Top 10 Game of Thrones season 3 moments

Just one week now until HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones is back for season 7. And for those of you who’ve been struggling to deal with this year’s extended absence I’m putting together a bunch of content to help remind you what we’ve all been missing. In this blog post I turn my eye to my 10 favourite moments of season 3 – let’s go!

The top 10 deadliest characters in Game of Thrones

Only 8 days until Game of Thrones is back for season 7 and it’s day 3 of my attempts to post some blog content on a regular basis.  Unlike my last two blogs I’m not going to be looking at my favourite moments from a given season, instead I’m going to be taking a look at the 10 deadliest characters in the world of ice and fire. Let’s go!

Top 10 moments from Game of Thrones season 2

Game of Thrones is nearly back! And to celebrate I’m writing 10 blog posts in 10 days, all dedicated to the wonderful world of ice and fire. It’s now 9 days until season 7 premieres and my second post is my 10 favourite moments of season 2. Let’s go!

Top 10 moment from Game of Thrones season one

Game of Thrones is back! Well, it’s nearly back and that seems like a good excuse to do some blogging. It’s just 10 days until season 7 premieres and to celebrate I thought I’d write 10 posts about the series so far. Undoubtedly this is a little ambitious for someone who averages about 4 blog posts a year but nonetheless 10 posts in 10 days – let’s go!

I’ll start with my 10 favourite moments of season 1.

Wonder (if anybody else noticed Jeor Mormont) Woman

Strangely, the release of Wonder Woman lacked the fanfare expected from the DC’s normally rather intrusive marketing campaigns – something that I’ve not been the only one to notice.

Instead much of the buzz about the film came as a result of men losing their shit over the fact that ONE cinema (out of millions of cinemas across the world) decided to hold ONE women-only screening (out of dozens of screenings at that cinema).

In spite of the uproar, no let’s be honest at least partly because of the MRA outrage, I was excited for the film. Unlike the previous two instalments in DC’s connected universe, Wonder Woman has been mostly well-received by critics and benefits hugely from not being a bloated, confused shitshow - again, unlike the previous two instalments in DC’s connected universe.

Despite dragging its heels in places, Wonder Woman zips between smartly choreographed action and well written dialogue, carried by the chemistry between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Gadot shines in the starring role and with her background in the Islraeli armed forces makes for a very believable superheroine – strong, empathetic and determined.

Chris Pine is charming and funny throughout, getting his fair share of great one-liners and ultimately provides the emotional centre for the film. Unfortunately, the film’s villains provide very little to get excited about and are instantly relegated to the comprehensive ranks of forgettable comic book film villains like Whiplash and Malekith.

Every shot looks beautiful, from the gorgeous island stronghold of the Amazonians to the drab trenches of war-torn Europe, by way of London’s grimy streets and alleyways. Director Patty Jenkin’s visuals work best when these worlds collide, whether that’s German soldiers charging down Amazonians on a tropical beach or Wonder Woman storming across no-man’s land.

Like, well…pretty much all comic book films, Wonder Woman laying waste to faceless bad guys gets old quickly and you can’t help but wonder why nobody shoots her in the fucking legs instead of aiming at her shield. But I’m trying not to be a nit-picky arsehole.

Without getting too deep into spoilers, when the final battle rolls around it’s robbed of any gravity it might have had by pitting two characters whose powers and weaknesses we don’t really understand against each other for some punching, throwing stuff and EXPLOSIONS. Riveting stuff.

The film’s best comedic moments are subtle and this is also where the film is most subversive, poking fun at typical genre tropes like the male gaze, baffling costume choices, and fragile masculinity.

There’s even a hint of intersectionality thrown in with Connie Nielson and Robin Wright, two women over fifty, and Ann Wolfe, a black woman, given some of the best non-Wonder Woman moments. It was especially refreshing to see the USA’s contempt for indigenous people highlighted in a film about standing up to the evils of man.

If I’m honest, I really did expect more from Wonder Woman, not as a superhero movie but as the first true female-centred and female-directed superheroine movie. I wanted Wonder Woman to be something ground-breaking and managed to lose sight of the fact that for tens of millions of girls and women it was - because they finally got a comic-book movie they could call their own.

Ultimately, Wonder Woman proves that anything a man can do, a woman can do too. Including slightly generic but entertaining superhero origin stories.

Post-script

This didn’t really fit in as part of a nit-picky film review, but Wonder Woman’s belief that the repeated acts of evil committed during WW1 were the result of just one individual, somewhat parallels a worrying modern trend.

Despite being faced with overwhelming evidence that there is a culture of men committing brutal acts of violence against women in this country, too many of us are happy to sweep it under the rug as the acts of monstrous individuals.

For the record, 936 women killed between 2009 and 2015 in the UK alone cannot possibly be isolated acts of violence by individuals. It’s nothing short of a war on women, commonly perpetrated by those who “loved” the victims most with 64% of those murders committed by current or former partners and a further 8% by their sons.

It’s only when Wonder Woman opens her eyes to the reality that all men (yes, and all women too) have the potential to commit acts of evil that she’s able to protect mankind. Until we as a society do the same, we’ll also fail to protect the people that need it most, too busy chasing monsters instead of confronting the deeper issue.