LWJ&A – Episode 182
My Gods of Thrones co-author Anthony is back once again as we do a deep dive on GRRM’s latest work, Fire & Blood! We talk about events up to but not including “Jaehaerys and Alysanne, Their Triumphs and Tragedies”. Next week we’ll be reading up to “The Dying of the Dragons, Rhaenyra Triumphant”, before finishing the book the week after. This week’s all about Aegon, Maegor, and the third generation Targaryen that really steals the show, Jaehaerys! We talk about the gossipy tone the Maester sometimes takes, the doctrinal concept of “Targaryen Exceptionalism”, missing dragon eggs, maester conspiracy theories, and that most well worn Thrones hobbyhorse, incest.
In the past 6 weeks, we’ve learned more about Nicolas Cage than we ever thought we would, or ever really cared to. So for the final week of season 1 of Super Serious Film Fest we’ve decided to do a retrospective on the whole process. We talk about our favorite moments from Season of the Cage as well as the most interesting things we learned about the man himself, Nicolas Cage.
The final livewatch of the Season of the Cage is in the books and it’s, well… completely mediocre. Like the movie and starring actors it’s based on, there’s absolutely nothing worth seeing here. Ok, so maybe we spice it up a bit with a few jokes but can that really save a complete pancake of a movie?
We draw the Season of the Cage to a close with its namesake movie, Season of the Witch. Does a movie starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy, and that guy who played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire actually deserve a viewing? A.Ron and I certainly have an opinion.
Amazon Prime’s The Romanoffs arrives at the finish line in “The One That Holds Everything”. If you were hoping that this would be the one that really brings into focus Weiner’s thesis for The Romanoffs, you’re probably walking away disappointed. An ambitious story framing device that doesn’t quite work leads to a surprise ending that doesn’t feel earned, and we’re still left at the end of it all confused and asking “why?” What is so fascinating about the Romanovs and their lives of various levels of privledge and quiet desperation that justifies the time and expense that went into making this, or watching it? We don’t have great answers, but we’re relieved to see this particular line of Romanoffs brought to an end.
Anthony and I talk about GRRM’s latest book, Fire and Blood, which is a complete and in-depth historical account of the 300 year old Targaryen dynasty in Westeros. We discuss our initial thoughts, anything that might have changed some of our thoughts in Gods of Thrones, any intriguing jumping off points for theory-crafting, and consider fan feedback. Also, Anthony has some stunning revelations about the possible origins of the rib-bone that God took from Adam to make the first woman in the Genesis creation story. You don’t want to miss this!
Have you ever seen Nicolas Cage make a phonecall while wearing plastic vampire teeth? Have you seen him shout and gesticulate his way through the entire alphabet? Have you seen him literally say “boo hoo” while crying? No? Then you certainly haven’t seen Vampire’s Kiss, which is in the running for “Cage-iest” movie of all time.
Watching an unhinged Nicolas Cage performance for the first time is an experience that simply can’t be matched. There were enormous expectations for Vampire’s Kiss, and I’m happy to say they were met. Sync up your copy of the movie with ours and join us on this magical journey.
We take a couple cracks at the Vampire’s Kiss rewrite; one serious, one not so much. Can we fix a movie that isn’t worth watching without its lead actor? If not, maybe we can further ruin the movie in search of the dark comedy within?