Thursday, June 27, 2013

Why did it have to go there? :(

I didn't like how sci-fi/fantasy Lost ended up being. I probably should have known, but I was expecting a much more realistic show. I could accept the time travel thing (maybe they could explain it a bit further), but the whole mystery of the island that, in my opinion, went largely unexplained? Not a big fan. I honestly thought the black smoke would be explained as a machine of some sort, not some mystical being. Again, I should have known; how many times have I watched Alias? I guess that's the type of mystery JJ Abrams is interested in.

Monday, June 17, 2013

The film just made me happy

I was in New York City and had a couple hours to kill. I was considering just walking around and enjoying the nice weather, or even try out CitiBike. Then I remembered, Much Ado About Nothing is shown in select theaters around the city! I was happy to find a theater showing the movie, only a mile away from where I was.

I was ridiculously excited about this movie; so much so that I was getting anxious during the 20 minutes of trailers.

The "home movie" feel was present from the beginning of the movie; I mean, ignoring the Lionsgate and Roadside logos/credits (what is that called?), the title sequence was mostly plain text on black background. In all honesty, I was a bit worried when the movie started. I wanted to love this movie so much that I was afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. I only know of two adaptations of the play: Kenneth Branagh's movie and Catherine Tate-David Tennant's play, and I've enjoyed them both.

This film didn't start well for me; the black & white and the Shakespeare language took longer than I wished to get used to. The slight movements of the camera, while goes in line with the "home movie" feel, also distracts me from the scene sometimes. I spent the first few minutes trying to get used to the film itself.

However, once you're in, you're in. This has been mentioned a number of times during interviews with cast and creator, and I should have believed it. And I was in awe the moment Amy Acker delivered her first of Beatrice's long monologues. Acker was really amazing throughout the movie. And I now understand why Joss decided to kill off Fred on Angel to bring in Illyria instead. I also adored Alexis Denisof, who I think should be in more films I can watch. Side note: I'm so happy that he decided to join Twitter; I can now read tweets in his voice and it's wonderful. Wes and Fred got their happy ending this time. And I now want to watch Angel again.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

I'm kinda regretting I didn't watch it when it aired

I guess, looking at this blog, it's pretty clear that I watch shows that are already off the air a lot more than I do shows that are still airing. I guess it's safe to assume that I prefer watching episodes back to back instead of having to wait a week (or longer) to see what happens next.

However, watching a show when it airs allows for discussions, sometimes live when the episode is airing. A show like Lost definitely benefits from episode discussions. The gap between episodes also provides time to mull over the details, which is probably useful for viewers to form theories. Watching episodes back to back like I'm doing now blurs the episodes and seasons. I'm currently at the end of season 3, and I can't even tell you what happened on the season 2 finale. It must have been big, and a cliffhanger, but I don't remember. The whole show feels like one incredibly long movie. Cliffhangers don't feel like cliffhangers; what happens after this? Well I'll just watch the next episode.

I don't even want to know how many clues I've missed; how many mysteries I've forgotten. I actually have to keep remembering myself that there's some giant, loud thing in the jungle at the beginning of season 1; and that there's the still-unexplained black smoke thing that, to my knowledge, is a floating machinery (according to the whirring sounds). There's the whole thing with "the others" that are now being revealed, slowly, but those two puzzles from early on seem to have disappeared into the background. I don't have any ideas of what they might be, so I'm just hoping that I'd get an answer as I continue watching the show. What's The Dharma Initiative? What are these bases for? Why are "the others" so interested in the pregnant women and what experiments are they doing on them? So many questions! I just hope that it's not getting too complicated that it won't have satisfactory answers. Why are these people "chosen" to crash onto this island? Who the hell is pulling all the strings here?! What does the number mean?

I'm seriously thinking about taking a break watching the show, so I have time to actually think about the puzzles.