Swords. Dragons. Magic. These are elements that can be found in a lot of successful properties these days, from The Hobbit to Game of Thrones. Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are staking their claim on the fantasy genre with Seventh Son, based on The Wardstone Chronicles series of novels by Joseph Delany. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Antje Traue (Man of Steel), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and Ben Barnes (The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian), who were all on hand at San Diego Comic-Con today to discuss the movie. Joining the actors was director Sergei Bodrov, and they all had a wealth of information to share on the film.

Jeff Bridges came out first, and he explained the basic plot of the story, saying that it is “chock full ‘o myth” and magic. Then we got a solid chunk of footage put together for Comic-Con from the film, with the main characters fighting a giant boggard, fighting dragons, fighting witches, basically lots of fighting. Ben Barnes’ character, Tom Ward, becomes the apprentice to Jeff Bridges character, Master Gregory. The plot deals with Master Jeremy and Ward face down a horrible witch played by Julianne Moore. The clip was filled with a lot of excitement and all the classic elements of great fantasy films.

There are two age-old proverbs in Westeros: “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention” and of course the more well-known, “If you think fans would let a Comic-Con go by without an appearance from Game of Thrones, then Hodor hodor hodor hodor.” One of the highlights of 2013’s San Diego Comic-Con is, no doubt, currently HBO’s most popular show Game of Thrones, which had a panel today in Hall H.

The panelists this year included executive producers/writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, and cast John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), and Richard Madden as Robb Stark. The panel was moderated by public radio host Elvis Mitchell.

The panel began with a somewhat comical “In Memoriam” reel dedicated to all the characters that have died on the show, set to the tune of Boys II Men’s “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday.”

One of the many wonderful things that the 1980s are known for is the awesome montages we got in many of the movies of the time. Montages had been around long before the ’80s arrived, but when mixed with the music of that decade, they became a truly magical thing to experience.

Montages haven’t quite been the same since then (for better or for worse), but that’s not stopping people from making them and trying to recapture some of that magic. YouTube user Magooch86 decided to take the popular Game of Thrones character Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his trying to make it in the Night’s Watch, and turn it into a classic ’80s montage set to the powerful vocals of John Farnham from the quintessential ’80s flick Rad. The results is…well it’s freakin’ perfect. Especially the opening.

Go forth, and see for yourselves.

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 8 – “Second Sons”
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: May 19, 2013

I was not impressed with “Second Sons.”

There’s normally a point each season that I reach with Game of Thrones, where one of the later episodes in the season becomes just too predictable or flat out boring. The latter certainly isn’t the case, as there are plenty of individually strong moments throughout the episode, but the sum of the parts doesn’t work to something I’m excited about. Which is sad, all things considered, because the strong parts in this episode are good. So let’s start with the good.

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 7 – “The Bear And The Maiden Fair”
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Written by George R.R. Martin
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: May 12, 2013

I find it rather fitting that the title of Game of Thrones‘ seventh episode focuses so much on a particular pairing, considering that the episode spends so much time on duos of characters instead of individual characters. “The Bear And The Maiden Fair” is a quieter affair, (scripted by George R.R. Martin and directed by the incredible Michelle MacLaren), that works as what will probably become the calm before the storm, leading into the final three episodes of this season.