I Confess...

By Aaron 12/8/2007

This episode tries to cram as many of the storylines as it can, and does a pretty good job. One storyline does not really dominate the episode, besides what you might have thought by the preview. But, just as in the previous few episodes, the potentially most dramatic storyline receives pretty short shrift. Overall though, the episode is pretty good, although spread too thin in a few areas.

Smash has limited screen time in this episode, just checking in to give some advice that probably won’t make anything better for Saracen. The scene is at the diner though, so I guess we know that they are still working there, and it looks like the two are still friends. I was surprised, after the last few episodes seemed to be trying to get a little bit of Smash’s college search into each one, for that storyline to be completely absent. As were the tertiary characters related to Smash’s search, like that one guy’s sister who I thought Smash would get with. Is that going to happen?

After taking an episode off, Santiago is back, coping with the pressure of his first game while his savior, Lyla, essentially takes this episode off. I can never quite decide if I like Santiago or not. And in this episode he was just pretty whiny. More importantly, Buddy is great in this episode, trying to be a father again and motivate a kid who no one ever tried to motivate before. Can Buddy pull it off? Or will Santiago just choke?

Riggins finally wakes up and realizes his living situation is a terrible idea. This situation started out pretty funny and has deteriorated to annoying. Can he disentangle himself from that big hunting enthusiast with the meth lab? Meanwhile he does odds n’ ends for Coach Taylor to get back into his good graces to hilarious results. Will he get to play?

Street moves out of his parent’s house and tries Internet dating with mixed success. I felt like this was a long time coming, and heavily foreshadowed that Street HAD to move out of his parent’s house. The Internet dating thing was totally random – whatever happened to tattoo girl? I thought that was supposed to be pretty serious because that ended his relationship with Lyla, but it has entirely fallen away. Will the relationship Street starts in this episode last for multiple episodes? It could…but who knows.

Landry does his best to screw himself after his confession – refusing to assert any sort of self-defense argument because of his overwhelming guilt. Meanwhile Tyra just cries the whole episode – yawn. I expected a lot more traction on this storyline throughout the series, and this was just another episode that was a serious disappointment in this area. And this storyline goes down the extremely predictable path everyone expected it to go, making for a depressing anticlimax. All I really care about is if Landry and Tyra are going to get back together? Hurry up already!

Julie finally speaks her mind to her parents and says she feels like she’s under too much pressure. Wah wah wah. This is getting ridiculous. I loved Julie’s character in the first season, now she just seems like a total bitch. And, things do not look like they will be turning around anytime soon in this regard. All I have to say is thank God Noah wasn’t in this episode. Is Julie ever going to return to her nice-girl self? Is she ever going to return to Matt? Either way, before the show ends, she will definitely sleep with Noah. Even without Noah in this episode it seems too obvious.

Saracen and Carlotta seem really happy. I’m glad – I think Saracen deserves Carlotta and all the happiness he can muster. There is one HILARIOUS scene with his grandma that is pretty priceless. Besides that, Saracen AND Carlotta are pretty low key in this episode. Is there any future in this? What kind of problems would arise? I actually think their age has got to be pretty close because Carlotta is working to earn money for college. So I hope the show doesn’t wimp out and take that route. Maybe she’ll want to go to college…who knows.

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.