Game of Thrones

Several favorite HBO dramas had to grow on me. Shows like Rome, Deadwood and The Wire had rich, complex stories and it took me a while to fully understand and appreciate all of them. That's exactly how I feel about HBO's newest show, Game of Thrones.

The epic fantasy show based on a popular book series tried to cram one hour of exposition and about two or three dozen characters into the premiere, and while I felt confused at times , I started to get a grasp on everything as the episode ended. Like the other great HBO shows, this one will have to give me time to catch up.

As you may have guessed, I have not read the books. If I had, I'd probably have an easier time understanding all of the intrigue and the purpose of the Pentos subplot, but even without that knowledge, Game of Thrones worked.

Ned Stark: The Hand of the King

The story centers largely on Ned Stark (which sounds more like an accountant than an ancient warrior). He's old friends with the king and is asked to take over as the Hand of the King following the suspicious death of the job's previous owner. While his tale is interesting, it's his children who provide plenty of potential storylines, and not just because they adopt adorable pet wolves. One of his daughters is a major tomboy, the other wants to marry the prince despite being 13, and his sons and their friends are all equally hot, even the bastard. He also has a young son, but since he gets shoved out of a window at the end of the episode, there isn't much point in caring about him.

The Queen's Family

The King's wife, Cersei, seems nice at first, except for the episode-ending revelation that she's having an affair with her twin brother, Jaime. Having him then throw a kid out a window to keep their secret is the kind of gloriously twisted drama I want to see from Game of Thrones. Between them and the Targaryans, it's clear that in the world of this show, people with blonde hair are all evil, and the only decent one is the queen's drunken, whoring dwarf brother (the delightful Peter Dinklage).

The Targaryans

Perhaps the most distracting part of Game of Thrones was the addition of a completely separate subplot centering around the son of the former king, who is across the sea and plotting his revenge, a plan which involves marrying his sister to a barbarian to get his army. The show needs a good villain (I suppose incestuous twins aren't enough), and while I briefly understood their connection to the main plot, it all felt very isolated from the real action. There are two different shows, and I hope the war comes sooner rather than later, because there's only so much time I'll be willing to spend watching a creepy guy with platinum blonde hair explain how he's willing to let 40,000 soldiers and their horses all have sex with his sister if it gets him what he wants.

The White Walkers

By the end of the episode, I got up to speed on the characters and plots, but there's one thing that left me very confused: what the heck is a White Walker? The episode began with a horror scene as a group of soldiers were attacked by some weird, undead creatures, myths known as the White Walkers, but then they and any mention of them vanished for the rest of the episode. I'm sure fans of the books know all about these creatures, but I was left feeling like the opening scene had nothing to do with the rest of the episode and was designed merely for people who've read the books.

Regardless, the production values alone are enough to keep me coming back, and I expect that by the end of the first season, I'll have a firm grasp on who's who in this magical kingdom. But Game of Thrones needs to remember that not everyone has read the books, so you can't just throw in random references to White Walkers and expect viewers to know what the heck you're talking about.

Sure, I could go online and read about the books (or read the books themselves), but a TV show has to work independently from the books. Right now most of it does, but the White Walkers still leave a sour taste in my mouth, the weak point in an otherwise strong premiere.

Mildred Pierce Premiere

Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Melissa Leo Go to HBO

Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and the stars of "Mildred Pierce," the Todd Haynes directed HBO series based on James M. Cain's 1941 cult novel, walked the red carpet Monday to debut their new miniseries.

The series stars Winslet as a divorcee and single mother attempting to make ends meet while gaining her daughters' respect during the Great Depression. Joan Crawford starred in the 1954 film also based on the book and snagged a best actress Oscar her only Academy Award for the role.

Winslet arrived at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York in a black sheath with sheer polka dots down the left side. She posed for photographs with costar Pearce, who plays the fictional Pierce's second husband Monty Beragon.

Haynes co-wrote the script and directed the 2002 Julianne Moore movie "Far From Heaven."

Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, who plays Mildred's friend Lucy Gessler, made the scene and we like to imagine that she and Winslet discussed how to keep their Oscars so shiny.

Evan Rachel Wood, who stars as Mildred's disgusted and rebellious daughter, Veda Pierce, arrived in a plum-colored Elie Saab dress. Morgan Turner plays the younger version of Veda, while the adorable Quinn McColgan plays Pierce's younger daughter, Ray. Their father Bert Pierce is played by Brian O'Byrne, who posed for photographers with his on-screen daughters. Click the pics for more photos from the premiere.

Making Of

Big Love Finale

Last night's "Big Love" finale goes down as one of the better series enders in recent memory. But lost in the hoopla about the surprise ending is the simple fact that we totally should have seen spoiler alert! Bill Henrickson's murder coming.

The reason? His mother was played by Grace Zabriskie.

Zabriskie, of course, came to cultish TV prominence on "Twin Peaks" as Sarah Palmer, the twitchy mom of Laura, the high school student whose mysterious killing sets the entire series in motion. That's murdered TV child No. 1.

Later in the 1990s, she turned up in a handful of "Seinfeld" episodes as Mrs. Ross, the visibly smoldering mother of George Constanza's fianceé, Susan. Her daughter's twisted fate on that landmark sitcom? Death by wedding invitation an improbable result of licking envelope glue that Costanza fully knew to be ancient and potentially harmful. Murdered virtual kid No. 2.

Richard Roeper speaks on film

Roeper is a successful columnist for the Chicago Sun Times a job that he has had for nearly 24 years. He is most well-known for co-hosting with Roger Ebert after Gene Siskel's passing, for the TV show "At the Movies."

Roeper has his own website and blog where he critiques pop culture. He makes appearances on radio and television on a regular basis. He was prepared on the stand, with clips from various television productions that he has worked on, including a cameo in the HBO series "Entourage" where he did a lot of his own writing.

He also came equipped with an iPad, with all of his notes and Twitter postings at his convenience. "Now everyone's a writer," Roeper said, saying that anyone can blog, tweet, etc. "It's just finding someone to pay you for it."

For his Oscar picks, Roeper chose the "Facebook-film" as his choice for best picture, but believes the academy will choose "The King's Speech." Overall, he felt that "Inception" should be nominated and should win. It's his top choice.

"The King's Speech" is what the academy loves -- British actors talking about British things," Roeper said.

He said that if it were up to him, "The Social Network" would be the winner.

Dan Allen, a freelance film critic from Deland agrees with Roeper's Oscar choices.

"Him and Roger Ebert inspired me to do this," said Allen. "It's ironic that his movie of the year is also mine."

After he spoke, students were invited to ask questions and it went on for about an hour. A lot of the students asked about what moviemakers might think of what he says.

"I think that he says what he means, it's his job," said UCF alumni Josh Browne.

Roeper said during the presentation that critiquing movies is all based on opinion. To be thoroughly entertained, you don't have to think about the film trifecta -- it just happens. He says what makes him cry isn't a death scene or a funeral; it's when a character makes a gesture that changes the course of the film. He said what makes him laugh is really smart comedy -- not physical.

So how does a moviemaker avoid negative comments from the ultimate film critic?

"What makes a really good movie is the script," Roeper said. "There's no chance for a good movie without one."

He said that a film could have great actors, directors and producers, but if the script is bad, it's just bad.

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