Game Of Thrones – Battle Of The Bastards.

SPOILERS ARE COMING! 

 

 

And breathe!  What an honour it was to watch such a fine-tuned, masterfully crafted, rousing and raucous episode of TV.  Battle Of The Bastards (such a great name) was the fan’s pay off for a season that’s largely been setting the pieces on a journey toward the looming end-game.  This episode was packed to the roof of Baelor’s Sept  with awe-inspiring set pieces, tactfully placed dialogue and silences that were worth a thousand words.

 

Last week we left Mereen under siege(unfortunately no Steven Seagal in sight)  with Dany returning at a moment where Tyrion’s hold on Mereen and the great city itself were teetering precariously to say the least.  I felt for Tyrion as he’d tried so hard through out season six to tidy Mereen up and dust off its many problems.  For the most part he did a good job but Dany’s return was the modern equivalent of getting caught on your phone at work by your boss – if you worked at MI6.  After a wonderful shot of a ball of fire slung from a trebuchet tracking its way over the sea and the city walls, we cut to Dany looking down on her city that once held a short-lived peace, now burning and crumbling.  After Tyrion offers an alternate proposition opposed to charring the bodies of any and all slave profiteers, the tone of the episode is set.  The sequence with the Mother Of Dragon’s riding Drogon flanked by Viserion and Rhaegal was reminiscent of the great How To Train Your Dragon movies albeit with slightly more death and brimstone.  A stunning sequence of scenes in every right.  The panning camera following the flight with Mereen beneath in cinders, the horde of Dothraki in full berserker scream mode charging at the Sons Of The Harpy, Tyrion talking the talk to the surviving Master and of course the warship suffering from a severe case of Dracarys.

 

If that wasn’t enough Khaleesi goodness, the Greyjoy siblings turn up and fall in line with Dany’s queenly vision of Westeros which held some great clashes of words between Tyrion and Theon and Yara and Dany.  I felt this scene was well needed in finally forging an alliance for Daenerys with a house from the Seven Kingdoms and equating to her getting a great fleet of ships for the journey west.  I think I’m safe in assuming that season seven will finally bear us the fruit of a Targaryen rule; or just that Dany actually does get to Westeros before The Night King’s army turns it all to icy death.  She has surely heard that Winter Is Coming?

 

The penultimate episode of a Game Of Thrones season normally amounts to something spectacular and the titular battle of bastards did not disappoint.  In fact it blew me away.  Jon asked Melisandre not to bring him back should he fall, he dismissed Sansa’s sage advice about the cunning and ploys of Ramsay and he witnessed Rickon fall in a sadistic game of Bros and Arrows.  In Jon’s bold effort to save his brother he is lured into a killing field that Ramsay planned perfectly.  Jon is safe from the barrage of arrows (perhaps by the Lord of Light’s will) but his horse is felled. He stands ready to fight after unsheathing Longclaw.  The Bolton army charge at him on horseback.  This is one of my favourite shots from the entire show.  It captures Jon’s character perfectly and is simply stunning.  It also didn’t use any CGI!  In the Behind The Scenes show on Youtube, (which I recommend everybody watch) they show that it was actually Kit Harrington stood on a cold, muddy field as forty men on horseback charged at him.  David Beinoff said that it was his favourite shot of this season and I have to concur.

 

What follows is a clash between the two armies of the likes I’ve never seen before.  The scene consists of some wonderful sweeping, wide angle shots to give us insight into the geography of the battle but also some very intimate looks of the horror and death supplied by battle.  Jon has a beautiful tracking shot where we follow his cutting down of foes with the stand out swipe being Jon spinning inward and striking a mounted Bolton with such force as to knock him from his horse.  I made some sort of queer noise in reaction to it which is standard fair when I see anything awesome in film and TV.  Although the field is flat the battle for Jon and his followers is downhill from here.  Ramsay isn’t afraid to command volleys of arrows to be fired into the fray, taking out some of his own men to kill Jon’s.  Davos and Tormund join the fight from the flank only to be trapped between three walls of shield and spear wielding Boltons and a literal mountain of death.  What had been an epic clash of two sides takes a turn for the tense as the walls literally close in on what remains of Snow and the Wildlings (and the Mormonts!).  By this point I was pretty breathless and didn’t know if I could face what would come as I just couldn’t call what was going to happen.  Sure, I know what I wanted to happen but having that mindset in Game Of Thrones is just plain foolish.

 

As if I needed any more tension and foreboding, Jon is trampled under the weight of his own men as they try to scale the wall of bodies.  These shots are short and sharp, similar to my breathing as I watched Jon drowning in scrambling men and the flicker of a gloomy sky that he needed to reach.  With sheer determination and willpower he manages a foothold and gets somewhat free but to what end?  He is still trapped.  And then like Randy Orton The Legend Killer himself, The Knights Of The Vale come OUTTA NOWHERE to save the day led by none other than the puppet master himself: Littlefinger.  A horseback army have saved the day a couple of times in Game Of Thrones but I’ve never needed it so much as now.  The Vale’s Knights ride down the encircled army and we finally see that sadist smile melt from Ramsay’s face.  We’ve waited a long time for that.  In seeing a bloodied Jon, a battered Tormund and an arrow-riddled Wun Wun, Ramsay flees to Winterfell and what a sight it is to see his tail between his legs.

Wun Wun comes a knocking and the castle starts a rocking.  Poor Wun Wun knocks down the gate only to be riddled with arrows.  He’s backed up by the Wildlings and their own arrows that find their marks on the last of the Bolton men but I was genuinely affected to see that arrow fell Wun Wun – possibly the last of the giants- drawn from Ramsay’s bow.  As if cutting off penises and raping Sansa wasn’t enough he’s now caused a species to go extinct.  And then there were two.  Ramsay takes Jon up on his earlier offer of single combat seeing the state that Jon is in but Ramsay underestimates Jon’s grit.  Seeing Jon pace toward Ramsay blocking arrows with a shield was a moment of ecstasy, knowing Ramsay is finally gonna get a taste of comeuppance.  Jon takes him down and lays waste to his face in a fury of punches.  This scene was shot for ten hours.  To make sure we got what we wanted.  I certainly did in any case as I was kind of giddy seeing Jon Snow let go of all his chivalry and manners and sense and unleash the inner-wolf.  He is sobered by a looming Sansa and ever the gentleman he realises Ramsay is not his to kill.

 

The final scene is perfectly played out by actors and writers as Ramsay still believes in his own screwed up sense of manipulation in being able to somehow escape.  Until Sansa, talking minimalistically but eyeing the man who took so much from her with contempt and hate.  She knows a hungry dog is never loyal and so Ramsay finally meets his end by his own tortured dogs.  A bitter irony but one that goes down like a sweet wine.  The shadow of a smirk as Sansa walks away is a perfect(DB Weiss’ favourite shot).  She’s not rejoicing or taking fiendish pleasure from the dogs ripping away at Bolton but she allows herself that tiniest of smirks, solidifying that she is no longer a victim, she is a woman and a Stark woman at that.

The direction by Miguel Sapochnik was masterful.  I didn’t think he could top the episode Hardhome but he has here with Battle Of The Bastards.  Every scene mattered on a grand scale but felt intimate enough to have us there inside it with the characters.  The entire battle will go down as one of the all time greats and I can not think of an onscreen battle of this scale that has had me this gripped and breathless.  With many grand sword and sandal battles in film, one can normally guess the winner before the battle begins.  With this however, I simply could not call it, a testament to the stellar writing of DB Weiss and David Benioff that always keeps us fans on our toes and serves us some deliciously dour dishes of disappointment.  This will go down as one of the greatest episodes in television history, I have no doubt.  Many films don’t build this much tension with an intimate thriller let alone one that features a sprawling battle.  The crew, the cast and everyone involved that pour their hearts and souls into Game Of Thrones are a testament to its brilliance.  Their passion is our pudding.  Game Of Thrones continues to push the boundaries of storytelling within an episodic format and it doesn’t rely on cliches or rest upon its laurels, it paves the way as if mounted on a dragon.

The end is nigh for season six and there are many repercussions set to shake the world in next week’s episode.  I just wonder how many times I’ll relive this episode until that comes about.

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Dory – Film Review.

 

With Nemo found and Marlin having completed a journey of a lifetime, where can this sequel go to make sure it doesn’t tread familiar waters?  The tagline on one of the posters reads “She just kept swimming” but Pixar obviously missed a trick by not going with “In the ocean, nobody can hear you whale-talk” but we’ll forgive that.  This is a gorgeously rendered slice of Pixar’s staple visuals and what allows for more colour and verve than the diverse and grand ocean.  Marlin, Nemo and Dory are back along with some righteous cameo’s from the first movie but I’m sure the new cast of critters will go down as equally iconic.  A shame then that the story and a few themes and gags repeat themselves.

 

Synopsis: Dory the forgetful blue tang has a rush of memories relating to her parents and where she comes from.  This spurs her onto a journey of self-discovery in trying to locate her parents whereabouts.  Nemo coaxes his father Marlin to tag along and they end up at the Marine Life Institute whose motto is Rescue, repair, release.   Dory forgets as much as she remembers but her drive and desire allows her to keep on swimming.

 

Iconic films that have had a lasting affect on the cultural zeitgeist of their time almost always try to follow suit with a sequel.  Unfortunately for hearty fans, these sequels rarely pay off in the way they’d hope (Predator 2 shame on you).  The excitement of seeing a trailer full of new footage of characters that have a place in your heart is a wonderful feeling but whilst sitting in the cinema and watching those characters back on screen, it can leave a somewhat bitter taste lingering in one’s mouth.  Thankfully Finding Dory doesn’t do that. Smiles and laughs are brought forth in abundance here thanks to a superb supporting cast armed with snappy dialogue and visual gags that Pixar are renowned for with relatability and panache. The humanisation of animals or toys(or cars or robots…) Pixar bring to their movies is subliminal yet immediately plausible.  We care because we can relate.  This is heavily relied upon in Finding Dory within the flashbacks to an absurdly cute young Dory and her parents that are trying their best to raise a child with a disability.

 

Finding Nemo used Dory’s short-term memory loss as more of a comedic tool but here it seems there has been a conscious decision to show the personal effect that would have upon a fish and her family.  Within my personal career I have worked with many young people with special needs and within Finding Dory I recognised some of the situations where the supporting cast quite literally support Dory in her mission with a kindness and purpose.  I mean granted these situations never happened at the fictional Marine Life Institute for me or ever really involved fish but the emotion and personal side is there.  I like this evolution of what could be seen as Dory’s disability and how they have nurtured it to shape who she is and having it what makes our beloved Dory, our beloved Dory.  An allegory perhaps for dealing with learning difficulties, disabilities, autism and much of the like that are sensitive subjects that most stay away from, Pixar handle with an ever-present deft touch and sensitivity.  I only hope there are children and adults alike that watch this and feel empowered in their own differences, abilities and quirks.

 

Once Dory finds herself inside the Marine Life Institute in California, her memories of childhood begin flooding in.  These are like breadcrumbs that she must follow deeper into this fictional bastion for injured marine life.  The look and feel of the whole place will make you wish it was real but it does become tiresome after a while as it seems a little closed off in comparison to the great big ocean we got to experience in Finding Nemo.  With Marlin and Nemo on Dory’s tail(fin) we get to see much of it twice and some of the gags are recycled but some are hilariously retold.  One of my favourite running gags throughout the movie can be summed up by two words and no more for my having no desire to spoil it for you: Sigourney Weaver – It won’t be what you think I promise.  The theme of family and home and kinship also starts to feel a little worn as it seems some lines of dialogue are needlessly rehashed for exposition purposes.  I get this may be for the younger audience but one thing Pixar have never done is insult their audience.  They cater for all.  That’s still true here but I was a smidgen disappointed in the plot points being reused for the third time for the same effect.  However this is only a minor qualm as there exciting, masterful set pieces(look out for the Children’s Play Area – intelligently playing on horror movie beats) and many great characters that add a fresh lease of life to proceedings.

Ed O’Neill’s Hank the Octopus capable of stunning feats of camouflage and slippery stealth is similar to Marlin in his age and outlook on life but has a nice arc in helping Dory on her quest.  Hank is beautifully rendered and wonderfully used for many visual wonders and his cynical outlook is matched by Dory’s enthusiasm for a fun duo.  As I said, it sounds much like that of Dory and Marlin’s friendship in the first film but there’s plenty to keep this fresh and funny.  A pair of whales – one extremely near-sighted whale shark voiced by Kaitlin Olsen and the other a beluga whale who is unable to use his echolocation, voiced by Ty Burrell (a Modern Family link to Ed O’Neill!) add some great doubles comedy seemingly bouncing off each other like an old married couple.  Then we have a pair of slightly selfish but entertaining sea-lions brought to life by Idris Elba and Dominic West (The Wire’s Stringer Bell and Jimmy McNulty!) that just love their rock.  Ellen DeGeneres brings the excitement and giddiness required for Dory and does hit the more sombre notes required.  Albert Brooks brings his slightly pessimistic but caring Marlin back to life with an erratic worrisome tone and a lot of heart.  We have a new Nemo in the guise of Hayden Rolence who takes over from Alexander Gould as although the film’s narratives are only a year apart, a decade will do a lot to a young man’s voice.  Nemo sounding like he should be voicing 80’s action movie trailers wouldn’t have been quite right.

Once the movie had played out I left the cinema smiling and reciting many of the memorable jokes in my head.  I mean sure I did want to go around every child that made obscene amounts of noise during the film and tell them that the real ending of the movie is happening at a local fish and chip shop but I refrained.  I will however say that I think cinemas need to cater for us (wo)man-children who love their PG movies in peace and quiet but I’ll take noisy children over adults using their phones or hosting chat shows in a cinema any day.  I feel pleasant in the story director Andrew Stanton told with Finding Dory but something was missing that I can’t place my finger on unfortunately.  I think Dory is a serviceable sequel and a gorgeous looking film but it isn’t going to be cemented as one of Pixar’s classic.  I suppose for that though we already have Finding Nemo.  This is just a wonderful extra and one that I’m happy I’ve seen and enjoyed.  When you just keep swimming however you are bound to happen upon more adventures.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Aaron Farrell.

 

 

 

Diving inside Inside Out.

 

I watched Inside Out for the second time last night.  The first was obviously in the cinema, I took my niece and we both had a riot.  Upon the second viewing however I was able to become fully-immersed and I saw another layer to the genius behind it – revisit any Pixar movie and I guarantee you’ll find something new and beautiful.  It was possibly the most original film released in 2015, allowing us a candid and wonderfully realised look of the inner-workings of the mind is a masterstroke at exploring the internal battles we all fight inside.

 

Every minute of every day our minds are a nexus of processing power, memory, imagination, bodily function, memory, emotion, memory and of course memory.  Humans have vast amounts of RAM to be able to cope with the cacophony of thoughts we are able to hold onto and process all at once.  The visualisation of brain functions in Inside Out is vivid, creative and wonderful.  I mean those three words could be Pixar Animation’s motto or tagline.  I struggle to think of a more consistently magnificent churner of sublime films that flesh out quirky ideas and birth them into more realised worlds than Pixar.  There is always a lesson at hand in each of their movies that sticks with you long after the credits roll.  Up taught me that adventure is out there (also I can become dehydrated from excessive crying) Finding Nemo told me to just keep swimming,  WALL-E showed me that love conquers loneliness and of course Toy Story enlightened me to the fact that all my toys come alive when I leave the room.  Inside Out has nothing quite so snappy on face value but the whole film is about delving a little deeper inside.

 

Riley is our sweet 11 year old who’s mind (for the most part) we get to see inside of.  At the command centre are the emotions Joy, Fear, Disgust, Anger and Sadness.  All perfectly cast with Amy Poehler going a step further than even Leslie Knope on the giddy, optimistic front.  They all vie for the command controls to Riley but Joy more than often lucks out as she simply knows best.  With Riley bordering on the precipice of adolescence, things become convoluted, confused and crazy in her mind.  There is the narrative and without missing a beat, Pete Docter’s script and direction hit all the tropes of teendom and self-discovery via the road of self-doubt and confusion.  Seeing how hard Joy and her colleagues are willing to work for Riley is heartening and daunting all at once.  It had me thinking about my own thought processes and that I can go from emotion to emotion on the same subject or political stance, etc.  I am often battling myself internally, figuring myself out before I open my mouth, observing my surroundings and the outer-world to get a clear understanding of an object or a feeling.  Inside Out shows this in such a creative way I began to gestate its true genius.  Showing its audience that we are an amalgamation of emotion, thought, desire, obligation, wonder and conflict at all times.

 

Of course Anger wears high-waisted trousers with a shirt and tie combo.  

 

It made me think of times I’d judged someone too quickly without taking into consideration what’s going on inside them.  Of instances where I myself felt on the edge of an emotional explosion and nearly took it out on the wrong person.  That perhaps Anger has more of a say on some people’s command centre, or that Sadness is touching all the memories of somebody in spite of Joy seemingly being front and centre.  Amongst the laugh out loud gags, visual wizardry, snappy script and ingenious ideas there’s a lesson to be had.  As with all Pixar movies, there’s depth, there’s insight, there’s more layers than tiramisu.  In using human characters there’s more of an immediate empathy, than say fish or toys (not to say we don’t smile when they smile or hurt when they hurt)  and with that, many scenes in this film hit a personal beat with me.  Spoiler Alert!!  Two scenes especially brought tears to my eyes.  One where BingBong, Riley’s childhood imaginary friend who consists of cotton candy, cat and elephant, sacrifices himself to the forgotten memory dump so that Joy can escape to get back to Riley and bring some happiness amidst her teenage spiritual quandary.  The other scene is a simple one.  Riley returns home to her loving mother and father after a rebellious running away fad to break down and apologise for her feelings of sadness in missing her old home.

 

I know I’ve felt guilty for my own emotions in my life and have pulled a Riley in apologising for them.  In Riley’s case, her parents realise their error in being caught up in their own lives and taking Riley’s kind nature for granted and embrace her wholly and completely.  This caused me to leak.  The sorrowful look on Riley’s face brought about an empathy and understanding on my own account as I imagine it did the millions of other people who have watched it.  Damn you, competent animators!

 

From now on I’ll be kinder, more understanding and patient with people who are disconcertingly quiet or obnoxiously loud.  Maybe their command centre is just in a bit of a crisis.  Aren’t we all just puppets to emotion?  Docter had nineteen emotions in contention for places at the console during the scriptwriting process.  Five emotions simplified and streamlined the narrative for worry of the narrative becoming convoluted.  I imagine he himself felt a myriad of emotions in deciding which emotions would emote the right emotions.  We are all a mess of feelings on the inside and the majority of us are doing a stellar job at channeling them into avenues of hope and creativity.  We are all Riley and Riley is all of us.

 

Finding Dory is out in two days so I’m just going to keep on swimming.

*Smashes through your screen with axe* Here’s Johnny!

I’m back like Arnie’s Terminator.  Albeit with slightly less of an accent.

 

I have been away from this blog for a long time, nigh on a year, as I’ve been concentrating on my travel blog ( aaroninwonderland.wordpress.com ) and, uh, travelling.  I’ve been on the metaphorical road for nine months as it stands.  I’ve seen more things than Roy Batty.

Whilst I’m still travelling – currently living in a campervan and seeking adventure in Australia – I’m slowing the pace a tad.  And with the whirlwind pace alleviated some, I’ve been watching more films, playing more games, catching up on TV and missing writing about it.  Please check out my travel blog and experience South Africa, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and now Australia with me but stick around here a while more.  My inner-geek is bursting with overflowing awe and nerdy passion.  So I thought its the right time to touch up this blog with a new theme and behind the scenes work (as much as my poor computing skills will allow) and start posting again.  I’m not the ever-informative and relevant  Den Of Geek so it won’t be daily updates or anything but us geeks aren’t great at holding in our profusion of love or hate or desire for, well, our loves, hates and desires.

I hope to ignite many conversations, form new friendships and boldly go where no man has gone before.  This is the Captain’s Blog after all and if you don’t read that in an awful Shatner voice then you are getting left behind on Earth with all this madness and self-destruction.