Game of Thrones Season 8

It started off fairly well and became interesting as it went along. Since the wait each week for each episode to air can be a bit redundant, as I usually do with GoT, I watched the first episode, then waited several weeks for the entire season to air, then got the popcorn ready and binge watched the whole thing.

In episode one, something struck me as particularly odd: the flight of Drogon and Rhaegal with Daenerys and John into snowy mountains seemed meaningless to the overall story, uncharacteristically romanticized and rather fanciful. It was uncharacteristic of GoT, where every scene seems to serve a purpose and was tightly crafted toward a specific eventuality in a grittily evolving plot. This one scene demonstrated creative license, something the audience was not accustomed to on this television show. Expect the unexpected. Surely enough the season did not pan out as most GoT enthusiasts expected it would. From the disappointing, barely visible battle between the white walkers [even though watched in 1080P HD] and the army at Winterfell, to the mad queen burning up the Red Keep, the entire city, even after the bell signalling surrender clanged away. Daenerys was not ready for the responsibility that goes with having power and inevitably not only betrayed herself, but everyone outside her little circle she needed to believe in her. There were too many voices with their own personal agenda that did not have her best interest whispering in her ear and she fell prey to the twists and turns of her own emotional roller-coaster. In a mad rage she burned up everything, even little children and babies she was meant to protect, the beautiful city, the very reward they had all been working all their lives to earn. One of the best television series of all time is over. What on earth will we watch on the little screen now? They say life imitates art, and yet in a weird twist of the tale it was more like art imitating life.  Great stuff. If you want to stick it to the audience, this is how you do it. Masterfully done. There was nothing wrong with the ending, it is, after all, fiction and can be taken in any direction. Thank you for keeping us entertained!

What could have been done differently I've been asked? Well, on that cold morning as they waited for the white walkers to arrive at Winterfell it would have been interesting for morning to arrive only for there to be complete silence and panic about the stillness with no confrontation. Where was the army of walkers? They had marched right passed Winterfell, non-stop, on to Kings Landing; its not complicated, because, like everyone else in this saga the Night King wanted the throne, and the throne wasn't in Winterfell. Cersei would have to face him first. She would redeem herself in a valiant attempt to hold off the white walkers. The Night King would make his way to the throne and actually take it. The white walkers would terrorize Kings Landing for a short while as Daeyneris and her army made its way there to free Cersei, the city and all its inhabitants from the tyranny of the Night King. She would live up to her iconic title, breaker of chains, by playing a major role in slaying the Night King after which, Daeyneris would, ofcourse, be crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She deserved the crown more than anyone else. Drogon and Rhaegal would,no doubt, be roaring and intimidating on either side of her as she was crowned. 

2019: Avengers Endgame

Sitting in the dark, relaxed in a movie theatre just as the opening scene jumps onto the screen is one of the coolest feelings…

I saw Endgame for a second time last week. I'm thinking about going to see it for a third time right now; that's when you know you have a winner on your hands. Hats off to the Russo brothers for pulling off an awesome ending. It was of course bitter sweet. The problem was obviously how to bring everyone back who Thanos snapped away in Infinity War, provide a believable victory and yet demonstrate that a victory against an adversary as formidable as Thanos could not be obtained without casualties. Tony’s thunderous snap was a great visual, but it felt out of place and the consequence, which was his death, was too big a price to pay. His snap created a moral dilemma, in the sense that he was one of the good guys, and yet he was willing to rub out Thanos and company, a choice more suited to someone with a morally conflicted and twisted soul like Thanos. It may have been more sensible for Tony to snap Thanos and company back to their timeline with no way back. It also doesn't explain or take into consideration how the death of Thanos 2.0 or Nebula 2.0 would affect their timelines and the jargon about "that's not how time works" needed to be explained. If we're talking about parallel universes where there are diverse timeline eventualities that have no effect on each other then this should have been better explained. The time-travel fantasy science here was a little sketchy. Time travel, in my view is not possible, the belief that it is possible is great for telling fantasy stories, but in all likelihood there is only a present with no past and no future, and you cant go into the past anymore than you can rewind a dvd and make changes to the beginning that emerge in it at its end.The belief in time travel is a remnant of a flaw in Einstein's conceptualization of Space-Time. To begin with "Space-Time" itself is an oxymoron in that Space exists outside of time therefore the two are contradictory and should not be in the same phrase. To attempt to go back in time is likely to be "deflected" or resisted by Space preventing time travel. This deflection may then cause the movement of an object which will appear as a gravitational force or the displacement of the object from one dimension to another rather than send it into an impenetrable or non-existent future or the past. This flaw in physics is probably why controlling gravity has proven difficult and illusive. If a scientist thinks the theoretical physics they are tinkering with is what causes time travel when in fact it may cause gravitational displacement it explains why this key area of physics is fraught with misdirects. Anyway nothing is impossible, time travel may be possible but the energy required and science to get it done is outside anything we probably know in this age. I digress! Lets get back to the movie...

This storyline could have been portrayed just as effectively if Tony hung up his Ironman suite indefinitely at the end of the movie. His retirement from the role of Ironman would have been just as powerful a storyline as his death since at this point Robert Downey Jr is the best Iron Man ever. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle are best ever choices for the roles they played showing why its important to get the right talent into these roles. What becomes really difficult about a franchise like this one is when actors are growing past the age where they can play a role, how do you continue it when you have such great actors who have knocked the superheroes they have portrayed out of the ball park. It would seem Marvel has already developed a formula for how to transition to a younger actor for the role. The fatherly relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker seems to be the model for how to get this done. Instead of a completely new reboot, why not find a young nephew named Anthony who is a stark, living a life of his own somewhere, have Tony "discover" him and mentor him into the new Iron Man role pretty much the way Tom Holland settled into the role of Spiderman.  I would start the apprentice young and look for some serious raw acting talent with different skill sets, maybe 13 or 14 so that there's plenty of material for the writers to work with and for an Ironman junior to feature in as well as a chance for the audience to see him grow from a kid into the man that becomes one of the greatest superheroes in the Marvel universe. He would then begin to interact with Tom Holland's Spiderman and his crew of school friends, and guess what there may be an all out show down and rivalry between the two groups. They'll be great friends one day in the avengers but its gonna be a rough ride getting there. Who knows, when the franchise mixes things up like this Miss Pepper could start out as the young apprentice Hawkeye's girlfriend and when Anthony Stark, Ironman in training meets them the audience will just know this story is gonna be a bumpy ride at some point. The other avengers being mentored into these roles could crash into this group and it would be complete chaos before they grow up, gain enough life experience and become mature enough to be the Avengers we see today. Lots of blockbuster material right there. The fact that his name is Anthony and he's a Stark fits into the mythology of this role, as he would eventually cut the Anthony down to Tony. That way there is continuity as someone like Robert Downey Jr hands the mantle over, that allows him to remain a part of the franchise,appearing ever so often, for as long as it takes for the new Ironman to settle in. This formula can be used for most of the other heroes as well and mentors don't have to have the same abilities of the superhero they nurture. Name play, e.g. Anthony to Tony etc can be used to show that the person who took over their role was somehow destined become that superhero. Once they have the name and take over the part, the rest is history.

Tony dying onscreen seems to complicate his involvement in future Avengers movies, even if he only appears in brief scenes. This decision was also a little disappointing because it made the ending and Thanos’ defeat a tear jerker for the audience rather than a straight up celebration. With Captain Marvel in the mix, even with the infinity gauntlet, the Avengers now had the scale tipped in their favour in a showdown against Thanos, yet she barely featured in Endgame. Without her they had managed to get the gauntlet off his hand in Infinity War, with her there they should have been able to defeat him without Stark having to kick the bucket. The other tear jerker was how the sun set on Captain America. Did it have to be a sad ending? What could have been considered is Steve Rogers coming back to the present with Peggy Carter. He would then hand the shield over to Falcon. He would laugh and say I’m gonna take Peggy out, catch up on lost time and show her the sights in 2019 before I take her back, I’m going to be gone for longer than you might expect. Then he’d make a two finger salute and call Falcon “Cap”. Then he and Peggy holding hands would run laughing into a meadow or something and disappear.

Natasha’s death, if she really is gone was also quite sad. I think what most people expected was an all-out rollercoaster ride and brawl of the century as the Avengers held their own against Thanos. Instead we had to commiserate with fat Thor and mourn the demise of key characters. Clearly Endgame makers were doing a little soul searching as observed in the scenes with the support groups and Thor having to deal with depression. This misery would have been an excellent ending to Infinity War, but it seemed to take the thrill of victory away from Endgame. We've all yo-yo-ed back and forth between skinny and pudgy. All at some point loved, lost and moved on. Felt and lived with the pain of losing the love of our lives, so the realism was powerful and it was good story-telling, it just wasn’t in the right movie or, at least, dragged on for too long with Thor, and felt like a distraction from the job at hand, which was confronting Thanos.

Having a leading role die on screen sometimes has more to do with the business side of making movies. When actors pull off roles very successfully and a movie becomes a blockbuster the dilemma that arises is that their agents will know the actor they represent is an appreciating asset and bigger demands and payments for roles will be made that studios have to face. This can cause higher risks as the costs of a movie escalate while there are never guarantees the next one will be a blockbuster. You can kind of sense this back stage tension. This problem doesn't just affect actors, it also affects directors. Studios then have to get creative about how to gain a bargaining advantage, for example, if a character dies on screen then technically they wont be in the sequel. The studio can then use this as a means of lowering expectations when it comes to negotiating how much to pay the same actor in the next movie. When it comes to directors a studio may swop directors out so that a different director handles the next installment in the franchise. The audience can tell, when a successful franchise that should be already shooting has its sequel weirdly pushed back a few years, that its probably because of disagreements about pay. Sequel money tension is probably very real and can bruise the relationships between actors/directors and producers/studio heads as each party feels they are being taken advantage of. But if these expectations are not properly managed they will hurt relationships as well as the profitability of a franchise as it will not only bleed into a movie lowering quality and consequently profitability, it will also be felt by the audience when the ensemble goes on a roadshow to promote a movie. The money tension seems to bleed through the smiles and the peppy conversation as everyone tries to engage the audience. It would not be unusual to find producers, studio heads, actors and directors in surprise hits like Dr Strange and Black Panther having to deal with this kind of tension. It brings back that awkward moment at the mansion in Deadpool where he jokes about the studio being only able to afford three X-men. It may be important to plan for and to manage expectations on both sides when building a franchise, especially one that performs beyond expectations at the box office because tensions may become visible to the audience who you assume don't see them and it will hurt your primary mandate, which is making great movies, with awesome writers, actors and directors working with awesome producers at a world class studio and doing so profitably. Find a way to make the right deals that everyone feels good or ok about. Be careful about those relationships, take care of your family coz when anyone is unhappy even when they try to smile and do their best for you, the sadness comes through and we see it.

Endgame I feel should have been totally about strategizing how to take Thanos down, training for it and the thrilling beat-down-come-war where all the objectives of the confrontation were gained. Maybe it would have made sense to divide Endgame into two parts. Part one would be the misery, preparation for full war on semi-retired Thanos. He could have been made weaker but just as formidable in this part. The entire movie would have involved battling semi-retired Thanos all over that secluded planet. He would have shown them that in retirement, even after the snap who was still the man. The audience was waiting for a second show down between Thanos and the Hulk, that could have been placed here so Banner could get his own back, it didn’t happen. Just when the Avengers, with Captain Marvel’s help have defeated retired Thanos that’s when he should have jettisoned the infinity stones scattering them like Dragonball-zs across the universe (in the present) where there was no way of finding them (It would make no sense that such powerful stones could be destroyed so easily, especially if they play such an essential role of keeping time and space in harmony in this lore), this would then force the Avengers to go back in time as they did to locations and dates where they knew the stones could be found. Part I would have ended with Thanos 2.0 from the past breaking through the Time portal and blowing everything to smithereens. The audience seeing the Avengers having to fight Thanos yet again (for a third time), would have reeled at the prospect. All the funerals, social groups, fragility and baggage to do with sadness and mental health problems from death and loss would have been dealt with in part I. Part I and part II of Endgame could have been shot together with part II released later in the year earning the franchise double what it will make at the box-office. Having to cope with mental health as a result of tragedy or the loss of someone you love was humorously portrayed by Thor but the melancholic parts made the movie a little disjointed leaving the audience in and out, up and down through consecutive mood swing intervals that left them confused about whether they should be happy or sad; it felt like jerky gear changes on an emotive stick-shift ride. This would be taken care of in part I, so that all we have in part II is a roller-coaster ride that thrills us to the very end and lets us leave the cinema celebrating, rather than thinking – what just happened? In essence the final movie should have been in 3 rather than just two [Infinity War & Endage] with Endagame part I & II shot together but released consecutively. [What if Thanos' decapitation was an illusion he created with the stones and he's actually coming back......now that would be entertaining!]

The Russo brothers right now are without doubt the best in the game when it comes to this genre. The fight choreography in their marvel movies is the best we’ve ever been treated to; its a genuine beat down, thrilling to watch, pure quality. The character development is second to none. They left the audience in awe of Thanos, even if he is the bad guy, the audience can’t help but be intrigued by how he processes emotion, his fighting skill and elegant use of brute force. He is bad guy of circumstance, a warrior with a chip on his shoulder and was portrayed on screen with the rare kind of genius of a seasoned story-teller. Kudos to the writers, they nailed this part. The Black Order in Infinity War has dark characters developed with the charm we hope to see in future movies rather than mindless, single dimensional villains at the end of Bam Bam’s bat in the Flintstones. Ebony Maw’s fighting style was definitive, and imbued with that minimum effort maximum damage kind of personality that made him distinct, clearly time was dedicated to how to portray these adversaries.

Into the Spiderverse

 A surprise treat in this genre this year was Miles Morales, Into the Spiderverse. The story was well written, the soundtrack was awesome. The music and how Miles interacted with it was well portrayed. That part where he mimes Post Malone and Sway Lee's Sunflower was a surprising treat, very intuitive and creative. Culture wise the only thing you left out was a little dancing, popping, locking and dubstep culture for Miles vibe and all. The movie was enjoyable for adults and kids alike. Let’s hope we see more of this character,  in both the cartoon and live in flesh-and-blood action in the near future.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

Its awesome to see JJ Abrams is back in the director’s chair for Star Wars Episode 9, the Rise of Skywalker. Watching the cast with the Late Show host Steven Colbert was inspiring and makes the end of the year seem like it’s too long to wait to see the final installment in the trilogy. Let’s hope Ridley and Boyega and their infectious energy is on point this time as they were in the first one. 

I actually enjoyed Solo: A Star Wars Story, but its not surprising to see it did not perform well at the box office. The novelty of the return of Star Wars to the big screen has kind of worn off now. The next stories told will have to bring in something new audiences have never seen and try to move away from the now overly familiar style and culture of Star Wars movies. The audience still wants to see more of Star Wars, but not more of the same. If this franchise is to continue to enjoy some success there will have to be new technology, new never before seen visuals and a style that is new, darker and more intriguing which when shown in parts will make the audience wonder whether they are watching a Star Wars movie and of course the writers will have to come up with a cracking plot as well as strongly developed characters interacting more deeply and with greater emotive dependency on one another driven by their experiences.

2019: What kinda movies have y'all been watching, making, writing and directing?

Let's review some movies.