Tuesday, April 17, 2007

LOST One of Us, first thoughts

We found out last week that no babies could be born on the island, but Benry Gale has said before that he has been on the island his whole life; how is that possible if no one can be born on the island?

Entertainment Weekly has an article on LOST in the current issue, and it talks about the Nikki/Paulo debacle. Apparently, there was going to be a longer arc concerning the characters, but due to fan backlash against them, they decided to pull the plug on them.


That's just annoying.  If you had something good set up with them, use it and make us change our minds. Don't just give in because everyone is complaining about them online.

Until Next Time, This has been an uneven season so far. A majority of the episodes have been better then anything last season, some have been better then even season one, but a couple have been just plan awful. It looks headed to a strong finish though.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Zodiac

Just saw Zodiac and it is amazing. It's very rare for a film that came out in March to be this good. Unfortunately, I don't think many people went and saw this film, I had to go to Angelika to see it, but I'm so glad that I did. For a movie about a serial killer case that has officially never been closed, there is still closure for the film and the film remains truthful to the material on which it is based. But this film is about so much more than a serial killer, it is about obsession and what that obsession can do to a life. The effect this case had on so many people is what makes this film so fascinating to watch.

Apparently, Fincher had a tough time finishing the film (otherwise it might have been released late last year putting it in award contention and in what would have been number 3 on my top ten although it's currently number 1 for 2007 so far) and ultimately cut thirty minutes off of the film to get it to the 2:35 mark. I wish he had just made it a 3 hour movie, because as it was it didn't feel long at all. I personally can't wait for the DVD, to see the deleted scenes.

Hopefully the March release date won't hurt this film when it comes back to awards season, because this is a film incredibly worthy of winning some.

Fincher's previous films include Seven, Fight Club, and Panic Room.


Until Next Time, Do yourself a favor go out and see this one while you still can.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

LOST Left Behind, first thoughts

Kate flashbacks are always good, and it was neat to see Fugitive Kate before she was any good at being a fugitive. Plus, an interesting connection made between Kate and Sawyer as she meets someone he has conned.

More importantly, the smoke monster made an appearance, and we learned that the Others' security system, which seemed so easy to get past a few episodes ago, actually serves to protect them from the smoke monster. Interesting.

So John Locke has apparently joined the Others now, that'll be fun to keep an eye on, but they will keep us in suspense a little while longer on that, until, I'm guessing, we find out the Sawyer from our Sawyer's past is none other than Locke's dad.

Speaking of Sawyer, that was some great stuff with him this week. My guess is he settles into his leader role nicely, probably just as Dr. Jack saunters back into camp. Amazingly, that's going to happen next week; no waiting for that. Maybe this means that the pointless episodes are over now.

The last little thing I'm liking is what's going on with Sun. After Charlie told her the truth, she has become completely angry with Sawyer. Remember earlier this season she killed one of the Others, but it was probably justified in her mind in part because of what she thought they had done to her. She has now found out they did nothing to her, and is therefore blaming Sawyer for turning her into a killer.
 

Until Next Time, hopefully the see-saw, Jekyll and Hyde, good one week bad the next, time is over and LOST can return to the strong show it once was and clearly is still capable of being.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

LOST Expose, first thoughts

What a huge letdown.

When these characters were half-ass introduced in the mini-season, fans were upset.  Mainly, I think, because the introduction was botched. It isn't as if we as fans are completely unwilling to allow any new characters.  In fact many of the fan's favorite characters were added after season one.  Benry Gale and Eko to name two. The intros of those characters, as well as many others, were handled extremely well; this was not the case with Nikki and Paulo.

But like it or not, the characters were here, and we were promised by the powers that be that we would come to like them once we knew their story.

Lies.


It turns out, their story was just a ploy to have a joke ending. Not a damn thing important occurred in that episode. Except perhaps for the fact that Sun's anger against the Others caused Charlie to come clean about his role in Sawyer's earlier power play. This could come into play in my theory about the island killing you in order to release you after your slate is clean. One more thing Charlie has atoned for, his death could actually be immanent. Other then that though, (which easily could have been accomplished elsewhere) this was a throwaway episode. 

Until Next Time, I did at least like seeing Lando Calrissian.