Saturday, July 30, 2011
'Game Of Thrones': Unlike Winter, Cancellation Is Not Coming
You know nothing, skeptics of HBO. According to the news coming out of TCA 2011, the HBO network is in for the long haul with our personal favorite of their television line-up, "Game of Thrones." Though only the first season has aired so far, Entertainment Weekly reported on the event and has the news that the show will carry through to the end of the book series it is based on. We told [author George R.R. Martin] wed go as long as he keeps writing, HBO co-president Richard Plepler said. While we might disagree with HBO programming president Michael Lombardo saying he hopes the show lasts for "20 years" (we'd give it 10 tops since there will only hopefully be seven books), it is good to hear that HBO isn't planning on jumping dragon part way through their retelling of Martin's saga. Lombardo said that they are doing the series "without any predetermined number of seasons," but based on the mixing and matching planned for the second and third seasons, we're guessing HBO would go over, not under. "I promise you we wont stop it before its ready to stop," he said. Lombardo and Plepler also addressed fans' dismay that season two of "Game of Thrones" would be 10 episodes instead of a hoped 12, considering that the second novel in the series, "A Clash of Kings," is significantly longer than its predecessor. The head honcho at HBO gave the best answer we could have hoped for: they're sticking to 10 to preserve the great quality of "Game of Thrones." "The challenge on a show like Thrones is if we could do 12, we would," Lombardo said, adding that HBO didn't want fans to have to wait more than a year between seasons. "To produce those shows in the time they have, there's no way they could physically do more than 10 [episodes] than for without diluting the quality of the execution." Are you glad "Game of Thrones" will be sticking around for a while? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
Friday, July 15, 2011
There Will Be Blood
In 1902, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a mineral prospector, discovers oil and establishes a small drilling company. Following the death of one of his workers in an accident, Plainview adopts the man's orphaned son (his mother nowhere to be found). The boy, whom he names H. W. (Dillon Freasier), becomes his nominal business "partner".
Nine years later, Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), who tells him about the oil deposit under his family's property in Little Boston, California. Plainview attempts to buy the farm at a bargain price but Paul's twin brother Eli (also Dano), wise to Plainview's plan, holds out for $5,000, wanting the money to fund the local church, of which he is the pastor. Plainview has Eli's father agree to the bargain price instead, and goes on to snatch up the available land in the Little Boston area, except for one holdout—William Bandy (Hans Howes). Oil production begins. Later, an on-site accident kills a worker, and later still, a large explosion robs H.W. of his hearing.
One day, a visitor (Kevin J. O'Connor) arrives on Plainview's doorstep claiming to be his half-brother, Henry, and is seeking work. Plainview takes the stranger in, and though H.W. discovers flaws in his story he keeps the news to himself; the boy then attempts to kill Henry by setting his bed linen alight. Angered at his son's behavior, Plainview sends the boy away to a school in San Francisco. A representative from Standard Oil later offers to buy out Plainview's local interests, but Plainview elects to strike a deal with Union Oil instead and construct a pipeline to the Californian coast, though the Bandy ranch remains an impediment. After spending more time with Henry, Plainview also becomes suspicious; Henry finally confesses that he was actually a friend of the real Henry, who has long since died from tuberculosis. Plainview kills the imposter and buries his body.
The next morning, Plainview is awakened by Mr. Bandy, who appears to be aware of the previous night's events. Bandy agrees to Plainview's deal but only on the provision that the latter mend his ways and join the Church of the Third Revelation, where Eli humiliates him as part of his initiation. Plainview soon reunites with H.W., and Eli eventually leaves town to perform missionary work.
In 1927, a much older H.W. (Russell Harvard) marries his childhood sweetheart, Mary Sunday (Colleen Foy). By this time his father, now an alcoholic but extremely wealthy, is living in a mansion with only a servant for company. H.W. asks his father (through an interpreter) to dissolve their partnership so he can establish his own business. Betrayed, Plainview mocks his son's deafness and tells him of his true origins, leaving H.W. with no regrets when he finally leaves.
Some time later, Eli, now a radio host and the head of a larger church, visits Plainview, but it becomes clear that Eli is in dire financial straits and desperate, explaining that Mr. Bandy has died and that he offers to broker a deal on his land. Plainview agrees to the deal if Eli confesses, "I am a false prophet; God is a superstition", subjecting Eli to the same humiliation Eli had put him through years earlier. Eli does so after much berating by Plainview. To Eli's horror, Plainview scathingly reveals that he had already drained the oil from the property through surrounding wells via the process of drainage by saying, "I drink your milkshake." Plainview suddenly goes into a rage, chases Eli about the room, and then beats him to death with a bowling pin. When Plainview's butler comes down to check on him, Plainview simply says "I'm finished."
Nine years later, Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), who tells him about the oil deposit under his family's property in Little Boston, California. Plainview attempts to buy the farm at a bargain price but Paul's twin brother Eli (also Dano), wise to Plainview's plan, holds out for $5,000, wanting the money to fund the local church, of which he is the pastor. Plainview has Eli's father agree to the bargain price instead, and goes on to snatch up the available land in the Little Boston area, except for one holdout—William Bandy (Hans Howes). Oil production begins. Later, an on-site accident kills a worker, and later still, a large explosion robs H.W. of his hearing.
One day, a visitor (Kevin J. O'Connor) arrives on Plainview's doorstep claiming to be his half-brother, Henry, and is seeking work. Plainview takes the stranger in, and though H.W. discovers flaws in his story he keeps the news to himself; the boy then attempts to kill Henry by setting his bed linen alight. Angered at his son's behavior, Plainview sends the boy away to a school in San Francisco. A representative from Standard Oil later offers to buy out Plainview's local interests, but Plainview elects to strike a deal with Union Oil instead and construct a pipeline to the Californian coast, though the Bandy ranch remains an impediment. After spending more time with Henry, Plainview also becomes suspicious; Henry finally confesses that he was actually a friend of the real Henry, who has long since died from tuberculosis. Plainview kills the imposter and buries his body.
The next morning, Plainview is awakened by Mr. Bandy, who appears to be aware of the previous night's events. Bandy agrees to Plainview's deal but only on the provision that the latter mend his ways and join the Church of the Third Revelation, where Eli humiliates him as part of his initiation. Plainview soon reunites with H.W., and Eli eventually leaves town to perform missionary work.
In 1927, a much older H.W. (Russell Harvard) marries his childhood sweetheart, Mary Sunday (Colleen Foy). By this time his father, now an alcoholic but extremely wealthy, is living in a mansion with only a servant for company. H.W. asks his father (through an interpreter) to dissolve their partnership so he can establish his own business. Betrayed, Plainview mocks his son's deafness and tells him of his true origins, leaving H.W. with no regrets when he finally leaves.
Some time later, Eli, now a radio host and the head of a larger church, visits Plainview, but it becomes clear that Eli is in dire financial straits and desperate, explaining that Mr. Bandy has died and that he offers to broker a deal on his land. Plainview agrees to the deal if Eli confesses, "I am a false prophet; God is a superstition", subjecting Eli to the same humiliation Eli had put him through years earlier. Eli does so after much berating by Plainview. To Eli's horror, Plainview scathingly reveals that he had already drained the oil from the property through surrounding wells via the process of drainage by saying, "I drink your milkshake." Plainview suddenly goes into a rage, chases Eli about the room, and then beats him to death with a bowling pin. When Plainview's butler comes down to check on him, Plainview simply says "I'm finished."
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