Why would anyone see Eat Pray Love? I saw because I’m a critic, its what I do. But why would anyone have any interest in seeing this film?

In Eat Pray Love, Julia Roberts stars as Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman who, after being fed up with ordinary life in the big city, goes on a year trek around the world. This true story is the tale of one woman trying to find her soul.

Eat Pray Love is well-made film. It is directed with skill by Ryan Murphy and the acting is excellent. Julia Roberts plays her usual character but the real standout is Richard Jenkins. After an Oscar-nominated turn as the lead in The Visitor, the seasoned veteran is back to supporting roles, and this one is fantastic. The film is also shot well, and the four main locations (New York, Italy, India, and Bali) are all shown beautifully. There is no question that this film is a professional Hollywood production, but at the same time there is nothing extraordinarily special about the filmmaking.

What is really worth talking about is the story that is told in the film. Mrs. Gilbert obviously had some issues she needed sorting out, and this journey apparently did a lot for her. Good for her. Now why should I care about watching it? Honestly, I have no clue what the appeal to the film is. Such an introspective story is well-suited to a book because, in a memoir, the author can go on at length about his or her thoughts and feelings. This does not work in cinema, however. Film is a visual medium and therefore showing is always better than telling. In order for such a one-character character piece to function properly, the audience must be able to empathize with the protagonist and this is the key flaw in Eat Pray Love.

Eat Pray Love was not painful to sit through, but nothing really happened, or at least nothing we could see. By the end of the movie, Gilbert has had a large change take place, but we’ve missed it. The third act saves this film from being a complete waste of time. After rejecting her ordinary husband in America, Gilbert meets a Brazilian (Javier Bardem) and struggles with her fear of attachment. This part of the story worked the best, just because there was another character who could interact with the protagonist in a meaningful way.

Eat Pray Love is a film that lacks conflict. Although I am sure that a soul-searching trek across the globe can do wonders for one’s life, it does not make for a good film. If you really want to experience what this movie wants you to experience, go travel around the world instead.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

While the crew of the Destiny is gradually getting used to life aboard ship, back home on Earth the chain of command is getting restless. They have soldiers waiting in shifts at the ancient communications stones, but there has not yet been a peep from the Destiny.

Further agitating his current dislike for the way Col. Young has chosen to take control and break communications with Earth for a while, Col. Telford decides to frequently visit Col. Young’s estranged wife. In an earlier episode, the communications stones were interrupted while Young was controlling Telford’s body in the middle of making love to Young’s wife. Telford is now trying to befriend her to get back at Young.

Over dinner, Telford tells Young’s wife that he considers her a friend, and as such, feels compelled to tell her some things about her husband, Col. Young…

Aboard the Destiny, Young asks Johansen to do psychological evaluations of the crew as many of them are growing very restless. Meanwhile, Dr. Rush is having the soldiers search more of the ship for supplies and information. While searching, Greer and his men come across a chair room, much like the ones from Stargate Atlantis and SG1.

Scott and Camile use the stones to go back to Earth for a while where each takes an opportunity to catch up with loved ones.

In the chair room, Young and rush argue about using the device. According to Rush, it may contain the master code to the Destiny’s core systems, allowing the crew to have complete access to the ship. Young reminds him of a similar chair that Col. O’Neill once sat in with the SG1 team, however, and that it nearly killed him. For the time being, he tells Rush that no one may sit in it but he is free to study it.

On Earth, Scott goes home to find a letter from the girl he talked about in the pilot episode. He got a girl pregnant before leaving and thought she had had an abortion. On the contrary, he finds she could not go through with it and is instead raising the child herself. She named the child Matthew, presumably after Scott.

While studying the chair, Rush discovers a number of gates in the system. He comes across a planet that is very much like the planet where the Icarus base the team originally came from to become aboard the Destiny. It will take them the better part of a year to reach it, but Rush believes that with the help of the chair they can find a way to do it. Young shuts him down, however, keeping the chair off-limits.

After Scott and Camile power down the communications stones and come back to the Destiny, Scott has a dream while sleeping. It seems as though he is seeing flashes from Telford’s memory; More specifically, flashes of him having dinner with Young’s wife. When he tells Col. Young about the dreams, Young doesn’t seem to be surprised.

Using the communications stones himself, he catches Telford at his wife’s home and confronts them. His wife tells him that Telford said Young was still sleeping with Johansen and Young rushes to attack Telford. Before he could, however, Telford made a call to presumably disconnect the communications stone.

When Young awakens, Eli comes to him with information regarding the new planet that Rush claims to have discovered. After a little digging he finds that the planet doesn’t exist at all and Rush planted the data himself.

After a confrontation, Rush says he planted the data to prove that there may be more information like it that is real if only he could use the chair to find it. Finally, Young says Rush can use it, but only Rush. Because he doesn’t honestly know what it will do, Rush backs down.

Using the identity of a doctor aboard the Destiny, Young manages to use the communications stone to again come back to earth. This time, he manages to beat the living hell out of Telford as he is leaving the home of Young’s wife.

As the episode comes to a close, the team continues to try and continue life aboard the ship. Rush and Greer’s men continue to search the ship for more supplies and knowledge as the curtain falls on “Life.”

2008 can be said to be a year plagued by tragedy, disappointment and shame. Just like at the movies, the small screen in general didn’t exactly shine this year. Very few movies could even be considered watchable and many shows with an established following, like the hit NBC show Heroes, saw nearly a 50% drop in viewership. So those who managed to make their way to the Top 10 fought through the muck and deserve to be on this list. Number 1 is considered the best show of 2008 in my books.

10. Lost – Lost was considered by many viewers the best show of 2008 but since this position was assumed around May I can officially say now that it is a bogus prize. Lost, while struggling to find its roots between creepy and just too much going on at once, is in concept a very good show. J. J. Abrams is just what everyone thinks he is, a genius.  The man could wrap a warm turd in tinfoil, present it to studios, and receive money for it. Lost, while not completely a turd, can frequently smell like one. The show’s biggest miss is in moving the show too much; supposedly, the island is movable. Locke is dead, Jack is obsessed with going back even though he has the beautiful Evangeline Lily to mack on, and then there’s that scary out-of-nowhere cabin. Lost‘s high point is easily the acting which, in my opinion, can be seen as top notch. Matthew Fox did a fine job as Jack in the previous season playing through the drunk and stubborn phase. During the course of more than one episode I found myself becoming teary-eyed or near bawling, like when he was on the edge of suicide. Lost gets the Number 10 spot because it gives fans questions and answers some of them – which in the eyes of some can be a problem, but keeps some die-hard fans coming back for more.

9. Avatar: The Last Airbender – Call me childish, call me immature, call me anything that will make you sleep at night but not many cartoon are so epic that I actually find myself saying, “Wow” over and over and over. The final four-episode arc “Sozin’s Comet” is probably one of the most powerful endings to a series I’ve ever seen. Aang unleashes the full power of his Avatar abilities to fight the Fire Lord which creates massive destruction across the Fire Nation. Aang literally becomes so powerful that he wipes out all the Fire Lord’s powers and leaves him powerless for the Nations to take pity on him. The act of completely rendering the Fire Lord useless isn’t just heroic; it symbolizes his determination to not fall into the category of murderer, as he had the option of completely obliterating the Fire Lord. The ending, while chaotic, as 3 major action scenes were happening at once, was very satisfying.

8. Battlestar Galactica – Ever have something you waited so long for that was so big that you just couldn’t stand to wait any longer? Then after all those long moments of waiting you get it and it turns out to be something you didn’t picture? Well, welcome to the season finale of Battlestar Galactica. The build up and the let down were so huge that I physically and mentally couldn’t believe it. I shook in horror as the ‘hope’ that Starbuck built up for the Colonial Fleet, that this safe haven or Earth, turns out to be just a planet shattered by a nuclear war. They found their safe haven but it doesn’t have the trees or the beautiful animals they were looking for. Some of the highlight moments from last season were the Colonial Fleet finally destroying the Resurrection Hub, the infamous fight between Tigh and Adama, and, well, any scene that incorporated Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff or Grace Park.

7. 30 Rock – Ever since some of the staple comedians from Saturday Night Live left, I’ve never been interested in the show. It was mostly filled with bizzare and unintelligent humor that usually involved physical humor that never made a lick of sense to me. Never once did it seem like anybody ever sat down and thought of a truly funny joke to say. However, a woman by the name of Tina Fey has saved that show and figured if she can save a show from falling apart, she can create a show. 30 Rock is brilliant, I mean flat-out brilliant and ‘08 has confirmed this. Fey went as far out as bringing in big names like Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Martin. Not only does the writing get better but the acting seems to get better and better. Alec Baldwin is brilliant as Jack Donaghy, an egotistical moron, and in the episodes “Cooter” and “Sandwhich Day” show off his sarcastic and fluid humor. Episodes “MILF Island” and “Episode 210” are some of the show’s best episodes.

6. Burn Notice – It’s not often that a show leaves me demanding a  comeback by simply screaming at the TV. The second season of Burn Notice can simply be summarized in one simple word, Amazing. Jeffrey Donovan is in every way the spy version of Jack Bauer. Donovan pulls off some of the best narration work and acting in 2008 that should be considered highly (and I stress highly) deserving of an Emmy. Not only is the acting more stellar than in its previous season, but the writing is way more fluid. Action sequences roll together and blend very well with the narration and wry humor presented by the trio of Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell. Their chemistry is flawless in every way. The addition of Tricia Helfer as the sexy and mysterious Carla creates a new obstacle for Donovan’s Michael which can adding new suspense to an already thrilling plot.

5. Life - Another show that seriously can say it gets better as time goes on. Damian Lewis continues in his second season as the awkward yet charming detective, Charlie Crews. Life shows in its second season that even though its viewership is down, the show is not going to lay down and die. 2008′s biggest episodes, “Find Your Happy Place”, “Trapdoor” and “Black Friday” all show great writing and a great display of character development in both Reese and Crews. The addition of the relationship between Reese and Captain Tidwell (the greasy yet funny Donal Logue who makes his debut this season) helps. This relationship, while being awkward, adds even more funny (nothing like a police captain being denied a bank loan). Crews’s best friend Ted is now in jail and while this subplot seemed to be downright unneeded it has actually turned humorous. Crews’s inmate friends help him by protecting Ted, which adds an added comedic angle when people try to take down Ted. Life, in my opinion, has some wiggle room where it can easily move into that Number 2 or 3 spot but we need to see some more interesting villains before we make that judgment.

4. Leverage – Rarely does a show come on the air that I just cannot stop watching. One that has this season is Leverage. A cute and quirky comedy of the best thieves in the business turning from the dark side to the light side to help everyday victims of unfairness. The closest comparison is probably the Ocean’s trilogy and while it does dance around the thieves’ arena it is nothing like Ocean’s. This might catch you off guard, but Leverage is actually much better than the Ocean’s movies. Timothy Hutton plays that George Clooney role of the planner and let’s just say he does it with better style and acting. The show isn’t just thieving and laughing. It also has some gadgets, some action and mystery-solving. Here you can watch a show for 40 minutes and find out what happened exactly in the last two and be completely shocked. Leverage does that and with a cast of nobodies (excepting Timothy Hutton). Easily, the life of the show is Hardison, the computer whiz who drops a good joke with superb delivery every time he is on the screen. I see big things coming from this show and I can easily see this show taking home some big Emmys down the road.

3. Psych - The most underrated television show on the planet. It’s easy to overlook a comedy that thrives on  pop culture references and jokes that play comically immature characters against one another – and that is a mistake. Psych is a prime example of an ensemble of actors with the perfect chemistry working together. It has a completely fresh premise and every episode is executed with an energy that pulls the viewer along. Unfortunately, Psych now faces competition from a plagiarist, The Mentalist. The Mentalist is just a more viewed version of Psych that CBS has put up. It’s the same thing but with weaker chemistry and mechanics. Psych, with every episode, will bring something great – Gus and Shawn pointing fingers at each other or Shawn  making up new pet names for Gus, or the members of the Santa Monica P.D. Psych just does it better for me than The Mentalist.

2. Bones – A show I always seem to watch when I’m eating and I always think to myself that’s a bad idea.  It’s all gory and its all great. People who stopped watching Bones because of the whole Ross and Rachel theme between Agent Seely Booth (the wonderful David Boreneaz) and Dr. Constance Brennan (the sexy and well-picked Emily Deschanel) will be happy to know that every episode they move closer to that point where the fan shakes their head and says the magical words, “They’re going to have sex!”. Bones is easily one of the most enjoyable television shows of the year. The chemistry is beyond steaming between Booth (who adds the heroic yet cocky and sarcastic elements) and Bones (who adds the strict, by the book and robotic feeling to the show). The best part of Bones is knowing that every episode, someone has died (unpleasantly!), and yet the crime will be solved expertly and with humor. Probably the best addition to the new season is John Francis Daley who portrays psychologist Dr. Lance Sweets who brings a childish angle to the humor of the show. Bones does what its competitor CSI does but better, adding scientific detachment to ensemble chemistry and dry humor to entertain a mass audience. Bones simply delivers.

1. Chuck – Probably the best show since the series finale of the legendary NBC show Friends. Chuck isn’t just the best show for one reason, not two reasons or three reasons but because of all reasons. It’s the funniest show on television, with its quick little references (such as the infamous DMC DeLorean, Lost’s Flight 815 and Call of Duty 4); hot chemistry, as Sarah and Chuck constantly smolder on-screen together – and, last but not least, the action – quick gunplay with great comedy. Chuck appeals because it delivers to everyone, it has something anybody and everybody will like. It’s predictable enough so you know where it’s going but unpredictable enough that it keeps you guessing as to how it will get there. Last season brought some of the best episodes I’ve ever seen on a television show. “Chuck Versus Santa Claus” was a massive twist that was very well written and directed. My all-time favorite is “Chuck Versus The DeLorean” which showed how amazingly crappy the now-infamous DMC DeLoreans are. I’m especially fond of Chuck because of the beautiful and highly talented Yvonne Stravhoski, who plays out the perfect American accent and adds that essential eye candy to the role. This is fine because she can act very well. Probably one of the best casting picks is Adam Baldwin as Agent John Casey who is just downright sarcastic and freaking cool. They make him seem so tough that he hates Chuck and yet trying to kill him almost causes him a nervous breakdown. I’m sure Josh Schwartz and McG both will turn their heads to each other in ten years and say, “Boy, we created one of the best television shows in TV history,” and in ten years I’ll be nodding my head with them.