Wurms!

By Aaron 10/11/2007

This week I am taking off the kid gloves – no more dodging spoilers – if you have not seen the episode and do not want key issues revealed, read this after you have seen the episode. Obviously.

House continues his Survivor-esque tactics from last week by formally splitting the remaining participants into teams – boys against girls. The winners can continue the game while the losers will be fired. The case at hand is that of a paraplegic who is slowly slipping away. None of the interns really have any idea what the patient has, and the boys resolve to just run every possible test. Meanwhile Olivia Wilde’s character, who flirts with House but refuses to tell him her name, has an idea of what the patient has. And so does House. But when both of those ideas are proven incorrect House has to quit playing around and find out what is really killing the patient. Cue Cuddy’s whining about playing games with a patient’s life.

With last show’s brief, scene-stealing moments by Chase and Cameron, it seemed inevitable that Foreman would make an appearance. And so he does. The show follows a case (very briefly) Foreman is trying to crack with his team at New York Mercy. These scenes are largely unfulfilling, constantly giving off the vibe that there was more screen time that got cut. We do see Foreman leading a team that has corny similarities to House’s team in seasons one through three except that the team is useless. Here is the minor spoiler: Foreman believes strongly that he knows what is killing his patient but there is a risky treatment – one he does over the head of his superior. When Foreman tries to defend his decision (which saves the man’s life), he is cut off, and fired. While I thought scenes of Foreman at New York Mercy were on the way, and that he would be fired, I thought that would take three to four more episodes. It is way to soon to jettison that story arch. One thing is for sure; I would be shocked if Foreman worked under House again, although I would be surprised if Foreman did not return to Princeton Plainsboro.

Chase and Cameron have interesting roles in this episode – almost as tertiary characters – who help one of the interns who cleverly plays off their feelings about House. The best scene they have though is when House confronts them about helping the intern and Chase talks back to House without a care in the world – shattering Chase’s previous submissive, House-is-God attitude. To which Cameron chimes in, “I like him like this.” House is left standing there with his mouth wide open. It seems Chase and Cameron’s return to working under House is just as unlikely as Foreman working under House. At the same time, it would be very surprising if Chase and Cameron were to work under House. I think it is most likely that all three will work at Princeton Plainsboro and relate to the team, and the episode’s new patient, much the way Wilson does – delivering clever one liners driving to the heart of House’s motivations. And in their stead, I expect House to hire a new team.

Who will that team be? How many will be on that team seems to be more intriguing. There are a few frontrunners. The top one being Olivia Wilde’s #13, who gets a bunch of development in this episode, and who’s only potential detractors are that she is very similar (in appearance) to Cameron. Then there is Kal Pen’s #9 who seems to be a sure thing, and then there is the dark horse candidate in Edi Gathegi’s Cole/#18. Gaining steam is Anne Dudek’s Amber, who plays the bitch-incarnate very well – perhaps too well, as I really really do not want her to be on the show. Carmen Agenziano’s Henry, the really old guy, is an interesting choice, but despite his interesting back-story, he does not seem to fit in the show.

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.