Man of Steel

Man of Steel delivers everything a Superman movie should.  If anything, it tries to do too much, but more on that later.  The movie works like an apology for Superman Returns, where the main complaint was that nothing really interesting challenged Superman and he didnt even throw a punch.  In Man of Steel, both of those problems are fixed in impressive ways.  General Zod and his team are a menacing threat to a "still finding his way" Superman.  The fight scenes, especially the first big one, are probably the best Superman fight scenes to hit the screen.  You feel the speed and impact of each punch in flashy and stylized camera movements.  Director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) gets the action and the spectacle right.

The structure of the film feels a lot like Batman Begins, you could almost feel producer Christopher Nolan's guiding hand on the project.  Like Batman, Superman is shown first as a traveleving wanderer, lost in the world and trying to find his way.  During his journey, the movie jumps back and forth between present time and key events in his childhood.  The tone is also similiar to Batman Begins.  Superman is morally confused and super serious.  I kind of missed the playfulness and joyful wonder of the old Superman movies, but I can see why they went with what they did.  We get a serious science fiction movie out of Man of Steel, about the potential identity crisis someone would have if they landed on Earth and didn't know why.

If I had a criticism about the movie, it would be that it tried to do too much.  There are developments in the film that happen pretty quickly and abruptly, leaving us to question some of the logic of the characters or the situation.  For instance, Lois Lane becomes an important character in about two or three scenes.   The film is overambitious, covering a lot of territory and feeling rushed in certain scenes, then feeling slower in others.  I appreciated that they tried to fit everything in they could, a fault that I can't really blame the movie for too much.  

Overall, a big, bold and technically impressive Superman film.  

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 10: "Mhysa"

So how does Game of Thrones follow up last week's episode? Apparently with a busy and somewhat entertaining wrap up episode.  As for season finales go, this is probably the most underwhelming of the three.  Can't fault the show runners though, this season of Game of Thrones only covers the first half of the third book in the series and ends somewhere in the middle of "A Storm of Swords".  This episode also had the burden of going on after last week's "Red Wedding", which was probably the most shocking moment of the show to date.  Naturally, this episode felt a little slower and uneventful, as it dealt mostly with the aftermath of last week's gamechanging deaths.

One of the responsilibilites of a Game of Thrones season finale is that we check in with all of the characters before the 9 month haitus.  Although the episode worked like efficient clockwork in the way we caught up with everyone, there was some pretty amazing scenes with particular characters.  Starting off, I was happy with the initial council meeting, which was basically Tyrion and Tywin putting Joffrey in his place and sending him to his room like a little boy.  Then we see how differently the two Stark sisters deal with the news of the loss of their brother and mother.  Sansa sits near a window and cries in her room.  Arya (in my favorite sequence of the night) plays pretend lost little girl and then proceeds to kill a Lannister bannerman by repeatedly stabbing him in the neck.  

It was also nice to see some of the characters meeting and reuniting with each other after spending the whole season apart.   Even though I do not like Cersei at all, I still felt happy for her and Jaime when he showed up like a dirty creeper out of nowhere in her bedroom.  I don't think we've seen them together since season 1 and almost forgot they where a couple/siblings.  Jon Snow writhing in pain and smiling to see Sam was also another nice moment.  In the offseason, I'd like to imagine that the characters are spending a lot of time with each other exchanging stories of their adventures.

Overall, a good episode that has the burden of wrapping  up this half season.  It does its job as a season finale by resolving certain storylines as well as setting up new ones.

Observations:

- That half Robb/half wolf thing was stuff nightmares are made of.  Poor Arya, you could even tell the Hound thought that was too much.

- Speaking of the Hound, it was pretty funny to see him start eating food in the background after Arya killed that Lannister soldier.

- Arya uses her coin to summon Jaqen :D

- I like Theon's sister. Her quest to rescue her little brother looks like it'll be pretty exciting.  

- Hopefully Theon wont have to spend another season just repeatedly getting tortured. Seriously, thats all his storyline was this season.

- A lot of Davos this episode, but he had some good scenes.  "Do you know how to swim?" "No." "Don't fall out." Haha.

- I was happy to see Brienne again and with Jamie at King's Landing.  I wonder if she knows about Catelyn yet and whats to become of her.  

- Daenerys popped up out of nowhere at the end to look cool and epic for the last scene.

So that does it for Season 3 folks!  It's been a wild ride.  Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up, it warms my heart to know people are reading these :D  

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 9: "The Rains of Castamere"

The best episode of the season and maybe the show's best episode yet.  As I'm writing this, I'm getting emotionally exhausted thinking about what happened.  I haven't fully processed my thoughts yet.  I feel like I was gut punched in a way only Game of Thrones could do.  I had a feeling something bad was about to happen, but not at this level.  

They're all dead.  Two of the major players of the series, Catelyn and Robb, dead.  Talisa and her unborn child, dead.   Talisa repeatedly getting stabbed in the stomach was horrific in a way most horror movies never even come close too.  For me, that was the most brutal killing I've seen in a tv show or movie in a long time.   Catelyn slitting the the throat of Frey's wife and then screaming as she spews blood from her own throat getting cut, is something that'll be etched into my memory for probably as long as tv show goes on.

And everything seemed to be going so well.  Poor Arya was about to reunite with her family only to have them die when she was literally at their doorstep.  That sense of fear she talked about with to the Hound was confirmed.  Good foreshadowing by the showrunners.  There were even moments of joy and comedy at the wedding ceremony.  Turns out the Frey girl to be married is actually pretty, you could see Edmure's face lighten up.  Things were going too right...  

So some other stuff happened this episode right?  Pretty significant things actually, but are ultimately overshadowed by that ending.  Jon Snow kills some of the wildlings and rides off on a horse, leaving Ygritte behind looking like she had a broken heart.  Bran and his group get surrounded by wildlings, then goes full Jedi and helps Jon win his battle.  Jorah, Daario and Grey Worm sack and win a city for Daenerys.

Overall, a masterful episode of TV I will never forget.  I'm still in shock.

Observations:

-“A man can’t make love to property”, you could almost see Daenerys swoon.

“Someday, I’m going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull”, badass Arya line of the day.

- Speaking of Arya, I'm kind of glad the Hound knocked her out.  She's going to be in a dark place now.

- Hodor is afraid of lightning, it appears. Hodor, Hodor, Hodor.

- Grey Worm fights with efficiency and badassery.

- The Lannisters have won.  

- I usually watch episodes twice before I write my review.  I couldn't bring myself to watch this again so soon...