‘Fifty Shades’ director Taylor-Johnson bows out of franchise

LOS ANGELES — Sam Taylor-Johnson will not be returning to direct the sequels to “Fifty Shades of Grey,” she announced Wednesday night.

“Directing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful,” she said in a statement to industry site Deadline in which she thanked Universal Pictures.

Taylor-Johnson’s $40 million adaptation of author E L James’ erotic novel has grossed a staggering $558 million worldwide in just six weeks in theaters, but even before the film debuted, rumors circulated that she would not likely be the person ushering “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed” to the big screen.

Stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan are expected to return for both sequels, which have yet to be officially announced.

While it is nothing new for directors to exit franchises after the first film — “Twilight,” ”The Hunger Games,” and “Divergent” all made directing changes between their first and second installments — Taylor-Johnson and James’ fraught on-set relationship was widely reported.

Earlier this year, James, also a producer on the film, alluded to their conflicts, telling The Associated Press that she “had to fight for a lot of things really hard,” which included a disagreement over the last line of the film.

Still, in her statement, Taylor-Johnson made sure to note the “close and lasting relationships” she formed with the cast, producers, crew and “most especially, with Dakota and Jamie.”

She added: “I wish nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three.”

A representative for Universal Pictures had no comment.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

‘Fifty Shades’ whips up $81.7 million in US box office

LOS ANGELES, United States — Audiences were more than curious to check out the big-screen adaptation of the racy phenomenon “Fifty Shades of Grey” this weekend. The erotic drama sizzled in its debut, earning an estimated $81.7 million from 3,646 theaters in its first three days, distributor Universal Pictures said on Sunday.

In addition to destroying Valentine’s and Presidents Day weekend records, “Fifty Shades of Grey” has also become the second-highest February debut ever, behind “Passion of the Christ’s” $83.9 million opening in 2004.

The chart-topping film cost a modest $40 million to produce. Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, it could be on track to earn over $90 million across the four-day holiday weekend.

“Our fondest wishes were realized,” said Universal’s President of Domestic Distribution Nick Carpou. “This is one of those moments where I can speak for the entire studio and say we’re celebrating.”

Carpou was especially pleased that audiences in large, mid-size, and small markets turned out to see the film despite severe weather challenges in the Northeast.

“We had a tremendous amount of interest from small-town exhibitors,” said Carpou, noting strong outings in the South. “That speaks to their patrons really wanting to see the film as soon as possible and be part of what everyone is talking about.”

According to Universal, North American audiences were 68 percent female.

Internationally, director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s adaptation of British author E L James’ book earned an estimated $158 million from 9,637 locations in 58 territories. That’s the second biggest international opening for Universal, right behind the $160.3 million debut from “Fast & Furious 6,” and the highest international opening for an R-rated film ever.

“Those are summer-style blockbuster numbers in February,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office firm Rentrak.

“Controversy, or at least the conversation that’s created by ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ suddenly infuses this movie into the mainstream conversation,” he added. “They had to very carefully create a movie that was edgy, push the envelope, but without going too far to make it socially unacceptable.”

Director Matthew Vaughn’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” also exceeded expectations, landing in second place with an estimated $35.6 million from 3,204 locations across the three-day period, according to Rentrak.

The R-rated comic book adaptation starring Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson cost a reported $81 million to produce and should earn around $41 million across the four-day period.

Animated children’s film “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” came in third with $30.5 million in its second weekend in theaters, falling only 45 percent. As one of the few family-friendly options in theaters, Paramount’s PG-rated movie could pass $100 million by the end of the holiday weekend.

Rounding out the top five were holdovers “American Sniper,” with $16.4 million, and “Jupiter Ascending,” with $9.4 million.

The Oscar-nominated “American Sniper,” now in its fifth weekend of wide release, has earned over $300 million in North America to date.

“We should learn in 2015 to not underestimate how well films can do,” Dergarabedian said. “Coming off a 2014 where we were down 5.2 percent, where a lot of movies did not live up to expectations, 2015 is right now running like a freight train toward the first $11 billion year in North America.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.

    “Fifty Shades of Grey,” $81.7 million ($158 million international).

    “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” $35.6 million ($23.1 million international).

    “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” $30.5 million ($13.5 million international).

    “American Sniper,” $16.4 million ($3.7 million international).

    “Jupiter Ascending,” $9.4 million ($15.6 million international).

    “Seventh Son,” $4.2 million ($730,000 international).

    “Paddington,” $4.1 million.

    “The Imitation Game,” $3.5 million ($4 million international).

    “The Wedding Ringer,” $3.4 million.

    “Project Almanac,” $2.7 million ($340,000 international).

___

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:

    “Fifty Shades of Grey,” $158 million.

    “Somewhere Only We Know,” $30 million.

    “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” $23.1 million.

    “Jupiter Ascending,” $15.6 million.

    “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” $13.5 million.

    “Big Hero 6,” $9.2 million.

    “Taken 3,” $7.1 million.

    “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” $6.7 million.

    “Detective K: The Laborer’s Daughter,” $6.2 million.

    “Penguins of Madagascar,” $4.1 million.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

A test of Christmas conscience

‘We don’t do Christmas. We save the money, spend it on ourselves for once. Not a dime on food we won’t eat or clothes we won’t wear or gifts no one needs… It’s a boycott…”

That’s Luther Krank making a prodigious proposition to his wife, Nora, in a favorite Christmas novel of ours.

Plotted so simply it takes only 177 pages to tell—and tell in considerately leaded print yet—the novel is the most uncharacteristic by John Grisham. It is not any of the legal thrillers he has made his name for, but it’s the one Grisham we have chosen to keep, in fact the only Grisham this little condominium nest in which Chit and I have been living our simplified senior lives can take for volumes. And how it has proved worth the keeping—it’s the one title that leaps at us in these morally anxious times!

As light and funny as the times it is related to are grave, indeed tragic, “Skipping Christmas” (Doubleday, 2001) would seem an irreverent point of reference. It’s about a couple who, left alone this one Christmas, decides to, well, skip it, leave the neighborhood to its suddenly senseless and wasteful communal traditions, and fly away on Christmas Day itself, for “10 days of total luxury” on a cruise! It’s certainly no way to do an occasion that precisely calls for selflessness and moderation—if Christmas is indeed that.

As it happens, it is a case where the moral lies in the perversity—in the self-centeredness, in the profligacy, in the whole hypocrisy that surrounds Christmas.

At no time has our own Christmas conscience, as a nation, come under a test so severe as now. The occasion is a tragedy that compares with no other: Whole communities laid waste by a typhoon of unequaled fury, 6,000 dead and counting. And what facile reaction among the untouched: How to do Christmas without appearing insensitive.


Twisted

It’s a reaction in the same sick class as the old wisecrack that passes for native, popular wisdom, here updated:

Before we proceed to gorge ourselves at Christmas, let’s be reminded of our starved brethren in Leyte, so that they may be able, at least in spirit, to partake with us.

Something is definitely morally twisted here. Christmas is no mere red date on the calendar, no blanket excuse for making merry, let alone in the most abysmal sense. Christmas is a noble spirit; it lifts and redeems and moves the inhabited as profoundly as he is seized by it.

Although, by force of tradition, it is activated more at this time of year than at any other, it chooses no season. And one thing it precisely cannot ignore is such cries as those issuing from Leyte.

Leyte, to be sure, is no simple case of fate—unstoppable, unchangeable, therefore excusable. It’s been brought to its desperate pass strictly by human hands, conscienceless, plundering hands acting out of the old self-feeding habit of greed and working schemes that, by the exploitation of the environment for profit, have left the masses of already poor vulnerable yet to the elements; and, by official corruption, have robbed them of their due from the wealth and opportunities their own nation has to offer.

Lest they be mistaken for pleas for charity or philanthropy, the cries from Leyte are only rightful demands for payback for moral debt owed generations that cannot be even remotely assuaged—but in fact mocked—by skipping Christmas.

Memorable, too, though not as resonant as “Skipping Christmas,” probably because its title lacks the ring that suits the times and its Christmas setting feels but incidental, is an even shorter novel (101 pages), actually down-billed as a mere “tale”: “A Different Kind of Christmas” (Random House, 1988). It’s one of two books we’ve kept by Alex Haley; the other being his Pulitzer Prized “Roots.”

It’s a morality tale more direct and timeless with its message than “Skipping Christmas,” and not light or funny at all. It’s about a young man from 19th-century North Carolina who forsakes family and class, and all the power, privilege and wealth that go with it, to lead a mass escape of slaves, some his family’s own, into freedom on Christmas Eve.

Now, that, for all its relative shortcoming in salesmanship, makes for a more felicitous inspiration.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

Faulkner classic rekindles fire in James Franco’s belly

James Franco’s decision to act in and direct the screen adaptation of William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” is brave. The classic 1930 novel’s stream-of-consciousness style and complex narrative structure provide a challenge that has rekindled the fire in the actor-director’s belly.

Franco explains, “The book was one of the first novels I read outside of the high school curriculum. I found it interesting, because each chapter was written in the first person by a different character—and they all share a journey that readers can follow!” The task wasn’t easy, however: He had to turn a 56,000-word, 59-chapter and 15-narrator story into a 120-page screenplay!

When Addie (Beth Grant), the matriarch of the poor Bundren family, dies, her widower Anse (Tim Blake Nelson) and their five children—Cash (Jim Parrack), Darl (Franco), Jewel (Logan Marshall-Green), Dewey Dell (Ahna O’Reilly) and Vardaman (Brady Permenter)—are compelled to take a road trip on a carriage (with Addie in a coffin, built by Cash) across the Mississippi countryside to bring Addie’s remains to her hometown, some 40 miles away, for burial!

If you like family dramas with the convolutions of a telenovela, “As I Lay Dying” has them in heaps, but presents each twist without the tiresome predictability of TV soaps: The family doesn’t just face the antagonistic forces of nature along the way (a flooded river, accidents), it also deals with self-inflicted and man-made challenges (a raging barn fire, a sexual assault, an unexpected wedding) that reveal each character’s personal turmoil.

Darl narrates a substantial chunk of the tale, but the story truly unravels when we see it from the perspective of the other members of the family: Toothless Anse swears to honor his wife’s dying wish to be buried in Jeffersonville—but, there’s more to this gesture than spousal devotion.

Addie’s favorite son is Jewel who, unknown to his siblings, is illegitimate—a product of the headstrong matriarch’s affair with Reverend Whitfield (Steve Nabors)!

Sexual tryst

Even as she grieves for her mother, Dewey Dell, the only daughter, is “distracted” by her growing, well-kept dilemma: She is pregnant—the result of her sexual tryst with a local farmhand!

Throughout the movie, Franco utilizes a split screen to present the different narrators’ internal monologues and contrasting points of view. The tack is novel and inventive, but soon overstays its welcome, because it discombobulates more than it enlightens, since it aims to impress more than concentrate on telling the story.

Fortunately, the film achieves greater coherence as it gears up for its shocking wrap-up, because its stagey and distracting storytelling style becomes less frenetic.

Like life itself, Addie’s story is an alternating mishmash of random events and life-changing dramatic upheavals, but its shaky bits are made less confusing when we focus on them, one problem at a time. —That’s when the production truly comes into its own. Indeed, less is more!

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

“The book thief” trailer

Based on the beloved bestselling novel, THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspiring story of a spirited and courageous young girl named Liesel, who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany.

For Liesel, the power of words and of imagination becomes a means of escape – and even joy – from the tumultuous events enveloping her and everyone she knows and loves. She is THE BOOK THIEF’s heart and soul.

Directed by Brian Percival, “The Book Thief” stars Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and newcomer Sophie Nélisse in the title role.

“The Book Thief” will open soon in 2014 nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Check out 20th Century Fox’s YouTube where trailer has just been launched – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxXMQojyl_8&feature=c4-overview&list=UU-JrjBL_iZAn5wjEsw9nRYA and 20th Century Fox (Philippines) Facebook page.

source: movies.inquirer.net

From Hit-Girl to Carrie

Chloey Grace Moretz, who played the vigilante Hit-Girl in the superhero spoof “Kick-Ass,” returns to the screen to play another sort of superhero—with telekinetic powers!—in the film remake of the Stephen King debut novel, “Carrie.” She talks about her character in the movie, cyber-bullying and that iconic prom scene:









How do you see Carrie?

I see her as a young woman who is loved too much by her mother—to the point that she isn’t allowed to experience life in the way she wants. That relationship, while a source of safety, is the cause of Carrie’s internal struggle. Her rebellion against her mother and her new experiences with people around her cause a detrimental outcome. But by gaining control she also loses control.

Did you watch the original 1976 movie?

Even though I know what Brian De Palma and Sissy Spacek did was phenomenal, I didn’t want to watch the original movie because I wanted to make Carrie my own.

How would you compare Stephen King’s book to this movie?

I feel that in the book Carrie is mad at everything, whereas in our film she is more sympathetic with the people who hate her. That is, until the very end… Otherwise I feel the film is a true depiction of King’s novel.

Do you sympathize with her?

Yes, because, like Carrie, I’m also a teenager trying to navigate some of the same things she’s experiencing. I am also trying to figure out my relationships and who I am as a girl—which includes what my voice, motivation and drive are. So the topics of the film are fresh in my mind and relevant to my life, which made it easier for me to tap into the character.

What’s it like working with Julianne Moore?

Julianne is like the pinnacle of this movie! Working with her was probably one of the most special experiences I have ever had as an actor. I don’t think Carrie would be the same without her because she brought something to Margaret you never would have imagined. You almost feel bad for that character, which is a new twist. Then there is a level of maternal aspect in her performance that I believe comes from the experience of having her own kids.

You have some very intense scenes with her.

Yes, and the funny thing is that right after shooting a dramatic scene with Julianne, I asked her what she was thinking and she answered, “I am thinking about what wallpaper I should put in my kids’ rooms…” She’s a genius!

How important was it to have a director like Kimberly Peirce on board?

It’s interesting to see this movie told through the eyes of a woman. I feel that it’s more realistic than if you had a man trying to figure out what it would be like to have your period and to be coming of age as a woman.  So, it was great to work with Kim because I was able to relate to her, and we really got into this movie in a very organic way.

The original film was mainly depicted as a horror movie. How do you see this new “Carrie”?

This movie isn’t just a horror movie. It takes on a lot of other elements that are very dark and heavy; but, at the same time, it has a soft, sweet and even romantic side.

Social media and even cyber-bullying have a presence in the movie.

It wouldn’t be an accurate description of modern teenagers and current times without social media being prevalent in all areas of life as well as cyber-bullying, because unfortunately that’s part of the negative aspect of social media. The film isn’t a social commentary on either, but they contribute to the story and to what ultimately happens with Carrie.

What did you feel when you first read this script?

I couldn’t put it down and just fell in love with Carrie and wanted to play her. Is she a tragic hero? Is she evil? Is she misguided and misunderstood? I was very excited to bring Carrie to life.

It seems like you like to embrace challenges.

I love it when people tell me I can’t do something because that motivates me to try to do it better than they could ever have imagined. In a way that’s why I relate to Carrie so much, because so many people told her, “No!” That’s how this business is—you get told, “No!” 100 times, and then you just push it as far as you can until you get told, “Yes!”—which is when it becomes the biggest accomplishment.

One of the most dramatic and iconic moments of the movie is the prom scene. What was it like to shoot that scene?

I had five gallons of this blood-like substance coming down on me! It was actually pretty heavy because it was dropped from five feet above me. It was so worth it though because the end result is insane!

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

‘Paranoia’ exposes underbelly of corporate world

The corporate world may not be as glamorous as it seems. In fact, it may be deadly ground.

Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Joseph Finder of the same name, “Paranoia” explores the dirty playground of powerful corporations and the sleazy tactics of its players.

Directed by Australian Robert Luketic, the film tells the story of Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth), an entry-level employee in a large and powerful corporation who makes a deal with the CEO (Gary Oldman) to spy on his rival and former mentor (Harrison Ford) to secure for themselves a multi-billion-dollar deal.

In the film, the two most powerful tech billionaires in the world are bitter rivals with a complicated past who will stop at nothing to destroy each other. Seduced by unlimited wealth and the promise of power, Adam becomes trapped in the middle of the twists and turns of a life-and-death game of corporate espionage.

It is only after a while that Adam realizes he has found himself in a rabbit hole and  there is no going back.

The New York Times best-selling techno-thriller  has all these questions to deal with: Has corporate power grown out of control? Where is the line between mining digital data and dangerous, invasive surveillance? What happens when CEOs operate outside the law?


While researching for the novel, Finder encountered a world where multinational companies now have more riches and wield more political influence than entire nations.

“I started thinking what would happen if a corporation needed a piece of transformational technology that they knew their competitor had,” Finder said. “How far would they go to get it? That’s how I came up with Adam Cassidy.

“In some ways, he’s the classic guy who is forced into being a spy. But his story also takes on the whole idea of identity, about people forming relationships that are based on falsehoods and impersonation, about conscience and about doing the right things—all of which is happening underneath the fun and suspense.”

Producer Alexandra Milchan read the book and was inspired to bring the story hurtling into the even starker realities of the 2013 corporate world, where a savvy, wired youth culture at the bottom rung is confronting a changing digital reality and tough economic times.

Luketic, who directed “Legally Blonde” and “21,” was especially intrigued by the challenge of mirroring the title and evoking the sense of paranoia of modern life, where almost everywhere cameras surround us and privacy is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

“Adam is in the world where we all live now—a world that is all about data mining, and where everyone leaves all kinds of trails they don’t even realize they are leaving,” Luketic said. “Never before in history have we had so much of ourselves so accessible to the world. That was a lot of the inspiration for what we present on the screen. Ultimately, nowhere is safe for Adam because there is nowhere he can hide out of view. He is being surveyed from cameras hidden in walls and people are tracking him through his phone. It goes to the question of whether there’s a danger to having all this information about ourselves out there for the taking.”

Finder was thrilled when he read the movie adaptation of his novel,  written by Jason Dean Hall and Barry Levy.

“The screenplay makes the story a kind of generational statement,” he said. “It’s about what it’s like right now to be in your 20s entering the working world and watching the whole structure crumble. I think it gets to the alienation that a lot of kids feel when they realize the corruption, and the amount of gamesmanship, that are all part of today’s corporate life.”

“Paranoia,” distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures, opens on October 2.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

'Game of Thrones' Recap: Something Winter This Way Comes

It began and ended with brutal murders, but the scariest things in this week's episode of Game of Thrones were the ones that haven't happened yet. Doomsday weapons, ominous invitations, vows of vengeance, secret plans, bad dreams – characters all over the Seven Kingdoms and beyond received serious hints that there's darkness just over the horizon and closing fast.

But despite being the most menacing episode of the season, "The Ghost in Harrenhal" – written by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by David Petrarca – told its story through smiles and smirks. Characters' happiness with their current position showed on their faces time and time again, sometimes about a secret only they possess that puts them ahead of the game, other times reflecting an ignorance of the terrible truth they can't see coming.

The late King Renly wears the smile of a born winner, until his brother Stannis' shadowy "son" ended his march to victory – and the quite reasonable offer of alliance with Robb Stark – with a stab in the back. Littlefinger smirks at Margaery Tyrell when she tells him she'd rather be the Queen than a queen, but it's a smirk of recognition – here's someone power-hungry enough for a glutton like Littlefinger to really do business with. Theon Greyjoy grinned like the king of the world when he got a glimpse of his ship, scowled when his crew and his sister Yara laughed in his face, and turned that frown upside down yet again when he and his first mate Dagmer figured out a plan of attack with a goal far more grand than the one his hateful father Balon had in mind for his prodigal son. Ser Rodrik Cassel beamed with pride at his young lord Bran Stark's decision to send reinforcements to his beleaguered bannerman at Torrhen's Square, neither of them realizing they were walking into Theon's trap. Queen Cersei couldn't help but smirk at her brother Tyrion while denying him the information he needed about King Joffrey's secret battle plan, thrilled to finally be a step ahead of the razor wit she finds so infuriating in her little brother – though of course she has no idea her cousin and lover Ser Lancel Lannister is giving up the goods to Tyrion. Tyrion laughs it up with Bronn as a street preacher mocks the "demon monkey" who pulls Joffrey's strings, only to have the smile wiped off his face when he finds out he's the demon monkey in question. Even the humorless King Stannis allows the ghost of a smile to flit across his face after his loyal servant Ser Davos Seaworth tells him what the men are saying about Lady Melisandre's influence over him, a quiet and rueful acknowledgement that it's truer than they know. Arya Stark and her friendly neighborhood murderer Jaqen H'ghar share a knowing smile over their secret shared power of life and death, first exercised against the grinning Lannister torturer known as The Tickler. Across the sea, the smile almost never leaves Qartheen one-percenter Xaro Xhoan Daxos' face as he attempts to woo Daenerys with his rags-to-riches background and the just-plain-riches in his vault. The smile on the face(s) of his fellow aristocrat, the warlock Pyat Pree, is a shakier thing, though it's tough to say whether the warmer, handsomer Xaro has Dany's best interests at heart when he dismisses the mysterious magician. And beyond the Wall, Jon Snow allows himself his first smile of the season when he's selected to go on a vital raid with legendary ranger Qhorin Halfhand; let's see if he's still smiling when the cold and the wildlings and whatever the hell else is out there get through with him.

As you can probably gather from that paragraph, which if strung end to end would be about as long as the Wall itself, a freaking lot happened in this episode, to a lot of people. And aside from the shocking, very Game of Thrones premature death of Renly, very little actually happened to any of those people. The payoff for Bran's premonition, Tyrion's wildfire, Theon's sneak attack, Pyat Pree's invitation, Xaro's proposal, Mance Rayder's reported army of wildlings, the alliances between Littlefinger & Margaery and Brienne & Catelyn, even the remaining two murders owed to Arya by Jaqen, is all in that dark future I mentioned up front.

And yet I didn't get bored or impatient once. Game of Thrones keeps more balls in the air for more episodes at a stretch than any other show on TV, yes. But it works so well as entertainment because it's not afraid to light a few of those balls on fire while we wait, in the form of shots and lines and set pieces and moments that elicit the full Chris Farley "Remember when…? That was awesome" response.

Some of that was performance-based. Aiden Gillen and Natalie Dormer emitted ambition from their pores like a fine musk during their brief scene together as Littlefinger and Margaery. As Brienne, Gwendoline Christie managed to seem devastated by the death of her beloved Renly even while establishing the warrior woman as an absolutely terrifying killing machine, shouting in anguish with each slash and stab of self-defense against her fellow Renlyites. Her later scene with Michelle Fairley's Catelyn took me a while to come around to, but come around I did – her stiffness fit well for a person with no real place in this society, while Fairley quietly conveyed the idea that at this point Catelyn's happy to have a surrogate child to replace the one's she's lost to the enemy, the distance, or the pressures of royal command.

Speaking of those kids, how about actress Maisie Williams? As Arya, she's already found the role she was born to play just a few short years after she was actually born – holding her own in a scene with freaking Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister, then pretty much going through puberty on camera while eyeing the glorious beefcake of Joe Dempsie as Gendry, Harrenhal's sexiest shirtless slave-laborer. And kudos to the show for its gutsy script-flip of the much-quoted line from this season's trailers, "Anyone can be killed." What we'd all expected to be a declaration of badassery transforms into a fatalistic acknowledgement that her own brother could be dead at Tywin's hands any day now.

But there were visuals that will stick with me just as long, and all of them touch on the supernatural. We get our first glimpse of dragonfire, and it's adorable, but it also makes real the devastation we saw in the ruins of Harrenhal. We discover the existence of wildfire in a Raiders of the Lost Ark-style warehouse, a sort of napalm on magical steroids that Tyrion and Bronn both believe could destroy the entire city. We meet that creepy warlock Pyat Pree, who's shot to look as though he's staring right at us, and who with his pale skin, dark eyes and lips, and party-crashing doppelganger comes across like a refugee from David Lynch's Lost Highway – another major tonal disruption from the show's usual down-to-earth vibe. Most impressive of all are the astonishing vistas of the snows, mountains, and stormclouds of the lands beyond the Wall. Shot on location in Iceland, they're Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" come to life. Winter is coming, and that's what winter looks like. Now that the season's half over, the big question – maybe the only question – for the back half is who'll be ready when the storm hits.

source: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/game-of-thrones-recap-something-winter-this-way-comes-20120429