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The Leftovers (2014)
Stop Comparing This To "LOST"
I can't give this series (just renewed for a second season, by the way) a ten because nothing is perfect. If there was a rating for "As Perfect As Possible"? Hence the nine. The character development, the tight writing (without clichéd gimmicks or ridiculous dialog that only happens between fictional people) the phenomenal camera work and editing, the entire package, darn near perfect. This is an ineffable wonder of brilliant, barely controlled emotional chaos in a realistic world; not some fake island inhabited by a swirl of smoke.
The ONLY thing in common with "Lost" is the inability to identify anyone as "good" or "bad". You don't know who to love or hate. You don't know who to trust or what their motives are. The moment you begin to form an opinion of any character I can almost guarantee you'll change your mind (and then back again) within the frame work of a single episode.
You'll step into the lives of certain residents in an East Coast small town three years after an event referred to as "10/14" the way many of us refer to 9/11.
Is it paranormal? Supernatural? Spiritual? Was it a giant scientific blooper that the Illuminati Government started and refuses to acknowledge? An Alien encounter? Worm hole in the Universe? Should we call Doctor Who? Is it a very long dream by one of the characters?
Fasten your seat belts darlings ... I think it's going to be the best bumpy ride since Breaking Bad, and for the love of all things amazing and brilliant, stop comparing this to Lost. For those of you who do, you're ignoring the deeper meaning, the one we are all afraid to admit we know but won't acknowledge: sometimes you will never know what happened. How do you move forward without any closure at all?
The Leftovers is called THE LEFTOVERS. Not, "All will be revealed and make sense someday"
The Spoils of Babylon (2014)
Stunned At The Stupid. Sort of.
That's all. Just stunned at the stupid. No, wait -- allow me to express my dismay, my crushed hopes and dreams, my abandoned faith.
A stellar cast that must have lost a bet, or was somehow blackmailed into doing a Saturday Night Live skit that forgot it was a skit and went on. And on. And on. And on. And you are forced to sit through it because, well ... because there are incredible celebrities with amazing talent and something has to happen that is genuinely funny. Right?
I will admit to a hearty chuckle at the beginning. The first couple of minutes. I am embarrassed to admit that I watched two full episodes. What is that? 40 minutes without the commercials? I will never get that time back.
In fact, this is the first review I have ever written for a television show, and I'm pretty certain I am doing it to prove to myself that the 30 IQ points I lost while watching can somehow be regained by engaging in an attempt to articulate my dissatisfaction, my bewilderment and disappointment. Unless that's the point? Was that it? Are we supposed to be dumbfounded and confused by the stupid? That has to be it. That's the only logical interpretation of this I can come up with.
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UPDATE: (following day) Perhaps I was a little harsh. In retrospect, and because I can't stop thinking about it, and Will Ferrell is a genius (seriously, have you ever seen the short "The Landlord"?) -- I began to consider certain elements of the entire spectacle. I don't want to give away important details but I began laughing. Just sitting here at my desk, in between work, I was busting up. And that means this is genuine comedy that works. I don't know who is more ridiculous now. Me? It? Them? The mannequin? The compass? Tobey Maguire creating his own sound effects in a fighter plane? The tiny sets made out of epic plastic toys from -- presumably -- old train kits? Okay, Will Ferrell. You win, again. This is a wreck I have to keep watching. Darn it.