Lost Finale

I don't want to get too into what I think did or did not happen in terms of plot but since I've followed this show for its entire six year run so I think the correct move would be to throw out yet another blowhardy, generally pretentious, take to go along with the approximately six hundred thousand others floating around.

Anyway, I get why some people are frustrated by the final episode. It didn't answer a lot of the show's lingering questions (what are the numbers, how did the dharma initiative find out about the island, and what happened to walt (though in regards to the last question the answer is obvious - he was too busy starring in The Blind Side)), and didn't give a definitive answer to the big one - What exactly is the island? Personally, about half way through this season I decided that there was no way everything was going to be answered satisfactorily and decided not to get too hung up about it (see how enlightened I am), really I just wanted to go along with the ride. Wherever that ended up probably wouldn't be wholly satisfying, but I hoped it would at least be compelling.

That said, I think the writers really had two ways they could have ended the show. They could have gone with the big screw with everybody's head ending, which would probably have involved the world ending, or they could have just focused on providing some sort of resolution to the character's lives and leave it at that. Obviously they chose the latter and I can't really blame them. Had they decided just to blow Hurley to smithereens (for example) I think the majority of the fan base would have been even more pissed than they are now. Overall I think the resolution was a satisfying one and, once you accept that the show was so ambitious that there was no way that any ending would have tied everything up nicely, its difficult to fault the writers too much for going the direction they did.

A few more random thoughts:

1) Its interesting that this was really just a resolution of the last two seasons, and not so much the whole show. This lends some credence to the idea that while they creators may have had some general idea about where to go with the show from the beginning, they really were just throwing up a lot of white noise to see what would stick before they were given a definitive end date by ABC.

2) I also think the ambiguous ending is in keeping with how the entire show has played out. More than any other show I can think of (with the obvious exception of Everybody Loves Raymond), its really made an effort to 'show not tell' and leave a lot to the fan's imaginations. While I do think they could have done a better job wrapping up some of the big questions over the final few weeks, I think its just as likely that had the resolution been more explicit the whole thing would have felt forced and a little corny. That said I think a special edition DVD with anextra half hour of explanatory footage is inevitable.

3) I'm going to be really interested to see how Lost plays in syndication. Unlike other 'mythology' heavy shows in the past (X files, Buffy, etc) Lost doesn't really have many stand alone episodes, and you can't really just drop in at any point and get a feel for whats going on. I would think that would limit new viewers, and existing fans have already seen everything. Of course I'm the same guy who thought nobody would buy Avatar on DVD because without 3-D it really wasn't anything special, and its become the best selling disk of all time so what do I know.

I'll just finish up by saying that overall Lost was an incredibly interesting show I enjoyed the ride. It may also be the last of its kind (a high budget network, effects heavy, network show) since as TV becomes more fragmented its unlikely that there will be enough incentive to mount a production on its level since the large audience won't be around to sustain it. Still I look forward to revisiting it on DVD and seeing if knowing what, sort of, was going on the whole time detracts form my enjoyment.

One more note: I watched this episode live because I didn't think there was any way I would be able to not hear the ending. Big mistake. The first two hours went like this - 5 minutes of show, followed by three minutes of commercials. It was unbearable. If they hadn't shown the last twenty minutes commercial free I think the show would have been in violation of some sort of FCC standard about content per hour. I mean I get that ABC knows they got a captive audience, but come on. This was ridiculous.

How to Train Your Dragon

This film is sort of the anti-shrek. The cast is populated by solid character actors as opposed to distracting big name stars. There aren't any pop-culture references to be found, and the laughs come from well-developed jokes and not just some cultural shorthand. This isn't to say that I dislike Shrek or its ilk (I mean I own the first three seasons of Family Guy for crying out loud), its just that their over reliance on big stars and dated references means that most of the amusement is transitory, and the rewatchability factor is low. How to Train Your Dragon in contrast has more in common with Pixar's offerings in that it doesn't condescend to its audience, and relies on character development and story to make its point.

Anyway the film doesn't reinvent the wheel. The story is fairly predictable in that it sticks to the conventions of the genre, but it does so in an engaging way and with a sly, somewhat subversive, sense of humor that it made for one of the more satisfying film-going experiences I've had in awhile

In regards to to the 3-D, it was completely unecessary and Avatar remains the only film I've seen where it makes a difference. Still its an easy anti-piracy device, and the studios get an extra 3 dollars (or more) out of me per ticket so its not going anywhere. We can only hope the forthcoming Sex and The City 3-D: Shoes in da Hood will show everyone what a horrible development seeing everything in three dimensions really is.

Iron Man 2

Much like the first Iron Man film, the sequel is one of those unique superhero films where I was much more interested in the main character when he was out of the suit. Its no secret that Downey is the entire franchise, and the film's best moments just involve him riffing and interacting with the other characters. When the film gets into the action sequences (which are nicely put together) I found myself getting antsy and wanting to get back to the bickering. Thankfully I think the makers realize this and a good 2/3rds of the film has Downey just doing his thing . Even in the two big set pieces they allow him to liberally engage in dialougue and not just grunt and yell.

The film also manages to utilize a loaded cast (Gwenyth Platrow, Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johanssen, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Mickey Rourke, and Paul Bettany's voice (unlike legion which starred Paul bettany's abs)) with a minimal amount of confusion. Rockwell in particular is entertaining as a rival arms dealer. The biggest problem is that the main villain, player by Rourke, isn't that interesting. He spends most of the film grunting, and making another Iron Man Esque suit so that there can be another big fight between Iron Man and slightly bigger Iron Man like in the first film. I don't demand that all villains be as interesting as the ones in the Dark Knight but it would be nice to have something more than the equivalent of robots hitting each other once in awhile.

Thankfully most of the time Downey is allowed to do his thing which is enough. These may not be the deepest films but they seem to have a good sense of what they want to deliver and do it in an entertaining manner, which is more than I can say about say...Green Zone.

Also only stick around for the scene after the end credits if you're familiar the whole comic book universe that Iron Man exists in (which I am not). Otherwise you'll just feel like you wasted valuable time that could have been spent reading Nicholas Sparks novels sitting through ten minutes of tech credits (though I did learn that the best boy gets his own grip and MS. Paltrow has two credited assistants) for no payoff.

One Tree Hill:Every Picture Tells a Story

And everybody's favorite angst filled drama is back. Concurrent viewing tonight is Sharks-Wings overtime, followed by Lakers Utah game 2. Remember what happened last time? It was the end of somebody's acquaintance. And we have a potential fatal attraction situation. And the one black guy is back. And I'm incredibly good looking.

-Julian wakes to Psycho Brooke giving him breakfast in bed. Throw it out man. No Telling what she did to it.

-Clay tells his new girlfriend that he sees his dead wife sometimes and talks to her. She is completely cool with it because if she could see her dead mom now she would stay up all night talking to her too. Yeah...okay.

-Sharks Win. At least one bay area team has been sort of successful since I moved here.

-And we go to commercial break with Haley looking at a pregnancy test. You'd think after having to put up with Jaime for seven years she would have had her tubes tied six years ago.

Or maybe she thinks the baby will keep Jaime occupied? Hmmm.

-This scene features Car Crash by Wakey!Wakey!. As far as I can tell its a Josh Grobin soundalike singing over solo piano and violin. Classy

-Turns out Skillz is back for good and is willing to quit his job to get back with Lauren. He tells Mouth this just as Mouth's going to tell him that he wants to schtoop Lauren. AWK-WARD!!!

-Quinn's "Genius" idea is to have everyone who attends her gallery have their picture taken and then post it on the gallery wall so everyone can be living art. Wow, edgy. Apparently it doesn't take much to pass for cutting edge in tree hill. Though I give it even odds that an athlete's junk ends up on the wall.

-Since Mouth is a little punk Lauren is the one who has to rip Skillz' heart out by saying she doesn't want to be together.

-In a twist right out of 1992 somebody e-mails Julian Alex's stolen sex tape. He of course freaks out, because one thing we all know is that sex scandal surrounding an actress who's known for being a party girl hurts a film's box office prospects.

-Julian goes all crazy on Alex for the tape. Again the show has a surprisingly puritanical streak with him going nuts about a known promiscuous actress having sex, and she's not even the one who made the tape. Also she alludes to how this is going to ruin her career. I guess its refreshing how this show exists in a world where Kim Kardashian doesn't.

-In another fun product placement move a three minute sequence is devoted to Nathan and Jaime putting on Kiss makeup and playing Rock and Roll All Night on Guitar Hero. I guess when your getting a 1 share you have to pay the bills someway.

-The big record company exec is getting booted out of the country on a visa violation. I didn't know Tree Hill was in Arizona. Of course she immediately realizes shes White and from Europe and has nothing to worry about.

-Skillz decks mouth which knocks down a sheet that shows Alexander and Brooke's mom in flagrante delicto. Best photography exhibition ever.

-We now have a cover of a great Bob Dylan song. Guess the show isn't legit enough to use the real thing.

-Uh Oh turns out that the actor who shot the sex tape meant for it to get out, but he never wanted to blackmail anyone. Well I guess that makes up for it.

-Show ends with Haley bawling out by the pool for an unexplained reason. Color me intrigued.

This episode has actually been fairly boring, I may not make it until the final one (probably a lie).

The Joneses

For about the first hour minutes of its run time The Joneses is a nicely paced, enjoyable, satire (along the lines of Thank You For Smoking) that has likable characters and an easy going charm. Unfortunately it takes a sharp left turn from subtlety with about twenty minutes left which almost kills the film's momentum completely. The story follows a 'family' of salespeople who move into a neighborhood for a year and essentially sell themselves (and really the products they own) to the community. This provides fertile ground for some nice observations about consumer culture, and the toll that constantly selling has on someone. The film is well cast, David Duchovny and Demi Moore have a nice chemistry as the leaders of the sales 'cell' and Amber Heard isn't unattractive as their 'daughter' (I really just felt like sounding like a Maxim writer there for a second). A film that just stayed with them and their internal struggles with the work they do it would have been fine. Unfortunately we have a incredibly telegraphed dramatic denouement which leads to a big speech and a whole section that feels incredibly out of place when compared to the rest of the film. I didn't even mind that the ending wasn't as bleak as it could have been, I just wish that the film had stuck to its guns and not felt the need to suddenly spell out everything thats been bubbling under the surface. Its still worth seeing, but it ultimately falls short of what it could have been.