Craig's MovieBlog

How Great Has Lost Been This Year?

I'm going to keep this short, and maybe it's because the lack of quality, scripted television due to the writers strike has left me a desperate man in the desert grasping for drops of water, but...

What a phenomenal television show.

My only clue that something was up last night, was when Jin's phone got run over by the car.  I thought to myself, "huh... that's a crappy cell phone," but then that was it.  I didn't see it coming until the big reveal.

The other nice part was that the writers all knew that their audience expected to see Michael again, so they pulled a different rug out from beneath us. 

Kudos.  So good.

"Yeah... I Can Fly" - New Iron Man Trailer

I caught the abridged version of this trailer on Lost last night (the first episode this season that didn't actually move the story along at all), but MySpace is hosting the full version of the new Iron Man trailer. 

Here's my fear though... Robert Downey Jr. is so good, so funny, so absolutely freaking perfect as Tony Stark, that he'll overshadow any of the Iron Man action scenes when he's in costume.  I hope I'm wrong, and both parts of the movie can hold their own.

Seriously... Sayid Broke That Guy's Neck With His Feet!

I'm sure you're all trying to figure out which of the bazillion showings of Pirates 3 you're going to go to this weekend, but I had to take a second to "give props" to this week's season finale of Lost.

Simply put:  yes.

While the season finale of Heroes can only be described as anti-climactic (even with Hiro heading way back into the past to kick off season 2), Lost just hit a complete home run.  It's interesting how the second half of Lost really picked up the pace (while still posing new questions) almost as if it was responding to how well people were reacting to Heroes.  By the finale, they had found the perfect balance - creating the mysteries that Lost mythology requires, while answering questions and moving the plot along quickly a la Heroes.

Best moments/issues/questions:

• They broke their flashback rule in a very innovative way, even if it wasn't a complete surprise.  (Go look at the name of the funeral home again - Hoffs Drawlar)  My question is: how far into the future is that?  Is that the end of the show?  Is that a few weeks from now?  Is that season five?  I could certainly see scenarios where that is how they finally end the show, but I can also see how that could be a turning point halfway through, and the remaining episodes would be about trying to get back to the island and/or finding closure.
• Seriously, Sayid broke that guy's neck with his feet.
• Mikhail getting harpooned by Desmond.  (For what it's worth, I remember the last time I made a scuba diving escape from an underwater secret facility after getting a harpoon to the chest.  It's not as hard as it sounds.)
• Charlie writing "Not Penny's Boat" on his hand.  And yes, he could have gotten out and survived, but Charlie clearly believed that he had to die so the rest of the cast could live.
• Hurley driving the VW bus through the Others to save the day.
• Who was in the coffin?  "Friend or family?"  "Neither."  Kate: Ausie"Why would I go to the funeral?"
• Beautiful Kate getting out of the car at the airport.
• Jack pummeling the living crap out of Ben.
• Ben and Alex's two moments - "I didn't want him to get you pregnant" and "Meet your mother"
• Sawyer shooting Tom in cold blood.  That's the third time he's killed someone who couldn't defend himself...
• Walt?  WTF?  My take on it is that's not the real Walt.  He's one of those illusions (i.e. Jack's dad, Kate's horse, Ben's mom, Eko's brother) that the island seems to serve up to certain people when it needs to do so.

For those of you who need more and can't get enough, here are a ton of interviews, recaps, closeups of the newspaper clipping that sent Jack off the edge, and more:

• Best Week Ever
• Ausiello Report
• TV Squad's recap and Why TV Squad is worried about Lost next season
• My personal favorite: NY Mag's Vulture

Lost: Hidden Images

I'll admit I'm starting to sour a bit on Lost, and last night's episode didn't really do much for me (maybe because I was catching up on email through most of it).

[SPOILER COMING IF YOU DIDN'T SEE LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE]

However, I bumped into a colleague this morning that told me to go frame by frame through the scene where Mr. Eko gets accosted by the "smoke monster."  Well, now you can check out what you missed last night by clicking on the pictures in section 31.

Aaron Sorkin's Return to Television

I don't care what anyone says - ANYONE!  The West Wing of today is a pale comparison of what it was when Aaron Sorkin was in charge.  Go back to the shows on Bravo or A&E or whatever channel it's syndicated on, and I dare you to peel your eyes and ears away from the set.  It's electric, it's hypnotic, it was the best show on TV bar none.  It wasn't even close.  It's not an opinion... there are scientific facts in a laboratory somewhere to back this up.

Anyway, Bill Simmons dropped this bomb on his blog today, and I haven't stopped salivating since.

I received a copy of Aaron Sorkin's spec script, Studio 7 -- his secret project that caused near-chaos in Hollywood when he suddenly started shopping it a few weeks ago. Everyone loved it, everyone said great things, and after reading it ... I couldn't agree more. It's already my new favorite show even though they haven't started casting it yet -- like Larry Sanders, only if it was about SNL. In a viciously clever way, Sorkin's pilot script pretty much obliterates SNL and everything that happened to the show over the past few years, as well as TV networks and the post-Janet Jackson/FCC Era in general. It's a masterpiece. It's perfect. I can't say enough about it. When this show debuts next year (or whenever), it will be impossible to take SNL seriously anymore. I'm telling you.

Good god - just reading this again I'm freaking out in anticipation, but maybe that's because I'm losing my love for Lost and Alias this year.