Reviews and More

I have never been a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio’s earlier films. I know he has always had a reputation for being a skilled actor, but I just didn’t like the kinds of movies he chose to make. But in recent years, I’ve come to appreciate him a bit more — especially after seeing his work in Blood Diamond and The Aviator.

So now I’m going to go back and watch some of his older projects to see if my opinion has changed at all. I think I’ll start with Titanic because I know we have the DVD around here somewhere. I’ve only seen the movie one time, way back when it was in theaters 11 years ago, so I don’t remember many of the details.

Of course I know the basic story (who doesn’t?) and I remember that it was the most expensive movie ever made at the time. Director and producer James Cameron spent upwards of $200 million on the film, mostly in an attempt to meticulously recreate all of the details of the real Titanic. He had exact copies made of everything from the chandeliers to the staircases and the first-class suites.

Anyway, I hated Titanic the first and only time I saw it and was barely able to stay awake through the whole thing. Let’s see if I get a different reaction the second time around!

Hey, I actually remembered that Lost was on last night! I even watched it already instead of letting it sit in my DVR for days, which means I can get this post up in a timely fashion. (I’m still not quite used to this Thursday night switch, and have to wonder if Lost will remain in this time slot now that the writers’ strike is over. I can’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, and CSI all in one night!)

Anyway, episode 4×03 was called “The Economist,” and mostly focused on post-island Sayid. He was heavily featured in flash-forwards that showed him as being one of the surviving Oceanic Six. Only, he was some sort of assassin working for none other than Ben. We saw Sayid kill two people, and know that he’s eliminating names from some list; otherwise, the details were pretty sketchy (as usual).

The only other noteworthy event from this hour was that Desmond and Sayid took off in the helicopter with Frank the pilot (and Naomi’s body) to head back to the ship.

Here are a few additional thoughts from the ep:

– I hate how Sayid says Charlotte’s name. He pronounces it “Shar-lot” instead of “Shar-lit”, which is extremely annoying to me. Yes, it’s a nitpick, but whatever.

– Speaking of Charlotte, I just realized where I know the actress from. It’s Rebecca Mader, who used to be on that short-lived FOX lawyer show called Justice. I actually enjoyed that show while it was on….

– Aw, I can’t believe Hurley participated in that ruse. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to play a double agent like that. He’s just about the only Lostie who isn’t into all that deceptive crap.

– So Sawyer suddenly wants to stay on the island, huh? Please don’t tell me he’s going to become as loony as Locke.

– Since Ben shows up in the future, that obviously means that Sawyer doesn’t get to kill him. Damn.

– Last night’s show was actually pretty funny. I recall laughing out loud on a few different occasions, which is always a good sign.

– The time loss thing reminds me of The X-Files. I wonder where they’re going with that, because all tings considered, has time-shifting even been a major plot point thus far? I mean, are we gonna find out that Rousseau is actually supposed to be like 90 years old or something?

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. I liked last night’s ep very much — which certainly doesn’t happen often enough with Lost. Hopefully this signals that the show is back on track!