Lost: The End of an Era
I’m not one to post spoilers of any kind, but I found that I had to in this case. Lost, one of the best TV shows to brace television in quite some time, will be reaired on Syfy Channel in the fall from the beginning. Beware, many of the shows will take place during the day. The ebb and flow of emotions that you got all the way back from season 1 was worth it. If you missed the finale, here’s what you missed:
1) Jack is now the island protector and in a series of flashbacks, we see Jack about to operate on Locke.
2) There is a confrontation that escalates between Jack and Locke. In another flashback, we see Locke had successful surgery.
3) Jack and Kate run into each other and they haven’t seen each other before.
4) They gather at a church and see everyone…mourning at their own deaths.
Close curtains. Jack closes his eyes for the final time and that’s that. The end of an era ends in a not-so-obvious-but-expected way.
It will be hard to duplicate the success of Lost, but you’re bound to see countless attempts. It was fun while it lasted. Catch it on Syfy in the fall or buy the DVD. If you haven’t seen the series from the beginning you’re going to be impressed.
J.J. Abrams at it Again
It didn’t take long for J.J. Abram’s name to come up again after the finale of Lost. (That episode still makes me mad.) Super 8, the newest Abram’s entry is set to come out in 2011, with a possibility to come out in late 2010 (don’t give up you hopes on that). You can see the trailer here and tell me what you think. It is quite veiled as was Cloverfield when it came out, and to quell rumors, this is not the sequel to Cloverfield. The trailer is overly ambiguous and furthermore, Abrams has said it was not the sequel.
Nightmare on Elm Street Review
The old Nightmare on Elm Street basically invented the slasher/horror genre. Though the CG and the writing wasn’t always the best, it was sufficient and good enough for the time. The new Nightmare on Elm Street had some flashes of brilliance in it that made it a lot better than the original. All the deaths in this movie are heightened to the point that some of them are just hard to watch, but it’s fun nonetheless. The story drove a little faster than I expected and it didn’t waste much time. (It’s different than the original in regards to plot.) I’ll admit, though, that it’s hard to envision Jackie Earl Haley as the new Krueger. It will take you a little getting used to, for sure. So as not to spoil anything, it does leave room for a sequel and I think, of all the other slasher remakes, this one could pull it off. If you like a character-driven slasher film (if there ever was one) this is it. It’s also plot driven where you can get a good feel of all angles of the movie. You can’t go wrong with this movie if you like the horror/slasher genre. It’s fun, very action driven, and the deaths are pretty awesome. I recommend it and I give this an 8.
San Diego Comic Con Guest List
An updated partial list of some of the people speaking or making appearances at this year’s comic con are:
Sergio Aragonés, Brian Michael Bendis, Berkeley Breathed, Chris Claremont, Mark Evanier, Matt Fraction, Keith Knight, Stan Lee, Paul Levitz, Larry Marder, Carla Speed McNeil, Robert M. Overstreet, Douglas E. Richards, James Sturm, Gabrielle Bell, Douglas E. Richards, Jerry Robinson, Steve Rude, J. Michael Straczynski, and Drew Struzan.
This is just a few of the hundreds of visitors, but because the final list doesn’t come out for another three weeks, it’s important to note that even after the list is finalized, guests can back out or go to other engagements. Such was the case last year when 15 guests backed out of commitments a week before the convention.
When Does Art Become Pathetic
I think it can be argued that film making and writing is an art unto itself. When you see something written come out on screen, it’s something that should be enjoyed, critiqued, or marveled at. But, there is a strange flipside to “art”. I had the distinct nonpleasure to view the Human Centipede. While the movie is quietly under radar (rightfully so), this movie leads to some highly interesting questions. This film is visual, for sure. The problem is, at what point are you fringing on purposeful cringe factor and art? The idea of the movie centers around the idea of creating a centipede out of bodies. The movie shows the three victims being attached mouth to anus to create this human centipede. Of course it is disturbingly visual (no CG), and really you have to wonder if it’s intentionally intensely visual on purpose. At least Saw had some kind of a decent story and decent acting to go with it. The movie isn’t out for theatrical release, but you can check it out in the early parts of the summer–if you have the stomach for it. It is pretty sick and when I saw it, a dozen or so people walked out. The writing is horrible, and so is the acting. You probably won’t find another movie that’s as disturbingly grotesque as this. There is certainly no artistic value to this movie. If you dare watch it, prepare yourself. Don’t eat or drink anything before or during the movie.
Trailers for Resident Evil: Afterlife and Splice
The trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife makes the movie somewhat bearable. Personally, I’m not putting out much hope seeing how Paul Anderson almost ruined the RE series for me.
Splice, on the other hand, looks great. This has a feel of Species-Pandorum-Avatar all wrapped up into one. This movie may not have a nationwide release, but as details of that come about, I’ll let you know.
Clash of the Titans Review
I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peak on this film and it does not disappoint. If you’ve seen the original and loved it, you’ll certainly love this version. Acting stalwarts Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes put in performances that are strictly exceptional. Sam Worthington plays a noble role, but his accent is a little hard to get through at some parts of the movie. That’s not the fault of the actor, but of the voice editor. (Spoiler Alert) Bubo makes a cameo, but you have to really look out for it. You will be pleasantly surprised at the action and the story. It resembles the original in many ways, but the current version is more of an character-driven story from Perseus’ point of view. You see external and internal battles which lend a sense of realism to the story. From the character development to the outside struggles, it’s a pretty complete movie for something that is supposed to be action-oriented and full of the mythology. Not bad. Is it Oscar worthy? No, because this doesn’t fit that mold. You will be pleasantly surprised, though. It is rather children friendly and a pretty good date movie. I give this a 8 only because of some of the slow parts in the beginning-middle.
San Diego Comic Con
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If you haven’t already, there are tickets to the San Diego Comic Con available now. The event will be held from July 21 (Preview Night)- July 25. There are very few tickets left. Last year, the comic con was sold out by May and this year may not be any different. The Comic Con will be held in the same place as it was last season, The San Diego Conversation Center, 111 W. Harbor, San Diego, CA 92101. This year’s comic con guests is still incomplete but as they become more complete, I will update it here. If you’re not fortunate enough to catch the San Diego Comic Con, there is one in New York from October 8-10. Maybe not as much notoriety as San Diego, but it’s still good nonetheless. Act now to get your tickets. You can get them at any ticketing agency or you can go to http://www.comic-con.org/cci/.
Repo Men: A Review
There’s not many great things to say about Repo Men, but there aren’t many bad things to say either. It was an okay movie, to say the least. Good action and pretty decent storyline, but all-in-all, it’s kind of a movie that lacked clear direction. Not many people will figure out the ending, but leading up to it is a whole different thing. Jude Law was miscast, I believe. He doesn’t quite fit the role (both physically or acting-wise). Not to knock on his ability and talent, but he’s really not the action/adventure type of guy. Forest Whitaker was good and fit his role perfectly. Outside of that, you’ll come to find many things you’ll enjoy from Repo Men and some things that are just alright. There is a balance in the movie. What it is, I don’t know. How it got there, I don’t know. It’s still a fun movie to see, but probably at the dollar theater.
Repo Men follows Law and Whitaker as the repo men, but tragedy strikes Law’s character and he’s forced to get a translate. The cliche “the hunter becomes the hunted” comes into play. It’s pretty downhill from there as far as predictability (except the end). Not much more to discuss about Repo Men. Yes, there are political undertones. Yes, there are religious ones, too. What movie doesn’t have that? This one, though, doesn’t go over the top on it, at least, like Avatar. On a scale of 1-10 this movie deserves a 5.5.
Final Fantasy XIII: What to Expect
This game is pretty awesome! I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not. This game plays like a movie. I know that sounds odd, but the game has stellar CG and the cut scenes are strictly amazing. There’s not been a game like this in quite a while. The game play is fluid and doesn’t end abruptly like a bad novel. You can finish fights and other sequences without feeling like you were robbed of an extra second or two. The programmers did a good job of cleaning it up that way. The storyline is what made this game so popular to me, not necessarily the fighting and the fight sequences. This story is about two factions: the fal’Cie of Pulse (the world they live on) and the fal’Cie of Cocoon (the AI). It’s basically a civil war that has plenty of political intrigue. There will be several similarities between the game layout with this one and Final Fantasy X and X-2. Those who have played those games will know what I’m talking about. The lead is a heroine who exhibits many similar characteristics to Yuna in Final Fantasy X. While the story is very multileveled, I will say this: if you’ve played FFX, you will know the story will have a twist at the end that will blow you away and what you’re led to believe will be a complete lie. Lightning, the lead, is a perfect heroine for the game. She far transcends that of Yuna in action, attitude and dialog. This game is worth it. If you’re not a FF person, you’ll still like this one. You don’t need to know anything else about any of the other FF games to get this one. You might have imagined, they’re ALL different. This one will blow your mind and the first 20 minutes of the game will leave you speechless. The graphics are great, the dialog is superb and the storyline will make you forget you’re playing a game.