TV Show: Lost (3/5 stars) (2004)

I have been a fan of lost since the beginning and I saw final episode this week. Lost has been there for so long, you know all the characters and they become like friends you look forward to running into each week. They won't be there any more.

At the same time, there is probably no way for the writers to successfully wrap up such a complex mess of mysteries and layers, backstabbing and lofty, noble enigmatic goals. I can vouch for that - they just didn't succeed. I'm sure there is a writer sitting back saying, "There. All done. All the mysteries explained.", but he would be wrong. They pretty much did not explain anything.

First of all - what the hell was the island? If you can't answer that, you've failed miserably. Does it exist in the real world? Can everyday, ordinary people actually get there? What was the smoke monster? What is the light at the centre of the island? Who was Jacob's mother? Where did she come from?

Too many loose threads for a successful ending. There is a bit of closure, in that you know where everyone is at the end and they are all happy and there's a warm, fuzzy feeling, but seriously, if you think that even a single mystery of the last six seasons was answered, then you are delusional.

Overall - fail. I'm sure the studio made a ton of cash on it though.

movie: "Intimate Strangers" (3/5 stars) 2004

A good foreign film (Confidences trop intimes) about a woman with marital problems wandering into an accountant's office, assuming he's a psychologist and telling him her deepest, darkest secrets.

The movie is full of amusing bits, confrontations, awkward moments and real drama, especially when she realizes that he's an accountant and still continued the sessions.

I enjoyed it and realized part way through that I had no clue how it was going to unfold. This is far from the standard Hollywood pic I see and I'm grateful for that.

While the originality was abundant, the movie was quite slow paced and I wasn't really satisfied with the ending. Still, a lovely little quirky movie that was honest and believable.

Movie: We Don't Live Here Any More, 2004 (3.5/5)

The movie boldly starts with a man making a pass at his best friend's wife and her accepting.

We then move into the story of two dysfunctional families where one wife loves her husband and the other doesn't, where one husband loves his best friend's wife and one husband doesn't really love anyone.

Strangely enough, there is a common theme of the struggling writer in my movies lately, and this is no exception. Peter Krause's character Hank is struggling with his writing and teaching a writing class where he tells his students, "all of you write as well as I do, which is really depressing."

The cons of this movie: it is slow moving and an ultra-realistic view of husbands, wives and their families struggling to live life (after all - who wants real life in their movies! )

The pros of the movie: there is tremendous power in each moment of the movie. There is tension and build up, and I was genuinely curious to know what was going to happen to these characters. Also, it's an ultra-realistic view of husbands, wives and their families struggling to live life (after all - we all want some real life in our movies!).

It is better than the average movie, but because of the slowness of the movie, I rate it 3.5 out of 5.