Swords, Sorcery, and Sex - Camelot comes to Starz

Whoa.

I was not expecting to come home, plop down in front of the TV and watch Camelot tonight. Although I had interest in the series, I had completely forgot that the new Starz series premiered tonight. Lucky for me, the television was on Starz and a crawling scroll informed me that - indeed - Camelot was going to be on tonight.

Lucky, lucky me.

Highly impressed with the show, Camelot is certainly a show that I will continue watching during it's duration. And already contemplating buying a season boxset in the future. Dish Network has generously given their customers a free year of Starz so we ditched HBO in lieu of Starz...and I couldn't be happier even with the looming fourth season of True Blood (which I may or may not watch. Last season bored me.)





Taken from the Starz Website:

"In the wake of King Uther’s sudden death, chaos threatens to engulf Britain. When the sorcerer Merlin has visions of a dark future, he installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther’s unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur’s cold and ambitious half sister Morgan will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to claim the crown in this epic battle for control. These are dark times indeed for the new king, with Guinevere being the only shining light in Arthur’s harsh world. Faced with profound moral decisions, and the challenge of uniting a kingdom broken by war and steeped in deception, Arthur will be tested beyond imagination. Forget
everything you think you know…this is the story of Camelot that
has never been told before."


Incredibly stunning, the world that they inhabit is beautiful. It was filmed primarily in Ireland with bright green scenery and brilliant waterfalls.

I knew very little about the cast prior to watching the premier. It was certainly time to do a little digging after watching their amazing performances. (VERY AMAZING. I was blown away!) King Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower who has appeared in such films as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and The Twilight Sage: New Moon. Whether you a Twilighter or a Potterhead, the franchises are huge enough for everyone to know it. Although Bower had minor roles in the two wildly popular YA book adaptions, he will be returning in all the final films for the series'.



Staring opposite of him as his step sister, Eva Green plays Morgan. Ruthless. Ambitious. Morgan is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Green has appeared and starred in such films as The Golden Compass, Casino Royale and Kingdom of Heaven.



As the CEO of Starz Chris Albrecht said "The story of Arthur isn't history, it's mythology, and Camelot isn't a place but an idea of hope that has resonated at different times throughout history." This ten-episode series - with hopefully more seasons to follow - is a creative re-imagining of the tale, taking it and realistically redefining it expertly. I am looking forward to seeing more of this very adult, very dark, and very real tale.

The Walking Dead - Series [so far]

With one episode left of AMC's pretty awesome adaption of a comic book, The Walking Dead is shaping up to be a really amazing and captivating series. Episode 5 was perhaps the most emotionally charged episode the series has had. From start to finish it was packed full of moments that stood out. After what I thought was the biggest mistake of the season in episode 4 - the revealing of a lot more survivors then Rick and company - episode 5 clearly redeemed the series in a way that i felt was very successful.

The dichotomy between human versus zombie is not the key focus of this series which is steadily proven as human versus human becomes more clear. Shane plotting to kill Rick in the woods was a shining moment, but there have been many throughout the five episodes that have aired.

But the battle for retaining humanity does not mean the zombies take a back seat. The series meshes all of this very well together. There is still that constant threat of "Walkers" but also the threat of your fellow survivors.

AMC's The Walking Dead has already strayed from the comic book in several ways (very successful ways for the most part) so it is certainly going to be interesting to see where the series goes in it's next season. I will certainly be watching.

First Solid Movie of the SUMMER - Inception

*spoiler free!*

Sitting here in the food court, I wonder if I'm dreaming. Are all these people projections of my mind? If I tip this chair over will I jolt awake? Or am I took heavily sedated and it won't work?

Was that entire movie a dream?

Inception clearly blew my mind. The concept of the movie was remarkably fascinating. Dreams are intimate thoughts our mind conjures up. Interfering with dreams seems very invasive and that is just one of the themes this multi-layered movie presents.

The acting was superb. The most surprising performance coming from Ellen Page, or Juno as you probably know her by. She holds her own amongst people that have been at this acting game far longer then she - and she does it well.

Visuals and the musical score accompanied the story and action expertly. I would not expect less from the likes of Christopher Nolan, the director who has done such films like The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento.

After such a lackluster summer of movies, Inception has redeemed my faith in the industry. Not all movies have to be remakes or sequels to be absolutely brilliant.

Movie Preview - Inception

I'll try not to talk about Inception too much, but I'm very excited for the movie:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/110/1103912p1.html

IGN just wrote an amazing, pretty spoiler-free review about the movie. They went as far to call it "Nolan's masterpiece". I'm a sucker for movies that have multiple layers or probably confuse the heck out of people - took me 3 times to get Prestige and now it's my favorite movie ever. However, I do not think a standard movie audience wants to be confused while watching a movie. Inception, however, seems to have this beautiful and amazing dream sequences that will hopefully hold someone's attention - that and the main story line. There seems to be sub-plots weaved throughout which always makes me happy.

I'm definitely excited.