Quick clips for Thursday April 30
Why I can't trust Steven Soderbergh
By now, it has been repeated through the blogosphere: Steven Soderbergh was eye raped by what he saw of Avatar. His exact quote was "Oh, sweet Jesus. Take me now. Dear Lord in heaven it is as though I have made love to an angel and produced a baby made of pure joy." Okay, it was "I've seen some stuff and holy shit, it's the craziest shit ever." He had been discussing how modern movies haven't been able to have the same cultural impact as older films, like say The Godfather, before adding that he thought Cameron's latest would be the exception, insofar as it will make sterile women fertile again, allow the crippled to walk, and give sci-fi enthusiast virgins the sexual experience they had been so long denied. Bullshit. Bullshit on both counts. First off, modern movies HAVE had that kind of "cultural impact." My God, you're practically a leper these days if you haven't seen certain movies. As far as them being remembered and lasting, we are now in an era of perpetual capture. We can actively watch movies on tons of channels, the Internet, or home video without ever losing them. They will stay in our memories because they never have to leave. And as far as Avatar goes, I don't believe you. Not just because we heard the same sort of thing from Steven Spielberg (...SS as well, coincidence? I THINK NOT) about The Phantom Menace. You, of all people, should know the difference between final product and promise. The damn thing isn't wrapped yet, you aren't seeing edited footage, so how the hell do you know that it's got a chance to have lasting cultural impact. Prediction: It will be good, but we'll go right on living our lives. It WON'T redefine movies for the new millennium. I don't see how it can. Sure, it can have some kick ass effects, but there has been by my count three sci-fi endeavors that have had ANY significant cultural impact (Star Wars, 2001, and Star Trek). Others may have been popular, but most people barely remember them. It's in the wrong genre for the type of effusive praise you're heaping, Steve. Besides, YOU'RE NOT DOING HIM ANY FAVORS. James Cameron does a great job as his own hype man, he doesn't need you. Plus, it only sets people up for disappointment. I am excited for Avatar, I will see Avatar, I will likely enjoy Avatar. It will not turn me into a real boy. Sorry.
Somewhere, Snap.com and Pop.com are crying
Sony is hardcore pimping their Crackle.com site. See, as it turns out, when the producers were all bitch bitch during the negotiations with the writers and actors, they apparently intend on making some money from this IN-TER-NET thing. I know, shocking. The latest grab for your eyeballs and thus marketing dollars, Sony's site has a few interesting things of note, so I will note them on this slow news day: (1) Some good movies. Not a lot, but some. For example, Spiderman 2 (not 3...interesting), Stripes, a bunch of Godzilla movies, and Wild Things (as if you can't find those images elsewhere); (2) Some interesting original programming. You put Katee Sackoff in something, I will watch it (damn you Bionic Woman!). There's also a new series from comic-writing badass Ed Brubaker called "Angel of Death" and a few others of note. Again, interesting; and (3) Some kind of interest cinema game thingie. Haven't tried it, but sounds okay. Again, I'm a big picture guy. More interesting to me than this whole thing is the trend it may portend. Is every studio going to do this soon? Are we going to see more and more online repositories of movies? Think about it, the last news about DVD sales were glum. Why NOT put out some kind of place where people can go watch your old shit for free and you make a buck off it (somehow...not quite sure how their revenue stream works on this yet)? I'll be curious if this somehow sparks a wave of other studio sites. If not, I'll likely forget it exists entirely.
Lost Recap: It's getting cold, mom. Hold me.
Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Blending good acting, interesting character beats based on years of knowing certain individuals, kick ass sci-fi mind tomfoolery, and a few well-timed surprises, "The Variable" wasn't as good as "The Constant," but it wasn't for lack of trying...nor was it THAT far off. I liked "The Constant" better because it had a better emotional core and the time travel stuff was new, so it had the element of surprise. Here...well, raise your hand if you hadn't already figured out Widmore was Dan's poppa (I actually had forgotten we didn't ALREADY have that confirmed or I would have included it in my predictions). Raise your hand if you didn't know dude was rat bait after saying "Any one of us can die." Oh, and quick side note of bitching before we recap: NOBODY IS CONFUSED ABOUT THEM BEING IN THEIR "PRESENT." WE GET IT. Please, writers, take this one note from us. You don't have to have Hurley or Dan or Miles or Jack or whoever point out that, even though they are in the past, they aren't in THEIR OWN PAST. We get it. Bitching over, now to dive into the season's best episode:
1.) Flashbacks deal with Dan this week, obviously. First one has him playing the piano, only to be told by his mom that he doesn't have much time. He has to stop being a teen kid and start being a scientist. She pushes him to use his "special gift" (there we go again with the special stuff) and he does, graduating college early and getting a grant from the Widmore foundation to pursue "research" that we all know has to do with time. It's also revealed that circa 2003, he has a mind issue where he can't make memories. Widmore promises to help him with that by sending him to the island, which he agrees to in order to make his moms proud. Awww.
2.) On the island in 1977, Dan freaks out. He tells Dr. Chang that Miles is his son, tries to get everyone to evacuate the island because "the incident" is going to happen (which we're led to believe is the explosion of electromagnetic energy from the drilling but is likely the thing that the Losties are going to do to try and stop it), and eventually tells Charlotte that she can't come back...or does he. In an interesting twist, we don't actually hear Dan say the words that Charlotte remembered hearing as she was dying. Oh sure, it doesn't look good, as the "chocolate" babble she was spewing was obviously from that conversation, but I found it interesting that we didn't hear officially that he said that.
3.) Okay, moving on. Jack, Sawyer, and the whole gang realize the jig is up. Half want to go to the beach, half want to follow Dan to talk with the others. Juliet has the best moment of the night when she gives Kate the code, showing to Sawyer she don't want that bitch around no more. Kate, Jack, and Dan go to the others. Along the way they get into a shootout with some Dharma folks, and Dan reveals his plan: Use the hydrogen bomb to stop the electromagnetic "incident" from happening. Yeah, not sure how that works exactly. When they get to the others, we see the big twist. Dan is killed by his own mom. Wowza.
Okay, several things: First, the real question here is whether Dan was right about the whole "variable" thing. On the one hand, his theory that things can be changed seems to die with him. He can't fix things now, he's all dead and such. On the other, it sure does seem like everybody (meaning Eloise and Widmore) KNOW what to do and are CHOOSING to do it. The sacrifice she makes in sending Dan back to be killed by her own hand is awful. Then again, when Desmond is in the hospital she says "I honestly don't know what's going to happen." Okay, so to me, Widmore and Eloise are the good guys right now. They've sent back Jack and the others as "variables." More or less, because they were sucked out of time by the electrowhatsit, they are not factored into time's equation. Thus, they are "special" and are the only ones who can change things. Interesting at any rate. Probably wrong, but interesting. What I love right now is that I have no idea where to go from here. Jack and the gang will obviously try to stop things from happening, but my bet is that will cost Hurley his life. The stakes are getting raised here, and I like that. I feel like we're about to see something awesome happen. I hope I'm right!
By now, it has been repeated through the blogosphere: Steven Soderbergh was eye raped by what he saw of Avatar. His exact quote was "Oh, sweet Jesus. Take me now. Dear Lord in heaven it is as though I have made love to an angel and produced a baby made of pure joy." Okay, it was "I've seen some stuff and holy shit, it's the craziest shit ever." He had been discussing how modern movies haven't been able to have the same cultural impact as older films, like say The Godfather, before adding that he thought Cameron's latest would be the exception, insofar as it will make sterile women fertile again, allow the crippled to walk, and give sci-fi enthusiast virgins the sexual experience they had been so long denied. Bullshit. Bullshit on both counts. First off, modern movies HAVE had that kind of "cultural impact." My God, you're practically a leper these days if you haven't seen certain movies. As far as them being remembered and lasting, we are now in an era of perpetual capture. We can actively watch movies on tons of channels, the Internet, or home video without ever losing them. They will stay in our memories because they never have to leave. And as far as Avatar goes, I don't believe you. Not just because we heard the same sort of thing from Steven Spielberg (...SS as well, coincidence? I THINK NOT) about The Phantom Menace. You, of all people, should know the difference between final product and promise. The damn thing isn't wrapped yet, you aren't seeing edited footage, so how the hell do you know that it's got a chance to have lasting cultural impact. Prediction: It will be good, but we'll go right on living our lives. It WON'T redefine movies for the new millennium. I don't see how it can. Sure, it can have some kick ass effects, but there has been by my count three sci-fi endeavors that have had ANY significant cultural impact (Star Wars, 2001, and Star Trek). Others may have been popular, but most people barely remember them. It's in the wrong genre for the type of effusive praise you're heaping, Steve. Besides, YOU'RE NOT DOING HIM ANY FAVORS. James Cameron does a great job as his own hype man, he doesn't need you. Plus, it only sets people up for disappointment. I am excited for Avatar, I will see Avatar, I will likely enjoy Avatar. It will not turn me into a real boy. Sorry.
Somewhere, Snap.com and Pop.com are crying
Sony is hardcore pimping their Crackle.com site. See, as it turns out, when the producers were all bitch bitch during the negotiations with the writers and actors, they apparently intend on making some money from this IN-TER-NET thing. I know, shocking. The latest grab for your eyeballs and thus marketing dollars, Sony's site has a few interesting things of note, so I will note them on this slow news day: (1) Some good movies. Not a lot, but some. For example, Spiderman 2 (not 3...interesting), Stripes, a bunch of Godzilla movies, and Wild Things (as if you can't find those images elsewhere); (2) Some interesting original programming. You put Katee Sackoff in something, I will watch it (damn you Bionic Woman!). There's also a new series from comic-writing badass Ed Brubaker called "Angel of Death" and a few others of note. Again, interesting; and (3) Some kind of interest cinema game thingie. Haven't tried it, but sounds okay. Again, I'm a big picture guy. More interesting to me than this whole thing is the trend it may portend. Is every studio going to do this soon? Are we going to see more and more online repositories of movies? Think about it, the last news about DVD sales were glum. Why NOT put out some kind of place where people can go watch your old shit for free and you make a buck off it (somehow...not quite sure how their revenue stream works on this yet)? I'll be curious if this somehow sparks a wave of other studio sites. If not, I'll likely forget it exists entirely.
Lost Recap: It's getting cold, mom. Hold me.
Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Blending good acting, interesting character beats based on years of knowing certain individuals, kick ass sci-fi mind tomfoolery, and a few well-timed surprises, "The Variable" wasn't as good as "The Constant," but it wasn't for lack of trying...nor was it THAT far off. I liked "The Constant" better because it had a better emotional core and the time travel stuff was new, so it had the element of surprise. Here...well, raise your hand if you hadn't already figured out Widmore was Dan's poppa (I actually had forgotten we didn't ALREADY have that confirmed or I would have included it in my predictions). Raise your hand if you didn't know dude was rat bait after saying "Any one of us can die." Oh, and quick side note of bitching before we recap: NOBODY IS CONFUSED ABOUT THEM BEING IN THEIR "PRESENT." WE GET IT. Please, writers, take this one note from us. You don't have to have Hurley or Dan or Miles or Jack or whoever point out that, even though they are in the past, they aren't in THEIR OWN PAST. We get it. Bitching over, now to dive into the season's best episode:
1.) Flashbacks deal with Dan this week, obviously. First one has him playing the piano, only to be told by his mom that he doesn't have much time. He has to stop being a teen kid and start being a scientist. She pushes him to use his "special gift" (there we go again with the special stuff) and he does, graduating college early and getting a grant from the Widmore foundation to pursue "research" that we all know has to do with time. It's also revealed that circa 2003, he has a mind issue where he can't make memories. Widmore promises to help him with that by sending him to the island, which he agrees to in order to make his moms proud. Awww.
2.) On the island in 1977, Dan freaks out. He tells Dr. Chang that Miles is his son, tries to get everyone to evacuate the island because "the incident" is going to happen (which we're led to believe is the explosion of electromagnetic energy from the drilling but is likely the thing that the Losties are going to do to try and stop it), and eventually tells Charlotte that she can't come back...or does he. In an interesting twist, we don't actually hear Dan say the words that Charlotte remembered hearing as she was dying. Oh sure, it doesn't look good, as the "chocolate" babble she was spewing was obviously from that conversation, but I found it interesting that we didn't hear officially that he said that.
3.) Okay, moving on. Jack, Sawyer, and the whole gang realize the jig is up. Half want to go to the beach, half want to follow Dan to talk with the others. Juliet has the best moment of the night when she gives Kate the code, showing to Sawyer she don't want that bitch around no more. Kate, Jack, and Dan go to the others. Along the way they get into a shootout with some Dharma folks, and Dan reveals his plan: Use the hydrogen bomb to stop the electromagnetic "incident" from happening. Yeah, not sure how that works exactly. When they get to the others, we see the big twist. Dan is killed by his own mom. Wowza.
Okay, several things: First, the real question here is whether Dan was right about the whole "variable" thing. On the one hand, his theory that things can be changed seems to die with him. He can't fix things now, he's all dead and such. On the other, it sure does seem like everybody (meaning Eloise and Widmore) KNOW what to do and are CHOOSING to do it. The sacrifice she makes in sending Dan back to be killed by her own hand is awful. Then again, when Desmond is in the hospital she says "I honestly don't know what's going to happen." Okay, so to me, Widmore and Eloise are the good guys right now. They've sent back Jack and the others as "variables." More or less, because they were sucked out of time by the electrowhatsit, they are not factored into time's equation. Thus, they are "special" and are the only ones who can change things. Interesting at any rate. Probably wrong, but interesting. What I love right now is that I have no idea where to go from here. Jack and the gang will obviously try to stop things from happening, but my bet is that will cost Hurley his life. The stakes are getting raised here, and I like that. I feel like we're about to see something awesome happen. I hope I'm right!
posted by Ryan at
9:02 AM
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