r/Cinema

It kills me anything that’s not an Anime is insanely dark…

Have you ever watched a movie without knowing much about it or expecting it to be good, and it completely surprised you?
I’m looking for movies like that. What was yours?

I know this isn’t breaking news- but honestly when was the last time you were just straight up scared by a woman’s acting? If you include externals, Blair Witch in the theater 18 years old was horrifying. But just isolating the acting, I TRULY have only been scared ONCE, ever. Faye Dunaway, Mommy Dearest, wire hangers. Good god. Never watched that scene ever again. … Inde in Obsession was officially #2 and I’m almost 50 years old with a cold disabled combat veteran heart. What PURE acting moments by women actresses SCARED you the most?

I started watching Game of Thrones 10 days ago, and today I finished Season 6. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been this invested in a show before.

Before starting it, I knew almost nothing about Game of Thrones. I knew it had dragons, that it was one of the biggest shows ever, and that's basically it. I didn't know the plot, the characters, the major events, or anything else. I went in almost completely blind.

And somehow, in just 10 days, I became completely addicted to it. I've reached the point where I'm thinking about the show throughout the day and genuinely can't wait to watch the next episode.

So far, Seasons 1–6 have been absolutely incredible to me. I genuinely don't understand how a show can maintain this level of quality for so long. Then I watched Season 6, Episode 9 — Battle of the Bastards — and thought, "There's no way this can get better."

Then I watched Episode 10.

At this point, Game of Thrones is easily my favorite series I've ever watched.

But after finishing Season 6, I started looking at some spoiler-free discussions about the show before continuing, and I was honestly surprised by how negatively people talk about the final season. I knew there was controversy surrounding it, but I didn't realize just how much it affected the show's overall reputation.

That made me wonder: Did Season 8 really damage Game of Thrones' reputation that much?

Because whenever people talk about the greatest TV shows ever, I constantly see Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire, etc. recommended. But despite Game of Thrones being one of the most influential and culturally significant shows of its era, it sometimes feels like people hesitate to recommend it because they know how it ends.

And that's a strange thing to me.

I'm not saying Game of Thrones deserves to be considered perfect, because I haven't even watched the last two seasons yet. I'm also not trying to attack Breaking Bad. I watched it a couple of months ago and enjoyed it, but personally, I didn't connect with it anywhere near as much as I have with Game of Thrones. The one storyline that really stayed with me was Gus Fring's.

With Game of Thrones, on the other hand, I already feel attached to the world, the characters, the politics, the families, the history, and basically everything happening in Westeros.

It just makes me wonder whether a disappointing ending can really overshadow six seasons of phenomenal television.

Maybe I'm going to understand the criticism once I finish the series. Maybe I'll completely change my opinion. I genuinely don't know yet.

But right now, having watched only Seasons 1–6, it's hard for me to understand how a show this incredible could have its entire legacy damaged so heavily by its final season.

So, for those who watched it when it originally aired: did Season 8 actually change the way you viewed the entire series, or do you still consider Game of Thrones one of the greatest shows ever made?

Many movie enthusiasts surely remember the final scene of a movie because it is the one that remains imprinted on you, but few times I think we wonder what the best initial scene is. Surely the first scene that comes to mind is the graduate, but there are many movies where the first image is fascinating, memorable, engaging. I believe that regardless of the quality of the film that still remains a good movie, the first minutes of Mission Impossible 3 with Philips Saimor Hoffman pointing the gun and starting the countdown before the theme song, is like a dive in the sea and then swimming during the movie

I'm talking about performances where an actor shows up for just one or two scenes, completely takes over, and ends up being the most memorable part of the entire film. They don't even need to be the lead; they just walk in, drop a masterclass, and leave.

​My absolute favourites are,

​Matthew McConaughey in The Wolf of Wall Street (chest-thumping lunch scene)

​Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross ("Always Be Closing")

​Viola Davis in Doubt (single scene with Meryl Streep that earned an Oscar nom)

​Ned Beatty in Network ("The world is a business" speech)

​Who is the first actor that comes to mind for you?