"LIFE OF PI" (2012) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from "LIFE OF PI", the 2012 Oscar winning adaptation of Yann Martel's 2001 novel. Directed by Ang Lee, the movie starred Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Rafe Spall:

"LIFE OF PI" (2012) Photo Gallery

"LOST" Commentary: "Confusion Over Time Travel"

 

"LOST" COMMENTARY:  "CONFUSION OVER TIME TRAVEL"

I did a recent rewatch of the "LOST" Season Five episodes, (5.02) "The Lie" and (5.03) "Jughead".  After viewing it, I had come to a realization about the Oceanic 815 and the S.S. Kahana castaways left behind on the island, following the Oceanic Six and Ben Linus' departures.

The second half of "The Lie" featured the Oceanic castaways, former member of the Others Juliet Burke and the Kahana freighter survivors being under attack by the Others in 1954 with flaming arrows. I can recall seeing many figures attempt fleeing or attempting to into the jungle in order to survive. But now . . . I find myself wondering why did all of the remaining inhabitants at the Oceanic beach camp had skipped through time. Why all of them? And why am I questioning this writing decision?

The season's sixth episode, (5.06) "316", saw the Oceanic Six (sans Aaron Littleton), former Others leader Ben Linus, and pilot Frank Lapidus (who had been part of the Kahana crew three years earlier) return to the island on Ajira Flight 316 during the fall of 2007.  Of this group, only Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes and Sayid Jarrah had disappeared from the plane and traveled back in time to 1977.  Thanks to Frank's piloting skills; he, Sun-Hwa Kwon, Ben, and the rest of the Ajira 316 passengers and crew had landed on Hydra Island, the small island close to the main one.  At least those who had survived.  They did not time traveled back to 1977.  Instead, they had remained in 2007.

Here is another interesting tidbit.  In "The Lie", both James "Sawyer" Ford and Dr. Juliet Burke had noted that the zodiac inflatable boat that Dr. Daniel Faraday had been using to transport Neil Frogurt and other Oceanic 815 castaways from their beach camp to the S.S. Kahana during the Season Four finale, (4.12-4.14) "There's No Place Like Home", had also traveled through time with the castaways.  Even while it was beached.  Juliet had pointed out that it must have traveled along with them because Daniel and the five Oceanic castaways had been traveling toward the freighter when the time traveling began.  

I had also realized that only certain characters had played roles in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling into the island and the detonation of the Jughead in 1977.  They included:

*John Locke

*Dr. Daniel Faraday

*Dr. Jack Shephard

*Kate Austen

*Sayid Jarrah

*James "Sawyer" Ford

*Dr. Juliet Burke

*Miles Straume

*Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

*Jin-Soo Kwon

*John Locke

*Dr. Charlotte Lewis
*Rose Nadler

*Bernard Nadler

How did they play a role? 

*Locke, with the help of his fellow castaways, had left on the island, using the Donkey Wheel and electromagnetic energy inside the Orchid Station.  He wanted to contact the Oceanic Six and convince them to return to the island in order to save those left behind.  His death in Los Angeles set in motion the events that led to "the Incident".

*Unlike her fellow time travelers, Charlotte had never ended up in the 1970s and become part of the Dharma Initiative, due to her death from the time jumps.  But her death had led Daniel to join the Dharma Initiative's scientific staff at its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan and consider the possibility of changing the timeline to save her.

*Daniel was the one who became aware of the Dharma Initiative's dangerous drilling into the island's electromagnetic energy in 1977.  He was also the one who tried to warn Dr. Pierre Chang about the dangers of this drilling.  And he was the one who came up with the idea to use an old U.S. Army hydrogen bomb named Jughead to stop the drilling and destroy the island's electromagnetic energy, in order to reset time and prevent the crash of Oceanic 815's crash in 2004 and Charlotte's death from time travel.

*Following Daniel's death at the hands of his mother, former Others leader Eloise Hawking; Jack decided to continue with Daniel's plans by contacting the Others in order to get hold of the Jughead bomb.  Like Daniel, he saw this as an opportunity to destroy the island's electromagnetic energy and prevent Oceanic 815's crash in 2004.

*At first, Kate was willing to help Daniel and Jack acquire the Jughead bomb.  Following Daniel's death, she found his idea implausible and dangerous and sought out Sawyer and Juliet's help to stop Jack's plan to detonate the bomb.  Her appearance aboard the Dharma submarine had convinced Juliet and a very reluctant Sawyer to return to the island.

*Sayid Jarrah, who had been hiding from the Dharma Initiative ever since his attempt to kill the 12 year-old Ben Linus, had appeared to help Kate break away from Jack and the paranoid members of the Others, led by Eloise Hawking.  He was also the one who had dismantled the core from the Jughead bomb and tried to rig it for detonation upon impact.

*Although Rose and Bernard Nadler had experienced the time skips during the first five episodes of Season Five, they had separated from their fellow castaways/time travelers following the Others' attack upon the castaways in 1954.  Kate, Sawyer and Juliet eventually encountered the couple in 1977, where they had established their own cabin near the beach.  A comment by Rose had produced a brief and affectionate glance between Kate and Sawyer, producing jealousy within Juliet.  This led the latter to eventually embrace Daniel and Jack's plans regarding the bomb and convince Sawyer to help Jack.  She had believed a time reset would spare her the possible pain of being rejected by Sawyer, in favor of Kate.

*Sawyer had served as the Dharma Initiative's Head of Security, until the latter discovered he was personally acquainted with the recently arrived members of the Oceanic Six.  He had made a deal for him and Juliet to leave the island by their submarine.  But Kate had convinced the couple to help her prevent Jack from detonating the bomb.  Sawyer led the group that eventually came to Jack's aid at the Swan Station construction site, when the latter found himself trapped by armed Dharma personnel.

*Miles Straume (Dr. Chang's son), Jin-Soo Kwon and "Hurley" Reyes had all joined Sawyer, Juliet and Kate in their defense of Jack at the Swan Station construction site.

*During their three years with the Dharma Initiative, Juliet and Sawyer had fallen in love.  It was not surprising Juliet had developed a fear that Sawyer would renew his romantic interest in Kate.  This fear had finally took complete hold of her when she witnessed Sawyer and Kate's exchange of affectionate smiles at the Nadlers' beach camp.  This fear had driven Juliet to finally participate in Daniel and Jack's plans to use the Jughead bomb to change the timeline.  And this fear also drove Juliet to detonate the bomb, herself, when it had failed to do so after Jack had tossed it into one of the construction site's pits.

What is the point of all of this?  The above people had played a role in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling and the Jughead bomb's detonation at the barely constructed Swan Station.  This detonation had finally stopped Dharma's drilling into the island and prevented a world-ending event in 1977.  In other words, the above people had played roles - major or minor - in saving the island and the world during that period.  

This meant Sun, the adult Ben, Lapidus and other passengers aboard Ajira 316 did not play a role in "the Incident" in 1977.  Neither did any of the other Oceanic castaways who had been left behind at their beach camp.  Which leads me to wonder why showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had not allowed Ajira occupants Sun, Ben and Lapidus to travel back in time; but had allowed other nameless Oceanic castaways to time travel with Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Jin, Miles.  I understand why Frogurt and the four other Oceanic castaways had traveled through time.  They had been inside the Zodiac with Daniel, when the time skips began.  And since they had played no role in "the Incident", it was not surprising that Lindelof and Cuse had allowed the Others to kill them off in 1954. 

But what about the rest of the Oceanic castaways who had been left behind on the beach?  Lindelof and Cuse should not have allowed them to experience the time skips at all.  They had played no role in "the Incident".  Nor had they been inside the Zodiac boat with Daniel.  They should have remained behind at the Oceanic beach camp, in December 2004-January 2005.

"SHANE" (1953) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from "SHANE", the 1953 adaptation of Jack Schaefer's 1949 novel.  Directed by George Stevens, the movie starred Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur and Van Heflin: 

"SHANE" (1953) Photo Gallery

"PERIL AT END HOUSE" (1990) Review

 

"PERIL AT END HOUSE" (1990) Review

I just realized something. I have never read Agatha Christie's 1932 novel, "Peril at End House". I find this ironic, considering that I have seen the 1990 television movie adaptation of this novel at least three or four times. One of these days, I will get around to reading Christie's novel and comparing it to the television adaptation. Right now, I am going to focus on the latter. 

Directed by Renny Rye and adapted by Clive Exton, "PERIL AT END HOUSE" is the first full-length television movie aired on "AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT". It is also about Belgian-born detective Hercule Poirot's efforts to prevent the murder of a young socialite, during his vacation in Cornwall. The movie begins with Poirot and his friend Arthur Hastings arriving at a Cornish seaside resort for their vacation. While conversing with socialite Magdala "Nick" Buckley on the resort's grounds, Poirot notices that someone had fired a bullet into the brim of her floppy hat. Poirot exposes the bullet hole to Nick, who finds it difficult to believe that someone wants to kill her. She points out that aside from her house - End House - has no real assets. Poirot decides to investigate her inner circle, who includes the following:

*Charles Vyse - Nick's cousin and an attorney
*Mr. and Mrs. Croft - an Australian couple that has leased the lodge near End House, who had suggested Nick make a will six months earlier
*Freddie Rice - a close friend of Nick's, who is also an abused wife
*Jim Lazarus - an art dealer in love with Nick
*Commander George Challenger - a Royal Navy officer who is also attracted to Nick

Poirot eventually advises Nick to invite a relative to stay with her for a few weeks. Nick invites her distant cousin Maggie Buckley. Unfortunately, someone kills Maggie, after she makes the mistake of wearing Nick's dress shawl during an evening party. Even worse, the killer eventually achieves his/her goal by sending a box of poisoned chocolates to Nick, while she was recuperating at a local hospital.

"PERIL AT END HOUSE" possessed a certain plot device that Christie had used in several of her novels. I would describe this plot device. But to do so would spoil the rest of the story. It took me years to spot this plot device. And I should be surprised that I have not come across anyone else who has spotted it. And yet . . . I am not. The fact that it took me several years to spot this particular plot device only tells me that Christie has utilized it with great effect in some of her more interesting and well-written mysteries. Thankfully, "PERIL AT END HOUSE" proved to be one of those well-written mysteries.

I must admit that Clive Exton did a pretty damn good job in adapting Christie's novel for the television screen. He stuck very closely to the original novel's plot . . . with a few changes that did no harm to the overall movie. Both Exton and Rye presented a well-paced production to the audiences. They set up the story with Poirot and Hastings' arrival to Cornwall and continued on with without any haste or dragging feet. The only time the movie threatened to put me to sleep occurred between the story's second murder and the revelation of the killer . . . . when the story threatened to ground to a halt. I have one last problem - namely the appearance of Chief Inspector Japp. I realize that Japp did appear in the novel. But his appearance merely dealt with Poirot's request that he investigate the Crofts, whom the Belgian detective suspected of being forgers. The cinematic Japp immediately appeared following Maggie Buckley's death as the main police investigator. And Cornwall is not under Scotland Yard's main jurisdiction. 

The production values for "PERIL AT END HOUSE" proved to be top-notch. Rye shot the film's exterior scenes in Salcombe, Devon; instead of the county of Cornwall. I found that curious. However, both he and cinematographer Peter Bartlett certainly took advantage of the movie's setting with Bartlett's photography of Salcombe's charming, Old World style. This was especially apparent in the movie's opening sequence that featured Poirot and Hasting's arrival by airplane. Actually, production designer Mike Oxley did an excellent job of recreating an English vacation resort in the early 1930s. The production practically reeked of the Art Deco style of that time period. However, I was especially impressed by Linda Mattock's costume designs. I was especially impressed by those costumes worn by actresses Polly Walker, Pauline Moran and Alison Sterling. My only complaints about the movie's visual styles were the actresses' hairstyles. No one seemed capable of re-creating the early 1930s soft bob. The actresses either wore a chignon or in the case of Sterling, a Dutch Boy bob made famous by actress Louise Brooks in the late 1920s.

"PERIL AT END HOUSE" featured some solid performances by the cast. David Suchet gave his usual excellent portrayal of Hercule Poirot. I was especially impressed by the on-screen chemistry he managed to produce with Polly Walker. The latter gave a standout performance as the killer's main target, Madgala "Nick" Buckley. Walker did an excellent job of transforming Nick from the charming "Bright Young Thing" to a wary and frightened woman, who realizes that someone is trying to kill her. Alison Sterling was also excellent as one of Nick's closest friends, "Freddie" Rice. Next to Walker's Nick, Sterling gave an interesting and skillful portrayal of the very complex Freddie. Hugh Fraser, Pauline Moran and Philip Jackson were also excellent as Arthur Hastings, Miss Lemon and Chief Inspector Japp. All three, along with Suchet, managed to re-create their usual magic. The movie also featured solid performances from Paul Geoffrey (whom I found particularly convincing as an early 30s social animal), John Harding, Christopher Baines and Elizabeth Downes. I found the Australian accents utilized by Jeremy Young and Carol Macready, who portrayed the Crofts, rather wince inducing. But since their accents were supposed to be fake in the first place, I guess I had no problems.

For some reason, "PERIL AT END HOUSE" never became a big favorite of mine, despite its acclaim. It is a well done adaptation of Christie's novel. And I found it visually attractive, thanks to the movie's production team. The movie also featured some excellent performances - especially from David Suchet, Polly Walker and Alison Sterling. Naturally, it is not perfect. But that is not the problem. I cannot explain my lack of enthusiasm for "PERIL AT END HOUSE". I can only assume that I found nothing particularly mind blowing or fascinating about its plot. To me, it is simply a good, solid murder mystery that has managed to entertain me on a few occasions. Perhaps . . . that is enough.