Author: Michael Thomas

Game of Thrones Season 6: Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?

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Season 3 of Game of Thrones brought an end to the Stark vs. Lannister war that had dominated the show ever since Ned Stark lost his head at the end of season 1 and represented the main conflict of the show since the very first episode (which of course ended with Jaime Lannister pushing Bran Stark out of a tower).

Without that main source of conflict and intrigue, the following three seasons struggled to find that throughline that could carry things until the endgame. While the show’s audience has been treated to some absolutely spectacular moments, battles, etc. for the past thirty episodes, there was also a sense of aimlessness to the overall story. Continue reading Game of Thrones Season 6: Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?

How Carol Demonstrates that The Patriarchy Is Bad for Everyone

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This column contains spoilers for the film.

While the awards season buzz for Carol has mostly (and very deservedly) concentrated on the performances of the wonderful Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, the work done by Kyle Chandler has been in some need for praise and celebration. The film was about the Blanchett and Mara characters of course (as well it should have been), and it was a gripping and (at times) emotionally devastating story of two women punished and held down by patriarchal values and institutions. It becomes clear though by the end that the film also expresses how those same values and institutions are crippling for men and thus, making matters even worse for women. Continue reading How Carol Demonstrates that The Patriarchy Is Bad for Everyone

The Hobbit (1966)

Director: Gene Deitch
Runtime: 12 minutes

William L. Snyder, an American producer, obtained the film rights to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and set out to make a feature-length version of the film with the director, Gene Deitch. That project fell through, and this twelve-minute, animated film was produced instead in order to retain the filmmaking rights to the property. As a result, the very first film adaptation of this famous piece of literature is a quite cheap-looking, cartoon (without real animation) that obviously greatly condenses Tolkien’s story. Oddly enough, the cheapness actually works in the film’s favor. Continue reading The Hobbit (1966)

8 Questions After Watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones

Welcome to the third edition of “Enter the Reel World.” I am your host, Michael Thomas. Read more of my thoughts on film/television here. (I recently ranked the first ten films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the lightsaber duels in the Star Wars films.  You can send me feedback on things that I write here.

photo gothrones_zpsq1lobeyp.jpg Continue reading 8 Questions After Watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones

Ranking the Lightsaber Duels in the Star Wars Films

Welcome to the third edition of “Enter the Reel World.” I am your host, Michael Thomas. Read more of my thoughts on film/television here. (I recently ranked the first ten films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and had Seven Questions After Watching Season 1 of Daredevil. I also watched The Punisher and was completely baffled by its awfulness.) You can send me feedback on things that I write here.

 

Much like last week, this article should be fairly simple to understand. I take a brief look at every lightsaber duel in the first six Star Wars films and discuss what I like and/or dislike about each one. After looking at each duel, I rank them all. Please share your rankings in the comments if you so desire. Continue reading Ranking the Lightsaber Duels in the Star Wars Films