Well, damn.
If there was any doubt that the Lost writers know how to screw around with their audience, this episode was it. They've been teasing us withe periodic glimpses of these two new characters, giving them lines leading to goofy nicknames like "the toilet guy". And now it is revealed that (probably) the only reason we've been seeing these characters at all was to set up this bizarre little morality play, Lost-style. Even the only reason the male was named Paolo was to set up the pun on "Paolo lied" vs "paralyzed". These writers are devious and patient.
A dangerous combination.
Having said all that, this actually was an entertaining show even before the shocker at the end. I tend to enjoy these eps where the flashbacks are on the island - partly because it's interesting to see writers approaching the same events from multiple perspectives, partly because it gives me hope that the writers actually do have some kind of plan, and partly because it takes me back to when the show was good (just kidding - I mean consistently good). Yeah, it was filler, but for a change, it was good filler.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Movie Review: Die Another Day
Just caught this on Spike. I hadn't seen it since during its original theatrical release, and its awfulness has since become legendary, forcing a reboot of the long-running Bond franchise. Seeing it again - yep, it's still horrible.
The later Roger Moore films have a reputation for silliness, but Die Another Day goes out of its way to exceed even that standard. An invisible car? DNA-splicing to change a Korean into a Brit? A man with diamonds embedded in his face that can't be removed? The virtual reality training/erotic fantasy simulator? Madonna acting?
A good example: the main villain, Graves, has Bond trapped at his ice hotel (ice hotel?). Bond breaks out and escapes in Graves' rocket car (rocket car? OK - so I forgot a few more examples of silliness). Graves gives the order: "Kill him, quietly!". So what happens? His men immediately open up with the machine guns, because nothing is quieter than a machine gun. When that fails, Graves uses his superweapon to fire a giant beam of light from space down onto Bond, setting some woods on fire and melting a glacier which forms a tidal wave that almost kills Bond.
Yeah - probably nobody noticed that.
Amazingly enough, on a second viewing I found Halle Berry of all people ended up looking the best out of this mess. While Brosnan seemed to be trying to play it as straight as he could given the lousy double entendres (and not a single one worked), Berry was playing the thing with the right tone - just stand around looking hot in a bikini and toss off stupid one-liners. Yeah, it all falls apart by the end for everyone, but at least Halle had a few scenes that weren't a total embarrassment. Otherwise, everyone is about as bad as they can be (especially Michael Madsen - what in the world was he thinking?). One star.
The later Roger Moore films have a reputation for silliness, but Die Another Day goes out of its way to exceed even that standard. An invisible car? DNA-splicing to change a Korean into a Brit? A man with diamonds embedded in his face that can't be removed? The virtual reality training/erotic fantasy simulator? Madonna acting?
A good example: the main villain, Graves, has Bond trapped at his ice hotel (ice hotel?). Bond breaks out and escapes in Graves' rocket car (rocket car? OK - so I forgot a few more examples of silliness). Graves gives the order: "Kill him, quietly!". So what happens? His men immediately open up with the machine guns, because nothing is quieter than a machine gun. When that fails, Graves uses his superweapon to fire a giant beam of light from space down onto Bond, setting some woods on fire and melting a glacier which forms a tidal wave that almost kills Bond.
Yeah - probably nobody noticed that.
Amazingly enough, on a second viewing I found Halle Berry of all people ended up looking the best out of this mess. While Brosnan seemed to be trying to play it as straight as he could given the lousy double entendres (and not a single one worked), Berry was playing the thing with the right tone - just stand around looking hot in a bikini and toss off stupid one-liners. Yeah, it all falls apart by the end for everyone, but at least Halle had a few scenes that weren't a total embarrassment. Otherwise, everyone is about as bad as they can be (especially Michael Madsen - what in the world was he thinking?). One star.
Monday, March 26, 2007
No Way! ... Way!
"Cops: Killer burned body parts on grill"
Really now, has anyone done a study to check the proportion of killers with the middle name "Wayne" relative to the general population?
What, neighbors at the Red Oak Place apartments wondered, was going on in the unit where 27-year-old Timothy Wayne Shepherd lived? What was he burning at all hours, for days at a time?
Really now, has anyone done a study to check the proportion of killers with the middle name "Wayne" relative to the general population?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Movie Review: 300
Finally got around to seeing 300 this weekend - my first time seeing a movie out since Smokin' Aces. I am expecting a few more trips to an actual theater, with Grindhouse and Hot Fuzz coming up in the next few weeks.
I was expecting something a little different visually from 300, based on how the similar Sin City was done. But with few exceptions, the movie didn't really seem like a set of comic book (sorry, graphic novel) frames in the same way Sin City did. One exception was the scene where the Persian messenger is pushed down the pit - we see the figures tumbling down in a totally black frame - that seems like a Frank Miller-type panel. But most of the other scenes visually just seemed like reasonable combat-style scenes; the main stylistic touches being the extra splashes of red and the speed-ups/slow-downs (which wouldn't be present in a comic book anyway). There was one odd thing, though; many of the scenes looked as though they had extra grain added - I don't know if that was intentional and done digitally, or unintentional because of a bad print. It was noticable and distracting.
One thing that did really make the graphic novel origin apparent was the narration - they were short iconic phrases that I could easily imagine sitting in yellow rectangles at the top-left corner of the screen. And speaking of the narration, I liked the framing mechanism they set up for the main story - that is, the tale of the battle is being told by a general to his troops to prepare them for battle. This allows the story to be even more fantastic than it would have been, since the storyteller is going to exaggerate to motivate his army.
As to the people trying on both sides of the aisle to find analogies to the current War on Terror, I say the same thing I said for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Both Rings and 300 were written and produced independently of the current struggles, and so any mapping of current events onto those movies says more about the viewer than it does about the movie.
Performance-wise, nobody really stood out for me as a wrong note - Butler managed to be blustery when required (often) and wry and humorous when required (occassionally). In particular, Rodrigo Santoro was extra-creepy as the "god-king" Xerxes, and pretty unrecognizable from his occasional appearance on Lost (which are due to get fleshed out a bit in the next couple of weeks, I believe).
I was a little worried during the first combat scene. The director had it framed very close, so the action was confusing to follow. However, later scenes opened up a bit without losing the overall notion of the Spartan battle tactics and were much better in my opinion. And of course, the extra eye candy in the form of Lena Headey's outfits were not unwelcome.
On the whole, a very enjoyable film - about what I was expecting plot-wise and acting-wise, and a little less stylistic visually than I was expecting (but that isn't a bad thing). Four stars for this one.
I was expecting something a little different visually from 300, based on how the similar Sin City was done. But with few exceptions, the movie didn't really seem like a set of comic book (sorry, graphic novel) frames in the same way Sin City did. One exception was the scene where the Persian messenger is pushed down the pit - we see the figures tumbling down in a totally black frame - that seems like a Frank Miller-type panel. But most of the other scenes visually just seemed like reasonable combat-style scenes; the main stylistic touches being the extra splashes of red and the speed-ups/slow-downs (which wouldn't be present in a comic book anyway). There was one odd thing, though; many of the scenes looked as though they had extra grain added - I don't know if that was intentional and done digitally, or unintentional because of a bad print. It was noticable and distracting.
One thing that did really make the graphic novel origin apparent was the narration - they were short iconic phrases that I could easily imagine sitting in yellow rectangles at the top-left corner of the screen. And speaking of the narration, I liked the framing mechanism they set up for the main story - that is, the tale of the battle is being told by a general to his troops to prepare them for battle. This allows the story to be even more fantastic than it would have been, since the storyteller is going to exaggerate to motivate his army.
As to the people trying on both sides of the aisle to find analogies to the current War on Terror, I say the same thing I said for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Both Rings and 300 were written and produced independently of the current struggles, and so any mapping of current events onto those movies says more about the viewer than it does about the movie.
Performance-wise, nobody really stood out for me as a wrong note - Butler managed to be blustery when required (often) and wry and humorous when required (occassionally). In particular, Rodrigo Santoro was extra-creepy as the "god-king" Xerxes, and pretty unrecognizable from his occasional appearance on Lost (which are due to get fleshed out a bit in the next couple of weeks, I believe).
I was a little worried during the first combat scene. The director had it framed very close, so the action was confusing to follow. However, later scenes opened up a bit without losing the overall notion of the Spartan battle tactics and were much better in my opinion. And of course, the extra eye candy in the form of Lena Headey's outfits were not unwelcome.
On the whole, a very enjoyable film - about what I was expecting plot-wise and acting-wise, and a little less stylistic visually than I was expecting (but that isn't a bad thing). Four stars for this one.
Friday, March 23, 2007
TV Review: Lost: The Man From Tallahassee
Oh right....that's why I was watching Lost.
The conversation between Locke and Ben in the kitchen was easily the best segment on the show this season - and the line "Well, you better hope it's big enough for you to wish for a new submarine" the best from that scene. Locke continually thinks he is in control on the Island, while his flashbacks show the truth - Locke is almost never in control and is almost always out-thought by those around him. And even here, I think Locke knows he is being manipulated by Ben, but he chooses to go along because there is alignment between their goals - only to have Ben one-up him again with the final reveal.
I don't see how they are going to explain it, though - if they had Locke's father for a while, they must have had him present to use against Locke, right? But they didn't ask for Locke to be included in the group to be captured at the end of Season 2. Of course, there is also the theory that Locke's father is also Sawyer's long-lost father, so maybe he was brought it as leverage against Sawyer, who was included in the group.
Sheesh - contorted myself into a pretzel there.
For once, the other various subplots were well-done and added to the overall story. We got several small, good bits - Dannelle catching a gllipse of Alex through the trees, Sayid sowing a seed of doubt in Alex, and so on. And of course, the shot we've all been waiting for - Locke's injury - was extremely well-done; we knew it was coming, we suspected from whom it was coming, and it was still a surprise to see it done.
One question, though (what, just one?): Assuming for the moment that Ben was telling Locke the truth (a big assumption), the Others capabilities have been severely compromised by the hatch's implosion at the end of Season 2. This occurred because the button was not pushed. The Others clearly knew about the hatch; they had a camera system to see into it. So - if not pushing the button caused them these problems, why would they leave it unguarded? Why would they leave the pushing of the button in the hands of strangers? This to me implies that Ben doesn't know as much as he thinks about the Island; otherwise, they would have dedicated more resources to the button. (By the way, the Others don't really seem too concerned about lack of resources - two of them got killed easily last week for apparently little gain.)
This was an episode that really needed to happen after several weeks of lackluster shows. Hopefully they can keep things rolling next week, although it looks like it might be a return somewhat to the Charlie-Desmond thread that has done little for me so far.
The conversation between Locke and Ben in the kitchen was easily the best segment on the show this season - and the line "Well, you better hope it's big enough for you to wish for a new submarine" the best from that scene. Locke continually thinks he is in control on the Island, while his flashbacks show the truth - Locke is almost never in control and is almost always out-thought by those around him. And even here, I think Locke knows he is being manipulated by Ben, but he chooses to go along because there is alignment between their goals - only to have Ben one-up him again with the final reveal.
I don't see how they are going to explain it, though - if they had Locke's father for a while, they must have had him present to use against Locke, right? But they didn't ask for Locke to be included in the group to be captured at the end of Season 2. Of course, there is also the theory that Locke's father is also Sawyer's long-lost father, so maybe he was brought it as leverage against Sawyer, who was included in the group.
Sheesh - contorted myself into a pretzel there.
For once, the other various subplots were well-done and added to the overall story. We got several small, good bits - Dannelle catching a gllipse of Alex through the trees, Sayid sowing a seed of doubt in Alex, and so on. And of course, the shot we've all been waiting for - Locke's injury - was extremely well-done; we knew it was coming, we suspected from whom it was coming, and it was still a surprise to see it done.
One question, though (what, just one?): Assuming for the moment that Ben was telling Locke the truth (a big assumption), the Others capabilities have been severely compromised by the hatch's implosion at the end of Season 2. This occurred because the button was not pushed. The Others clearly knew about the hatch; they had a camera system to see into it. So - if not pushing the button caused them these problems, why would they leave it unguarded? Why would they leave the pushing of the button in the hands of strangers? This to me implies that Ben doesn't know as much as he thinks about the Island; otherwise, they would have dedicated more resources to the button. (By the way, the Others don't really seem too concerned about lack of resources - two of them got killed easily last week for apparently little gain.)
This was an episode that really needed to happen after several weeks of lackluster shows. Hopefully they can keep things rolling next week, although it looks like it might be a return somewhat to the Charlie-Desmond thread that has done little for me so far.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
DVD Spending Tab IV
I didn't win either of the Mystery Science Theater sets from Circuit City's eBay site that I was bidding on, but I did pick up something to go with the Rush: Replay set I got a couple of days ago:
Rush: R30 30th Anniversary Tour Deluxe Edition
Just $12.75 including shipping.
Yearly total: 9 movies, $58.79.
Rush: R30 30th Anniversary Tour Deluxe Edition
Just $12.75 including shipping.
Yearly total: 9 movies, $58.79.
Bruce Dickinson, Environmentalist
Al Gore:
Me:
Finally, an Al Gore plan I can fully support!
The planet has a fever.
Me:
And the only prescription...is MORE COWBELL!
Finally, an Al Gore plan I can fully support!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)