Jonan23

This is an excellent video

I didn't think a film could ever earn over 30 million here. By the fourth week some movies have already been dropped from cinemas entirely. Amazing performance for Endgame

I am going to give the finale next week a huge break. I am going to watch it from the perspective that the Dany turn was justified and that the entire season wasn't rushed. A clean slate at the opening credits just to see if it would work in that situation.

I will say that ignoring the character flaws and taken as pure spectacle. The destruction scenes were very well shot and portrayed.

Dany burning King's Landing felt like the right ending. It could have been the perfect culmination of everything this show ever set out to do, if only they'd earned it. I read an article that perfectly sums up how I feel. Let me quote the best parts Thrones has been planting the seeds for a Mad Queen heel turn by Daenerys for years. A few moments from the series stand out in particular: In Season 1, she and Khal Drogo are excited to give birth to “The Stallion Who Mounts the World,” a near-messianic figure who Mirri Maz Duur says will burn cities to the ground. In Season 2, Dany repeats that idea, promising to “burn cities to the ground” once her dragons are fully grown, when she’s outside the gates of Qarth. In Season 6, she threatens to return the cities of Slaver’s Bay “to the dirt.” Throughout the show, Daenerys has burned people alive: first a master in Meereen, then the Tarlys, and then Varys in this latest episode. Yet Sunday was the first time it ever seemed possible for Dany to burn innocents by the thousands. Despite years of foreshadowing, the character’s final tyrannical turn in this episode feels unearned. Murdering innocent children and families in their homes has never been who she is. The broad strokes may have been suggested earlier, but the specifics came out of nowhere. They forgot about the empathy that has been as fundamental to Daenerys’s character as her ruthlessness. She took Yunkai, Astapor, and Meereen with minimal bloodshed, and she succeeded in creating a better world for the people in those cities. She wanted to rule, yes, but the girl who had spent so much of her childhood being bullied and tormented by more powerful men also knew what injustice was. What Thrones seemed to be setting up for years was a conflict between Daenerys’s compassion and her dogged pursuit of the Iron Throne. What decision would she make when winning the crown required the loss of thousands of innocent lives? Yet this episode didn’t give us that dilemma. When Daenerys chooses to burn King’s Landing, it’s after the people of the city are ringing the bells and the Lannister soldiers have thrown down their weapons. The war is won It’s one thing to be ruthless, as Daenerys has always been; it’s another to be truly cruel and evil She instigated a completely unnecessary mass killing, a vicious act that is entirely outside her established character. If Dany had caused so much collateral damage as a byproduct of her quest for the throne, her heel turn would at least have been consistent with her character. Instead, she blindly kills thousands

you are right. Thank you for that reminder.

I think it shows how knowing an endpoint is not enough as you also need to connect the dots well - Euron’s got a magical horn in the books (I forgot the name) and it now seems obvious to me that he will kill Rhaegal in the books using it somehow. - D&D were probably told “Euron kills Rhaegal” and they come up with him being ambushed by magic ballistas-on-boats so they can move on to the next plot point. One potential positive of the show is that GRRM can see what works and doesn't and can then adjust the ending of his books accordingly.

I also liked a lot of the character scenes in this episode but I agree that dragon death was the worst scene of the series. I really wish they had just killed dragon in the last episode if this is what they were going to do. It would have added to the feeling of episode 3 having more of an impact on the status of their army. You could still have the same scene with Euron ambushing the boats. Dany would be hesitant to fly near as she would only have one dragon left.

The episode had some nice character scenes but a lot of frustrating elements as well. I can't stop thinking of the dragon though. Some small tweaks would have made it fine. They could have emphasized the injuries Rhaegal still had from battling the ice dragon. Show him a bit fatigued as he flew. This would have made it another consequence of Dany's decision to march at once instead of something cheap.

Amazing gross. I wonder how packed cinemas will be in the 2nd weekend as this a massively frontloaded country.

It just got released on Netflix. Just saw it and that was something. Lots of flaws but the Gripping plot and premise was enough to keep me interested.

I thought I read somewhere that GRRM told the writers the ending of the series in case the show overtook the books. If that is the case then they aren't making it up but rather working from an outline of events. Maybe GRRM gave them bullet points. and in a recent interview GRRM said “I don't think Dan and Dave's ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we did have,” he said. “But they may be on certain secondary characters, there may be big differences,” he explained

Hahaha. Fine. Leave Clegane alive. Substitute Tormund instead. Overwhelmed by Wights after he goes into a rage at the death of Brienne

One huge positive though that I haven't seen mentioned in this episode was the sound and music which I felt did a lot of the heavy lifting in setting the tone.

Great point about everyone feeling safe. If they really weren't going to kill anyone else then tease the ones we think we will die. They teased Jon and Dany dying but those were devoid of tension because they are not dying. They should have teased a Jamie or Brienne. or Tormund death instead. They still would have survived but at least there would be a moment of suspense (at least for me.)

Agree that other characters getting a big moment would have satisfied other fans as well. It feels especially disappointing as everything was right there. I won't dwell on the pre battle problems you mentioned and focus intstead on this episode and improving it with simple tweaks. I mentioned my proposed Grey Worm moment Next could have been Brienne who could have been given a rousing moment rallying the troops with Jamie right behind her the moment the undead were able to breach the walls. Then give her a glorious death going down fighting. One possible option is her saving Sam. This gives Sam guilt to weigh heavily on the next episode. Finally have another death be The Hound. Let Beric die in the hallway and let Hound be stabbed but be able to make it to the room and close the door. He could have a short final sentence after Mellisandre tells him that he has fulfilled his purpose. "I guess it's not that f....ng bad." Then Jon needs a good memorable moment. I'm not sure where. Maybe have him take out the ice dragon somehow though that might be too silly. Or maybe have him save Sam again delaying him from reaching Bran and giving Sam even more guilt. I think those would have been enough as we would have lost two characters Brienne, The Hound, we care about making the loss feel more acute and distracting from all the narrative problems you mentioned. It would also make the Arya moment a lot better as there would be still be a feeling of loss after it was done.

I will say this though. The memes, reactions, and videos have been hilarious and include some really creative gems like the edited Tywin speech posted earlier.

I have no problem with Arya's big moment. If only more people had died during the episode then we could have been so emotionally drained by that point that Arya's attack would have come as a bittersweet relief. The episode failed to put us in a frame to really feel it. I watched it again and the plotting problems are more apparent. I started to worry when Grey Worm didn't die as Mellisandre lit the trench. The set up was perfect for a heroic sacrifice. Grey Worm and a group of elite unsullied sacrifice themselves buying time for the red witch. It would have been appropriate for the unsullied. It would have been dramatic. It would have added a consequence to Dany not being able to see the signal. It would have made the trench lighting up even more victorious. But adjusting the brightness made it easy to see and I also appreciated the technical aspects a lot more.

I also felt some of the plotting was a bit of a letdown. But the direction was mostly superb in my opinion.

Thanks a lot for the reply I really appreciate it.

What's the difference between Avengers at number 1 and number 9?

This is a great point. If there is work on a Sunday people will see it on Sunday night if they really want to see a film. Purely anecdotal but I teach some Chinese kids online and two boys (around 10) have already expressed disappointment that they have to wait until after exams to see the film as their parents didn't allow them to watch on opening weekend but rather wait till the May holidays.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout added $8m from 49 markets at the weekend to reach $559.8m, to track 23% ahead of Rogue Nation from the same group of markets. The spy action thriller’s fourth session in China delivered $6.2m for number four and a $173.6m running total, while Italy has produced $5.8m at the same stage. After eight weekends, the film stands at $15.5m in Germany, $41.8m in Japan, and $26.7m in France. Worldwide total now $777.9

Very impressive performance for The Nun which keeps going up. Especially impressive considering the bad reviews and supposedly bad reactions.

I like Rotten Tomatoes. Through this site I discovered ten critics that I love and now follow regularly. A quick glance at the tomatometer gives me an idea of the reception of the film which I am always curious about. If I love a film it is easy to go to the site and read rave reviews from critics who also loved it. Same if I hate a film. Now if only they would finally add and fix the My Critics option.