LOST Season Five, Episode Ten: "He's Our You"

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the most recent episode, stop reading.

So I'll start with the most obvious bit: that can't happen, right? But therein, I think, lies the problem with this season. The initial reaction to Sayid shooting little Ben is shock, because if Sayid kills Ben in 1977, how is Ben still around in 2007?

But as soon as you move past that, it becomes obvious that, of course, Ben is not dead. What happened, happened (according to Faraday, who is probably the only reliable narrator on the show regarding time travel). And sifting through the comments by more eagle-eyed viewers than myself at televisionwithoutpity.com, there's plenty in the show to back up that theory. So now the question is, how does Ben survive? And more importantly, if this always happened in his past...well, we've got a whole new perspective on how Oceanic 815 crashed in the first place.

All that said, though, the stint in 1977 is becoming tiring. I hope we get all of the Losties in the same time again soon so we can move toward a definitive endgame (which seems to be that war Widmore mentioned a few episodes ago). But with only a handful of episodes left in the series, its high time we start moving toward that conclusion. Because the rest of this episode? Fell pretty flat. There've been a more than a few times this season where we've had large chunks of episodes devoted to telling us things we already knew, which is frustrating. So if the time travel conceit is no longer working, it's time to leave it behind and actually answer some questions about what's happening in the present day. Hopefully we'll be at that point soon, but I have a feeling it won't happen until the season finale.

Overall, though, the show is still quite compelling. Even if this episode isn't the strongest we've seen? It's still better than just about anything else on network television.

B+

Some forthcoming business...

I should also point out that I also plan to watch Vanilla Sky again soon, being one of the only people who appreciates that movie, and I'll be posting my thoughts on that, as well. I'll also be discussing LOST on a weekly basis starting with tonight's episode.

Blade Runner

I just recently watched Blade Runner again and it more or less inspired me to remind people of how wonderful this movie really is. It is by far the smartest science fiction film I've ever seen, and one of the deepest, most thought provoking films, period. By the time you've finished watching it, the plot becomes almost secondary to the experience (because watching this movie is an experience, and nothing less). I highly recommend viewing the "Final Cut", as it's been marketed, as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

A Final Point on Watchmen

I do, however, strongly recommend purchasing (or otherwise acquiring) the Watchmen soundtrack and graphic novel. The comic speaks for itself; the soundtrack, however, is basically genius. Here's the tracklist:

1. Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance
-The real clunker, mostly because I love this song and hate this band, especially how they distilled such an epic song into a 3 minute pop travesty. Skip this one.

2. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
-Awesome. In the film this song accompanies the murder of the Comedian, and does so beautifully.

3. The Times They Are a-Changin' - Bob Dylan
-Accompanies the opening credits and sets the tone beautifully for the film.

4. The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel
-Perfect choice for the Comedian's funeral. Evokes all the right emotions while being just tongue-in-cheek enough to make sense.

5. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
-Who doesn't love her?

6. I'm Your Boogie Man - KC and the Sunshine Band
-Hooray for this song.

7. You're My Thrill - Billie Holliday
-I love Billie, but this song slows down the pace of the album. It's not featured heavily in the film.

8. Pruit Igoe and Prophecies - Philip Glass
-I thought this was original score when I saw the film, but it's not. In any case, it's heavily featured during Dr. Manhattan's origin, but on the album it's boring and repetitive.

9. Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
-And we're back. This track was awesome in film and on the album.

10. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
-For my money, this is the centerpiece of the album, and the film. It kicks in as Rorschach and Night Owl approach Ozymandias' Antarctic retreat, and it is wonderful.

11. Ride of the Valkyries - Richard Wagner
- Included more for the nod to Apocalypse Now than through any desire to actually feature the song, but it is still a great composition.

12. Pirate Jenny
-This is apparently from the Threepenny Opera, but it didn't come with the copy I "found" for some reason.

So yeah, go listen to those songs, and find the compilation if you much (or, if you're like me, you probably have most of the songs anyway).

On spam

I get lots of spam in my e-mail, and I'm not sure how it finds me (I suspect it has something to do with TCNJ having a poor spam filter), but seriously, the last one I deleted had the subject line: "All the animals in the barn are crazy for hard cock".

Um, excuse me? Who would even want to WATCH that?

Watchmen

So my first post goes to the most anticipated movie of the year. Is Watchmen any good? It certainly wants you to think so, and in all honesty, it does a quite good job of it. There are lots of little beats and moments that are excellent in this movie. So why, when I talk about Watchmen with people, do I rattle off a whole list of things that I either liked or loved about the movie, and then end my thought by saying, I didn't think it was very good?

Because I didn't find that I enjoyed Watchmen very much, and it's not because I didn't read the novel (I have) or because I dislike serious, depressing films (quite the opposite). I didn't enjoy Watchmen because it never worked as an actual movie. The entire time I'm watching, I'm hoping there will be some narrative thread...and there just isn't. This is not a problem for the novel for two reasons: one, the novel simply has more space than a 2hr43min film, and that's to be expected. But more to the point, the novel doesn't NEED a narrative thread; due to the very nature of its medium, it can be reflective and meandering and still be good. Film does not have this luxury.

In his slavish reliance on the novel in adapting the film (mustn't upset the fanboys), Zach Snyder created the CliffsNotes for Watchmen. The movie is a clip reel of all your favorite moments of the novel, some of them translated to the screen quite well, but that's exactly the problem. Snyder and team don't ADAPT the film; they translate it, and what works on the page doesn't always work on the screen.

It's truly a shame, because what Snyder has done is prove that Watchmen is filmable, where previously it was a given that Alan Moore's novel was anything but. In a way it would have been more consolation if Snyder had utterly failed, if what we received in theatres was a jumbled, unwatchable mess. Then, at least, I could sit back and say, told you so. This couldn't be done.

Instead, I have to sit here and call this film mediocre. Because it isn't bad, and if it had been executed better? We'd have an excellent Watchmen film on our hands. But there you have it: good, not great. Snyder has taken one of the most thought provoking, contemplative, radical novels of the 20th century and turned it into a passable action film with glimmers of faux-existential philosophy.

Grade: C+