April 18, 2017

This past week I rented a couple films.

First was Inferno with Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon.  This also stars the very busy Felicity Jones (of Rogue One fame, as well as Theory of Everything).  The story here is Langdon, minus the bad mullet from Davinci Code, awaking battered and bruised in a hospital bed.  He knows very little and is groggy.  He eventually notes he is not in Boston near Harvard but rather Florence.  Then he tries to help solve and prevent a viral epidemic from another radical who sees people as a virus on the planet.  There are some expected twists and turns.   It is decently done.  Still I can see why this didn’t get a tremendous following during the summer.   I like the scenery, with Florence and Venice it makes for a nice travel log.  I like seeing these places.
The second film is so memorable that I can’t even recall it.  I racked my brain over this.   So I will need to re-visit the video store to jog my memory.
On Netflix I did watch the WWII documentary Five Came Back about acclaimed directors (Ford, Huston, Capra etc) who enlisted and were part of the propaganda effort.  Some of their films are there, like the Battle at Midway with live colour footage.  The even more powerful film was the Nazi Concentration Camp film which was another documentary used at the Nuremburg Trials.  Anyone who claims that the holocaust was not real should watch this film.  It is heartbreaking what humans are capable of doing to one another.  The War changed all of these directors and they came back and made some of their most memorable films.  I also caught another BBC documentary about Hiroshima and it was interesting; interesting in the US being blamed and accused of using the weapon, but then it is revealed that the Japanese military and government kept their people away from real information.  There was no surrender after the first bomb, and even when the second bomber was seen going to Nagasaki, no warnings were even issued to their own people (5 hours notice could have been given).   The premise of the coverage is the US wanted to drop the bombs anyway and have guinea pigs on its effects.  The reality is many thousands of US lives were saved avoiding a land invasion of a people who fought to the bitter end.  Again, another good film to catch.
Painfully little in the theatres to catch these days.

[Time passes]  Oh!!  I remembered.

Legend of Tarzan.
I even watched the extras in this film as well.   Now I know why it didn’t make that great an impression on me.   In the Extras they talk about how they were taking a different tack on this classic story of the ripped man in the loin cloth.  Here, they work in reverse, starting with a civilized Tarzan (Lord Greystoke) after he has been back from Africa for 8 years and already with Jane as a civilian.  There is then a request for him to see about “progress” being made in the Congo, which requires his expertise.  So he and Jane reluctantly go.  What they find is Christoph Walz acting as a bad man, and looking for diamonds for his Belgian leader while facilitating revenge for Tarzan’s enemy in the jungle.  You see, Tarzan killed this tribe leader’s brother long ago.  And there you have it.
In the Extras they further explain how they didn’t fly the cast into Africa and no filming was done there.  It was all done in soundstages in Britain.  There are also no animals in the film that are real.  They are CGI.  And here is where the picture falls down.  Some of the animals are very realistic (think Life of Pi’s Tiger – only as a lion) but then others, like the gorillas, are challenged.  Some look somewhat real.  Others less.  CGI is coming a long way, but there is still more for complete realism.
Alexander Skarsgard (looking more like his father in each film, although more ripped here) plays Tarzan and the ripped muscles.  No loin cloth but rather various stages of undress – fully clothes to Hulk like chinos.  Then Samuel l Jackson taking on evidence of using slaves, Margot Robbie trying to be tough and independent and yet you wonder about her boldness with bad guy Walz at times (where he would be unlikely to stand for the impudence).  Never mind.  It was okay.  CGI less so.  And a movie that really didn’t need to be re-made, much like last week’s Ben Hur.

March 27, 2017

In the plane I watched the TIFF movie Mostly Sunny, which is a Canadian film about Canadian Sarnia-born porn film actress who has become an Indian Bollywood sensation.  Appears the Indians are over 1 billion people but don’t believe that people have sex or talk about it.  But the male population seems to like the fact that a Bollywood actress can be seen at youporn for your fantasies doing all sorts of nasty things!   The film talks about her life, moving to California and her relationship with parents, brother and community.   It can be a difficult transition to move from adult film to “normal” society and relationships.  This film explores this, and how this “living in the moment” person can look ahead to handling interesting and troubling questions about the choices that she has made.
(There is a Netflix documentary called After Porn and it also addresses these issues and the broken people that can be left, as well as those who who are already broken headed into the adult film business).    In short one can never run away from their past.
Also on Netflix I watched the animated Spirit, a horse based story with Maaaaatt Damon (voicing the horse, well overdubbing really) and Bryan Adams doing the music.  This is a female childhood favourite, with the horses and scenery of the Wild West, but beyond that it is is a flimsy story.  Horse was free.  Horse is curious about humans.  Horse then fights to be free,   Done.  I do not need to this again.
Also on Netflix I did catch For the Love of Spock, which was directed by his son Adam.  It held my attention for the icon and a little bit more about his life.  There are some good things to know and if you are a Trekkie, it is likely mandatory viewing, whatever I might say.   Not sure what the tie in for Big Bang Theory is, but they made it along with other celebrity cameos to talk about Leonard Nimoy.  (The Bilbo Baggins song would have made The Hobbit more watchable!)
Finally I rented Ben Hur with the idea that I wanted to see what they had changed to the original (to me) Charleton Heston classic film that also had won Best Picture previously.   This one did not.  Now I know why.  I even sat through the Extras to see about the making of this film.  There is a lot of “this is why we did this….and here is the book which was the source material, and not the previous film”.   Fair enough.   The book had actually been made into a film and production before to much success BEFORE Chuck ever rode a chariot.  Still, his is a Jesus story and moreso than the Heston film.   Jesus in the original was a pair of hands and a mystery, helping out Judah every now and then.   This film goes further, and further than I would have liked which becomes its fatal flaw, and why I suspect the people didn’t come to the theatre.  The secondary reason was the chariot race, which was more CGI and had horses doing what I just didn’t believe.  No horses of course were injured in the film, but of course since much of their footage resided in pixels only.   That primary reason for people to stay away is that, like the playgrounds of old, the former film had good vs evil.  The bad guy treating the Ben Hur family (Masala) poorly and Judah finding an improbable way to get his revenge.  The ultimate revenge was on the chariot race field.   This movie doesn’t leave you as satisfied.  Everyone gets a medal for participation, and no one is left out.   Jesus ultimately has the final say in the last feel good moments of this film.   It’s a let down.  It’s disappointing to me.  What next?  Khan in Star Trek being brought back into the rhelm of just a “misunderstood guy who just needed a hug and compassion”?   If this is a Ben Hur for the times, then I will gladly jump into a Delorean and find my way back to 1959 with Chuck at the reins.

March 20, 2017

On to the reviews, on Netflix I watched Fifty Shades of Grey, which I simply couldn’t spend a nickel on in a theatre and I am glad that I didn’t.  The source material really is the problem here.  I did read the book (on the insistence of a buddy whose wife found it a great marital aid!).   The book was a struggle for me as I questioned so much about our male model.  Why did he have to be a billionaire?  Why did he have to run a large company and have a fleet of Audi cars?  Why did he have to also be a pilot (helicopters and gliders) and a expert yachtsman etc.?  All this bling!  He has issues but he really plays Dominant-Light as it were.  His convictions however much he wants to memorialize them in a contract, are flexible and change as his mood does.  From elevators to the insistence to of having never slept in the same bed as a Sub/lover.   Why, too, does Anastasia have to be a virgin?   Why so put off by the whole BDSM scene while at the same time demanding to be shown many aspects of it?  Anyway, the story is flimsy and there isn’t a lot of chemistry between the protagonists.  You can’t see the lust.  You can’t sense the uncontrollable pull for each other.   The book seemed to suggest more of that – although I am thankful for less ripping into condoms time and again.  Safe sex.  We get it.   I can’t recommend this, but no one really has.  Number 2 is in theatres now and number 3 to come after that.   Are we really standing on pins and needles wondering if they “get back together again”?  Kim Basinger playing a Mrs Robinson character for young Christian could be interesting, but I won’t spend $13 to find out!
The best of anything that ever came from Fifty Shades of Grey is right here:
Saw a favourable review for Beauty and the Beast.   Still not sure if I need to see a live version of this – but we will see.

March 6, 2017

Hacksaw Ridge – a best picture nominated story directed by Mel Gibson bringing him back into the spotlight.  Andrew Garfield stars as the true story of Desmond Doss.  He was a “conscientious objector” who refused to hold a gun while desiring to act and serve his country as a medic.  He was deeply religious and that likely was the source of interest for deeply Catholic Mel.   God says “Thou shalt not kill” and even in war he takes it to heart.   There is a good story to be told and Mel uses all his tools.  I think he is overly graphic, with some over the top injuries shown.   Is it realistic?  Likely.  Does it add much to the tale?   No.  The actions of our hero are worthy of the tale and telling.   I am skeptical about a couple of the incidents portrayed.   This was worth the time and the viewing.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates – no.  Just no.  What on earth possessed Anna Kendrick to do this crap?   And the guy who plays Zac Ephron’s brother is simply awful.

Independence Day – Resurrection.  This sequel to the original cheesey original was just not good.   And I had no expectations for it.  Original cast members Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, and Judd Hirsh (Will Smith wisely stayed away).  Computer dude from Star Trek should have too.   I actually thought he died in the original.   Anyway.  Aliens come back.  Bigger and badder than before.   The same group of misfits have to try and overcome overwhelming odds.  I won’t spoil the ending.   But I will say that the mysterious orb is ridiculous.   Not worth the viewing either.

Family Day 2017, February 20th

So I ventured forth this past weekend to catch the unanimously panned Passengers.  Did it live down to its reputation and were the ratings legit.  Oh my, yes, they definitely were.   Here is a story that takes place in space, but really could take place almost anywhere.   Space (and a long term, incubated space journey) provides a backdrop for the ultimate imprisonment, and lack of choices – but for the most part it adds very little.   There is a space ship carrying future humans to new natural and pristine world.   It is about a 100 year journey, so the people are in suspended animation.   Something happens and one guy is awoken prematurely.   He soon gets bored with the flying Hilton hotel and wrestles with whether or not to awaken another passenger.  The trailers tell you what he decides.   Then the melo-drama inter play between the two people takes place.   A third comes and goes and ultimately there is something that happens which requires action quickly.   Girlfriend can attest that my reaction to the ultimate resolution was “Oh My GOD!!”  The bullshit meter went haywire and my willingness to suspend my disbelief was irretrievably damaged for good.  It is silly.   There is dialog here that I have a hard time believing that between takes the actors didn’t look at each other and laugh.  After the ship is damaged these two enter the engineering area (like Star Trek Enterprise area) and look for something “broken”.   This concept is later re-inforced and repeated by JLaw.  It was a jaw dropping moment.   In the end, it makes no sense.   This I cannot recommend on any level.

Valentine’s Day Feb 15 2017 – Bonus Top Films List

I was delayed in writing up my review of the following.   But here goes, and having seen Alison’s detailed and valuable review of the Oscar nominated films, I have a few to still cross off my list (I have three to go).  Fences, Hacksaw Ridge and LaLa Land.   I have deliberately avoided LaLa Land, and the reason is I don’t feel the need to spend the full fare in a theatre when I will get it fully on the small screen.   Many of the nominees are the same way.   Incidentally,  I laughed out loud with the Emma Stone comments from Alison that I completely agree with!  I don’t find her attractive.   In fact quite the opposite, I think her face is just messed up.  But I digress, but the comment made my day.     This year, there is no epic, big screen wonder that requires the big screen in all of its glory.   In hindsight, I wish I had seen Hell or High Water on the big screen for the panoramas of the landscape in Texas.    A visit to the Chinese mall (I am shamed) netted Moonlight, Girl On a Train and Patriots Day.    Here we go.

Patriots Day stars Marky Mark with the same director as Deepwater Horizon.   Same basic facts and script with a fictional Marky Mark, making his way through otherwise factual content (roughly anyway).   As someone who has run a half marathon, and other running events, the Boston Marathon is the Superbowl of runs.    Here I can only imagine the poor saps who have been running for hours to at the end have not one but two bombs cut them down with flying nails and sharps.   With that backdrop, then we have the cops and other persons in authority (including Kevin Bacon and John Goodman) trying to find the bad guys.   I have vague memories of these events and like girlfriend I thought that bombing and then the tracking down of these guys took place much quicker.   I was in awe with the one confrontation scene were I was convinced that the bad guys were in trouble – how the hell could they not have been, and I would have thought I would have remembered the news coverage on it better.  I didn’t.  Suffice it to say, this is a decent job on a known story.   The number of resources thrown at this, and the city shut down is staggering.   Each actor earned a pay cheque but otherwise it was not memorable for me.   The exception is the survivors and those who carry on and find ways to not let an act of terror define them nor how they will be running their lives.

Moonlight.   I wrote to Alison about how I am challenged this year with protagonists who are insular and keep to themselves without voicing too much about feelings and what is going on in their heads.   Casey Affleck is here, as well as now the three Moonlights.    I felt for Moonlight at all the stages of his life.  I found his adult-self interesting in his choice of profession giving his background and his connection with Ali.   Ali, also by the way, was in Hidden Figures, who also has Ali’s wife’s character too in it (as the engineer).    Still I was not moved to tears.   Again for the people who don’t voice their challenges, their agonies and their torments, it makes it more difficult for the viewer.   And they both (Affleck) and Moonlights says so much with their eyes and body language.   In the end though, the stories are plodding along and don’t really go anywhere.   They are character pieces and stand on their own right, but these aren’t movies I would seek out and add to my DVD collection and watch time and again.    My list of Top 10 films of all time are all movies I have seen more than once, and I own – and can treat like old friends who I enjoy getting acquainted with yet again.   There are films where I come out and say “that was the Best Picture” with my viewing and re-viewing of The Imitation Game doing that for me a couple years ago.   It didn’t win.    But it will be remembered later I think – in the same way the Saving Private Ryan is remembered moreso than Shakespeare in Love.   I am reminded that Oscar doesn’t always get it right.

Girl On A Train.  I like Emily Blunt.  I think that she is growing in her abilities and in last year’s Sicario showed more depth and range than from other films.  I still think too that her connection and chemistry with Maaaa-tt Daaamon in The Adjustment Bureau is palpable and one of the finest in recent memory.    From a male-female relationship perspective to be clear.   I didn’t like her in this movie.   I didn’t like this movie that I found manipulative.    I didn’t really like the Jennifer Lawrence look-a-like who ends up disappearing.   I don’t like how Blunt’s character is inebriated and fall down drunk and looking every bit the part in appearance for most of the film.   Because this book was so popular, the expectations were so very high with this.   It failed.   I did not read the book and have no desire given the movie.  The tangled webs that women weave here are something (like Gone Girl) that makes guys cringe in a Fatal Attraction kind of way!   This movie is one that lives down to its billing.

Rob’s Top 10 of ALL TIME (made more difficult as there are some genres that get short changed, and could be done by Director, or Actor etc.):

Shawshank Redemption

Amadeus

Godfather I and II

Jaws

The Martian

The Exorcist

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Silence of the Lambs

Braveheart

Raging Bull

Honourable mentions: The Matrix, Snow White & Seven Dwarves, The Imitation Game, Pan’s Labyrinth, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Nemo, Cool Hand Luke, Terminator 2, Alien, Avatar.

Adding more:

Tree of Life – yes, yes, yes!
Kingdom of Heaven – a fav or mine with Ridley Scott.
Blade Runner deserves more for it’s cutting edge (Blade Runner 2 with Ryan Gosling AND Harrison out this summer)
Funny – adding Something About Mary
Romance – When Harry Met Sally 
Daniel Day-Lewis- My Left Foot
Kevin Costner – Dances With Wolves

January 30th, 2017

I did not go to the theatre this past weekend but on Netflix I have been catching up on a few things.   There are some TV series that I am seeing, which have been delayed by me over some time.   One of those being The Fall with Gillian Anderson.   I finished Season 2, and once again found this to be compelling TV.   Good performances as this story of a serial killer in Dublin moves forward.  The killer has been caught and there is the examination of him and his motives, all the while trying to see if his last victim is actually alive or dead.   Next is Sherlock with Bennedict Cumberbatch and Bilbo Baggins.   Season 2 finishes with the seemingly end of the story as Moriarty and Holmes both find conclusions to a complex game of cat and mouse.   There are not many episodes in each season but the characters are good and it is well written and performed.   Season 3 starts in the first episode about trying to explain Season 2’s ending.   I can’t say yet that I was completely convinced about the explanation, but then again, I don’t think that I meant to be yet.   More to come.

I did see the theatre-released, but really a Netflix film Eddie the Eagle with youngest son on Sat night.   What else do you watch with a 12yo when the hockey isn’t on?   This is the story and the quest for an oddly focused Brit, with very little talent, but plenty of drive to go to the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.   He was a downhill skier, and then move into Ski Jumping.   At the time there were no regulations about minimum distances to go, you just had to have competed and landed a jump at either the 70m height or the 90m height.    I have stood at the bottom of these hills and jumps in Austria, and they are insane.  Eddie had many obstacles put before him, like changing requirements added by the British Olympic Committee after-the-fact which were meant to dissuade him.    Add in here a forgettable performance from Hugh Jackman and a surprising appearance by Christopher Walken (incredibly!) and we have a yarn about the picked-on kid who makes good.   I had not realized that Eddie had never even attempted the 90m jump until his appearance at the Olympics.   I can only imagine what was going through his mind as he sat up at the top getting ready to jump.    Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) was supposed to take on this role, and I am glad that they chose otherwise.   The guy who played Eddie looked more like the real Eddie.   The message here ultimately is that determination and drive can make up for a lack of talent, and dreams are a good thing to strive for.   It was surprising to me that Mom and Dad, nor coach would have made the trip to Calgary to watch their son realize his childhood dream.   You would think that they would want to be a part of it.

January 23, 2017

This past weekend was an opportunity to see The Founder with Michael Keaton.   This is the story of Ray Kroc, and his relationship with McDonalds.   It is a business story, based roughly on the truth, and tells the story of Kroc who was a salesman for various products in his early days, as he drove the country peddling his wares.  In the last instance it was multi-cup milkshake machines.   He was pressed to sell one (maybe) in an area and then got a phone order for 6 machines from a small restaurant in San Bernadino CA.    This was 1954, and burgers were sold mostly at drive-ins that were all the rage with the teenage set, as shown in Happy Days and American Graffiti.   Kroc sees first hand in his travels some of the challenges with Drive Ins; the lines, the wait, the wrong orders, plenty of staff and lots of dishes to be bought, cleaned, stolen and broken.   Then he meets the small restaurant in California run by two brothers (Dick and Mac McDonald).    He buys them dinner and they tell him in detail their story, and quite a story it is.   The ingenious part being an ergonomic assessment of the burger-making process and a commitment to focus on what one does well in business.   The brothers had tried and failed at couple ideas from Kroc, but he sees franchising this restaurant as his road to business glory.   Kroc is a driven individual, a workaholic with little regard for his home life, and his Wife Ethal (the ever-aging Laura Dern) who has so very little to do in this film.   The rest becomes the story about these people.   It is interesting on a few levels, one of which is the ability of the central character to make his own story.    Kroc strikes a bargain with the McDonalds boys to franchise others, but gets very little in the bargain.   He focuses on Illinois where he is from, and even has the audacity to call one of the locations there “McDonalds Number 1”.   The writing on the wall is clear pretty early on to all of us who know how this ends except for the trusting and kind brothers.   Mac in particular ignores the signs from Kroc.   Kroc too shows that he believes that “contracts, like hearts, are made to be broken”.    Early on he plays his own legal counsel in reviewing a contract, but later gets more professional help.    Kroc is an End justifies the Means kind of guy.   He has persistence and drive.   He is unfailingly a man without a conscience or remorse.   He took what was a small restaurant in rural California and it’s process and made a global sensation worth billions.

Is it compelling?   Is it worth seeing?    I found it slow at times, but the acting is solid from Keaton and the McDonalds brothers.    Dick really is the genius behind it all.    There are some interesting moments, but here is another tale of a corporate giant who acts dubiously either professionally or personally (Steve Jobs is another one.  Mark Zuckerberg yet another).   It is interesting however that Kroc seemingly however much he preaches it isn’t a man of his word.   And that you would think is fatal – but then again, these are times where increasingly we see that dishonesty and playing with the facts, can take you to great heights.    Here is a movie that shows one man and how much that can be true.   Salesmen are salesmen….

January 16, 2017

On Netflicks the film Focus came up and one that my 22yo son raved about.  He liked everything about it and recommended it.   I watched it last week and was disappointed.  It’s Will Smith riding the Margot Robbie popularity wave, and putting forth this caper where the cons are setting up to steal and loot from innocents attending a sporting event.   There is more to it than that, but not a lot.  For me, the contortions being exercised to try and turn this thing into a who-dunnit and betcha-can’t-guess at the same time are frustrating.   By the end, I simply didn’t care.  It all seemed just a little too contrived, and I ended it with some shrugged shoulders and moved on.

Moved on to finish season 5 of Game of Thrones and also ending Westworld.  These are two solid pieces of film, although Westworld at times seems to stretch it all a little more than it needs to.  Hard to turn a 2 hour film into 10 hours of viewing.  Still it kept my attention with some good observations about humans generally.
For those who read this who aren’t Robbie or Alison, we are seeing Jessica Chastain live watching The Zookeeper’s Wife, with Jessica channeling Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice with a Polish accent.   Here it is a Polish Zoo owner’s wife who takes pity on people being killed by the Nazis.  It should be interesting to listen to her speak about it.   I guess it is a night’s pay for her given she is already in the city filming Molly’s Game here in Toronto.

January 9th, 2017

I went out to see Manchester By The Sea with all of the good reviews and award nominations that is has received.  Casey Affleck then last night wins the Best Actor Award in a Drama for his performance.

A quick sidebar about the Golden Globes last night.   La La Land was nominated in 7 categories and won every one.  It became the movie with the most Golden Globe wins ever.   I have to say that I have little interest in seeing this homage to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, nor particularly in the whole musical on film genre.  Best Picture Oscars have been awarded to Chicago and The Artist and other such films but for me they are not all that intriguing.   I certainly do not need to see them on the big screen, especially in this instance with Golden Globe winner Emma Stone who I really don’t like much.  Meryl Streep went off on a political rant as well as others such as Hugh Laurie.   In the end, they all need to accept the fact that Americans voted as they did.   And they’re not going to like it for the next four years.   Some of the dresses were pretty, others less so.  I wonder why dudes (like Jonah Hill) who wear sneakers with a tux don’t get lambasted as much for their lack of class and fashion sense than the women do.

Onto the Misery by the Water.  As described by Alison this was not a feel good movie.  This is a movie of an emotionally detached guy, and for good reason, who needs to address and accept the death of his brother, and his brother’s unilateral decision to make him the guardian of a walking hormone 16 yo son.   There are good performances all around.  This is NOT the Best Picture of the Year.   Casey himself is a portrait of a man who internalizes and then lashes out unexpectedly at times.   He has an alcohol issue and should be kept away from most bar situations.   The story then unfolds as he and the boy and those around them address this new state.   The use of flashback sequences is effective to fill in the gaps about these people, and what occurred, to show their history and current attitudes.  There is some humour, mostly with the boy and the interactions with his uncle.   I think that the music was used as effectively as at any time in recent memory.   The music plays, much like the first few minutes of UP where you see the couple’s life unfold without words, with the voices being muffled and you see the body language and emotions of those on screen to the actions that have taken place.   It is powerful.   In the end there is a thought-provoking story that raises many questions to be discussed.   I am glad to have seen it, but I had to be prepared for it.    Everyone here is damaged in one way or another, without fail.  I was a little taken aback by the conclusion.    I’ll leave it at that.    Is this a movie about depression?   I am not sure.   It is certainly a movie about death and dealing with it.  It can also be about small town issues and dealing with small minds and one’s past.   Lion in comparison had emotional aspects to it that were powerful.   Here too there was power in the message but different.    Hard to describe.

I finished Westworld which I (gulp) downloaded.  I am a bad person.    But it had to be done.   Crichton does love his twists and turns or at the very least the Nolan Brothers do.  There is more gratuitous violence and nudity than required here.   I guess it gains audiences for titillation but does not add much to the story.  I did like the arc of the story for Anthony Hopkins.  Also too Bernard.    Thandie Newton was very good and I think better than Evan Rachel Wood.   I had not seen the original movie from 70s.   Still this held my attention and was glad I watched closely together as the story remained fresh.   There are plenty of interesting insights about people, and happiness and what drives us.
Game of Thrones Season 5 is done and onto Season 6.   The Jon Snow ending was kind of unexpected but I am aware that we have not seen the last of him.   I think I will relish seeing the end of the religious fanatics as much as Cersei. The Bran story does not hold my interest.