Movieline Online

THE FLICKS: Leonard Maltin, watch your ass! Pardon my language, but Universal’s Legacy Series, featuring all-new transfers of the original Dracula and Frankenstein are comprehensive enough to make anyone feel cocky. After sitting though two-discs worth of material for each film, I consider myself qualified to teach a class on the early years of Universal Studios. Which I suppose is exactly the point of these special editions, which follow last Halloween’s bargain-priced collection of most of the studios monster pantheon. Here we get a much more in-depth look at the creation of two films that shaped Hollywood, spawning sequel after sequel within their own studio and inspiring an entire genre within cinema itself. And although some of the extras are making a repeat appearance, there’s enough new material (not to mention stunning restoration work) to make each release a safe investment for horror collectors. Tod Browning’s Dracula often gets a bum rap, burdened with the director’s stage-b...

THE SHOW: Lost is the sort of show that could have easily become a victim of its own overexposure. Between the magazine covers, book tie-ins, and constant media barrage, season two had the weight of the world on its shoulders before the first episode hit the air. Part of that is the fault of its creators (J.J. Abrahms being the most notable...also responsible for Alias and Mission Impossible 3) who ran the risk of Twin Peaking themselves into a corner by not resolving enough of the show’s mysteries. And part of it is because season one just happened to be the best season of television ever put on the air. Period. Stranding upwards of 50 survivors of a plane crash on an island inhabited by mysterious “others” and a malfunctioning (?) defense system, cluttered with backstories that stretch for years and intertwine characters, fates, and lottery winnings, it’s safe to say that if you’re coming late to the Lost party, you have some catching up to do. But that’s OK, because there’s never be...