TV Review: Game of Thrones Season 1

Thanks to another tip from cheapassgamer I nabbed a copy of Game of Thrones Blu-Ray for $35. Thrones hype has been all around the internet proclaiming it to be the best HBO series ever, or at least since the Sopranos (which sucked) and OZ (which didn’t). Well let’s say this - it arrived Saturday and I watched it Sunday, all of it. So what kind of show manages to grab my attention and hold it for 10 straight hours? A very good show, that’s what.

Let’s assume I haven’t lost my mind. I hesitate to go into detail on the plot as each episode almost feels like a season finale with a cliffhanger ending. Episode one’s ending brilliantly sets the tone for the show reminding me of the end of the movie The Mist ( oh hell no, they did NOT just do that!'). There are heroes you cringe when bad thing happen and villains you cheer when they get their Golden Crowns. Each episode makes you want to catch the next one right away, I can’t imagine watching this on TV and waiting a week.

Acting is solid all around. Peter Dinklage gets all the press but the real standouts to me are the child actors, especially Maisie Williams who plays Arys Stark. Production values are also very solid, the only minor complaint is a large battle toward the end of the season occurs off screen obviously due to budget issues.

Technically the Blu-ray set seems a little weird. Video and sound are perfect as we’ve come to expect from HBO but the episodes are spread weirdly throughout the discs with 2 eps on disc 1, 3 on 2, 1 on 3, 4 on 4 and 1 episode on disc 5. It’s weird. And bonus material shows up on all discs and then points you to the disc with the actual content when you select it. I’d much prefer 2 episodes per disc with a dedicated bonus disc.

A final note, this is indeed a medieval HBO drama with al the sex death you’d expect. Bad things happen to good people, taboos are explored and they very wisely age up one particular character in the books from 13 to 17ish. This is not a show for the kiddies are the squeamish.

4 1/2 Stars out of 5*

*Half a star knocked of for minor bonus feature annoyances, seriously who designed that?

Oscar Snubs–Harry Potter

So I watched the Oscars the other day and while it wasn’t as boring as I really expected considering I figured I’d seen a grand total of 3 movies that were nominated (Transformers 3, Rango and Potter), I do have to say this is crap.

Has there ever been a series that went 8 movies long? OK, Bond and Land Before Time, has there ever been a film series 8 movies long that told a complete story with the same cast sticking through w/o pulling any contract renegotiation bullshit and was you know, good?

Not that I can think of. And the wonderful people at How It Should Have Ended has answered the question of what Harry Potter and the gang are feeling….

Legos + Captain America = Makes The Punisher Look Tame

OMG, Lego Cap is hardcore.

Playstation VITA

I’d been planning on getting a VITA when it comes out in a few weeks, however those plans were put on hold last month when my center’s closure was announced and I’d be laid off. So I was a sad panda…

This past Monday however I had  a shiny new import VITA sitting on my porch along with Uncharted and an 8GB memory card. I’d won a raffle from cheapassgamer after a donation to the Child’s Play fundraiser awhile ago. Yay!

Movie Quickviews

I thought I’d make a few comments on some recent movies I’ve seen. Not reviews per se…

Super 8 – Boring, catch ET instead.

The Smurfs – Not as bad as you’d think.

Horrible Bosses – Pretty good though a bit darker than I expected. You go into these movies expecting wacky hijinks and life lessons to be learned, instead we get actual murder.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides – Yawn. I think we’re done here.

Bad Teacher – They accidently had a funny part when she’s grading papers. Otherwise movie is dull and boring. I’m also unsure if we’re supposing to be actually rooting for Diaz’s character. It’s not that she’s a teacher with a few vices, she’s a repugnant human being with no redeeming qualities at all.

Tucker & Dale vs Evil – Catch the red ban trailer, all the good parts are there.

I caught a few older movies as well recently:

The Hunt for Red October – Still awesome.

Air Force One – Another one that holds up quite well, logic leaps aside. Glenn Close really should’ve signed the paper.

I’m Still Here

Rants, depressed musings and reviews incoming. I swear.

WoW Sweatshops

No this isn’t a gold farming thing.

I was Silvermoon training tailoring when I noticed stairs leading down, on a whim I jumped down to see what was there. Now I fully expected to see a mana loom, what I found instead was the elves’ dirty little secret. They run a sweat shop of leper gnomes. There’s even a succubus whipping them back to work if they fall asleep. ‘Fo shame Blood Elves, fo’ shame.