Jon Schnaars's blog

The box office cooled off a bit this week, which shouldn't come as a surprise. The "Watchmen" build-up had reached almost intolerable levels going into last weekend, and movie goers and industry types all probably just needed a weekend off from feeding at the trough of hype. There were a trio of new releases though, including the "Last House on the Left" remake, which became the sixth horror release of 2009.

For my money, "Lost" has officially gone two for its last two. After a strong episode last week, there was potential for a let down. But they came right back with it, and some things got really interesting.

Episode: "LaFleur"

There's a war coming, John, and if you're not back on the Island, then the wrong side is going to win.

Yeeee-haaaa!

Thus began a pretty wild episode. Let's jump in, shall we?

Episode: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Well, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it was going to. After only six episodes, the survivors look to be largely reunited. The narrative continues to barrel ahead this season, so much so that there's less to time to dig into any one element. What's clear is that the creators have a lot of story they still want to get out.

Episode: "316"

I've made no secret of my love for director David Cronenberg. He's one of only a handful of directors to whom I have given a lifetime pass: if he made it, I'll watch it. (A corollary of that rule being that if he acts in it, as he did with "Nightbreed," I'll watch that too.)

I finally caught up on last week's episode, "The Little Prince," and part of me got a little nervous. It felt a lot like they were rushing through some plotlines and not really moving on others. Not bad per se, but not up to par with the previous couple of episodes. Luckily, things got back on track this week.

Episode: "This Place Is Death"

The series of tubes has been percolating recently with the pending release of a new apocalyptic novel that has taken an nontraditional path to store shelves. British author David Moody took to the internet when he was ready to publish his latest novel, "Hater," and just let it all hang out.

Hollywood continued an impressive opening to 2009 this past weekend with another record total for this, the 6th weekend of the year. With a lineup that most will have forgotten in six months time, it seems that overall quality does matter all that much as folks are turning out to see new releases each week.

Where'd that name come from? How about the Mark 17 nuke, the first hydrogen bomb mass-produced by the U.S. Read on to find out what an A-bomb has to do with the Lost crew.

Episode: "Jughead"

There's an interesting article over at the L.A. Times today from writer Gina McIntyre. It's titled Studios Know: "Horror Sells," and in the piece McIntyre examines the resurgence of horror that is taking place in 2009.