Former Congressman Tom Delay told us he would surprise us with his first routine at Dancing with the Stars and he did.   Delay letting his Wild Thing out to the tune of Wild Thing.  His Cha Cha with professional partner Cheyl Burke had its flaws but it was a show stealer.    His scores from the Judges weren't great but he didn't come in last among the men, that honored belonged to former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin and Actor Ashley Hamilton.     Now Delay watches the women dance tonight and then we'll find out if he survives the first elimination.  Two Stars will be eliminated Wednesday.   I don't think Delay will be one of the them.  By the way, Irvin the NFL Hall of Famer told me he's never been more scared in his life.

Today a lucky few film fans who were able to get through online will get to see a 16-minute preview of James Cameron’s highly anticipated 3-D movie Avatar.

For those who didn’t get tickets, a teaser trailer came out yesterday.

The premise? Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, a wounded Marine is given a chance to run free again when he participates in a program that allows him to use his mind to control the body of an alien-human hybrid on a new world. What he doesn’t realize is that the military is interested in the planet’s resources and Sully soon has to choose sides between duty and this strange world’s peaceful inhabitants.

Looks pretty good, although I have trouble getting excited for cartoon characters running through a cartoon landscape from a cartoon threat … sort of why the beginning of the Clone Wars in the new Star Wars trilogy kind of felt hollow to me.

But I have to ask … hasn’t that storyline been done before? In fact just this year we had the Battle for Terra (also released in 3-D), here’s the summary for that film: A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it.

Cameron is known to be a big perfectionist, sometimes to a fault, and he has been working on this movie off and on for about 12 years.
Did he wait too long? Let me know what you think!

Boy am I glad that I'm not a kid anymore. How would I be able to keep the lessons of Earth's history straight when films like 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' mixes them all up?

The first film 'Ice Age' made sense ... we see a bunch of now-extinct mammal species fighting for survival during the coming Ice Age. Then, somehow, these same characters survived long enough for 'The Meltdown', but THEN comes the 'Dawn of the Dinosaurs?' I thought the dinosaurs came first? How can they be dawn-ing?

Granted, we don't go to the movies for history lessons. Sure they can be kind-of accurate when you're dealing with figures like Patton or Forrest Gump, but shouldn't there be some kind of rule?

Nevermind.

The dinosaurs in the film prowl in a world beneath the thick level of ice where our heroes live. Manny the mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano who didn't have to change his voice much to make it sound like he's talking with a long trunk) and his wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are expecting a baby, and excited about their future. That leaves Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the Sabretooth cat (Dennis Leary) wondering about how they will fit in this new family. Also, Diego is starting to feel old, domesticated and frustrated that he doesn’t seem to have the energy to catch his prey the way he used to ... will he be able to regain his killer instinct? And after Sid finds three abandoned eggs in an ice cave he adopts them so he can have his own family ... will he be able to prove that he can be a good father?

No points for guessing right on either of those questions. You already know how most of these storylines will end early in the film, but that's okay because along the way we have a lot of fun.

Sid's eggs hatch early and out pops three little Tyrannosaurus babies. When Momma T-Rex comes to reclaim her children, Sid refuses to let them go, and he winds up in the underground dinosaur world. This is a surprise for Manny and the herd because, somehow, even they know that dinosaurs are supposed to be extinct. The group is helped by a one-eyed weasel named ‘Buck’, a master dinosaur hunter who is also a bit crazy since he hasn’t had any other mammals to talk to in this lost world. Which begs the question, “Why don’t the dinosaurs talk?” Also, how can there be plants growing if they are all below a thick layer of ice which would block the sun?

There I go again!

The new setting gives director Carlos Saldanha a chance to breathe new life into this franchise. Even Scrat, the long-toothed squirrel/rat with the acorn obsession has more to do after he runs into Scratte, a female foil who is after the same acorn, and uses her feminine wiles to get her way. Will Scrat forget about the acorn when presented with the possibility of true love?

Once again, no points for guessing right.

How do you review a movie like The Stoning of Soraya M? Based on the novel written by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, it tells the true story of Soraya, a woman in rural Iran who was stoned to death after being falsely accused of adultery by her husband. A sense of doom hangs over every frame of the film ... the outcome is spelled out in the title and, therefore, is unavoidable, and it's like watching a train heading directly towards you while you have no way to escape.

The movie gives a disturbing glimpse into life under Sharia law, in which men have all the power and women are treated only slightly better than slaves. It's best spelled out when one character complains, "If a man accuses his wife, she must prove her innocence. If a woman accuses her husband, she must prove his guilt."

The film opens when Sahebjam, played by Jim Caviezel (The Passion Of The Christ), breaks down on a rural road and his car is taken into the nearest town. The mayor and local mullah are anxious to keep him occupied while his car is repaired, but he is suspicious of the men, and chooses to spend the time alone. He is soon approached by Zahra, powerfully portrayed by Shohreh Aghdashloo (24, The House of Sand and Fog) who pulls him aside so she can tell the story of the death of her niece, Soraya, who had been killed just one day before.

Soraya is a young mother whose husband, Ghorban-Ali, works as a prison guard at another nearby town. Ghorban has his sights set on the 14-year old daughter of one of his prisoners, and struggles for an excuse to divorce Soraya. The excuse comes when one of Soraya's friend's dies, and she is recruited into cooking and cleaning for the husband and son. Ghorban accuses her of adultery based solely on an incidental touch of the hand and a brief smile between Soraya and the widower.

Zahra tries to warn Soraya of the growing conspiracy around her, but Soraya is happy about the money she is being paid, hoping that she will soon have enough to leave Ghorban on her own terms. But Ghorban is busy blackmailing another man in the village to become a witness to the alleged adultery, which gives him enough evidence to convict Soraya, and have her killed.

So again I ask ... how do you review a film like this? It is powerfully effective at showing a society that almost seems like horror-fiction for those who live in the Western world. The dominance of men over women is egregious, and is taught at a very young age. When Ghorban talks of leaving Soraya, he only seems concerned about taking his sons along with him, leaving her, and their daughters to fend for themselves. You can see the pain in Soraya's eyes when her sons begin to turn against her. When Soraya's friend dies the village leaders immediately ask who will cook and clean for the husband, never once imagining that he might be able to take care of himself. Soraya's trial takes place behind closed doors, not even Soraya herself is allowed to be present ... and how do you prove innocence when the accusation is based on lies and hyperbole?

And then there is the end ... the actual stoning. The event is much more ritualistic and, in turn, horrific in its execution than you might imagine. The condemned are buried up to their waist, or sometimes to their neck, rendering them incapable of escaping the painful strikes of the stones that are first thrown by family and the accusers, then the rest of the mob. It's watchable only knowing this is just a movie, but terrifying to know it's based on real life.

The Stoning of Soraya M. is not an easy film to watch, but it is a story that demands to be told.

Is it possible to have a romantic comedy that has almost no romance in it at all? I think "The Proposal" is about as close as you can get.

Sandra Bullock stars as Margaret Tate. She's a queen bee book editor whose drones cower in fear whenever she moves through the office. Think "The Devil Wears Prada" in the publishing world ... perhaps "The Devil Reads Danielle Steel?" ... maybe not.
Her job security is made insecure when her work visa is cancelled after she traveled out-of-country for a book tour and now faces deportation to Canada. Backed into a corner she conspires to take advantage of that age-old loophole; marry an American, stay in America. Her choice? Her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds.) But before she can seal the deal she has to convince an overly-aggressive immigration investigator that their 'engagement' is real.

But wait, you say ... hasn't this movie already come out ... about 19 years ago and it was titled 'Greeen Card?' Well, yes and no. While the premise is forced, and almost cliche, the execution is surprisingly fresh. Bullock has made a career out of playing women who pine for the one who will really love her, but this time she's all business. In fact, she's actually kind of mean. The smile that made her America's Sweetheart is now filled with shark teeth and a sharp tongue. Her eyes that once lit up the screen are now filtered through dark eyeliner that turns her gaze into a laser that can cut through steel. Her abuse is most often targeted at Reynolds who accepts it with the knowledge that one day he will be able to move up from Executive Assistant to Editor, but only if his boss gives the green light. The two make a deal, she will make him editor if he agrees to marry her for a couple years at which time they can get a quick divorce.

The two travel to his hometown of Sitka, Alaska (pop. 8,896) where she discovers his roots are deep, and his family's name is on nearly every building in town. He hasn't been back in three years, but his grandmother (Betty White) is celebrating her 90th birthday. The family is confused when they hear that the woman who has made his life miserable for so long is now his fiancee.

Not cliche enough for ya? Let's add in a high school sweetheart who still longs for Andrew, a fish-out-of-water story as we see Margaret deal with nature for the first time, a little father-son conflict and a quicky wedding to make Grandma happy.

That's almost enough for four chick-flicks, right? While on paper it may sound like too much, there's something special about the execution. The chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds is sensational, but never cloy, and Betty White steals the spotlight everytime she appears on screen. The Office's Oscar Nunez also has great fun as Ramone, the town’s jack-of-all-trades whose skills include male stripper, and another job which I will leave to audiences to find out.

So, yes, this is a romantic comedy, but the emphasis is on the comedy ... maybe that's the difference.

It seems like going back to the beginning is all the rage these days.

Just two weeks ago we discovered the best way to become reacquainted with the intrepid explorers of the starship Enterprise was to watch Kirk, Spock, Uhuru, Bones and the rest step onto the bridge for the first time. Four years ago we reconnected with Batman by watching a young Bruce Wayne travel around the globe to face his fears and become the Dark Knight.

Now we are getting back on track in the ultimate battle between man and machines with Terminator:Salvation. There's a certain irony to the thought that starting at the beginning requires a trip 35 years into the future. (35 years is relative to the characters, since the first Terminator was set in 1984.)

Let's face it, the Terminator films were only partly about the chase and action and explosions and gunfire. The films were also about the everlasting nature of love (Kyle Reese travels through time to find Sarah Connor in 'The Terminator') and friendship (between the T-800 and a 13-year old John Connor in 'Terminator 2'.) The less said about the third film the better, except that it did serve the function of letting the audience know that the war with Skynet was coming, one way or another.

However, this time there is no 'Hasta la vista, Baby' humor or 'I came across time for you, Sarah' love declarations ... this is war, pure and simple. John Connor (Christian Bale) is a battle-hardened fighter who is leading one of several groups of humans against the machines. Connor has not yet met Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) who he will eventually befriend and send back to protect his mother from Arnold Schwarzenegger ...er .. the T-800. For now Connor is just trying to stay alive, and take out Skynet.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Terminator: Salvation really focuses on Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a death row inmate who agrees to give his body to science before receiving his lethal injection only to wake up in the year 2018, several years after Skynet launched the preemptive nuclear strike on the humans, known as Judgment Day. We follow Wright as he struggles to figure out why he is still alive and why the world has turned into a nightmare of destruction and desolation where the few humans left behind are forced to hide in abandoned buildings and fight when they can. Wright is saved by Reese and his young, mute, partner Star (Jadagrace Berry.) The trio hear Connor's voice as he gives daily resistance radio updates and begin making their way to the man with the plan.

At this point Connor is not leading the resistance. He’s just leading the southern California wing, taking answers from a committee of humans issuing orders from their submarine headquarters. Command scoffs at how Connor is considered humanity's savior, and have little time to hear his pleas for the lives of civilians or the search for Reese. Skynet, for some reason, has begun collecting humans, not just killing them, and have a large collection of civilians trapped inside their main base in California. When the resistance leaders learn of a way to defeat the machines, they order a full frontal assault, regardless of the collateral damage, or Connor's objections.

In the past three Terminator films we have only been given a glimpse at the war with machines; bleached skulls crushed by metallic feet, all-seeing Hunter Killers floating above the battleground where small groups of humans try to knock them out of the sky with conventional weapons. In T:S the humans are better armed than we thought. They have access to A-10 Warthog fighter jets, Apache helicopters and magnetic mines. Director McG makes good use of the hardware, creating action sequences reminiscent of Top Gun and Saving Private Ryan. He also shows us things we haven't seen before, like a stunning scene near the beginning of the film where Connor climbs onto a helicopter, takes control from the dead pilot, is knocked out of the air, crashes upside down and climbs out where he is attacked by a Terminator torso ... all in one unedited sequence.

Bale is intense and focused as Connor, but you can see the doubts he has about his role as humanity's savior that his mother has been telling him about since before birth. He questions if he can fulfill his destiny, while at the same time uses it as a guide for all his decisions. Worthington is a worthy match as the film's other major character. The less you know about him, the better, and if you haven't seen any clips or trailers which reveal his big secret, that's good. There are also plenty of Easter eggs and moments that fans of the series will instantly recognize, including one major moment that had the theater I was in erupt into applause.

But is it too dark? Is it missing the humor or heart that helped carry the other films? Let me put it this way ... after learning from the past two movies that Terminators can be our friends, it's nice to fear the machines again.

P.S. It's a good year for relative newcomer Anton Yelchin ... he also plays Chekhov in the new Star Trek!

P.P.S. Check out USA Today's fantastic interactive Terminator timeline to keep all the dates straight!

So why did it take an hour and 40 minutes for someone to ask if Jack's plan to detonate the hydrogen bomb is the very event that sets everything in motion?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Season five of Lost has finally come to an end. Here's a not-so brief recap, separated by the time zones:

1977: Sawyer, Juliet and Kate are on the sub, leaving the island, and Kate tells them about Jack's plan to detonate the bomb to destroy the island, and ultimately prevent Oceanic flight 815 from ever crashing. Sawyer is fine with the idea, but Juliet launches an escape attempt, agreeing that Jack needs to be stopped.
After the trio make it back to the island they run into Rose and Bernard, the happiest married couple on earth, who say they have deliberately been avoiding any attempts to find them because they are enjoying their retirement and solitude. They want no part of the 'nonsense' involving any of the Oceanic survivors (it was a great slap of reality, really.) The trio grab their guns and go to find Jack. Meanwhile, Jack and Sayid remove the core from the hydrogen bomb and make their way to the Swan station. They try to sneak through Dharmaville, but are forced to shoot their way out after being spotted. Sayid is shot, but the two are rescued by Hurley, Miles and Jin in a Dharma van. On the road to the Swan station they are stopped by Sawyer, Kate and Juliet. To Be Continued ...

2007: Locke, Ben, Sun and The Others are on their trek to find Jacob. Locke learns that Ben has been ordered (by his dead adopted daughter Alex) to follow Locke's every order, which makes Locke happy since he was going to order Ben to kill Jacob. We also learn that Ben has never seen Jacob and the whole 'talking-to-the-empty-rocking-chair-in-the-moving-cabin' thing was just a ruse. As the group continues walking, we catch up with the other passengers of Ajira 316 (that brought Jack, Hurley, dead-Locke and the others to the island again.) It appears they have taken Lapidus hostage, but insist they are the good guys and are only trying to take their mysterious crate to the statue. Lapidus is freaked out by what he sees inside. They finally make it to the foot of the four-toed statue (literally) shortly after Richard shows Locke and Ben the entrance into Jacob's lair. To Be Continued ...

Random: The episode starts by showing a man in ancient clothing on the island in the distant past, when the statue is still intact. He's watching the arrival of a tall ship on the horizon (the Black Rock?.) He is Jacob, who spends his days making tapestries and catching fish. He has a brief conversation with another island resident who talks about his desire to kill Jacob, and how he realizes he has to find some kind of loophole to make it happen. (There’s a lot of talk about the other man being Esau … get it? Jacob and Esau? From the Bible? You’ll have to Google it, this is getting too long!) We then see an ageless Jacob appearing at key moments in our hero’s lives; he's there when a young Kate tries to shoplift for the first time; he gives Sawyer the pen that he uses to write his vengeance letter after his parents' murder-suicide; he revives Locke after he is thrown out of that 8-story window by his father; he meets Hurley outside prison after his release, gives him the guitar case and tells him about the Ajira flight; he talks with Jack after his first surgery,where his father undermined his authority; he's there to congratulate Jin and Sun on their marriage; and he distracts Sayid just moments before his beloved Nadia is killed by a hit-and-run driver. Who IS this guy?

Now for the big wrap ups:

2007: We discover that Locke's body is inside the big crate, and it appears the Locke that has been leading the others is actually the man who has been trying to find a loophole to kill Jacob (possessed by Esau?)
The loophole apparently involves Ben, who is offended that Jacob never spoke to him directly, and knifes him in the heart. The pseudo-Locke then pushes Jacob into the fire.

1977: Sawyer tries to reason with Jack about why he shouldn't detonate the bomb, but when diplomacy fails, fists fly, and we finally get the big fight between the two leading men that we have been expecting since day one. Juliet stops the fight, telling Sawyer she has changed her mind, and she wants Jack to be able to change things back so she never has to face the day when Sawyer realizes that he actually loves Kate more. A dying Sayid rigs the bomb core to explode on impact, and Jack sneaks his way to the Swan construction site, where they are still drilling despite Dr. Chang's objections. There is another major gunbattle between the Dharma loyalists and Jack and friends. The drill finally punches through the magnetic core of the island. The force begins dragging every piece of metal in the area down into the center of the island. Jack tosses in the bomb core, but nothing happens. Juliet get tangled up in a chain that is being drawn into the hole and, despite Sawyer and Kate's rescue efforts, she falls to the bottom. Severely injured, but alive, Juliet grabs a rock at the bottom of the hole and smashes the bomb core until ...

WHITE FLASH, BLACK 'LOST' LOGO. Wow!

So I go back to my first question. Why did it take an hour and 40 minutes before someone (Miles) pointed out that Jack's plan to detonate the hydrogen bomb is the very event that sets everything in motion? I don't consider myself to be incredibly astute, but I’ve been wondering the same thing for a week.

It's hard to believe that we have to wait 8 more months until the final season starts. So let the speculation begin! Will the explosion reset everything? Will Oceanic 815 really land in Los Angeles as if nothing has happened? Who is Jacob's nemesis, and what, exactly, is the loophole he used to kill Jacob. What will be the impact of Jacob's death ... if he's really dead? Lemme know!

We have a lot to think about until 2010!

The big season finale of Lost is just a day away, and the promos look exciting!

Check it out!

I have been talking with a lot of people about Jack’s final plan to detonate the Hydrogen bomb in an effort to prevent the big magnetic explosion which lead to the hatch, and the world-saving computer, and Desmond not hitting the button and Oceanic flight 815 being knocked out of the sky, and …

You get the idea.

But do you like the idea? Do you believe the idea? A fellow fan sent me this theory about how the series will end:

“My prediction? Glad you asked. The bomb works, the last scene is the plane does not crash. It lands in LAX and the cast gets off the plane not knowing anything took place over the past few years… roll the credits.”

Do you like that? Would you be upset if everything over the past few years were to just be wiped out?

Here’s my thought for the season finale. Despite Faraday’s declaration that nothing is safe and things that anything can be changed, every decision made by the castaways has pointed along the same timeline … Faraday’s mother always knew she would kill him, Jack’s decision not to help Ben directly lead to him being taken in by the Others/Hostiles. I anticipate the bomb will actually be a dud, but there will be enough radiation to prevent women from being able to carry children conceived on the island to full term (I bet you almost forgot about that, huh?)

Lemme hear your predictions and thoughts about how this season, or the whole series will end!

Woo Hoo Star Trek is cool again!

Okay, I admit that's a bit of a stretch. Star Trek probably was never really that cool. Many people were never able to think beyond the plywood sets and some of the silly creatures from original series. The public's acceptance peaked during Star Trek: The Next Generation when the Enterprise took on the Borg back in 1990 (nerd alert: That was the first time Star Trek ever ended a season with a cliffhanger), and has been falling away ever since.

The keepers of the franchise Rick Berman (and later Brannon Braga) did all they could to milk their cash cow, flooding the airwaves with three more series (Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise) and a run of movies that even Trekkers had trouble defending. As Berman left Star Trek behind he admitted that it would take someone not closely involved in Gene Roddenberry's fantastic universe to re-energize it.

Then came JJ Abrams.

Before I go any further I do have to warn that there are probably going to be a few spoilers in this review. I can't help it. Abrams has changed the Trek Universe so completely that it would take too much energy and too many words to explain it all through obscurities, so for those who want to see the film without knowing exactly what happens, here's a brief review: The new Star Trek is a fantastic sci-fi adventure, even for those who don't know the difference between Kirk and a Klingon.

Now on with the show.

Star Trek has never been a 'big action' series. Star Wars always had fantastic space battles patterned after modern-day dogfights, but in the ST universe, the coolest space fight (I always thought) came during The Wrath Of Khan when Spock noted that the 21st century Khan wasn't thinking in three-dimensions, and Kirk was able to hide the Enterprise by maneuvering below the Reliant. (Too geeky?)

This time the bar is set high as the Federation Starship USS Kelvin is attacked by a ship that is much larger, better armed and piloted by Nero, a Romulan from the future with a thirst for vengeance. Serving as First Officer on the Kelvin is George Kirk, father of the legend-to-be James T. Kirk. When the captain is killed, Pappa Kirk takes over, orders the evacuation of everyone on board including his too-pregnant wife who gives birth on an escape shuttle, and drives the Kelvin is driven head first into the mystery ship.

Cue opening credits. Wow.

The new film tells the origins of the Enterprise crew and how they came together. Chris Pine is James Kirk, a brash farm boy from Iowa with a rebellious streak a light-year wide who never really understood his father's sacrifice. After his birth we see him again at age 13, taking his foster parent's ancient convertible for a joyride and crashing it into a canyon while casually asking, 'Is there a problem officer?' A few years later he's picking fights in bars with Starfleet personnel. That's when he runs into Captain Christopher Pike, who challenges him to be a better man than his father.

At the same time we meet Spock. He's a half-human, half-Vulcan boy who struggles to balance his human emotions that threaten to overwhelm his Vulcan training to block feelings and focus only on what is logical. Not easy when you are being picked on by Vulcan bullies (who knew there were such a thing) who, oddly, seem to derive joy out of trying to get the half-breed to get angry. Spock grows up to become a top student at Starfleet Academy, and the creator of the Kobayashi Maru, the infamous training program that tests how potential captains will react when facing a no-win scenario. The two young men butt-heads after Kirk figures a way to beat the simulation.

Along the way we also meet the rest of the intrepid Enterprise crew and, no matter how crowded the film, each person is given a moment that defines their characters better than in the series or in the films. Zoe Saldana fills the mini-skirt and go-go boot of Uhura, an ambitious linguistics student who dreams of taking her talents into space. John Cho is Sulu, the pilot with combat training in fencing who forgets to take off the ship’s parking brake before trying to go to warp. Chekhov, the navigator, is played by Anton Yelchin, using a Russian accent so thick even the computer’s voice recognition system can’t understand him. The two big standouts are Simon Pegg as engineer-extraordinaire Scotty and Karl Urban as the gruff Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, both of whom bring humor to some very real life-or-death situations..

That leads me to the best thing about this reboot. There are consequences and things don’t always work out in the end. When people die, they stay dead. When planets are destroyed they don’t come back. The entire movie is built on the premise that the appearance of Nero at the start of the film has changed the timeline and, essentially, set up an alternate universe where anything can happen. This is what the series needed. Trekkers have been locked into the history of the future for so long that anything that seemed to go against the canon of the Star Trek universe was immediately rejected by the fan base. Look at the outcry made when the writers of Enterprise tried to suggest that the Borg had been buried in the Antarctic more than 100 years before the ‘first contact’ during ST:TNG! As new pictures and plot lines from the new film were being leaked there were protests over everything from the look of the new bridge (apparently designed by Apple), the new Enterprise (the nacelles are too close to the saucer section … AND IT WASN’T BUILT IN IOWA!) and even the appearances of specific characters (Chekhov doesn’t show up until season 2 of the original series!) But alternate universes have always been a part of Star Trek (think of the evil mirror universe where Spock has a goatee!), so the establishment of a new timeline should not be too difficult for long-time fans to accept, and a great way to recruit new ones. Plus, it allows the actors to make the characters their own. While we could imagine Quinto’s Spock growing into Nemoy’s Spock, it’s a little harder to believe that Pine’s Kirk and Shatner’s Kirk are the same man … but that’s okay.

But fear not, die-hards, knowing the fates of a few characters, like Captain Pike, will deepen your appreciation of what happens to him in the film, and there are enough easter eggs throughout (the fate of red-uniformed crew members and a Tribble cameo, but I won’t tell you where) to warrant second and third viewing … or fourth … or fifth …

And JJ Abrams fans will love the big, red, connection between this film and Alias.

But perhaps I have said too much …

So not every episode has to be a homerun!

I haven't written any Lost blogs in a couple weeks for various reasons ... okay, just two reasons. 1: Two weeks ago the episode was just a recap clip show to get viewers ready for the final run of the season and 2: My internet connection at home was out last week for reasons that still frustrate me.

Consider that your "Previously on the Celeb 13 blog ..." now on with the show.

This week's episode didn't seem to focus on any one specific castaway. Instead the writers are just moving the pieces into place for next week's two part finale. Locke, in 2007, makes his way to Alpert and the Hostiles (a great name for a band, don't you think?) where he is finally stepping into his role as their Leader. Ben and Sun are along for the ride. Sun's non-stop insistence of 'must get back to Jin' is starting to wear a little thin, and Ben's lack of understanding and jealousy over Locke's connection to the island has left him with little to do, too. Although hearing Alpert say he witnessed the deaths of all the castaways 30 years ago was a great jawdropper before break 1.

We also get a little time-comes-full-circle fun as we learn that when Richard pulled the bullet out of Locke’s leg earlier in the season and told him he would have to die in order to bring everyone back to the island he was only following the orders of Locke himself.

Meanwhile in 1977 Jack and Kate are captured after Faraday is killed by his own mother, and Jack decides to complete the late doctor's quest to detonate the hydrogen bomb near the Swan station in order to prevent the original incident which lead to all the problems in the first place. Kate, Jack and a just-in-the-nick-of-time Sayid all seem convinced this will actually erase the past three years, and only Jack seems to be okay with it. As for Kate, she doesn't want to lose that time because, to paraphrase Garth Brooks, 'She could have missed the pain, but she would have had to miss the dance.' (Cue the tinkling piano.) The ageless Alpert guides Jack, Sayid and Faraday's mother (who is already pregnant with her canon fodder son) to the bomb which has been somehow stashed away inside an underground temple.

Hurley, Miles and Jin try to escape from the Dharma Initiative when they are stopped by Dr. Chang who ask if they, and Faraday, really are from the future. Their weak denials are blown apart when Hurley was unable to give a valid birth year, knew nothing about the Korean war and finally spilled the beans after being asked who was president. (Best moment of the night.) That's enough to convince Chang to follow Faraday's advice, and he begins evacuating the initiative.

Which leads us to Sawyer and Juliet who had the least amount to do this episode. They spent the whole time handcuffed to chairs being beaten and questioned about what happened to little Ben and the location of the Hostiles. Sawyer manages to talk his way onto the sub so he and Juliet can get off the island and invest in Microsoft.

So what did you think about the episode? There are still a lot of questions left unanswered and only one season left to go (after next week's season finale.) Do you think Jack will be able to stop the Incident? And if he does ... will it actually wipe out the past three years? Lemme know!

So now we know where that $3.2 million dollar demand came from.

Admittedly of all the mysteries on the island, the question of why Miles would demand $3.2 million from Ben way back in season 4 (“Eggtown”) is probably the least interesting, but in an episode that didn’t advance the main narrative that much, it’s nice to have even the small questions answered.

Oh, we also learned that Miles is the son of the guy in all those Dharma Initiative orientation films. Did I forget to mention that?

I guess that’s a big deal. (That's meant to be read sarcastically)

Miles never knew his father … his mom told him that he left them when he was a child and was dead. But shortly after Miles and the other time-hopping Losties landed in 1977 and joined the Dharma Initiative he realized his mom was standing behind him in the lunch line. That was when he realized that Pierre Chang (aka Dr. Marvin Candle, aka Dr. Mark Wickmund, aka Dr. Edgar Halliwax) is his father … and he’s kind of a jerk.

We also learned a little more about Miles’ sixth sense ability to talk to the dead … it comes in flashes and they can only reveal to him the things they were thinking right up until the moment of their death. He has been using this ability to help (and sometimes scam) people who need closure after the death of a loved one, and is offered $1.6 million dollars by Naomi (looking as alive and beautiful as ever) for her mission to The Island.

He’s later abducted by mysterious men in a black van who warn him not to go, saying he’s on the losing side of an upcoming battle. He agrees to stay if they pay him double what Widmore is offering ($3.2 million dollars! I did it in my head!)

I enjoyed the sub-plot with Hurley who spent most of the episode rewriting the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ for George Lucas (Star Wars came out in 1977, and he knew Lucas would soon be writing the sequel.) He wants to change the ending a little bit … and have Darth Vader reveal to Luke he is his father (oops … spoiler alert!) without that big light saber battle, peace would come to the galaxy far, far away and we wouldn’t have to deal with the Ewoks.

But Hurley, don’t you understand that by dodging the Ewoks we would also lose Jabba, the Emperor and the fish-headed Admiral Ackbar!

But I digress.

The whole thing was just a set up to help Miles deal with his daddy issues, and we saw him finally start to open up near the end.

Got it?

Good … now for the really good part … in two weeks (apparently next week is a kind of recap/clip show) we may finally learn what Dr. Daniel Faraday has been doing for the past three years. Woo Hoo!

Man, oh, man did I scare myself silly yesterday.

After putting up the post about the rumor that two people are destined to die on Lost, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire hour wondering if we were going to lose two in the same episode.

The line between who is good (but really bad at it) and who is bad (but really good at it) is blurred once again.  We learned that Ben has been anxious to return to the island so he can be judged by the Smoke Monster.  It seems he has a few things he has to atone for ... first and foremost, letting Widmore's men murder his poor 'daughter', Alex, in cold blood.

In his flashbacks we see the teenage Ben, recovering from his wounds, being told by Richard Alpert that he can be one of the Hostiles, and still live among the Dharma Initiative.  We also see a mid-30's Charles Widmore (not played by Alan Dale this time) hating Ben's presence from the very beginning.  It appears Widmore is viciously jealous and protective of the island.  In another flashback we see that he is the one who ordered Ben kill Rousseau, but Ben couldn't go through with it and instead he kidnaps her baby and warns Rousseau to run away from the whispers in the jungle.

But I have to stop myself ... I'm recapping the entire episode again.  So let's just give a quick rundown of the LLOL: Lessons Learned On Lost:

1. Ben's beat-up appearance before his flight back to the island came courtesy of Desmond.  Why?  Because Ben was about to kill Widmore's daughter, Penny, in revenge for Alex's death.  Ben shot Desmond first, but he was only wounded and beat the snot out of Ben just as he was about to pull the trigger on Penny (I thought for sure she would be dead-cast member #1!)

2. Widmore was banished from the island (the reasons why I'm sure will be explained in a long-overdue Widmore-centric episode in the future) and has been trying to get back ever since, through any means necessary, including killing Alex to get Ben surrender.  As it stands now, he's the Really Good Bad Guy.

3. Ben (if he is to be believed) stopped Locke's suicide only because Locke had necessary information about how to get back to the island, then killed him because time was running out and Ben knew that Locke had to die to get everyone on-board the return trip.  

4. Ben isn't afraid to kill, as we saw when he shot an increasingly ominous Caesar before taking the outrigger back to the main island. (It appears the few who were able to get tickets for Ajira flight 316 have a few secrets of their own.)

I don't believe Caesar's death is one we're waiting for.  But combine it all with Ben's 'benevolent-in-hindsight' abduction/adoption of Alex and Ben reestablishes himself as the Really Bad Good Guy.

5.  We saw the hole in the ground that Ben used to call out the Smoke Monster from last season (but we don't know how or why it works.)  When the SM didn't come around, Locke lead Ben and Sun to the temple where the SM lives.  When the SM slithered out of its hiding place I thought Ben was then to become dead-cast #1 ... but no.

The SM gave Ben a quick recap of Alex's life, then Alex herself showed up and ordered Ben to obey Locke's every order.

It seems our bald-headed hero is, indeed, the one the island has been waiting for.

So what did you think?  How will Ben, Locke and Sun get to the other Losties? Will Ben ever remember that it was Sayid who shot him as a boy?  And if the rumors are true, which two will not make it to May sweeps? 

Lemme know!

I don't get it.

At first glimpse Alien Trespass appears to be a parody of 1950's era sci-fi thrillers. Then, after you realize that no one is telling any jokes, it appears to be some kind of homage ... then after a few more minutes you feel you are actually watching a real 1950s era sci-fi thriller, with a brighter sheen and very few thrills.

Alien Trespass tells a story you have seen dozens of times before. A spaceship crashes in a small town where the teens know what's going on, but the police don't seem to care. A monster has escaped the ship, and has started killing everyone in it's path, leaving behind small puddles of ooze.

Eric McCormack plays an astronomer whose curiosity leads him to the ship. While peeking inside his body is taken over by the alien pilot who needs a human appearance to he can hunt down the monster and save the earth.

The film is preceeded with a couple of old 'newsreels' to set the mood, including one giving the history of the film. It turns out Alien Trespass is actually a sci-fi classic from the 50s that was never released because of a disagreement between the studio and the star. The head of the studio threatens to destroy all copies and the negative, but apparently one survived because … here it is.

For all the effort the director put into making the film look and feel like sci-fi films of old, there are some modern day touches that ruin the effect. Rather than swinging the spaceship on a string, the flight is computer generated. Instead of setting off a firecracker on a miniature set, the explosion from the ship’s crash looks real, and the rear-projections that was standard for driving scenes are replaced with green-screen backgrounds that give the same effect, but are no more convincing.

The fun thing about classic sci-fi films (especially the really bad ones) is that 1. The people who made them took their jobs very seriously and 2. They don't age well. So while audiences may have been excited to see a single-eyed slimy creature with deadly tentacles being controlled by (sometimes) unseen fishing line, 50 years later the films become a 'man, I can't believe I ever thought this was good' experience. That’s why the genre is so ripe for parody (Mars Attacks, Monsters vs. Aliens), and you forgive their creators because ‘they didn’t know any better.’

But we know better now.

P.S. The Alien Trespass website has an 8-minute featurette explaining that the film was actually found in a construction site, and that the star of the film is actually Erik McCormack's grandfather.