SDCC 2013: Game of Thrones Panel Discussion and Memoriam…

On Friday afternoon, July 19th,  in Hall H, some of the Game of Thrones cast gathered for a panel at the SDCC. Cast members Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, John Bradley, Kit Harington, Rose Leslie and Richard Madden, and author George R.R. Martin joined executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for the event.

The Game of Thrones panel began with an “In Memoriam” video played with Boys II Men’s “Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”. Such a horribly sad video, remembering all of those amazing characters that we won’t get to see again.

Here is a video that shows the entire panel: (Special Guest star at about 14:40)

Game of Thrones will return in the Spring of 2014.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy: Does Marvel Have ‘Drax the Destroyer’ Cast?

The excitement behind the casting of the Guardians of the Galaxy film just keeps escalating. With the recent news that Chris Pratt  is joining the movie as the leader of the Guardians, we have been given even more exciting news with the release on Nerd Reactor that the new Conan and Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa has screen tested for the role of ‘Drax the Destroyer’. This is a role that has some stiff competition with the likes of Isaiah Mustafa (Old Spice adverts) and Dave Bautista (former wrestler and villain in The Man with the Iron Fists) are also gunning for the role.

For people unfamiliar with the character here is a brief recap: Arthur Douglas started life as a human and family man, until Thanos killed his family. His spirit was then taken and placed into a new and more powerful body with only one goal in mind, to kill the creature that destroyed his life (for a more detailed description click here).

Recent news from Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter via tweets has indicated that although he has screen tested, he has not been offered the role. Borys comment:

Then even more news was revealed again via twitter, but this time from El Mayimbe saying.

So where does that leave us? Well no further forward I am afraid. We still do not know who is going to be cast in this role, but we do know that no one has the role so far. Views seem mixed on Momoa wanting the role and the amount he wants for it. My personal view (which is based only on his appearances in Conan and Game of Thrones) is that, although he looks the part physically, I am not sure if he has enough acting experience to be asking for this amount of  money. I have not seen his role in Bullet in the Head, but I know it did not perform as well at the Box Office as expected (a fate that Conan also suffered from).

With pretty much every Marvel produced product having had a successful Box Office run, we can assume that this movie should be no different, and could be the next step in Momoa’s film career. I would hate to think that he was shooting himself in the foot over this.

What do you Grizzly Bomb readers think? Please comment below or on Facebook about how you feel about this situation.

Star Trek 2 Gets New Title: Into Darkness.

Star Trek is a thing that is near and dear to my heart. Granted, there was a time, when I was young and foolish, and didn’t get it. I remember seeing my Mom watch the movies, liking the ships, but not understanding the story and thinking it was boring, especially compared to Star Wars. Only as I got older, and found myself appreciating the original series, did I REALLY start getting into it. I even started catching episodes of The Next Generation from time to time, following the story when I could, in between bouts of Goldeneye 64 matches, or Wrestlemania 2000. I even got into the movies, and, found that the original series movies were way more awesome than I remembered, and First Contact was probably the best space/cyborg/zombie film of all time. So unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t born a Trekkie, I slowly became one. Bit by bit, won over by its charm, writing, characterization, and social commentary.

Jonathan Frakes’ gorgeous beard helped as well.

I have a feeling that that’s how a lot of the populace felt in 2009, after JJ.Abrams took the concepts and characters of Star Trek, and made them accessible to a new audience, not pre-conditioned to Sci-Fi fandom. Despite the film having some plot holes, inconsistencies, and weird “What’s canon? What’s a reboot? What’s ret-conned?” issues, managed to be massively entertaining to an entire new generation of fans, who might have never given Star Trek a chance otherwise. Factor in the advent of Netflix bringing all 5 live action series being readily available, and it seemed like the dawn of a new era of fandom for Star Trek. I personally know several people who only are fans of the movies, or are fans of the shows, or both, or one particular show and not another, and multiple combinations of all. Star Trek is unique in that it really does have something for everybody, and the newer fans from 2009 have been waiting for a sequel pretty patiently for 3 years now, along with all the other die-hard Trekkies.

So after 3 years, with only set photos, and the occasionally purposely leaked screenshot, we’ve gotten yet another tasty morsel of information from the project, and this time, it’s the alleged  confirmed title of the film:

Star Trek Into Darkness

My first thoughts on the title? I’m not really impressed. It’s actually kind of corny, and borders on almost being a pun. But, I suppose the attempt to make a title that’s memorable has succeeded, because everyone expected the typical STAR TREK 2 COLON SUBTITLE style of title instead. In that way, it goes along with the previous movie’s intentions to subvert our expectations and help keep things new and fresh. Will the second sequel continue in this fashion? Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before? Actually, holy shit, they could totally use that for the next movie if they wanted. This whole title sets up a precedent. Here, I’ll come up with some more for them.

Potential future Star Trek Titles:

Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before

Star Trek Across The Universe

Star Trek Back Home

Star Trekkin’

Star Trekkin’ AGAIN

Star Trek to Electric Boogaloo

Star Trek Over To Bennigans, I Hear Their Broccoli Bites Are Amazing

All jokes aside, the actual movie does sound pretty awesome. What little we know of its plot, is mostly due to Karl Urban, who plays Doc McCoy. During an interview, he made one revealing comment about Benedict Cumberbatch’s role in the film.

via [SFX]

At a promotional junket for Dredd, Karl Urban looks to have let slip to SFX who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. When asked what it was like having the Sherlock actor on set, Urban said:

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Gary Mitchell was a pretty big deal back in The Original Series. Basically he was an officer who came into contact with an energy barrier, and it gave him godlike psionic abilities.

Bad ass silver eyes too!

He started using them in increasingly dangerous ways, until he was stopped by Kirk and Company, as is to be expected. What was fascinating about the episode, was seeing an everyday man, transcend past humanity, into figurative Godhood, into believing he was actually above all of humanity entirely. It’s one of the best episodes from the original series, and I always thought that his character was intriguing. Hopefully, we’ll get to see an interpretation of his character, now with a much larger budget, and modern special effects crew to really demonstrate what a powerful, godlike being he is/became. I know a lot of fans were a bit disappointed we won’t get to see the new continuity’s version of Khan in this movie, but he’s coming. We all know he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few mentions of the “Eugenics Wars”, or whatnot, in the background of this film. Khan is a role that was pretty solidly Ricardo Montalban’s, and casting that role is just as hard, if not harder than casting the entire crew of the Enterprise. Factor in that Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan is by far the most popular Original Trek film, and I really don’t blame JJ for trying to hold off on that for a while. If I had to cast Khan right now? Benicio Del Toro. The guy has the unique look, voice, and acting skills to make you forget all about Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, and would work tremendously. I have a feeling he’d be a bit too old for the role though, and my back up would be Jason Momoa, known most widely as Khal Drogo, from Game Of Thrones fame.

It goes without saying that I’m stoked for the film to come out already, and I’m really looking forward to seeing JJ Abrams’ new interpretation of all the original series concepts that were so wildly imaginative, but limited 47 years ago by technological and budgetary restraints of the time. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more and more of those ideas re-imagined for the big screen, where they can be appreciated by a wider audience. I’m always supportive of Science Fiction being more readily accepted and viewed by the mainstream public, because in my opinion, it’s the best genre out there, and Star Trek, is, has been, and always will be the best example of it around.

…Except for this news that Worf is getting his own series. Worf was the worst Lieutenant ever.

Ever.

Grizzly Dailies – Neighborhood Watch, Looper, and Bullet to the Head

Welcome to Grizzly Dailies! A new feature where we will cover a bunch of movie news in the manner we love. Jam packing a ton of links and info in one post so you don’t have to waste your valuable time (and ours) by combing through a ton of articles!

And if you are unaware of the term ‘Dailies‘ don’t expect this feature every day. It’s a film term and not a promise. Just wanted to get that out there.

Grizzly Review: Conan the Barbarian

In 1932, writer Robert E. Howard created one of the greatest characters in the history American literature – Conan the Barbarian. Most people don’t realize he’s been around that long, commonly associating the character solely with the Schwarzenegger vehicles of the early 1980s. The uneducated masses, which until recently included myself in their ranks, are largely unaware of how in-depth the character’s history is. And now, 27 years after the last Conan movie, the Cimmerian is back on the big screen. And while I was initially underwhelmed by the casting of Jason Momoa, my mood changed after seeing him this season in Game of Thrones.

Conan the Barbarian: 2:51 of Pure BADASS

For anyone who is yet sold on the new Conan movie, prepare to be. What follows is a clip, just under 3 minutes long, that show even as a kid, Conan was the baddest mother on the block…

Go ahead. Tell me that wasn’t sweet.

A Game of Thrones – Top Ten Kills of Season One

I love Game of Thrones. It has a great story, awesome actors along with the characters they play, and the set pieces and production value on the show are staggering. But if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, and talk about some of the more primitive likings of the show, then look no further than the gory, and most times inventive ways of people getting killed. From beheadings to burnings, and bludgeoning to maulings, Game of Thrones has a pretty impressive list of ways certain characters died a horrible death. Some made us cry, but the majority of them made us go –“AWWW SWEET!” So without further adieu let’s take a look at the top ten…

New Red Band Trailer – Conan The Barbarian

So we’ve already had a teaser and a trailer, as well as a slew of posters for the new Conan the Barbarian, coming out this August. But we had not yet gotten a Red Band Trailer to show us all of the violent glory this flick is all about. Luckily we now have one to show you.

Looks excellent to me. I’m not looking for some deep movie about a barbarian’s feelings and how life gets him down. I want to see Conan fighting monsters, killing people and getting the gal! By the looks of this trailer that is what we’re gonna get!

Conan the Barbarian vs. the Party Crasher: New Posters Hit The Net

Captain America isn’t the only one releasing new character posters. The new Conan movie is also jumping into the game. And while we didn’t originally get excited about the casting of Jason Momoa as Schwarzenegger’s replacement, his role as ‘Khal Drogo’ in A Game of Thrones has done more than enough to change our minds. What has our staff most excited however is the presence of the Party Crasher, who will be  pitting his own awesomeness against Conan’s as his nemesis ‘Khalar Zym’.

The studio has released 5 character posters, each an exclusive to a different website. Sadly, Grizzly Bomb was not included in the prestigious 5. First Showing has the best of the posters – Mr. Zym…

The next coolest of the posters was awarded to Pop Wrap (Really?) and that is the one that features Rose McGowan as Marique…

My 3rd favorite, is the one awarded to MTV’s Splashpage, and that’s of the big guy himself.

Next is Conan’s dad, who by definition has to be a badass – Coming Soon‘s Ron Perlman as Corin. Perlman is one handsome SOB isn’t he…

And finally, the somewhat genaric Jo Blo contribution – Rachel Nichols as Tamara.

And of course, the OFFICIAL Movie Poster…

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

This episode aired on HBO Go (Online) the same night as episode 6 did which was a welcome treat and a precursor to one of the best episodes yet. So if you haven’t watched episode 7 online then there are major spoilers awaiting you ahead. This episode will air on TV May 29th.

We start the episode by finally getting to see Tywin Lannister on screen, who is definitely one of the characters people will grow to hate most over the course of the show. He’s one of those characters you love to hate and in the scene he has with Jaime you get to see what his ambitions are and the expectations of his house. Tywin is currently moving with 60,000 Lannister soldiers to protect the honor of his house against the Starks and their allies. As he questions and lectures Jaime, Tywin guts and skins a deer which for some reason made the scene all that better for me. He tells Jaime that they should have acted decisively, where if Tyrion was taken by Catelyn then Jaime should have killed Ned instead of leaving him alive. Jaime claims that he didn’t finish him because of the interference by one of their men and it wouldn’t have been a clean kill which Tywin scoffs at. Jaime, despite what everyone thinks of him, has a measure of honor that is his alone.

As the show goes on and we get more into his character it will become evident that Jaime has almost no identity for himself. He is constantly trying to live up to roles that others assign him from Aerys Targaryen to Tywin Lannister and later you will see from Cersei too. It all began with Aerys raising him to the Kingsguard years ago, which angered Tywin to the point of resigning his position of Hand of the King since his heir was now under oath to serve until death thanks to the “Mad King”. That is why Tywin tells Jaime that he needs to him to become the man he was meant to be now and not later. The look on Jaime’s face before he leaves clearly shows us that he has almost no idea what he wants, which is a great precursor of the route his character will take in future seasons.

Finally after being MIA for a couple episodes, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch return to our screens albeit briefly. After Benjen’s horse is found riderless at the Wall entrance, we get to see Jon, Sam, Grenn and Pip all graduate. This is accompanied by the big disappointment of Jon not being made a ranger but a steward. Stewards are the caretakers of the Night’s Watch, they clean up, send ravens and do the menial day to day tasks in all of the castles of the Wall. So you might see why a swordsman like Jon might be a little pissed off about it. But as Sam points out, Maester Aemon assigned him to be the attendant to Lord Commander Mormont where Jon will learn of all the functions of the Night’s Watch and it’s command structure at Castle Black. More than likely Jon will eventually succeed Lord Commander Mormont.

We also get to see Jon and the recently converted (To the Old Gods) Sam recite their oaths in the Godswood a mile North of the Wall. It was a nicely touching scene until Ghost ruins it by bringing back a severed and frozen hand from somewhere in the woods. Imagine being Jon and wondering if that were your Uncle’s hand your pet direwolf brought back. Not that any of us has ever had a pet direwolf but you get where I’m coming from.

After the last episode with the Targaryens, it will be hard to follow up in this one. I still can’t get over seeing the pot of molten gold poured over Viserys’ head. It will live on as one of the best TV deaths of all time. Daenerys is trying to convince Drogo to eventually invade the Seven Kingdoms where their son will rule, but Drogo is reluctant telling her a king does not need a throne, only a horse to sit atop. However, after an assassin in the marketplace attempts to give Daenerys poisoned wine to cash in on the bounty on her head, Drogo is furious and in Vaes Dothrak he vows to invade and destroy the Seven Kingdoms for the attempt on his wife and child’s lives. This was a very powerful scene that I can’t come close to putting into a review as words. I have to give credit to Jason Momoa for sounding so convincing in a language created for the books and the series!

I saved the best for last in the events that are going down at King’s Landing. Cersei confronts Ned in a garden in the Red Keep, telling him that she thinks it’s time he went home to Winterfell after everything that has happened. Ned then reveals the realization he had come to in the previous episode; that Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella are all Jaime’s children and not Robert’s. Cersei admits to it, telling Ned of how Robert always loved Lyanna Stark even after he married her and that her and Jaime belong together. Ned offers her an ultimatum to take her children and leave King’s Landing before Robert returns from the hunt because he will be one angry King. Robert does indeed return from the hunt but he is gravely injured…by a boar. He missed his thrust and the tusks damaged him beyond repair, but at least good ole’ Robert killed it in the end. He has Ned write his last wishes, which are that Ned become protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age. Ned writes everything but changes “son” to “heir” on the parchment, because Joffrey has no claim if he is a product of his mother and uncle’s incest. Robert also tells Ned to cancel the order of assassination against Daenerys, telling him that Ned was right. Unfortunately according to Lord Varys “those birds have flown”. This is when things start to heat up even more as Ned lets two important opportunities pass him up due to his great sense of honor.

The first opportunity is presented by Renly Baratheon, who is the King’s youngest brother if you haven’t figured that out. He urges Ned to seize Joffrey in the middle of the night so that as protector he can hold all of the power against the Lannisters. Renly even offers him a hundred men loyal to him in assistance of Ned in this task. Ned however refuses to shed blood in the castle that Robert ruled and to taking children from their beds in the middle of the night. So not only has Ned shown his cards to Cersei and alerted her that he knows of her incest, he has refused Renly’s support which would have been a great help. Next Ned summons Petyr Littlefinger Baelish to help him in taking Cersei and her children captive during the day with minimal to no bloodshed.

The Lannister men and guards far outnumber anything Ned has left with him and he asks that Littlefinger secure the 2000 men of the City Watch to help them. Littlefinger agrees even after he refuses Lord Baelish’s plan to securing the throne. Baelish tells Ned that he should install Joffrey as King and watch over him closely (pretty much as a hostage) and use his tainted birth as blackmail should he or the Lannisters ever step out of line. And if Joffrey was removed then he suggests that the more likeable Renly be brought in as King, even though Stannis is the older brother. Stannis though is so rigid and uncompromising that the kingdoms would fall into war with no one supporting his claim. Ned however will not let someone not even having Baratheon blood sit on the throne, let alone the youngest Baratheon brother. Even if it means the realm certainly falling into war, Ned’s honor only allows him to do things by the book.

Ned confronts the Lannisters in the throne room, presenting Robert’s letter making him protector of the realm and even denouncing Joffrey as having no rights to the throne. Cersei rips the letter up before everyone, ordering Ser Barristan Selmy to arrest Stark immediately. Just as the City Guard seems ready to fight the Lannisters they turn on the Stark men killing them all while Littlefinger places a dagger to Ned’s throat telling him -“You were right not to trust me.” Things are not looking good for Ned and the Starks. I promise the next episode will show why George R.R. Martin’s books stand alone from any other fantasy books out there.

I give this episode a 4.5 bears out of 5, because despite being absent of much action there was plenty of plot and character development. I can already tell that the next episode will be a five out of five and the viewers are either going to love it or hate it.

Episode 6 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 1 Review
Most Anticipated Scenes from Game of Thrones