TV: Lost

STARRING: Matthew Fox (Party of Five), Josh Holloway (newcomer), Evangeline Lily (newcomer), Jorge Garcia (Becker), Naveen Andrews (Bride & Prejudice; Planet Terror)
CREATORS: JJ Abrams (Alias, Fringe) & Damon Lindelof (Crossing Jordan)
PLOT: Plane crash survivors are linked to a remote island filled with mysterious people and supernatural qualities.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Time travel pisses people off. Not me. I love what has happened this season. Is it confusing? Hell ya! But Lost has never been an easily explainable show. It’s challenging, which is why Middle America stopped watching and went back to According to Jim. Lost is a show that makes you sit around with fellow addicts and compose theories and predictions. The writers even help out a bit by letting some characters speak to their audience. A recent episode that had Hurley and Miles explaining time travel rules that differ from Back to the Future was nothing short of magnificent. This is an intricate season and I’m loving every minute of it.
4 To those who know me, they know I often knock Evangeline Lily’s Kate character. Not only did I use to work with the Lily at Green Bay Bible Camp, I think Kate is awfully annoying to watch (especially with her flip-flopping on who she’s in love with). Surprisingly, a recent Kate-centric episode was actually good. I also don’t like Jack much either. Happily, Jack is more in the background this season and Sawyer is front and center. I like this change.
4 Of course Michael Emerson steals the whole show as Benjamin Linus. This bug-eyed villain is so good at manipulation; you have no idea if he’s stringing the audience along as well. It’s easy to ask yourself why people keeping trusting Ben, but that just shows how well he’s written and how well Emerson portrays this morally bankrupt character. My favourite line of his this season is on the plane where Jack asks him about the people in the economy class who might die in the imminent crash. Ben’s response? “Who cares?” Gotta love this antagonist!
4 With only one season and four more episodes to go, the revelations are coming fast. One of the early complaints of the show was not giving answers. (Heroes tried to give answers quickly and look what happened to them.) When I re-watched the first season, I was amazed how easily we were entertained with one reveal about a character by looking at their backstory. Now we demand 4 or 8 revelations in every episode. Well, they are coming. The upcoming 100th episode should reveal a lot and I hear rumours that we’ll see Jacob by the end of this season. I’m giddy just thinking about it.
4 I’m happy that my wife loves this show as much as I do. She started watching season one last spring. It was slow going for a bit. Not much momentum when I look back at early eps. Then it was four episodes a night. She caught up quickly. Now, she’s making predictions and theorizing with the best of them. I love her.

NOTE: If you plan on watching Lost for the first time, you have to watch it in order; you won’t understand a thing otherwise. Trust me.

RECOMMENDATION
Must See Television
(Next day discussions are necessary)

COMING SOON
TV reviews of Dollhouse, Reaper

TV: Damages

STARRING: Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, 101 Dalmations), Rose Byrne (Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later), Tate Donovan (The OC, Hercules)
CREATORS: Daniel Zelman (Fool’s Gold) Glenn Kessler & Todd Kessler (Sopranos)
PLOT: Patty Hewes tries to take down an energy supplier while Ellen Parsons seeks vengeance from the failed murder attempt last year.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Nothing is what it seems. This stellar show strives on red herrings. Just when you think one thing is happening one week, it changes the next. Damages keeps you on your toes. It’s riveting.
4 Glenn Close is amazing. She is in control of every scene she’s in. While she amps up the bitchiness most of the time, she shows great range especially with her troubled marriage this season.
4 Ted Danson (Cheers) and the fantastic Zeljko Ivanek (Heroes) stole the show last year and even though their stories ended, Damages managed to bring them back in some form this year. It was nice to see them again.
4 The editing was not as slick this year, maybe because there were not as many time jumps. Also, the story was a little more clunky this season but it’s still better than most things out there.
4 I really wish more people could watch this show. It airs on FX, which is unavailable in Canada. I’ve had to download episodes because I’m sure it will be awhile before our Showcase channel unveils the second season. I can’t recommend Damages enough, it’s probably my favourite drama behind Lost. However, you have to watch season one first if you want to get into this show.

RECOMMENDATION
Must See Television

COMING SOON
TV review of Lost, Parks & Recreation, Heroes

Film: Monsters vs Aliens

STARRING: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Legally Blonde); Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Superbad); Hugh Laurie (House; Black Adder); Will Arnett (Arrested Development; Blades of Glory)
DIRECTORS: Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) & Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2)
WRITERS: Maya Forbes & Wallace Wolodarsky (The Rocker)
PLOT: Incarcerated B-movie monsters are released to take care of an alien invasion.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Seth Rogen steals the show as B.O.B, the Blob. Despite his gelatinous form, his attitude and humour shine through. He’s one of those characters who are often more in the background but every line out of their mouth is golden, like Marvin (voiced by Alan Rickman) in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
4 Great casting all around. Really liked the idea of Stephen Colbert playing the president. Very nice. I wish Hugh Laurie got a little more to work with as Doctor Cockroach. Will Arnett was pretty funny as The Missing Link. Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland turn in good work. Actually Paul Rudd (who I loved in I Love You, Man) didn’t add much at all as Witherspoon’s lame fiancé, go figure.
4 Not bad for a Dreamworks film. It’s no Pixar, but who is? I usually bash Dreamworks for its adult humour that is inappropriate for young children, but this one held up really well. The story is fun and tongue-in-cheek. It’s simple, but it works.
4 The bad guy is pretty lame. Rainn Wilson (The Office, The Rocker) does what he can as the antagonist, but he’s not really scary. I wish their was a variety of aliens to match the monsters. I guess they want you siding with the monsters.
4 We watched the movie in 2D because my left eye is a little wonky and makes it so I can’t see 3D images really well. You could tell some of the opening shots was perfectly drawn for 3D but I wondered where the rest of the 3Dness was, it seemed to fade as the movie progressed. But then again, I wasn’t wearing special glasses, so what do I know. Stupid left eye.

RECOMMENDATION
See it in the theatre
(3D should be fun. Fun for the whole family)

COMING SOON
Probably Star Trek