James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender impersonate Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen

As you may have read in my X-Men: Days of Future Past review, I loved the movie.

I might love this video even more.

Check out James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, the actors who portrayed young Professor X and Magneto in Days of Future Past, impersonate their older Professor X and Magneto counterparts, Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Sorry, but there’s no young Wolverine Hugh Jackman impersonating older Wolverine Hugh Jackman in the video.

Video courtesy of Yahoo.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Review

X-Men-Days-of-Future-Past-Movie-Poster

Looking at the trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, I would understand if you had qualms. I had them too. I couldn’t tell if the movie was going to be awesome or awful. Good news…it’s awesome.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is based on a a two-part comic book storyline that ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142. Growing up, this was my absolute favorite X-Men storyline. Like the movie, half the comic is set in the future and half is set in the present (or in the movie’s case, the early 70s). In this story, the X-Men have lost. They’ve been hunted down and either exterminated or imprisoned by the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. There’s no hope in the future, other than going back in time and changing a pivotal moment that lead to this bleak state. After you watch X-Men: Days of Future Past, I highly recommend that you also read the comic book that inspired it. It’s readily available both digitally and in print.

X-Men #141 has one of the most iconic covers of all time.

X-Men #141 has one of the most iconic covers of all time.

The major difference between the comic and the movie versions of Days of Future Past is that in the comic, it’s Kitty Pryde’s mind that travels to the past, not Wolverine’s. This leads to one of the most memorable scenes in X-Men comics history, when future Colossus “fastball specials” future Wolverine at a Sentinel and the Sentinel blasts Wolverine with such intensity that all that’s left is his adamantium skeleton.

dofp wolverine death

I really liked that the new mutants introduced in the movie, Warpath, Blink, Bishop and Sunspot were used mainly for very awesome fight scenes. Exposition wasn’t wasted on these characters’ back story. Instead, we’re thrown right into one of their battles, where their powers, especially Blink’s, are able to shine.

blink

But the new mutant who stole the movie is Quicksilver. The scene involving Quicksilver taking out of the guards in the Pentagon was both the most visually striking scene and the best comic relief in the movie. I could have used more Quicksilver in Days of Future Past.

Quicksilver-gif

An interesting thing about Quicksilver: both he and his sister, the Scarlet Witch, are considered X-Men and Avengers characters. They started out as X-Men villains before reforming and joining the Avengers. Fox has the rights to them as X-Men. Marvel Studios has the rights to them as Avengers.  They are not being played by the same actors in the X-Men and Avengers series of movies. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are the children of Magneto, something which is hinted at in this movie. I wouldn’t expect the same hints to their parentage to show up in the Avengers movies, where the X-Men don’t seem to exist. It will be interesting to see if Joss Whedon and company handle Quicksilver as well as he’s been handled here in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

My only issue of with the movie version of Days of Future Past is Kitty taking Rachel’s place as the time travel enabler. Rachel’s powers are psionic in nature, making it understandable how she’d be able to project someone into the past. Kitty has the power to walk through walls. How this evolves into being able to send someone’s mind into the past is beyond me. On the plus side, by not having Rachel in the future, there’s no paradox of having the daughter of Scott and Jean could exist in a future when Scott and Jean are already dead in the present.

Speaking of Scott and Jean, one very nice thing about X-Men: Days of Future Past is that it retcons X-Men: The Last Stand out of existence. Now we can pretend that Bryan Singer never left X-Men to make the disappointing Superman Returns. Some could argue that Days of Future Past also retcons X2: X-Men United out of existence, but I think X-Men United is too good a movie not to still exist. Yes, Jean “dies” at the end of the it, but in my mind, the X-Men recovered her at some point later on and were able to save her without Cyclops and Professor X having to die in the process.

Regarding the scene after the credits, that’s the X-Men villain Apocalypse, who the X-Men will be facing in the next movie. He’s been alive since ancient Egypt. The four people on horseback in the background are his four horsemen. In the comics, Apocalypse has corrupted heroes with the offer of more power to serve him as one of his horsemen. It will be interesting to see if he recruits some of the X-Men: First Class characters that were said to be dead in this movie.

archangel x-men

Apocalypse’s most famous horseman is Archangel, whose feathery wings were replaced with metal bladed wings.

As far as ranking X-Men: Days of Future’s Past among the other X-Men movies, I’d put Days of Future Past just under X-2: X-Men United, making this the second best X-Men movie. Go see it!

x-men dofp xavier poster

You can X a photo of yourself just like this poster at http://fox.co/XYourself.

This review contains Amazon Affiliate links. Shopping through these Amazon links helps support this site. 

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 21

The final issue of Forever Evil is here and Dave has caught up to the series just in time. Listen to Dave and Billy compare Forever Evil to the Justice League Forever Evil tie-in issues, as well as other recently released comic books, including Spider-Man #2 by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos and Original Sin #2 by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato. Billy and Dave also preview this Wednesday’s (5/28/14) new comics. What Image comic is Billy’s absolute top pick of the week? Listen to the podcast and find out!

amazingspider-man2

NYCC Tickets On Sale 6/18/14

nycc-logo-hi-res

Earlier today, New York Comic Con announced that tickets for NYCC 2014 will go on sale beginning Wednesday, June 14, 2014 at 12 noon at newyorkcomiccon.com. 4-Day, VIP and Kid’s tickets will on sale that day, with 3-Day and Single Day tickets following at a later date.

nycc 2014 ticket announcement

This is much later than NYCC tickets have gone on sale in past years. I think it is because NYCC promoter Reed Pop didn’t want to overshadow their upcoming Special Edition: NYC convention coming in June to the Javits Center.

Considering the utter mess that was buying tickets in person in NYC comic book stores last year, I highly recommend buying your ticket the day it goes on sale. Remember the hours long line that snaked through the Financial District from Midtown Comics’s Fulton Street location on day 1 of ticket sales? You don’t want to have to live through that again. I also highly recommend buying a 4-Day Pass. But at the same time, it makes no sense to me that people were willing to pay more than double the list price of the 4-Day pass for a 3-Day pass on eBay in recent years. Make sure you buy your ticket early. That way you’ll be secure that you’ll have access to what is bound to be one awesome convention.

Tuesday Night Comics Episode 20

Forever-Evil-7

In the 20th episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave give you their picks for the comic books they’re most excited about for Wednesday, May 20, 2014 and give their top picks of recent comics you may have overlooked. Plus, Dave is caught up on everything Forever Evil related, just in time for the long delayed Forever Evil #7. Dave ranks all the various Forever Evil tie-ins and miniseries in order from best to worst. See if you agree!

 

Game of Thrones – S4E7 – Mockingbird – Recap

sansa iron throne

The episode begins with Tyrion being visited by his brother and best friend Jaime. Jaime gives Tyrion the “I’m sorry, but your princess champion is in another castle” runaround, saying that he couldn’t beat any man left handed. Tyrion tries to sway Jaime with the prospect of seeing their father’s face when Jaime loses and his bloodline dies out in one fight. Jaime’s tempted, but not that tempted.

sorry_mario

Cersei has enlisted The Hulk The Mountain to be her champion against Tyrion’s champion. You might remember The Mountain from such things as being The Hound’s brother, and that vicious joust from a few seasons ago when so many more characters were still alive. Yeah, I wouldn’t bet on Jaime beating this guy left handed either.

Remember in Anchorman 2, how Ron’s son emulated his dad and started acting like him? That’s kind of what’s going on with Arya and The Hound right now. After The Hound stabs a brigand through the heart and wipes his blade clean on the freshly dead body, Arya does the same thing with Brigand #2. Arya’s new nickname: Lil’ Hound.

Up at Castle Black, Jon Snow recommends blocking the tunnel that leads north of the wall. Jon’s asshole boss mocks both Jon and the idea in front of everyone. I’m no writing coach, but I have a feeling this is going to come back to bite the men of the Night’s Watch in the ass big time. You don’t write this scene in and then have the tunnel’s gates stand, right?

Tyrion checks behind door #2 for a champion and comes up empty. Best Line Bronn has been bought off by Cersei and won’t be going for the back to back title as Tyrion’s champion. Tyrion always offered Bronn double of what his enemies would, but Tyrion has trouble coming up with two castles. Tyrion pleads with Bronn’s sense of friendship, but Bronn points out that despite their being friends, Tyrion never risked his life for Bronn. Point: Bronn. Recognizing that Bronn is just being the same Bronn that made Tyrion like him in the first place, they depart with a handshake, still friends.

But all is not lost for Tyrion. Later in the episode, sexy Wil Wheaton, who after this episode I will now be referring to as Inigo Montoya agrees to be Tyrion’s champion. Inigo has a personal beef with the Lannisters in general and The Mountain in specific, as The Mountain’s men raped and murdered Inigo’s sister and her children. Prepare to die, Mountain.

Inigo25

McDreamy arrives at Dany’s chambers bearing wildflowers that he swam a mile for. Dany’s not impressed. I am, but I’m not really a strong swimmer. Dany then gets all Don Draper circa season 6 of Mad Men and tells McDreamy to get undressed. She then totally elevator eyes him and gets stuck in the lobby. Um, Dany, his eyes are up here.

Don-Draper-has-so-much-control-seduction-situation

Over in Stannis-land, The Red Witch and her nipples are visited by Stannis’s wife. Hey, what’s up with Stannis’s wife looking like Elrond from Lord of the Rings? She realizes that isn’t a good look, right?

elrond

Stannis’s wife.

Every time The Red Witch is speaks, I want someone to punch her in the face. Say hello to the most annoying character in all of Westeros. I was really hoping for Stannis’s wife to push The Red Witch’s head a little bit lower in the tub and just drown her. Is that too much to ask?

The next morning, Friend Zone intercepts McDreamy doing the walk of shame from Dany’s chambers. Awkwaaaard. Friend Zone doesn’t trust McDreamy, and lets Dany know that when he visits her. I’m thinking it’s half doesn’t trust McDreamy, half doesn’t like the competition. Friend Zone is happy to find out that Dany is sending McDreamy far away. It looks like she just wanted to have a fun night first. Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game.

dany mockingbird sexy dress

Hommina, hommina, hommina…

Back on the road to Aunt Crazy’s castle in the clouds, The Hound tells Arya his origin, which really is just verifying everything we’ve known about him. He hates fire about as much as he hates his brother, which makes sense since his brother burned half of The Hound’s face off when they were kids. Hearing the story from The Hound’s lips definitely made me more sympathetic to The Hound. I’m guessing this will wash away soon though, when he kills the next poor farmer who feeds and houses him for the night.

Also on the road are Brienne and Pod. They’ve stopped at an inn are served by…hey, I know that guy! It’s Arya’s chubby friend from when they were captured by Robin Hood and his Merry Men! Arya’s friend, who won’t shut up, shuts up fast when he hears they’re looking for Sansa Stark. But something about Brienne and Pod makes Chunk trust them, so he lets them know that Arya is still alive, last seen with The Hound. Brienne and Pod come to a fork in the road and choose to head right. I’m guessing this is the way to Aunt Crazy’s?

Speaking of Aunt Crazy, Sansa is enjoying a little snowfall and builds the best snow castle I’ve ever seen, a scale model of Winterfell.

snowcastle winterfell mockingbird got

Side note: Those are some cool ass doors in Aunt Crazy’s courtyard. They have this whole 3D optical illusion thing going on with them.

Robin shows up and is impressed with the snow castle, but doesn’t understand why Winterfell doesn’t have a moon door. Robin is also the poster boy for why you shouldn’t coddle your kids too much. He looks like he be knocked over by a stiff breeze or the common cold. Parents, let your children play in the dirt with other kids….or they’ll end up like Robin. Oh, and don’t breast feed them forever. Sansa manages to get along with her cousin/future husband for a little bit when Robin offers to throw anyone who irks her through the moon door, but the good times don’t last long. After Robin ruins snow castle Winterfell trying to add a moon door to it, Sansa slaps him. Nice. Sansa is doing what I’m thinking. Now Sansa, I want you to go find The Red Witch and stab her…

After Robin runs away crying, Sansa realizes she’s probably in deep doo doo. Aunt Crazy already thinks Sansa slept with Littlefinger, and now she beat her over-coddled son. As if Sansa’s one way ticket through the moon door hadn’t already been confirmed, Littlefinger comes by and kisses her, just in time for Aunt Crazy to stroll by and witness it.

Sansa is called to the throne room by Aunt Crazy. Sansa immediately apologizes for kissing Robin, which is not why Aunt Crazy summoned her. You really need to learn to keep your mouth shut, Sansa. Aunt Crazy is already boiling with rage from seeing her niece kiss her husband and tries throwing Sansa through the moon door.

sansa aunt crazy moon door

It looks like the end for Sansa, until Littlefinger shows up at the last second, dressed like Neo from a Matrix sequel  and demands that Aunt Crazy stop. Littlefinger gets very close to Aunt Crazy and tells her not to be jealous of Sansa, as he has only ever loved one woman. Unfortunately for Aunt Crazy, that woman is Sansa’s mother, Crazy’s sister, the late Lady Catelyn Stark. Littlefinger then throws Aunt Crazy through the moon door like he’s Darth Vader and she’s the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi. Sadly, the Yub Nub Ewok song doesn’t play during the end credits.

I had one lingering thought after this episode ended, and that’s did Littlefinger kiss Sansa knowing that Aunt Crazy would be walking by at that time? If it were any other character, I’d say it was coincidence. But when Littlefinger’s involved, I feel like coincidence isn’t. Everyone is a pawn to Littlefinger. Well, everyone except Catelyn Stark, and she’s no longer among the living.

moon door

Orphan Black – S2E5 – Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est – Recap

Good news, Orphan Black fans: in this episode, Paul’s back with a vengeance. And by vengeance, I mean shirtless, pantsless and with so many secrets behind those steely blue eyes. But, like, soulful secrets. (Hint: I am not complaining.)

This. But with far less clothing. All Orphan Black images by Steve Wilkie.

This. But with far less clothing. All Orphan Black images by Steve Wilkie.

We start off this episode in Rachel’s bloody apartment, where she gives just a hint of humanity when she sees dead Men in Black, before immediately switching back to following the manual from Cold Bitch Digest. Leekie says that security footage shows that Helena and Sarah left together and that Helena is responsible for Men In Black’s death. He blames Rachel’s heavy-handed tactics for what’s happened but Rachel says she’s only just begun. (That’s from Chapter 4 of Cold Bitch Digest: Chilling One-Liners)

Meanwhile Sarah has brought Helena to Felix’s, a rite of passage for Clone Club it seems. She tells Helena that she has to be nice to Felix because she is his brother and is therefore just like one of their sisters. She also asks Felix to bring Helena some clothes, which might make Helena the first woman to switch over from polygamist wedding chic to something pleather and possibly assless. Felix is none too pleased about having to “babysit Ukrainian psycho” while Sarah goes to talk to Kira but, as always, he does as his sister asks him to.

There’s a brief scene of Kira and Cal in the camper. Cal is continuing to charm Kira, but we can see that he’s hiding a gun, several IDs, and a load of cash in the camper. If there’s anything Game of Thrones taught me, it’s don’t trust guys with beards (or bald guys, guys born of incest, guys made of black smoke, guys named after small body parts…actually, anybody. But I digress)…so I don’t like this.

At the DYAD Institute, Rachel, Paul and Leekie are meeting again. Rachel says she needs a new monitor, making it clear that she realized MIB was her monitor all along. She commands Paul to be her new monitor. She then asks Leekie to shut down Cosima’s medical treatments, as incentive for Sarah to come to her.

But at the lab, Delphine has already shown Cosima test results she found with stem cells that match with hers. They wonder why Leekie didn’t tell them about it.

Sarah is in a bar Skyping with Kira, who is giving her mom the cold shoulder and already calling Cal, Daddy. Sarah updates Cal on MIB being dead for good.

Felix takes Helena to Art’s who immediately pats her down and handcuffs her, which has Helena none too pleased. By the way, does Art just not go to work anymore? Does Clone Club have health benefits? And, if so, where can I apply?

We cut to Ranch Prolethean, where we find out that Gracie is being punished for allowing Helena to escape: Big Love and Wife #1 have stitched her mouth shut and put her in a solitary room.

Back at Rachel’s apartment, she is watching the same home videos of herself that Sarah was watching in the last episode. Paul is with her, and she is explaining to Paul what his duties as her monitor entail: essentially that he will report her data to Leekie, but that he works for her.  She explains that though Leekie was her guardian when her parents died, she now outranks him in the Institute and that she will be the one to make the hard choices. She brings up Cal and says she wants to know if he is Kira’s father. She also asks Paul if it bothers him that Sarah is back with the father of her child. Paul says no and Rachel tells him that it’s time for him to make a decision about whose side he’s on. She shows him a gun in a Ziploc—Men in Black’s gun—and says that it can be tied to the murder of a cop. Paul asks her what she needs him to do.

Cut to Art’s where Helena is staring at his goldfish with an ever-present murderous, and hungry, gleam in her eye. Art interrogates her about Maggie Chen and what they did to her at the ranch. Helena isn’t answering but Art knows how to make her talk: the tried-and-true technique gathered from his years of experience as a hard-boiled Canadian cop. That’s right…grilled cheese.

Yummmmmmm.

Yummmmmmm.

At the ranch, Mark visits Gracie in solitary, bringing her milk to drink out of a straw. She says Big Love is sending him after Helena because they want Helena to carry the child. He advises her to confess about whatever it was that led to Helena escaping, before kissing her. Gracie is obviously smitten.

Back at Art’s, and Helena is partaking in her second favorite activity (after homicidal tendencies)…eating. As she chows down on a mix of mustard, hard-boiled eggs, pickles, powdered doughnuts, and a block of hard ramen noodles (I think Helena would have really thrived in American dorm life), she tells Art that Maggie Chen had a locker, but asks how this information will help her “sestra.”

And now…it’s time for Felix’s getting-dressed-for-a-date montage. Set to Tears for Fears. Because this show is the greatest (and because I’ve come to the conclusion that Felix was Pretty in Pink’s Duckie in another life). Felix’s hot date is the coroner from Season 1, but just as things are about to get steamy, the cops bust in with a search warrant for his place. Sarah is approaching the building just as the coroner is being dragged away by a cop, so she shrewdly hides.

Back at the apartment, we see that the cops are actually followed by Paul. Felix asks him if he’s Team Rachel now, while Paul carefully puts on a glove, pull out a gun, and asks Felix if he was in Cal’s cabin. Felix is incredulous that Paul would use a gun on him but, before he knows it, Paul has fired off a shot, and is wrestling Felix onto the couch until he has made Felix hold the weapon (which, of course, is the same gun that Rachel told him shot the cop). Then he calls Sarah on the green clone phone and tells her that he has a cop waiting to find the weapon with Felix’s fingerprints on it, unless she turns herself into Rachel. He tells her she has until the morning to do it.

Sarah immediately calls Art for help. Art says he’ll ask around to see whether Rachel and crew are just bluffing or whether they can really implicate Felix. By the time Art gets off the phone, Helena has somehow managed to escape…using a tuna can tab. Seriously. Then she holds Art up with a gun.

At the ranch, Big Love and his wife finally cut the stitches from Gracie’s mouth. Gracie explains that she was trying to protect her family (when she tried to suffocate Helena). Wife #1 tells Gracie that Gracie’s now going to carry the child since she let Helena escape.

At Leekie’s lab, Cosima and Delphine try to steal the stem cell culture. But Leekie interrupts them and tells them a secret: that the original genome was lost in a lab fire. He wants to know what Sarah has found out about Rachel’s parents from the photo. Cosima says she has no information on that. Leekie says he’s willing to disregard Rachel and proceed with the treatment to help Cosima.

In the camper, Kira is drawing photos of Aunt Alison and Aunt Cosima and telling Cal that her mom has new sisters that look just like her. Cal asks her what she means by that, but is interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s a cop who is poking around. Cal gives them a fake ID and the cop seems ready to search the camper until Kira manages to stop them by asking “Are you my Mummy?” yelling “trick or treat” while wearing a gas mask and acting generally adorable/unsuspicious.

Art is now handcuffed to a pillar in his apartment when Sarah finds him. Helena is gone, but she left another paper fortune teller with GPS coordinates on it. Then we see Helena opening up a large industrial-looking door, presumably Maggie Chen’s locker.

"Orphan Black" Ep205_D4_11-18 Photo: Jan Thijs 2013

I see a lot of running in your future, Sarah Manning.

Art and Sarah go to the coordinates, which is the locker. Sarah nervously calls for Helena and asks her to not jump out at them with an ax, which is not too paranoid since the storage locker is filled with all sorts of ax murderer artifacts like photos of nuns with their eyes burned out. They can see that Helena once lived there. Art thinks Maggie used the locker as a drop-off point for Helena. They find some photos, including one of an older guy that has “Swan Man” written on the back of it. Sarah connects the dots to Project LEDA and pulls out her own photo of the two scientists. She starts to suspect that the Swan Man photo is the male scientist in recent times and that he’s actually still alive. Art then finds a case for a sniper rifle, with the rifle missing. Plopped out right in front is a headless Business Suit Barbie. Sarah realizes this means that Helena’s going to kill Rachel.

Back at Rachel’s apartment, Cold Bitch Clone is in her lingerie and ready to seduce Paul. Meanwhile, Helena is on a rooftop across the street, and is carefully giving her Barbie head Rachel’s haircut, and putting red lipstick on herself before looking through her rifle’s lens. Snipers gotta look good, yo. (Sorry for that; I’ve recently started watching Breaking Bad and therefore blame Jesse Pinkman.) In the apartment, Rachel has commanded Paul to take off his shirt and pants and started kissing him though, when he tries to take charge, she slaps him.

Art and Sarah are now in the neighborhood. They see Helena’s bike in the middle of the street and figure out which building she’s on. Meanwhile, Sarah tells Paul to get completely naked and sit on the chair. (Can we just stop and recognize that Paul has now slept with three women with the same face? Talk about a type…) Helena’s got them in her sights,when she hears Sarah and Art behind her. “Hello, sestra,” she says without even turning around.

Helena wants Sarah to see Paul having sex with Rachel. Helena says Rachel is a problem and she needs to kill her. But Sarah says she can’t kill her because they have something on Felix. “Brother/sestra?” Helena, doing her best Buster Bluth impression, asks. Helena then says she’ll kill Paul since he’s unfaithful. But Sarah says no, she doesn’t care about Paul but she doesn’t want him dead. She puts herself in front of the gun. She wants Helena to help her find Swan Man. Helena says Sarah’s only going to use her. But Sarah says no and gives a heartfelt speech about Helena being her real sister. Helena finally puts the gun down, with tears in her psychotic eyes. Sarah and Helena walk away from the sniper rifle, arm in arm, just like two totally normal sisters. In fact, I completely expected them to break out into “For the First Time in Forever (Reprise).”

Same.

Same.

Back at the lab, Leekie gives Cosima a shot in slow-motion, because maybe the episode’s running time was a little bit under. Cosima says the clones have a proposition for Leekie because of what he shared with her about the lab fire. She sends Leekie to a bar where Sarah meets him and tells him that she’s discovered that Ethan Duncan, a.k.a. Swan Man, is still alive. She tells Leekie that if her brother gets off, she’ll go find Ethan. Leekie says he will do what he can and that he’ll also keep Cosima’s treatments going. Which is a surprise to Sarah, since she didn’t know Cosima was sick. Leekie says Sarah has three days. Sarah says if anyone follows her, she’ll send Helena after them.

Speaking of following, lo and behold, Paul has followed Leekie. Leekie warns Paul that what Sarah finds may be dangerous to everyone (duh) and asks Paul to come to him first with any info before he goes to Rachel. Paul leaves the bar, presumably to follow Sarah.

In the car, Sarah asks Helena where they’re going. Helena says Cold River—place of screams.

Cold River. Wider than a stone. I'm crossing with my clone, someday.

Cold River. Wider than a stone. I’m crossing with my clone, someday.

This Episode’s Clone MVP: Helena wins again because she got out of handcuffs with what is, essentially, a soda tab and all those ever did for me were give me the initial “Q” when I was trying to figure out who my future husband would be in the 4th grade.

I did not, in fact, marry a "Quinton."

I did not, in fact, marry a “Quinten.”

 

Best Line Delivered by Felix: I need to break form here and hand this over to the entire getting ready montage. Because Tears for Fears, people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyGDiUnta4

 

Best Line Delivered by a Character Other than Felix: “Brother/sestra?” –Helena’s nickname for Felix.

 

Game of Thrones – S4E6 – The Laws of Gods and Men – Recap

cersei iron throne game of thrones

Welcome to another recap of Game of Thrones. There are SPOILERS below for the episode, so if you haven’t seen it yet, read no further. I have not read the books, so please keep your comments to things that have happened in the show only! No spoilers for future events, please!

The episode opens with Stannis and his men sailing under a giant statue of a soldier in a kilt. What do they see when they look up? Whatever it was, it certainly seems to have put Stannis in a mood while he waits to see if his home loan was approved. Stannis has about as much luck at The Iron Bank as Magic Mike did. Too bad for Magic Mike, he didn’t have Davos, aka Captain Five Fingers, on his side. Captain Five Fingers certainly is loyal for a guy who used to be Captain Ten Fingers until Stannis came along. Having a guy whose fingers you cut off on your side apparently goes far with the Iron Bank.

In the baths, Davos’s pal, the pirate (who I want to call Pirate Steve for some reason that I can’t explain), is telling some naked girls a joke that I’m pretty sure George RR Martin (or this episode’s writer) stole from a joke book I read in the third grade. I’ve definitely heard that joke before, just like the girls who he’s telling it to have.

Ever wonder how Westorosians carry around all that pocket change they call money? It turns out it’s in those coin counters the dude at the arcade used to have.

coin belts

These guys know what’s up.

After Davos mentions the pirate’s wife in front of the naked girls, the pirate pal has the best line in the episode so far with “You’re not my friend, my friend.”

Lily Allen is sailing to free her brother Alfie Allen. Okay, I might have to explain this nickname. Alfie Allen plays Theon/Reek, so in my mind, since I can’t remember what Theon’s sister’s name is, this girl is now Lily Allen. Go with me here; there are a lot of characters. Lily Allen wants to free Theon and kill Rob Thomas, who we find out is really into being choked during sex. Lily Allen is stone cold street, taking out Rob Thomas’s men left and right as she quickly makes her way to Theon. Theon has been seriously brainwashed and does not want to go. This presents a problem for Lily Allen when Rob Thomas shows up with more men. I’m not sure if Rob got all those cuts from Lily Allen’s men or from that rough sex he was having. Either way, he’s in a good mood.  Lily Allen is one of the toughest characters on the show, so I was VERY surprised when he turns tail and runs without Theon.

Rob Thomas is happy with Reek for wanting to stay and wants to give him a reward. Reek, understandably, is wary of any “reward” coming his way from Rob Thomas. But the reward turns out to be a bath. Just a bath. No shenanigans. Wow, Theon’s body is covered in scars like Batman’s!

alex ross bruce wayne

Rob Thomas’s true motives are revealed when he tells Reek he wants him to infiltrate Theon’s family’s castle by “pretending to be someone you’re not…Theon Greyjoy.” Oh boy, this should be interesting.

One of Dany’s dragons spots a shepherd’s goats, aka lunch. Wow, these dragons have really gotten big! In case you didn’t know, dragons make amazing goat flambe. The shepherd complains to Dany, who does the right thing and gives the shepherd more than enough money for his dead goats. Dany sees another visitor, the son of one of the masters she nailed to post. They get into a philosophical debate on the rights and wrongs of nailing men to mile posts. But the guy really just wants to be able to bury his dad. Dany finds it in herself to at least agree to that. Dany’s got 212 more people to hear after this guy. To Dany’s credit, it sounds like she’s going to hear them all. Imagine being person #212 on that line. And you thought getting through to a live person at Time Warner Cable was rough.

Sexy Wil Wheaton only owns one shirt. That’s what I’m taking away from this next scene. The small council is meeting. Princess Low Cut’s dad both a) has no sense of humor and b) is a huge kiss ass. Oh, and c) kind of looks like a member of the Lollipop League from The Wizard of Oz. Varys brings up Dany to the small council’s attention. Is this the first time we’re hearing about Friend Zone formerly being a spy in Dany’s company for King’s Landing? I feel like that might have been addressed in season 1, but can’t remember.

After the meeting, Sexy Wil Wheaton walks in on Varys staring at the Iron Throne. Sexy Wil Wheaton has that awkward conversation you’ve probably had when you assume that one of your friends is gay and it turns out he isn’t. But Varys wasn’t into girls either. He’s more asexual, like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory (also probably like that friend of yours). Varys pretty much hints he wants the throne. But c’mon, in the battle of trickiness, Varys is no Littlefinger. Agree, disagree?

Jaime pays Tyrion another visit. He’s there to escort Tyrion to his trial. When the door opens to the throne room, where the trial is taking place, it almost sounded like the interstitial thum-thum from Law and Order. Okay, maybe that was all in my head.

The tiral of Tyrion Lannister is underway! Someone calls out “Kingslayer!” when he walks in and I’m not sure if they’re talking to Tyrion or Jaime. “Who? Me? No, him? No, me? No, him? No, me. Me.” .

Side note, is Princess Low Cut wearing a bed sheet in court?

Tomlin excuses himself from hearing the case. Pussy. Tywin hears it instead. Tywin likes sitting in that throne. Westerosi courts aren’t like American courts in that the defense doesn’t seem able to do any cross examining. I’m no lawyer, but this seems to be a big advantage for the prosecution. Everyone the prosecution calls pretty much buries Tyrion, but what’d you expect when the witnesses are the Grand Maester, Cersei, etc.

Tywin lets Tyrion ask Varys one question. One! Come on, this isn’t a trial! It’s a shit show! Jaime agrees to my assessment and tries to bargain with daddy during recess in order to save his brother. Jaime tells Tywin that the last order the Mad King gave Jaime before Jaime killed him was to bring him Tywin’s head. Jaime gets the best line of the episode with his follow-up, “I saved your life so that you could murder my brother?” Jaime offers to get married to someone he’s not related to if Tywin spares Tyrion. Tywin agrees. Looks like Tyrion is heading to the Night’s Watch.

Jaime gives Tyrion the game plan. Tyrion doesn’t trust his dad, but he does trust Jaime.

Tywin REALLY likes sitting on that iron throne. Watch your back, Tomlin.

Things get really interesting when the prosecution calls…Shae! Awwwwwkwarrrrrd. Apparently, Shae never picked up that Tyrion was White Fanging her, because she totally throws Tyrion under the bus. Do they have buses in Westoros? No? Fine. Shae totally throws Tyrion under the horse cart.  Basically, everything that Shae can say to bury Tyrion she does say. Killed Joffrey? Yup. Stole poison? Yup. Wants to kill all the Lannisters? Yup. Bitches, man.

bitches man

Tyrion announces he wishes to confess. Then he announces that he should have let Stannis kill everyone here. Um, Tyrion, what about that confession? Tyrion confesses, not to poisoning the king, but to being a dwarf. Tyrion’s the best. Best line of the episode goes to Tyrion: “I didn’t kill Joffrey but I wish I had. Watching your bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores.” Great line, but not a great defense. After Tyrion riles up the crowd, Tywin orders him back to his cell. Knowing he won’t get any justice in the court, Tyrion announces he’ll let the gods decide his fate. He demands a trial by combat! Everyone is varying levels of shocked and intrigued. The episode ends with a stare down between Tywin and Tyrion. Oh damn. It. Is. On.

I can’t wait for Sunday’s episode, because I have so many questions. Will this be like the last time Tyrion was given a trial by combat up in the Aerie? Namely, does Tyrion get a champion? Will it be Bronn? Jaime? Jaime vs. Bronn? And if no champion, Tyrion vs. Jaime? Tyrion vs. Tywin? IS IT SUNDAY YET?????

Game of Thrones – S4E5 – First of His Name – Recap

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The episode opens with Princess Low Cut giving Tomlin eyes in the throne room. She’s totally tit-blocked by Cersei. The two of them talk about Joffrey. It’s interesting how honest Cersei is about Joffrey here. I don’t remember her ever voicing that Joffrey was a monster before this. Cersei praises Tomlin and offers the prospect of marriage to Tomlin to Princess Low Cut, who does a great job of sounding interested but not too interested. Princess Low Cut already sounds like part of the family when she says to Cersei, “I hardly know what to call you, sister or mother.” Oh, those Lannisters…

Dany finds out about Joffrey’s death. Beardy has acquired about 70 ships for her. Smooth. Friend Zone rains on the “Let’s sack King’s Landing” parade by bringing up that the cities they’ve liberated in Slaver’s Bay have fallen out of their hands. “I will do what queens do. I will rule.” That’s two for two with scenes ending on awesome lines.

Sansa and Littlefinger are walking the narrow path that leads to Aunt Crazy’s house.  When they reach the front door, the look on Sansa’s face says, “I’ve made a huge mistake.” Amazingly, Aunt Crazy is not breastfeeding when they walk in. Cousin Crazy is only snuggling against her. Awww…gross. Cousin Crazy walks with a weird limp. Don’t breastfeed your kid until he’s 10, ladies. Pro tip: don’t give Cousin Crazy nice gifts. He’ll just throw it out his “moon door.” It’s not as gross as it sounds, but still, that kid isn’t getting anything more than a paper airplane from me.

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Aunt Crazy wants Littlefinger’s littlefinger in a bad way. When Littlefinger suggests they take it slow, Aunt Crazy goes into crazy detail about how Littlefinger talked her into killing her own husband. Geez…Littlefinger has killed more people than cancer. He kisses her to get her to shut up. Aunt Crazy calls in a priest and lets him know that she’s going to be loud in bed tonight.

And just like Babe Ruth, Aunt Crazy called her shot. Sansa gets to try in vain to fall asleep to her aunt’s sex moans. Most of her family has been killed, and she was threatened with death by her once future husband, but I really feel like this is the lowest point Sansa’s sunk these four seasons.

Cersei and Tywin are meeting. They go over Tomlin and Princess Low Cut’s wedding. Tywin gets the best line in the scene with “You don’t need to make formal alliances with people you trust.” Tywin also reveals that the crown is way underwater on all the refi they did with the Iron Bank.

At her campsite with the Hound, Arya is going through her rosary of people she wants to put in the ground. The Hound tells her to shut up, but then lets her go on since she only has one name left. But for some reason, he’s surprised to hear his own name as the final name. His face was kind of like, “Say what now?”

Aunt Crazy acts suspiciously normal, so it makes sense that when she does go crazy in this scene, she’s goes full crazy on Sansa. She thinks Sansa is sleeping with Littlefinger. Sansa does her best to convince Aunt Crazy that she’s not sleeping with her aunt’s new husband. I hated Sansa in season 1, but I’ve grown to like her and hope she gets out of this castle okay. Aunt Crazy can take a short walk out the moon door though. Aunt Crazy’s mood swings remind me of Norma on Bates Motel, but without Vera Farmigia’s sexiness. So it’s just the crazy. That’s not a good combo. Aunt Crazy calms down just in time to let Sansa know she’ll be marrying her breast feeding cousin Robin as soon as Tyrion is executed.

Some advice for Sansa...

My advice to Sansa…

On the road with Brienne and Pod. Pod’s not really good at the whole horse riding thing. These two are the perfect buddy cop comedy of Westeros.

The Hound wakes up from his nap and freaks when Arya isn’t there. He finds her practicing her swordplay nearby and flips. He’s not a fan of her technique. Angry Arya is often the best part of an episode. This episode is no exception. The Hound challenges her to show off her stuff on him. Arya doesn’t even hesitate to stab the Hound in the gut. Unfortunately for Arya, the Hounds armor beats Needle’s point the way rock beats scissors.

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Next time, throw paper.

The Hound is nice enough to give Needle back after bloodying Arya’s lip and sending her to the ground.

Cersei meets up with Sexy Wil Wheaton. I could see these two getting it on if he was more Cersei’s type, you know, a blood relative. Princess Low Cut has nothing on the Prince of Dorn when it comes to low cut shirts. The dude dresses like J Lo. Cersei takes the best line in this scene with, “Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls.” There’s a lot of best lines in this episode. Amazingly, none of them have come from Bronn so far, but he’s nowhere to be found.

Back at the Brienne and Pod show, Pod is burning a freshly hunted rabbit. Like really burning it. It’s on fire because he forgot to skin it first. For some reason I thought Pod was a good cook. I now realize that I think I was maybe confusing him with Peeta from The Hunger Games. That doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the only reason I can think of for thinking he was a good cook. Also, whatever happened to that kid that used to hang out with Arya after she fled King’s Landing? That’s not Pod, right? For some reason, I keep thinking that guy and Pod are the same person. When Pod reveals that he put a spear through the back of a man’s head to save Tyrion’s life, his status with Brienne  takes a turn for the better. I love these two.

Up north, it’s snowing at Kraster’s Keep. The Six Fingered Man is either doing some spy work or he’s really into watching rough sex. Or maybe it’s a little of column A, a little of column B. He finds the shack where Brann and company are being kept.  The kid from Love, Actually hints that he and his sister won’t be in many more episodes.  Then his hand catches fire, but only in his mind.

Owen from Torchwood is ready to rape Love, Actually‘s sister in front of everyone. Love, Actually tries to bargain with him, offering Owen a look into his future. “Torchwood’s not coming back…ever” Owen’s not happy with this news. Love, Actually tells Owen that Owen is going to die just time time for Jon and the rest of the Night’s Watch to start their attack. While Jon fights, the Six Fingered Man goes in Brann’s shack, ready to kidnap him. Brann does his possession thing and takes over Hodor’s body. The Six Fingered Man never stood a chance. Hodor choke slams the Six Fingered Man’s lifeless body into the snow. Brann calls for Jon, but Love, Actually talks Brann out of it, saying that Jon would never let Brann continue his journey.

It’s Snow vs. Owen! Jon has one big sword. Owen has two little ones What’s fun about Game of Thrones is that these fights really can go either way. No one is safe on the show. Owen fights dirty, but one of Kraster’s daughter-wives distracts Owen just long enough for Jon to put a sword through the back  of his throat and out his mouth. That has to be a weird feeling, seeing a new metal tongue coming out of your mouth right before you die.

One mutineer survived Jon’s attack on Kraster’s Keep. Unfortunately for him, Hodor freed Jon’s dire wolf on his way out of town and Ghost is hungry. Update: no mutineer’s survived Jon’s attack on Kraster’s Keep. Jon reunites with Ghost and tries to get Kraster’s daughter-wives to come back to Castle Black with them. The ladies decide to go out and make it on their own though, doing it their way, Laverne and Shirley style.

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The episode ends with Kraster’s Keep burning to the ground.

The Monuments Men – Review

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There’s nothing like a transatlantic flight boasting the choice of 40 or so movies to watch. Thank you, United Airlines. After Anchorman 2 ended, I went straight into The Monuments Men. From the first preview I saw of The Monuments Men, I knew I had to see this movie. The story looked great and the cast looked even better. The Monuments Men was initially scheduled to be released in prime Oscar-bait season. And then it wasn’t.

Word on the street was that the special effects weren’t ready, causing the movie to be delayed a couple of months. When it finally was released, the reviews were so-so, and the word on the street changed to the special effects were fine the whole time, but that the studio delayed it because the movie itself wasn’t very good. Having finally seen the movie, I put no stock in the movie being delayed on its merit. The Monuments Men is great, and is definitely worth watching.

In The Monuments Men, George Clooney’s Frank Stokes leads a small group of men to steal priceless art. Think Ocean’s 11 meets Indiana Jones, an Ocean’s ’45. The entire movie has a race-like feel to it. Can Stokes’s group recover the stolen art before the Russians take it for themselves or the Nazis destroy it? Motivation separates Stokes’s crew from the Russians. The Russians want the art for themselves, but Stokes and company have pledged to return the stolen art back to the original owners, which sets up the Americans, British and French as the heroes of this movie.

Bill Murray;Bob Balaban

The characters are all filled with charm and enjoy terrific chemistry between each other. I loved the snappy banter between George Clooney and Matt Damon, and between Bill Murry and Bob Balaban. The other big highlight in terms of chemistry is between Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett. In what may have been my favorite scene in the movie, I found myself almost rooting for Damon’s James to cheat on his wife and spend the night with Blanchett’s Claire. I won’t spoil how that scene ended other than to say Damon is the epitome of charm at the end of the scene.

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For you history buffs out there, History Vs. Hollywood did a nice comparison of how the movie version of Monuments Men compares to the real life people involved in the film. Check it out here.

monuments-men-recovered-artworks

I highly recommend checking out movie version The Monuments Men, even if war movies aren’t usually your thing. I like this movie so much that I look forward to reading the book it was based on. The film is sharply written and well acted. As it turns out, you really can’t go wrong with a cast like this.

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