Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Movie Review: Cast Away - Tom Hanks Got Lost First

Laura Grow — Fri, 4 May 2007 07:48:18 EDT

Lost had a strong start in 2004. An international group of seemingly ordinary travelers crashes into a deserted island and has to survive. The focus has changed more than once in the past three seasons, but the core premise is the same – making a home in the wilderness, and either staying sane (if the survivor is alone) or rebuilding society (if a group is stranded). It’s appealing, and has been for ages. Robinson Crusoe capitalized on it; so did Survivor. But neither of these managed to get a volleyball its own entry on IMDb.Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away (2000) did just that. Tom Hanks as Chuck had wonderful chemistry with the ball – more so, in fact, than he did with Helen Hunt as Kelly. There were no wasted scenes, and no wasted energy. The most powerful moments were the most understated, as when Chuck and Wilson discussed a suicide test run.If you haven’t seen the film, or if it’s been a while, here’s a summary: Chuck is harried, time-obsessed FedEx employee. His job is to make sure that deliveries arrive on time, worldwide. Time and timeliness are his Thing, capital T. So of course, when it’s most important for him to arrive home on time and make a life with his true love, the plane he’s in crashes on a deserted island. This island is truly deserted: no beach resort, no village of Others. Just a few scraggly trees, a few caves and cliffs, and the ocean. Chuck has to make fire and shelter, and collect food and water – Lost fans and Scouts may cringe at his efforts and priorities, but Chuck is a man of the late 20th century, and his lifestyle doesn't allow room for outdoor survival skills. Chuck eventually goes against his FedEx instincts and begins to use the packages from his delivery plane as tools. Enter Wilson the Volleyball. Chuck does manage to appease the type-A aspects of his personality; he devises a sundial calendar on the wall of his cave. He may not be able to deliver his packages overnight, but he can still tell the date. (Skip the next three paragraphs if you don’t want to be spoiled.) Chuck is eventually rescued and brought home, where he reunites with the love of his life, who has quite reasonably assumed him dead and moved on. To cope with this new version of his old life, he ends the movie carrying out a mission to hand-deliver replacements of the tools that saved his life on the island. The sanity doesn’t always hold completely. In the aforementioned suicide scene, which is both powerful and understated, Chuck argues with Wilson about suicide, whether it would be worth it, and why Chuck failed in his attempt. It’s more heart-wrenching than the actual suicide attempt would have been on-screen, and it’s just a man talking to a volleyball. The transition back to civilization is jarring and awkward. While that is appropriate given the situation, the awkwardness is less that of a return to normal life, and more that of Hanks and Hunt just not clicking. It doesn’t feel like Kelly grieved and moved on. It feels like she never cared that much about him in the first place, even though the first act makes it clear that she did.The film lacks a score for much of the action, but it isn’t noticeable until it returns. Not even the soundtrack provides emotion on the island; every ounce of soul comes from Hanks and Hanks alone. One might expect that part of the movie to drag along because of this, but it actually speeds by. Cast Away is definitely worth at least one viewing. When it’s good, it’s excellent, and when it’s less good, it still entertains. Wilson remains a cultural icon, and Lost fans will appreciate the common themes – even as they berate Chuck for not being up on his survival skills.

Laura Grow is a blogger and freelance copy-editor in Philadelphia. Online she can be found at Reviewing Whatever. In real life, she can be found near Beta the Greyhound.