Final Destination, WHAT WAS I THINKING?

On the plus side of things the NFL is starting to show its beautiful self to us and I cannot wait for it to consume my Sundays and Mondays from here until December.

I saw Final Destination 18, or whatever we're on and it was your typical gory clusterfuck. I laughed quite a bit, and enjoyed myself because I thought of it as a huge joke and the 3-D was really cool actually. It's awesome to see a bunch of crazy stuff fly at you, it's a great experience. However I do have to mention paying 2 bucks to rent the stupid glasses was not fair. I would not see the movie unless in the crazy 3-D I saw it in. The movie has all kinds of continuity errors, but don't read into it too far and you can enjoy yourself.

True Blood is ridiculous when you think about the premise and about all the things that happen on a regular basis, but it is SUPER entertaining. HBO is just bringing the wood on new series, meaning it is not for kids. Hung is good, Entourage is quality again, I'm pretty excited for the new detective show with Jason Bateman and Zach Galifinakis, new Curb Your Enthusiasm starts with Larry being single, Sunday is AWESOME. Random rant about HBO is doneZO.

MLB is picking up pretty good and the playoff series are going to be unreal. Who would want to face the Giants throwing Lincecum and Cain back-to-back with a chance of Zito being renewed. Dodgers and Phillies seem really tough and the Cardinals are hitting and pitching as strong as ever. The AL is tough as always with the Yankees playing just unreal, the Red Sox are always tough, the Angels can hit the ball extremely well, and the Tigers are just going to get shit-kicked in the first round unless Verlander pitches a couple of gems.

Crazy prediction with not much sanity involved: Cardinals over the Angels in 6.

More randomness is sure to follow.

Inglorious Basterds

I bought into the standard Tarantino hype and checked out Inglorious Basterds on Friday. I was impressed, or in complete awe more accurately, by the performance of Christopher Waltz as a sadistic Colonel in the German SS. He effortlessly switches between languages, German, French, English, then finally Italian to show off. He is the star of the film and probably commands the most screen time. Everyone else is very good with props to Pitt, Diane Kruger, and relatively uknown by this guy Shosanna Dreyfuss. The acting is very good, the story is very interesting and doesn't attempt to be anything close to historically accurate, which plays to its benefit. It is far from an action movie, but does have BRUTAL scenes of action depicted.

It takes a Guy Ritchie approach in telling many complex stories separately before weaving it all together in climactic fashion. It's hard to be disappointed in the film, though it is very long at around 2.5 hours. It's not boring at any point, but there is a lot of storytelling to get you in tune with the characters and their stories. I'll recommend seeing it in theaters, but I doubt that you'll run out and buy the DVD.

Bottom line: 8.3ish out of 10, worth seeing once for sure.

Also I saw Rocknrolla again, a real Guy Ritchie film since its on cable now. It's a very good film that weaves a bunch of stories together, shocking I know, in a very effective manner as always. It's not as good as Snatch, the gold standard of Guy Ritchie movies, but it is worth a viewing. A lot of star power with Tom Wilkenson, Gerard Butler, Thandia Newton, Jeremy Piven, and LUDA (Chris Bridges) making appearances. Typical Ritchie gangsters get wrapped up with an ultra-rich Russian gangster and hilarity, hijinks, brutality emerge when the Russians money and lucky painting get stolen. It certainly isn't boring or hard to follow, so if you're checking out movies on-demand give it a roll of the dice.

Bottom line: 7.4 out of 10, higher if you REALLY like Guy Ritchie, or hate Madonna.

Funny People & The Hurt Locker

It's been awhile and I've seen Funny People and Hurt Locker.

Funny People is Adam Sandler going back to old Adam Sandler. He's vulnerable and funny while making it look really easy. Seth Rogan is well cast as his sidekick/chauffeur/butler/writer and has some very funny stand-up during it. Jonah Hill is funny in a minor role and Judd Apatow's kid's are both pretty funny. Eric Bana is very good as the husband of Sandler's former flame. The story is basically Adam Sandler's character finding out he has a rare blood disease/ leukemia and feeling empty that his fame/fortune hasn't brought him many friends/ a family. He goes back to doing stand-up with Rogan touring/ writing for him. They become friends, Sandler tries to get back the girl he loved but cheated on when fame got him women throwing themselves at him. Movie drags on for 30-45 minutes too long, but I still thought it was deep and pretty funny. More serious than I thought it was going to be, but humerous enough to keep it light and bearable.

Bottom Line: 7.2 out of 10 (see it on video/ cable)

Hurt Locker- Really wasn't as great as I thought it was going to be, which I why I hate going into films with high expectations. It is a really "gritty" film that is filmed beautifully on location. I don't buy the performance from Anthony Mackie's performance as Sgt. Sanborn, who is a major character. Brian Geraghty (thanks IMDB) also isn't too special as the nancy-ass of the specialist group. Jeremy Renner carries the film as psychotic/ maverick renegadish staff Sergeant Will Ames. The movie is a great display of how rough it is over in Iraq, it's very well done in that respect. It keeps your interest as every day brings a new challenge and tough decisions with it. I recommend seeing it, but leave all the "best film in recent memory" stuff alone.

Bottom Line: 8.1 out of 10 (Check it out in theatres, though it's a limited release)

I want to reiterate how much I liked The Watchmen. I saw it again and REALLY want to buy the director's cut when it's reasonably priced. It has a ton of story compacted into 2 hrs. 45 minutes and does a great job of carrying the story along. It develops a bunch of characters and advances a complex story, both incredibly tough things to do without planning a 3 movie epic. Very good acting added with great effects and an amazing story make this film worth seeing.

The Brewers are solidly screwing the pooch and have just decided JJ Hardy's sub Prince Fielder's weight, (probably sub Mike Rivera's weight as well) was no longer good enough to be on the squad. What sucks about this is now his trade value is bouncing along the bottom of what it has been, and seeing as Escobar is "the future", we're going to get cents on the dollar for a former all-star shortstop. Teams without money can't afford mistakes like that and Bill Hall making $8.1 million next year for not playing on the Brewers. Kendall has to be taking a seat to Mike Rivera, who can actually hit in the catcher spot. The Brewers can still make a run assuming Bush gets healthy and maybe Suppan gets healthy and stops throwing BP to hitters. The lineup can be very solid if Lopez, McGehee, Fielder, Braun, Cameron, Hart, Counsell, and Rivera in it. Escobar could be a solid player and assuming he can hit a little bit in the bigs, he'll be out there splitting time with Craig Counsell, the consummate veteran.

Hopefully the Packers' sign Vick, I'd buy a jersey immediately. What's the worst that can happen? It's Green Bay, he can't do anything THAT STUPID. Rodgers gets hurt and we are worse than the Lions with Flynn or Brohm trying to play QB. Vick would give us a dynamic offensive threat that they ABSOLUTELY do not have. What could possibly go wrong with Vick playing on Green Bay? The guy is begging for a job and can be signed for 1/40th of his previous salary. He is still Mike Vick, the dude who made Madden 2005 almost unplayable with his athleticism.