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Game Of Thrones  - Season 7
Game Of Thrones - Season 7
2017 | Sci-Fi
The start of the mad rush to the finish line
Contains spoilers, click to show
Season 7 of Game of Thrones for me, is where the show went from the most finely and carefully crafted show of all time, to dumb hollywood-esque blockbuster.
The slow burning plot of the earlier seasons have all but gone, after it was announced that season 8 would be the last, causing long gestating plotlines to be rushed towards a conclusion, and causing the show to suffer for it. It's a real shame.

Season 7 is by no means bad though, once I had swallowed my bitterness and accepted that this was how it was going to be, there was still plenty to enjoy.
The intricate character arcs may have taken a huge blow, but when Game of Thrones decides to throw out an epic set piece, it's still the undisputed king.

Danaerys has (finally!) landed in Westeros, and begins her campaign to take the Iron Throne for herself. Characters that have been embroiled in politics for seven seasons are suddenly faced with seeing dragons for the first time, and that's a pretty satisfying moment for anyone who has been watching for years.
Episode 4 in particular serves as a highlight, as Danaerys unleashes the power of her dragons on the Lannister army. It's truly a spectacle.
The same episode however unfortunately confirms that certain characters are covered in plot-armour. Last minute life saving heroics replace the once sudden brutality of beloved characters being offed (obviously referring to Bring saving Jaime here), and for the first time since this show started, everyone just sort of feels safe. It's weird.

Elsewhere, Jon Snow leads a team north of the wall to acquire proof of the White Walkers in an attempt to sway Cersei onto his side of the upcoming war.
This episode was particularly dumb, but again, a huge spectacle. Seeing Viserion plummet to the ground was a pretty epic moment, and the season of course culminates in a moment all of us had been waiting for, as a huge chunk of The Wall falls, and the Night King leads his undead army into Westeros.

It's all very stylish, but unfortunately a lot of the substance gets left by the wayside.
  
    Little Briar Rose

    Little Briar Rose

    Games and Stickers

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    A stained glass-styled adventure inspired by Sleeping Beauty. «Little Briar Rose is one of the...

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ClareR (5991 KP) rated Cunning Women in Books

May 15, 2021  
Cunning Women
Cunning Women
Elizabeth Lee | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cunning Women is everything I love about historical fiction.
I’m on a bit of a 17th century bender at the moment, and witches seem to crop up frequently. Basically, if you were female, didn’t have a man about the place (preferably one you were married to) and knew things other than washing, cleaning and popping out babies, you risked being accused of witchcraft. Add to that a birthmark, and/ or an opinion or two, AND not going to church regularly, then you might as well start picking your own stake out.

Sarah and her mother, brother and little sister, all live in a hamlet abandoned after all the inhabitants died of plague, known as the Plague Village. They have no money and little income after the death of Sarah’s father, and what money they do have comes from selling potions, small spells and begging. They’re outcasts, and there’s an atmosphere of dank, dark poverty in where they live and what they wear. They are avoided by pretty much everyone in the village - it seems to be a really lonely existence.

Then comes a spark of hope when Sarah meets the local farmer’s son, Daniel. He lives a very different life: one of open spaces, plenty of food, light and comfort. He’s treated poorly by his father and a farm hand, but he’s never hungry, and his living conditions are so much better than those of the Haworth family.

This is a story that feels so raw and real. You just know that it’s not going to be a happy ending. How can it? DOn’t get me wrong - I rather like endings that are unresolved or just plain unpleasant (weird, I know), but the youth of these protagonists had me hoping throughout for a better life for them.

Ahh, the 17th century - great to read about, but I’ve never been so glad to have been born in the 1970’s!

This is a really enjoyable, heartfelt historical fiction novel, and I’m so pleased that I got the chance to read it. Many thanks to Windmill Books for providing me with an e-arc through NetGalley.
  
Girl On The Third Floor (2019)
Girl On The Third Floor (2019)
2019 | Horror
8
6.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Girl on the third floor is a slow paced film about a man, Don Koch who is renovating a rundown house. Of course there is something strange going on.
The film has Amityville vibes, with leaking plug sockets and bleeding walls but also vibes with Fatal Attraction, it's true that there are strange things about the house but it doesn't necessarily mean it's haunted, right, and, this way the film does leave you wondering what is happening. At least for a short while.
Like a lot of haunted house movies, Girl on the third floor, starts slow, there are weird stains and sounds, the dog barks at nothing and marbles roll around. Occasionally you can catch a glimpse of something in a mirror or something moves in the back ground but these are all well used tropes and the film plays on a lot of familiar tropes. This doesn't mean that it is a bad film but I found myself trying to work out where certain characters fitted in.
One thing 'Girl on the third floor' does do well is only feed you the information you need, giving you a chance to work out what is happening before it puts most of the peace's together because there is one character I'm not sure about and one thing about the ending that I'm... Well I'm not going to spoil that but, if they did what I think they did then it's been done better.
I did see reviews saying that 'Girl on the third floor' was one of the films that is so disturbing that you watch it to the end but I didn't find that true. True it is atmospheric and there are a couple of scenes that are a bit gross and a couple of the themes push things a bit but they are only briefly mentioned or cut away from. Maybe I've just seen too many horrors but it was well watchable, I think something like 'Hereditary' was much more disturbing.
Girl on the third floor is a good film but I found that it had all been done before, nether the less it is probably above average.