Game Of Thrones
Season One, Episode Nine – Baelor
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Issac Hempstead-Wright, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Conleth Hill

Game of Thrones has been a slow burn.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I much prefer shows that have a tendency to draw things out and build on previous episodes. All the best television series (The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) do this and when done properly, the results can be astonishing. The latest episode, “Baelor,” was no exception to this rule. The stakes have slowly been rising over the past couple of weeks and it was time for the dominoes to begin to fall.

And boy do they fall.

Game of Thrones
Episode 1 (Winter is Coming) & 2 (The Kingsroad)
Directed by: Timothy Van Patten
Written by: David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss adapted from George R.R. Martin
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Issac Hempstead-Wright, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams

I’ve got a confession to make.

I haven’t read a single book in George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Fire and Ice series.

Unlike last year’s big literature-to-television adaptation, Walking Dead (of which I’ve read every issue), I wanted to go into Game of Thrones fresh, without any prior knowledge or expectations of the series. I wanted to see how a 694-page book would translate over to HBO. I’ve seen the big-screen adaptations of fan-favorite fantasy novels like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but I was interested in seeing how showrunners David Deinoff and D.B. Weiss would handle Martin’s material on a week-to-week basis without confusing the hell out of everyone.

So far, they’ve done an outstanding job.

Robin Hood
DVD | Blu-ray
DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
STARRING: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Scott Grimes, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Kevin Durand, Mark Strong, Alan Doyle, Danny Huston, Mark Addy, Matthew MacFadyen
Universal Pictures
RELEASE DATE: September 21, 2010

Ever since the very first news that famed director Ridley Scott would be making a realistic and historically accurate new take on the fabled tale of Robin of Loxsley, I’ve been about as excited as you can be. Hearing that a story that I and many, many others have grown up knowing being recreated in the same vein as Scott’s Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven is beautiful music to the ears of those with a love for epic period pieces, and Robin Hood just couldn’t come quickly enough for me.

Instead of using the traditional story — focusing on Robin and his Merry Men feuding with the interim king and the Sheriff of Nottingham as they steal from the wealthy and help the less fortunate — the filmmakers decided to go in a different path. This movie is about Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe), an archer in Richard the the Lionheart’s (Danny Huston) army in the year 1199. While off fighting the French, things take a turn for the worst and Robin and three of his fellow soldiers, Will Scarlett (Scott Grimes), Little John (Kevin Durand), and Alan A’Dale (Alan Doyle, in the musician’s film debut), decide to get out while they still can.

A brand new trailer for Ridley Scott‘s new vision of the tale of Robin Hood has been released online by Yahoo! Movies.

The movie will be released on May 14, 2010, and has a brilliant cast that features Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins, and Max von Sydow.

The only thing about this new trailer that has me a little sad, is the newly anointed PG-13 rating. This isn’t at all one of those movies I expected to be rated R, but I did have a glimmer of hope that this new Robin Hood adventure would be a graphic, Gladiator-esque action-drama. None-the-less, this is a great trailer and the movie continues to look like a great new title for those of us who are into period battle films. I’ll tell you one thing, I can’t wait for Scott’s sure-to-be-better Director’s Cut!

An official trailer has been officially released for Ridley Scott‘s upcoming new take on the classic tale of Robin Hood. The first thing to note is of course the title. Long has the question stood strong as to what exactly the title would be. At first it was the seemingly-preferred Nottingham, before we eventually heard it being called Robin Hood. It sounded like that title was only a working title for the time being (even the synopsis included below that came with the trailer announcement still claims it as “untitled,” but now, judging by this new trailer, it looks like it will indeed just be sticking with the title Robin Hood, so there’s that.

The trailer is just the kind of first trailer you can expect from a Ridley Scott film. It features a lot of action, some great period setting shots, and even some modern rock music playing in the background in very similar fashion to Gladiator. Once they win people over with these ingredients, then we’ll see a trailer that focuses on story and speaking.

The movie has a fantastic cast that includes Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins, and Max von Sydow.

I don’t know about you, but I was sold on this one as soon as I heard “Ridley Scott. Russell Crowe. Robin Hood.” If you’re one of the few who are still not sure, click on over now to watch the trailer. As always, head to Apple for some pretty HD options.