411 Fact or Fiction Movies/TV 01.29.10: Week 213

Posted by Ben Piper on 01.29.2010

Will the final season of Lost fail to live up to expectations? Does the world really need another Jurassic Park trilogy? Will Mel Gibson have a successful on screen comeback with Edge of Darkness? 411's Dustin James and Trevor Snyder debate these and other topics in week 213 of 411 Fact or Fiction: Movies/TV!



Hey there, my peeps. How is everyone doing? Personally, I'm in a really good mood seeing as I was able to bring the 2009 411 Movies and TV awards to fruition. You can check out the results here and here. It's a pretty good read if I may say so myself.

With that out of the way, let's get on to business. This week we've got Dustin James and Trevor Snyder taking part. Enough with the intro, let's get to it!



1. The final season of Lost will not live up to expectations.

Dustin James: Fact. \As a hardcore fan of Lost, this one pains me. However, for some reason ever since the show began I have always thought to myself "With how great this show is, will the pay off be worth it?" And for some reason I have always had my doubts. To be honest with you, I'm sure the majority of the fan base feels the same way. No matter how great the writing of the show is this season, you will still have 1/2 of the fan base who will be unhappy with how the show ended. Look at the ending for The Sopranos. I personally thought it was outstanding, but a lot of people disliked it. That's just how it goes with television writing. No matter what the final payoff to Lost is, I feel the majority of the "Losties" will dislike it because frankly....people like complaining. As for the season as a whole, I really feel the season will blow us away, it's just I have my doubts the ending will be what we want (and man....I hope I'm wrong!). As a Lost fan, I'm going into the season with HIGH expectations and if the writers can satisfy me this season then I will be truthfully thankful and feel rewarded that I stuck with the show during it's entire run.

Trevor Snyder: Fact. Gotta agree with Dustin's logic here. I fully believe that the Lost writers and producers will deliver an excellent finale to their epic...but there's still no way it will please everyone. There will of course be a contingent of fans who will be upset over whatever the ending is, simply because it isn't the ending they were expecting/hoping for. That's just the nature of the beast with a show like this. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just the way it is. When you have created a show this obsessed and debated over, you can't help but let down some of your audience with your finale. It's not the fault of the people making the show - it's just that, as we speak, the fanbase is psyching themselves up to a point where nothing will be able to live up to the excitement. Them's the breaks.

Score: 1 for 1

2. You can get behind the idea of a TV reboot of Hawaii Five-O.

Dustin James: Fact. It seems that Hollywood is hell bent on bringing back any television series from the 80's (still waiting on The Facts of Life movie...) so why not bring the good ones back? Hawaii 5-0 is one of those shows that I personally feel could be better now than it was then. The cops could be cooler, the women more gorgeous, and I'm sure the writing could even be improved upon. The one thing I ask that you don't touch is the theme song. Hawaii 5-0 has one of the greatest theme songs of all-time and it would be a crime to change it. So yeah, consider me down for a Five-O remake if it were to go down.....

Trevor Snyder: Fiction. I am not vehemently against it...I just couldn't care less. It's not like TV is suffering from a lack of cop shows, right? So why bother remaking one that most young people (the audience TV execs are supposed to chase) don't remember and therefore have no nostalgic feelings toward? I guess just so the cast and show-runners can film their series in Hawaii, which I'll admit is an intriguing reason if you're one of the people actually involved in the production. But apart from that, I see no reason to expect this reboot to stand out from the rest of the cop shows on TV. Yes, they can try and "hip up" the formula of the old series - but we remember how well that worked for L.A. Dragnet, don't we?

Score: 1 for 2

3. Mel Gibson will have a successful on screen comeback with Edge Of Darkness.

Dustin James: Fact. Is it just me or does this movie actually look pretty good? Putting that aside, this question focuses on Gibson himself and it's really hard to tell if the public can forgive Gibson for his past antics. You could point towards either his DUI arrests or his anti-semetic behavior as reasons people won't get behind him. Hell, the man is even going through a divorce right now so he doesn't even have that going for him at the moment. Mel has definitely seen better times. However, you need to look no further than Mr. Robert Downey Jr. before you remember that the public is pretty forgiving. Downey had a lot of drug based run-ins with the law in the past, yet he's one of the top actors in Hollywood right now. Gibson hasn't done anything too horrible (outside of his horrible rants towards the Jewish community) that can't really be forgiven. Gibson hasn't had a hit since 2000 (unless you consider Signs a hit....), so it will be interesting to see if the public does still remember him as a big name actor. I'm betting they do!

Trevor Snyder: Fact. At the end of the day, he's still Mel Gibson. People like Mel Gibson. Or, at least, people want to like Mel Gibson. Sure, he has had his fair share of problems over the past few years (understatement alert!), but forgiving celebrities is an American pastime. If the movie is good (and this one certainly looks decent enough), people will see it. They won't be thinking about Gibson's controversies while watching the movie (well, maybe they will during that awkward "are you the one hammering in the nails" line from the trailer). They'll just be watching another Mel Gibson movie, and possibly remembering why they used to like the guy so much during his heyday. I think it's actually his next movie, the comedic The Beaver, that has more of a shot of giving him a full-fledged comeback, but it will start here.

Score: 2 for 3

Switch!!!



4. The world doesn't need another Jurassic Park trilogy.

Trevor Snyder: Fact. Well, OK, let me clarify my answer. Does the world need another Jurassic Park trilogy? No, of course not. But then, what movies does the world actually need? I can think of far worse series to resurrect than this one, and as one of those weirdos who actually enjoyed all three Jurassic Park films, I'm certainly not opposed to more movies featuring dinosaurs munching on humans (although I've never been too excited about the proposed "raptors with machine guns" idea). But, sure, I'll admit that while I would be down for more Jurassic Park, I also wouldn't care if there weren't any more. And I'm betting most of the world feels the same way.

Dustin James: Fact. Unfortunately, much like Trevor, I'm also a huge fan of the Jurassic Park series. While I'll be the first to admit that we probably don't need another JP trilogy, I'll also be the first moron in line when it's released. There are still some things that the JP universe can expand upon. What about the underwater dinosaurs? What about more interactions with flying dinosaurs? What about letting all sorts of different species attack someplace no one cares about like North Dakota (Kidding of course! I love North Dakota and all it's beautiful.....umm...things). There are plenty of places the franchise can still go. However, please stay away from dinosaurs with guns. This is NOT "Turok" people! I beg of you......

Score: 3 for 4

5. When In Rome will be yet another horrible romantic comedy that's a complete waste of time.

Trevor Snyder: Fact. I don't want to be the obvious guy who just rips on a movie for being a typical "chick flick," but holy crap - the previews for this look horrendous. It's a shame, too, cause I really do like Kristen Bell, and I think she deserves far better than tripe like this (or Couple's Retreat, for that matter). Absolutely nothing about When In Rome suggests that it will feature a single idea that you haven't already seen in a similar movie before, and probably done better. This will be the sort of movie that only appeals to those women who inexplicably love every movie of this sort. The rest of us need not apply, I'm willing to bet.

Dustin James: Fact. While Trevor didn't want to be "that guy" who hates on a chick flick just for being a chick flick....I will. When In Rome is one of those movies that I would prefer to put a branding iron to my eyes rather than watch. Trevor mentioned it best when he said there is absolutely nothing new in this movie that you can't see elsewhere. However, this movie does have one thing going for it, and that is the beautiful Kristen Bell. While I enjoyed Bell's last romantic comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I just can't get behind this one. Perhaps if it were a Judd Apatow movie I could, but it's not. Instead this will be another movie my girlfriend will try and force me to watch which could potentially lead to a devastating break-up! Thanks a million!

Score: 4 for 5

6. Marc Webb is a poor choice to helm the Spider-Man reboot.

Trevor Snyder: Fiction. I wish there was a third "too soon to tell" option, but since there isn't I'll just go with "fiction" because, well, it's just too soon to tell. I can say that I'm not very excited about the decision, as nothing about the guy's resume seems to suggest that this is the sort of franchise he should be placed in charge of. I can't help but wonder if his last name might have actually been one of the final factors in his being selected (I don't really want to think a studio would be that stupid...but I know better). But still, just because he doesn't seem like the obvious choice doesn't mean he won't do a decent job. I would have much rather seen Sam Raimi get to make his Spider-Man 4, and I'm not all excited about the idea of putting Peter back in high-school just to appeal to a younger audience (yay, Twilight demographic!). But I can't make any kind of knowledgeable statement on Webb's appropriateness for the job until I start to hear some of his statements and see some of his footage. Time will tell.

Dustin James: Fact. I'm of the mindset right now that they should just retire the Spiderman franchise for the time being. First of all, with all these super hero movies set to release, we can take a break from Spidey for awhile. I really wouldn't be opposed to retiring the entire thing and then perhaps bringing it back in a few years in a "darker mood" much like The Dark Knight. Other than that, what has Marc Webb done as a director to be able to reboot one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood? I think I can name maybe one movie Webb has directed ([500] Days of Summer). At least with Sam Raimi we knew what we were getting into (EVIL DEAD FTW!). Consider me very concerned for the Spiderman franchise right now.....

Final Score: 4 for 6

Bonus Non Fact or Fiction Question: What was your favorite movie of the past decade?

Trevor Snyder: Well, this is easy, considering I just covered this in a recent Best Movies of the Decade edition of the Movies Top 5. There, I chose the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy as my number one, and I stand by that decision. Some folks consider that cheating. I don't necessarily agree, as I truly believe it is meant to be looked at as one long story split into three installments (as are the books). But, if that's still not enough of a reason for you, and you're gonna make me choose just one of them, I would go with The Two Towers the second film of the trilogy. I just don't think the decade saw a more impressive artistic statement or show of passion from a director than what Peter Jackson accomplished with these films, and kudos to New Line for even allowing him to try it in the first place, given that his pre-Rings filmography certainly didn't contain any evidence that he would be able to pull something like this off. Lord of the Rings represents "movie magic" at its finest, and I doubt we'll see another fantasy series be its equal for a long time.

Dustin James: First of all, I'm not a "huge" movie theater guy. I just have a hard time paying $20 to see a movie I can purchase for $20 on Blu-Ray a few months later. With that said, there was only one movie this decade I was willing to stand in line for at a midnight showing. That movie was none other than The Dark Knight! What's not to love about this movie? Excellent writing, great acting (especially from Heath Ledger of course...), and just one of the best experiences I have ever had at a theater. This one was more than worth the $20 I spent to watch it. And yes....I still bought it on Blu-Ray when it was released.

_______________________________________________

And there you have it. Dustin and James agree more often than not. I thank them both for taking part.

What? You want more? Come back next week, we'll talk then.
-BP

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