Motifs in Cinema 2013 - Man against Society

Andrew of Encore's World of Film and TV is hosting his annual blogathon of Motifs in Cinema. I decided to pitch in and explore a theme that was present, one way or another, in many movies last year - Man against society. Whether those films featured characters fighting the law, government or the ideas followed by majority but not themselves, cinematic year of 2013 was filled with the acts of defiance.

Mt. Rushmore of Movies - 4 Favorite Male Characters

My favorite blogger, m.brown, is doing something I never did - he is hosting a blogathon.

Thoughts on BAFTAs

No kidding - the members of BAFTA must have dropped lemmons before voting.

So much insane shit happened - Abdi won supporting, Chiwetel won leading, Gravity won so many awards and then the main prize went to 12 Years a Slave...

Vengeance is coming in new trailer for Game of Thrones season 4

This is the beauty of knowing the story before the show airs - for non-book readers this is just a shot of Shae lying on the bed. But for us who read the book? OH. MY. GOD.

The new trailer for season 4 brought some cool things with it - mostly the Stark kids addressing the Red Wedding, Arya reciting her kill list and chilling look at White Walker near the end. Between this and that horrifying shot of Drogon I'm officially scared.

Get ready for the biggest season yet with Game of Thrones season 4 foreshadowing special!

If HBO's goal was to make everyone out there wish it was April 6th already with the brand new special for Game of Thrones that just aired - they succeeded. Not only did we get plenty of awesome stuff including very fun answers to fan questions, but also so many new shots from the upcoming season. The ending shot of featurette is probably the most epic shot of the show so far - look at the size of Drogon! I'm actually terrified.

Tom Hiddleston Appreciation

Thomas William Hiddleston

February 9, 1981, Westminster, London, England, UK

Never stop. Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming. And don’t be afraid of wearing your heart on your sleeve – in declaring the films that you love, the films that you want to make, the life that you’ve had, and the lives you can help reflect in cinema. For myself, for a long time… maybe I felt inauthentic or something, I felt like my voice wasn’t worth hearing, and I think everyone’s voice is worth hearing. So if you’ve got something to say, say it from the rooftops.

Dallas Buyers Club

There's been a lot of movies about survival in 2013. In All is Lost Robert Redford was trying to survive on an open sea. In Captain Phillips Tom Hanks was abducted by Somali pirates, who were hoping for ransom. In Gravity Sandra Bullock was floating in space and desperately looking for ways to return to Earth. In 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup had to endure the terrors of slavery in order to stay alive. Nature, greed, space, hatred. All as relentless and vicious as a disease. But at this time - 1985, in this place - Dallas - this disease was also something those four things weren't - unbeatable.

"But above all, I am a man". Remembering the work of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Today we all mourn the loss of a great acting talent. An actor who gave us many incredible performances and sadly won't do so anymore. And while thinking about that, it's truly hard to stop the tears.

Saturday TV Special - True Detective

Plot: In 2012, Louisiana State, Police Detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) are brought in to revisit a homicide case they worked in 1995. As the inquiry unfolds in present day through separate interrogations, the two former detectives narrate the story of their investigation, reopening unhealed wounds, and drawing into question their supposed solving of a bizarre ritualistic murder in 1995. The timelines braid and converge in 2012 as each man is pulled back into a world they believed they'd left behind. In learning about each other and their killer, it becomes clear that darkness lives on both sides of the law.
Structure: Each episode shows the main investigation from 1995 as well as the progression of Rust and Martin's relationship. Those scenes intertwine with the interviews they give in 2012 as they look back on the case and the time they spent working together.
Verdict: It's hard to judge a show only on three episodes but there are some comparing its quality to that of Breaking Bad's already. Hell, the ending to the last episode was something that would be an ordinary sight in BrBa, but here it was raised to something nightmarish. The pairing of McConaughey and Harrelson is already something that should get you interested and the show is gripping, mysterious and thought-provoking. This season contains 8 episodes and the next one will reportedly have different cast and different case, anthology style.