Wild Card Play-In Game

I am surprisingly not a huge fan of the Wild Card play-in game for baseball. As I watch a great game between Oakland & Kansas City, though it's been an awesome game, all I can think about is how both teams #1 starters and bullpens are being exhausted for the series ahead of them. I really like both of these teams/franchises, but I can't figure out playing 162 games to find out who deserves to be in the playoffs and then having one game decide the merits of the other 162. PLUS you start your ACTUAL playoff series with your best pitcher sitting on the bench for the first two games. This game is in the 11th currently, meaning both teams have also utilized a decent portion of their bullpens too. How can an odd number of teams be allowed in the playoffs? Wasn't it revolutionary enough to have the wild card added in the first place so at least 4 teams had the opportunity for postseason play, eleviating the soul-crushing the Boston Red Sox felt for many years at the hands of New York. The almighty dollar is certainly at work to keep the 162 games more interesting and allow the playoff race to continue deeper into the season, allowing the Brewers to wait 158 games before being mathematically eliminated. I just don't like the one-game playoff. I realize that the wild card could have a one-game playoff, as did former divisional teams that were tied, but it's clearly not the same. I point out to when the Braves had a 13 game lead in the Wild Card, or something similar, only to lose in the one game playoff to the St. Louis Cardinals, BAIN of the N.L. Central. Of course they went on to win the World Series, but my contention is they never should have been able to play for it. I'm generally all about change and progressing the game, but this idea I can't get behind. It's one step away from being like basketball where over 50% of the league is in the playoffs, allowing a sub-.500 Bucks team to limp in some years, costing us a lottery opportunity, the true goal for any bad basketball team. I don't like the baseball playoffs getting watered down and the one deserving wild card team either eliminated, or, best case scenario, weakened, heading into the Divisional series. BUUDDDDD SEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG (kidding), but give Pete Rose a Presidential pardon of sorts on your way out.

Monuments Men: Not Monumental Enough

Monuments Men was a movie I saw a trailer for while at another movie and got very excited about. Bill Murray, Dan Goodman, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchette, and other VERY good actors, WHAT COULD GO WRONG? A movie with no direction (Clooney's job) is the correct answer. The movie never defines if it's a documentary-like film about the theft of the world's classic works by Nazi Germany. It never buys into being a comedy fully with all the seriousness around it. It tries to be too funny for you to take the serious parts with anything besides a grain of salt. SPOILER: Two guys die and I didn't know if there was going to be a joke, but there wasn't, and it made things weird. The movie has all these different elements floating around, but they come together like shit. The stars are all very solid, especially Murray (Standard) and I really like Clooney's character as well. It provided some HOPEFULLY accurate information about the theft of thousands of priceless artwork from not only cathedrals, museums, churches, but also from private Jewish collections. I hope at least it stayed accurate to that, but it tries too hard to be funny for me to appreciate the real parts of the film. Bottom Line: A cluttered 6.3 out of 10. It's on Starz, or something, so it's worth checking out for free because there was some historical value and good performances worth enjoying in fleeting moments.

Gotham= Shit Garbage

I thought the much hyped show Gotham would come to Fox and a network would learn from AMC, FX, and HBO to make a decent show since they have a ton of money to throw at these things. I love Donal Logue generally, and Jada Pinkett Smith seems too good for TV, you'll also recognize Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) & John Doman (THE WIRE!!!!) as well. I was unimpressed by Logue playing his standard bad-ass role for some reason. McKenzie just seems like a candy ass, but they make Jim Gordon act all tough and it doesn't come through well. Pinkett Smith is interesting as "Fish", but nothing amazing, just pretty good in the role. I love Doman as Carmine Falconi, but we'll see if his role gets more screen time moving forward. It doesn't seem to stay true to the comic with how Gordon and Dent (Logue) act. Dent is Logue's standard, as I mentioned already, being the tough and grizzled veteran policeman who is in with the bad dudes. He seems much more toned down than his Sons of Anarchy character, but Dent doesn't seem believable to me either. I don't like the stylized/ C.G.I backgrounds that don't seem realistic enough at all. This will be getting another chance, but I really don't see it panning out for me.

Ray Rice: Everyone Losing

Ray Rice's catastrophic life mistake of punching his wife in the face, I'm assuming while drinking, is detonating the NFL, Rice, & Goddell. Before the actual video of this thing leaked I envisioned this blowing over, Ray Rice going back to not being a useable NFL running back, and this being forgotten about besides to make off-color remarks during Ray Rice's said lackluster games. The video shouldn't have been needed to confirm what happened. It is rather bothersome that it took the video surfacing for parties involved to do something. It's unfortunate and awful, but it's a safe bet that it won't be the worst thing to happen in the NFL this season. Spousal abuse if awful, but I'm willing to bet someone may become paralyzed, die, or cause the death of another human being. It's days like this I despise ESPN and the 24 hour garbage they throw out. Analysis, highlights, pop-culture references, YES, but the dredging up stories and endlessly clubbing them to death is not what I signed up for. I stopped watching ESPN in college because I was sick of this shit. I didn't need to hear about what Tim Tebow was wearing while being a bad back-up quarterback every day. Sportscenter used to be about news, highlights, and funny people. Now it's pretty much awful and a giant ratings grab of reaching for whatever is trending on Twitter. The stories aren't real news and it's causing flashbacks of MTV when it actually played music videos and the transformation before it became a showcase for idiocy. Trying to bring this back after a quick rant is Ray Rice deserves prison, a suspension, but he also deserves the right to go back to work and earn his living again. An "indefinite" suspension while this is "investigated" and blows over is not fair to Ray Rice and his family, where I'm certain he's the primary wage earner. I don't think it's fair to punish NFL players (professional athletes) much harsher for criminal activities than a typical person. There certainly are jobs that would probably be ruined for spousal abuse, but football player should not be one of them. Their careers are enviably shorter than our average career arc, but this means the years of primary earnings are SUPER SHORT, especially for a player who was not a first round draft pick. Rice is in those primary earning periods where his wage will never be this high again. His contrition, enrollment in anger management classes, constant apologies, various people describing him as an outstanding member of the community and "the last person" they would have guessed to hit a woman. There's no excuse or justification for what he did, but let him try to move past it and not be the only thing that defines him for the rest of his life.

Deadwood: HBO from Before It Was Popular

I've been enjoying Deadwood lately, particularly the Chromecast application that's even easier than downloading episodes from Direct TV. It follows the famous, or probably more accurately, infamous settlement of Deadwood. It follows some people you've heard of in Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane, but focuses more on saloon owner Al Swearangen & a few other stalwarts of the community. Al is played brilliantly by Ian McShane, probably know more for being Frank Powell in Hot Rod (Rod's stepdad) than any other role tragically. Timothy Olymphant plays a hardware store owner who is also a main character, though like most HBO shows it follows around several characters, almost all are expertly played. I enjoy the Wild West and it's certainly entertaining. There's a relatively small cast since the settlement doesn't have a lot of people in it, so that's nice. The story is the relationships and how they are manipulated and changed throughout the course of the times in a relatively lawless town. Bottom Line: 8.9 out of 10. Excellent stuff like you expect out of HBO. Highly recommended, right after you watch The Wire...

Guardians of the Galaxy

It was decided that $10 to see the highly regarded Guardians of the Galaxy. The film is loaded with known actors, but few "stars", which I really like. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista (he's decent in this one), the voices of Vin Diesel & Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro (Small doses of the last 3) round out the quality cast. The film does an excellent job of creating the story & creation of the team (which I knew nothing about). It starts SOOO depressing that I thought for a bit I was in the wrong movie. It then quickly picks up into the action/adventure tale it wants to be. It moves fast, has some funny stuff, but it gets REALLY heavy on the overdramatic/self-sacrificial stuff. It gets over-the-top and goes even over-the-topper on the "friendship" stuff. Maybe I'm just mean and cynical, but I found it to be a bit much. I liked the movie a lot still, I just know it could have done without SO much of the dramatic stuff. I was impressed by Dave Bautista actually being in character on this one and I didn't think he was capable of anything besides breaking stuff and looking huge. Bottom Line: 8.3 out of 10. Certainly not a necessity to see this one in theatres, but it's your typical big budget, Summer action movie. It just lacks Will Smith, the Summer movie God.

Pain & Gain

Preface: I didn't even finish this thing. The movie follows Mark Wahlberg, an upward mobility obsessed personal trainer. He reads a bunch of self-help books and goes to a seminar along the same lines. He decides that rather than wait out his time until the American dream becomes his, he's going to kidnap a rich client (Tony Shahloub, WI own) and take his fortune from him. He enlists Dwayne Johnson (THE ROCK) and his longtime friend played by Anthony Mackie. I know that Wahlberg's characters name is Danny Lugo, but I really don't remember any of the other characters names. They plan, plot, and get supplies. Surprisingly a bunch of dudes who lift all day and know nothing about anything else aren't criminal masterminds. It's generally ridiculous and boring, but some people may find it funny. Bottom Line: 4.8 out of 10. I enjoyed very little about this film and have about 35 minutes left on it, if I decide to, that I imagine will be even more prolonged misery for me. Don't see this hunk of shit. There is a small bright spot of Ed Harris as a retired policeman who is a private investigator now, so that's something I suppose.

Relay for Life: Sauk Prairie Edition (Soap Box Time)

There was a hollow feeling upon approaching our local Relay for Life even that I've been away from for around 10 years. The complete lack of participation was deeply saddening. An event that used to look like a Summer concert festival worth of tents was now void of any camping equipment besides a few of the portable gazebo-like ones. A once mighty event that packed the high school track and football field area and raged from Friday evening into Saturday was reduced to 14 teams,around 100 people, and was winding down at 10:30pm. I don't know if the hurt was me personally, or the thought of how much the event used to mean to my Mom and the effort put into making it special. The speaker this year entertained not even a section of our high school bleachers, which couldn't have felt goot. That used to be standing room only and deeply uplifting. I don't know where the answers lie in trying to find out what happened to this once huge event for my small town, but I do know that fixing it is something I will work towards. There was a complete lack of energy and once uplifting spirit that carried the event through the 18 hours (or so) of time spent. Teams used to have to take shifts because not only were they so large, but the track was often packed as well. Luminaries used to have trouble fitting around the track, but this year there was plenty of space, and they were set out early and completely ruined by the rain (best $20 I've ever spent). I didn't feel like I honored the memory of loved ones, or accomplished anything to "Finish the Fight", this years theme. It's a very hollow feeling that can only be vindicated by succeeding in doing it right next year, and the years after.

X:Men: Days of the Future Past

The newest installment of the X-Men series focuses on the comic book saga where the future is one giant genocide by the Sentinels. In this feature Wolverine goes back in time to 1973 (I think) to help foil the assassination of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). The goal is to reverse the events that follow where Mystique is captured, her DNA is harvested, and Trask's greatest creation of the Sentinel is perfected to become adaptable to anything because of Mystique's DNA. Professor X is in whiny bitch/drunk mode (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is imprisoned for Kennedy's assassination, though apparently wrongfully. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is the only person who can withstand being sent back in time by Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) and I didn't know that was her power either. It is a little strange that Professor X is all fucked up because I never knew his character went into that mode, but I do like the 70's styles and costumes they roll with. Cast is VERY strong and impressive. I like the story, though time travel often lends itself to ridiculousness, though this movie doesn't dabble in it too badly. Bottom Line: 8.2 out of 10. I was impressed by the cast and most of the film. I wasn't blow away by anything, but it was CERTAINLY worth the $3.00 to see it at the cheap seats. I'd pay that just to see Jennifer Lawrence in the Mystique character.

Riddick: Yup, Still Garbage

Knowing this was going to be shit-garbage I took a flier still on Riddick. This one sucks because it's the same shit, different movie, almost the same name. Riddick is on a standard God-forsaken planet with crazy beasts that kill everything. Despite lacking food of any kind as well for the beasts, there's 5,000 of the fucking things everywhere. Riddick is still amazing at everything and mercenaries are still tracking him down. The only twist is that now it's the Captain from Pitch Black's (I think) Dad looking for Riddick, as well as some other mercenaries. Riddick breaks them down and offers their lives for a ship from the beginning, but a bunch of bullshti needs to ensue where he kills half of them, then everyone gets on board with the idea. Katee Sachhoff is in it (Longmire, Adam's crackhead/bath salt using Girlfriend in the one episode of Workaholics) and I'm a huge fan of her period. Everyone else is garbage, but I liked seeing Johnny Tapia again from Bad Boys 2 though. He's still horrible at everything though. The action was nothing special either, but there is a decent amount of it, so that's a small positive. Don't rush out to watch this one anytime soon. Bottom Line: 4.8 out of 10. If you like Riddick, you may actually enjoy this crap. If you've never seen one, keep it that way.