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2008 Winter Video Roundup, Vol. II

2/6/08

"Lost", Season 2 (24 45-minute episodes)

Obviously, the sophomore season for a TV drama is where most shows have a chance to both really shine (once you have gotten to know the characters, the writers and creators and actors and production assistants have had a chance to gel, the show finds its rhythm, etc.) and still feel fresh, because it is not worn down yet.  Although I am forcing myself to watch this show mainly because Meg loves it and I would like for us to have a show that we can watch and argue about all the time, I have to admit that the second season of "Lost" was a lot of fun, mainly because I thought that it had that "24", Season 5 feeling of going for broke on every single show.  Cast semi-regulars get killed off; the show decided to milk the Luke/Leia/Han formula between Jack, Kate and Sawyer; the Hatch becomes a chance for the show to find some normalcy amongst the ridiculous Crazy Black Smoke encounters in the jungle; the Others are still mostly hinted at, and we aren't given much info on them until late in the season (save for Ben, who appears to be a villain worth investing in)...watching Season 2 on DVD was fun mainly because the show fell in love with a cliffhanger mentality, even cheesing up the heightened music from commercial break to commercial break.

Now, this is not to say that I thought Season 2 was perfect; in fact, there were notable issues.  I didn't like the characters that came from the other half of the plane (led off by Michelle Rodriguez, playing--shocker!!--a surly, brutish former cop who has a gun fetish), save for Echo, who turned into a decent character worth following by the end of the second season.  Also, I personally always hate when the good-guy sell-out character--in this case, Michael--is played by the black guy, so I chuckled at the idea that the producers realized this too, and swapped out Michael for Ecco for a token black guy balance.  But, that is being picky, and was probably a non-issue for the white folks!  I still think that the Hurley character is a cheap gag, that Claire is one of the more useless full-time cast members in recent TV show memory, and that if Kate was played by a better actress than Evangeline Lilly, you might really have something worth caring about.  I still can't get my hands around the logic that a building implodes but spits its items OUTWARD (the Hatch), and why the show danced around the fact that the 16-year-old girl was clearly Rousseau the French Woman's daughter for so long.

Despite all of this, I ran through the six discs of this season in five days...I enjoyed myself, even if I admit that I don't think that "Lost" is going to get much better, at least it gives me something to talk about with people who watch TV regularly.  At least, until "Lost" goes off the air.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"Lost", Season 3 (23 45-minute episodes)

Season 3 made a terrible mistake in its first episode--it gave us too much background on the Others, which leads to roughly the first half of Season 3 being not-so-good.  Not awful, just not-so-good.  This is also aided by the fact that Luke, Leia and Han (Jack/Kate/Sawyer) are still in lockup with the Others and the producers force the uncomfortable Kate/Sawyer romance-or-not down our collective throats.

(It's worth noting here that "Lost" does a very good job of keeping relationship-ish stuff mainly out of its storylines, which is a strong credit to a show that appears in prime time on major network television.  Most network chiefs would force more of the Kate/Jack angle or the Charlie/Claire angle or maybe a made-up young couple angle on us, but "Lost" mostly leaves this out.  Kudos.)

(Note #2: given what Kate saw in Sawyer in Season 1, does it even make logical sense that she would get to the point where she would self-punish/bang him just three in-show months and two TV seasons later?)

Season 3 also seems to go off on more random tangents than in the last two seasons; between the Ecco backstory, the Jack backstory, the random Claire-is-Jack's-half-brother backstory, the continually-bad Kate backstory and the couple-fighting-over-diamonds-then-dying backstory, I almost forgot which story was the main story: the one on the island or the one that happened before the island.  This is a negative.  That, and the simple fact is that keeping Jack & Co. in captivity for the first half of the season damn near killed Season 3.

But, as my friend Brian "Schmoove" Prenoveau promised, the show slowly picks up at the three-quarters-of-a-season mark and the last five or six episodes rolled downhill with a vengeance.  A little more action, a little more "cool" island stuff, a touch of Kate-nasty as she spies a quick Juliet/Jack kissing moment, another ridiculous Locke miracle and a great season finale (complete with a major character death) made me think that maybe Season 4 could be the best "Lost" season yet.  That will of course be wrong, but the last two Season 3 DVDs brought home what was an otherwise bad season.  Not unlike the recent Super Bowl (complete and utter dogshit for three quarters, including shitty ads, questionable American Idol-sung national anthem and freakin' Tom Petty at halftime, then a powerhouse fourth quarter and great final six minutes), "Lost" gave me reason to believe in TV again...albeit briefly.

Rating:  Matinee

"Edison Force"

Here's a sign that your movie is absolutely awful--your movie stars at least five legitimate famous people (Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott from "The Practice" and Kevin Spacey) and it still goes straight to video.  I couldn't believe it either, so Netflix and I got together and made it happen...and, yes, I can confirm that this action/drama is pure horseshit.  Morgan Freeman has a dance scene, Timberlake looks uncool, LL only takes his shirt off once, and Spacey is at his worst in this dirty-cops-busted-from-the-inside exercise.  This is the true definition of Hard Vice--legitimate people get together to make a film so bad, even they probably cannot believe it.

Rating:  Hard Vice

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  This is the highest rating a movie can receive.  Reserved for movies that exhibit the highest level of acting, plot, character development, setting...or Salma Hayek.  Not necessarily in that order. 

"$X.XX Show":  This price changes each year due to the inflation of movie prices; currently, it is the $9.50 Show.  While not technically perfect, this is a movie that will still entertain you at a very high level.  "Undercover Brother" falls into this category; it's no "Casablanca", but you'll have a great time watching.  The $9.50 Show won't win any Oscars, but you'll be quoting lines from the thing for ages (see "Office Space"). 

"Matinee":  An average movie that merits no more than a $6.50 viewing at your local theater.  Seeing it for less than $9.50 will make you feel a lot better about yourself.  A movie like "Blue Crush" fits this category; you leave the theater saying "That wasn't too bad...man, did you see that Lakers game last night?" 

"Rental":  This rating indicates a movie that you see in the previews and say to your friend, "I'll be sure to miss that one."  Mostly forgettable, you couldn't lose too much by going to Hollywood Video and paying $3 to watch it with your sig other, but you would only do that if the video store was out of copies of "Ronin."  If you can, see this movie for free.  This is what your TV Guide would give "one and a half stars." 

"Hard Vice":  This rating is the bottom of the barrel.  A movie that only six other human beings have witnessed, this is the worst movie I have ever seen.  A Shannon Tweed "thriller," it is so bad as to be funny during almost every one of its 84 minutes, and includes the worst ending ever put into a movie.  Marginally worse than "Cabin Boy", "The Avengers" or "Leonard, Part 6", this rating means that you should avoid this movie at all costs, or no costs, EVEN IF YOU CAN SEE IT FOR FREE!  (Warning:  strong profanity will be used in all reviews of "Hard Vice"-rated movies.)