Monthly Archives: April 2014

GR Dailies: Game of Thrones – Two Swords

07 Monday Apr 2014

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by Grace Crawford

game of thrones poster

All Game of Thrones images courtesy of HBO.

4×01: “Two Swords”

The episode begins with Tywin Lannister melting down Ned Stark’s Valyrian steel greatsword, Ice, to forge two new swords. And from the moment I whispered, “THAT’S NOT YOURS YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT,” the latest season of Game of Thrones had me hooked.

This episode is in a unique position: whereas most season premieres are starting out new story arcs and hinting at where the rest of the season is going to go, season 4 is based on the second half of the third book in the ASOIAF series, A Storm of Swords. So this season picks up right where the last one left off while, yes, giving us several indications of where season 4 is going. And I’m a big fan of that, because even after watching all sorts of videos to catch up on where we’re at, it’s very easy to get lost.

It’s hard to recap where everyone’s at because there are so many characters, but I’ll give it a shot.

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Divergent

06 Sunday Apr 2014

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by Grace Crawford

poster

All Divergent images courtesy of Red Wagon Entertainment, Summit Entertainment, and Lionsgate.

If you are extremely observant of things like the days of the weeks and the general passage of time, you noticed that we didn’t post a movie review last weekend. I’m gonna say right now that that’s my fault. It began with homework and a looming deadline, but as the week wore on and time continued to go by, I realized that I hadn’t posted a review yet for a very simple reason: I didn’t know what to write about or what I could possibly say.

Obviously this review is about Divergent, a movie based on a book that some people liked, a book that fell into the post-apocalyptic category, because that’s all the rage these days, apparently. But it’s going to be about some other things, too, because in the end, I have to borrow a page from Thom’s book and state the only fact I know for certain about this movie: it was a movie.

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Captain America: The First Avenger

05 Saturday Apr 2014

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by Thom Yee

Captain America: The First Avenger images courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Captain America: The First Avenger images courtesy of Paramount Pictures

At the heart of the success of the Marvel Studios movies is a sincere desire to respect and honour the characters. While that may seem like an obviously necessary element of any adaptation, one need only look to the poorly translated and unnecessarily altered characters in movies like Fox’s Fantastic Four franchise to see what happens when producers deviate too far from the source material. The reason why so many of our biggest comicbook characters have transcended major societal shifts and uprisings through more than (in Marvel’s case) seventy-five years of existence is that, at their core, they represent a wholehearted commitment and (in the case of the heroes) a dedication to the fundamental good that we all hope is really at the heart of all mankind, even if that good is often hidden or deliberately suppressed.

I’m reminded of this fact as I recently re-watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, mostlybecause I was too lazy to turn over and change the channel, but also a little bit because that Human Torch-Silver Surfer chase is, admittedly, pretty sweet.  Continue reading →

GR Dailies: Community – G.I. Jeff

04 Friday Apr 2014

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by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

5×11:  “G.I. Jeff”

I can’t believe they went this far. They must, like, own the television broadcast rights or something.

Going far beyond inspiration or imitation, “G.I. Jeff” basically transplants our Save Greendale Committee into an episode straight from the original G.I. Joe ‘80s series. All the details are right, from the ridiculous premises, the low-framerate animation, the film scratches, the static backgrounds, the music that opens scenes and transitions, and everything in between. The episode uses original series characters like Duke and Flint and Scarlet, and I even recognize many of the original voice actors reprising their roles (though the irreplaceable Chris Latta [Cobra Commander and Transformers’ Starscream] remains woefully absent… because he’s dead). Continue reading →

GR Dailies: How I Met Your Mother – Last Forever

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Bay & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox.

Images courtesy of Bay & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox.

9×23-24: “Last Forever”

So here we are: the series finale of How I Met Your Mother. For me, my love of the show began I think five years ago, right after I graduated from high school. I was so mad because one of my favourite webcomic writers said The Big Bang Theory was no HIMYM, and I sat down in front of the TV to prove him wrong.

And it turns out he was right: there’s no show like this show, not Friends or Cheers or any of those other shows that deal with friendships and heartache and all the things that happen when you share your life with people.

I might just be saying that because this show belonged to my generation, because I’m pretty sure people have said that before. But that’s my truth, and it’s true for everyone who has watched this show and been invested in it and waited with hope in their hearts for the end they knew was coming. And now it’s here, and my feelings aren’t at all what I thought they’d be.

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