TV Review: Game Of Thrones: S03E05

TV Review: Game of Thrones

Season 3, Episode 5: Kissed By Fire

WARNING: This review contains spoilers! If you haven't watched Season 3, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones, drop everything and watch it now (then read the review!).

A delicate balance in a world bursting at the seams with characters you either love or hate; that's what Game of Thrones has struck us with this week. Season 3's midway point manages to briskly increase the momentum of the narrative while at the same time introducing new characters to the fray without remotely batting an eyelid. 

Ultimately it's good to know that the show isn't insulting our intelligence - characters who haven't been seen since Season 1 are reintroduced, and if you haven't been paying attention...well, your loss. As well as that the episode is paced very nicely, turning the usual storytelling technique on its head by hitting us with an action packed intro and a devastating final confrontation.

Writer Bryan Cogman may have had one of the most difficult episodes to pen this season, however he pulls it off brilliantly by allowing some more breathing space for characters who have been getting a raw deal recently, namely Stannis Baratheon and Robb Stark (no Bran again this week. Oops). Robb's rebellion isn't exactly going to plan what with his soldiers losing faith in their cause, not to mention the sudden murder of two obscure Lannister children at the hands of one of his most important banner-men Lord Carstark.

Being his father's son, Robb's decision to "honourably" deprive Carstark of his head may have serious repercussions if he still plans to win the war, with the loss of Carstark's soldiers and a decent army with which to fight the Lannisters. Finally, the storyline which should have been the most action packed and exciting is starting to heat up with reflections of Ned Stark's honourable methods shining through his son - but we all know how that ended up for poor old Ned-without-a-head...

Speaking of which, anyone with high hopes for his return to the show will be very disappointed as, in one of the most emotionally hard-hitting scenes of Game of Thrones so far, Arya questions whether anyone decapitated can be resurrected.

Why does she ask? Well, she'd just witnessed the best one-on-one sword fight that this show has ever seen, with The Hound and Beric battling it out for supremacy in a trial by combat. The mystical result surely had many a viewer thinking the same as her after Beric's apparent departure from the world of the living but alas, it shall not be so and Northern Ned shall remain dead.

In fact, Kissed By Fire feels like an episode built upon giving some further emotional depth and sadness to these characters who grace our screens. It came as a surprise to me that Stannis Baratheon, for all his determination and bitter glory hunting is actually a very sad individual whose neglected wife and daughter have been hidden in the background for a while.

Their introduction to the story is a little clunky now that we've known Stannis for a full season already but they add a lot more weight to his story, giving him a further purpose to desire the iron throne. Although why his wife keeps their stillborn babies in jars of ooze like something from The Walking Dead is anyone's guess...

Up in the cold of the North, things are heating up for Jon Snow as he and Ygritte start doing that thing that couples do when they love each other very much. Only, for Jon, it's starting to feel as though his cover story is better than his actual story. The wildlings are just trying to survive by breaking back into Westeros - is that really so bad?



At the end of the day though, King's Landing is the heart of both Westeros and Game of Thrones as a whole. This is where the key movements are made and Kissed By Fire represents the best material that King's Landing's characters produce, with various individuals finding their lives changed for better or for worse on a weekly basis.

For Tyrion it's sadly the latter, having been forced by his father to marry Sansa Stark, a girl who has apparently smiled far too much recently and needs to be hammered down a peg or two. She certainly wins the award for worst timing ever - Littlefinger's offer to whisk her away silently away from the dangerous capital was refused, right before word got back to the dastardly Tywin Lannister that the Tyrells wanted her to marry Loras. You can't fault his cunning, however. With Sansa engaged to Tyrion, Winterfell (remember that?) effectively belongs to the Lannisters. Keeping up so far?

Still, it's not all bad - there's a dark satisfaction in the brilliantly executed moment when Cersei is ordered to marry Loras. Credit has to go to Charles Dance, injecting such malice and cruelty into Tywin that it's hard not to hate his ruthless ways despite his character being a fan favourite (although really, which character in Game of Thrones isn't a fan favourite?). Poor Sansa.

Most affecting of all this week though was Nikolaj Costar-Waldau's amazing monologue as Jaime; missing a sword hand and slowly losing the will to live, Jaime's huge tale of the day he killed the mad king brought Brienne to tears and for good reason. Ever since we first discovered his infamous reputation as the "kingslayer" our curiosity for his side of the story has ebbed in the background of the narrative.

Kissed By Fire finally answers the questions of why Jaime broke his vow and killed the king he was sworn to protect - and the story has the potential to change our perspective of this entire war completely.

Summary

We're at the midway point of Game of Thrones' third season, so it's only natural that the show is stepping things up a gear. With an action packed intro, things going amiss for Robb Stark, a deeper insight into the world of Stannis Baratheon, a horrendous revelation in King's Landing and one of the most heartbreaking monologues in TV history courtesy of Jaime, Kissed By Fire is the best episode of the season so far and one which should please both hardcore fans of the books and casual viewers like myself. Now, where the hell is Bran?

9/10 - Brilliant

Next Episode: The Climb

Air date: May 5th

TV Review: Doctor Who: S07E10

TV Review: Doctor Who

Series 7, Episode 10: Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS

Air date: April 28th

Congratulations Doctor Who, you're finally getting back on track. 

With last week's entertaining episode Hide, Season 7, Part 2 finally managed to reclaim some of the show's key spooky, science fiction elements. This latest outing from the Time Lord, Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS is an exciting addition to the series which examines key plot elements - and provides a wealth of nods to the show's past and future. 

Its writer Steve Thompson was responsible for one of Season 6's big stinkers The Curse of the Black Spot, an episode which aimlessly dove from one special effect to the next (and even featured the death of Rory - again!). Luckily he redeems himself with Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS. It's not perfect by any means: there is some really dodgy acting from the side characters and there's too much focus on their story. The token monster also feels very shoehorned in this week too, as with a countdown and a Doctor/Clara confrontation on the go, the episode would have been tense and exciting enough without them.

There's a lot of wasted potential too - for all the promise that we would see "areas of the TARDIS that we've never seen before," the bulk of the episode is taken up with running through corridors. Oh wait, there's a new corridor at a different angle! How exciting.

Still, the premise itself is very interesting and does warrant further exploration. The action kicks off when The TARDIS, with its shields temporarily down, is caught by a shady salvage crew. Crash landed with the defences down, the TARDIS becomes an enormous labyrinth with a death trap around every corner. Heading back inside the ship to find his lost companion, The Doctor and the salvage crew must locate Clara within thirty minutes before the ship self destructs - but with money on their mind, the crew might not be so willing to let the salvage of a lifetime pass them by.

Cue chases through corridors, an enormous library within the TARDIS, more chases through corridors, audio clips from past Doctors (the Ninth Doctor's "The hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't break through those doors!" being a primary favourite), more chases through corridors, a glimpse at the ship's architectural reconfiguration system (which looks like a budget version of Avatar's tree of life) - and it all culminates in chases through corridors!

Does the episode live up to the potential of its title? Well, not really. Whether for budget or creative reasons, the endless infinity of the TARDIS is only glimpsed in passing shots. One scene which does impress, however, is Clara's journey to the library, a gargantuan maze of books - one of which, "History of the Time War", is very intriguing indeed. 

Then there was the fantastic reveal of the Eye of Harmony, the former source of power for Gallifrey, followed by a tense confrontation between Clara and The Doctor. "What are you? A trick, a trap?" It looks as though, with only three more episodes to go, The Doctor's curiosity regarding Clara is finally giving way to frustrated confusion, which should provide a very interesting character dynamic come the finale.

As for the supporting cast, the salvage crew hold very little interest in a story which should be based purely around the exploration of the TARDIS. Their story is intriguing enough but the actors' performances are borderline pantomime and the fact that their primary objective is to dismantle the TARDIS from the inside out means we never feel any sympathy for their plight.

Which brings us to the usual niggle with this particular series of Doctor Who. Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS, while an exciting tour of the titular ship, is a narrative of wasted opportunities - opportunities that could have been further explored had this been a two-parter. Steven Moffat still pushes the idea of a "blockbuster, cinematic episode" each week, which means we're basically getting a 45 minute movie set in The Doctor who universe (or the "Whoniverse"). Gone are the days of emotionally affecting, fully realised characters such as those in the Season 3 two-parter Human Nature/The Family Of Blood. 

Still, what episodes such as Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS lack in decent supporting characters, they make up for with fantastic performances from Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara (Amy who?) and Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, cementing himself as one of the most iconic sci-fi actors around right now.

Summary

It may not have realised its full potential, but Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS is an excitingly charged episode of Doctor Who which highlights both the fantastic performances from the regular cast and the importance of the Doctor's TARDIS. The supporting cast and their stories are a bit of a downer, but on the plus side the episode feels like it was written by fans for fans with references to old episodes and characters aplenty. With next week's Mark Gatiss-penned episode The Crimson Horror featuring the return of fan favourites Jenny, Strax and Madame Vastra, it's clear that big things are still to come from this season of Doctor Who...

8/10 - Great

Next episode: The Crimson Horror

Air date: May 4th

Review: Iron Man 3

Review: Iron Man 3

Blimey, Marvel almost shot themselves in the foot with this one.

On the one pulse-blasting hand, Iron Man 3 is a satisfying conclusion to the Tony Stark story, one which has captivated fans of comic books and action movies alike mostly thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s effortless performance as the genius playboy inventor. It's fun, it's action packed and there's humour where it matters - it succeeds its predecessors on every level and some confident direction from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang creator Shane Black ensures that shell-head's latest outing never slips below pure entertainment.

On the other gauntlet, Iron Man 3 is something of a let-down due to Marvel's over extensive promotional material depicting certain characters as something that they are blatantly not and while this is Tony's most personal story so far, the side characters do get a very raw deal. Add to that the fact that each life threatening situation the cast find themselves in is punctuated by a cheesy one-liner and Iron Man 3 feels much more like an action comedy than a superhero sequel.

That said, we shouldn't be looking for an Iron Man movie that rips off The Dark Knight. He has his moments of self-destruction, but Tony Stark is not the tragic Bruce Wayne of the Marvel universe, nor should we need him to be. DC's upcoming Superman reboot can deal with the angst of a superhero - Iron Man is all about fun.

And what fun it is. Marvel kicks off their Phase Two movies in style, as Iron Man 3 follows the further adventures of Tony Stark, successful billionaire and (most recently) saviour of the world. Following the events of New York in The Avengers, Tony's been suffering from anxiety attacks and nightmares - it's not easy carrying a missile through a wormhole into space and back after all. 

In an effort to combat this, the inventor has dived head-first into his work, creating multiple versions of his armour and perfecting their abilities - but everything is threatened to be taken from him with the presence of two new evils. The first is Aldrich Killian, a genius scientist with a personal vendetta against Tony thanks to a heartless snub over thirteen years previously.

The second is (Iron Man's most famous foe in the comic books) The Mandarin, a terrorist who apparently stands to annihilate everything that Western power symbolises.

Meanwhile, Pepper Potts is still trying to maintain a happy relationship with Tony, while James Rhodes (having acquired the War Machine armour) is now known as The Iron Patriot, a mascot for the military and personal guard for the President of the United States.

Will it please both fans of Marvel lore and casual cinema-goers? Sadly, no. Where the first two Iron Man movies made several references to characters, organizations and locations that comic book fans would recognise as set-ups for The Avengers, Iron Man 3 feels far more catered to a laid-back audience. The script is designed for laughs, with the characterization of Pepper, Rhodes, The Mandarin and several others presumably left on the cutting room floor. 

That's not all bad though and despite the fact that the constant one-liners begin to grate by the end of the 2 hour feature, Robert Downey Jr.'s impeccable comic timing has been cranked up to 11 for this. The movie is a barrel of fun from start to finish and thanks to his effortless wit ("Dads walk out on people kid, you don't need to be a pussy about it."), Tony has never been such an enjoyable character to watch, even without the rest of The Avengers.

Speaking of which, where are those pesky superheroes? This narrative plot hole really sticks out like a sore thumb - it makes no sense that Tony's home would be brutally attacked live on television and the likes of Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D would not show up to help without a damn good reason. At the end of the day though, this is Tony's movie and Shane Black's script certainly cuts to the core of the man in the can.

Thanks to some pretty cool flashback shots of Tony's trip into the wormhole in The Avengers, it's established that he hasn't dealt well psychologically with the New York battle against gods and aliens. It's a new side to Tony that we haven't seen before, a new vulnerability that exposes his true self. Without Robert Downey Jr, every inch of the character could have fallen apart with this take on the character.

Luckily, Downey Jr. owns the role as always - he is Iron Man. For how much longer remains to be seen as his contract with Marvel has now officially run its course, but it's clear that no one else could play Tony Stark in this cinematic universe. Surely...

The supporting cast excel in their varied roles as well, with Don Cheadle's charismatic but under-written Rhodes acting as a brilliant Watson to Downey Jr.'s Sherlock (Jude Law is crying into his tea somewhere), while Gwyneth Paltrow gets a lot more to do this time around than just act as the worried wife at home figure.

Yet it's Guy Pearce who steals the supporting show as Aldrich Killian, the once-snubbed yet now determined scientist whose new experimental technique has the potential to alter human DNA and regenerate broken or disfigured limbs. Plenty of standard issue disposable enemies then.

Unfortunately one of the biggest narrative threads completely falls apart with regards to The Mandarin. As always there are no significant spoilers to be found here, but it's safe to say that fans of the Iron Man comics (and fans of honest movie marketing) will be extremely disappointed with the character.



Although it does work very well in the context of the movie and Ben Kingsley's larger-than-life performance is fantastic, The Mandarin is the biggest let down in Iron Man 3. If Marvel didn't want to have Tony's arch-nemesis written true to lore, they shouldn't have had him written at all. The whole story arc just seems purposefully misleading considering the extent of appearances The Mandarin has made in Marvel's advertising campaign.

Still, this is a minor niggle in what is one of the best solo superhero movies of all time. Starting with an impressively staged attack on Tony's Malibu penthouse and culminating in an enormous dockyard finale with over 40 suits engaging in combat at once, Iron Man 3 boasts the best action spectacle of any isolated superhero movie yet.

The suits are sublime this time around, unravelling and attaching themselves to Tony piece by piece when need be. One particularly brilliant moment sees Tony cornered and wielding just one gauntlet and an Uzi. Marvel's special effects team can give themselves a round of applause once again - as long as they get back to work on Thor: The Dark World immediately after...

Summary

Iron Man 3 is the most Stark-centric, entertaining Iron Man movie to date. Its ties to The Avengers and Marvel's Cinematic Universe as a whole are fairly weak, but the charisma of its star and the psychological detail of Tony's characterization are superb. The relentless action scenes are never less than impressive and just as in the previous films, there's nothing more aesthetically pleasing than the Iron Man suit.

Yet this is more a tale of the man inside the metal, and despite some narrative pitfalls (the location of the rest of the world's superheroes and the awful choices regarding the direction of The Mandarin to name a couple) this highly charged roller coaster portraying the life of Tony Stark is a thrilling piece of blockbuster cinema nonetheless. If this really is an underline for the solo stories of the world's coolest superhero, he's bowed out in style. Nice save, Marvel.

8.5/10 - Fantastic

See it if you liked: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005), Iron Man (2008), The Avengers (2012)

Review: Olympus Has Fallen

Review: Olympus Has Fallen

One would be forgiven for assuming that Olympus Has Fallen is yet another mindless shoot-em-up action thriller in the vein of A Good Day To Die Hard, a movie which under utilized its cast and over utilized its special effects.

Well, here's the kicker. Yes, Olympus Has Fallen is a little mindless and pointless, but its brilliant cast and effective directorial decisions make it the best Die Hard movie that Bruce Willis never made.

On the one hand, the first half an hour or so gives off a bad impression of the movie's potential with its try-hard dialogue and clichéd prologue (one secret service agent even talks about going home to watch Breaking Bad - a man of the people, people!). On the other hand, Olympus Has Fallen eventually finds its groove as an exciting, tense and surprisingly brutal action epic and, while it's far-fetched and instantly forgettable, there are definitely worse ways to spend two hours at the cinema.

The first of two movies this year depicting an invasion of The White House (the other being White House Down with Channing Tatum), Olympus Has Fallen kicks off with Mike (a steely and charismatic Gerard Butler), our protagonist whose career has been ruined by a tragedy in the line of duty - that duty being the personal protection of the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and the First Lady. 

18 months later, Mike works in the Treasury, but his chance at redemption comes when, during a visit from the Prime Minister of North Korea, the White House is suddenly attacked by terrorist forces in one of the most gripping action scenes of the year. With the President's son missing and the President himself held hostage, Mike becomes the only survivor of the assault with any chance of saving America's commander and chief - and by extension, America itself.

Really, Olympus Has Fallen has a point - if the White House was ever taken by terrorist forces, we'd all be up a certain creek without a paddle. Surprisingly though, director Antoine Fuqua plays the entire narrative with a straight face; the initial attack on the building is brutal and bold, and any attempt to retaliate is met with bloody destruction. It's all very well choreographed and incredibly tense as key characters are executed one by one, although some moments remain laughable (Gerard Butler outrunning a helicopter, for example). 

From there the movie really (and I mean really) channels the original Die Hard, with Butler trading Willis' cocky charm for sheer brute force and the narrative echoing the threads of the 80's action thriller, hostage situation et al. Luckily there's also Morgan Freeman on hand as the acting President to give the film a little more gravitas and originality, although sadly the only monologue he really gets is a sentence about how he likes his coffee.

Sometimes it's a little too straight faced though. Yes the concept of the White House being taken is a very grim one indeed, but Olympus Has Fallen refuses to have any particular fun, despite Butler's occasional kick-ass one-liners. That said, the movie definitely looks authentic. There are some dodgy CGI shots here and there during the initial attack, but when Mike infiltrates the building and performs his Rambo routine on the invaders, the sets look fantastic and it's easy to believe that Butler is really inside the White House itself.

As for the overall threat, the big baddie of the show Kang (Rick Yune) is a decent enough menace, but towards the end when the dialogue becomes all talk of "launch codes" and "deactivation protocols", everything turns a bit too comic bookish. The plan is impressive and of course well carried out, but incredibly far-fetched and unbelievable. That said, the characters themselves are more down to Earth along with their motivations - and in a movie where the most impressive action scene involves an automatic "next generation technology" turret on the roof of the White House, you need some believable characters.

Summary

One down, one to go - Olympus Has Fallen marks the first movie this year depicting the destruction of the White House, but whether or not it's the best remains to be seen. On its own merit, it's a gripping action movie which channels some of the best, namely the original Die Hard. The action is cranked up to 11, with Butler unleashing impressive hand-to-hand hell on those attacking his country, but some moments are simply unbelievable, not helped by cheesy dialogue. A strong performance from the central hero and the supporting cast, as well as some very tense (if humourless) narrative threads ensure that Olympus Has Fallen is a very exciting movie that should please both action junkies and those looking for a decent two hours of escapism.

7/10 - Good

See it if you liked: Die Hard (1988), Independence Day (1996), GI Joe: Retaliation (2013)

TV Review: Doctor Who: S07E09

TV Review: Doctor Who

Series 7, Episode 9: Hide

Air date: April 20th

Series 7: Part 2 of Doctor Who has struggled to find its footing so far; The Bells of Saint John was an excellent opener, certainly, but the two episodes which followed were damp squibs, failing to evoke any sense of tension, excitement or fear that Doctor Who used to be known for.

It's lucky then that Hide is a triumphant return to form for both the show and writer Neil Cross, whose previous episode The Rings Of Akhaten was panned by critics and fans alike. A real ghost story is a tough project to perfect, but Hide manages to be a genuinely engaging, scary episode of Doctor Who which still clings on to the series' sci-fi roots. In fact, Hide is everything that The Rings of Akhaten was not - intimate, claustrophobic, character-driven and tense, the episode succeeds on almost every level.

Doctor Who has dealt with stories of ghosts and demons before though (namely the Season 2 episodes The Satan Pit and Army Of Ghosts) but none have been as spooky as this. After the title sequence has rolled, The Doctor and Clara have gatecrashed an apparently haunted mansion in which ex-wartime hero Alec Palmer and his companion ("It's 1974, she's your assistant," taunts The Doctor) Emma are investigating the mystery of the 'Witch of the Well'. 

Much to everyone else's terrified inconvenience, the spirit of the Witch is banging and wailing her way around the enormous mansion - but of course The Doctor doesn't believe in ghosts and won't settle for anything less than a logical explanation. 

It's here that Hide really impresses - what starts off as a Woman In Black style horror story soon turns into a really clever science fiction tale with monsters, time travel and crash landing TARDIS included.

Then there's the fact that now - at last! - The Doctor is starting to knuckle down with his investigation into how Clara can possibly exist, even drawing up some interesting theories with regards to her future. Clara herself is becoming more than just the bog-standard companion character, questioning why the TARDIS really (really) doesn't like her. Of course, fans of the show will know that the TARDIS isn't a huge fan of Captain Jack Harkness either, the man who should be dead. "You're an impossible thing, Jack." Sounds familiar, yes?

Of course, this wouldn't be Doctor Who without some form of monster involved, and this week's edition is a genuinely scary threat. The ghost performs all those classic paranormal shenanigans, like opening and closing doors inexplicably and appearing behind the characters as they fearfully stare out of the rain-covered window - but The Doctor soon finds that something else is lurking in the house. Thanks to some brilliantly frantic editing, Hide has some very "jumpy" moments as the barely visible creature lurks in the shadows making the episode feel very reminiscent of horror movies like The Ring, Sinister and Alien.

Still, Hide does let itself down by revealing far too much about the monsters - sometimes what is not seen is much more terrifying than the reality. The side characters are instantly forgettable too, albeit with a brilliant acting turn by Dougray Scott as Alec and despite an excellent set-up, the final resolution of the episode feels far too easy considering the problems that preceded it.

Any problems with the episode are redeemed by the fact that Hide ties itself into the overall season as a whole, as The Doctor asks Emma (a psychic) about Clara, while Clara even does the same about her Time Lord traveler. "He has ice in his heart." So far it has felt like Clara has only seen the fun side of The Doctor and hopefully - just hopefully - the show will tread into darker, more psychologically complex territory as we come to the final few episodes of the series.

Summary

Hide is a brilliant episode of Doctor Who that is definitely worth seeing. Writer Neil Cross redeems himself from his frankly awful Rings Of Akhaten episode by providing Doctor Who's audience with a genuinely scary, exciting and tense horror story that echoes some great genre movies. Best of all, plot threads which have been left hanging in previous episodes are finally being explored, such as Clara's existence: "You are the only mystery worth solving." Despite its forgettable supporting characters and its easy resolution, Hide is simply the best episode of Season 7, Part 2 so far - although next week's episode, Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS looks set to claim that title.

9/10 - Brilliant

Next episode: Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS

Air Date: April 27th

Review: The Place Beyond The Pines

Review: The Place Beyond The Pines

Director Derek Cianfrance's last movie Blue Valentine managed to be the most intimate of movies studying the slow decay of a loving relationship over time. In many ways it was like 500 Days of Summer without any of the hope or colour.

With The Place Beyond The Pines, Cianfrance succeeds in broadening his horizons with a larger ensemble cast with various intertwining plot threads, but luckily he maintains that intimate, real feeling that should accompany any drama of this magnitude. Thanks to both his unique script and the superb acting talents of Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, Cianfrance's story comes to life really well on the screen. When more and more characters are thrown into the fray, the running time does drag on a little and their story lines feel a little too coincidental compared to the realism of the former plotting, but ultimately The Place Beyond The Pines is a really satisfying character driven drama.

Things kick off with Ryan Gosling's motorbike stunt driver Luke. He's been travelling around with the same carnival for years, but when his ex (a solemn Eva Mendes) shows up, he swiftly settles into Altamont upon the discovery that he has a baby. When it becomes clear that he can't provide for the boy, Luke turns to a life of crime. Thus his path inevitably crosses over with Bradley Cooper's well-meaning but inexperienced cop Avery Cross, who finds himself with problems of his own involving corruption within the force. 

There's a third act too with two more central characters, but to divulge who they are and what they go through would be very spoilerific indeed. 

Starting with the initial characters however, it's an ode to Ryan Gosling that we feel so connected to Luke, a man who has clearly made some bad choices in his life but wants to do right by his son. From the initial unbroken shot of him walking to his motorcycle to carry out his stunts right up to the gripping climax of his story, Gosling is a walking representation of the quality of the film.

Then there's Bradley Cooper, an actor whose previous movie earned him an Oscar nomination - yet it truly baffles me that he could be nominated for Silver Linings Playbook (which for all intents and purposes was, no matter what anyone says, an out and out by-the-book romantic comedy) when clearly The Place Beyond The Pines is the movie designed to bag him the golden trophy. There's a bristling complexity to his character, shown in every masterfully timed close-up or quietly unnerving scene of paranoid suspicion. Perhaps next year will provide his real chance at Oscar glory.

Anyway, the real appeal of The Place Beyond The Pines is that, even if you may find ourself initially unwilling to be drawn into the story, Cianfrance makes you want to know more. It only takes a few sharp lines of dialogue ("If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder.") over some beautiful shots of Gosling driving through the trees to make us sit up and pay attention to what this movie has to say. It's a brilliantly woven thread of a narrative, dealing with some truly inspiring ideals - what sort of legacy do we leave behind? How many lives are hit by the ripple effect of one seemingly isolated event? How do we really want to be remembered?

It's hard to fault The Place Beyond The Pines much - the fact that its pacing slips thoroughly in the third act leaves us checking our watches now and again, and the ending will satisfy most but frustrate others. There is greatness within the narrative and its characters but it never quite takes hold thanks to some unrealised potential here and there - but the fact that Cianfrance catches glimpses of storytelling beauty through the trees is credit enough.

Summary

Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper are superb in this tale of legacy, loss and corruption. Derek Cianfrance has definitely taken a step forward with The Place Beyond The Pines, with his latest feeling more simultaneously epic and intimate than Blue Valentine. The pacing is off towards the third act thanks to a severe shift in tone and characters, but ultimately The Place Beyond The Pines succeeds as an affecting drama, delivering a very powerful story that demands your attention. This is beautiful film making. 

9/10 - Brilliant

See it if you liked: Blue Valentine (2010), Drive (2011), Jack Reacher (2012)

TV Review: Game Of Thrones: S03E03

TV Review: Game of Thrones

Season 3, Episode 3: Walk Of Punishment

Air date: 14th April 2013

Finally! Some comedy in this bleak, dark world!

For Game of Thrones, Walk Of Punishment feels like the first episode containing genuinely funny scenes to provide some much needed comic relief in this world of consistent death and darkness. Sure there have been amusing moments before, but these feel as though they have really been written for comedy - and why the hell not? 

On a show like Thrones, it's never quite clear what to expect in the next episode. Which characters will and won't appear - and which character will be the most important in the scene? Well, I bet that in a scene involving Tyrion, Bronn and Tyrion's squire Podrick, you'd never have guessed that Podrick would be the best character. Equally in a scene with Gendry, Arya and Hot Pie, the latter has never quite resonated to be emotionally affecting before - until now.

Anyway, it's interesting to see how the show is progressing as time goes on. Yes it's still frustrating that the initial quests which started way back in Season One have not been fulfilled yet, namely Robb attempting to have his revenge for the death of his father, but the introduction of some new characters in the form of his inept uncles still spice things up. North of the wall, Jon Snow is still maintaining his cover in the Wildling camp, however he is quickly finding his loyalties tested as Mance Rayder commands an all out assault on the Night's Watch. Jon's story, despite being one of the most prominent last season, is sort of taking a back seat this time around, but with Mance Rayder seemingly hell bent on escaping the terror of the White Walkers it might be time for him to regain the spotlight.

Across the sea, Dany (her real name is far too complicated to type) finds a way to build her own private army, while Theon Grayjoy takes part in the most exciting chase sequence known to Thrones so far. As this episode is directed by the show writers David Benioff and Daniel Weiss, they've made a fantastic debut. The narrative jumps around (as is the show's natural state) but it feels very fluent - unlike last week's episode, where everything felt a little disjointed, Walk Of Punishment is a straight line with a clear beginning, middle and end. Plus the horse chase looks fantastic, which is no mean feat for a pair of first-timers in the director's chair. 

In King's Landing, following a very awkward chair-switching scene that feels hilariously inspired by The Office, Tyrion shoulders some new responsibilities as the Coin Master of the Seven Kingdoms, while Tywin declares his final plans for tackling the rebellion in the North. There's no Joffrey to be found in this episode, which is good considering last week featured two or three scenes with the boy-king. 

Finally, Jaime Lannister and Brienne, having been captured in the last episode's climax, attempt to bargain their way out of their predicament. Obviously I won't spoil any major developments, but it's safe to say that Walk Of Punishment has the best, most shocking ending to an episode of Game of Thrones since last season's finale. 

Most excitingly of all, more and more new faces mean more and more new actors and some very recognisable casting has taken place. From Iwan Rheon (Simon from Misfits) jumping into the cast last week, we also have Burn Gorman (Owen from Torchwood) entering the fray as a member of the Night's Watch. With the likes of Mackenzie Crook, Diana Rigg, Thomas-Brodie Sangster and Ciaran Hinds already building up the cast significantly, it's clear that Game of Thrones has stepped up it's casting calls significantly - an exciting prospect for fans of television and movies in general. That said, it's not as though HBO and George R.R. Martin don't have the guts to kill off anyone just because of their famous face - A-listers Mark Addy and Sean Bean were eliminated in the very first season, so as always nobody is safe.

Summary

Much better than last week's episode and far more exciting than the season opener, Walk Of Punishment has all the right elements that makes Game of Thrones tick. The character jumps feel natural, the dialogue is of course sharp and witty, performed with pure skill and perfect comic/tragic/dramatic timing (delete as appropriate). With a superb, nail-biting finale and a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek end credits song, Walk Of Punishment further hammers home the fact that Game of Thrones is the best show on TV right now.

9/10 - Brilliant

Review: Oblivion

Review: Oblivion

In 2009, Joseph Kosinski made his directorial debut with the divisive Tron: Legacy, a movie which stunned audiences worldwide with its special effects but unfortunately missed its mark regarding the characterization and plotting.

With the Tom Cruise-led Oblivion, Kosinski has improved greatly on the first point and only slightly on the second. It looks superb, with shots such as a dirt-covered Empire State Building really driving home the apocalyptic feel of a dystopian Earth. Yet for all its flashy visuals, Oblivion's narrative lacks any spark: the twists are not as twisty as they should be, and the pacing is really off - the story takes ages to finally get going, and the seemingly constant exposition scenes quickly become tiresome.

Still, it has a good premise based on a graphic novel Kosinski wrote himself. Thanks to what is possibly the most dialogue-heavy prologue known to cinema, we soon learn that Earth has been attacked by an alien race. With the Moon destroyed, tsunamis, earthquakes and meteor showers have all but destroyed every country in the world - yet humanity, having been forced to use their nuclear weapons won the war and drove the aliens back. All that remains on the surface are "scavengers", feral aliens who hunt on the planet's surface.

 

Enter Tom Cruise, continuing his streak of playing characters called Jack. Jack, the last man on Earth, works as a drone repairman, maintaining the robotic spheres which keep the predatory aliens at bay. In two weeks, Jack and his wife will be joining the rest of the humans in space once their mission is complete. However, haunted by dreams of a past that he can't even remember, Jack begins to question the authenticity of his mission - a mission made even more complicated by the arrival of a mystery woman. 

To disclose anything else would probably be treading into spoiler territory, but to be honest the first hour or so of Oblivion plays out like a live action version of Disney/Pixar's Wall-E with Jack scouring the planet on his own looking for resources which can be used for the big move into space. There's even a rare piece of plant life he looks after!

That sort of sums up Oblivion's problem - it is so reminiscent of more original, better sci-fi exploits that have come before now that it fails to find its own identity. By the time the credits roll, we've basically been fed an enormous fictional platter with ingredients such as Independence Day, I Am Legend, Solaris, Moon, Planet Of The Apes and countless others. It's like a not-so greatest hits collection of hits we've all heard before. Perhaps it would have played better as a shooter video game with various missions and chapters rather than the badly paced, clunky movie that it actually is.

Where Oblivion makes its mark is its visuals, however. The film was shot almost entirely on location rather than constant green screen, so places like Jack's solitary countryside cabin feel truly authentic, while the Sky Tower that Jack calls home is brilliantly presented as a glossy, shiny contrast to the desolate land below. Cruise is on fine form as the leading man, while Andrea Riseborough steals every one of her scenes as the determined yet wavering operator of Jack's mission. Morgan Freeman also pops up to add some gravitas to the picture, but ultimately every character other than Jack and his wife are one dimensional, stereotypical and frustratingly dull.

That dullness is alleviated by one or two brilliant action scenes though - the few minutes of adrenaline in which Jack, piloting his groovy flying machine, evades his enemies in a narrow canyon are brilliantly choreographed and animated. Saying that, in any other movie that would be deemed an acceptable chase scene, whereas in Oblivion the lack of action makes any scene involving a fight seem more exciting than usual. All of this is short lived though and it feels as though the script has been turned on its head - where most futuristic sci-fi films effectively have exposition scenes leading up to lengthy action scenes, Oblivion does the opposite: tens of minutes of plotting give way to very short bursts of excitement, which is unusually flat for a movie of this genre.

Summary

Oblivion is an interestingly conceived sci-fi which punches very high above its weight and misses its mark with regards to its pacing, plotting and characterization. Director Joseph Kosinski repeats the mistakes he made with Tron: Legacy, although at least this time he improves greatly on the visuals, making Oblivion's post -apocalyptic wasteland look truly authentic. Sadly a decent setting does not a good movie make, and Oblivion's characters and slow-burning storyline actually would have worked beautifully as a narrative-based science fiction game. Still, in this day and age we can be thankful that studios are taking big genre risks like this, and here's hoping that the box office success of Oblivion could pave the way for bigger, bolder (and hopefully better) projects.

4/10 - Disappointing

See it if you liked: War of the Worlds (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Prometheus (2012)

The Spoilerific World of Movie Marketing

The Spoilerific World of Movie Marketing

Spoilers are everywhere. They're in your car. They're in your homes. They're on your DVD cases.

"Oh, but they're not spoilers!" I hear the movie studios cry. "It's just marketing to make people want to see the movie!"

Is it though? Imagine this. It's a world without consistent movie marketing such as internet TV spots, posters, on-set images, casting rumours and speculations. You head off to the cinema to see, oh I don't know, Spider-Man 2 (2004). Suddenly the trailers start; the Warner Bros. logo appears covered in bats - what could this possibly mean? A familiar actor's voice (Liam Neeson, perhaps?) teases the identity of the movie via voice-over: "Tell us, Mr Wayne - what do you fear?"

Mr Wayne? Isn't that...? And then it all makes sense, and you realise with a gleeful shock that Warner Bros. have somehow created a reboot of the Batman franchise, with none other than Christopher Nolan at the helm. You're so excited that you lean forward on your seat as the rest of the dark trailer unfolds, concluding with those teasing trailer words.

"Coming soon."

Now you're more excited for this than you ever were for the movie you're about to watch. That's the magic of watching a trailer for the first time in a cinema - it hits you like a wall of glee. You were unaware that this movie was even being made, let alone coming soon!

Let's snap back to 2013. Now, we're consistently bombarded via TV and online media regarding potential casting rumours, potential directors, new trailers, new posters, brand new speculative theories and confirmed cameos. The big reveals in the mega blockbusters are all made clear months (sometimes years) before the movies are even released thanks to the over-extensive promotional material.

Sticking with the Batman theme, take this trailer for last year's The Dark Knight Rises for example, which came out in July 2012 - but the trailer was released in November 2011!

This trailer, despite only being two minutes long, managed to give away rather a few of the movie's most awesome reveals. Here's a quick check-list:

1. The scene in which hooligans and criminals invade the houses of the upper class.
2. Bane beats the living crap out of Bruce Wayne at some point - "When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die."
3. The stadium scene, arguably one of the most shocking moments in the movie - or it would have been if the trailer hadn't given it away.
4. The Bat - it would have been awesome for Warner Bros. to keep Batman's flying vehicle a secret until its reveal in the movie's climax. 

Unfortunately, however, the line between marketing and spoiling is becoming blurred significantly. The recent promotional material for upcoming Star Trek sequel Star Trek Into Darkness have involved three (three!) full length trailers with a fourth on the way, along with hundreds of posters like this one below which was released today.

The poster shows Spock (Zachary Quinto) inside a volcano - a huge set piece which no doubt cost millions to film. Surely it's better to leave something like this as a fantastic surprise? Perhaps - there are arguments for the contrary, but given that the trailers have already given away the identity of the movie's villain, the opening "terrorist event" which will set the basis for the plot AND the fate of one particular cast member, haven't we already seen enough to at least understand the basis of the movie? It's terribly distracting during the movie to think "Oh that bit was in the trailer. So was that. Oh, I remember that bit."

Sometimes less is more. If we loved the original Star Trek, we're probably going to see the sequel - there's simply no need to bombard us with these endless promotional clichés. There should always be trailers, promotional images and posters for the movies, but when it gets to the point where we're getting on-set images, pictures of set designs and even a full list of cast members  almost 2 years before the movie is released (which is the case for the currently filming X-Men: Days of Future Past), it's time to take a step back and consider how much is left to purely enjoy in the movie.

Perhaps the fans are to blame, too. Take the TV show Doctor Who, which follows the adventures of a time-travelling alien who has the ability to change his appearance when mortally wounded - which of course allows the show to continue for a potentially endless run. When an actor gets tired of playing the role, the BBC simply hire a new one and make The Doctor regenerate into a new appearance like so...

The problem is that as soon as one Doctor is announced, fans are already looking forward to who will be the next one - as soon as Matt Smith was cast to take over David Tennant in the role of The Doctor, viewers were quickly speculating regarding who would be the next one! 

Really, it's a double edged sword. As long as spoiler-hungry fans continue to demand more and more info on movies that aren't even in pre-production yet, the studios will continue to pour out information in the hope that said fans will scream "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" 

Either that or every single trailer comes with a siren blaring "SPOILER ALERT" for a good twenty minutes before it starts. 

TV Review: Doctor Who: S07E08

TV Review: Doctor Who

Series 7, Episode 8: Cold War

Air date: April 13th 2013

Doctor Who has covered rather a wide variety of settings in its 50 years of existence, such as distant alien planets, World War II, pirate ships, a country made entirely of glass, 18th Century Cardiff, a Dalek asylum, the Wild West and most commonly modern day London. 

Yet none have seemed quite as authentic and claustrophobic as this week's offering Cold War, which sees The Doctor and Clara trapped on board a sinking Russian submarine carrying a host of nuclear weapons - and one of The Doctor's oldest enemies. 

No, it's not a Dalek, although this episode does have a lot in common with 2005's excellent episode (aptly titled Dalek) in which an alien creature thought to be the last of its kind rotted away in loneliness with nothing but scared and violent humans for company. In this case, that creature is an Ice Warrior, a gargantuan extraterrestrial knight from Mars. 

So let's start with the positives of this episode which was written by none other than Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss. The submarine setting is a superb idea for the return of the Ice Warriors, thanks to the claustrophobic, breathless corridors. As the sub slowly but surely fills with water and The Doctor's urgency rises, we too feel as though the air is thin thanks to the frantic pacing of the episode. It's not quite as action packed as the trailers would suggest (but then, when are they?) but the essence of Doctor Who is captured in Cold War thanks to the relative simplicity of its Alien-versus-humans story. 

Helping to push said story along are the lively supporting cast, most notably Liam Cunningham of Game of Thrones fame as the captain of the sub. Thankfully, despite being Russian, the crew on the submarine aren't portrayed by actors attempting dodgy pantomime-Russian accents (as would surely have been the case if this episode was filmed in 2005). Sure it's still cheesy now and again, but there are the odd nods to movies like Alien as the crew are picked off one by one by an unseen entity from the ceiling. 

As for The Doctor himself, he (and by extension Matt Smith) acts as the leader of a company under siege, which leads to some exciting dialogue when informing the crew about his old enemy ("This is an Ice Warrior. And we go way back"). Ultimately, though, this season's episodes are becoming a little frustrating due to the fact that The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver is the be-all-and-end-all of every conundrum. In the "Tennant Years", as they shall forever be known, the Screwdriver was only used for opening doors and scanning unusual tech. Now it seems able to do everything from tie shoelaces to disarm nukes. 

Still, Cold War managed to wrap itself up nicely which is more than can be said for last week's episode, and despite some tonal inconsistencies it keeps up the pace pretty well. 

Now for a nag about this season of Doctor Who in general. In previous years, each episode has paved the way, adding more clues to an overall story arc, such as the Ninth Doctor's Bad Wolf event, the disappearance of planets in 2008's The Stolen Earth storyline and even the consistent hints that "He will knock four times" for the Tenth Doctor's regeneration. 

Yet this series feels disjointed, random and disconnected thanks to show-runner Steven Moffat's determination to provide the audience with a "blockbuster" episode per week. Therefore, the writers must feel under pressure to go as big as they can go, which inadvertently causes them to fall into genre clichés.

The seventh season of Doctor Who has, like the sixth before it, been split into two parts - 5 episodes from September last year, a Christmas special and then the final seven episodes in a row this Spring. As a result, Amy and Rory, the former companions of The Doctor, have been completely forgotten about following their departure in episode five which was way back in October, along with River Song. Perhaps I'm just being too picky, but I much prefer the more linear seasons and with this one leading up to the 50th Anniversary Special, one would hope that more and more clues as to its story will start being laid.

Summary

Cold War is a decent standalone episode of Doctor Who which falls into the series' history quite nicely. The return of the Ice Warriors is an exciting prospect, and it would definitely be good to see them again especially now that the likes of the Sontarans and the Silurians have been turned into comedy characters. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman continue to have good chemistry on screen, and the supporting cast keep the claustrophobic feel of the episode remaining authentic. It's just a shame that Cold War has no addition to any overall story arc for season seven, a season which (despite a death-defying mystery involving the new companion) is sadly lacking in any consistency so far. Here's hoping that as we get closer to the 50th Anniversary, Doctor Who regains its basic roots. 

7/10 - Good

Next episode: "Hide"

Air date: April 13th