TV Show Review - House of the Dragon (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Drama/ Fantasy
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2022
Starring: Milly Alcock, Emma D’Arcy, Emily Carey, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel

Description: An internal succession war withing House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen.

Review: “Game of Thrones” was a huge success for HBO. Perhaps the last show that almost everyone seemed to watch. The spin-ff “House of the Dragon” is supposed to be its successor. But despite it’s set in the same fantasy world as “Game of Thrones”, the series has become a different kind of series.

It’s a prequel series and set about 170 years before Daenerys Targaryen was even born. It’s based on George R.R. Martin’s book “Fire & Blood”. There are no familiar characters, but we do meet many characters with similar names, because it’s not uncommon in royal families to name your child after another family member.

The series contains fewer characters than “Game of Thrones” and also takes place in fewer different locations. The drama revolves around the Targaryens and related families Velaryon and Hightower.
The game for the throne begins with the death of the queen, after which King Viserys is left with only one child: Princess Rhaenyra. He appoints her as his heir and makes everyone swear allegiance to her, despite the fact that he himself came to power only because most of the lords of Westeros did not want his niece Rhaenys on the throne: would rather have a distant cousin on the throne who does not seem suitable, than a woman.

Viserys is expected to remarry very quickly after his wife’s death. He choses Alicent Hightower, his daughter’s childhood friend and daughter of his hand Otto Hightower. Alicent and Viserys soon have their first child together: a son, which makes him the first male heir to the throne. We get many time-jumps after that and follow these characters over a twenty year period. Rhaenyra and Alicent become increasingly enemies, despite attempts at rapprochement. The men around them want power and do not shun violence, murder or war to do so.

Structurally, “House of the Dragon” is set apart to cover those many years. Sometimes several years pass between episodes, which is mostly explained in dialogue. There is even ten years between episode five and six, after which all the younger characters are played by different actors, including Rhaenyra and Alicent, who have suddenly become adult mothers of multiple children (sometimes hard to keep up which child is which).

Daring as we had just gotten used to the young actresses Milly Alcock and Emily Carey. But Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke take over with dignity. To get to know the characters, the structure is slow at first, but then sometimes suddenly jumps quickly from dramatic climax to climax.

So far, “House of the Dragon” is definitely better than the last season of “Game of Thrones”, but not even close to when the successful series was at its best. It has more dragons though, which is a huge plus.

20s Movie Review - Last Night in Soho

Director: Edgar Wright
Genre: Drama/ Horror/ Mystery
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, Sam Claflin

Description: An aspiring fashion designer (Thomasin McKenzie) is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer (Anya Taylor-Joy). But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something darker.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE

WEEK 16: A MOVIE STARRING AN ACTOR/ACTRESS WHO IS NO LONGER ALIVE

Review: If only she had lived in the 1960s, Eloise knows. She is about to movie to London to study to be a fashion designer. Her grandmother wasn’t Eloise, that London can be a bit much.

Once in the capital, things soon turn out not to be what she expected. Soon she disappears at night in her dreams to the London of the 1960s. She puts herself in the shoes of Sandie, a young woman who wants to become a famous singer. But are they really dreams, or does she really go through time? With a director like Edgar Wright, the cinematic bag of tricks is open and what you get is a stylish affair.

Take for example a, at first sight, simple romantic dance scene between Sandie and the charismatic talent scout Jack. One moment we see he has Sandie in his arms, ant then he’s spinning Eloise around. When Sandie passes a mirror, we see Eloise in it. Something that flows together so well, takes some insane planning skills. On a story level, Wright always stuffs his films full of hints, rewarding re-watching double-time.

 It's a very different film from Wright, because the humor that we are used from his earlier work, is completely absent here. It’s a serious film with horror elements. And I praise Wright for exploring different genres, because he did an amazing job, yet again.

Thomasin Mackenzie plays Eloise and starts strongly as a grey mouse who is out of place. Later in the film she has Anya Taylor-Joy opposite her, who plays Sandie, and together they must portray a band. Both women portray their characters very well.

Edgar Wright’s take on a serious horror works very well and I’m super impressed. This shows again why he is one of my favorite directors

Rating: 4,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Official Secrets

Director: Gavin Hood
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Conleth Hill, Jeremy Northam

Description: The true story of a British whistleblower (Keira Knightley) who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Review: “Official Secrets” tells the true story of whistleblower Katharine Gun, who worked for the British intelligence agency GCHQ in 2003. Not as a senior officer, but simply as a office worker with the task of listening to recorded Chinese phone calls for indications of possible attacks. In this respect, her work does not seem to be very different from the practices that Edward Snowden would later warn about. But she has no problem with a government that keeps an eye on its citizens in order to pick out the rotten apples. Her moral objections arise only with appearance of an internal memo stating that the British organization should assist its American counterparts at the NSA in gathering blackmailable information about UN member states that are obstructionist in supporting a resolution for the impending Iraq war. A shadowy favor to strengthen transatlantic ties.

Katharine passes the information on to the press through some intermediaries, after which some journalists from The Observer start working on it. This Sunday paper has already come out in favor of military intervention in Iraq, but the old-fashioned editor-in-chief lets his journalistic instincts do the talking; it’s a damn good story and it’s okay for politicians to back off. One would hope that this would also be the case with less strong stories, but it has to be done. At that point “Official Secrets” briefly becomes a variation on “All the President’s Men”, resulting in a nicely self-conscious remark when a journalist meets his contact in an underground parking garage: “This is a bit Deep Throat, isn’t it?” But the reason turns out to be simple: there is no cell phone coverage here.
Perhaps even more than Katharine, the story is central. For while we get a glimpse into the world of the British press, Katharine is absent for some time. She sits in silent fear, waiting to see what will happen with the leaked information. We only see her again when she discovers that the story ends up on the front page of The Observer. But with that, it comes back to her. Because her bosses know immediately that someone leaked the information. An internal investigation is launched, but Katharine keeps the credit to herself and turns herself in. The consequences are dire: she is fired, publicly branded a spy and indicted for her actions.
The charge of espionage is an interesting one. In the traditional sense, that word denotes the passing of sensitive information to a hostile party or country. But Katharine merely rang the bell about the internal malfeasance of a government agency. Because her contract prohibits the disclosure of state-sensitive information, she is liable for punishment, but that does raise the question of how you then hold a government accountable when it does not follow the rules. After all, a government does not work for itself or for friendly nations, but for the people. Katharine is sued and thus needs legal defense. But just when that seems to be settled, it is made clear to her that discussing the information passe on with her lawyers is also a breach of her contract. By joining the government, she has given up virtually all of her right.
But in the end, every viewer knows how this ends: that war just happened. Katharine suffers that loss early on in the film, and this tragedy constantly reverberates. “Official Secrets” thus outlines a system in which the government has become so disconnected from its own riles that nor even the truth can intervene. It is therefore no coincidence that the law under which Katharine is charged was only introduced after and earlier whistleblower could not be legally prosecuted. “Official Secrets” manages to make this a highly entertaining ‘David-against-Goliath’ tale, which nicely shows that Goliath, in the form of the British government, conspicuously often uses pure bluff poker. Apparently a winning strategy, because despite all that Katharine had to endure, she was unable to stop the Iraq War (or British involvement in it). At least we got a great movie out of it.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 108: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Director: Burr Steers
Genre: Action/ Horror/ Romance
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Lily James, Sam Riley, Lena Heady, Charles Dance, Matt Smith, Bella Heathcote, Suki Waterhouse

Description: Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies.

Review: “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is exactly what the title wants you to believe it is. Jane Austen’s good old tale “Pride and Prejudice”, but then with added zombies. 19th century women fighting off zombies.
A mash-up film like this can be extraordinary fun because of the contrasts between the two genres. And those moments, where the film mixes the genres and becomes half a parody and half something completely new, is where “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is the strongest. Where the film tries to stick with the original romance novel, the film loses its power. Because we already know it and seen it.
For a film of this genre, it focuses too much on the original story, instead of the elements that make this story so special. We simply needed to have more of the zombies. Off course it’s also fun to see the moments from the original Austen novel, but we have other movies for that. It gets fun when the Bennet sister pull out weapons from their dresses and fight the undead.
Overall it’s a strange mix, although very entertaining. When the zombie element of the story had an overhand, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” would have been much better. Still not a bad movie, but there was such potential.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 93: Terminator Genisys

Director: Alan Taylor

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Science Fiction

Runtime: 126 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance

Description: John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), but when he arrives in 1984, nothing is as he expected it to be.

Review: “Come with me if you want to live!” This and many other classic quotes from the previous Terminator movies are heard in this long awaited sequel. Or is it a prequel, a reboot? Lots of messing with timelines.

The futuristic war against Skynet is finally won, thanks to John Connor, here played by Jason Clarke. Skynet did manage to send a T-800 to the past to kill Sarah Connor, John’s mother. John sends his most trusted partner Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother. It’s better that you don’t know more about the plot, but it does get complex.

There are lots of references to the previous movies in the franchise, and some look like they have been literally copied. What makes this movie extra fun is the return of the big man himself: Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s like he’s never been away. Emilia Clarke is good as Sarah Connor and Jason Clarke does a good job as well. Jai Courtney, who plays Kyle Reese, is really great to look at, but he isn’t a very good actor.

The role of Arnie as Terminator is more human and his relationship with Sarah Connor is sort of touching. It reminds you about him and John Connor in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.

This movie is pure action and in that section the movie isn’t very original. It does all look very spectacular and grand.

I read a lot of reviews for “Terminator Genisys” (why is it spelled like this by the way) and I read many bad ones too. I didn’t think it was a bad movie. You shouldn’t expect it to live up to “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” or even the first film “The Terminator”. That’s the problem, many people compare it or expect too much. Just take it as it is, which makes “Terminator Genisys” a good action/ science fiction film, entertaining as hell and for the fans a lot of nostalgia as well.

Rating: 3,5/ 5