The Rings Of Power A Rethink And A Changing Of Opinion

I want to use this piece to talk about The Rings Of Power, now as some of you may know I reviewed the very first episode of this show and gave it a trashing, however, for one reason or another I decided to give the next few episodes a try and see if the show picked up and not only did it do that but I ended up really liking the show as a whole. In this piece I want to talk about my changed feelings about The Rings Of Power and also the ability to change opinions and have opinions evolve over time.

Many civilised people know that you can have an opinion on something one day and change it the next, however, there are some out there who call you a hypocrite for changing your opinion or for having a rethink of something in a renewed context. These people are silly and their criticism invalid.

Anyway, I had a strongly negative reaction to the first episode of the show, but I found almost all of my issues with the show were fixed entirely in the remainder of the season. The issues with cannon really weren’t as big as many made them out to be and in some case the issues were actually nonexistent, Galadriel, played by Morfydd Clarke, does think she is better than everyone but she is brought down a peg over the course of the season and humanised. Indeed Galadriel ends up being one of the best characters of the show and a lot of that is to do with Clarke’s performance.

Moreover, what the show does with its wider cast really brings the show together in a nice satisfying way, the finale pays off almost all of the mysteries of the season and gives each character their due. In this regard I particularly like the twist reveal of who Sauron is and how they end things with him.

I suppose the point of this piece is to say I was wrong, The Rings Of Power is a good show and you should check it out.

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House Of The Dragon: The Black Queen

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

War finally breaks out.

Sorry readers that summary is in some ways misleading, as you see therein lies my big issue with this finale. The whole season has set up this big war between the Blacks and the Greens, but do we get to see any of it? No, we don’t. In essence this whole episode is just yet more set up and filler.

I suppose you could claim the dragon battle counted as some action, but frankly after all the slow talking scenes and set up I was expecting far more action in the finale. I thought Rhaenyra’s order of no fighting until she gives the word was basically the writers way of saying let’s leave it all to next season as it allows for the episode to drag out the threat and prospect of war without actually delivering much of anything.

There are still some good scenes, including the dragon fight, as don’t get me wrong this isn’t a bad episode it is just sorely disappointing.

Overall, yet more teasing.

Pros.

Matt Smith’s performance

Showing the childbirth scene and pushing that boundary on screen

The dragon fight and what it sets up for the next season

Cons.

It is disappointing

The season long build up doesn’t lead to much of anything

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House Of The Dragon: The Green Council

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Viserys, played by Paddy Considine, finally dies and sides are formed across the nation.

I enjoyed this episode for the most part, it really does feel like we are getting close to the action and to the start of the war, with the opening shot of it maybe being fired in the final moments of the episode.

I liked all the scheming and backstabbing and thought that a lot of things that had been set up earlier in the season really came into their own and made the episode work. In many ways this episode does all that a penultimate episode of a series should it sets the stage for the finale.

Something that I was less keen on in the episode was its efforts to humanise Alicent, played by Olivia Cooke, who by this point is turning into one of the major villains of the show. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with a nuanced and layered villain but sometimes you just want to see them be evil.

Overall a good set up episode for the finale.

Pros.

The ending

The set up

Bringing in elements from across the season

The excitement to come

Cons.

The show needs to just let Alicent be a villain

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House Of The Dragon: The Lord Of The Tides

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Families are brought round the dinner table to try and mend fences

I thought this was a slower episode for sure but I did like the fact that it highlighted Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy and Alicent, played by Oliva Cooke used to be friends. There are moments in the episode where you almost think maybe this is all going to work out okay, maybe they can put their difference aside and be friends again, but then you realise the show that you are watching.

I thought Ser Vaemond felt very villain of the week like and it was clear from the offset that something bad would happen to him. However, I can’t complain too much as this storyline did give us an immensely satisfying Daemon, played by Matt Smith, moment in which he cuts Vaemond head in two and also allows for Viserys, played by Paddy Considine, to have one last strong moment and go out on top.

Overall, a fun episode but certainly not the best of the series.

Pros.

Daemon splitting heads

Viserys going out on top

Reminding us of the friendship between Rhaenyra and Alicent

Cons.

It is a bit slow

Sir Vaemond felt like a villain of the week

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Luckiest Girl Alive: Exploiting Pain

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The struggles of a young woman, played by Mila Kunis, as she makes her way in the world.

Netflix needs to take a long hard look in the mirror releasing this only a few weeks after Blonde, both films which can be viewed as exploitative and as fetishising sexual violence and female misery. I have read to a degree that some think this film could have done with a trigger warning, or to have not gone as hard as it did, but I would argue that the real issue is that the subject matter wasn’t handled well at all, lacking any kind of grace rather being instead a brute force act of shock. I can understand to a degree the director choosing to do things the way they did to show the true horrors of life for a young woman but at the same time I would argue that this verges into a new form of torture porn along the way.

Additionally, unlike other reviewers I don’t think Mila Kunis was the right lead for this film. Though she does have some acting talent which has been shown more in her recent dramatic work I just don’t think it is strong enough to carry this film. If anything the weakness of Kunis’ acting abilities are only brought to the fore here and from that she is crushed under them.

Moreover, the pace moves so breezily by everything that nothing really has a chance to sink in or to mean anything at all. The film aims for these lofty high art goals of replicating the human condition but it comes nowhere close as the technical failings mean it is hamstrung from the opening minutes, the pacing is truly quite bad being both overly long and rushed at the same time.

Overall, yikes Netflix stop profiteering from other people’s grief and pain. Lets hope this new form of grief induced torture porn ends early so we aren’t subjected to more films like this.

Pros.

It tries to tell an important story

Cons.

It is bleak throughout

Kunis isn’t strong enough to carry it

The pacing is awful

It fixates and fetishizes grief and pain far too much

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Rosaline: Reducing Shakespeare To Make Bland Tasteless Garbage

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The untold story of Rosaline, played by Kaitlyn Dever, Romeo’s ex-girlfriend.

Yikes another group of old people trying to right how they think Gen Z talk. This film is deeply unfunny on multiple levels and more often than not crosses over into irritating territory, I didn’t laugh once whilst watching.

Moreover, the titular heroine of Rosaline was deeply unlikeable for most of the film and behaved like a brat who used people for her own ends. Not only did this make her detestable it also meant that she needed to be redeemed by the end of the film in a narrative sense, yet the film just thought that it could cram all of her apologies and soul searching into a 5 minute sequence then move on which makes the whole thing feel incredibly shallow.

In addition to those glaring issues the film also has Rosaline using men for sex and then just chucking them treating them more as bodies than as people, and whilst I acknowledge that there is a long cinematic tradition of male characters doing this, in modern times it is seen as wrong to do so. As such if Rosealine’s character was male and behaved the same way their would be an outcry against this film yet it is okay because she is a woman? Surely for things to be truly equal if anyone regardless of gender just uses a person for their body and doesn’t even treat them like a human being it deserves to be called out as wrong. To ply further scorn, the film also includes an incredibly reductive stereotypical gay best friend character, played by Spencer Stevenson, which feels like it belongs in a film from at least a decade ago.

Overall, a terrible film that no one will fondly remember.

Pros.

A nice central romance

Dever is trying her best

Cons.

The lead is awful throughout

It is unfunny

Some of its characters are reductive stereotypes

It has nothing to say and isn’t a clever play on Romeo and Juliet

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House Of The Dragon: Driftmark

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Things come to blows at a funeral.

I think this may have been the best episode of House Of The Dragon yet. The tension throughout the episode was palpable, and the coming war is just screaming out at this point. Through out the whole of the episode you feel as though you are on a knife edge just waiting to fall over the other side, but that never comes which in my mind was disappointing.

I liked that Alicent, played by Olivia Cooke, finally made her feelings for Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy known openly and I thought the scene where she tried to stab her was, pardon the overused phrase, edge of seat viewing. However, my issue with this scene was that it felt anticlimactic, as though the show knows what we all want and told us to wait till after dinner. The fact that nothing was done about Alicent trying to kill a princess is shocking, and I for one was screaming at the TV ‘are you really going to let her get away with that’.

In other developments House Of The Dragon much like its forbearer Game Of Thrones is again pushing another incestuous pairing front and centre, but unlike with GOT here you are actually rooting for the couple far more. Matt Smith’s Daemon is great here, as always, and I really enjoyed his sneaky cloak bad scene towards the end of the episode; it is always fun to see him get into mischief.

Overall, I came damn near close to giving this 5, but I felt the ending was just a little anticlimactic.

Pros.

The tension

War is brewing

It is edge of seat viewing

The ending

Dameon and Rhaenyra finally get together

Cons.

It is a little anti-climatic

The Horror Of Dracula: From Transylvania To Klausenberg

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A retelling of the classic Dracula tale.

I have long heard that this is one of the definitive takes on the classic novel, however, now after seeing I think that it lacks a certain something. Obviously, I am approaching this old film with modern sensibilities so some things will be lost in translation, but I think that it really suffers from clearly being very low budget. Now I know Hammer Horror was low budget and campy and that was all part of the charm, but I think here due to limitations Dracula, played by Christopher Lee, was able to be set up as a truly terrifying threat.

Moreover, I also think that this film makes a number of odd changes to the book that seem to serve no purpose other than to be confusing, as for the most part it is just swapping around character names and backstories somewhat. I don’t really understand why the film did this as it certainly didn’t add anything.

However, the incredibly strong positive this film has going for it is the legendary Christopher Lee, who easily blends into the role of Dracula and I thought was able to make the role his own and put his personal spin on it. Lee saves this film from mediocrity.

Overall, a very average film pushed up by Christopher Lee.

Pros.

Lee

It is very watchable

The final battle

Cons.

It makes strange changes to the source material for no real reason

It’s low budget hurts it in places

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House Of The Dragon: The Princess And The Queen

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A time jump highlights the breakdown in relations between Alicent, played by Olivia Cooke, and Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy, meanwhile Daemon, played by Matt Smith, grieves.

I think again this was a slower paced episode but also one that featured a lot of great performances. Emma D’Arcy is magnificent in every scene they are in, and can communicate a great deal with even the smallest facial gesture, Cooke is also excellent and her character is quickly becoming a love to hate villain.

I thought the Dameon side plot was a little out of left field, but it was nice to see him actually happy with his lady wife as it adds some greater depth to his character. I do think the asides the episode makes to check in with his character slow it down a lot and not in any kind of good way.

The final battle/ red wedding esque fire scene was a very fitting end for the episode and really helped to make it feel as though things are ramping up as we head into the final few episodes of the season.

Overall, a good episode but definitely slower and less interesting than some of the others.

Pros.

Exploring new depths with Daemon

D’Arcy

Cooke

The ending of the episode

Cons.

It is quite slow paced

Some of the breaks away to focus on Daemon’s new life feel quite dull

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House Of The Dragon: We Light The Way

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rhaenyra, played by Milly Alcock, gets married and battle lines are drawn.

I think this was another great episode of House Of The Dragon. The opening of Daemon, played by Matt Smith, killing his wife was absolutely chilling and reminded us of the monster that he really is. Couple this with the marriage brawl murder later in the episode and we really get quite a lot of violence and mayhem here.

I thought the courtroom intrigue was possibly stronger here then it was last week. I like that the show is very clearly laying down roots, you can see the future planning happening. I think the character work here is also really strong and several characters get a nice amount of development.

If I had one criticism of this episode it would be how much focus they give to Alicent, played by Emily Carey, and her fixation on Rhaenyra’s virginity. I feel like in GOT the character would have used this information to their advantage and not acted shocked for the whole episode, which came across almost as a mixture of naivety and slut shaming. It made Alicent very easily hateable.

Overall, the show is really hitting its stride.

Pros.

The opening Daemon scene

The wedding sequence

The future set up

The ramping tension

Cons.

The way they write Alicent

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