Lost - Series Three

Series Three of Lost has just started showing on Sky One. After the revelations and cataclysmic events at the end of Series Two, I was really looking forward to the new series.

I have to say that the first two episodes were a bit disappointing. Apart from a seemingly endless game of capturing and escaping ping-pong, and a flimsy premise to show Kate getting sweaty in an even flimsier sundress, nothing much seemed to happen. I know some people don’t like Lost because things take a long time to get explained and even then don’t seem to make sense. Even so, the story (bizarre as it is) always progressed and there was always lots of things happening. That just wasn’t the case with these episodes.

I have no problem with the absurd side of Lost, in fact I rather like it. It reminds me of Twin Peaks which also made little sense, but I still found totally absorbing.

I am hoping it will pick up the pace soon – in fact I am sure it will. I’m not ready to kick my addiction just yet.

P.S. One strange continuity thing at the start of episode one – when the woman puts on the CD, I immediately recognised the inlay as “Speaking In Tongues” by Talking Heads. So why does “Downtown” by Petula Clark start playing?? Sorry, that was extremely geeky. It doesn’t matter. Or maybe it does…. This is Lost after all!

50 Films To See Before You Die

Last weekend Channel 4 broadcast a programme called 50 Films To See Before You Die. It concentrated more on arthouse and cult films than other movie rundowns I have seen recently, being a thinly disguised promo for Film4 which is now free. Despite not really understanding how you could possibly see a film after you die, it was a very enjoyable show.

The only thing I really didn't like about the programme was that several times they revealed huge spoilers and endings of films. That seemed a pretty dumb thing to do if the aim was to try and get people to watch and enjoy them for the first time. It's perfectly possible to give an idea of the atmosphere and premise of a movie without giving away vital plot details!

I had seen 20 out of the 50 films which wasn't bad going. But of those 20 I had seen, although all good films, I wouldn't class many of them as ones to see "before you die". The only ones I think I would categorise as such would be Three Colours Blue, Brazil, Alien, Pulp Fiction, Manhattan, Trainspotting, and The Shawshank Redemption. Especially Three Colours Blue. That is without a doubt the most emotional, visually beautiful, perfectly acted, paced, and atmospheric film ever made. In case you haven't worked it out yet, I really like Three Colours Blue.

Of the ones that I hadn't seen, I had already intended to see Princess Mononoke, Lost In Translation, and City Of God. Nothing in the programme changed my intentions there.

From the rest that I hadn't seen, or never even heard of, there were several that the programme convinced me that I would like to see. These were The Ladykillers, Come And See, Black Narcissus, Sexy Beast, Chinatown and The Apartment. Also it reminded me to watch Three Colours Blue again soon.

Surprisingly, given the Film4 ethos, there was the usual under-representation of foreign language films. I couldn't believe there was nothing from Spanish directors like Pedro Almodovar, Julio Medem, or Luis Bunuel. Eric Rohmer was nowhere to be seen. The new wave of Iranian cinema might as well not have happened. Even the clips of Princess Mononoke had horrible Disney-like overdubs instead of the Japanese. Well at least they had Three Colours Blue in the list. Did I mention that I really really like that film?

Anyway despite that, it was interesting, and certainly the best of those kinds of programmes I have seen. Maybe I will put together my own 50 at some point. You can probably guess what number 1 is. Well that's a start.

Serial killers

TV serialization in the UK has had something of a resurgence in recent years, with series like 24 and Lost.

Part of the enjoyment of these kinds of programmes are cliffhanger episode endings, which makes us look forward to the next episode. The delay, the having to wait a week, is all part of the excitement. There is heightened enjoyment from delayed gratification. Another enjoyable aspect is discussing the programmes with work colleagues and friends.

So I really can't understand why people ruin it for themselves by downloading loads of episodes and watching them all in a row. Well, some people seem to just like feeling superior because they have seen it before the rest of us. But they are missing out on a really fun part - the shared cultural experience. OK, I know it's only TV, but you know what I mean.

But also, they ruin it for the rest of us by openly discussing future episodes and revealing spoilers for people who haven't seen those episodes yet. I always find myself asking people to please stop talking about the middle of series two of Lost when I am still watching series one.

Normally I feel justified asking people to not talk about episodes that haven't yet been shown on terrestrial TV. But this week I screwed up and forgot that Lost was a series finale double episode on Channel Four. I only recorded the first of the double, so I still haven't seen the very last episode. I will have to wait for the repeat on Sunday. (By my own argument I suppose I should feel even more excited about that rather than annoyed).

So because of my mistake I spent a fair amount of time in the office wearing my headphones and playing the loudest, most intrusive music I could find on my MP3 player, so as not to ovehear the conversations that have inevitably been going on about the series ending. Well anyway the music was good!