Unforgiven and Unforgivable

It was good.

I'm not sure how it happened, but until last week, I had never seen The Unforgiven. I grew up watching westerns with my dad and anything with Clint Eastwood in it was practically on in the background at all times. From the Man with No Name Trilogy to Pale Rider and everything else. So this should have been something I would have run to. But somehow, I didn't. I know over the years I started to watch it a couple of times and would get interrupted and never get back to it. Just one of those things.

I like this better.

Anyway, I watched it and I get it now. It really is a deconstruction of the whole genre and that badass character he played all those years in all those unrelated movies. Westerns are about archetypes almost more so than any other genre. As much as we like to think superheroes are our modern mythology, they are just a replacement for the western. I liked the movie. It works because it's not so focused on the deconstruction that it ends up coming off pretentious. It's supposed to be mythology, not a lecture. Maybe too much time has passed, but I'm not sure I'd go with all the hype it received. I don't know, I liked it fine, I guess. But I've seen better modern westerns. Off the top of my head, I remember really liking Appaloosa, directed by Ed "The Man" Harris, starring Harris and Viggo Mortensen. I'm sure that's sacrilege to a lot of people, but I liked it better.

I also grew up watching cheesy 80s b movies we'd rent at the local video store. I can't remember most of them, but things like the Ninja movies with Sho Kasugi come to mind. The basic feel of these things is pretty well summed up in Kung Fury, which is now available in full on YouTube, for free . It's pitch perfect, for the most part, and at 30 minutes, it's just long enough so the joke doesn't completely wear out. Although, I found it lost a little steam near the end, it's still pretty fun and batshit crazy. Give it a look.

The new power couple.

Speaking of unforgiven, I recently posted about my choice of king for the seven kingdoms and after this week's episode of Game of Thrones, I have to retract that choice. Obviously. So, fuck Stannis. Daenerys was always my gut choice and now with Tyrion advising her, she'll be more than just an idealist. So, my choice is as it always should have been, Daenerys Storm Born, etc. Until she winds up stomping on puppies or some shit. This world is harsh.