What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

Quote: odiousgambit

"Deus ex Machina" plot device

Katherine Cowley provides some questions writers should ask of their themselves to avoid reliance on Deus ex Machina in fantasy or sci-fi. I think they are pretty good way to analyze a fantasy story.

Is someone solving the problem that is not the main character? Is someone else saving the main character? And does this happen near the end of the story?

Why can’t the main character solve the problem or save himself/herself?

Is the person saving the day an important secondary character? Have you properly foreshadowed their relationship with the main character and the tools that they have to save the day?

Can the main character do something earlier to pave the way for them being saved now?

Can I foreshadow this so it doesn’t feel completely random?

Even while being saved by someone else, can the main character be active—doing something and contributing?

If the main character is being saved now, can he/she still solve the main conflict on her own?

Unfortunately, multiple people write for a television series, and they often want to introduce more and more fantastic elements as the series ages and fans drop away.

Quote: odiousgambit

I won't violate your spoiler concerns, but the best theory as to the "Lost" ending is well enough out there not to worry about it maybe?

Lost had an ending? Really? I lost
interest long before they got there.
It became obvious in the last 2
seasons they had no idea what
the show was about or where it
was going. I quit watching.

If someone, never having seen it, wanted to watch "Lost" now, could it be watched with full entertainment value that was with it in the beginning?
There are two movies out there I refuse to discuss for spoiler reasons unless I am talking to someone who has already seen them [neither of them is 'Lost']. It sounds silly but I refuse to even name them fearing someone will start to discuss them. It has to be the case that you haven't seen one of the two , and I have a chance to have you watch it. Prior discussion is some of the worst spoiling you could ever do. Having seen one of them, the other one can't be discussed.

Quote: odiousgambit

If someone, never having seen it, wanted to watch "Lost" now, could it be watched with full entertainment value that was with it in the beginning?

Or?

would they just be bored since 'everyone knows' that either they were dead all along or, if not accepting that, the viewer is just left to decide some other theory?

There are two movies out there I refuse to discuss for spoiler reasons unless I am talking to someone who has already seen them [neither of them is 'Lost']. It sounds silly but I refuse to even name them fearing someone will start to discuss them. It has to be the case that you haven't seen it, and I have a chance to have you watch it. Prior discussion is some of the worst spoiling you could ever do.

Lost ended like 8 years ago. Spoiler tags are not necessary.

I honestly can't believe some people think they were dead all along....? They were not dead all along. Everything on the island actually happened.

The last scene of the series finale took place after every character had died (which was many many many many many years after the events we saw on the island).

Quote: ams288

Lost ended like 8 years ago. Spoiler tags are not necessary.

I honestly can't believe some people think they were dead all along....? They were not dead all along. Everything on the island actually happened.

The last scene of the series finale took place after every character had died (which was many many many many many years after the events we saw on the island).

Any objections to discussing this without spoiler tags? If just one person objects, I'll continue to use them.

Quote: Wizard

Any objections to discussing this without spoiler tags?

How can you spoil the stupidest
show ever on TV.

Quote: Evenbob

How can you spoil the stupidest
show ever on TV.

There are other opinions besides yours.

Quote: odiousgambit

. In the case of that show, similar to having a guy wake up from sleeping at the end and say "it was all a dream"? Boy do I hate that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a science fiction adventure drama (I forget the name) where the guy gets shot down and kept in a coma half way into movie, but you don't find out until the end that the last half of the movie was all in his mind. I don't mind if they take something old and tired and try a new twist.

Quote: Wizard

There are other opinions besides yours.

Here's one:

The end of Lost sucked. Holy f@@k, did it suck. It was really, truly, completely the worst — a mushy, indefensible cop-out that failed to resolve many of the show's central mysteries and seemed to argue against reason in favor of a vaguely defined faith in … what, exactly? Did the writers themselves even know? The show's final episode—and really, its entire final season—was so bad that it has completely rewritten the popular mythology surrounding what was once TV's most popular mythology.

Quote: rxwine

There is a science fiction adventure drama (I forget the name) where the guy gets shot down and kept in a coma half way into movie, but you don't find out until the end that the last half of the movie was all in his mind. I don't mind if they take something old and tired and try a new twist.

We could have a similar discussion about Total Recall.