Madness!

By Aaron 11/30/2007

The episode begins with a Panthers football game. My only question is how the hell could they lose a game 0-37??? That is just RIDICULOUS. This trend continues to decenter the show’s original focus on football, which now takes a back seat to intrigues of murder, passion, family, and jealousy. Structurally, the show maintains SOME of it’s original greatness – amazing camera shots like the ones that give us Saracen’s eyes as he watches his girlfriend, and the dark, prophetic hallway Landry watches. Overall it was a good episode, but it was all over the place and lacks the focus or feel of the concise, sharp editing of the first season. So, what happened in this episode? It was all over the place.

Smash is back to being a douche bag – easily walking off the team’s drubbing in the first few minutes because he thinks he’s going to recruiting heaven. While in the high school recruitment paradise of girls, girls, and girls, Smash chooses poorly and he gets what he deserves, and it is HYSTERICAL. And in the end, he assumes Saracen will come to his rescue despite Smash seemingly reverting back to his conceited Smash-first ways. I guess Smash DOES give Saracen some advice, but it risks turning Saracen into Smash…But will Smash maintain a strong relationship with Saracen? Will he continue to traipse off to these recruitment parties?

While Tyra flashes some serious cleavage in her first scene, she is largely absent. And when she is on screen, as usual, Landry volunteers to protect her from anything and everything, and of course, gets nothing in return. Landry continues his now borrowing melodrama of murder-guilt and Lyla makes a brief cameo to give Landry some advice, despite the fact that she has never talked to him before (meanwhile Street is nowhere to be found). While the previews seem to be preoccupied with the story that captivated us in the beginning of the series, it gets about three minutes of screen time now. What will happen to Landry? Will Tyra finally realize that she belongs with him?

Meanwhile, Riggins’ new living condition is HILARIOUS. The roommate is like a loser version of Riggins, hopefully something that will show Riggins to stop boozing and get his shit together. Hell, his friend manages to stammer, “Roadhouse is the best movie of all time.” My question is when is Riggins going to be back on the team? It seems like Coach is totally mishandling the Riggins situation and being unnecessarily harsh. Will Riggins play football as a Panther again? Is he the missing piece for the Panthers’ title defense? Do we think Riggins can erase 37-point deficits?

In the Taylor household I’m wondering wow long is Tammy’s sister going to stick around? She is really annoying, and seems to enable Julie’s childishness. Thank God Tammy finally put her in her place. It is a little confusing why Tammy hangs out with Glen so much. Even if she doesn’t, it seems like she does ALL the time. Which makes Coach’s character really annoying because he complains SOO much about Glen. Not to lose the race toward annoyance, Tammy is generally a pain in the ass, and it is no wonder Coach is always pissed. In the end, the most frustrating thing is when Tammy lets her sister talk her into thinking she was in the wrong when she is clearly in the right. Will the sister continue to meddle in Tammy’s parenting? Will she ever be a positive influence?

Now, the preeminent question in your mind should be, is Julie SERIOUS? Then followed up by, is Noah SERIOUS? I mean, Noah is clearly flirting with her and pushing the envelope, and he makes no effort to hide it in front of Tammy. Anyways, Julie is taking the stupid teenage girl role way too far – or the writers are. Her character is so STUPID now. What happened to the tender girl who fell in love with my favorite QB1?

Our main protagonist, Saracen is back to screwing himself –way to turn down sleeping with the head cheerleader. It’s hard to tell if he is in love with Carlotta, or just wants to be. Is Carlotta in love with him? I mean, what does she expect, he is a hormonally charged teenage boy. Where is this going? How long term are we talking? Won’t Grandma find out?

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.