61* AKA the Passion of the Crystal

Billy Crystal is a fanatical Yankees fan. It's impressive to hear him talk about them and his experiences. It's clear he's an autorhity on the subject. 61* follows the magical 1961 season where Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle pursue the sacred home run record of 60 in a single season by the almighty Babe Ruth. It's a portrait driven by Crystal's passion and knowledge, but also his talks with Mickey Mantle about that sacred time. He pulls from that incredible source and all the other sources of history, etc, to really give an amazing look at what was really going on throughout that amazing race to 60. I was impressed when I first saw the film, but the making of featurette took it to another level. Passion projects normally are flawed and overzealous, but somehow this one works out beautifully. Billy's insane love translates beautifully to the screen and the authenticity bleeds out of it. They actually look and play like, not only competent baseball players, but like Maris & Mantle. I was very pleased I sat down to soak this one in again and can't recommend it enough. Looks no further than the future successes Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane enjoyed after their great turns at Maris & Mantle respectively. Bottom line: 8.9 out of 10. Quality is everywhere in this film and it's worth a watch, especially for a history/sports buff. Watch the feature to really get a true appreciation for Billy Crystal's passion for this project.

Basketball Free Agency Insanity

Basketball has had a crazy offseason just because LeBron James returned home to Cleveland via one of my favorite pieces of writing of all time. Now it's a giant chess match of how to get to Cleveland, or how to compete with Cleveland with everyone else in the league. Miami panicked and overpaid severely for Chris Bosh and not as horrifically for an ailing Dwayne Wade. Luol Deng does not replace Lebron James, nor does any other human being on the planet, but Miami is no longer a contender. What I can't figure out is this crazy push to swap Love for Wiggins, but also Anthony Bennett and a first rounder was also getting trotted into the mix. Love for Wiggins is something I can't even get behind for Cleveland, but if the other deal was EVER on the table Flip Saunders would have rented an F-16 to get to Cleveland fast enough to ink that deal. The Cavs can't take the chance on ditching Wiggins for a flawed superstar like Love. Love gets great numbers, but can't defend anyone in the NBA. Wiggins can already defend in the NBA and has the POTENTIAL (Key word in this entire mix) to be a lockdown defender. Touting him as the Pippen to LeBron's Jordan is far-fetched and wrong, but Wiggins certainly has the ability to be a special NBA player. I still won't throw Bennett under the bus yet. He wasn't a star, but he had moments that made you believe he could be a respectable player including back-to-back double-doubles when Cleveland had some issues with injuries and he was given a lot of playing time. He also dumped in far more atrocious games than those fleeting moments of good basketball, but he's not just a throw-in. Cleveland also can't just pitch in first rounders either as, note the gold standard of San Antonio, you will need those picks to be affordable role players, OR if you're VERY good, stars to play alongside your big 3 of LeBron, Irving, Wiggins. Varejao, Waiters, Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Mike Miller, Jerome James, that bench isn't useless either. I think sacrificing a lot of reasonably priced potential stars (Bennett is a real enigma, but who knows) for Love, who will be getting a LOT of money, wouldn't make them prohibitive favorites, and that's the important thing. Love isn't enough to make you think, they can beat the Spurs, or whoever comes out of the West. I think that team still struggles with the Pacers, Wizards, and Bulls in the East. Love would also handicap your free agent potential for the next two year MINIMUM as nobody really knows how the new pending TV deal in two years will change things. The team with Love turns up the offensive potential, but being forced to trot out Irving & Love plus, probably Waiters (I think?) would leave 3 defensive liabilities for James and a fragile Varajao to attempt to cover up and that's impossible against better teams, especially in the playoffs. The T-Wolves need to purge Love before the February deadline and PLENTY can change before that, so I think holding pat is the best course for the Cavs. I just don't see Love making the Cavs an automatic Finals team and the cost is simply too great to roll the dice with that idea.

The Leftovers?

HBO came out firing on this one taking on a drama where 1/200 (not sure actually) of the world's population has disappeared. It's not a "rapture" movie, as some of the people taken were clearly douchers, but there is truly no explanation. The show instead focuses on a town, probably of decent size, but not too large, and how that town keeps moving on despite the craziness that people just disappeared. I recognize a few faces, primarily Amy Brenneman (I think, but I'm not looking it up) and Liv Tyler, but there are no huge stars by any stretch of the imagination. I'm on the fence after a couple episodes as I really have no connection with any character and wouldn't mind all of them shooting it out in the middle of town at this point, so that makes it hard to think I'm going to like this show. It is an interesting take and original, so I will try my best to pay it some just due, but I can't really endorse it at this point. The town is clearly fractured, and they certainly highlight some big parts of it. The sheriff loves to drink and then do stupid things, like shoot stray dogs in the middle of a city street while they feed on a huge deer they mauled to death somehow. There is a weird cult that wears only white clothes and refuses to speak, and despite those OBVIOUS limitations, that cult is growing? There's some random guy who apparently has some powers (Christ-like essentially) that makes no sense to me. I'm still giving it a shot, since besides the new 24 season (thank GOD Jack's back), television is pretty much garbage. Please, some network, save us.

A Bridge On the River Kwai

I always like to watch critically acclaimed older movies. Able to appreciate the excellence of film and ignoring outdated practices and technologies I am usually really pleased. This film highlighted some great Alec Guiness moments that help a younger generation that only knew him as Obi-Won Kenobi appreciate how great of an actor he was. The film follows a prison camp during WWII and the primarily British soldiers involved. Japan is running the camp and Guiness fights their Colonel that runs it (Saito) the entire time. He fights for his officers to not have to work with the rest of the men. Saito is furious the captured men aren't working efficiently to build a bridge he personally needs completed by May 13th or he'll have to kill himself. Guiness is furious that Saito can't figure out to let him and his men run the project to make the bridge superior and efficient. They battle as their wills take the forefront over their men's best interest. An American escapes during this mess to make it back to British command and hopefully be transferred home. Instead he makes it back and is essentially forced into helping the British attempt to blow up the bridge that's being built by their own men. Very interesting story and played beautifully by Guiness especially. It really shows the arrogance of some, especially those in charge, and the insanity of war. Bottom Line: 7.9 out of 10. Excellent in a lot of ways, but I did struggle to get through some of the old-timey things in this one. Guinness' performance is the real highlight here. It did win Best Picture as well, but Guinness is the best part of this entire thing by far.

The Hustler: Paul Newman Gold

I watched the Color of Money with Tom Cruise and 1/4 century older Paul Newman and thought it was very good. When I found out it was a sequel to the Hustler featuring Newman and Jackie Gleason, I knew I needed to see the original. I found it on Starz and DVR'd it since it played at 3am. The movie follows Newman, a pool shark, as he travels a bit to find pool legend Minnesota Fats playing in Des Moines, IA. Newman starts playing and they continue playing high stakes pool for basically a day and some change. You're introduced to George C. Scott's character, who is excellent as all George C. Scott characters all. A very young Pieper Laurie plays Newman's love interest, they bond over having nothing to do but drink and that's the only relationship they have, but it grows from there. Newman debates what to do with himself as pool in the area is drying up since everyone knows he gave Minnesota Fats a run. Scott ends up bankrolling Newman and they start a pool hustling adventure. They move around a bit while Scott pits himself vs. Laurie in a fight for Newman's soul. Newman is fantastic and carries the movie as he needs to as it's essentially a biopic. The final scenes of Newman shooting pool with Gleason again with Scott in the background are excellent, as are their first go-around. It's tragic that Gleason isn't utilized more, he's excellent as Minnesota Fats. Bottom Line: 8.8 out of 10. Excellent movie that shows of Newman's talent in a variety of ways. He's just a great pool player, which is one of the many things highlighted throughout the film. Highly recommend renting this one if you have some time. It's possible it'll find itself on Netflix, or a variety of streaming tools soon as well.

Orange is the New Black: Season 2

Orange is the New Black (ONB from now on) is an interesting show about a female prison who gets visited by Pieper, an affluent, educated, pretty white lady. The show switched quickly from the Pieper pitty show, to really digging into the other characters and season 2 really goes into their backgrounds and it's very good. The cast is very solid and I found out the other day that the captain from Star Trek, I think Voyager (The one with the lady Captain?) plays the great character Red. You'll recognize some of the other characters, but it really is a triumph due to overall strength, not just one character. I strangely thought this show is really good and you actually start caring about the characters and their flaws and problems. It's especially weird since 95% of the show are females in prison (and there is some nudity, so yes, all the stereotypes of women in prison come true). The 2nd season in my opinion is better than the first as the story continues to be less and less about Pieper and even more about the other characters. There's less of Donna from That 70's Show, but she remains a part of it. I certainly think it's worth giving a chance to if you haven't already. Like most shows, give it more than one episode before passing judgement. Strong cast, unique and interesting premise, and boobs, it's a win-win-win.

Thor: The Dark World

The first Thor was a pleasant surprise that added some depth to Thor and his homeworld of Asgaard that was welcome and rather impressive to me. Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo are heavyweights to place as Thor's parents and Hopkins is awesome as Odin. Loki was introduced and is outstanding played by Tom Hiddleston. Somehow they had Natalie Portman play his love interest. Stellan Skaargard plays a crazy scientist, ALL are excellent in the first one. ALL reprise their roles, but for some reason it DOES NOT work in the second go around. It's so weird, but everyone isn't as good really. Idris Elba is if I'm getting technical I suppose. The story follows Thor as he works on bringing peace to the 9 realms Asgaard oversees/rules over essentially. Thor is still in love with Portman and checks on her from afar. Loki is imprisoned and Russo (His Ma) is the only one who cares at all. There is some crazy ancient evil called the Aether that makes no sense and is really half-assedly explained. The ancient race that once tried to rule the 9 realms with THE AETHER, but Odin's Pappy stopped them. A few survived and that's enough to pose a threat on the world thousands of years later. Once again, not explained for shit. There's some general candy-assed fighting and the story as I said before is insanely far-fetched and weird to me, AKA total bullshit. It really seemed unenthusiastic this time around. Bottom Line: 6. 7 out of 10. I was generally unimpressed by this effort after an impressive run of superhero movies that actually were better than expected. Too much weird cosmic stuff going on that is ridiculous. Pretty much ruined this thing for me.

Kick Ass 2

I took a flier on Kick Ass 2 while it was on Cinemax. It catches up with our characters from the original as Hit Girl starts her freshman year, Dave (Kick Ass guy) goes into his Senior year. They bring in some new characters, Chris Mintz-Pleese (Or whatever McGlovin's real name is) reprises his role as the weird and social media obsessed villain. That social media part was the a little scary thinking of all the stupid things, criminal and otherwise, that go on to get a few million Youtube views. That part did bother me and it was smart to show the utilization of social media for good and evil recruiting purposes. Mintz-Plaase relishes the role of villain and obsesses over popularity and the thought of having Kick Ass' death on Youtube. The fighting is alright, but you have no feelings or vested interest the the charcters, good or evil. The first was a little funnier and did a better job of making fun of how ridiculous the "superhero" idea is. Bottom Line: 5.4 out of 10. Had some entertaining moments as Chloe Grace Moretz is still VERY impressive as Hit Girl for all the stunts, etc she pulls off. Her acting doesn't follow her action abilities, but she's still probably the only thing that's going to come from this series. Jim Carrey has a pretty good turn in it. I really wouldn't recommend watching this one.

I Should have Done This A Long Time Ago: Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

I realized upon jumping into Capt. America 2 that I had forgotten much of Capt. America 1, so I'd recommend a quick refresher before jumping into this one because there are some crossover things involved. ANYWAY, the movie joins us in present day where Capt. is ever-ready, but becoming disgruntled with S.H.I.E.L.D. and their lack of trust and forthrightness (doubt that's a word) in their dealings with THE CAPTAIN. The villian known as "The Winter Soldier" is introduced and he's f*($)&^G awesome because he doesn't talk, or really do much besides kill and kick ass. They do a great job of keeping their cards close to their chest during the movie and the REAL plot is pretty much hidden throughout. It's really an interesting plot that's RATHER far-fetched, but tries to explain most of it and that works for me. The action scenes are excellent and I thought the cast was excellent as well. There really weren't a lot of "That's ridiculous" moments, which is my #1 reason action movies piss me off generally. THis is certainly worth watching, even if it's a rental. It was IMPRESSIVE in theatres though, so if you can find this one at the cheap seats or something I'd recommend it. Bottom Line: 8.6 out of 10. Better than expected and hats off to Chris Evans for going from Jake Wyler to Capt. America. This probably pays much better.

Draft Day Depression

Being a Jaguars fan since their 1995 inception has led to very few rewarding, happy times. Their draft record is atrocious and this year I fear similar mistakes occurred. Blake Bortles was clearly the rookie QB the Jaguars wanted and this is actually not a review of his skill, it's the Jaguars inabilities to gauge other teams and their valuations. Bortles wasn't the consensus #1 QB, the pick directly after the Jaguars (Cleveland Browns #4) was traded for the #8 overall pick, an unprotected first round pick next year (Buffalo Bills= Almost certainly a top ten) plus another 4th rounder. My thoughts were that Bortles could certainly be available at #9 and an additional first round pick next year (the 4th rounder wouldn't hurt either) should certainly be worth trading down 5 spots. Instead the Browns made first round waves this year by getting their desired CB & QB AND secured a positive outlook next year. Could the Jaguars have done something similar? I'd certainly think the Bills offer would have landed at the Jags feet just like it did the Browns. I was also bothered by the fact that Khalil Mack would guarantee a better pass rush and was almost certainly a better value at #3 that would address a need that's been around since the early 2000's with Jacksonville, the complete lack of QB pressure. Bortles could be a good NFL QB. I don't think he could ever be elite and that's my issue. How much beter can he be than Bridgewater (#32), Manziel (#22), even Derek Carr? Certainly not worth the drastic difference in draft positions the others were taken in. He almost certainly wasn't the best player available, a tagline that SO many teams swear by. QB is certainly a "Need" position at Jacksonville but what's been proven time and time again is that you cannot just force a QB, especially a young QB, into a rough situation and expect success. Jacksonville has a lot of needs that could have been addressed with #3. I really liked Khalil Mack as an amazing talent that would certainly help with the pass rush issue. Sammy Watkins (even Mike Evans) would help with the lack of big play talent on the offensive side of the ball. Jake Matthews could have been re-united with Luke Joeckel on the Jaguars offensive line and give them book-ends and the possibility of a very good line for years. I even really liked Taylor Lewan, though he perhaps lacks the "Top-end" athletic ability needed for a left OT in the NFL. In any case I'm just lamenting the Jaguars fucking up again in the very important 1st round. I just don't see Bortles panning out. Even if they put Henne in as the sacrificial lamb for another year while they attempt to accumulate some more offensive talent (though Marquis Lee is a great addition) and more pieces among the line. Instead they've mortgaged another few years in drafting a QB who will not be a star and watching other players who will be stars pass them by. Matt Jones, R. Jay Soward, Derrick Harvey, Reggie Williams, Tyson Alualu, and even Byron Leftwich and Blaine Gabbert. Just a hideous track record. I'm amazed I didn't drink myself into submission Thursday night.