As Fox tries desperately to compete with NBC’s Winter Olympic coverage, they keep unveiling “first time in American Idol history” type stuff, which really is just a small break in format during Hollywood week. But I’ll give them this…they are getting down to the final 24 quickly. Almost too quickly.
Last night’s two-hour episode began with the final 71 contestants being broken into three rooms. Two rooms would hold those advancing to the next round, and one room full of those heading home. This, after one final shot to impress the judges with a solo performance.
Another week, another pointless flash-sideways. And until we make some headway on the connection between the two worlds, I have a sinking feeling that the Earth-2 stories are going to remain strictly what-if affairs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m just not sure what else to make of them for the time being. Thankfully, Locke is a much more interesting character than Kate, so I didn’t really mind learning more about his Earth-2 counterpart. It was nice to see Katey Sagal return as Helen Norwood (now engaged to marry Locke), but despite some sweet moments between the two, the real fun came in his chance meetings with a few other familiar faces.
After getting fired for using the company’s expense account to fund his walkabout in Sydney, Locke leaves the office to discover the wheelchair access ramp in his van blocked by a big yellow Hummer. And who should that Hummer belong to but Hurley, who just so happens to own the company. Better yet, when he hears about Locke’s situation, he gladly offers him another job through a local temp agency that he also owns. (There was no mention of Locke blowing thousands of dollars on his trip, but Hurley’s a pretty laidback dude, so I guess he didn’t mind much.) The office supervisor at said temp agency is also none other than Rose, and as an annoying Disney-owned theme park ride would remind us over and over again, “It’s a small world after all.”
Still, for as great as those cameos may have been, they were nothing when compared to the last reveal, which found Locke taking a job as a substitute teacher, only to stroll into the teacher’s lounge during lunch to find Ben Linus going on a rant about someone failing to replace the filter in the coffee machine. Something tells me this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Of course, if the Earth-2 characters ever learn anything about their mirror lives, chances are it won’t last long once Locke finds out about all the times his new buddy tried to kill him – and finally succeeded.
At least Ben is finally apologizing for it on Earth-1. I’m sure no one was expecting him to just come out and say it (Most. Uncomfortable. Funeral. Ever.), but it’s definitely a big step for someone like him. It’ll be interesting to see what role he plays in the rest of the season, because now that Smokey is done using him, what more is there for Ben to do? At least Sun still has to be reconnected with Jin, and though Ilana suggests they head to the temple to search for him there, we already know Jin’s long gone. Talk about shitty luck. First he was nearly killed on the freighter and now he’s Savage Claire’s prisoner.
But enough about that for now, because we have plenty to discuss in regards to Smokey’s ongoing mission to get off the island. I thought it was pretty brave of Richard to decline Smokey’s offer to join him, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less scared. Sawyer, on the other hand, doesn’t seem fazed by any of it. In fact, he knows that Smokey isn’t Locke (“I don’t care if you’re dead, or time traveling, or the Ghost of Christmas Past”), but all he wants to do is drink. That quickly changes once Smokey offers proof of why he’s on the island, prompting Sawyer to follow him to a cave where hundreds of names have been written on the inside. Most are crossed out, except for a few, including Sawyer, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Locke, and either Sun or Jin. All people that Jacob came in contact with earlier in their lives, and each with a number before it that correlates with the mysterious numbers from the hatch.
Do the bon temps actually roulez in Hollywood? It’s more like they just kind of unspool.
* My good friend, Zayne Reeves, was kind enough to make sure I didn’t miss this rather extraordinary Esquire piece by Chris Jones on Roger Ebert’s current life. I’ve been spending my share of time around illness myself over the last several weeks and I can’t think of a more quietly, beautifully sane way of dealing with the strange cards life can deal us. Though I’m just one among very, very many he’s shared kind words with, I’ve always felt lucky for the very brief e-mail correspondences I’ve had with Roger over the years, Now I feel luckier.
* Reviews of the fourth Martin Scorsese film to star Leonardo DiCaprio, “Shutter Island,” are starting to trickle out. Glenn Kenny has a good one. “Good” both as in “positive” and also as in “worth your time reading.”
* Doug Liman will be directing a film about the 1971 Attica prison riot/revolt/uprising, now best remembered by film lovers as the chant from “Dog Day Afternoon.” It’s a story he has a personal connection with through his late father, attorney Arthur Liman. Nevertheless, the director of “Go,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and “The Bourne Identity” seems to be moving in a sort of John Frankenheimer-esque direction overall, too.
* Nikki Finke is having a very fat Tuesday indeed. Earlier today she reported on Carl Icahn trying to snap up Lionsgate for himself and a deal between Warner Brothers and video kiosk powerhouse Redbox, not to mention the news that the Oscars this year may not be including the original artists in the Best Song category.
There’s still more; a 3-D movie based on Erector Sets. Sure, why not. Next up: “Slinky 3-D,” I’m sure. Now, if they really want to get a rise out of the family audience, they might consider adopting Mickey Spillane’s novel, The Erection Set. From the description I just linked to, it would really be something in three-dimensions.
* I started with Roger Ebert and I’ll end with an item via his must-read Twitter-feed: the Film Preservation Blogathon being organized by my old Chicago-based cinephile blogging mate, Marilyn Ferdinand. If you care about movies, this is the place. It’s also a fundraiser (a first for a blogathon, as far as I can remember) so if the idea of losing a film — any film — forever bugs you as it should, considering donating. You can do worse than starting with this post by Ferdy’s partner in good works, the Self-Styled Siren aka Farran Nehme. And, courtesy of another cinephile colleague from the days when I had time to blog about old movies all the live-long day, Greg Ferrera, we conclude with….a commercial.
Faithful “24” blog readers, I am in need of some clarification. Tonight’s entire episode revolved around the mysterious whereabouts of Wolfhausen, to the point where Jack volunteered to be kidnapped in order to pinpoint his location. Meanwhile, Mrs. “24” blogger and I are thinking:
Why not check Vladimir’s cell phone?
Hastings focused repeatedly on the fact that Crazy Jackie gutted Vladimir Guerrero like a salmon before they had a chance to interrogate him, and yes, it’s true that dead men tell no tales. As the same time, cell phones do not lie. Find his phone, look up the most recent calls made, and go from there. Boom, problem solved. Did they address the issue of the phone in the previous hour? Did the Russian goons take Vlad’s phone or at least destroy it? If so, then fine, I’ll quit bellyaching. No, you know what, I won’t quit bellyaching. Jack and Renee discussed it all before anyone else arrived on the scene. They could have taken his phone right then and there. That’s it: I’m applying for the job of director of CTU. Someone has to stop the madness.
“Aw, you’re going to torture me? That’s so cute! I just want to pinch your cheeks for not knowing how this will end.”
There was something about Sark that was throwing me off this entire episode. Previously, he appeared to be a sniveling wimp. In tonight’s episode, he’s Wolfhausen’s Luca Brasi, putting a gun to Jason Schwartzman’s head and talking the talk like a true “family man.” I should have known that he had a hidden agenda. What will be interesting to learn, should they reveal it, is which one of them initiated the backup plan. I have to think it was Sark, because if Jason Schwartzman does it, he looks desperate. If Sark does it, he looks cunning. But there I go again, getting all rational.
In Hour 5, I said:
“…no good will come from trying to make [Kevin] disappear. Guys like that, they don’t disappear. It’s like feeding a cat.”
Fast-forward three hours, and Kevin is making it rain at a strip club with his ill-gotten gains, telling Starbuck that he plans on holding her big secret over her head for as long as he can. Surprise! Yes, we all saw this coming down Broadway, but here is my big question: I’m no gangster, but I’m pretty sure that New York strip clubs know who the real players are, both above the table and otherwise, and who the two-bit, illiterate degenerate scumbags are. When a halfwit like Kevin comes in with obscene amounts of cash, odds are he’s stolen it from another one of the club’s more loyal patrons, at which point the halfwits are escorted out the back door, chopped to bits, stuffed in a duffel bag and thrown in the Hudson. In the “24” universe, however, they live la vida loca. Fugh.
And to think, Starbuck had the perfect chance to come clean…and didn’t do it. Granted, I’m not a con artist like Kate or Sawyer from “Lost,” so I don’t think about potential ways out of a predicament like your typical con, but I have to think that Starbuck is so far against the wall that she feels her shoulder blades coming through her chest. But nope, she still doesn’t come clean, choosing instead to fix it herself. I am predicting that this will result in the death of Kevin but not his idiot sidekick Nick, who will then put even more pressure on Starbuck using…wait for it…Kevin’s cell phone.
Quick note on Jack’s footwork while tortured: at least it was more believable than last week’s knife toss.
On the Presidential front – this is, after all, President’s Day – our Madame President was shortchanged. Even Jack upstaged her conference call with Bubba. Ah, but Slumdog President continued on his path to full-blown paranoia, even telling his daughter Princess Jasmine that the love of her life, who has served her father loyally for ages, is probably a plant and working for Jason Schwartzman instead. See, this is why good people don’t get into politics. Not worth the trouble. And we wonder why things are so fucked up.
And on that note, I’ll let Billy Joel take us home. Think about it, Starbuck. Please.
It might be a national holiday, but movie news hasn’t been taking anything like a break.
* It’s not really even movie news in the usual sense, but Kevin Smith has been making big Internet news by making a big Internet stink about being ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight for being “too wide for the sky.” The latest: He might go on Larry King or “The Daily Show” to prove his point. Of course, this is movie news if it helps out the grosses for this upcoming buddy police comedy, “Cop Out.”
* This is really interesting and weird. All weekend, we’ve been hearing that Martin Scorsese has announced that he and old friend Robert De Niro would be revisiting the world of the mob in an upcoming film. Secondarily, there are numerous stories — actually not much more than written down rumors that he, together with cinema bad boy Lars von Trier, would be doing a series of remakes of some sort of his classic early collaboration with De Niro, “Taxi Driver,” possibly with the participation of the actor.
If anyone out there has seen “The Five Obstructions” they’ll have some clue what is supposed to be going on here. It’s a highly entertaining documentary in which the director challenged his filmmaking mentor, Jørgen Leth, to remake an experimental short film of his that von Trier admired five times, each time with some creative limitation thrown in the way. The idea being that creative obstacles can sometimes lead to more interesting work.
Of course, Scorsese and De Niro aren’t going to make five full-length “Taxi Driver” remakes based on the Danish director’s whims, but if there’s anything to this, it’s certainly something I’d pay to see. Peter Hall at Cinematical has the most concise version of this confusing story or non-story that I’ve seen, and likes the idea as much as I do.
* And that’s not all on the Scorsese speculation front. The Playlist passes on word from the paywall encrusted Variety that he may be contemplating making his next film, a movie about movies called “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” in 3-D. It was good enough for Alfred Hitchcock in “Dial M for Murder,” so I wouldn’t be surprised and, for this particular project, it might make sense.
* Can you imagine the Oscars — or any award show — without innumerable thank yous? I can’t. Still if what Peter Sciretta at /Film reports turns out to be for real, it would prevent any more unpleasantness like this.
* Another Oscar institution really does seem to be on its way out: Barbara Walters’ post show interviews.
