Okay, all you women who read this blog can pretty much scroll down to the movie reviews, cuz I figure I can finally shoot the crap about some sports for a change. What a great weekend in sports for me! Start off with Greg Maddux winning his 300th game for the Cubs, Carl Eller finally going into the Hall of Fame as a Viking, Notre Dame opening fall practice today and Brock Lesnar getting into fights on almost a daily basis during training camp for the Vikings!! I think the Vikes may have a new cult hero!!
Starting off with Maddux, it was great to see Greg winning the game as a Cub, all those years after that friggin bonehead Larry Himes, at the time the Chicago GM (but thankfully not anymore), decided to let Greg Maddux walk away as a free agent---mind you, this was right after Maddux had won his first Cy Young award! I remembering reading Ryne Sandberg's biography where he talked about how Greg got an offer from the Atlanta Braves and came back to Himes and only asked him to match it--not top it. But Himes, using that good old fashioned sense that has prevented the Cubs from winning a World Series for 96 years, told Maddux that the Cubs weren't interested and let him walk away. Way to go Larry!! Its not a huge coincedence that your currently not working in baseball based on that sort of logic. So naturally Greg goes to the Braves and wins like 180 games over the course of a decade--before resigning with the Cubs this year. Its nice to know that the Cubs finally seem to have a GM (Jim Hendry) that knows what the hell he's doing.
Carl Eller is a Hall of Famer!! He became eligible 20 years ago, and every year since then when they would announce the inductees, I'd try and figure out the how's and why's of him NOT being inducted. Towards the end of his career, Carl had a well documented battle with cocaine, and I'm sure that had something to do with the delay in his becoming a member. Any Hall of Fame with Lawrence Taylor, a guy who is STILL battling his demons, surely has room for Carl Eller, a guy who not only has conquered them but is helping others in their struggle also. The "Moose" was a great performer for the Vikings for 15 years, 6 of them as an all-pro, and his enshrinement is WAY overdue.
Well, the Fighting Irish arrive today to begin fall practice in South Bend. This should be an interesting year, to say the least, for Notre Dame. This is Ty Willingham's 3rd year as head coach, which historically is very significant at Notre Dame, as every coach who has ever carried the mantle of greatness at Notre Dame has won a national title in his 3rd year. Rockne, Leahy, Paraseighn, Devine & Holtz all won a national title in their 3rd year. That is the standard to reach for at Notre Dame, and I have to figure at a minimum that Willingham needs to go to a New Year's Day bowl to keep the wolves at bay. Keep this in mind. The president that hired Willingham is retiring in June (thank God!) and when a new president comes in, they usually like to put their stamp on things rather quickly. I figure that if the Irish have any sort of "substandard" year (and I realize that the standards at ND are different than any place else) that Willingham will be on a one year leash. He's got to get the Irish to a BCS game either this year or next, or its time to look for a new coach. So much of what Ty stands for and represents is exactly what the school is looking for....and yet there are a lot of questions as to whether or not he's ever going to be good enough to pacify the alumni and fan base of Notre Dame (including yours truly). There are plenty of questions about his ability as a recruiter and a gameday coach, and especially in regards to some of his assistant coaches, but I think that Notre Dame is going to be in position where they essentially have to let Ty either succeed or fail on his own. With a new president coming in in June of 2005, Ty needs to get his shit together and start winning. That alone will cure a lot of "what ails ya" in South Bend. My preview of the '04 Irish and college football will be forthcoming in future editions of your favorite blog.
Well my Vikings seem to be causing quite the stir this summer, as their newest free agent acquisition, Brock Lesnar was the center of a few rumbles in a scrimmage with the Kansas City Chiefs. What I love about the whole thing is when they asked Brock about it, he's totally unapologetic about the it. This is the kind of attitude that can only help the Vikings this year, especially on defense. I want to see the "D" with a chip on their shoulder! Saw Joh Clayton on ESPN and he reported that the defense looks like it has tremendous quickness on the line and at LB...and the pickup of Antoine Wingfield at CB seems to have picked up the play of everyone in the defensive backfield. Also going to do a preview of the Vikes and the rest of the NFL, so look for that also.
OKAY WOMEN!! You can stop scrolling now...let's talk some about movies. Last night Kim & I watched "50 First Dates" with Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore. I suppose since it has the same two stars, you would have to compare it to "The Wedding Singer", and I think that's the better movie of the two. I think that there are a couple of problems with the movie. First of all, even though he's not playing his traditional role of the "angry guy" in this movie, his character is not a real likeable guy. He basically screws around with tourists visiting Hawaii, where he works as (try not to laugh) a veteranarian. He has big fun getting the animals to violently throw up on his co-worker (naturally an ugly east German looking type who offers herself up to a disinterested Sandler) and preparing for his trip aboard his yacht to Alaska to study "the deepsea underwater habits of the walrus". Huh??? He tries to redeem himself when he falls for Drew Barrymore, who suffers from shorterm memory loss in a plot storyline that is so convoluted you have to see it to believe it. And there is the spectacularly unfunny appearence (yet again) of Rob Schneider. This guy should kneel down before God himself and thank him for making Adam Sandler his friend, because that's the only reason he gets work. I'm amazed this is the same Rob Schneider who made Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigolo--one of the really hilarious stupid movies of the last few years. Comedies can be divided in too a couple of different catergories....You got your "true comedies" like Blazing Saddles, Caddyshack, Slapshot, Animal House, Fast Times at Ridgemont High....and then you have your "stupid comedies"....the ones that are incredibly stupid, but their still funny in spite of it all. That would include Deuce Bigelow, Tommy Boy, Ace Ventura.....that sort of stuff. Well Schneider made Bigelow, a stupid movie if ever there was one ("I am a man whore"), yet absolutely hilarious.....and I swear the guy hasn't done one funny thing since then. "The Animal"? UGH And I can't even think of that movie's name where he switches bodies with a cheerleader....terrible. But because he's friends with Adam Sandler, and because the rest of America is convinced that Adam Sandler is some sort of comedic genius, Rob Schneider keeps getting work. This time he portrays (I'm not making this up) a native Hawaiian (complete with horrendous accent---seriously, this may be the offensive portrayal of an ethnic culture since Mickey Rooney was turned into a Japanese guy in "Breakfast at Tiffany's") with a bad eye and a bunch of impossibly cute kids. Whew! That's the bad part....now, let's talk up what's good about the movie.
I'll say this about Drew Barrymore. She's seems like she's (in real life) one of these typical Hollywood kooks---sort of a new millinieum Goldie Hawn. But in her movies, she has a way of making herself really endearing. I mean, I actually enjoyed "Evermore" and "First Kiss" (I didn't bother with Charlie's Angels--even I have limits). She has the cute way of really making you care about the characters she portrays. And she does it here again. The girl with short term memory loss who forgets everything that happens the day before. And Sean Astin (oh c'mon--ya know--Sean Astin??!!?? Hello!! RUDY!! Oh yeah, he was also one of the main characters in a little series called The Lord of the Rings) is really pretty funny as Drew's brother, who won't admit that he's "on the juice" and trying to win the local bodybuilding contest, despite his apparent lack of muscles and noticeable lisp. All these things make the movie a decided mixed bag. Barrymore & Astin are quite good in their performances, but the rest of the Sandler Actor's Studio is their usual weak selves. By that I mean, as you watch the film, you'll probably spot about 3 or 4 other actors who have been in most of Sandler's movies. ** stars.
Finally we get to my top 10 films: Let's review so far--
10) The Shawshank Redemption
9) Rear Window
8) The Outlaw Josey Wales
7) The Godfather 1 & 2
6) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy--I remember when I was a junior in high school, and I went with my mom to the mall one day. I was poking around the sci-fi//fantasy section and stumbled upon a book called "The Sword of Shannara". It was written by a guy named Terry Brooks, who has since written about 10 other "Shannara" books. I really wasn't aware of Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings series, but the Shannara book was about as close to a retelling of the story as you could get without being sued for plagarism. And I ended up re-reading that book about 7 or 8 times over the last 25 years. Last year I passed it on to my son to enjoy. And I'd read it and in my mind I'd try and imagine what it would be like if they turned it into a movie. And a few years ago, word came out that a relatively unknown director named Peter Jackson had been handed the reigns of the series and told to make it into an epic movie. NewLine films basically staked their company's entire future on the success or failure of the movie. Finally, after a few years in New Zealand, making all 3 of the movies at once, Jackson and his crew emerged with the first in the series, "The Fellowship of the Ring", which would be followed by "The Two Towers" and finally "The Return of the King". I remember watching the first movie and literally sitting in the theatre with my mouth open in amazement at the epic story and film that unfolded before me. Now, I understand that the whole Lord of the Rings thing is something that you either get...or you don't. You either like this sort of thing...or you could care less. If you get it, you know that this will now and always be the standard by which the term "epic film" will be judged. Truly breathtaking filmmaking and a series I could easily watch over and over and over again. *****
Later,
Jeff
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