Seriously, watch the House of Cards series I mentioned upthread. FU may be a leading politician and says he's in it for moral reasons, but really he's a wonderfully sociopathic - almost psychopathic - loner. Brilliant character; and Iain Richardson makes him convincingly charming in the way only superbly intelligent high-functioning sociopaths can be.
A couple of his speeches across the three miniseries are beautiful in their execution (and I use the word advisedly) of the target of his vitriol. In particular, there's an exchange with the King in the last episode of To Play the King that has you simultaneously cheering for, and being repulsed by, him.
Seriously, Profit and the Urquhart movies are the only ones that really fit the bill, so far. I concur that FU is extraordinary viewing. I would add the Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down.
Re Breaking Bad, it is indeed too soon to tell if arbitrarily extending the story will work. White kicking the asses of assorted Mexican gangsters doesn't seem to me to have much appeal.
As to Lost's failure, if I were collecting residuals I would have a different criterion. I for one couldn't imagine rewatching the season centered on pushing the damn button knowing that it wouldn't end the world if it wasn't pushed. And that there was never a reason the button pushing couldn't be automated. That sort of thing holds for hours and hours and hours of Lost. That's failure. What Lost is successful at is invention. Sideways in time does nothing to save the Big Story but it is genuinely novel.
Re Breaking Bad, it is indeed too soon to tell if arbitrarily extending the story will work. White kicking the asses of assorted Mexican gangsters doesn't seem to me to have much appeal.
As to Lost's failure, if I were collecting residuals I would have a different criterion. I for one couldn't imagine rewatching the season centered on pushing the damn button knowing that it wouldn't end the world if it wasn't pushed. And that there was never a reason the button pushing couldn't be automated. That sort of thing holds for hours and hours and hours of Lost. That's failure. What Lost is successful at is invention. Sideways in time does nothing to save the Big Story but it is genuinely novel.
Good call on Falling Down, though Prendergast gets enough screentime to possibly qualify as a protagonist. Still, it's Michael Douglas iconic character that carries the movie, so I'd count it.
An argument could also be constructed that Lucas Buck, the evil Sheriff in American Gothic, is the real antihero star of that show and I must admit rooting for him more than any of the ostensibly good characters.
Maybe Tony Montana in Scarface too, though I'm not a massive fan of the movie, personally. Possibly also Lecter, esp. in Hannibal.
I'd argue Macbeth is the villain. If he isn't, I'm not sure who would qualify (unless you count the witches).
How about King Kong?
Or outside SF/F, The Godfather trilogy
Or outside SF/F, The Godfather trilogy
Lady Macbeth, I believe she was the one that pushed Macbeth into killing the king when he tried to back out of it.
There's no denying that much of season 2 seems a bit pointless in retrospect, but at the same time.....it was four years ago. A lot has happened to redeem the series since then. Harping on season 2's shortcomings at this point is like a kid failing a test in 2nd grade, and their parents continuing to berate them about it in 6th grade.
Plus, it isn't over. Let's wait and see if we get any more information about that damned button before all is said and done.
I've been DVRing the episodes for about six weeks now but can't bother to get around to catching up. This, despite the detached, intellectual appreciation for the brass bound gall in having the Jack's plan both work and not work. That kind of chutzpah is sort of like a gigantic penis. You're pretty sure if you don't really have interest in doing anything with the damn thing, but, my God, it is amazing to look at!
The thing is that Jacob and the Man in Black are Nikki and Paulo again. Except Nikki and Paulo killing each other off was the best single episode Lost ever did, especially since Nikki and Paulo stayed dead. Jacob and the Man in Black basically come out of nowhere with some peculiar agenda and fight each other and why do we care?
The thing is that Jacob and the Man in Black are Nikki and Paulo again. Except Nikki and Paulo killing each other off was the best single episode Lost ever did, especially since Nikki and Paulo stayed dead. Jacob and the Man in Black basically come out of nowhere with some peculiar agenda and fight each other and why do we care?
Both Jacob and Smokie have been players for a long time now. Granted, until recently they weren't center-stage, and it's always dangerous to start exploring your mysterious references too deeply for fear of normalizing them, and giving the smoke monster a personality certainly qualifies. But I think it's too early to say how it'll work out, and better this than leaving those two just a few more mysteries.
Shows...movies...everything is about the hero...what about the villain? Would you watch a show called "LexCorp"? Or a movie called "Joker"...all about the villain???
The hero would come in but it would show how the villains get to where they are and focus on them...does this interest you???
I'm reminded of a familiar quote:
One man's villain is another man's hero.
I'd probably watch a Joker or LexCorp movie. I like movies focusing on the bad guys. They're interesting.
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