If you do not enjoy watching movies with characters that are hard to physically tell apart from each other for much of the beginning of the movie, lack any and all narrative drive, seem to have absolutely no point, then end as ambiguously as possible with no explanation, then you will definitely not like BULLHEAD (Belgian title RUNDSKOP).  I know I could not really follow the movie at all, then I realized there was nothing to follow.

The only reason BULLHEAD came to my attention was because of its Oscar nomination for best Foreign Picture, which it has absolutely no chance of winning in comparison to the fascinating Iranian movie, A SEPARATION.  BULLHEAD starts out appearing to be a gangster movie with a cattle meat front.  That part in the beginning is nearly impossible to follow with all the characters poorly introduced and then left undeveloped or even mentioned.

A BMW getting a new pair of wheels factors into some police officer getting murdered, which appears off screen and seems random.  The main character is some hulking dude I thought was a gangster too, but according to IMDB seemed to be just a cattle farmer who got caught up with the “hormone mafia.”

Then there is a confusing flashback to 20 years ago where we are again left mostly guessing who is who for much of the flashback.  Turns out the hulking cattle farmer got his nads caved in by some crazy punk kid and in present day has to take huge amounts of testosterone.

The deal going on between gangsters remains confusing and almost forgotten as the hulking dude just wonders around running into and/or stalking people from twenty years ago, all of a sudden.

I knew by the clock the movie had to end soon, but I could see absolutely no way it could end with any satisfactory story coming to light, and I was right, it did not.  I was like, “uh, that’s the end?  That made absolutely no sense.”

I feel like the main character of THE DESCENDANTS is Hawaii itself.  For a number of reasons, this movie could not have worked anywhere else.  Alexander Payne directs a film that makes Hawaii seem as much like the paradise everyone thinks it is, as well as a real place with the same problems life on the mainland has.

George Clooney is introduced to us as an out of touch dad who probably works too much, but since his wife is in a coma from a boating accident, he can no longer be the “backup parent” as he describes himself.  He has two daughters, 17 and 10, and he is nearly clueless on how to handle them along with his wife’s condition.

The story takes all three characters on a noticeable character arc with early hostilities and tensions giving way to a supportive family unit.

Clooney’s family are long time Hawaii residents, like generations long.  In addition to supporting his nuclear family, he has to deal with his many cousins regarding what to do with a 25,000 acre land trust worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

When a secret about his comatose wife is added to the mix, there is then no end to the emotions all the characters have to sort through.

Clooney’s oldest daughter insists on always have her friend Sid around, who appears to be a surfer doofus, but he ends up being one of my favorite parts of THE DESCENDANTS.

The ending and the big decisions made are somewhat predictable, but they felt in tone with the rest of the movie.

A regular episode of 6th season LOST, which is ok, but once again, lots of just running back and forth between islands.  The flash-sideways story was satisfying, but what is its purpose?  More after the break . . .

***SPOILERS***

I liked this episode, I even maybe for awhile thought it was very good.  I guess now, as much as I want to savor every last minute of LOST left to us, I equally want to see the story just play out to its end.  I don’t want to wait for answers anymore, just break the dam and give it to us all!

What I really need is some hint that the flash-sideways stories have some relevance and are not just filler or some nice way to show an alternative life for the characters.  To a degree, I have faith that the writers will tie the flash-sideways storylines in very cleverly, but then to another degree, I don’t.  Are they just filler after all?  I really have a hard time imagining how they are relevant.

WHAT I LIKED:

• Let’s just get this out of the way now, umm, Sun asking Jin which buttons should stay unbuttoned and the bust-eye-view of this happening
• Desmond showing up at the end, though I feel the Official podcast spoiled that for me
• Sun’s tirade in Korean on the beach with contorted face, totally hot
• Widmore finally coming face-to-face with MIB
• Widmore asking, “Do you know who I am?”  Expecting even some creature on an island to know who the powerful Widmore is! ha
• Jack and Sun’s “conversation” on the beach at the end

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

• Jack and crew just waiting around on the beach for the return of Richard, Jack is a man of action, how can he just wait now?
• Jin not putting up any fight when Keemi and that dude arrived
• Yeah, why is a physicist leading guerilla ops??
• Claire still wanting to kill Kate, so what was all that crying asking for forgiveness just like 2 eps ago??
• Richard still scurrying around all wide eyed like a frightened chicken
• Not a single dude from Hurley
• Sawyer just hanging around pretending to not look concerned, go kick some ass James!

Dude, can’t MIB just like tip over those sonic things?  Seems like he can stand in between the legs of them, so just pick up the leg that is outside the sonic wall and flip it, boom, neutralized.  Let the rampage begin.  No?

So was it only Jacob stopping MIB from hopping on Desmond’s sailboat and sailing back to the good life in our world?  Seems like MIB is full of chances to leave now.  What did Jacob do to keep him in check, did he actually have some power over him?  The island itself not enough of a cork to keep him there?

I guess it all just comes down to, why are we getting these flash-sideways?  How significant are they and how will they all be tied in to the current actions on the islands in just 8 more hours of the show?

What does the MIB want to get off the island to do?  Looks like plenty of fun to be had right on the island.  What does he want to leave and do?  Drink every flavor of Gatorade like I did when I came back?  Eat a real piece of cake?  How powerful can he be among regular people if he is dependent on the same technology (airplanes) to get back as they are?

Who are the three people MIB still needs to recruit?  Jack, Hurley and Sun?  He needs Kate to get Jack?

What kind of war can a regular man and a smoke monster really wage?  Widmore is safe in his sonic fence area, MIB already survived one dagger attack.

I guess I am just getting really impatient for answers and the show to run its course, though I’ll be very sad when it does.  All of a sudden LOST and 24 will be gone just like that.  Two staples of TV watching for most of the 00s, and the last two movie like quality serial genre programs that produce 20+ eps a season, that we may ever see, at least for the foreseeable future.  None has come since LOST in 2004, so I cannot see it happening in today’s television climate at all.

I will vote 3.5 stars if I could, so maybe I’ll just go 3 stars this time.

The acronym FTW has been used increasingly in the past few years first among gamers and online geeks, but it has started to filter into more common every day spoken conversations as well.  For example, I hear John Noe of Pottercast using it sometimes.  So as I was walking down a small, off the path street in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan, I noticed that a small business’ storefront sign had a “For the win!’ slogan.

urban DICTIONARY gives several definitions for FTW.  I was surprised to find out that the true origin of the phrase (not the acronym) was from the old game show Hollywood Squares!  Now that I learned that though, I seem to be able to remember hearing the host saying it.  

I wonder just how widespread FTW is getting in the offline world?  Or even the online world?  Has anyone heard their mom start using the acronym or full phrase in either e-mail or conversation?