Archive for category movies
Emil Guillermo’s take on “Lost” Finale:Longer than a Sunday School lesson, complete with Father, Son, and Holy Ghosts; But still a showbiz–not a religious experience–for me. Now bring on the devil–the “24″ finale
Over the last six years, I was an on-again, off-again “Lost” watcher. I really got into it when I lived on Oahu. I really got off of it when I was too linear for the show’s own good.
I was a Lapsed-Lost follower.
I hadn’t seen an episode for three years until I was hooked by last week’s hype.
The last show? Really? No more ”Lost”? Honest to God? I was back on the island.
Without benefit of Cliff Notes, it took me awhile to figure out how I was “Lost” all those years. But it didn’t matter. And then it all came together. The ”lost” were found, and everyone was reunited in…. Heaven?
I suppose if I was a devotee all these years, this would have been my religious experience. The family coming together and seeing the light.
But I wonder how else they could have tied things up. People coming together for a journey, but instead of Oceanic 815, they’re sitting in pews at a church. The 8:15 Mass?
The number of Christian references would have bothered me if I were say Buddhist or Muslim. But since I was in church earlier that day for Pentecost Sunday and had the image of tongues of fire in my mind all day, I was intrigued how openly Christian the finale was.
Symbols abound: The coffin marked “Christian Shepherd.” The drinking of the cup, with the words, “Now you are like me.” Desmond being lowered to the depths of fire and the earth moving–“Revelation”? Ben apologizing to John, and John saying, “I forgive you.” Jack the son, with his father, who has all the answers, or not. But yes, we’re all dead. No Last Supper. But there is a group hug/cocktail-less cocktail party, with everyone ending up in the pews. There are 16 people, 4 more than the apostles. And the father walks down the aisle to open the door. Let there be light. Transfiguration? And then it’s all interspersed with Jack on the island, on his back, wounded on his side, a more obvious Christ figure, no? But Jesus didn’t have his dog with him in the end.
I swear the show was more fun than watching the Church Channel.
I watched the ending again this morning, and if I wasn’t so snarky, I’d say the guilt from missing the last three seasons almost rendered me teary-eyed. But I dare say it was more remarkable a display from the producers than not, and hardly the cop-out as suggested by one major daily.
If you wanted a technical explanation for things, you’re a fool anyway. The producers had it more right than not. I forgive them their convolution.
When you kill a show, you are attending a funeral. I did catch symbols of other religions on the stained glass windows, so it wasn’t totally Christian, just predominantly so. But the tone was fine for saying goodbye. The story isn’t about physics and science. It’s about human relations and characters, and for something so Hollywood the “Lost” finale was pretty damn moving.
Now on to the end of “24,”where the devil shall be vanquished as the day ends.
More State of Play: Minority Journalists on the sinking ship
One thing more thing on the Russell Crowe movie: It does have plenty of minorities sprinkled in the newsroom, except of course in the lead roles. There’s the black city editor who hounds Cal. There’s a few black writers seen at their desks. And an Asian guy who could be an editor or the legal guy.
And they’re all working in a place that looks like a fire hazard.
I didn’t hear my kids say, “Gee, Dad, I want to work there.”
It must have seemed to them like a white collar coal mine.
Still, the lack of diversity in journalism may actually be a good thing now. Maybe minority journalists are lucky that we’re not the lead rats on the sinking ship.
I suppose that depends if journalism is LIFO (last in, first out) or FIFO (first in, first out).
In survival mode, the state of journalism makes it impossible to sustain any kind of racial equity. And retention rates for talented minorities were low even before the decline of the industry. If anything, media companies will need better affirmative action programs to make sure journalism and the media business doesn’t stay all-white for another 100 years.
As both a former TV and newspaper reporter, I did note how in the journalism movie, convention has turned the glamorous TV reporter into the dramatic chorus. Formerly, a director would simply flash a newspaper headline, filling the movie screen in bold type to emphasize a plot point.
So old school. But soon even an anchor or a breathless reporter summing up the plot will seem outdated.
In the future, we’ll all just get twittered.
State of play: My analog weekend with Russell Crowe, Asparagus and the Tubes
Posted by Amok in blog, everything else, journalism, movies, news, race on April 27th, 2009
Russell Crowe in his new movie “State of Play” is as pitch perfect as it gets in his depiction of the good old-fashioned journalist.
It was both nostalgic and sentimental for this old reporter. Like an old cowboy looking at a Western.
As Cal McAffrey, ink-stained wretch, Crowe uses the back seat of his aging Saab as a combination trash-can/file cabinet. He drives while listening to loud Irish music, so he has a touch of the ethnic journalist in him. He likes his car so much, his apartment décor resembles his car. Outward appearances be damned, McCaffrey considers fashion an affront to the truth, which of course, is all he cares about, no matter how painful it is.
The movie centers around a basic dilemma for journalists: Who’s a friend? Who’s a source? Who can you sleep with?
And the truth is found the old fashioned way. No guns.(Only the bad guys have those). No superhuman powers. McAffrey Crowe just asks questions; of editors, sources, colleagues, himself. In the end, what’s left are just the facts. No opinion. No blogs. Read the rest of this entry »
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