Ananas

Fucking shootouts are the scourge of our game. It's the most innaccurate way of deciding a winner that's ever been tried.

An analysis of the photos people post @ Myspace.

Yeah I think this episode was even better than the premiere. No Marsters which is a bummer, but it was an interesting dynamic to see Clark having to solve problems without the usual superstrength. I also like that Chloe has an actual role this year, instead of standing around in awe of Clark to hammer home the point that yeah, he's strong. The episode built to a great conclusion, even if Clark kicking Lex's ass came way out of left field. The best news of all is that the show held extremely well last week, drawing a 3.6 households rating and even beating "Everybody Hates Chris" in the 18-49 demographic. Seems this move might even prove beneficial to the show.

Serenity (for the third time) - 9/10 Note to all who see this movie: keep an ear out for the person doing the voice over that says "The Operative" has "full access".

Wow, name him after a comic book character. That's not just asking for a life of torment or anything.

Serenity - 9/10 I can't help but think that the movie's going to be fine box office wise, just because I can't see how it isn't a word of mouth hit.

Early word on overnights is that the film did between 3.9 and 4.2 million opening day, good enough for 2nd place behind Flight Plan. People need to check it out; don't make the mistake of loving it on DVD and wishing you'd caught it in theatres.

You Got Served got my vote, as it was a 4/10 movie for me, whereas I can only assume the rest of those were well below that mark.

Serenity - 9/10 As much as I'm sure you were expecting this number or perhaps even something slightly higher, let me stress enough that I'm really trying to be impartial here. Ah screw it: this is probably the smartest action/sci-fi movie I've seen since The Matrix. Walking the line between "TV-movie" and "movie adapted from TV", Joss Whedon has successfully created a self-contained story that should appeal to old and new fans alike. After existing in a somewhat tertiary role on the series, Summer Glau's River Tam comes the the forefront as her increasingly erratic behavior begins to make the crew rethink their decision to keep her aboard the ship, but are forced to stand by her and her brother Simon when it becomes clear that the goverment's quest to recapture these two fugitives lies in something River knows, something they are willing to kill to protect. Nathan Fillion is at his darkest as Mal Reynolds, the ship's captain, who throughout the film struggles with his own moral objectivity and the need to provide for and protect his crew. The biggest philosophical question in the film is laid out by a young River Tam in the opening scene: people don't like being told how to live. Mal, a volunteer in the film's equivalent of the Confederate Army (sans all the slavery), is the embodiment of this spirit, and is often guided by it. On a production side of things, this film looks much bigger than it's 40 million dollar budget; the space sequence towards the end is on par with anything seen in the Star Wars films, and the choreographed fight scenes are equally compelling. This is a film that looks good, is interesting and also ambitious. It's everything that has been missing from movies in recent years. How appropriate that it takes a TV-guy to give us that. Thumbs way up; a must see for fans of the action/adventure or science fiction genres.

I saw it today, and take back my earlier statement. No need to see the show first; it's a completely self-contained story with sufficient back story given at the start. It's also completely kick ass.

Actually I really enjoyed this episode. The visual effects were great, but a bit inconsistent. I'm not sure I'd say they were that spectacular; I'd prefer to cut the CG budget a bit and go with more after shots to save on realism. I thought most of the Fortress exteriors were cartoonish, especially the shots that were panning straight up and down. On the other hand the interior shots inside the Fortress were spectacular. They've perfectly recreated that environment, and the effects with Clark while "learning" were also quite stunning. Later on when we meet the two Kryptonians, the stand off with the police is visually stunning, and looks much better than most of the hack work they do with Clark's own "flamethrowing". This premiere was beautifully mounted and may warrant another technical Emmy nomination next year. Moving on, I actually liked what you might call the "inconsistent characterization". The meteor strike was nothing if not chaotic, and I think one would be remiss to not counter that into the characters' reactions. These characters acting unusual only hammers home the gravity of the situation, although this may be lost on those just tuning in after 4 months who have lost touch with the characters themselves. Anyway, good on them for that. Per Chloe's revelation: I think that it was the gravity of the situation we found these characters in to start the season that perhaps undercut the impact of what she revealed to Clark. Nonetheless, it would have been impossible to have drawn it out another episode. The reveal needed to come in the premiere, and while I do think that the aftermath might have been a bit more contemplative, the episode needed some light moments. As for the lack of Jason Teague references, I agree that they probably should have mentioned him more. However, I'll refrain from commenting on that until we see a few more episodes this season. While it WAS a big plot point, it's not necessarily something that would have been heavy on anyones minds while the chaos around them unfolded. If they don't do the storyline (which was terrible, by the way) justice in coming weeks, then we can crucify them, but for now I'm not going to cry over less Jensen Ackles. Finally, with regards to Clark's apparent acceptance to his loss of powers, I have to once again invoke the "gravity of the situation" argument. I know it seems to be a way of accounting for a lot of silliness with this episode, but it does still fit. Apparently even Superman gets fatigued and fed up. Even still, his immediate reaction to seeing the blood on his finger was anything but elation. Perhaps he's just putting on airs? It wouldn't be the first time he's lied to his parents to spare their worry. It may be lame, it may be repetitive, but it's not necessarily out of character. I can understand everyone's concerns about the show, but I guess that I just interpret them in a different way. All in all I thought this was probably the best episode since Season 3's finale.

I thought it was an entertaining episode, but still thought it was a bit of a cop out to rehash so much of what had already happened down the hatch. The most intriguing storyline is still the Jack-Desmond thing.

So how many of you lovely television fans shunned Lost last night to check out one of TV's smartest dramas, as it premiered its 2nd season? The episode covered a ton of ground, and was surprisingly entertaining as far as sophomore season premieres go. This whole class conflict thing is really intriguing; I'm hoping it gets a great deal of the season's coverage. I'm also liking the shock ending, although with 3 really high impact episodes in a row, one hopes they don't burn themselves out too quickly. On the characterization side, I really liked the development in Logan's character; he just doesn't seem right as a protagonist. Duncan and Veronica seems a natural fit, although they did sort of kill off one of two people who would have a real objection to the relationship. Oh, and Charisma Carpenter = Hottie. P.S. I should have picked this up right after watching the ep, but Logan's "I'm gonna miss you" quip just before Duncan and Veronica left on the bus trip is foreboding in hindsight. But it couldn't possibly be a give away, could it? That's WAY too obvious, this early in the season. Anyway, discuss.

I wasn't excited about this premiere until I saw some of the advance press which said it's at its strongest since the first season. Now even seeing the end of S4's finale last night was exciting. This should be good; good enough for me to watch it and tape Joey, Survivor and The O.C.

Arrested Development's become a "tape now, watch later" show for me ever since the move right into Corner Gas' time slot. The season premiere was absolutely fantastic, but I wasn't really impressed with this one. It felt like they were trying to go outside of the box a bit, but it seemed to deflate the humour a bit. Still decent, just not as good as the premiere.

A - American Beauty B - Before Sunset C - Chasing Amy D - Dogma E - Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind F - Field of Dreams G - The Great Escape H - Hotel Rwanda I - It's A Beautiful Life J - Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back K - Kissing Jessica Stein L - Lost In Translation M - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington N - Napoleon Dynamite O - Old School P - The Phantom Of the Opera Q - Quiz Show R - The Royal Tenenbaums S - Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope T - To Kill A Mockingbird U - Unforgiven V - Vertigo W - Waking Life X - X2 Y - You Can't Take It With You Z - Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman