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.

David Simon Says Thank You

I don't watch The Wire.  I hate myself for that, as everyone who has ever seen it says it's hands down the best thing ever put on television.  I need to go back and rent the DVDs for Season 1 and just start from the beginning... sounds like a project for when the family is out of town.

I noted that the series creator, David Simon, wrote a thank you note to its viewers, and there were some portions that struck me:

"This year, our drama asked its last thematic question: Why, if there is any truth to anything presented in The Wire over the last four seasons, does that truth go unaddressed by our political culture, by most of our mass media, and by our society in general?"

"We are a culture without the will to seriously examine our own problems. We eschew that which is complex, contradictory or confusing. As a culture, we seek simple solutions. We enjoy being provoked and titillated, but resist the rigorous, painstaking examination of issues that might, in the end, bring us to the point of recognizing our problems, which is the essential first step to solving any of them."

"If you followed us for sixty hours, and you find yourself caring about these issues more than you thought you would, then perhaps the next step is to engage and to demand, where possible, a more sophisticated and meaningful response from authority when it comes to such things as the drug war, educational reform or responsible political leadership. The Wire is about the America we pay for and tolerate. Perhaps it is possible to pay for, and demand, something more."

He goes on eloquently, but I'll let you read it for yourself. 

It's times like these, when I see that no one watched this series (myself included), and yet Dancing With The Stars is on for its 6th freaking season, Deal or No Deal counts in most homes as doing math homework, Don't Forget the Lyrics was watched by 14.4 million people this week, the top 7 shows this week were all reality-based crap, 10,000 BC made $35.9 million this weekend, and Alvin and the Chipmunks grossed almost $350 million worldwide ... well, I get a little cranky. 

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart At the Emmys Again

Every year after the Emmys, my site gets pinged by Google a whole lot as people are searching for what hijinks Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were up to.

To ease your pain, and thanks to Tim Goodman, here are their performances from the last two years:

 

September 27th Can't Get Here Soon Enough

Here's what the cast of The Office did on their summer vacations.

More Craig Links - Less Bitter This Time

Sorry, not sure what got into me yesterday.  The list of top ten tv shows just really rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, here are a few more links that caught my eye... other than the Cloverfield trailer that everyone is murmuring about and that Paramount is taking off of YouTube as fast as they can type...

• A new blog that I've been reading (mostly for the technology posts) called AppScout has a nice roundup of the best web marketing efforts from the movie studios this summer.  I'm sure Chris over at Movie Marketing Madness would love this... and have an opinion or two.
• The Chicago Tribune's blog, Pop Machine, held a poll asking readers which stars they could most rely on to imply quality in a film.  The results are in, and the winners are:

  9 and 10. Edward Norton, Denzel Washington (8 votes each)
  7 and 8. Christian Bale, George Clooney (9 each)
  5 and 6. Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman (10 each)
  4. Cate Blanchett (14)
  3. Johnny Depp (17)
  2. Kate Winslet (18)*
  1. Meryl Streep (19)*

  I'm stunned Andy Dick and Jessica Simpson didn't make the cut.  Actually, I'm more stunned that Tom Hanks didn't make the top 10, but I'm not sure who I'd remove from the list.  Wait, is anyone else surprised that Christian Bale got 9 votes?  Mind you, I don't disagree, and I would have voted for him myself, but I didn't think that he was popular enough to break into George Clooney territory.  To me, though, if Daniel Day-Lewis is in a film, that just screams high caliber work.  Looks like he only got three votes.

• This might be the best email exchange ever between two Hollywood heavyweights.

I Want To Throw Up

Here are the top ten most watched television shows for the week ending July 1:

1. America's Got Talent (NBC)
2. CSI (CBS)
3. So You Think You Can Dance - Weds (FOX)
4. So You Think You Can Dance - Thurs (FOX)
5. Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader (FOX)
6. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
7. CSI: Miami (CBS)
8. Princess Diana Concert (NBC)
9. So You Think You Can Dance - Weds, 8pm (FOX)
10. Law and Order: SVU (NBC)

American Idol and Survivor aren't even airing these days, but it's still packed with crappy reality shows. 

Honestly?  How dumb are we?  We deserve everything that happens to us as a society.

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

The Sopranos: I'm a Little Slow Sometimes

Even though I'm not making it to the movies as much as I used to, I feel like I'm making it up with the amount of great television on these days. 

If you're enjoying this season's Sopranos as much as I am, then you'll probably get a kick out of Tim Goodman's blog, who is a television critic for the SF Chronicle.  He deconstructs each episode, recounts the best lines, gives us his own pet theories on how the series will end, and sometimes even explains something that you might have missed the first time around.

For example, last night when Phil thanked Tony for "the recent headlines" and Tony denied all knowledge of the hit on Rusty, Phil then opened his coat saying "my heart is an open book."  Me?  I thought he was being dramatic.  Turns out he was showing Tony he wasn't wearing a wire.

Like I said... I'm a little slow sometimes.

Studio 60 Pilot Script

If my head could burst with excitement, it would.  I'm now fully prepared for an embolism to hit, because I just read an early draft of the pilot for Studio 60, Aaron Sorkin's new project.  Read it.  It's 66 pages, but it reads fast.  I'm telling you... read it.  It's like Entourage meets Larry Sanders meets The West Wing, all wrapped up in Sportsnight.  Good god this is going to be amazing...

I'd like to thank TV Squad for pointing me in the right direction.  Thanks to them, my life is complete; I can die now.  If someone could just put more hours in the day, so that they can hurry up and film these episodes, that would be super - thanks. 

Again, if you need more info on Studio 60, check out this page on wikipedia - good stuff.

David Cross Thanks Fox for Giving Arrested Development a Chance

... or something like that.

Arrested Development is Cancelled

Well, the best show on television is now history.  Arrested Development is gone.  Multiple Emmy awards be-damned.

Nice work, Fox (and everyone out there who didn't watch it).  Hopefully now there will be time for more ads for Prison Break.  We certainly can't get enough of those.

Hey, HBO - give this show a chance, would ya?

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.

Stephen Colbert and Stone Phillips: A Gravitas-Off

Wow - is it actually possible that the Colbert Report will be as funny as The Daily Show?

This clip from Show #1 just made me giggle...

Kanye West and Mike Myers Reunite on SNL

The only time Mike Myers has ever been funnier than this, was during the actual telethon, where (as Bill Simmons would say) his "deer in headlights" face made the Pantheon of Best Expressions Ever.

The Ringer Trailer

Good lord - The Ringer could be hilarious, and the Farrelly brothers need a hit.

I'm a little surprised they're not highlighting Katherine Heigl more, since Grey's Anatomy (an awful, awful show by the way - like the old ER for idiots) is so hot right now.  If ABC didn't put it on after Desperate Housewives, I'm convinced it would have been cancelled after 5 episodes.