I think we'll be seeing Zombie Locke and Ben fighting Bram / Illana and company on the island in 2007, and alternate timeline Locke (still in the wheelchair) being recruited to come to the island by none other than "Man of Science" Jack Shepherd.

Season Five is helped by rewatching in a way that no other season is. I remember getting a bit lost in the plot in the week-to-week airings, but back to back it really does hum right along.

Desmond was last seen at the end of The Variable, grinning at Penny from his hospital bed. A resolution, if neccesary, but a wimpy one. But anyway, he'll be back this season.

One of my favorite moments of the night was when Helen Mirren came out on stage, and looked out at the audience with gorgeous, haughty contempt. Look upon your beautiful queen, ye mortals, and despair.

The first Star Wars overcomes a pretty damn hokey script with two very charismatic performances (Guinness and Ford), spectacular music, and hyperkinetic but clear editing.
Avatar has none of those things, which makes the shitty script stand out more.

Actually, I think Michael Scott is much more of the "wounded man-child" than David Brent is. They both want to be liked, and they both consider themselves comedians trapped in the business world, but Carrell is definitely mining for a sympathy that Gervais doesn't ask for or deserve. Brent is just a slimy git.

Good call with the MASH comparison.
With a few exceptions, the show hasn't been funny the past two seasons-it's coasted on the audience's attachment to the characters and the always strong performance of Carrell.

Theoretically, the massive amount of money that Avatar is bringing in to Fox could allow them to add even more "precious little stuffy indie moves" to their production slate.

I thought he was great. That Mel Gibson line may have been the best joke I've ever heard in one of these awful telecasts. Usually the better comics are made to tone down their act-Ricky just got drunk and said "fuck it".

Yes, and some comedians realize what a smarmy, double-crossing douche he is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.c…

I used to love the line "don't give a fuck if I'm cumming or bleeding" until I found out it was actually "don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding"-which is no where near as cool.

I actually didn't see that scene as analagous to the 9-11 attacks, either. It seemed more in line with the shock and awe bombing of Baghdad.
Of course, this interpretation was helped along by the numbingly obvious use of the term "shock and awe" in the dialogue.

In that alone, ZMF, you're describing a much more interesting movie than the blacklit shitpile we were handed.

The fact that the Na'vi were presented as morally perfect just because they were in touch with their land was maddening-if Cameron had presented the individual Na'vi tribes (the horse people, etc.) as different warring factions that band together to face the human threat then that would have had more resonance.

I see your point Zack, but the scenes themselves just weren't that interesting to me. The moment with Jack in the hospital was especially dissapointing, considering how long I'd been waiting for that pay-off to see just how Jack became crazy, bearded, suicidal Jack. And the Walt visit was practically…

If by "ballsy and confrontational" you mean "thunderingly obvious and trite" then yes, Avatar is a bold political statement.

I loved the end of "Life and Death", but the first half was a bit too by-the-numbers, with Locke having to visit each of the Six (except Sun) in turn. Seemed a bit forced. But the ending, holy shit, the ending. It was a powerful reminder that character has been and always will be what makes this show work so well. The…

The strangling is an amazing scene, especially Ben's "I'll miss you John, I really will" after he pulls his Norman Bates clean-up routine.
But for the best moment of the year I might have picked Ben killing Jacob. Such an understated moment from Pelligrino-I love how open ended his "What about you?" is.
And Emerson at…

tiny's right that Fforde's not quite "serious", but he's also a much better writer than Moore (who I like). Moore tends to get wrapped up in chasing a gag, whereas Fforde seems pretty good at developing characters and a genuine plot.

Which do you think would be more unbearable-listening to the early stages of one of John Mayer's breathy pop ballads, or the first draft of one of Billy Corgan's meterless fifty stanza poems?