Archive for May, 2008
Question Asked: What Happened on the Lost Season Finale?
More like what didn’t happen!
We learned a lot about the island, and our characters. Warning, this post will contain spoilers, don’t read it, if you haven’t seen it. If you have the power of Tivo, you might want to not read this just yet.
So, what did happen and what did we learn?
- Locke’s dead. Well, three years in the future, anyway.
- Sayid broke Hurley out of the mental home after assassinating the guy who was outside “watching” Hurley.
- Ben did move the island, and not just a few inches. It disappeared completely, right in front of our eyes.
- Jin and Michael died when the freighter exploded, because Ben killed the army guy (whose name escapes me at the moment) with the heart rate monitor trigger attached to himself.
- Desmond found Penny, on her boat, because she was looking for him.
- Locke tells Jack he has to lie when they get rescued, so when they “find” Penny’s boat, they convince Penny and crew to drop them (Kate, Hurley, Jack, Jin, Aaron, and Sayid) in a raft near another island to really be rescued.
- Kate and Jack are at odds, because Jack says they have to go back to the island, because Locke (via his made up name) told him to.
- Ben tells Jack that he can’t go back to the island alone, that the island wants him to bring everyone back. Including Locke’s dead body.
- Juliette opts to stay on the island
- Charlotte opts to stay on the island
- Sun contacts Mr. Widmore with some secret proposition. (Presumably that they find the island together)
- Kate has a dream that Claire visits Aaron and tells Kate not to bring him back to the island.
- Walt visits Hurley in the mental home, and asks why no one visited him when they got off the island, and wants to know why they’re all lying.
I think that above covers everything important that happened, all in one spoiler-filled post. Don’t say I didn’t warn you before you read it. If I forgot/missed anything that you didn’t, leave a comment on the post.
I wonder what season five has in store for us. Where did the island move to? Why does Jack need to bring everyone back to the island? And how did Locke die?
Question Asked: Who is Playing the Role of the Hulk?
Great question, thanks for asking.
The Incredible Hulk that comes out later this year, to clear up confusion, is not a sequel to the movie from five years ago. This is a new adaptation of the comic, to movie form. I’m pretty sure everyone involved with this movie hopes that people forget all about that other monostrosity.
This time around, Hulk is being played by the extremely talented Edward Norton (The Italian Job, The Illusionist, 25th Hour, Fight Club, American History X, Rounders, etc).
Norton also wrote the script for this film. So if it’s terrible, he’s twice to blame.
Click here to check out the trailer for the film.
Question Asked: How much better is Blu-Ray?
I’ll admit it. I bought HD-DVD in hopes that it’d win the format war. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and I had to go out and buy a Blu-Ray player. After all, I’m a movie buff, and want the best experience I can get, right? I’m glad I did. While there’s very little noticeable difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, the difference between Blu-Ray and standard DVD is noticeable to anyone.
Check out the images below from the standard DVD of Spider-man 3 *Blu-ray on top, regular DVD on bottom*:
If you can’t see the difference in the Blu-Ray version, then maybe upgrading isn’t worth it to you. It’s pretty evident how much better it is, to most people. For more Blu-Ray vs. DVD comparisons, check out this site I found.
Blu-Ray (like most High Definition formats) has superior sound to standard definition. Many Blu-Ray discs have better than 5.1 surround sound (some I’ve looked at have 7.1 soundtracks). While you may not be able to take advantage of seven channels of audio (yet), someday you will be.
How much better is Blu-Ray, was the question. I’m assuming it means versus standard DVD, which is how I wrote this post. Also see What’s the difference between high definition and standard definition from last week.
Question Asked: Who is the Highest Paid Actor on Television?
Great question, and a surprising list of actors when I did the research on this.
The answers would be different if the question was “highest paid person on television”, which is Oprah (at $225 million a year)
Actors, however, tell a different tale:
- William Petersen (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) – $11.5 million ($500, 000 per episode)
- Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”) – $8.05 million
- Mariska Hargitay (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) – $8.05 million
- Christopher Meloni (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) – $8.05 million
- Zach Braff (“Scrubs”) – $6.3 million
- Hugh Laurie (“House MD”) – $6.2 million
Now, there’s another person who one could argue is an “actor”, that makes more than everyone on that list. Judge Judy. Judge Judy gets a reported $30 million per year, including the rights for syndication of her show to over 80 countries. Which not only puts her number two on the list of television personalities, but also puts her atop the list of judges’ annual incomes.
And, since you asked, here’s the highest paid actors in movies, as well:
- Keavnu Reeves (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions) – $20 million + 15% of gross profits, totaling $185 million
- Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense) – $14 million + 14% of gross profits, totaling $103 million
- Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds) – 20% of gross profits, totaling $100 million
- Bruce Willis (Live Free or Die Hard) – $25 million + 20% of gross profits, totaling $96 million
- Tom Cruis (Mission Impossible: II) – $20 million + 30% of gross profits, totaling $92 million
Not bad for a couple months’ work, huh?
Question Asked: What is the Most Successful Superhero Movie of all Time?
How does one define a superhero? Super powers? Flying? A magic costume that transforms them from one identity to another?
I’m assuming that folks such as Spider-man, Batman, and Superman are. But what about other people who “do good”? Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow, Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, Tony Stark, Neo, Optimus Prime, etc., etc., etc.
And how does one judge the “success” of the movie? By ticket revenue? By viewer enjoyment? Let’s examine both, shall we?
Based solely on ticket sales, the Spider-man series is the most successful, bring in about $2.5 billion (Spider-man – $821 million, Spider-man 2 – $783 million, Spider-man 3 – $890 million). Side note: the only two trilogies that have made more money that Spider-man were Star Wars and Harry Potter .
If we were to scour the internet, and try to find out what superhero movie people liked the most (after seeing it), what would we find?
The editors of IGN say the original Superman, followed closely by Batman Begins.
The folks at AOL Movies say Spider-man 2, followed closely by Batman Begins. Side note: Spider-man 2 is not as good as the original, in my opinion. People apparently disagree.
WIW seems to have copied the AOL list, almost exactly, with Spider-man 2 and Batman Begins taking the top two spots.
A poll conducted on ComicBookMovie is the first place that agrees with me, and users voted Batman Begins as the best movie, by a landslide.
MSN seems to think X-men is the greatest superhero movie. I don’t consider X-men to be a superhero movie, but you may.
RightWingNews says The Crow. I don’t think that qualifies as a superhero movie, even if it is one of my favorite movies of all time.
And lastly on my search, I’m led to the forums at GameSpot, where most people are saying Batman Begins, and assuming that The Dark Knight will blow it away when it comes out in two months.
So there you have it. People voted a lot for Spider-man 2, Superman, and Batman Begins. Money-wise, Spider-man 2 made the most money.