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

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

green ranger iron throne

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.

ive-made-a-huge-mistake

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.

scissors

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.

laverne-and-shirley

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

The Monuments Men – Review

monuments_men_xlg

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.

1170482 – Monuments Men

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.

This review has Amazon product links in it. Shopping at Amazon through our links helps support our site. 

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – Review

anchorman 2 poster

A recent transatlantic flight allowed me to catch four movies I have been meaning to watch. Thank you very much, United Airlines! Three of the four movies had sub-par reviews when there were initially released, so I hedged my expectations. But all three of them were exceeded expectations. Maybe the lesson here is to take reviews with a grain of salt (except reviews you read here at Tuesday Night Movies. Those are written in stone, digital stone).

The first of the four movies was Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Despite wanting to see Anchorman 2 in the theater, it slipped past me, which is surprising because of how much I enjoyed the first movie. I don’t quote it as often as some of my friends, but I still think it and star Will Ferrell are great.

Anchorman 2 was mostly good, but a little bit of a let down towards the end. My enjoyment of the movie was a bit uneven. I really liked the idea of the current 24 hour news cycle being the byproduct of Ron Burgundy and company. And I absolutely loved any scene involving Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig. Their two characters, Brick and Chani, stole the movie in my opinion. Any scene they were in had me laughing perhaps a bit too loudly for a crowded airplane. My absolute favorite scene in the entire movie occurred early on, when we catch up to see what’s new with Brick since Ron saw him last. There’s no scene in Anchorman 2 that captures the magic of Afternoon Delight from the first movie, but Brick’s eulogy at his own funeral might have been the closest Anchorman 2 got.

I also really liked how much Ron’s son Walter emulated his dad. Whether it was dressing in the style of Ron, or insulting Greg Kinnear’s character Gary with the same accusations as Ron, Walter was hilarious. The attempted punch on Gary by Walter, followed by Walter’s reasoning for missing the punch is even funnier coming from him than it was from Ron.

The movie is insanely quotable, with great one liners. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself saying things like “I’m not trying to be funny, but are you sure he’s not a midget with a learning disability?” and “If you’ve got an ass like the North Star, wise men are gonna want to follow it.”

The movie doesn’t suffer until the climax, but that fight in the park really dragged it down for me. It just seemed to go on forever. I did like the various cameos of all the different news organizations that sprung up in the 1980s, but it wasn’t long until it felt repetitive. It’s too bad, because if that scene had been reworked, Anchorman 2 would have been a “Blammo!” instead of a triple.

This review has Amazon product links in it. Shopping at Amazon through our links helps support our site. 

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 19

Billy and Dave preview and give their picks for new comic books coming out on Wednesday, 5/14/14. Dave has reached Forever Evil in his Justice League reread. Will he catch up before Forever Evil ends? Billy talks about his marathon Superior Spider-Man session on a transatlantic flight. The guys discuss their thoughts on the new Comixology app following Comixology’s buyout by Amazon.

Game of Thrones – S4E4 – Oathkeeper – Recap

Hi everyone and welcome back to Tuesday Night Movies’s recaps of Game of Thrones. Sorry for the delay between entries. I was vacationing in Portugal and Spain, and am now playing a bit of catch up.

In this recap, you can expect to find SPOILERS for this episode and previous episodes, but no SPOILERS of future events. I haven’t read the books. If you have read the books, I simply ask that you please keep any spoilers of future events in the show to yourself. Thanks!

SPOILERS for Oathkeeper follow after this photo of Littlefinger sitting atop the Iron Throne.

game of thrones littlefinger

The episode begins with the captain of the Unsullied (Grey One? Grey Worm?) being tutored in Westerosi as a Second Language from Dany’s Executive Assistant/Head Fly Girl. I get the feeling that despite him being a eunuch, he’s hot for teacher. After his tutoring session ends, he leads a team of Unsullied into a union meeting held by the local slave chapter. Things aren’t going well for the “Let’s revolt” side until Dany’s men drop bags and bags of swords at the slaves’ feet. It’s amazing how bags of swords can sway a vote.

After the successful slave revolt, Dany decides to match the number of children the slave masters nailed to mile posts with the slave masters themselves. Why did the slave masters nail those children to the posts in the first place? Was it to show Dany how little they considered the slaves? To show her their strength as masters? As a warning as to what they’d do to her?

Wow, Dany standing atop the temple surveying her new city looks like History Channel level CGI. What’s up with that, HBO?

dany-after-taking-the-city bad cgi

This actually looks better here than it did on my TV screen.

Jaime, aka Westeros’s first Cyborg, is training with Best Line Bronn. It’s a pretty even sparring match until Bronn beats Jaime with Jaime’s own metal hand. Bronn is too cool. No joke, I would totally watch a Jaime and Bronn buddy knight spinoff show. After the sparring match, Bronn uses his secret Jewish-mother guilt power to get Jaime to visit his imprisoned brother Tyrion.

The scene with Jaime and Tyrion in Tyrion’s cell might be my favorite scene this episode that didn’t involve Jaime being hit with his own hand. The dialogue here is so good that you’d think Bronn was in the scene.  “Are you really asking if I killed your son?” “Are you really asking if I’d kill my brother?” This scene is too good!

Sansa is on Littlefinger’s boat. Littlefinger tells Sansa he’s marrying her Aunt, the one who never stops breastfeeding. Sansa confronts Littlefinger about his involvement in killing Joffrey. This scene is all about how Joffrey died. Ryan Broderick wrote an excellent play by play for Buzzfeed on how exactly Joffrey died. I definitely recommend checking that out. It completely matches up with the explanation given in this scene and the next scene. Littlefinger is so much more cunning than Tommy Carcetti and it really shows in this scene. Seriously, this scene establishes Littlefinger as the most dangerous man in Westeros. His explanation on keeping his enemies (and friends) in the dark reminded me of Heath Leger’s monologue as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

joker clapping

Littlefinger doesn’t say outright who his “new friends” are who wanted Joffrey dead, but he’s saying this in voiceover as we see Princess Low Cut and Grandma walking in a garden. If you didn’t catch on by this point that Grandma’s in on it, that’s on you. But just so it’s clear for everyone, Grandma confesses brags to Princess Low Cut about her hand in Joffrey’s death. Grandma’s got a past. She stole her own sister’s intended husband by using her Grandmotherly vajayjay. Princess Low Cut giggles just a little too much while her Grandma goes in depth about her night of passion with Princess Low Cut’s grandfather. I’ll take Conversations No One Has Ever Had With Their Grandmother for $800, Alex.

Up at The Wall, the Six Fingered Man has joined the crew. I like that those scars on his face are from when Inigo Montoya cuts him in Prince Humperdink’s castle.

The Six Fingered Man makes nice with John Snow. When he shakes Snow’s hand, I tried counting the number of fingers on his hand, but the angle wasn’t right.

Jaime visits Cercei and there’s no mention of Jaime forcing himself on his sister when we last saw these two together. Cercei is back in ice queen mode. She’s also drinking a lot. Cercei questions Jaime’s loyalty vis-ais his being let go by the Starks. Cercei is also pissed that Jaime hasn’t gotten around to killing Tyrion yet. Cercei wants more guards on Tomlin, her other son with Jaime. Tomlin is next in line for the thrown. She then dismisses Jaime without even a little bit of sisterly nookie.

Tomlin, aka “Not all of us inbred children are crazy. See?” is lying in bed. Princess Low Cut wanders in, as low cut as ever. I’m guessing Jaime didn’t get around to posting extra guards. Princess Low Cut, isn’t this kid like 10? That makes this scene kind of gross. Not as gross as a brother raping his sister at the feet of their dead son’s body, but it’s up there.

When I heard that the title of the episode was Oathkeeper, I worried for Tyrion. I couldn’t remember if Jaime, Mr. Oathbreaker/Kingslayer made a vow to his sister/lover, Cercei, to kill his brother/best part of the show, Tyrion. Thankfully, Oathkeeper turned out to be the name that Lady Brienne gives the sword that Jaime “The Regifter” Lannister gives her when he sends her out on a quest to find and keep safe Sansa Stark. Jaime also gives Brienne some really sweet armor. This doesn’t look like a regifting, but who can say with The Regifter, especially when he follows this by regifting Tyrion’s squire to Brienne. Can you regift your brother’s stuff? Especially if it’s a person? Only if you’re Jaime Lannister. Now that is one longing gaze from Jaime when Brienne rides off. 

Up at Castle Black, Sam has come to the conclusion that was wildly apparent to everyone in the audience a couple of weeks ago, namely that leaving Gilly at the best little whorehouse in the north wasn’t a good idea. He wants to go get her, but Jon Snow talks him out of it. Jon realizes that his kid brother Brann might be at Kraster’s Keep at the exact same time that Jon’s asshole boss tells Jon it’s okay for him to grab some brothers and take out the mutineers at Kraster’s Keep. Synergy, I tell you. The men who volunteer to go with Jon are really good at volunteering one at a time. There’s no awkward two guys getting up at the same time. They must drill volunteering at meetings on a regular basis at Castle Black. Surprise, surprise, the Six Fingered Man volunteers.

Up at Kraster’s Keep, Owen from Torchwood and his merry mutineers are  getting drunk and raping women. They’re like the lacrosse fraternity of Westeros. All they need are some backwards white baseball caps. Owen finds out about Kraster giving his male babies to the White Walkers, and the ladies in Kraster’s Keep get super creepy chanting “The gift of the gods” in unison over and over. There’s nothing like women chanting in unison for you to get you to sacrifice a baby to a bunch of ice zombies.

owen torchwood

I liked you so much better in Torchwood.

We check in on Brann, Hodor and company. They hear the sacrificed baby crying, so they’re right by Kraster’s. Brann possesses his dire wolf in order to get a looksie. He finds  Ghost, Jon’s wolf, locked up and captured. Brann’s crew quickly figures out these guys are not Night’s Watch anymore…almost as quickly as they get caught by the mutinous Night’s Watchmen. They haze Hodor. It must be pledge week.  Owen threatens all of them, taking a knife to the neck of the girl who kind of looks like Brann. He keeps yelling “Who are ya?” at her. I’m wondering the same thing. Does this girl have a name? When Brann says who he is, Owen’s top man, the guy who looks like he won his part in a “Who Wants to Be on Game of Thrones?” contest in his local comic book store, says that Brann is Jon Snow’s brother. This keeps Brann and company alive…for now.

A pale rider on a zombie horse is carrying the sacrificed baby and riding to…Snake Mountain? He puts the baby on an ice alter. Another White Walker, this one who seems to have a crown growing out of his head, strolls over and picks up the baby. When he touches the baby, the baby’s eyes go ice blue like a White Walker’s. Wait, is this how White Walkers are made? Don’t answer that. I can wait to find out on the show.

white walker baby

And then the episode ends. Huh, I always thought of the White Walkers as arctic zombies, but I’ve clearly been underestimating them. They’re not mindless. And they’re powerful, not just physically.

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast 18

Special guest host Nick fills in for Dave this week on the Tuesday Night Comics Podcast. Billy and Nick discuss new comic books being released on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, their anticipation of IDW’s Jack Kirby Artist Edition, and Nick gives a spoiler-free review of Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Image Comics Humble Bundle

image humble bundle

Image Comics is currently running a Humble Bundle sale to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Pay what you want and receive DRM-free digital copies of East of West Vol. 1, Fatale Vol. 1, Lazarus Vol. 1 and Morning Glories Vol. 1.

image humble bundle titles

 

If you donate more than the average donation amount ($9.62 at the time of this writing), you can also get Saga Vol. 1, Revival Vol. 1 and Chew Vol. 1.

And if you’re feeling extra generous, donate $15 or more dollars to unlock all the above, plus The Walking Dead Vol.1 and the newly released The Walking Dead Vol. 20! That’s 48 comics in total for only 15 bucks!!

image humble bundle twd

This is way to get some truly excellent comics at a low price and help raise money for a worthy charity. Win-Win! Click here to head to the Image Humble Bundle Sale.

CBLDF logo

UPDATE: Image has added more books to the Humble Bundle! If you donate above the average donation, you will also receive Saga Vol. 2 and Manhattan Projects Vol. 1!

 

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast 17

In episode 17 of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave give their picks for the coolest new comics coming out on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, and review Justice League United #0 and The Flash #30.

jl canada 0