Drogon turns aggressive - he wants it for himself. When Daenerys tries to stop him he turns her way and roars at her. That frightens her.
Jorah sees the whole thing and assumes the role of Captain Obvious right from his friendzone - 'they are dragons, Khaleesi. They cannot be tamed. Not even by their mother'. Wow, Jorah, thanks. Then we get a cute, albeit pointless scene in which Daenerys sees Daario and Grey Worm gamble - the person who holds the sword in his two outstretched arms the longest gets the honor of riding next to the Queen. Dany informs them since they wasted her time neither of them gets that honor. We also see Missandai exchange a look with Grey Worm and Daario taunts him that he likes her, which has to be frustrating since Grey Worm was castrated.

We see Sansa during breakfast in King's Landing. She is so depressed about the events of Red Wedding she refuses to eat. Tyrion joins her and takes her hand, which Shae notices. Tyrion tells Sansa he wants to help her but Sansa is reluctant. She asks Tyrion is he knows what happened to the bodies of her brother and mother. She tells him about the sewing of direwolf's head on Robb's body and - new information for TV audience - the fact that after lady Catelyn's throat was cut to the bone her body was thrown into the river. Tyrion remarks that he admired her family but Sansa leaves the table and heads for Godswood because 'that's the only place where people don't try to talk to her'.
We also get a terrible scene in which Tyrion finds Shae in his room, eager to have sex with him,. Tyrion doesn't have time nor strength for that with all that's happening and Shae throws a bitchy hissy fit. I know Kekili won some awards in Germany but hey, she was in porn flicks too. I think everyone has that right but don't expect my respect especially since you deliver an outrageous performance like whatever the fuck it was she did in this scene. Shae storms out which is observed by one of Cersei's spies.

Meanwhile, Cersei gives Jaime a gift - a golden hand that is being placed on his stump by Qyburn. Before Qyburn leaves Cersei thanks him for aiding her with her 'symptoms' .Cersei is furious with Jaime for leaving her for so long and rejects him. She tells him he took too long to come back to her which clearly confuses and devastates Jaime.
Ygritte and Tormund also got a scene this week. In it Tormund gives her shit for not killing Jon, just wounding him instead. He knows if she wanted to kill him, he would be dead. They encounter a group of Thenns - creepy free folk - led by Styr. Thenns are joining the wildings for the big upcoming battle. They are also cannibals. So to sum up I get to see Shae suck Tyrion's finger and Styr calling Ygritte 'scrawny' but I didn't even see a glimpse of Stannis? That's bullshit.

Meanwhile in Castle Black Jon talks to Sam about how he was always jealous of Robb. I'm still pissed off we didn't get to see a scene in which Jon finds out about the Red Wedding. Anyways Jon is preparing to talk to the commander of the Watch Alliser and the others about what happened when he was with the wildlings.
Can we just give it up for Kit Harington for showing some charisma for the very first time in the series? He was awesome here. He explains to Alliser, maester Aemon and Janos Slynt (the piece of shit who helped kill Ned's men in throne room and the target of Tyrion's legendary 'I'm not questioning your honor, I'm denying its existence' line) that the wildings are going to attack the Wall from North and South and they have 100,000 (!) men in their command. Doesn't the Watch have 1,000 men?

Jon also confesses to breaking his vows and sleeping with the wildling girl. Slynt is eager to have him killed, you know, since he actively partook in the events that led to the killing of Ned. But maester Aemon remarks how if they killed every watcher who slept with a girl the Wall would be watched by headless men. Jon is free to go as Aemon remarks it's because he said the truth. He later says that he knows how to distinguish the truth and the lies because he grew up in King's Landing. Basically maester Aemon rocks.
Back in King's Landing Olenna and Magaery are choosing the necklaces for the Royal Wedding. Olenna hates all of them and tells Margaery that since she is becoming the new queen she needs to look flawless during her wedding. Margaery remarks that perhaps she should let Joffrey choose a necklace for her and knowing him it's going to be a string of dead sparrow heads.

Brienne arrives and Olenna is mesmerized by her size. She compliments Brienne for defeating ser Loras. Brienne asks for a word with Margaery. She tells her that Renly was killed by the shadow who looked like Stannis. Margaery seems to believe her. Or more accurately, she doesn't give a shit about what or who killed Renly.
They pass the ridiculous statue of Joffrey which leads to the funniest moment of the episode - the transition from this statue to showing Joffrey in equally douchy pose.Ser Merryn and Jaime talk about the guards for the wedding and Joffrey remarks how no one will dare to do anything since people love him. He says he broke Stannis to which Jaime says that war is not over as long as Stannis lives.

The great book of the guard is there and Joffrey look at several pages mentioning several book characters which no doubt gave some of the book readers...a rise. Joffrey makes fun of Jaime since he barely has half of page written about him and he is a 40-year old knight with one hand. Worth noting - first scene ever shared by Gleeson and Waldau.
Back to Daenerys, Daario shows her how charming he is again (did we really need two scenes of this?!) and brings her flowers one of which is a blue rose. Dany is all charmed and smiling until she hears shouts. Turns out her army stumbled onto a crucified slave girl. Dany is informed there is a body like this at every mile leading to Meereen and 163 miles are left. Dany orders the men to remove the slaves' collars before they are buried.

Back in King's Landing Sansa is in the Godswood and she is being watched by Jaime and Brienne. Brienne reminds Jaime of his promise to keep the Stark girls safe. Jaime responds that Arya is most likely dead and Sansa is now his sister in law. This whole scene was as pointless as it was unnecessary and harmful to Jaime's character - they made it look like he will be all about the honor now and this is going backwards.
I also wish there was a scene in which Brienne finds out about Red Wedding. In the book Brienne was absolutely devastated, not speaking, not eating, just like Sansa, because of her admiration and her vow to protect lady Catelyn. That would be far more important than the scene with Brienne and Jaime where all that was accomplished was Jaime's humorous line about her being a pain in his ass.

Meanwhile Sansa hears steps behind her and starts running. It turns out it's ser Dontos, a drunk whom she saved during Joffrey's name day. Dontos wants to repay Sansa and he gives her a necklace, something he says is the last sign of the greatness of his house. Sansa promises to wear it with pride.
The last sequence we see this episode is Arya and The Hound on the road. Arya remarks she has nothing left with her family being gone and the Hound being the only keeping her alive. Hound now plans to deliver Arya to Eyrie to her aunt Lysa (crazy lady who breastfeeds all the time). They stop outside the inn and Arya notices Polliver, Lannister soldier.

He is the one who took Arya's sword and killed her friend, Lommy (The Hound's line "what the fuck is a Lommy?" was hands down the funniest one this week). Arya tells him her brother gave her that sword (awww!) and she sets on going inside. Before the Hound stops her, the door opens. They sit down and watch as the Lannister soldiers abuse tavern girl - there is a tavern girl episode in the books that is easily one of the most disturbing things in the series. I'm hoping that poor girl won't make a reappearance. Although, given how episode 4 or 5 this season reportedly has something so awful they had to trim it down, who knows.
Anyways, Polliver recognizes the Hound and joins them. Arya sits quietly as The Hound delivers golden lines like 'fuck the king' and saying Polliver has 'cunt mouth'. Pretty soon the brawl starts with the Hound kicking ass and Arya standing oddly by (perhaps a bit too long?). The fight was fucking brutal too, with one guy getting stabbed in the dick and another getting his eyes impaled on the knife.

Soon Arya joins in, kills a guy, hurts Polliver's leg, reclaims the Needle and kills him the exact same way he killed Lommy, with a smile on her face. Then she gets her own horse and her and the Hound drive away and we see they are right in the middle of war destruction, fire and ruins.
Overall I really enjoyed the episode. While there was some needless nudity, the needless scenes like the one with Margaery and Brienne or Brienne and Jaime that took screen time from actual important things that could have been shown, it was just a minor glitch. Another thing to cherish is that we finally get longer episodes this season with this being a whole hour long.

It was also the first episode loaded with this many book references. I'm thrilled that the characters from the past are being brought into conversations since they are hugely important to what will most likely be the series' end game. The most impressive thing for me was most definitely Kit Harington's acting - I really hope he keeps it up.
This episode was the calm before the storm. Starting next week it will be hard to catch a breath. Next episode entitled The Lion and the Rose features Stannis which is a wonderful news for me but the wonderful news for everyone - it's written by Martin himself, it features Sigur Ros and it also features the Royal Wedding.

I'll be surprised if the next episode doesn't end up being one of the best in the series.

I was invited by Manon de Reeper to participate in this relay blogathon created by Nostra at MyFilmViews. The idea is that every participant removes one iconic character from the list, and then adds a new one.

Here are the rules:
A list of 10 iconic movie characters has been made. That list will be assigned to another blogger who can then change it by removing one character (describing why they think it should not be on the list) and replace it with another one (also with motivation) and hand over the baton to another blogger. Once assigned that blogger will have to put his/her post up within a week. If this is not the case the blogger who assigned it has to reassign it to another blogger. After you have posted your update leave the link in the comments here and I will make sure it gets added to the overview post.

Rocky BalboaJames Bond E.T. Indiana Jones John McClane The Terminator The Tramp Darth Vader Mary Poppins

I'm removing:

“Dirty” Harry Callahan
I think 10 iconic characters list is pretty much impossible to put together precisely because it's only 10. Someone less iconic for me will be more iconic for the next person. All of those characters are iconic in one way or another and what makes them so is how they are recognizable to so many movie fans. As famous as Dirty Harry is, Clint Eastwood has played so many memorable characters in so many memorable movies, while this one may be more iconic, there are other roles of his that are pretty damn close to. However...

I'm adding:

Ellen Ripley
...for Sigourney Weaver it's all about Ripley. Ripley was on that list before and I'm not adding anyone but her. She is the ultimate badass movie heroine and she has set the bar for other action/horror ladies so high no other actress and character has managed to cross it and it's been decades. Alien franchise was as much about the creature as it was about her. Even if part 3 and 4 were so-so they were still worth seeing for her character.

I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I have some sort of vast film knowledge, but I think most people know the creature from the Alien, not even film buffs, but ordinary people. But I'm willing to bet 90% of those people also know who Ripley is.

I'll never forgive James Cameron for taking one of the best horror movies in cinematic history and using it as the basis for silly action movie in the sequel (yeah, I just called motherfucking Aliens silly, deal with that) but for Weaver to actually pull off a better performance in this movie than in original masterpiece is a true accomplishment.

They keep adding films to the franchise. But I don't think they will ever succeed in topping the original - sure CGI is better, the technology is better, but you can never have another Ellen Ripley. Hell, even when you clone her, things get kinda weird.


I'm passing the baton to someone with actual film knowledge - Alex Withrow of And so it Begins.

Bronn and Tyrionfor True Detective season 2 please. Their banter and scenes together are so awesome. Bronn will have a scene with Jaime this week but nothing tops his chemistry with Tyrion.

It's been 5 days and I'm still impressed with Kit puppy face Harington showing such charisma. Well done, well done!

The amount of hilarious stuff inspired by that inn scene is amazing:

STANNIS THIS SUNDAY!!!!!! MY KING!!!! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!!!

 This is from one of my favorite Stannis fan blogs on tumblr - "Stannis gets off his horse all majestic as fuck and splattered in blood, swaggers up and says “I AM HERE. NOW LET’S TAKE OUT THE TRASH”" Reading that generated feelings in me that people who read porn fan fiction must feel. Yes. Do that.

This Sunday's episode is gonna be packed. I can't wait for the wedding. Cersei is gonna be hammered out of her ass again and Joffrey is gonna be such a dick. Jack Gleeson should win every award for embodying that little asshole so well.

My gifset of Margaery Tyrell's wedding dress is nearing 50,000 notes. I imagine it will only become more popular after the ep. The costume department deserves all the possible praise for this beauty.

There is a statue of Joffrey in New Zealand and there is a rope around its neck that tightens when you tweet a hashtag.

 Beautiful and extremely talented Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne replaced beautiful and extremely talented Lily Rabe in The Hunger Games, that mock-something movie that's next. Natalie Dormer is already there, it will be fun if these two have scenes together.

Christina Hendrickssaid something about thinking she would be a good fit for the show. No offense to the lovely Carice van Houten who plays Melisandre well, but if Hendricks played that part...no one would be shocked Stannis listens to her. Check out this fanart. Good God.

So let me get this straight - not only did fucking HBO Go kept crashing during Sunday's premiere, they also upload promos only for US region? Promos that I have to glimpse via screencaps and gifsets on tumblr until some kind soul uploads them on youtube for all to see? FUCK YOU HBO GO. Anyways here is the new promo, the quality is not very good but it has plenty of new footage and Tyrion's final line is freaking awesome:

I saw John Adams, which was great - the ensemble was just insane. At one point even Tom Hollander showed up. The chemistry between Stephen Dillane and Laura Linney was so intense I spent most of the series wondering if Jefferson would hit that. I know little of early American history (here in Europe we pretty much dissect everything about our history to the point it makes you want to scream, half of high school was just about the two World Wars) - so I really kept hoping he will. Then I read a bit of what actually happened in his life and that made me sad. But then I made gifs and I was happy again.

I actually got thank you notes for making this gifset. Yep, I bring ladies joy. It's shocking the same person played Jefferson and Stannis. And when HBO refuses to indulge us (really? Showing a scene where Dany gets flowers and including detailed description of those flowers instead of focusing on the most important person from one of the four most important houses? Really?! I mean will it come into play later? Will Jorah use the red poisonous one to poison Daario's soup and start eliminating competition thus when there's only Dany and all of his friendzone glory she will have to choose him? What the fuck?! /endrant), tumblr to the rescue.

Lana Del Rey shot new video last week. Word is the single drops tomorrow. It's been too long. 

While Transcendence marketing campaign is getting worse and worse, all I can think of is where the hell is footage from Interstellar? Where are the pics of Matt? Where is, hopefully, the confirmation of that zero gravity sex scene? Come on, it's only 7 months away.

Jesus, what the hell is happening on Hannibal right now?! That Miriam chick is alive? What, she was in a hole for 2 years? With cut off arm? What is going on?

 Veep premiere was crazy underwhelming. That new guy who helps out Selena? Terrible. But I guess when something follows Thrones it will always look underwhelming. Hopefully, next episode will be better.

Shameless! I freaking gasped when I saw Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Oh my God. I hope Fiona hits that. But why the fuck did they bring back the most spineless twit ever, Jimmy? Please tell me they brought him back just so they kill him off again. If they have Morgan's character do it, I'll explode.

I keep trying to write an article about Emma Greenwell who plays Mandy on the show but there is so little information known about her. She is so wonderful and pretty. I know there is some creepy cult movie with her showing on film festivals so hopefully once this gets wider release some more info on her will show up. Is she really dating the guy who plays Lip in real life? Damn, he's lucky!

Oh, man. I'm gonna love The Neighbors:

Um....Cameron Diaz should be locked in a cage. And send into space. 

Even Russell Crowe was uncomfortable. Richard Ayoade actually looked like he was having an out of body experience.

Remember that scene in Only Lovers Left Alive with Eve and all the books? Lovely Sofia of FillmFlare has details on many of them.

Elina loved Noah

Brittani wrote an awesome recap for Game of Thrones 4x01 Two Swords

m.brown, same as me, wasn't as enamored with new Captain America movie as everyone else seems to be

Fisti disliked The Counselor even more than I did

Alex reviews Dom Hemingway, which features our Khaleesi

Ruth asks about your favorite Nic Cage performances

 

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Ding dong, the psycho's gone.

Before we get to the event some of you were probably looking forward to since 1x02, where Joffrey turned out to be a deplorable coward, and most of you (all of you?) definitely were since he had Ned Stark executed in 1x09, let's start with the beginning, or as I'd call it - let's get everything out of the way so that we can show as much wedding as we can.
In the North, Ramsay is hunting. With dogs and his crazy lady friend. And Reek. Reek runs like shit having been tortured and well, considering everything that's been done to him. They are hunting a girl. We are treated to a lovely moment where Myranda, whose cruelty makes Ramsay smile, shoots her with an arrow and then Ramsay sets his dogs on the girl as Reek watches the carnage. Ah, good times.

Ramsay then welcomes his father Roose and his wife Wanda. Roose is joined by my favorite character invented for the sake of the series - Locke. Ramsay compliments Locke on chopping off Jaime's hand. Then Roose berates Ramsay for torturing Theon, who could have been an asset in dealing with Greyjoys. You know, since his father values him so much. Roose really doesn't get the most accurate information, does he?
Ramsay is visibly disappointed as he wanted to make his father proud. Ramsay orders Reek to shave him and as Reek is doing that he drops the news of Robb being dead. The fact that Reek is so very obedient impresses Roose. Reek also tells Roose that Bran and Rickon are alive. Roose and Ramsay decide to hunt them down. Reek also babbles something about Jon Snow to which Locke hilariously asks 'who the fuck is Jon Snow?'. One thing - as great as Alfie Allen's work is - his stare when Ramsay is talking with Roose was absolutely deranged - they should have made him look much, much worse. Reek in the books is so tortured and broken the people who knew Theon don't even recognize him anymore.

Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Tyrion and Jaime are sharing a drink. Tyrion tells Jaime he should practice his left hand and offers to send Bronn to help. Bronn arrives to a nice secluded part of the capital and him and Jaime practice sword fight. There was a remark, by Bronn, about Jaime shitting gold just like his father. That line was humorous, clever and most likely got an 'ohhh!' from all book readers.
On his way to the gifts giving ceremony for Joffrey, Tyrion runs into Varys and acts upset since Varys offered Shae a way out. Varys reminds Tyrion that Tywin will kill her if he finds out about her. During the breakfast Tyrion presents Joffrey his gift - a book about the reign of kings. Joffrey, unlike in the novel, accepts the gift in a gracious manner.

But then, Tywin presents Joffrey his gift - the second sword made out of Ice. Joffrey uses the sword to chop Tyrion's gift to pieces to the guests' horror. Also during the thing Cersei tells Tywin about Shae and Tywin plans on having her apprehended. In the scene we also meet Margaery's father, Mace, who gives Joffrey a great chalice as a gift.
Next we are treated to more nightmarish acting from Sibel Kekili as Tyrion tells Shae she has to leave and go to Pentos. He tries to explain his reasons but Shae grows more annoying and angry with each second. Bronn comes by to take her to the ship and she slaps him. I have no idea what the fuck is happening, I don't remember any ships to Pentos in the book and most likely it's just yet another device to get to plot to where it needs to be in few episodes. Seriously though if I were Tyrion I'd just threw her into the sea and told the bitch to fucking swim.

In the creepy island Dragonstone, Stannis (YEY STANNIS!!!), Davos, Stannis's wife Selyse and Melisandre observe the burning of 'infidels', one of whom is Selyse's own brother. While Melisandre and Selyse are acting like they have just seen the face of God, Stannis is clearly unmoved and doesn't get any religious satisfaction out of the whole thing.
For me it was quite clear in spite of Stannis' use of the word 'infidel' the reason for him killing his brother in law was his disobedience. Stannis is now a believer in Lord of Light and those who aren't, disobey their king. I had no problem with this scene or the following one, as much as I'd like that one and the one we'll see in next episode were reversed, given how Stannis' primary concern should be rebuilding his army, not the quality of meat at the dinner.

Anyways, we got a nice scene of him eating dinner with Selyse and Melisandre. I thought that went a long way with the audience in terms of showing Stannis in favorable light - Selyse tells Melisandre of Stannis not letting her starve when the castle was under siege, shooting seagulls etc. (*I'd die if he shot me a seagull*). Stannis looks grumpy as always and Stephen Dillane's expressions were just hilarious, as Selyse is gushing about him and he just sits there. There was also this fantastic line that Stannis had about him hating many things but suffering them. Then Selyse starts talking about Shireen and that she worries because Shireen doesn't believe in Lord of Light. She suggests their daughter should be beaten but Stannis comes to her defense saying that she is his daughter and he will not let that happen. Aw!
Melisandre goes to talk to Shireen and explains how Lord of Light works. She tells the girl that there is only one Hell - the one we live in now. I'm a little bothered by the 'there is nothing beyond this world' feel I've been getting from the show, with this scene and last year's Beric scene where he says there is nothing beyond. I took Melisandre's meaning in new episode as there is heaven out there for those who follow The Lord of Light. A lot of justice and tragedy in the series flows from the existence of after life, at least for me - you can at least hope those awful people will get punishment after they die. I'll write about it more after the finale since it also works the other way around.

Any who, back in the North, Bran is warging Summer. Then he is awaken by the Reeds and Hodor and Meera and Jojen warn him that if he warges too often he will forget everything about himself in the process. Then they see Summer standing next to the Weirwood tree and when Bran touches it, he has a series of visions. Now granted, I was pretty wasted when I was watching the episode last night, but even upon rewatch that was one trippy sequence.
Here's what Bran sees - a great Weirwood tree, a dead horse, the three-eyed raven, the crypts of Winterfell, Ned's sword Ice, Ned in King's Landing dungeon, a shot of dragon's shadow over King's Landing (I told you it's gonna be Bran's vision!), a white walker reflected in ice, the Iron Throne covered in snow., little wight girl from the very first episode and a flock of ravens that flew after Sam last season when he killed the white walker. While he is seeing those things a male voice tells him to come look for him under the tree...in the North.

Ah, the wedding. The whole wedding was essentially half of the episode, that was uninterrupted with any other events. I'm not sure if it was the way to go - perhaps all those previous scenes should have been sprinkled here and there, the way they did it you could kinda tell something big is going to happen in the end of the episode.
Margaery and Joffrey are married in the Great Sept while the guests look on. Oberyn, Ellaria, Olenna, Loras, Tywin,Tyrion, Sansa and Cersei are all there. There is also Tommen. You may remember him from Blackwater episode. Tommen is Joffrey's kind and sweet younger brother. The thing is that now Tommen was recast and they got this huge, smug looking kid to play him.

Granted he didn't even have any lines yet and I trust the show runners know what the fuck they are doing, but Tommen scenes in the books were very interesting because of the reactions to his sweetness and innocence from Cersei and Jaime. Cersei's bitterness wasn't affected by him, showing just how deep it runs, yet Jaime is very protective and caring towards the boy, who is his son after all.
Anyways, so MUCH happened during the reception.We got all of those great interactions between characters. Cersei humiliating Pycelle in a truly amazing manner, Olenna talking to Sansa about how awful it was what happened to her brother and how monstrous it is to kill someone at the wedding, Loras and Oberyn exchanging a curious look and Jaime threatening Loras in regards to his impending marriage to Cersei.

There was also a golden moment with Oberyn presenting Ellaria to Tywin and Cersei. I could go on and on about what's being said in this scene but it's just too good. You should rewatch it and then rewatch it again. The battle of sass, hidden insults and vague threats is just amazing there.
There was also a nice scene with Olenna and Tywin, I was very impressed with how gracious and calm Tywin was. Even when presented with Ellaria he was nice to her unlike Cersei who was in full bitch mode the entire episode. And then poor Brienne had a bad luck of running into her.

Cersei offends Brienne suggesting that Brinne swears loyalty to whoever she finds is convenient to. Then she says that Brienne loves Jaime. Brienne is speechless and Jaime observes the whole thing with clear 'oh SHIIIIIIT' expression on his face.
Ah, the joust. In the book there were only two jousters, but here they really took it to another level. In extraordinarily brilliant sequence, the joust turns out to be the mockery of The War of Five Kings! We have Balon, riding on a squid, we have Stannis, riding on Melisandre, bare assed Renly riding on something with golden curls (was that meant to represent just any guy or what it specifically meant to insult Loras?), Robb riding a wolf and Joffrey on a lion.

Not only was the representation exactly what Joffrey would do on his wedding, the reactions to the joust were glorious. It started in somewhat humorous way, with the jousters hitting their rubber lances on the guests' heads - the look on Varys's face was absolutely priceless.- but as the scene progressed and we were seeing the looks on people's faces the tone changed dramatically...
The Lannisters, excluding Tyrion, were laughing at first, so did many guess. But the joust was so cruel - not only was it all a lie, attributing the victory to Joffrey, someone people know didn't really fight the battle, but the mockery of the lords, dead Robb, dead Renly, Joffrey's own "uncle" Stannis (with Balon I'm all right with, I fucking hate Greyjoys) was in such incredibly bad taste, it was all a mixture of sadness and pity among the guests over the idiot king and perhaps themselves as they are now ruled by someone like him.

Loras stood up and left, seeing Renly humiliated like that. Margaery was appalled at the show, while Joffrey was laughing hysterically. We saw the disapproving looks of Varys, Olenna and Oberyn. And then there was Sansa seeing the further humiliation of her brother. The camera focused on her, wearing that necklace she got from Dontos with pride indeed. A little thing I noticed and liked was Tyrion protectively taking her hand as the joust was happening.
After the joust is over Joffrey asks Tyrion if he would like to join the show and fight with the kings. Tyrion declines, much more politely than he did in a book, where he downright called Joffrey a coward and a weak one, too, but Joffrey is still insulted. He comes over and pours the wine all over Tyrion and then orders him to refill his cup.

While Tyrion approaches to get the cup, Joff drops it on the floor. The cup goes beneath the table (a brilliant, brilliant addition on show's part) where Sansa picks it up and hands it over to Tyrion. Then cup gets refilled, gets placed on the table, gets refilled again. I'm saying - watch that cup. A great pigeon pie is brought in and Joffrey slices it open with his new sword - dozens of doves emerge from it and Margaery feeds the king a piece from the plate.
In this exact moment Sansa and Tyrion are leaving and Joffrey turns to them to order Tyrion to refill the cup. After he drinks Joffrey throws some more abuse at Tyrion and then he coughs. Then he coughs again. And again. Tyrion looks concerned and asks what is going on, as Joffrey's coughing turns worse and worse. When he turns to Margaery she shouts in a horrified way that he is choking.

Joffrey falls on the ground and Jaime and Cersei rush to him as Olenna calls Joffrey's guards idiots and tells them to help the boy. The way Jaime run and Cersei's shoving Marg aside to get to Joff was hysterical. Tywin looks concerned and angry, which is essentially the way he usually looks. Cersei is in hysterics and as she holds him we finally see Joffrey's face in a slow and chilling reveal.
Now that was quite impressive. The way in which Joffrey's face last we seen it turned to THAT so quickly was great. I've never seen the victim of choking but I'm not sure people bleed from eyes and nose, so I think the nosebleed here is a dead getaway to let you know the poison was involved. In the book Joffeey actually claws out a piece of flesh from his neck as he is choking but the way his face looked as he was dying made up for that.

It was also great seeing Jaime there. Jaime and Cersei, the parents of Joffrey, both there trying to save him. In the book at the point of the wedding Jaime wasn't there yet and it was Tywin standing the closest to Cersei. I did enjoy that change. Jaime indeed was trying to save the king, as was his duty, and he was the first one there.
As Joffrey is dying he raises his hand pointing to Tyrion holding the chalice. Cersei immediately recognizes what her son is indicating. As Joffrey dies Cersei whispers 'my son!' and cries. But whereas Catelyn's Stark faced with the threat of death and passing of her son approached it with pleas for mercy and profound sadness turning into catatonic shock, Cersei's grief immediately turns to wrath and thirst for vengeance.

I've been praising Lena Headey's performance as Cersei for years now and she was mesmerizing in the final scene of the episode. Her sadness when Joffrey died almost made me tear up. Cersei is evil, Joffey was evil, but in that moment here was a mother grieving after a boy who was once everything she had in her life. All the love, all of hers.
Dontos appears out of nowhere again, right behind Sansa, to tell her if she wants to leave she needs to go with him right now. Cersei says that Tyrion did it. She says he poisoned her son. Tywin turns to him, clearly contemplating that this may have been the case indeed as Cersei goes into full blown fury and yells for the guards to take Tyrion. They surround him and the episode ends on the close up of Joffey's dead face. We got to hear new rendition of The Rains of Castamere during end credits, sounding like a funeral song by Sigur Ros. The members of the band were also the band that showed up briefly during the wedding.

Overall it was a very good episode with many great ideas. However, I was shocked how poorly the parts of episode were directed. I was even more shocked when I found that Alex Graves was responsible, considering he directed my second favorite episode form last season - Kissed by Fire. The whole thing just didn't run smoothly.
George R.R Martin actually wrote that episode, other than Stannis scenes that were moved from the first episode. Yeah, will he ever actually write Stannis scene? We need the guy who said Stannis is the closest thing to the hero this series has writing his scenes not the guys who come in their pants whenever they get to write about Tyrion and Daenerys.

Anyways, I'm shocked. I'm shocked that Martin wrote this episode and the biggest reveal that happens during gift giving scene wasn't even hinted on here. If not now, when? That would only add to people wishing Joffrey dead and add to Tyrion's possible motive if they had him voice his findings to someone, unlike what happens in the book. You can say, hey, it's not a big deal, but that revelation was the answer to one of the central mysteries of season 1. To omit giving it, just because it was a long time ago, is bad storytelling.
And then there was Sansa. That is my minor complaint as I don't like Sansa that much to begin with - she is silly and naive - but I wish they focused on her more when Joffrey was dying. To witness her having the ability of feeling joy as this monster died would make her finally interesting. Alas, not today.

But all of those flaws aside the episode deserves the praise if only because of how extremely well the mystery as to who poisoned Joffrey was preserved. So many hints and possibilities. I must admit had I not known who did it, I wouldn't found the answer just from watching the episode. But it's there if you watch very closely.

And finally, let me just say how much I'm gonna miss Jack Gleeson's acting. He gave us such an exquisite villain to hate. I think entire fanbase agrees just how wonderful his acting was throughout the series.

In the next episode Breaker of Chains, we are getting another Stannis scene (yey!), we see more of Jon acting like a man, we see more of Cersei's fury - apparently the ending scene to this episode is also the beginning of next one - we get one of the most disgusting sex scenes in the whole series and more of Daenerys arrogantly shouting incoherent words.

*to be clear, Stannis cannot be congratulated for Joffrey's death or blamed for Robb's (I won't go into details why, there's enough book explaining happening in recaps, it's Friday, I'm tired, google it if you're curious). but ever since Melisandre dropped that leech on Gendry's penis I wanted to use that phrase so bad.

I cannot get over how amazing certain moments in last Game of Thrones were. I've seen this fucking episode 4 times already. Someone stop me.

THE BEST:

Lena Headey. Oh my God.

 I've never found Oberyn hotter than seeing his profound 'judging you now' reaction at that horrible joust. You can show a man in a brothel all you like, but him doing the right thing? Much hotter, every time. Varys and Olenna - my eternal respect.

Speaking of hot:

I almost melted.

If that man shot me a seagull so I would''t starve I'd be doing lots of things, fun things, but I would not be burning people alive on the beach. Selyse is seriously batshit insane. I kept waiting for Davos to show up and rescue Stannis from that dinner awkwardness.

There is quite an outrage in fandom over Stannis scenes. D&D better make him look like hot Jesus curing AIDS and cancer simultaneously, while feeding orphans and rescuing endangered species, carrying an infant in one arm and a baby seal in another by the time this season is over. Also perhaps someone should be narrating the whole thing so that TV audience comprehends what is happening, because I see that if a character is not a pretty blonde with dragons or wisecracking Tyrion they don't really get as much love as they deserve. It's like fucking Emmys all over again. Stannis is the only one who laid siege to King's Landing and tried to knock Joffrey off the throne. He also actually fought among his men. You know what I read on boards this week? I read that he is a villain. I also read that Tywin I-orchestrated-Red-Wedding-and-had-Targaryen-children-killed-in-front-of-their-mother mass murderer Lannister is a hero. 

Why do I even bother explaining?! For fuck's sake.

Whatever. SOON.

Join me in appreciating Jack Gleeson's stellar work over the years and watch his final goodbye to the fans.

Locke is really becoming one of my favorite characters. His lines are unreal. And judging from the trailers he actually gets to the Wall this season. I hope he makes it out alive, he is hilarious. I also hope given how well Harington is doing so far Locke's inevitable 'you are a bitch' line won't crush his slowly developing charisma.

I can't with all the discussions on how this detail or that detail is not right and the showrunners don't know what they are doing. And most of the whining is about Sansa and Jaime, characters that are at least getting a lot of screentime and even some added scenes. After a particular scene that's gonna happen this Sunday there will be so much bitching about Jaime I think I'm just gonna stay away from discussion all together. Just be glad your favorites are on screen and are somewhat the way they were in the books. Listen to Catelyn/Stannis fan who is constantly dreading what will happen in last 2 eps of this season. Well, in regards to Stannis because Cat is, what's the word...dead.

 Word is McConaughey will be back for Magic Mike sequel. Well, I guess I'm seeing that. Can he just...lose the thong this time around?

Check out this hilarious Honest Trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street:

Gone Girl trailer. Horrible music. Whoever butchered She sounded like he was dying. Everything else was great but that music...I basically rewatched that trailer on mute. Still on 5th page of the book. Working, studying, appreciating GoT and trying to read a book. A page a week.

Movies? What movies? Oh, how I tweeted days back that I'm gonna finally see something? Had to read about wills an trusts instead. Ah, joy.

Apparently Transcendence is even more of a disgrace than it appeared to be from the awful posters and amateurish marketing campaign. Seriously when is Johnny Depp gonna snap out of this pathetic state of saying yes to everything, getting insane amounts of cash and not even fucking trying anymore?

Crimson Peak!! Yeeees!!! I was under impression this movie will be set in modern times with flashbacks and it looks like it's really not the case. Either way, I'm really excited and I hope it will be MUCH better than Del Toro's recent projects. Forgive me for being worried, but he managed to waste Idris Elba and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in those. Fucking Mama. Oh, Jesus. That ending.

So Parks and Rec. The way drunk Ben jumps fences is how I jump them sober. I just want Ben and Leslie to name their kid Khaleesi if it's a girl.

New episode of Veep was much better than last. Does anyone know if senator Furlong is going to appear this season? I miss him!

I don't watch Mad Men but if you do, you should head over to Sofia's blog

Check out the new look of The Warning Sign

Brittani wrote another hilarious recap of Game of Thrones' recent episode

MettelRay shared a wonderful article about Shameless, season 4

Alex shares great list of his favorite dual performances

Ruth reviews Breathe in

Andrew shares some great blogosphere links himself

TheVern and Alex share very different views on Under the Skin

m.brown reviews Anchorman 2, which is pretty high on my watchlist which is seemingly endless

 

RELATED POSTS:

Oh boy. So much has happened on this week's Game of Thrones and one scene in particular provoked a reaction far stronger than last week's Purple Wedding. When I say reaction I mean a grand overreaction and the misplacement of blame. Breaker of Chains was a good episode, but as with most episodes following a major event it did feel a lot like 'let's set up the future events' hour.

We open where we left things off with Cersei hysterically yelling that Tyrion poisoned her son. Dontos takes Sansa away and we see Cersei asking where is Tyrion's wife along with Tywin yelling that no one is permitted to leave the city. Sansa and Dontos rush through the streets of King's Landing and arrive at the shore.

Sansa is worried but reluctantly gets in the boat. The boat sails to the ship and Sansa is pulled in by someone. Batmanpedo bear Littlefinger returns! Sansa goes 'Lord Baelish!' Littlefinger goes 'Petyr!' I go 'Ew!". Littlefinger asks her if she is alright. Then he has Dontos killed. You know, to make her feel calmer. Nothing better to welcome a lady than to kill the chauffeur.

Sansa is horrified butt Littlefinger promptly explains Dontos helped Sansa for gold. He says that gold buys silence for some time, but the bolt to the heart buys it forever (I missed his wisdom so much). Then he takes Sansa's necklace, the one Dontos gave her, and smashes it, proving the necklace, contrary to Dontos' words, is worthless. Then he tells Sansa she is safe with him. You know, after he reminds her that once he said everyone is a liar. Your game is off, bro.
There are people freaking out about the necklace seemingly being gone from conversation but it's not, if you watch next week's preview. Why it's important? I think the next week's episode is gonna explain why. As for Littlefinger - Sansa is valuable and she reminds him of her mother, whom Litlefinger 'loved'. Sansa is arguably safer with him then with the Lannisters, especially under the present circumstances. And let's rejoice she is finally out of King's Landing, even if she traded lions' cage for mockingbird's.

Meanwhile in King's Landing, Joffrey's body lies in the Sept. Cersei and Tommen stand next to him. Tywin comes over to talk to Tommen, who is to become the new king. He asks Tommen what is the one quality a king should have. Tommen answers holiness, justice, strength. Tywin gives an example for each why they are not enough.
I really liked how after Tywin said that Robert whored, drunk and hunted and the last two killed him the camera showed Cersei. The show keeps taking the crimes away from her - she was the one who ordered the killing of Robert's bastards, not Joffrey, and the show omitted the fact she was the one who told Lancel to make sure King was very drunk during the hunt - in which he sustained a mortal wound. These things, decreasing the capacity of Cersei's evil, are far more crucial to me than the scene that caused so much outrage today.

Anyways, Tommen finally says that the King should be wise and Tywin agrees. He tells Tommen that Joffey wasn't wise (Tywin is our Captain Obvious this week). He tells him that a wise king, especially a young king listens to his advisers. He then even asks Tommen if he knows why the King needs a Queen and a small sex ed talk ensues. He takes Tommen away leaving Cersei alone.
While Tywin and Tommen are exiting the Sept Jaime comes in. We get a nice little moment in which Jaime tells Tommen that he'll make sure he is all right. Then Jaime tells the Septon and the others to give the queen a moment alone with her son. Cersei tells him that Tyrion did it, that he killed 'their son, their baby boy'. She repeats Tyrion's joy to ashes speech and asks Jaime to kill him.

Jaime says that he won't as Tyrion is his brother (but he's cool with killing his cousin in season 2 (kinslaying, killing someone who has your blood is one of the worst things a person in Westeros can do), another departure that is far more glaring than upcoming scene). He tells Cersei that during the trial the truth will come out. He kisses her and she pulls back.
He then looks angry and says she is a hateful woman. "Why have the Gods make me love a hateful woman?!' he asks as he forcefully kisses Cersei. As they go on the ground Cersei kisses him back however she keeps saying 'no', perhaps meaning the location as they are about to do it next to their son's corpse. Jaime gets inside her and tells her 'he doesn't care'.

Ah, the outrage. In the books the relationship with these two was always rough. Cersei saying no, then saying yes, saying no, while talking dirty. In the books Jaime only arrives to King's Landing in this scene. Cersei is talking dirty to him, then says no, she kisses him, she keeps saying no. She is also on her period which we know from Jaime's POV, so it's particularly...delightful. It's a complicated scene that has nothing to do with rape. But the Gods punished the showrunners with Alex Graves.
Graves has directed some really wonderful episodes but his work these season was mediocre and in this scene - catastrophic. According to him that scene was supposed to be a power play. Unfortunately it really looks like Jaime forced himself on Cersei. I do not think that it was intended as a rape scene, but thanks to inept direction it came off as such. All they had to do was have Cersei say yes instead of no and have her pull away instead of kissing him. A repeated verbal consent would be enough to let TV audience know what is happening. Headey and Waldau (here are his thoughts on the scene) were both wonderful in this episode, but Graves' inept direction makes me worried for episode 8 and 10 this season - first one containing one of the series' most exciting showdowns, latter rumored to be the best, most gigantic and shocking episode in the show yet.

You think that was rape? Craster's Keep events await.

However, the only thing worse are Jaime fans screaming 'worst episode ever!.''the showrunners are ruining the show!', 'rape culture!', 'arrrgh!!'. Quit with the hysterics. Cersei and Jaime had far worse departures from the books so far. Overreacting about the scene and namecalling the writers, who had nothing to do with how the scene played out, is just distasteful. Blame the director if you must, not the show.
Margaery and Olenna are having a chat. Margaery wonders if she is cursed, given how her first husband was gay and died and second was cruel and died. Olenna keeps her spirits high by telling her that the Lannisters still need the Tyrells badly and that 'the next one will be easier' referring to Tommen.

Meanwhile, Arya an the Hound encounter a nice man and his daughter. Arya lies and tells them that The Hound is her father, that their cottage burned with her mother in it and that her father fought for house Tully. The man invites them over and gives them food. He offers the Hound a job. Next morning Arya finds the Hound taking the man's money from him and walking away.
Arya screams you're the worst shit in Westeros! and tells the Hound that he said he was not a thief and the man and the girl took them in and offered them shelter and kindness. The Hound says that they both will be dead when winter comes either way. Arya is furious and the two carry on with the plan to take her to Lysa Arryn in Eyrie. Non book readers....where do you think Littlefinger is taking Sansa?...Book readers - I'm being really cruel here, aren't I?

At Castle Black Sam is visiting Gilly. He worries about her as there are all those men there and she is the only woman. Sam doesn't think she is safe there and we get a sweet little moment with Gilly asking if Sam also pictures her during the night like he said other men do. Sam decides to take Gilly and her son to Molestown and he leaves her there, telling the woman who is running the place, whatever that was, that Gilly is not to prostitute herself.
In Dragonstone, Stannis (YEEEEEEY STANNIS!) gives Davos the news of Joffrey being dead. Stannis reminds Davos of the leech that he believes accomplished that and is again angry because Davos let Gendry go. Davos keeps telling him about his progress in rallying some small houses to their side and pissed off Stannis breaks the pieces shaped like ships and says 'they don't have enough men between them to raid a pantry'. With each episode the writers are starting to get Stannis more and more right and I couldn't be more happy.

Hilarity continues as Davos keeps pulling ideas out of his ass and Stannis is outraged. Davos suggests The Golden Company (considered the largest, most famous, and most expensive sellsword company in the Free Cities), Stannis is outraged because they are sellswords. Davos asks how is trusting the visions acceptable but paying for soldiers is not and the camera cuts to Stannis looking like he is about to bitchslap Davos. Stannis tells him he is running out of time and it also means Davos is running out of time as well. It's kinda implied Stannis wants to attack King's Landing again, now that Joffrey is dead and the Lannisters are weakened. All he needs is an army.
While everyone fangirls over Oberyn I'm just gonna shamelessly mention how beautiful Stephen Dillane looked in this episode. There was even the rain pouring behind him. Oh my.

Anyways, Davos goes to Shireen's room for his reading lesson. Shireen was so sweet in this scene and really acted a lot like her father which even Davos notices saying that she is as stubborn as Stannis. Shireen gives Davos a book to read about Braavosi history. During the lesson a gigantic light bulb might have as well showed up above Davos's head. He asks Shireen to write a letter on behalf of her father, the one true king (swooning so hard right now) to the Iron Bank of Braavos...
They are really setting up that damn Bank whenever they can. That Bank is this year's Rains of Castemere, if the Rains were kinda a good thing. They mention it over and over again until you go 'oh my, this must be important!'.

Since there was no nudity last week, they caught up in a major way here. Oberyn, Ellaria and random brothel people orgy. Some pointless ass talk and boobs shots happen and then Tywin enters. The whores leave along with Ellaria leaving Tywin alone with shirtless Oberyn, who to the disappointment of millions of female viewers (minus this one, I'm still recovering from Stannis and he wasn't even shirtless) covers himself up.
Tywin is there to make nice. He mentions how odd it is that few days after Oberyn, who studied poisons arrived to King's Landing, his grandson was poisoned. However it's made clear Tywin doesn't suspect Oberyn - he wants him to be one of the judges in Tyrion's trial (the other two being himself and Mace Tyrell). He also offers Oberyn a place in Small Council.

Tywin backs his proposal by saying how important Dorne is, considering the chaos in the realm and the Targaryan girl in the East with three dragons. Oberyn is still reluctant. He brings the subject of Ellia up again and Tywin says he categorically didn't have anything to do with the Mountain killing her. Charles Dance's poker face 4eva.
Tywin tells Oberyn he will arrange for the meeting with the Mountain and help him with avenging Ellia's death if he helps him with the trial. The scene ends with Tywin extending his hand.

Meanwhile some good Northern folk get slaughtered by the wildlings. Little boy sees his father being shot with Ygritte's arrow (I know you were dumped, but damn, girl!) while Styr and other Thenns and wildlings massacre the village. Styr tells the boy he will eat his parents and then sends him to Castle Black to tell the crows what happened here. They are setting up the wildlings to be brutal animals who deserve to die. I cheered. SPOILERCan you feel it? Can you feel how glorious ep. 9 will be? I can feel it. He'll come. He'll take out the trash. Looking majestic as fuck. END OF SPOILER
The boy arrives and Jon yet again informs his dumb fellow watchers of the wall that Mance is coming with gigantic army. And that's not enough with the bad news.  Craster's Keep mutiny rejects show up to tell everyone of what happened and about all the raping and atrocities that are happening there right now. Jon is horrified. He decides they need to go and kill their renegade brothers before Mance gets to them and finds out just how weak the forces on the Wall really are. And there are 1,000 watchers....to 100,000 wildlings.

There was a great scene this week with Podrick visiting Tyrion in his cell. Podrick, a sweet and loyal kid, informs Tyrion that Sansa escaped and Bronn is forbidden to visit him. Tyrion asks him if he thinks he killed the king and Podrick says no. I enjoyed that change - in the book Podrick says no but it's clear he doesn't really believe in Tyrion's innocence. They made him so sweet on the show and he likes and knows Tyrion - it makes sense for him to believe in Tyrion's innocence.
In the scene Tyrion tries to figure out who poisoned Joffrey. Couldn't be Sansa - she is not an assassin. Tywin perhaps? Tommen is easier to control. Not Cersei. Cersei loves her children. Those thoughts lead to the moment where Tyrion drops one of the funniest lines in the whole show - 'She is the only one I'm certain had nothing to do with this murder, which makes it unique as King's Landing murders go'. I roared with laughter.

Then Pod tells him that someone came to see him to ask if he would testify against Tyrion. Pod of course said no. Tyrion tells him the next time they won't ask and they will hurt him to get him to do this. Protectively he tells Podrick to leave King's Landing. As they say goodbye Tyrion tells him there has never lived a more loyal squire. See, I could whine about the show portraying Tyrion as an angel, but how could I do that when that scene was so lovely. Before they part ways Tyrion asks Pod to send Jaime to his cell.
Ah, Meereen. Another nail to Graves' coffin. He also directed And Now His Watch is Ended from last season, commonly known as Dracarys episode. This Meereen scene is basically a poor imitation of that sequence. Daenerys also shows up near the end of the episode, delivers a speech, makes everyone look like weak bitches and is all like 'bow to me'. Only this time the scene fell on its ass.

Meereen looks very impressive and the set design is quite amazing. Once Daenerys reaches the gates a champion of Meereen emerges. He pees on the ground to mock Daenerys, as the masters and their slaves watch from the wall. Missandai translates what the man is saying, in hilarious way. The man insults Daenerys and she decides to give the people of the city a show.
She asks for a champion. Grey Worm, Barristan and Jorah volunteer. Dany deems them all too valuable and chooses Daario. Apparently, amazingly, Jorah can be pushed even further into the friendzone. In quite an exciting sequence Daario kills the champion after winking at Daenerys. She looked like I do whenever Stannis is on screen. Massively turned on. I'm sure outside the frame Jorah was weeping.

Daario then pees on the ground too. I'm sure Daenerys checked it out. Before the episode Graves' teased that the episode has one of the best speeches in the series. Good God. Not only can't he direct for shit, he can't even distinguish a good speech from 'one of the best'. The speech is obviously delivered by Jesus and Savior Daenerys in which she tells the slaves she is here to punish their enemies - their masters. It was a good speech, but it's gonna look like crap once Littlefinger delivers more of his wisdom next week.
Say what you want about Emilia Clarke but the girl really does High Valyrian justice. She orders for the canons to fire and the barrells are shot at the city. When the barrels break, broken slave collars fall from them, proving to the slaves of Meereen that Daenerys is telling the truth and she is indeed freeing the slaves. The episode ends abruptly with one of the slaves picking up a broken collar. That ending definetly lacked a proper punch Game of Thrones' ending should have.

Overall I'm seeing a pattern here - each season the second episode is better than the premiere and then it gets problematic until good and great episodes show up halfway though. Normally, I'd be hopeful for the rest of the season but the problem is that Graves is behind the 2 of season 4 last episodes (with episode 9 being directed by the master who gave us Blackwater, Neil Marshall). Let's hope since these episodes won't include problematic sex scenes it will be allright.
I'm giving the episode the same grade I gave to my least favoite ep from last season - The Bear and the Maiden Fair. Both episodes share a lot of good ideas and one absolutely atrocious scene - in the case of that season 3 episode it was overly long, tedious and unnecessary scene of Theon getting castrated.

Still both had plenty to cherish, in case of Breaker of Chains the highlight for me being Stannis scene and the beautiful adaptation of Sansa's escape.

Next episode entitled Oathkeeper will have Jaime making a tough decision - shall he trust Cersei or Tyrion?, Littlefinger telling Sansa some important secrets, Brienne taking on a new task and what I read is a scene so gruesome it had to be trimmed down. Craster's Keep would be my bet, since our noble hero lord Snow is on his way to end the terror.
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