The Last House: This 2026 movie was just released on Netflix. It stars Narcos’ Wagner Moura and Greta Lee principally as a couple with two kids in a suburban Seattle neighbourhood. Without having known the story beforehand I can sum it up as a science fiction thriller. It is for the most part a one set film, which could very easily be turned into a live play. I liken this to other similar movies like A Quiet Place (which was significantly better), Birdbox, Leave the World Behind, and Stephen King’s The Mist come to mind. I don’t believe that this gives too much away. The story is simple with one day within an ordinary subdivision, a rain storm approaches and the neighbours decide to head inside. Then their worlds change and things happen. This is no ordinary rainstorm.
For me, the performances were alright, although the situation that is offered has some proposed solutions that were difficult to believe. You will know when one of many of the situations occur, especially if you’re looking back upon later revelations with the earlier parts in mind. I didn’t like this. My level of disbelief eventually just shattered. It is a strange situation and preposterous that the human situation would be as simple as is speculated and shown. Questions arise like what about locations that are much further inland like Nebraska for example? Is this a national or international incident? If not, then why wouldn’t other parts of the country come to assist? There is a longer timeline than you would expect too, with the child actors actually aging and being replaced. There are impressive engineering and biology skills at work in this household, with differing levels of believability. The ending was not satisfying which I will leave at that. The family unit stays remarkably close under the circumstances but of course you better get along in the quarters that are offered to you. Everyone that survived through the quarantine of Covid will readily relate to the challenges that were posed. I am still left wondering about the properties of the rain that falls. I won’t lose any sleep over it but it contributes to the overall sense of disbelief for me. This is in contrast to a movie like A Quiet Place, where that family had to deal with an alien invasion with a creature that seems devastatingly impenetrable. Other laws of physics that we know aren’t changed in that movie to address the situation at hand. But that is as far as I will go on that front. All that to say, I wouldn’t recommend this, but I would certainly hire Wagner Moura as a handyman at my place. His enginerring skills are impressive.
House of the Dragon Season 3: This series completed its third season a week ago Sunday, and I watched it on Monday. I have to admit that I found this season more satisfying but equally inconsistent. It had eight episodes. There were some excellent episodes, most involving battles with the dragons (with some anticipated betrayal among the humans), like episodes 2 and 3, whereas others were more plot laden with characters like episodes 6 and 7. Of course there needs to be set up for epic battles, but it was amazing to see how the momentum can slow right down from some earlier well done clashes.
More troubling to me is the idea that Rheanyra who has been trying to regain her birthright, once she sees some progress must deal with seemingly trivial municipal issues that would not generally reach her level. She shouldn’t have to sit hour after hour before the general populace and listen to their grievances. I know that it was true in Game of Thrones that Danny would have ordinary people speak t and relay their concerns, but this felt more a plot convenience than bringing a sense of reality to a new rhelm. All the while on the Hightower side, with the young squabbling brothers Aegon and Aemond, this side is in disarray. I do wish that George R R Martin had stayed away from the J R R Tolkien’s affliction of creating so many names that sound alike that it is difficult to differentiate amongst those characters in play. Tolkien had Aragorn, Arwen, Eowyn, Saruman and Sauron. The Targaryans are a namesake mess, including names like Daemon, Aemond, Aegon, Daeron, and Jacaerys! Whatever happened to Bill, James, Roy and Jake? At the same time I do like the continuation of the idea that seemingly important prime characters can be eliminated at virtually anytime. I also like that yet again a female character has powers of foresight and mysticsm which she is able to try and contol a man in her midst. There was a dream sequence that was utterly cringe-worthy and I have to imagine that even seasoned actors would have a difficult time with it. Targaryens have always seemed to have a different sensibility about their romantic partners. In this case, it creeped me out and that’s as far as I will describe it. Dragons are of course at the forefront but it does become a war of numbers then, where each alliance is counting the dragons that stand behind them. Pity when riders may not prove to be as loyal as the beasts that they ride. There is of course more to come, with the final episode proving itself to provide some quality viewing leaving the audience with wanting more in how all this will turn out. I still think that Game of Thrones juggled the balls of the various houses, factions and alliances better than this. I like Emma D’Arcy as Rheanyra along with Matt Smith as Daemon her husband, along with Ewan Mitchell as the intense and unhinged Aemond. James Norton is a good foil as Ormund Hightower and yet we haven’t had a Ramsey Bolton yet who was one of TVs best ever pure villians. This is missing. So we will see where it all leads and this may actually require another viewing to fully grasp the details.
Apparently there is a feature film in the works for Game of Thrones. We will see what that would be.
Mondays With Robbie 