DaViD´82

Fortunately, the concerns about whether Wallace and Gromit (or Nick Park) would be able to handle three times the running time of a regular episode proved to be false.

First I watched four seasons “week after week" and then, years later, I watched all six seasons all at once. Although Lost can be faulted for many things (mostly rightly), it can also be praised to the heavens for a lot of other things (mostly rightly). The evolution of each season in terms of narrative methods, style, genre, topic, form... Simply everything is done in a way that nobody has attempted before; especially not for a non-cable station that relies heavily on viewer figures. Each season is completely different, not always necessarily good, but Lost doesn’t suffer from the “same thing over and over, just in a different jacket" syndrome. Where the first series made do with a few characters and their struggle for survival somewhere on a beach in the South Pacific, a couple of acres of jungle, slow storytelling and flashbacks, a couple of seasons later it continues with an almost unbearable number of characters, global scale, breakneck pace, no flashbacks, several time levels of storytelling (Nolan must love it) etc. It is evident that the first two seasons are completely separate from the others, as if, after their success, the creators came up with an integrated concept for “how it is ALL going to be from now on", so they knew what to put where “so that it would all fit together", while before that this wasn’t the case at all. So the separate events (especially during season five) work faultlessly in terms of episodes as of season three, but in the context of the first two seasons, in places they are pretty hard to come to terms with as far as logic is concerned. The series suffered some rather weak interludes (filler episodes during season three, the first half of season five and a considerable section of season six), as well as enjoying some stronger periods (season one, a period comprising four episodes in season three and the entire season four and the end of season five). In the first half, it was often needlessly dragged out, while in the second half an episode or so on top would have benefited things. It should have ended after season four which, with a couple of changes, would have made a satisfying end (season five as well), or conversely it should have had an extra season, because the finale leaves a lot of unsuitable loose ends. It’s just full of contradictions. Why it works and what carries it along despite some weaker periods are the characters. It is the characters that make this worth watching at all and all of the most powerful moments are thanks to them. Because these moments aren’t a matter of twists or revelations, but they are simply emotional passages. Primarily it isn’t an action adventure mystery sci-fi series, that is all secondary, but it’s about the characters. And they are the reason why I kept watching for so many years, even though more than once it got on my nerves; the characters are the reason why I plan to watch it again in the future. Purely objectively I should give it four stars, but... I just have a weakness for Lost and for Giacchino and his top notch six years of toil on this series, and I can think of nothing but praise for it. _____ Season one (5/5): At first sight it might seem that another variation on the theme of “survivors on a desert island" has nothing to offer, but that would be a mistake in this case. It’s like if you describe Twin Peaks as simply twenty episodes about the investigation of a murder in a small town; who would want to watch something like that, huh? Season two (4/5): To start off with, the creators turn everything upside down and so this season has a completely different feeling than the one before it... But still, underneath everything this is still good old Lost. Season three (4/5): Right from the very start the creators show you that this is going to be in a different spirit. But that’s not really how it works here. It’s still good, but you’ve seen it all before and it’s almost a waste of screen space. It’s not actually boring, but clearly yesterday’s warmed up porridge full of pointless flashbacks. You even start thinking that maybe it’s not worth your valuable time. But sometime around episode eight it kicks off from the bottom and the quality begins to rise, at first slowly, but then pretty fast, with the last few episodes of the season turning into the very best that the creators have given us so far. But at times it seems that they should have condensed the story down from three episodes into one. At times. Season four (5/5): ... and, lo and behold, that’s what they did. Fewer episodes per season meant unusually perfect episodes, because they got rid of the filler. Breakneck pacing, that is what season four is about. No need to mention the change in concept and style, that would be repeating myself, so I’ll shorten things to saying that this is the best season after season one. This one is so good that if it answered a couple more questions, this would have made a respectable and mainly absolute ending to the series. Season five (4/5): Not at all bad, but somewhere completely different than I wanted it to be. There are many unforgettable sequences here, but the pace is so relaxed that many of the episodes could be much shorter. But it’s nice that the creators stuck to the motto “what happened happened, and it happened like it always did" which is pretty rare (and never on such a scale, and never before did it make sense). The final quartet of episodes is first rate - something we have never seen in Lost before, which improves the overall impression. Season six (3/5): "I promise I'll tell you everything." When I said I didn’t like the direction taken in the preceding season, while having some qualities, this season the same applies twofold. Developments on the island are rather confused (although they have their moments, as usual in the second half of the season) and this season drags on by the inclusion of countless flashbacks; this is an elegant way of getting out of the problems, although it only works if you care about the characters at all. But if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be watching season six, would you? The problem of this season is the duality of good and evil, because the “good" is represented here by an all-powerful elite that doesn’t hesitate to wreck lives, while the “bad" is presented as quite understandable free will pushed into being evil, preventing any steps of “good" from being taken, which is bad for everybody else. In terms of story, the finale is similar to what I wrote somewhere before, but the aim here isn’t to resolve everything (although I think that everything has already been explained; here it is less about being necessary and meaningful and logical, but more about feelings instead). This season is centered around respectful farewell to the characters, which works perfectly all the way to the finale. But then along something happened that shouldn’t have... The events on the island itself are decently wrapped up, but the second storyline not at all. And the events captured on the bonus, spoof episode on the DVD Epilogue: The New Man in Charge (5/5)? I’ll just say this: if ABC gets around to it, I want to be there to see it.

An unnecessarily drawn out standard romantic comedy that derives all its charm from the excellent central duo.

Another Frat Pack comedy, this time with slightly less zany humor. In other words, a little more palatable for the general public. The beginning part is almost all excellent, actually up until the last third, when the picture is then needlessly dragged out and starts to get boring. Mainly thanks to the central duo, there is always something to watch and to chuckle at. But this makes it all the more of a shame that Walken is terribly under-utilized. Personally, I like this movie more than the rather more zany humor of the other comedies made by the “Pack". Dodgeball and Anchorman are way different, not to speak of Zoolander.

Average and it only gets to those properly freaky limits in the second half. However, it is fair to say that David Hasselhoff is a gifted artist and an even more gifted swimmer.

The type of picture where each minute lasts an hour. And this movie is way longer than three hours long. And unfortunately I mean that seriously. It seems like the actors were plucked off the street right before they started filming, otherwise I can’t think how it’s possible that their facial expressions don’t change even a little throughout. It is an unbelievable mixture of pathos and god-fearing performances, all crowned with paper-rustling dialogs that even the worst telenovela would be ashamed of. There is a total lack of directing and it is a patchwork of long, static single-take shots, no matter whether they are filming a stirring speech or a battle scene.

A film that relies not on the story, but on the fact that it will enchant you with its unique melancholic atmosphere and poetics. Kim Ki-Duk proves that his Western nickname "DJ" is not at all out of place.

Bay’s attempt at making a different type of movie than he usually does stopped somewhere half-way along the route. In the end, the initially intriguingly developing screenplay proves to be the weakest aspect of this movie. Despite the fact that something is always going on in this picture and despite the frantic editing, paradoxically this seems to lack pace. But even so, thanks to an excellent McGregor and the precise technical aspects, this is an above-average picture which is definitely more endearing than Bay’s previous movies, but unfortunately it isn’t one of his best.

The Burton - Elfman - Depp trio make this picture an original, typically Burton-like, screwy movie. It’s a family movie where mainly the adults in the audience do all the laughing, because Tim approached it.. Simply in his own way. One crazy idea follows another; total stylization; Depp’s Willy Wonka is somewhere between Michael Jackson and Marylin Manson and it is all accompanied by an absolutely madcap soundtrack by Danny Elfman. There is not much of a story; it’s more like a road movie traveling through this fairytale factory, with the center of attention in the form of Depp, but also Christopher Lee is certainly worth mentioning too. The rest of the cast are given no room at all, which is refreshing because the children’s roles are played nicely and aren’t annoying. The whole thing is “sweetened" by being a kind of ingenious parody on A Space Odyssey. ♫ OST score: 4/5

A decent atmospheric affair from Norway. There’s not much going on, but it will surely grip you. If you hear anything about the film you'll probably be struck by the similarities to The Blair Witch Project - fortunately this low-budget film from the dark woods is about something different and, more importantly, better.