Author: Jason Zingale (Page 86 of 154)

Lost 4.6 – The Other Woman

March 6, 2008 /

Who would’ve thought Juliet was a homewrecker? Not me, but after a trip back to her past this week, we now have a better understanding of Juliet’s relationship with Ben. Unfortunately, with the exception of the revealing flashback, and a couple other treats for the fans, tonight’s show didn’t even come close to the quality of previous episodes.

Juliet’s flashback originally had me believing it was actually a flash-forward. As she’s speaking with a therapist named Harper (an almost unrecognizable Andrea Roth), the two discuss her status as a celebrity. Could Juliet be the final member of the Oceanic Six? Nope. Instead, she’s referring to her arrival on the island, and before long, her popularity level has plummeted when she begins having an affair with Harper’s husband, Goodwin. Surprisingly, Harper couldn’t care less, but she does offer a warning to keep their relationship a secret from Ben.

As it turns out, Ben has a massive crush on the good doctor, and when Oceanic Flight 815 crash lands on their island, it gives him the perfect excuse to split the pair apart. Ben sends Goodwin away to spy on the Tailies, and as we already know, that didn’t end very well. When Ben hears the news, he escorts Juliet to Goodwin’s body, and reclaims her as his own. It was pretty creepy stuff, but, well, that’s Ben for you.

Back on the island, Juliet has a completely new set of problems. It seems Faraday and Charlotte have managed to slip away into the jungle, and when Juliet and Jack split up to go looking for them, Juliet is greeted by Harper. Warning her that the freighter duo is on their way to the Tempest (the island’s electrical station) to release the toxin gas, Harper gives instructions from Ben to stop them by any means necessary. Oh yeah, and then she just sort of disappears. Was it Juliet’s imagination? Not possible, since Jack saw her too, but aside from that simple observation, I have no idea what else it could be.

Regardless of the specifics, Juliet and Jack continue their search, coming across a semi-conscious Kate in the process. After explaining her disastrous run-in with Faraday and Charlotte (which included spying a bag of gas masks before getting a knock to the back of the head), Kate joins the duo on their search. When they arrive at the Tempest, Faraday is already hard at work at a computer terminal, but claims that he’s trying to disable the gas so Ben can’t use it against his people. Confident that Faraday and Charlotte are probably correct in their assessment of Ben, Juliet lets them go.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Locke has just struck a deal with Ben. In exchange for his freedom, Ben has promised Locke the answers he so desperately wants. He even goes one step further by showing him the identity of the freighter crew’s boss via a VHS tape hidden in a safe. The video shows Charles Widmore, and though I’m not exactly sure Ben is telling the truth, he seems to believe that Mr. Widmore is trying to exploit the island as a sort of miracle-giving tourist spot. Could that really be true, or does Ben still have a few aces up his sleeve? If history has taught us anything, it’s probably the latter.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

The Wire 5.9 – Late Editions

March 2, 2008 /

Ever since the Barksdale bust at the end of season three, there hasn’t been a whole lot of police work being done on “The Wire,” so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the opening minutes of tonight’s episode featured the long-awaited takedown of the Stanfield crew. After the latest cell phone image shows an upcoming meet in one of the city’s most unpopulated areas, Lester is positive that this isn’t just a regular re-up, but rather the monthly re-supply between Marlo and his connect.

Sending Sydnor and every other available detective to stake it out, Lester then goes to Daniels to fess up (sort of), claiming that they used hours from the Clay Davis case to work a tip about Marlo. Daniels greenlights the operation, and within minutes, Marlo is sitting in lockdown along with Chris (who’s also been served his murder warrant), Monk and Cheese – all of whom can’t seem to figure out who could have snitched. Marlo suggests Michael, but while on the way to a purported hit with Snoop, Michael realizes that he’s being set up, and quickly improvises – killing Snoop and getting the hell out of Dodge. On a related note, didn’t you love watching Lester dangle the phone and clock in Marlo’s face, almost as if to say “I’m smarter than you”? Classic.

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Meanwhile, as Lester’s $16 million drug bust gives new hope to Carcetti’s run for governor, McNulty is on the opposite side of all the congratulations. Not feeling like celebrating after being mocked by Landsman for his inability to catch the Red Ribbon Killer, McNulty continues to work on slowly letting the case go. Unfortunately, Greggs isn’t so forgiving, and after consulting with Carver, she heads to Daniels to narc on McNulty and Lester. Even Daniels is mildly surprised that McNulty would go so far to catch Marlo in the act, but it looks like he isn’t quite ready to let him back on the street either. And so he heads to the Evidence Room with Asst. D.A. Pearlman to conduct “evidence control” – which may or may not mean getting rid of the one thing that links McNulty’s serial killer to Lester’s wiretap.

Of course, it may not matter now that Herc knows what really happened. After taking the risk to steal Marlo’s cell number from his boss’ rolodex, and then giving Carver that bullshit monologue about catching the bad guy, he’s now decided to go directly to his boss about how Lester really found out about Marlo’s operation. Doesn’t he realize the trouble he got into the last time he tried to take the fast track up the career ladder?

External TV, The Wire, TV, TV Dramas

Lost 4.5 – The Constant

February 28, 2008 /

Seeing as how I wasn’t a particularly big fan of the last Desmond time travel episode (“Flashes Before Your Eyes”), I was wholly expecting not to enjoy tonight’s episode either. In fact, that’s exactly how it was panning out until the story took an unexpected turn that no one could have seen coming.

The story begins where episode three left off. Frank, Sayid and Desmond are on their way to the freighter, and while the storm they’re currently flying into doesn’t look that inviting, Frank is insistent on following the exact coordinates they used to get to the island. What they don’t realize, however, is that flying through said turbulence has some unexpected side effects, and before you can say “Saving Private Desmond,” the surly Scot has awakened in the middle of a military barracks, clean cut and unaware of his surroundings.

When he snaps back to the present, Desmond completely freaks out – recognizing neither Sayid nor Frank. As it happens, Desmond can now time travel (sort of), and when the helicopter lands on the freighter, he’s taken to sickbay to get checked out. It’s there that he meets George (Fisher Stevens), one of the freighter folk who seems to be experiencing the very same side effects. Unfortunately, between jumping back and forth in time, and arguing with the boat’s crewmembers Ray (Marc Vann), Keamy (Kevin Durand) and Omar (Anthony Azizi), Desmond can’t figure out what’s happening to him.

Lucky for him there’s a physicist (Daniel Faraday) on the island, and after speaking with him over the SAT phone, it’s revealed that not only does Desmond believe it’s 1996, but that his recent exposure to electromagnetism (via the hatch explosion) is the reason he’s reacting this way. Confident that he can help, Daniel orders Desmond to board a train (in the past) and visit him at Oxford where he used to teach. When he arrives, Desmond finally gets some answers from Daniel – but they’re not exactly to his liking.

You see, Desmond isn’t physically time traveling – it’s just his consciousness, and unless he can find a constant variable in both time periods, he’ll likely die of an aneurism. Once again, Desmond runs into a little luck in that he has the perfect constant: Penelope. Unfortunately, he has no way of getting a hold of her. That is, until George recognizes Penelope’s name (apparently, she’s been quite the nuisance with her incessant calling), and suggests they go to the com room to give it a shot. When they arrive, the equipment has been destroyed by a “friend on this boat” (Michael?), but Sayid sets out to fix it.

Meanwhile, Desmond slips back into a time travel coma where he visits Charles Widmore at a local auction house. (Curiously enough, he’s bidding on the sole diary of the Black Rock expedition, further tying him to the whole island conspiracy.) After getting Penny’s new address from her father, Desmond drops by to make quite the odd request. All he wants is her phone number, and he promises not to call her for eight years (or what is essentially present day on the island) as long as she keeps that same number. Penny agrees, and when Desmond returns to the present, he gives her a call using Sayid’s jimmied SAT phone. Penelope answers, and the two finally have their long-awaited talk.

As one of the more interesting romances on the show, it was nice to finally see Desmond make contact with Penny, but when exactly are we going to learn more about her (or her father’s) involvement with Dharma. Also, is it just me, or are the freighter folk some of the least friendly people you’ve ever met? I don’t understand why they don’t want the losties speaking with Daniel, but there has to be a good reason, right?

Oh yeah, and RIP George Minkowsky. I got excited seeing Fisher Stevens’ name in the credits, but I guess I should have seen that coming. After all, he was practically dying from the moment he was introduced. Oh well, perhaps Kevin Durand will get a little more character development next week. It would be a shame to waste two great actors when guys like Ken Leung, Jeff Fahey and Jeremy Davies have already proven how new characters (see: Pablo and Nikki) aren’t always a bad thing.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

Will Ferrell’s Highs & Lows

February 26, 2008 /

Will Ferrell’s never been one to show much concern for his questionable script selection. He pretty much does whatever he wants – from streaking in his tighty whites to wrestling bears (twice) – and gets away with it. Since breaking in to the business in 1998 with the “SNL” sketch-turned-feature film “Night at the Roxbury,” Ferrell has been all about quantity over quality. Over the course of the last decade, the actor has appeared in no less than 25 different projects, and for every career highlight like “Anchorman,” there’s been a box office flop like “Bewitched” to balance it out. Surprisingly, Ferrell’s been able to escape such disasters virtually unscathed, but just because Hollywood is willing to forgive him doesn’t mean we are as well.

In honor of his latest film, Bullz-Eye.com revisited the actor’s best and worst cinematic performances of his career. Check out the list here, and then be sure to come back and discuss.

Will Ferrell

Actors, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies

The Wire 5.8 – Clarifications

February 24, 2008 /

Let’s not beat around the bush: Omar Little is dead. Understandably, that’s going to piss off a large percentage of fans, but not exactly how you might think. You see, David Simon has already stated that Omar was never meant to play a major part in the series (in fact, he was only supposed to appear in a handful of episodes), and as such, I was wholly expecting his eventual demise. But at the hands of a three-foot corner boy? To use the term anti-climactic wouldn’t do it justice. Sure, the shot to the back of the head was pretty cool, but to see a badass like Omar taken down by some random pre-teen ranks right up there with the senseless drowning of Charlie in last year’s season finale of “Lost.” Still, it was bound to happen – just like Clay Davis’ acquittal the week before – and if nothing else, Omar’s death may just be the break McNulty needs to catch Marlo.

After helping Bunk fast track some lab work on his murder investigation (which, by the way, resulted in a warrant for Chris Parlo), Bunk decides to repay the favor by gifting McNulty a piece of paper he found on Omar’s body. The information doesn’t seem to be anything new (it’s mostly just names and designated hangouts for all of Marlo’s major players), but every little bit helps, right? Maybe not.

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Following a trip with McNulty to the FBI in order to retrieve a criminal profile for the homeless serial killer, Greggs gets to work on paring through all the potential suspects. Embarrassed that Greggs would even be willing to waste so much time on a bullshit case, McNulty pulls her aside to tell her the truth. As you can imagine, Greggs doesn’t take the news very well, but McNulty is willing to stick it out for a couple more days – especially now that the mayor has granted him unlimited resources, including surveillance teams and rental cars with GPS.

With Carver personally assigned to run point, the surveillance teams are working like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, they haven’t really resulted in any big breakthroughs. That is, until Sydnor makes one hell of an accidental discovery. While following one of Marlo’s men through an unfamiliar part of the city, he stops by the side of the road to check out his map. By pure luck and pure luck alone, he happens to realize that the clock images Marlo and Co. have been using for communication directly correlate to a book of Baltimore maps. Having officially cracked the code, Lester has not only made his first giant step towards building a case against Marlo, but has also uncovered the citywide monopoly he’s built between Monk on the Westside and Cheese on the Eastside. How exactly this will be used against Marlo is still uncertain, but with only two episodes left, we won’t have to wait very long to find out.

External TV, The Wire, TV, TV Dramas

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