HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - Series Wrap Up

We come here to say goodbye to Game of Thrones. While we’re still going to get to play around in this universe courtesy HBO’s numerous prequels, sequels, and spin-offs planned, and of course George’s assurances that he’s still writing, we’re not going to get any more of this particular take on the story. How do we feel about this? Does The Last Watch documentary change those feelings? We discuss these and more before getting the final words from feedback. We’ll see you all for “Fire & Blood” and the prequels!

Bald Move Pulp - Fleabag Wrap, Dead to Me, The Perfection

Me, Cecily and Jim have some recommendations and thoughts for your weekend viewing! We rave about the nearly flawless two seasons of Fleabag we just saw on Amazon Prime (00:00:00), Jim gives a bit of a preview for Netflix’s new dramedy Dead to Me (00:00:00), starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, and then… we get to our review of The Perfection (00:00:00). This is a movie that Jim walked out on. Twice. Yet people are loving this film. What gives? Cecily and me try to defend the film on it’s merits, but the truth is it’s a hot mess of a film that tries to get away with a lot it probably shouldn’t be trying, and you’re either up to seeing it or you’re not.

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 806 – The Iron Throne – SpoiLore Edition

In our penultimate podcast for HBO’s Game of Thrones, we invite Gods of Thrones co-author Anthony Le Donne back to the studio to discuss how the book might resolve in ways that are consistent, but perhaps more satisfying, than some found the show’s resolution. Then we’re off to feedback, where we talk about Martin’s progress on Winds, our thoughts on Bran the Broken, where things line up with Dany’s prophecies in the final analysis, and much more on “The Iron Throne”. See you next week as we sign off and transform the podcast into a Thrones prequels feed!

Bald Move Pulp - Aladdin (2019)

If you’re wishing for a three-way review of Disney’s latest live-action adaptation, Aladdin, then listener you’re in luck. Wish granted. Cecily, Jim, and I went to see it tonight with appropriately low expectations, but were very pleasantly surprised at how much fun and energy the movie provided. Better, the script smartly adapted the original, improving it’s pacing while also adding depth to Jafar’s intrigue and Jasmine’s character, making it smarter and more relatable to modern audiences. The Tomatometer is kinda brutal for Al and friends right now (59% as of this writing), so take our review with a grain of salt. And we’re still skeptical of the long term viability of these live-action adaptations, but we feel like this movie is proof that they aren’t necessarily doomed to be pointless wastes of time.

Bald Move Pulp - Chernobyl – Episode 3 – Open Wide, O Earth

Jim and I have seen episode three of HBO’s Chernobyl series, “Open Wide, O Earth”, and are shaken by the graphic depiction of the Chernobyl first responders’ last days. We get to see the horror from multiple perspectives, the victims themselves, the and the friends and family who struggle to cope with this strange manner of death and the danger it poses to them. Meanwhile as the Soviets manage to contain and stop the fire, we gear up for the long war ahead; to fully contain the death and destruction of Chernobyl it will require 750k lives and three years of sacrifice. Will they be up for the challenge? And will they solve the mystery of the reactor’s destruction, so that it might never happen again? All this plus some light discussion on the relative merits of free market capitalism vs centrally planned economies in feedback. You know, kids stuff.

Super Serious Film Fest - Willow (1988)

The Super Serious Film Fest: Fantasy reaches it’s thrilling conclusion with a look at 1998’s Willow. The brain child of one George Lucas, directed by protege Ron Howard, and starring the delightful Warwick Davis, Willow still struggles to this day to find an audience. It suffers from simultaneously being curiously dark for a family film, but far too simple, uncomplicated, and broad to hold much interest for adults. While it boasted some cutting edge special effects for our day, the best one might be the baby Elora herself, played by a suite of infants. It shouldn’t be possible for a baby to be this winsome and charming, but there it is.

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 806 – The Iron Throne

Winter came and went, an evil queen was overthrown, and it was so nice we had to do it twice. “The Iron Throne” is Game of Thrones attempt to hurry up and tie up all those loose ends. Was it satisfying? That depends on how you’ve felt about the show for the past two seasons. Ultimately, this show’s final moments and it’s place in the pantheon of television will be a matter of hot debate for years to come, to say nothing of the novels and prequels and sequels we’ll be getting, and how that may change and influence how we feel. Here, we’re content to just talk about our personal thoughts on the only definitive finale of The Song and Ice and Fire. We’ll be back Friday for more SpoiLore talk, and next week we’ll have a look back at the season, and series, as a whole as we wrap things up for now.