The fourth episode of Game of Thrones, entitled Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things, has a steady supply of all of the aforementioned outsiders and invalids. Jon Snow continues to face challenges as he trains to become a brother of the Night’s Watch; while young Bran Stark – whose dreams are being haunted by a mysterious three-eyed crow – struggles to come to terms with his new life as a parapelegic. Viewers are also introduced to another outcast – Samwell Tarly. A plump coward disowned by his aristocratic family and forced to take the black, Sam is ill-prepared for the harsh realities of life at Castle Black.

We also finally learn how yet another outcast, Prince Joffrey’s bodyguard The Hound, became so hideously burned. It seems that Sandor Clegane and his monstrosity of a brother, Gregor, have a bit of a messy history. Viewers quickly discover that the hulking Gregor Clegane — also known as The Mountain That Rides — has a penchant for violence, when he kills his opponent in what was meant to be a friendly tournament. After The Mountain dispatches the unfortunate Ser Hugh with a lance to the throat, Littlefinger regales Sansa Stark the terrible tale of the elder Clegane holding his younger sibling’s face to the fire when they were children. Expect the tumultous and disturbing relationship between these brothers be addressed more closely in future episodes.

But of all the outcasts in the Seven Kingdoms, none is more compelling then one Tyrion Lannister. The Imp has several increasingly hostile encounters with the Stark family during his return to King’s Landing. Despite his kind offering of designs for a saddle that will allow young Bran the freedom to move about on horseback, Robb Stark, already suspicious of Tyrion’s involvement in his brother’s fall, is less than welcoming. It is still very unclear what, if anything, the lesser Lannister had to do with the assassination attempt that nearly took the life of Catelyn and Bran. We know that it was his dagger that the would-be assassin used, and that his loyalty to his family is unquestioned. However, his involvement in the affair would indicate some knowledge of his siblings’ less-than-proper relationship. Does Tyrion know of Jaime and Cersei’s illicit affair? Our gut says that he does not… which makes his harsh treatment at the hands of Robb and subsequent arrest by Catelyn all the more troubling. The Lannisters may have started this feud, but the Starks seem more than willing to escalate it. - Will Perkins

Here is Thomas with a run down of the rest of the episode:

The Dragons

The balance of power between the Targaryen siblings has undergone a wholesale 180 degree shift in the four episodes we’ve seen – but Viserys’ understanding of the situation hasn’t caught up with reality. Viserys’ hyper-sensitivity and his callous treatment of his sister reaches new lows in this episode. As Dany, Jorah, Viserys and the hoard arrive at the Dothraki capital of Vaes Dothrak, Viserys takes exception to his sisters bossiness and rides into the city sullen and at the head of the pack – though no one seems to be following him.

One of the episodes most curious moments is the sex scene between Viserys and the slave girl Doreah in the bathtub. Viserys is at his touchy, selfish best – though he becomes animated as the girl quizzes him about dragons. Viserys has referred to himself as “the last Dragon” before, but when Doreah asks him whether he deserves the title or not, he feigns modesty, responding that, “it’s entirely possible.” This modest response is in stark contrast to the times when Viserys raises a hand to his sister, and threatens her with cries of “You have awoken the dragon.” That Dany immediately responds by smacking her brother in the face with some nearby chains and drawing blood, is telling. Unlike dragons — who deal with “anything that tries to hurt them,” by burning their enemies away “like so many candles,” — Viserys doesn’t really scare anybody.

The dragon concept is addressed again in a private conversation between Dany and Jorah. When the concept of Viserys as “the last dragon” is raised, Jorah proclaims that Viserys is a fraud. In Jorah’s view Viserys – far from being a dragon – “is less than the shadow of a snake.” The audience at this point will quite rightly shares Jorah’s view.

Full Metal Night’s Watch

Meanwhile in northernmost Westeros, we are introduced to Samwell Tarly, not-so-affectionately named “Piggy” by the hard edged master-at-arms, Ser Alliser Thorne. The scenes at The Wall were very reminiscent of the film Full Metal Jacket – and “Piggy” is definitely the Gomer Pile of Castle Black. Thorne takes his role as drill sergeant very seriously and hits every note: verbal abuse, homophobic insults, the assignment of menial tasks to Jon Snow for protecting Sam and harrowing stories about what he’s training the men for. We even got the classic night time barracks ambush as the recruits threaten a comrade in order to keep him in line. It got to the point that when Jon Snow started his anecdote about his inability to consummate a transaction with a whore named Ros, I half expected him to quote her as saying “Me love you long-time.”

The Flow of Information and Stark’s Investigation

I spoke at length last week about the lengths to which Game of Thrones has gone to dramatize the flow of information. That theme continues to be developed this week most notably with the conversation between Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish and Eddard Stark in the courtyard. Baelish, when he’s not pointing out the various spies in the courtyard, suggests to Stark that the former Hand’s squire, Hugh – who was recently knighted – was responsible for slipping Jon Arryn the poison.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scene between Baelish and Stark and especially enjoyed their exchange about trust. Littlefinger asks Ned if there is someone in his service that he trusts completely, to which Ned responds “Yes,” in reference to Jory. Littlefinger’s response: “the wiser answer would have been no,” turns out to be prophetic. Ned – upon discovering the King’s bastard – sends Jory with a message to King Robert, whose room is being guarded by Jaime. Relegated to guard duty, Jaime is surly and refuses to do Jory the courtesy of handing the message to the King. On the surface it’s a superficial exchange, but had Jaime agreed to deliver Ned’s message to the King the Lannisters would have learned of Stark’s investigation. There have been a number of moments like this already and I expect the “flow of information” theme to continue to be explored in Thrones.

Baelish also directed Stark to a smithy where he discoverd the King’s decidedly dark-haired bastard son, Gendry. We also learn more about what Jon Arryn, the former Hand, was up to before his death – he was looking through noble birth records and repeating to himself, “the seed is strong.” It seems that Ned’s investigation is beginning to bear fruit, or at least plants.

Arrivals, false glory and palace intrigue are the primary concerns of the third instalment of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The episode is entitled “Lord Snow”, though Jon Snow plays a relatively minor role in the episode as a whole, and is not technically a nobleman (more on this later).  Following the Stark family’s arduous journey from Winterfell, the episode begins with Ned’s uncomfortable arrival in King’s Landing, where he assumes the title of Hand of the King. We learn quickly that Ned has little time for the trivialities of the tropical capital, and his refusal to change into more appropriate garb for his first meeting with the King’s small council may tell us all we need to know about Ned’s suitability for the position he has just assumed.

On his way to the meeting, Ned has a tense conversation with Jaime Lannister about the death of Ned’s father and brother, and their talk shines more light on Jaime’s role in the murder of the “Mad King”, Aerys Targaryen. Though the show will be criticized by some for its reliance on exposition, we have, so far, found exchanges like the one between Jaime and Ned to be rather riveting. Ned’s implication that Jaime’s act of regicide was actually rather cowardly is very striking, and the public execution of Ned’s kin remains a point of curiosity (we can only hope for a gruesome flashback in a subsequent episode).

If you thought dual conspiracies threatening the king (one from the incestuous Lannister twins, and the other the result of the Targaryen union with the Dothraki horde) were concerning – add to it the fact that the Kingdom is in crippling debt, and the soldiers on the Wall are totally unprepared for the coming winter. The “broken cultural and political system” narrative adds urgency to the real politiking in the capital, and makes it so that Aiden Gillen’s appearance as Littlefinger in the series isn’t the only thing that will remind viewers of The Wire.

Reality is of little consequence, it seems, in King’s Landing – and elsewhere in Westeros for that matter. The gulf between the reality of kings of Westeros, and the glory bestowed upon them, is explored at length in two of the episode’s more curious scenes. This gap is introduced by Cersei’s revealing conversation with Prince Joffrey. She assuages his doubts about his own lack of character by assuring him that a King creates his own heroic reality, regardless of the veracity of that version. In a later conversation between the King, Barristan the Bold and the Kingslayer, the King Robert is flat-out interrogating Jaime about his first kill. Considering what we know about how Lannisters view their own relationship with reality; the King, and the audience, are quite right to be dubious of the heroic account given by Jaime. The King’s wonderful exclamation that the losers of a heroic battle often shit themselves but it “never makes it into the songs,” is a clear and rather humorous illustration of the “reality deficit” rampant in the seven kingdoms.

Which brings us back to Jon Snow – who has arrived and begun his training among the Night’s Watch. It was hinted at by the Imp in episode two – but in this episode we get a proper glimpse at the reality of the situation among the Night’s Watch. They are outcasts and criminals, abandoned men left to rot in the lonely cold of the Wall, “everyone knew what this place was” Jon Snow tells Tyrion, “but nobody told me.” Perhaps this is why the episode bears the noble version of Jon Snow’s name, he is the main victim of this gulf between reality and glory in Westeros.

Tidbits:

• The scenes with the Imp and Jon Snow at the Wall; the manner in which the Imp teaches Jon about how to lead his unsavoury compatriots; and the desperate pleas of the Night’s Watch elders to the Imp were well executed. The sense of foreboding and pending doom that pervades the show is most intense at the Wall – especially because the viewer knows for sure , what no characters will openly speculate about: the White Walker’s have indeed returned.

• The acting in this series continues to be strong, and the dialogue flows very well for an exposition heavy show in only its third episode. A comparison of Game of Thrones with the initial start of Boardwalk Empire (a show that took about half a season to get comfortable with itself) is very flattering to the Thrones writing staff. From a pure enjoyment standpoint: the scenes of Arya’s “dance-lessons” with Syrio were great fun, and I rewatched the cryptic monologue from Bram’s care-taker about “the boy who doesn’t like stories” and the “generation long winter” with glee.
• Aiden Gillen, ladies and gentleman. Is there a better actor to portray a rat-fink in all of television? I can’t think of any. When it comes to playing smarmy punchable sycophants, Gillen is, as Tina Turner might say, simply the best.
• The power-shift between Dany and Viserys was awesome for anyone who likes to see pompous, whiny, long-haired blonde dudes get pushed around (i.e. everyone). Dany’s pregnancy is – of course – a game-changer, as the look on Jorah Mormont’s face when he hears the news makes plain. Emilia Clarke has been excellent, and Dany’s character development has been a highlight so far. Her shared kiss with Drogo as she predicts that her spawn will be male, seemed like a genuinely happy moment between the couple – even if it’s clear that Drogo is mostly a means to an end for Dany.

With the introduction and exposition heavy first episode behind it, Game of Thrones now moves onto the business of the story. In the wake of shocking conclusion of the first episode (incest and attempted child murder still qualify as shocking, right?), the second episode, titled “The Kingsroad“, quite literally takes the action on the road. Many characters embark on journies that will shape the events of the entire season, and indeed the rest of the series. Ned Stark and his family leave the solitude of Winterfell for the uncertainty of King’s Landing; the alienated Jon Snow makes his way north to The Wall; the grief-stricken Catelyn Stark begins to unravel the treachery of the Lannisters; and Daenerys begins the arduous trek towards Dothraki capital of Vaes Dothrak and her unknown destiny.

The Kingsroad is likely the weakest of the first half dozen episodes, if only because it acts as a bridge of sorts between the events of the series opener and the meaty intrigues that begin in earnest come episode three. It still remains a competent piece of television, but it, like the episode preceding it, is utilitarian at best. The first two episode of Thrones are laying the foundations for the series; uneventful but strong, they perform their function admirably.

While the first episode of Thrones was mostly concerned with introducing characters and their back stories, the second episode focuses mainly on setting the tone for what is to come. Viewers already know that the Lannisters (namely Cersei and Jaime) will stop at nothing to protect their own interests, but here the Stark family gets their first real taste of Lannister dickery on multiple fronts. Jon Snow endures the mockery of the Lannister brothers (one seriously, and one in jest), Catelyn and Bran Stark are nearly killed by an assassin apparently hired by the Lannisters, and Ned Stark and his daughters learn first hand that the Queen’s family is not to be trifled with. It’s the tumultuous relationship between these two families that forms the backbone of Thrones, and it only gets uglier.

The assassin's blade figures heavily in the events of the season.

This episode may be a bit of a road show, but it’s far from dull. Catelyn and Daenerys, who began the series as a doting mother and timid political bargaining chip respectively, are almost completely transformed by the end of the episode. They cease being spectators to the events engulfing them, and begin to direct those events through action. Sansa Stark on the other hand, reveals herself content to spectate as events unfold, even if those circumstances impact her family negatively. Viewers should get used to this kind of behaviour from her character.

Tyrion Lannister, who was easily the most well characterized and nuanced character in Martin’s novels, makes the transition to the screen wonderfully, due, in large part to the excellent Peter Dinklage. While Dinklage’s accent remains as the Brits would say, “a bit dodgy”, he delivers his lines with such humour and aplomb that it’s easy to ignore his obviously affected voice. If Tyrion is not already your favourite character, he soon will be.

Kingsroad is a significant episode because it puts the characters in motion, but it doesn’t do much else. Viewers have yet to meet the colourful cast of characters that populate the capital city of King’s Landing and the dreary Castle Black at the foot of The Wall. In that way, episode two is essentially just a journey towards more intriguing and interesting things. As is the case with most serialized television shows, individual episodes can suffer from being part of a larger story arc. However, when viewed as part of a whole season seemingly weak episodes can take on even more importance.

I didn’t walk into Your Highness with high expectations, that would have been silly, but I was looking forward to it in a way that defies my general like of good taste (not unlike my relationship with Jackass.) Maybe it was just the vibe I was feeling, after seeing High School last year, upping the ante with a stoner-fantasy genre hybrid suddenly felt like exactly the nosh I was hungry for. If you have always been more of the “let’s rip hits and play D&D” than the “let’s eat marshmallows and work on our stat sheets” kind, then Your Highness would seem like a pretty obvious outing for the weekend. But as easy as stoner comedy, mixed with any genre, seems like it should be, even it has a gracefully hazed sophistication that has to be clued in on: the reason that Evil Bong has never once been equated to Up in Smoke. There isn’t a formula for this sort of subgenre as much as there is a vibe, and I’m sad to say no matter how much you tint your eyes rose coloured before entering the theatre, Your Highness doesn’t do a great job flowing with it.

Fabious (James Franco) is a handsome, dashing and skilled prince, known for journeying on brave quests and vanquishing terrible foes. This is unlike his younger brother Thadeous (Danny McBride) who’s a slacker, at best, more known for lazing about with goat men and pestering dwarves. Fabious is now about to wed Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), a gorgeous virgin he had rescued from the clutches of the evil, magical and awkward Leezar (Justin Theroux.) Any separation anxiety is cut short when Leezar takes back his choice virgin to fulfill a dragon bearing prophecy. And finally get laid.

Fantasy fiction and stoner audiences are a really great relationship. The two styles can be so synchronic that it’s difficult to say which of fantasy’s greatest champions weren’t, ahem, inspired by the other. From Avatar to Wizards, plenty of actual fantasy films can circumstantially become potent comedies through, ahem, ‘inspiration’. Admittedly, that’s probably an active element in Wizards. So this film should have been a real cinch, simply push the naturally absurd elements of the fantasy genre, removing any subtle silk screen between it and it’s greener counterparts should make for a good, if not blunt, time. While the stoner goof motif is certainly used as an excuse for the freedom of its fantasy silliness, its balancing of priorities between the two genres is unusually mixed. And not in the way you’ll expect.

The fantasy, surprisingly, holds its own. While in this context it had all rights to just jerk about with every Tolkien trope, they shockingly worked beyond it and some legitimately neat concepts peak through. A tribal warlock who can turn his hand into a beast of snakes by dipping it in a vat of what appears to be mustard, and even Leezar’s goal, to impregnate a pretty virgin with a dragon seed, isn’t even that far out of the question for a mystical paperback. This sounds like a pretty big upside, yet it actually begins to take away from the more hoped for comedic elements. Franco and Natalie Portman (who plays a vengeful archer) play their characters a bit too straight; surrounded by plenty of others who do practically the same, it feels like they are dulling the sharper objectives of the movie. Even more hampered by similar woes is the action and fighting scenes, which are all done fairly conventionally. Ask any Jackie Chan fanatic and you would know that having funny fights can carry the comedy by itself, so to have choreographed the sword play be so narrow feels like a huge missed opportunity. And this just leaves us with the intended comedy, which doesn’t fare much better.

I am sure that finding out the humour is entirely juvenile won’t surprise or disappoint you, but what you don’t know is just how flat it all felt. Almost every punchline was about dicks, and if it wasn’t a punchline it was just throwing the word ‘fuck’ around the script hoping it would sometimes click with the audience. Even weed, yes, weed, which by the very title should be the assumed uniting force is barely present at all. Complaining that ‘they weren’t high enough’ isn’t a very typical grievance, but in a self labelled stoner comedy it is pretty surprising that there are only two brief encounters with lush dank in the feature length film. Get off your high horse and just get high, stoners are hilarious and you know it. This film, sadly, isn’t as funny as a pothead trying to justify his own actions.

I was hoping for a re-enactment of playing Dungeons & Dragons with your most blazed and vulgar friends, pushing a quest forward without taking it very seriously, instead what we have is more akin screaming wiener while The Black Cauldron plays. The gags all seem similar and by the second act it neglects to either introduce a new angle to the humour or even let any of it accumulate into a larger jest. The best jokes were used up in the very first trailer (that got me so dang excited too!) If you think getting ‘inspired’ beforehand may aid you in this quest, I regret to inform you that the fantastical of Your Highness never taps into that chaotic fiasco which usually unleashes such guttural giggles. It seems to worry about respecting its own fantasy elements too much to respect its comedy.

The Hobbit, the highly anticipated film based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved book, has finally begun shooting today in New Zealand.

Late yesterday evening, two teaser photos of director Peter Jackson posing in the iconic circular entrance to Bilbo’s Shire crib, were released on Jackson’s Facebook page. Jeff Lebreque at Entertainment Weekly described the film’s “pre-production” stage as “the most luckless in recent memory,” summarizing the obstacles the film has faced: “financial concerns, a labor conflict, the loss of director Guillermo del Toro and subsequent rescue by Lord of the Rings godfather Peter Jackson, Jackson’s health scare, and an earthquake that rattled [Christchurch] New Zealand.” Though the tribulations already faced by the film would concern any well-worn, bearded adventurer – be they Gandalf, or Francis Ford Coppola - the shots from the set should serve to calm the concerns of fanboys, who had begun to doubt whether or not the 500 million dollar blockbuster would ever get made.

The Hobbit is slated to be released in two-parts, the first in December of 2012 and the second in 2013. Scene-burglar turned ring-thief Martin Freeman - who plays Dr. John Watson in BBC’s awesome Sherlock series – is slated to play Bilbo (we were unable to confirm rumours that he narrowly edged out Patton Oswalt for the part). Many of the old favourites from Lord of the Rings will reprise their roles including: Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom and, of course, Ian Mckellen as Gandalf the Grey. Bonus Dork Nugget – according to the The Hobbit: Part 1‘s IMDB page – Leonard Nimoy is rumoured to be the voice-actor behind Smaug the dragon. That would be awesome.

Directed by Yellow Submarine animator Gerald Potterton and featuring a stellar cast of canuck voice talent (John Candy, Jackie Burroughs, Eugene Levy), this anthology film, based on the famous sci-fi and fantasy pulp magazine of the same of the name, has endured as both a cult attraction and as a highly influential slice of 1980s animated insanity. It is also responsible for many a fantasy of flying a 1960 Corvette through space.

Heavy Metal repeats the following Sunday at 9:30pm.
Tickets $8.

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Since the first Fable game, Peter Molyneux has over projected expectations of his now trademark series; from the far reaching promises of epic make-your-own-adventures to gloating about the tears of emotion running down his face upon his first playthrough. All of it, as you probably know, has come off as a bit obnoxious and delusional, since, with the series bogged down by lazy combat and fart jokes, the fabled Fable has never really stood up to its own concocted legacy. Fable isn’t bad, the games have always maintained a certain level of being ‘okay’, but the pond feels even shallower when games like Fallout effortlessly accomplish what Molyneux promised the games would be. Now on to its third entry and, strangely enough, least hyped one, Fable III does what neither of the previous games did, using an aggressively different formula to try to mix things up a little bit. Does this revolution-based revolution offer a glimpse into Peter’s long-winded fantasies or will you just be absorbing more troll-related toilet humour?

The world of Albion has experienced its Industrial Revolution-type era, and while that means an age of commodity will soon be underway, it also means the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer and the city will be lined with a thick skin of sewage. You are the prince/princess of this land, and sadly your older brother and king, Logan, hasn’t exactly made the transition into the new age very comfortable for his subjects. His taxation is without representation, his militia keep the locals down and those who stand against them are made examples of with a crude bullet. Things come to a peak when Logan forces you to choose between two sets of lives and soon after, Sir Walter, an ally of your father (your father being the protagonist of the previous game) helps you escape from the palace to begin building the foundations for a revolution. Which, by the way is only half the game.

Like the previous entries, you are on an odyssey to recruit mighty warriors for an amazing crusade, but every ally comes with a price: a promise you make will need to be repaid when the crown becomes your burden instead of your brotherly tyrant’s. This quest will take you to the high peaks of snowy mountains to the sandy deserts to a whole lot of caves as you squash imps who aren’t called imps, werewolves who aren’t called werewolves, zombies who aren’t called zombies and shoot gnomes who… well, okay the gnomes are actually still called gnomes. Also, like the previous entries, sprinkled about the sidewalks of your quest path are side-objectives (the best of which have you explore new dungeon-y worlds exclusive to the task, the most of which are fetch quests), houses to buy and relationships, marriages and children to never bother with. And the dog that barks at treasure, he’s back. What is different than the previous games is that you are now royal blue blood, one who’s even expected to develop super powers shortly after puberty. Once you bear the crown, and you do (spoiler!), you then have to make some power fatiguing decisions.

Your brother reveals that the reason he was such a dick to his subjects and let his rich dickish subjects also be huge dicks was all a means to an end. He needed to build an army to fight against an evil omnipotent entity that had been prophesized to attack in exactly one year. That responsibility then becomes your responsibility, but amassing a fortune to train a militia worthy of combating this sort of evil is directly at odds with all those promises you so carelessly made to usurp the crown. Now, even with the context of staving off a nameless dark god in the near future, many of your subjects and allies expect you to drop mad gold on bureaucratic and cosmetic fixations around the kingdom, praising you and hissing at you based on those decisions alone, as if completely unfazed by the impending apocalypse. Though to be fair, spending a fifth of your wealth to make the orphanage a little cleaner makes a lot of sense under the assumption that  they would soon be receiving many, many more orphans.

Choices are broken down between good and evil, with very few opportunities for a plausible middle ground. Spending money makes the people happy, saving money makes the people angry, spending a full hour baking pies in a minigame yields indifference. Of course there is a third, slightly unofficial option. Like Fable II, playing the real estate game is all too kind for the player, and with the option of submitting your personal fortune to the treasury it’s very easy to amass the wealth needed to pay off all the needs of the people, your super soldier army, and have enough left over to do it all again. You can be the land’s greatest hero simply by being a run-of-the-mill landlord. And just like that, any gravity the game had pinned to your pining conscience vanishes faster than it appeared.

I’ll be honest, I was totally expecting a third act full of terrible war, for the game to suddenly grow some strategy elements and have the decisions you had made up until that point heavily influence the outcome of the conflict. But no, all your choices come down to faceless numbers living or dying as you clash steel on copper in the easiest final conflict ever. Raging against enemies you’ve already whupped in other stages, now with even stronger weapons to call your own. There are a lot of missed opportunities going down in the world of Albion, most of which come from assuming you get a better kick out of caves and sewers than open and inspired areas. One of my favourite locations in the game is Driftwood, a small collection of inlets you get to develop a community on through a variety of quests. I had hoped that discovering the desert world of Aurora would also bear the same depth but alas, not quite or even close. The gnome hunt is easily the best of the ongoing side-quests you experience, a one-up from the extravagant treasure hunts that the game is otherwise drenched with.

My biggest problem with Fable III as a followup is that it seems more determined to add more twists than fixes. Interactions with stock characters feel as frivolous as they are encouraged, combat is still incredibly boring despite the game acting as if it’s worth the wait through the tedious loading screens. As for the writing, humour and atmosphere, they still come off as Pete Molyneux’s nervous Terry Pratchett tribute, this time amplified by the wedged in steampunk elements. Nothing is better, but there’s certainly more, so if you had no arguments before go ahead and enjoy another meal. But I like something with a little more meat and a lot less starch in my epic journeys of virtual self discovery.

Sword & Sworcery certainly sticks out on Wired UK’s games to watch in 2011 list: it and thatgamecompany’s Journey are the only items that weren’t created by industry juggernauts like Rockstar or Nintendo. I suppose their presence on the list also fills the indie game quota, and a mobile/iPad entry in the list, but its choice to represent that sector speaks volumes. Anyone who saw the game’s presentation at Gamercamp 2010 will know why S:S&S:EP (copy editor’s nightmare, right there) is special, with its combination of mature pixel art and a haunting score. It’s proof that Toronto’s growing indie game community can create fantastic things, and that their talents can garner recognition even across the Atlantic.

Read our interview with Kris Piotrowski, one of the developers behind Sword & Sworcery, here.

See more of Sword & Sworcery EP on the official internet site here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Exclusive Game of Thrones fan gear at the HBO Shop

Thrones was adapted for the small screen by writers David Benioff (25th Hour, The Kite Runner) and D. B. Weiss (Lucky Wander Boy), who pitched the series to HBO as “The Sopranos in Middle Earth”. If this trailer is any indication, viewers can count on plenty of political intrigue, war, betrayal, violence and incest — fans of the novels already know what to expect. Game of Thrones seems better suited for HBO than any show in recent memory.

Game of Thrones will premiere on April 17, 2011 on HBO Canada and HBO.

For more detailed coverage of all things Thrones, we highly recommend checking out Winter is Coming and the official behind-the-scenes blog at HBO.

Before I get into discussing Nic Cage’s latest masterpiece, Season of the Witch, I want to discuss an article I read in the New York Times recently in which it is revealed that Nic Cage, the genius, left his role as the villain in this week’s The Green Hornet because director Michel Gondry wouldn’t let him use a Jamaican accent. WTF Michel? Do you think you know better than Nic Cage? Well, you don’t. Sure, you may think Cage’s replacement, Christoph Waltz was the best part of Quentin Tarantino’s epic Inglourious Basterds , and you may think Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is a truly inventive auteur, but this movie had the chance to be something truly special: A Nic Cage does a Jamaican accent film.

But the good news is, while we wait for Cage to find a role to try on his accent, we can watch him not try an accent in Season of the Witch, a movie about 14^th century knights. And witches. And Ron Perlman headbutting the devil. It takes a ballsy movie to endorse medieval witch hunts, and that’s what this movie is: BALLSY. Besides, Cage’s character goes through a crisis of faith and the Church kind of comes across as rather hypocritical, so we probably shouldn’t be too offended by the rather misogynistic suggestion that witches caused the Bubonic Plague. Plus, there’s a last act twist that slightly nullifies the sexism. So it’s probably about as offensive as Neil Labute’s The Wicker Man (also starring Cage), but more because the themes probably got confused in the umpteenth rewrite than because the director obviously has issues with women.

Speaking of the Plague, however, have you ever imagined what people infected with it look like? Well, in Season of the Witch, they look a bit like the trolls in Lord of the Rings, but with extra-grotesque protrusions from random parts of the body, which then leak pus all over the place. Oddly, Cage encounters many plague infected people throughout the film, but never contracts it himself, presumably because he’s a BADASS. A badass with a conscience. One of the victims of the plague is the Bishop, played by the one and only (and awesome) Christopher Lee, of Hammer Horror film fame, whose face is unrecognizable, but whose voice is the exact opposite. Christopher Lee also starred in the original Wicker Man, and was replaced by Kathy Bates in the remake. I wonder if Cage and Lee talked about that on set? Although, in all that make-up it might have been difficult for Lee to speak, so probably not.

But back to the plot. In the opening montage, Cage and the also awesome Ron Perlman play a couple of rambunctious knights on Crusade, alternating between killing heathens and banging chicks at the local tavern. But after about six years, Cage’s character, Behman, realizes that killing innocent women is a bad thing, and bounces with his partner in tow. As directed by Dominic Sena (the auteur behind Gone in 60 Seconds), these Crusade scenes are spectacularly artificial, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail directed by Zack Snyder. When these two decide to desert and walk home (to Romania? I dunno where these knights are from, but you know this was filmed in one of those Northeast European countries with an “ia” at the end of its name Uwe Boll-style), we are privy to their brotherly love, which reveals itself in good-natured insults about each-others sexual endeavours and bodily odour, all delivered in faux-medieval dialogue that you would expect to come with a British accent, but doesn’t. Cage’s delivery, in particular, sounds quite poetic.

Anyways, once they get captured for desertion in a plague-ridden and very muddy town, Christopher Lee’s bishop offers them clemency if they deliver a witch to a sanctuary where she can be disposed of properly. I guess it’s supposed to be like going to the veterinarian to get your rabid dog put down instead of shooting it in the head. Of course, Behman, still feeling some male guilt over those women he murdered on the Crusades, feels rather conflicted about this, and starts to wonder if she’s really a witch or not. But that game’s pretty much up after she calls a pack of demon-wolves to kill everyone. I’ve hear it said by some blasphemous souls that this movie is a bore, mostly because Cage plays it (relatively) straight. I disagree. Cage’s trademark consternating facial expression is perfect for this role. Besides, we have demon-wolves and Ron Perlman to spice things up. Did I mention that he headbutts the devil? Plus, we get a pretty great Cage haircut. I dunno if it rivals Cage’s greatest of all time hair in Con-Air, but it’s at least equal to his mangy mullet in Bangkok Dangerous, and probably equally as dirty (there were no showers in the 14^th Century). All in all, this film is, obviously, a masterpiece. Way better than the motherfucking Green Hornet is going to be, anyways.

Sean Bean as Eddard Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones

Prior to the season finale of Boardwalk Empire, HBO offered a 15 minute behind-the-scenes look at their new fantasy series Game of Thrones. The sprawling story is based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by author and former TV scribe George R. R. Martin — who also serves as a producer on the show. Game of Thrones revolves around the turbulent medieval kingdom of Westeros, where the seasons can last for decades and the ruling houses vie for control of the coveted Iron Throne. The cable channel seems to be pulling out all the stops for this show, offering up a huge and talented cast, exotic locales and the talented writing team of D.B. Weiss and David Benioff.

See the behind-the-scenes video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Exclusive Game of Thrones fan gear at the HBO Shop

At the centre of Game of Thrones is Eddard Stark (Sean Bean), a northern lord attempting to protect his family during tumultuous times. Opposing the Starks are the powerful and power-hungry Lannisters; the manipulative Queen Cersei (Lena Headey), her twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and their younger brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). TV fans may also recognize Thrones stars Aiden Gillen as Tommy Carcetti from The Wire and Jason Momoa as Ronon Dex from Stargate Atlantis.

The novels are perfect fodder for HBO, with love, betrayal, political intrigue, violence and war all figuring heavily in the proceedings. A few of us here on the site are massive fans of Martin’s novels, so to see them so wonderfully realized on the small screen is a true delight. We only hope that Thrones does not suffer the same fate as HBO’s other medieval drama Rome, which was cancelled due to huge production costs.

For more info on the series we recommend you check out the official “Making of Game of Thrones” Blog and the excellent fan site Winter-is-Coming.net.

Game of Thrones will debut on HBO and HBO Canada in April 2011.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Exclusive Game of Thrones fan gear at the HBO Shop

Thrones creators David Benioff (25th Hour, The Kite Runner) and D. B. Weiss (Lucky Wander Boy) pitched the show to HBO as “The Sopranos in Middle Earth”. Viewers won’t be seeing any elves or goblins in Game of Thrones, and what magic there is, remains very understated and subtle. If the novels are any indication, viewers can count on plenty of political intrigue, war, betrayal, violence and incest. If any series is made for HBO, it is most definitely Game of Thrones. The show is set to premiere in Spring 2011.

You can learn more about Game of Thrones at the excellent fan site Winter-is-coming.net