Blended

FLIX!

I must admit something right up front. This was the first time I ever saw an Adam Sandler movie. Now, a lot of people would be shocked at that. I know lots of folks that love this guy and have seen all of his movies. And these are people whose opinion I respect. But, I just never was drawn to the guy. His Saturday Night Live sketches wherein he sang songs with nonsensical rhymes just left me flat. I never thought he was that funny.

And then there is Drew Barrymore. I will never forget that at a very young age when she was in "ET" how she would look at the camera and almost laugh, being totally out of character. Okay, I guess I have to forgive that in a kid. But I'm not going to give her a free pass because she's part of the renowned Hollywood Barrymore family. But I will acknowledge her because she has not always done great work, at least darn it, she's trying. And in some cases she's turning in some darned nice performances. See "Riding In Cars With Boys". It's not her fault she's not offered things of much substance. And she appreciates film ala Turner Classic Movies.

The Sandler/Barrymore onscreen thing started with "The Wedding Singer." And then there was "50 First Dates."And now this. "Blended."

So the story goes like this: Drew Barrymore (Lauren) is a recent divorcee who agrees to go on a blind date with Adam Sandler (Jim). Jim takes her to a Hooters for their date. She is a little put-off by this and it goes down-hill from there. Her wings are too hot and she does spit takes all over herself, and Sandler is phoning this scene in, and I thought, "yep, this is exactly why I have never gone to an Adam Sandler movie."

But then the story starts to shape up. We find out that Lauren is stuck raising two total misfit boys (who honestly could make a case for retro-abortion), and Jim has lost his wife to cancer. Jim also has three daughters, each with her own special set of challenges.

The date does not go well, and understandably each vows to never to see the other again. But then, the waitress went and mixed up their credit cards.....

Through a weird turn of events, both families end up being able to get a discounted vacation to a resort in Africa. And they run into each other. And because they each bought pieces of the same vacation, they have to share the dining table, and rooms etc.

Slowly the families warm up to each other and we slowly begin rooting for the two parents to get together. And slowly they begin to. Even to the point of a kiss, and then Jim just can't because he isn't ready.

Upon the return to the US, Jim finally decides that he's been foolish and that he loves Lauren. He goes to see her, but her ex is there creating mayhem. Soon enough though Jim can't stay away and of course there is a great ending.

Involved in all this is one of Jim's daughter's who can't let her mother go. There is a scene when she decides it's time because "Mom says she has lots of stuff to do" that had my wife in tears. His oldest is becoming a young woman with help from Lauren who is allowing and helping this daughter's feminine self to emerge. Jim meanwhile is helping one of the boys improve his baseball skills. Essentially being the father that the kid is lacking.

Overall I did like the movie. It had it's faults. A lot of them for my money. For instance, at the resort there is a singer with his back-up guys that are waayyyy over used and aren't funny, and still we see them time and time again. Some of the jokes try too hard and are predictable. (The kid in the petting zoo with a stuffed animal). The old guy that always falls asleep. Stupid, crummy, and is what makes for awful movies.

But there is the chemistry between Barrymore and Sandler that helps pull this out of the dumpster. I know the Producers thought they could save this by having all of the African shots to keep it interesting, and that might be so, but I think the casting here - and I don't mean just the adult leads, I mean Jim's daughters, was tremendous. Lauren's sons were hacks and terribly written. I hope they never work again. Well maybe I have to forgive that in a kid (again) and blame it on the writers. But still the girls were all good.

So overall a nice romantic comedy. My wife will want to buy the DVD. I might even watch it.

Grade: B-

Godzilla

FLIX!

Okay, saw it and gotta do it.

I never really got the whole Godzilla/Mothra thing. So my older daughter wanted to see this tonight, so hey, I don't get to see her that much, ....so I guess!

I have never seen a real Godzilla movie before. I mean think I saw the cheap Japanese stuff on the "Creature Feature" on late night TV in the early 70's, but I have never laid down cash to go see a Godzilla movie.

My son complained that you have to wait too long to see Godzilla. I disagree. I thought he was placed perfectly. First the story line had to secure the fact that Godzilla is really on our side and that laying total waste to San Francisco was because he was helping us!

Two Giant Moth Creatures are brought to life, because one of them was waiting for the other to mature in Yucca Mountain. One starts from Japan on it's journey to the west coast of the US. The other leaves Yucca Mountain and heads to San Francisco to begin a new race of giant Praying Mantis's with the guy heading in from Japan. And cool, the males can fly.

But see, Godzilla, for some reason, hates Moth creatures. So he is our Bud for going after these two giant destructive awful expectant parents. A lesser critic would suggest a Pro-choice agenda. But you won't get that from me.

I really liked this movie. If you went to a "Godzilla" to see a Godzilla movie you won't be disappointed. I thought the final sequences were superb. If I were a Godzilla Fan, I would be totally satisfied.

And isn't that the mark of any fan-based movie?

Grade: B-

Million Dollar Arm

FLIX!

When considering what to see at the movies last night there were some interesting choices. We could opt for Spiderman 2 (in 3-D if we wanted), the new X-Men, among others. My wife let me choose and I chose "Million Dollar Arm."

Disney has a knack of doing the feel-good sports stories very well, ala "Tiger Town", "The Rookie", and "Miracle" and that's just the tip of the ice berg.

This movie centers around JB Bernstein played aptly by John Hamm of "Madmen" fame. Bernstein is a sports agent and he is falling on hard times. He needs a real good deal to keep he and his company (a partner Ash Vasudevan - played by Aasif Mandvi, and an assistant Theresa played by Allyn Rachel) afloat. His one great hope is waffling on him, and he is at his wits end. He is at home one night and he is watching TV switching between "Britain's Got Talent" and a cricket match on ESPN and inspiration hits. What if he sponsors a talent competition in India to find a Cricket pitcher, correction Bowler, that can throw fast enough for a major league baseball tryout? He could sign them, and maybe salvage his career.

They go to India and conditions are not much like America. I was reminded a lot of a trip I took to Haiti. But the tryouts are scheduled all over India, and Bernstein is hopeful, because if he discovers a major leaguer in India there are a billion built-in potential fans. Who wouldn't want to sell a billion caps or T-Shirts? He goes all around the country with his entourage and manages to come up with a nerdy little Indian who claims to know everything about baseball but knows nothing, Arnit Rohan (played by Pitobash) and wouldn't even be there as a translator except he agreed to work for free. Also with him is former sports scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin) who hates being there and sleeps through a lot of the tryouts, but he's "listening". And after all is said and done, in a talent contest show format, they actually managed to come up with two guys who can throw in the mid-80's range. Miles Per Hour for you non-baseball fans. But remember these guys have never picked up a baseball before.

Bernstein lives in a nice southern California residence that offers a little bungalow out back that he rents out to a medical student, Brenda, played by Lake Bell. When Bernstein's two prospects, with Arnit in tow, end up staying at his place, Brenda becomes a stabilizing influence that JB, under so much pressure, is unable to be able to do. Meanwhile, JB sends the two recruits to be coached by USC's pitching coach Tom House, played by Bill Paxton (who coincidently directed a Disney sports movie "The Greatest Game Ever Played").

This might be a good time to mention the actual recruits. They are/were Rinku Singh, played by Suraj Sharma, and Dinesh Patel, played by Madhur Mittai. Fine performances to be sure.

Without giving to much away, but let this be a spoiler alert, they don't do so well at one try-out, but after Brenda's insistence that JB just let it be fun they do much better at the second. At the end of the movie, they both get signed to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and JB is saved and all is well with the world, and my wife announced 'we will own this movie'. It was a great movie. Entertaining and uplifting with a lot of comedy mixed in.

It is worth the price of admission, and these days, that says a lot. I will recommend it. I don't think anyone could go wrong putting down hard earned bucks to see this. Go for it. Be uplifted. And enjoy the wonderful real life photos shown at the end of the real life guys, one of whom gets to meet President Obama, and photos of the real life JB and how he eventually married Brenda and they have a family. But please if you love all this just read my grade and click out.

Grade: B.

Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel were indeed both signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. The combined total signing bonus amounted to about $8000. They both ended up in the Pirates farm system. Dinesh pitched about 7 innings, and although 1-0 for the 2009 season, was released and he returned to India where he remains involved in baseball. Rinku is still in baseball bouncing between the Pirates farm system and leagues in Australia and the Dominican Republic...here there and everywhere. But neither ever made it to the Bigs. 

I hope that JB was able to remain viable, but I doubt if it was off signing these two guys. And so there's that. 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Pittsburgh PA

STAGE TUNES!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Consol Energy Arena
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

April 22, 2014

In my 12th visit to Rock and Roll Mecca, thanks to a caring and thoughtful wife and an upcoming birthday, we traveled to Pittsburgh PA. The Consol Energy Arena to be exact. Although 12 are all of the shows I can remember, this was the first for my wife, and it's always a lot of fun to go with a Bruce first-timer, and to watch the magic take over.

To be honest we were a bit far away for her to truly get the whole impact. All of the other times I've seen him I've always been fairly close, but as both Bruce and I age, it gets more and more difficult to be down front. When I last saw him in Detroit with my sister, I was standing on a hard surface - never sitting down - for a full 8 hours. I hobbled my way back to the car. So although for this show we were farther away, I appreciated having a chair that I could sit down in when I wanted to. And we were able to sit for most of the 3 hour show.

When Bruce and the E Streeters hit the stage, an electricity happens. I have experienced it many times. Not only in the times I've seen Bruce, but when I saw Sinatra. McCartney. The MC5. And to a slightly lesser degree Dylan and Waits. Something happens in the air. And in the case of Sinatra, the room just got a lot classier. In the case of Bruce, the biggest block party you'll ever attend just started.

I have seen the E Street Band in it's many incarnations. Yes, there was something about a simpler time with a healthy Danny and a vibrant Clarence that cannot be replaced, but still without missing a beat, Bruce did the right thing. Instead of simply trying to replace Danny and Clarence, which honestly couldn't really be done, he decided to re-tool the whole band. He brought in the horn section from the Seeger Sessions, and others from other moments in the E Street history. The E Street Band (recent inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), continue to rumble on as the machine they have become. A rock and roll zamboni. Solid. Heavy. Relentless is its path.

This Tuesday night in Pittsburgh exploded with a cover of the Clash's "Clampdown". An interesting beginning I thought. But I was waiting for more familiar material. I didn't have to wait long. The refrains of Clampdown were begging for a chance to die down but it was Bruce with the nearly signature "ONE-TWO-ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR! And the wonderful and familiar refrain from "Badlands" rang out. And from there it never let up. The Zamboni just kept on rolling. "Johnny 99", "Stand On it", and "Seven Nights To Rock." And on and on.

For me, it's not just the music. Or the fact that Bruce knocks himself out gig after gig, playing each song like it's the last time he ever gets to play a song. For me, he represents me and a hundred thousand guys like me. We wanted it. We all tried. But Bruce made it. He's doing it for all of us.

But yeah Bruce has now with age cleverly built "breaks' into his set. He virtually lets the audience sing entire verses of "Hungry Heart", and different choruses of "Badlands" and "The Promised Land". And now the shows last only around 3 hours. This one was 3 hours and 3 minutes. In the old days he was just getting warmed up. Four or Four and a half hour concerts were never unusual. But still, three hours does not disappoint. Not even close. This was a great and wonderful three hours.

He pleased the crowd with a wonderful "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", and an obligatory "Dancing in the Dark" wherein he invites lots of girls up on stage to dance while attempting selfie's with Bruce in the frame. In one case a rather butch looking woman even asked if she could play with the band and was given a guitar.

And there was the collection of signs from the audience wherein Bruce body-surfed back to the stage, delivered a soulful "Back in Your Arms." And the particularly fun rendition of "Mary's Place" whereby Bruce allowed a lot of audience members the chance to sing along with him. And the raucous guitar antics of Tom Morello on a rave-up version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad." More show than go, it was still a show stopper for sure.

And then he does a fun, raucous version of "Shout." Although by The Isley Brothers, it was made more famous by Otis Day and the Knights in the movie "Animal House." And he does it to perfection, having the audience join in where the audience should obviously join in. He tried to end the show there, and rightfully should have, but the audience wasn't ready to let him go just yet, so he finished out the set with a sullen, slow, "Dream, Baby, Dream." It was sort of the equivalent of "cool-down exercises" in the gym. The crowd was then satisfied. And the show was over.

And two nights later it began all over again. Somewhere.

The Other Woman

FLIX!

Okay, fellas, it's alright. A chick-flick once in a while is okay. A Joyful Noise turned out to be fun, didn't it? And Pitch Perfect? Admit it, you loved the cup/song thing. Well along comes The Other Woman.

It stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Upton (who is truly funny and the best thing about the movie), and newcomer Leslie Mann. Newcomer Leslie Mann is here for her exquisite body, but I saw more than hints of talent popping out.

The premise is this: a wife discovers her husband (Zac Efron) is cheating, and when she confronts the mistress discovers that she's not really a mistress because he said he was single. And in a weird twisted way, they become friends. And as they together spy on the guy, they discover that he is actually with another girl too. He has told her he is in the midst of a divorce. The new girl is also somehow brought into the "angry-women-fold", and they begin plotting on how to get even. And the things these women came up with were mind boggling. I hate infidelity. I would never cheat anyway, but after seeing this with my wife.... I would never cheat. Ever. Not even let it cross my mind, honey......

This movie is laugh out loud funny. It lost a little umph for us because we saw it at 11:30 in the morning with four other people. So there wasn't exactly uproarious laughter. But it was funny. I laughed out loud even when I was the only one. Hey, funny is funny.

I liked this flick a lot. The final scenes are well worth the price of admission. I don't like these hound-dogs that make my gender look awful, and I was cheering when the pay-backs were happening. And those scenes are hysterical by the way. You go girls!

This is the movie that toppled "Captain America" at the Box Office last week, so there's that guys!

Check this out.

Grade: Strong B+

Draft Day

FLIX!


This film is exactly what the title says it is. It occurs on Draft Day. The NFL Draft Day to be exact. It starts in the morning as Kevin Costner (the supposed General Manager of the Cleveland Browns) is off to work. This is an important day for GMs as one might suspect. Along the course of this day we learn that this GMs dad had been the former coach, and that his son had fired him. An Accounting executive who watches the whole salary cap thing (Jennifer Garner) has been sleeping with the boss and the day before Draft Day is the day she decides to let him know she's pregnant. On top of all this, the Kevin Costner GMs father, who he recently fired, has died, and his mother decides today is the day there is an ash spreading ceremony.

Costner wants to make a great Ohio State Defensive linebacker pick that will truly help the team win, but the owner interferes and wants him to take the rock star of the day Quarterback. Costner agrees to save his job. But as the day progresses, many things happen, and the tension builds. The final scene of trading and finagling is worth the price of admission. That scene is a thing of beauty.

I can't say any more about the film's story-line. But I must say right up front, I am not a Kevin Costner fan. Unless he's in a Western. I think he is the greatest Western star of our generation. I like him even more than Eastwood. So there's that. I loved seeing Jennifer Garner back in the biz. She and her husband have started a family and she took some totally understandable time off, but now she's poking back into the biz and that's great. All at your pace, Jennifer. Even a little is better than none at all. Ellen Burstyn as the mother was wonderful and even the one-day shoot with Rosanna Arquette as the ex-wife was fun.

I liked this film but didn't love it. I loved the whole build up to the Draft Night wheeling and dealing, and that was great, but I don't know.....was there enough meat in the story?

So I am going to recommend you to go see it. I liked it at least that much. But don't rush out to buy it on Blue-Ray. I am glad I saw this movie. But if I see it one or two more times in my life, that's enough.

GRADE: C+

You know what? I've thought about it a long time and I have decided to own this on Blu-Ray. And I am going to make my wife pay for it at Christmastime. This was a wonderful movie. It was a while ago, but I'm upping my grade to a  B-.

TV Is The New Place To Find Art.

There was a time in the moving picture art world when movies reigned supreme. There were motion pictures being cranked out like "The Godfather", "Citizen Kane", "To Kill A Mockingbird", and on and on. All masterful works of art. And then cable TV happened. And somehow the archaic rules about TV that kept it limited to favorite martians, talking horses, and how funny WWII prisoner of war camps were, seemed to begin to be stretched. And over the years progressively, albeit sometimes too slowly, things have been changing. TV has become the new black, to coin an incidental phrase.

The Networks are still hopelessly caught in the deer-in-the-headlights-not-getting-it -full-of-crap tie downs that keep them limited by sensibilities of a by-gone era. Good. Keep thinking that losers. Because nobody cares anymore. The Networks are so yesterday's papers, that I can't imagine why anyone goes there. Okay I liked "The Blacklist" but the idiots at the network only bought 10 episodes. When it was a hit, they hurriedly bought 10 more, but hey, it's been a while and my patience grows thin. It wasn't THAT great, after all. Your colon looks fine NBC, pull your head out and see some sunlight.

Okay, Modern Family is brilliant, but after the first two seasons what the?.....

But let's look at what else has been going on. Oh, let's see.....can you say 'everywhere else on the dial' brilliant?

Let's start with the Premium channels. HBO: There are some I didn't like (Okay, they were The Sopranos, (the most over-blown piece of shit ever), Deadwood, and Entourage. ) But I loved The Wire, Homeland, True Detective, The Newsroom, and The Extras.)

On SHOWTIME: There was one of the greatest shows ever: Weeds. Then followed Dexter, and one of my personal Favorites: Californication. Hey, Networks, starting to feel it yet? No, you dummies are probably still scratching your heads wondering why you're tanking. So, let me continue.....

AMC: The biggest show on cable: The Walking Dead. Zombies apparently rule over CSI crapola. Mad Men. The darling of reviewers everywhere, but is in reality only slightly above average.

And there's Justified. Great show, and not just because of the great Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins.

I'll add more as it occurs to me.