|
|
|
|
Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
People shriek on the streets of Michigan when they see Verlander in person. He can’t stop at a gas pump or go grocery shopping. Everyone knows where he lives in the off-season (Troy), what he eats the night before he pitches (Taco Bell, for three crunchy Taco Supremes, a Cheesy Gordita Crunch and a Mexican Pizza, hold the tomatoes) and where he grabs his morning coffee.
Justin Verlander: wins Cy Youngs, dates supermodels, eats crap.
|
Support BBTF
Thanks to
Don Malcolm
for his generous support.
Bookmarks
You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.
Hot Topics
Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1982 Discussion (47 - 8:51pm, May 19)Last: OCFNewsblog: SoE (Megdal): It's Time to Finally Believe in the Orioles (26 - 8:38pm, May 19)Last: Mayor BlombergNewsblog: OMNICHATTER for May 19, 2013 (76 - 8:21pm, May 19)Last: Crispix Attacks 2: Swag AirlinesNewsblog: [OTP-May] Politico: Congressional baseball game, May 1, 1926 (3341 - 8:19pm, May 19)Last: GregDNewsblog: Cafardo: Dustin Pedroia the best second baseman in MLB? (94 - 8:18pm, May 19)Last: TVerikNewsblog: Murray Chass: ARE RED SOX REELING ALREADY? (12 - 8:04pm, May 19)Last: Petunia inquires about poniesNewsblog: Hochman: Dallas Green still tells it like it is (9 - 8:03pm, May 19)Last: Petunia inquires about poniesNewsblog: Hal Steinbrenner calls tickets 'affordable' (20 - 7:57pm, May 19)Last: The Yankee ClapperNewsblog: BtBS: Kevin Gregg Re-emerges in Chicago (4 - 7:48pm, May 19)Last: TransmissionNewsblog: Draft Features Rarest of Prospects: Redheads (90 - 7:43pm, May 19)Last: zenbitzNewsblog: Holmes: Where does Miguel Cabrera rank among Tiger greats? (35 - 7:38pm, May 19)Last: Walt DavisNewsblog: OT: The Soccer Thread, May 2013 (886 - 7:02pm, May 19)Last: MefistoNewsblog: MLB hoping for large replay expansion in 2014 (50 - 6:24pm, May 19)Last: Ray (RDP)Newsblog: OT: NBA Monthly Thread - May 2013 (946 - 6:11pm, May 19)Last: tshipmanNewsblog: Weiner: The Supreme Court Judge and the Curt Flood Case reenactment (2 - 1:17pm, May 19)Last: bobm
|
|
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
Concur on I, and the flashback half of II; DeNiro is awesome. I thought the Nevada/Miami/Cuba part of II was ridiculous, nonsensical and painful to watch. Michael's behavior is literally unbelievable.
Deserve's got nothin' to do with it.
GF is better than PF
Perhaps my "problem" with Pulp Fiction (namely that I think its merely very good and not great it seems)is that I went to see it at the urging of a friend who seemingly thought that PF was the most incredible ground breaking 90+ minutes of awesomeness that one could ever see... I disagreed... I thought it was entertaining, but a bit campy and downright hokey in spots...
PF did have some truly great scenes/ bits of dialogue- such as when the in hiding druggies bursts into the room, pistol blazing, yelling die scum, firing off an entire clip- and missing, the look Jackson and Travolta give eachother, and the wall behind them (full of holes)- before shooting the guy, priceless...
Did that back to back on a flight recently. As I recall I watched Laurence of Arabia on the same flight. On a classic kick that day for some reason.
Loved Unforgiven, though.
There was a western with Cate Blanchet that I loved.... The Missing.
I think I'm going to nominate The Phantom Menace for that title. Saw that one opening night at Mann's Chinese Theatre and the crowd afterwards acted like they'd been shitmisted. Not being a Star Wars geek myself, it was pretty amusing watching my friends try and talk themselves into liking what they'd seen.
I agree on II --
I remember there was/are re-edits that break II into two separate movies and I very much prefer the flashback to the 'present day' stuff to the point that I skip the Michael/Pacino stuff.
Is this an actual film, or a script you have in development?
So - ultimately, you land with Travolta... "it happens"... I'm with Samuel L -- "what we saw here was a miracle and I want you to acknowledge it". Thus it is with the film itself.
Oof. What a terrible, terrible movie. A whiff in every way imaginable and it led to two more equally shitty movies I was stupid enough to pay to see. On the other hand, it did give us that hilarious youtube review of it. The only movie review I've watched more than once!
Regarding Godfather 3- obviously the movie just did not work- but upon re-watching I realized that there were bits and pieces that did- most stuff that had Pacino in it worked- except with Sofia Coppola- stuff between Any Garcia and Pacino worked, but scenes without Pacino didn't- the early scene where Garcia takes down the two burglars *should have* worked, but did not... aggravating movie.
Yeah, The Long Goodbye is one of my favorite Altman films, just a wonderful, shaggy, shambolic modernized noir.
Plus, it's got Jim Bouton!
[edit] And super-early Ahnold.
Ooohhh... close... I think I'd probably still take Heat, but mostly because I remember the Ewoks/Jedi and went into Phantom Menace expecting that Lucas would be more likely to be doing Ewoks than Empire.
You're right, though -- same experience seeing Phantom... everyone trying to convince themselves it really wasn't that bad - even good - when it was clearly a film that desperately wished it was an animated Disney movie.
EDIT: and a straight-to-video, not particularly good Disney movie at that.
Did anyone see Down in the Valley, with Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood and David Morse? I thought that was a really good movie.
The Big Lebowski is my favourite of all time, hands down.
I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Star Wars prequels. I'm just pissed you can't get versions of the originals that haven't been butchered by Lucas. Greedo shooting first in the Canbtina? WTF?
I think all the actors in Star Wars did a brilliant job. Lucas owes each of them a billion dollars.
The Quick and the Dead. You forgot the top-billed star, Sharon Stone.
The Quick and the Dead.
Sam Raimi.
[edit] whatever sort of carbonated beverage they drink up there to Rants
Plus: Gene Hackman!
And Gene Hackman! Directed by Sam Raimi, right? I remember not liking it at the time, but I wonder what it would be like to see it now.
edit: cokes and ####
Poor Gene Hackman... he never seems to get the respect he deserves.
EDIT: Dammit, cokes, cokes, and more cokes..
I'm pretty confident it would still be an atrocity of a film.
He was building a house!
Poor Gene Hackman... he never seems to get the respect he deserves.
Hey, I was plugging French Connection last page.
An actual film I saw on Cable last month.
Looking at Wiki it seems there were two endings- an everyone dies ending and the "happy" ending- I saw the everyone dies ending...
It's not a straight remake of Leone, among other things it takes the North/Confed bridge battle scene and mashes it up into a moving MadMax/Roadwarrior style fight between the 3 protagonists- with such fight being, umm, interfered with by the Imperial Japanese Army (who try to shoot/shell everyone)...
Even after Spider-Man 3?
True or false: The jazz club scene is the dumbest thing ever filmed.
I was going to specifically mention that - but as BBTF tends to enjoy the superhero genre much more than I, I won't pretend to understand what's a good superhero movie and what's not. Personally, there's not a single superhero film I actually like... and that includes the supposedly great ones.
But yes, on a personal level - I forgive him for that.
Bruce Campbell playing "Bruce Campbell" in My Name is Bruce is just awesome - right up there with William Shatner playing "Bill Shatner" in Free Enterprise
I was a big fan of Briscoe County Jr. back in the day when I'd never even heard of Evil Dead.
Not as long as "Slumdog Millionaire" exists.
Thirty years ago, my brother hit me with a Louisville Slugger. And now I know all about Pete Browning!
Yeah, frankly my perspective is more or less the same, which is why The Phantom Menace isn't *my* most disappointing film, only the film that I think is the *most* disappointing ever.
My own personal most disappointing film is probably The Thin Red Line. HUGE Malick fan (Days of Heaven is top-50 for me, maybe top-25), Pacific War geek. Crazy excitement to see it.
Just a crushing disappointment.
Indeed... I liked Being John Malkovich quite a bit, but actually - so far as those breaking down the 4th wall films go, I might like My Name is Bruce even better.
The worst of that lot is the excrement that was whichever Ocean's sequel has Julia Roberts' character pretending to be "Julia Roberts"... I won't even bother trying to remember whether it was 12 or 13, because that's another set of sequels on par with the two Matrix follow-ups that really, really just should not exist.
Ooooh, now there's a film I can work up a good, seething loathing for.
High five. Also my favorite movie of all time.
On the other hand, it did give us that hilarious youtube review of it. The only movie review I've watched more than once!
The Red Letter Media reviews?
True or false: The jazz club scene is the dumbest thing ever filmed.
I don't even think it's the dumbest thing in that movie, which to me goes to Spider-Man landing on a roof with an American flag billowing dramatically in the background. I laughed out loud in the theater at the ridiculousness of it.
I don't even think it's the dumbest thing in that movie, which to me goes to Spider-Man landing on a roof with an American flag billowing dramatically in the background. I laughed out loud in the theater at the ridiculousness of it.
You think Raimi was purposefully trying to kill the franchise?
The Red Letter Media reviews?
I think so, yeah.
American Beauty is pretentious drivel
Calling American Beauty pretentious as if Drive wasn't is nonsensical. Drive was the fantastical quiet/violent/emo fantasy of every wannabe suburban suit that ever lived.
I really liked Unforgiven and I'm not much of one for Westerns.
I took a film class in college in about 2004 and the professor hated, hated, hated Gladiator. He trashed it every chance he got.
The weirdest omission from the AV Club's list is The Silence of the Lambs. I don't understand how that movie could not be in the top 10 of the 90's, let alone not mentioned at all.
I enjoyed American Beauty well enough, mainly due to Spacey's performance, but I have no desire to ever watch it again.
I think she's too perfect as Veronica Mars. She's not nearly as good anytime she's playing anything else.
Before Sunrise is another weird omission from the list.
I find she has very beady eyes, but I'll concede she can be cute.
I hate when movies just try too damn hard.
I had the same reaction to the President's Big Speech in "Independence Day," and the big courtroom blowup in "A Few Good Men."
At least with the latter, a few other people started laughing too. ONE OF US!
GFIII obviously isn't remotely in the class of the first two, but some things about it worked. I liked the Immobilare story line, the insinuation that JPI was offed by the Mob and -- how this escapes notice puzzles -- the saga of Michael Corleone ends exactly how it should end, with him old, destitute, and alone in the cold on the chair, back in Sicily, his father's once-promising quest to make it big in America a dismal failure.
Another fun horror-ish movie starring a Firefly alum available on Netflix instant is Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
Me 3. My dog is named Walter.
What's wrong with your faaaaaaaaaaaaace?
[edit] What amuses me is that even at a 1/2 hour, Plinkett's really not even come close to exhausting the list of things that are terribly wrong with Episode I; he could have doubled his running time and still not have been padding things.
Ha! That stuff is fine, but it's actually the spot on criticism that makes me giggle. It's such a terrible movie.
Have you watched the other two? They're just as funny, and also longer somehow.
Never bet against Nathan Fillion...
I have. And the Crystal Skull one, though I was smart enough not to go see Crystal Skull.
Very funny and well done.
Add me to the list of people unimpressed with Heat.
I'm not sure that we saw the same movie - there's very little wish fufillment going on in that flick (spolier not mentioned).
Hmmmm? Everybody loves Gene Hackman...
I don't feel the need to pick between Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas - they're both tremendous.
Bruce Campbell is god. My Name is Bruce is a very cheezy movie, but I love that he portrayed himself as a drunken, washed-up jerk.
His turn in Bubba Ho-Tep as the elderly Elvis, growing old alone incognito in a Texas nursing home, who has to join forces with John F. Kennedy (played by Ozzie Davis) to battle a soul-stealing Egyptian Mummy is another great performance in a fun horror/comedy. Not as good as Evil II, but a nice little cult film.
Bubba Ho-Tep is wonderful stuff... It's one of those movies I'd say belongs on the list of "Best Movies No One Has Ever Heard Of" -- but then, every time it comes up, I find most people have heard of, if not seen it.
At its core, Drive was an unironic homage to the hero, in very welcome opposition to its times, with their relentless irony. Even heroism can't be taken on without a winking eye, but only in its "super" form.
It also featured a cast including Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perelman, and Bryan Cranston -- each a great actor -- from whom the director coaxed outstanding work.
Actually, there was a "TV edit" of Godfather and Godfather II that merges the two films into one very long film (shown over two nights) that supposedly rearranges a few of the flashback scenes. It ran sometime in the 80s, but hasn't been seen since.
Also "Heat" for the bank shootout alone is 20 time better than any of the prequels.
It's probably the most overlooked "great" movie of all time.
For a movie with the awards (only third one to win the big 5 (movie, director, screenplay, actor, actress)), the pop cultural references (Lecter is a legendary villain), and box office punch (#4 for 1991, and it was released in February), it always seems to get overlooked from people's "best of" lists (either all time or even 1990s).
Well, there was that Raiders thing, too... but I can understand how people forget after the Alien Skull Crystalizing Communists or whatever.
I think it's a victim of timing -- I honestly would consider it for my top 10 of the 90s, but for some reason, I thought it was from '89.
Yup.
He always did, you were just confused.
I had never heard of it. I'll have to check it out
I think so as well. It's on my short list of best 90s. I will stop and watch it anytime I see it on tv.
That was Spielberg. And Lucas apparently had a much bigger role in the fourth movie, so...
I mean, Snake Pliskin is one of favorite movie characters of all-time, but I wouldn't try to argue its "greatness".
The notes from the story conference that Spielberg, Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan had while developing Indiana Jones are, well, interesting
And here's how the scene plays out in Raiders
A testament to Russell and what an inspired Val Kilmer can do...
I've posted this before, but about a year or two ago I saw both THX 1138, American Graffiti and Star Wars (the original) and Ep ii (enter the clones?) same weekend, and obviously I've seen all the Star Wars movies (BTW Lucas did NOT direct Empire Strikes Back- the best of the lot- which among other things is why a rather large volume of unscripted ad libs were allowed in...)
and I was convinced that Lucas did not direct American Graffiti- oh he worked on it- and the first draft if the script was his... I'm guessing that Wexler took over much of the directing work- or possibly even Coppola depending upon how much he was around- but probably Wexler, that film didn't need three cinematographers around
Nor was he primarily responsible for the screenplay, that was Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan.
My money would be on Ron Howard.
Most of Part I and the flashback portions of II were adapted from Puzo's novel, while the Hyman Roth story line was original screenplay for GF II.
I don't really see how Forrest Gump can make any worst lists. The Lieutenant Dan story line alone should lift it above merely tedious films for most people. I also don't see how a list of top (guy-centric) 90s films doesn't include Donnie Brasco. It's the only crime film since the first two Godfathers that doesn't lose it's punch by the end of two hours.
The Academy's honored a few I can't even identify in recent years, but before about 1990 I think Kramer v. Kramer is almost objectively the worst Best Picture ever chosen. As trapped in the 70s as Saturday Night Fever, but without the entertainment value.
Drive was the best movie of last year, though I could make cases for The Tree of Life or A Separation as well. The awesome thing about Drive for me, though, is that it didn't just lead me to some awesome music - as other directors such as Scorsese and Tarantino have done - it fostered my obsession with 80s (and 80s-influenced) electronic music in general, as well as the record label Italians Do It Better (who have two tracks on the soundtrack - "Tick of the Clock" by Chromatics, which plays during the opening heist, and "Under Your Spell" by Desire, which plays during a couple of Carey Mulligan's encounters with Ryan Gosling). Kill for Love and Night Drive by Chromatics are two of my favorite albums in a long time.
GoodFellas is better than Pulp Fiction. Both are near and dear to my heart, but I've simply seen Pulp Fiction too many times to be all that taken with it anymore. One thing that I think hurts Pulp Fiction more than any imitators and offshoots it may have spawned is seeing how much more advanced Tarantino's technique as a director has become in his subsequent films. He's simply a much more capable storyteller, cinematographer, et al than he was back in the day. Inglorious Basterds is probably his best film on the merits (though my favorite is Kill Bill), and Django Unchained looks like it will be the best film of the year*.
(*So far that honor goes to Killer Joe, which I can't gush about enough. Imagine William Faulkner and the Coen Bros. collaborated and the resulting screenplay was cranked up to 11 and given the William Friedkin treatment, and you've basically got Killer Joe. It's totally depraved and somehow totally hilarious despite being overwhelmingly ugly and misanthropic.)
Neither of these is the best movie of the 90s, though. That honor goes to Satantango. If you can stomach the idea of watching a 7.5-hour-long black-and-white Hungarian film about dirt-poor farmers scheming and stabbing each other in the back and living like scoundrels, I can't recommend it enough. If that all makes it sound like the most miserablist slog through arthouse pretension ever, rest assured that it's also a very very black comedy. Though yes, it is monstrously affecting and contains probably the most harrowing and depressing sequence in any film I've ever seen. It's also probably the best film I've ever seen. Yeah, I'm a snob...in my defense, I'll also go to the mat for Titanic as a legitimately great film, so I'm not completely stuffy.
Met him, as cool in person as you would expect. I recommend highly his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor.
For pre-1990, I'm going to say "Ordinary People".
Yeah, a plausible choice. The Academy really got maudlin for a couple of years there.
I'm about the same age as Marge. In the last few years I saw a girl I dated in college and I realized she was looking like Marg. Actually, when she was in college, she looked a lot better than young Marg. So it helped my self-esteem to realize I dated someone in Marg's league.
I also thought Jennifer Aniston wasn't so hot. I was surprised Brad Pitt married her. She's a step down from Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
I realized as I got older that I liked celebrity women that bore a resemblance to someone I dated. So my evaluation about whether I thought I had a chance with them actually morphed into my tastes. Given that I've never dated any girl who looked like Kate Upton, if I saw her on the street, dressed like she was in the video game commercial, I would forget I saw her once she was out of sight.
What's the deal with Pippa Middleton? Why is she "The Royal Hottie"? She's attractive enough for an ordinary person, but not as a global sex symbol.
I think she's okay, but her sister Kate blows her out of the water.
I think Pippa looked very good on the wedding day, and that was probably the first time anyone really paid even a small amount of attention to her.
Young Jennifer Aniston (first couple of seasons of "Friends") was amazing looking (though the wardrobe helped). After that, she sort of aged into "very nice looking".
Gwyneth has definitely aged VERY well (she looks great in the Iron Man movies), while Jolie is just a little too "exotic" for my tastes. I understand what everyone else likes, but there is something that is just "off" for me.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main