rizzo-217 Reviews

Friday Night Lights (2006–2011)

Touchdown for Friday Night Lights ( Part Two by Klzim)

[6/10 · 21 February 2007]

The acting in this show may be good, but the cinematography is a little off. The camera will zoom in on parts that are not necessary. It makes me dizzy to watch and is hard to follow sometimes because the shot will be blurry. I agree completely with Rob Owen from the Pittsburgh Gazette when he says, "Scenes at the football game are rough and violent, filmed in a close-up, visceral style that makes NFL games on TV appear tame by comparison." When there are scenes from a football practice, the camera shots are quick and bounce around everywhere. I feel that David Boyd, the Director of Photography, is trying to create the element of a realistic football practice; football practices are fast-paced and full of activity. While Boyd is trying to create this element, he is making his viewers nauseous.

The story lines in this show need to be rethought and rewritten. There are not many progresses in the story lines. It is like watching a soap opera, where a viewer has to watch a weeks' worth of episodes to get only one important event. For the most part, Friday Night Lights contains one important event per episode. In addition, the "fairy tale ending" of each episode, needs to be rethought. Every episode that I have watched has ended with the Panthers winning the game and everyone is happy. For example, the episode in which Smash (the star running back) plays horrible and Tim steps up his game to lead the team to victory. If the writers want to keep their viewers in suspense and wanting to watch the next week, they need to create a cliffhanger ending for each episode.

Because important events happen in each storyline in every episode, the show needs to be watched in sequence. Like many television dramas, a viewer is likely to be lost if they do not watch each episode in sequence. A viewer will be lost jumping into Friday Night Lights because important information is revealed in each episode. I began to watch this show in the middle of the season, and I am unclear about what is going on in many of the story lines. I jumped in on an episode in which Jason was suing Coach Taylor. I was puzzled by why Jason would sue the coach, but I later found out that there has been a football accident. After watching three more episodes, I still have not figured out what the football accident is or how it involves Coach Taylor. Having a show that is not in sequence will make it hard to gain viewers. A person may start watching the show, be confused about what is going on, get frustrated, and never watch the show again.

Although the show has its low points, I believe it will last for at least one more season. The story lines in the show are not all based on football; therefore, viewers will most likely get hooked on them. For example, Grey's Anatomy is a show based on the medical field, but the millions of viewers that tune in every week are not hooked on the medical element; they are hooked on the story lines and drama. People get hooked on the plots and story lines of the drama, not just the framework. Tim Goodman from the San Francisco Chronicle takes the words right out of my mouth when he says, "If you don't care for football, or high school football in particular, or even the concerns of a bunch of high school kids and their fanatical grown-ups -- which plenty of viewers probably don't -- Berg makes you care. That's why "Friday Night Lights" is more than just a surprise in a crowded field of mostly good dramas."

Goodman, Tim. "Friday Night Lights" defies expectations and has something to offer all comers." San Francisco Chronicle 2 Oct. 2006. 12 Jan. 2007 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgif=/c/a/ 2006/10/02/DDGPOLFJMH1.DTL&type=tvradio.

Owen, Rob. "Friday Night Lights' isn't just about the gridiron." Pittsburgh Post- Gazette 11 Oct. 2006. 4 Jan. 2007 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06274/726170- 237.stm.

Grey's Anatomy (2005– )

Drama with the Human Anatomy

[10/10 · 21 February 2007]

Grey's Anatomy has touched the hearts of people everywhere. With its third season airing, it has moved from a late night show to a shine on primitive. It embraces the feel of a soap opera while including some of the most interesting medical findings. This show appeals to many ages and genders, and hopefully will for many years to come. The show draws you in with its fresh faced cast and the mayhem within Seattle Grace Hospital. It is a cross between Days of our Lives and ER, which makes it a sure hit.

Grey's Anatomy first aired two years ago as a follow up program to the most popular Desperate Housewives. People would tune in every now and then if they were hoping to stay up late, but it wasn't until its second season did the rave for Grey's start. This rave made the show a must see and even move to a more convenient time at 9:00 pm on Thursdays. Now people can't get enough Grey's Anatomy and it's even rated the "Best Television Series at the 63rd annual Golden Globe Awards in 2006." (TV.com)

One of the reasons why Grey's Anatomy is so popular is due to its fresh- faced cast. Meredith Gray (played by Ellen Pompeo) is a promising intern who seems to be a little distracted by the fact that she is head over heals with one of the residents. Meredith has high expectations from the staff at Seattle Grace due to her very successful mother being a head surgeon and legend there. "She seems unsure of herself, worrying about being able to survive the torture of being an intern, but when it comes down to it she always knows what to do"(Crosby). Feeling the pressure from the staff and finding out that her newest love is still married, she can only hope that she can escape all this when she gets home. It would be easier to escape if she didn't live with her two best friends and fellow interns George and Lizzie (played by T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl).

Meredith, George, Izzie, along with fellow interns Alex and Christina are all assigned to resident Dr. Bailey, widely known by the viewers as the Nazi. Interns are supposed to be taking the learning out of the books and into the hospital. This seems to be quite a task for this group. Not only has Meredith had sex with a resident, so has Christina Yang (played by Sandra Oh). Christina is a strong- minded intern who has a lot to say about everything. She has always been the best at what she does and that is what makes her so attracted to Preston Burke (played by Isaiah Washington). Christina and Preston's relationship is always a little odd but they seem to make it work.

The producers of this show do an exceptional job with the editing in this show. It seems like they know exactly when the right time is to throw in a piece of film that needs to be used. Trying to put things in the show when two people are not there together seems like one of the main things that the producers know how to do well in this show. If you take for example last episode (Drowning on Dry Land) they didn't really have a real boat that was crashing into the dock it was more copied and pasted and put into the scene, not only did the boat look fake but so did the smoke and the fire coming from the boat. So the editing in this show is well done, you have to really pay attention to even notice that the smoke and fire looked fake, but most of the time you won't notice. The producers seem to do editing in that kind of way and also in the everyday life at the hospital even if it's putting something into a seen with Derek and Meredith or perhaps Christina and Burke. The producers have shown that they can do a lot especially by doing a medical TV show. Doing a TV show with a lot of procedures and equipment is not always easy to just jump into the set and put on an actors face, it takes time. Take for example when Izzie is drilling holes into the mans brain on the last episode (Drowning on Dry Land) you cant tell me that anyone can just jump into her shoes and do that, that was just amazing the way they did that scene, and that just goes to prove that the acting and editing in this show are astonishing.

In the middle of the third season drama and suspense are high. Love is being thrown around everywhere while people are trying to get through every day life. Old secrets keep coming up and new secrets are being formed. We have no clue how these new relationships will turn out and what new surgery will be performed. In the life of these interns, it's not the surgery they are worried about; it's the crazy drama that is awaiting the interns when they wake up.

"Grey's Anatomy Show and Episode Reviews-Grey's Anatomy Ratings – TV. Com." TV.com 20 Feb. 2007. http://www.tv.com/greys-anatomy/show/24440/summary.html

Crosby, Cari "Grey's Anatomy: Season One." Being there Media. 1 Feb. 2007 http://beingtheremag.com/reviewdvd.php?id=220&issue=17.

Memento (2000)

A Movie that makes you think

[8/10 · 12 February 2007]

When I first decided that I was going to watch this movie and try to get into it i thought that I was never going to enjoy it. But to my surprise it was more than amazing. The movies producers did an awesome job at re-doing scenes so that they would be explained. At first in the beginning when Leonard went to the hotel and he couldn't remember anything that he had said to the hotel guy the night before i was a little bit confused. Other than that I started to catch on after Leonard had met Natalie at the restaurant. I love how they used tattoo's as a way for him to remember things. It's something that i've never really seen done in a movie before. This movie was a great hit and will probably be a movie that I recommend to other people! Watch it its great.