Lost Vs. The Sopranos

My dedicated readers, I have been pondering this for the last couple of weeks. Which is better, The Sopranos or Lost? So, I'm thinking, I'll break it down, point by point. (At this point, I am 4 episodes into season 2 of Lost, and have seen all of the Sopranos, except for the last 2 episodes, so maybe this isn't fair. I say it is, and my word is bond.)

1)Characters - Not a contest here. Sopranos wins in a runaway. And while I was just thinking, well, that's because there are less characters, that's just not true. The show is more focused around 5 or so characters, with about 30 more minor characters, which I think Lost could benefit from. The Depth of Tony Soprano and crew, even over only one season, just puts Lost to shame. A suggestion of 5 characters to focus on (even though I haven't met them all yet) would be, Jack, Kate, Locke, Sawyer, and Sun Kwon. Just a suggestion fellows over at ABC.

2)Plot - I'd generally say that the Sopranos has earned the world's second "show about nothing" tag. I mean, it is about family, loyalty, human psychology, etc, but kind of just runs in circles. I haven't seen Lost go too far into the soap opera hell, and it seems to have more of a traditional plot. Lost wins this one by a healthy margin.

3)Eye Candy (camera work, not beautiful bikini-clad bodies!) - I think because Sopranos doesn't have to pitch to quite as large of a TV audience, they can afford to get a bit more artistic. This isn't to say Lost doesn't get artistic, and I'd say, as far as basic TV goes, I'm impressed with how far they have gone. The Sopranos occaisional dream episodes help to edge out Lost.

4)Acting - I'd say this one is dead even. James Gandolfini and Michael Imperioli's strong performances are occaisionally dragged down by weaker performances by Robert Iler, Lorraine Bracco, and Tony Sirico, with Sirico being the worst actor on Sopranos and Lost combined. Lost, I would say, does not have the insanely good acting that a couple of the cast of the Sopranos have, but they also don't have quite the weak performances either. I give the edge to the Sopranos on this one, just for their ability to be able to curse, and be naked.

So in a close call, 3-1, I choose the Sopranos, but for Lost being on regular TV, and even being able to be included in this discussion, is quite a feat.

Le Grindhouse

I don't believe that I've had as much fun for three hours in a movie theatre than I had watching Rodriguez and Tarentino's opus to B-movie double-features, at least since LotR: Fellowship of the Ring came out in 2001 (which had me giggling like a little fan-boy for about 3 hours).

What was interesting to me was that Rodriguez seemed to completely buy into the genre with "Planet Terror," and made, from beginning to end, one of the most hilarious and best "B-grade" zombie movies that I've seen. (Freddy Rodriguez, by the way, was fantastic as Wrey, and makes me think he's a fairly underrated character actor, as he was similarly hilarious and believable as "Reggie," the self-proclaimed science experiment with only one half of his body bulked up from working out, in M. Night's tragically misunderstood "Lady in the Water.")

But Tarentino also seems very interested, in "Death Proof," in paying homage to the films of the grindhouse era, but then also turning them on their head, subverting them, and then making a kick-ass Tarentino ending to the film. And in that way, it probably moves beyond the rest of the material here, and is thus a good way to end the over 3 hour opus.

Trailer notes: The opening trailer for "Machete" was campy and hilarious - and word is that Rodriguez will work with Danny Trejo to make an actual full lenght feature! Unfortunately, it may have worked as best as it could as a fake trailer.

Don't Scream - also funny, and in a very direct "this is a JOKE" way. In that way, Eli Roth's was probably the most effective AND funny trailer with "Thanksgiving." It WAS so much of the genre, but was just on that edge that so many of them either stay on and succeed with or cross and fail that it both WAS the genre, and was one of the best spoofs on the genre at the same time.

And Rob Zombie just doesn't get it - oooh, nudity, check - oooh, violence, check - oooh, Nazis, check - ooooh, monsters, check - it was like a paint by numbers exploitation film trailer that I think anyone could do with some actors, a budget, and the above list. He really doesn't get it - he may have enjoyed such films, and always wanted to make one - but I've yet to see his work really shine in this venue. Hopefully this doesn't bode ill for his Halloween remake (although a Halloween without the score is, in my opinion, no Halloween movie).

So, much fun to be had, and one of the most brazenly self-ingulgent projects in a long time - and one that, in my opinion, works so well in so many ways.