Revolution Gets Better and Better

It is time for a full on endorsement of this television show. Each week it gets better and better and if you have not yet joined the show it is now time.

JJ Abrams, using his Lost formula, with back stories abounding while the story continually moves forward appears now to have every chance of success and will certainly be renewed for another season. With that guarantee of time the show now has the challenge of not bogging down and keeping the story moving.

With his background with Lost however, there is no reason to think Abrams cannot succeed.

NBC's Revolution Continues to Improve

While I have written earlier about the difficulties shows of this nature have in keeping the excitement they create at their beginning Revolution continues each week to bring it's viewers into a world that is more and more interesting.

JJ Abrams is making use of the same device we saw on Lost, that is, slowly filling in the backstory on the characters in the show. Of course many shows might follow this practice but each time it is done in this show thus far I have never failed to be surprised at the history of the character being revealed. It makes the characters much more complex to have this information.

Aside from the plot twists and the fact that we are learning much more about each of the characters we also are becoming used to offhand references and asides which, for those of us in the know, create smiles, nods, or if you are playing along at home a checkmark for another " cookie" found.

In just the past couple of weeks we have seen a reference to Stephen King's The Stand characters such as Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith, as well as last night having the password for members of the resistance be asking for a biography of Joe Biden. Pretty clever stuff.

We still do not know of it's long term success but if you have been waiting for the right time to catch up on this show and enjoy the new episodes now might be an opportune time. It is becoming must see television.

Super 8

Last Saturday my wife and my daughter went to this movie with me. We have heard the reviews and with me a Spielberg fan and my wife a Lost fan it seemed like a story we could agree on.

Plus one thing we can all agree on is that it is not summer unless you go see a pure escapist movie.

In the movie one can certainly see the traces of the fifties monster movie that Spielberg must remember from his youth. In this movie Joel Courtney plays Joe Lamb a 13 year old boy whose mother has been killed in a mill accident four months earlier leaving him with just his Dad Sheriff's Deputy Jackson Lamb. This character is played by the extremely likeable Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights fame. It may be that Chandler is now incapable of playing anyone but an earnest, likable, do the right thing in a quiet unassuming way with as little emotion expressed as possible role but if this is the case there is no doubt that he has the role down pat.

Joe Lamb accompanied by his friends to help his best friend Charles ( played by Riley Griffiths) film a zombie movie for a local film festival. Elle Fanning plays Alice Dainard a girl both the boys admire who ends up playing the female lead in thier movie. During thier filming a train goes by, a crash occurs and the kids are swept up into a plot line right out of the fifties monster movies.

This movie tells us a story, the film centers on buidling suspense in an understated way. There are chills mostly bumps in the night to provide goosebumps but in the end both the visitor terrorizing the city and young Joe learn what he says is true " that bad things happen but you have to go on living. "

A lesson we should all learn. Take your kids, take your family, take your date this is a very good summer movie.