Ben's blog

Treme

2011-04-06T01:38:00.003-04:00

I just finished watching the first season of Treme. Like The Wire, it took a few episodes to get into, figure out who was who, and figure out what exactly was going on. But by the 3rd or 4th episode I started to like it a lot and by the end of the season, I loved it (reading Alan Sepinwall's recaps certainly sped up the comprehension process and allowed me to appreciate the depth of the show and the characters much more quickly). It's not quite as dark as The Wire but is just as realistic, with incredible writing and acting all around -- including awesome turns from the Bunk and Lester Freamon, not to mention pre-Oscar Melissa Leo and John Goodman. Even Steve Zahn's at-first annoying character grew on me and ended up being more endearing than irritating the majority of the time. It also gave me a new appreciation for New Orleans music... I think I need to get to the jazz fest again.

Bottom line, Treme is clearly on the (too short) list of the best dramas currently on TV. Of what I watch, Mad Men is the only other show of similar quality. From what I've seen, both Breaking Bad andBoardwalk Empire belong in the discussion as well, but I haven't watched their entire runs (yet). Hopefully Game of Thrones will enter this argument soon as well.

Comerc 24

2011-03-13T20:04:00.001-04:00

So I just got back from a pretty awesome trip to Paris, Normandy, and Barcelona. In Barcelona, Lily and I ate at (as far as I know) my first Michelin rated restaurant; it's called Comerc 24 and uses molecular gastronomy.

We each had 7 (smallish) courses, plus desserts. Here's what we ate (which I never would've remembered if they didn't print it out for you afterwards and give it to you in a card).

Bangkok Asparagus Soup (with a coconut ball inside)
Filo, Parma, Lemon, and Basil
Monk Fish with Black Sesame and Black Garlic
Pizza 24 (smoked mozzarella, anchovies, and basil)
"Dashi" with Sea Urchin and Cockles (soup)
Sardines with Cullera's Orange and Fresh Wasabi
Tuna Tartar (with red caviar and orange marmalade sauce)
Pizza Sashimi (spiced fresh tuna sashimi on wonton crisps)
Codfish with Chard and Chickpeas
Duck Rice with Foi
Chiavari Red Mullet
Palamos Prawn in Salt
Bresse Chicken with King Prawn
Natural Nestea
Bread, Oil, Chocolate, and Salt
Nuget Tuille Cigar, Chocolate, and Coffee
Sablee with Pineapple and Meringue
Sheep Milk Yogurt with Apple and Raspberries
Petitfours (green tea chocolate, oreo cookie, and hazelnut chocolate)

I tried every dish and enjoyed the vast majority of them. My least favorite was definitely the sea urchin soup; I couldn't even finish that.

Hopefully, Jeremy at least will appreciate my attempt at being a foodie.

Oscars

2011-02-27T13:46:00.000-05:00

A Jeremy style Oscar preview post, with who I think will win and who I think should win.

Best Picture
Will Win - The Social Network in a mini-upset over The King's Speech.
Should Win - I think Inception is my favorite movie from 2010 (I'll be posting a complete ranking in the next few days) but I think The Social Network has that combination of quality and timeliness (and timelessness) that make it the better choice as Best Picture for the year.

Best Actor
Will Win - Colin Firth, this one's a slam-dunk.
Should Win - Firth was amazing but I've said all along I was more impressed by James Franco's turn in 127 Hours where he completely carried the movie. So he's been my personal favorite for the last several months; that is until I saw Biutiful and Javier Bardem blew my mind. So Bardem would be my choice if I had a vote.

Best Actress
Will Win - Natalie Portman.
Should Win - Plenty of strong performances here. I just saw Blue Valentine and Michelle Williams was superb and I really liked Jennifer Lawrence's film-carrying performance in Winter's Bone. But Portman has always been on of my favorites and I'm not going to turn my back on her now (even though she's engaged and pregnant).

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win - Christian Bale
Should Win - Bale. Geoffrey Rush was great in The King's Speech, and even stole the show from Firth at times, and I'm tempted to go with Jeremy Renner as the only representative from one of my favorite films of the year, The Town, but Bale's transformation into a totally unrecognizable character should earn him the Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win - This is the upset category. I was leaning towards picking Helena Bonham Carter but I'll go with Hailee Steinfeld, after Amy Adams and Melissa Leo split votes for The Fighter.
Should Win - Steinfeld probably had the most important role of any of the nominees in their respective films but I just wasn't a big fan of True Grit, so I'd go with Leo, who was also exceptional as the bad/good (but mostly bad) mother.

Best Director
Will Win - Fincher.
Should Win - I'm tempted by Aronofsky and his unique visual style but I'll go with Fincher. Christopher Nolan, if nominated, would get my vote.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win - Sorkin for The Social Network.
Should Win - Sorkin without a doubt.

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win - King's Speech.
Should Win - King's Speech.

TCM 31 Days of Oscar

2011-02-08T18:30:00.002-05:00

Word

Quick Reviews

2011-02-02T17:55:00.000-05:00

The American - 3.0 - This wonderfully shot film at first seemed intriguing with its ominous air of mystery, but as the pace slowed to a crawl, I was more or less bored out of my mind. Even George Clooney's natural charisma was neutralized by the tedious pacing; the first 80 minutes of the film literally revolved around his character building a gun. I was actually quite impressed someone could make a movie about assassins and prostitutes this boring.

The Quiet American - 6.0 - I'm pretty sure the George Clooney feature discussed above would've gone for this title if it wasn't already taken (The Dull American or The Bored American would've worked as well). Anyways, I 75% watched this one with the family (it's always a much too difficult/protracted task choosing a movie to watch on netflix, admittedly primarily due to my pickiness) and thought it was a moderately interesting story, elevated by a captivating performance by Michael Caine.

Restrepo - 7.0 - Restrepo is a recently Oscar nominated documentary about the war in Afghanistan. Documentaries are always hard for me to rate since a big part of my scale loosely involves entertainment/rewatchability, and I can't think of a single documentary that I'd ever want to watch a second time (Jeremy swears by Hoop Dreams but I only saw it once a long, long time ago). Anyways, Restrepo sacrifices structure and character development and instead just throws the viewer in with a battalion of soldiers (I think it was a battalion, maybe a squad... not like I have any idea what the difference is either way). This is a very effective way of providing (what I would assume to be) a realistic depiction of what it's like to serve in Afghanistan; i.e. it sucks. Like a lot of war movies, it also forced me to consider that uneasy balance between appreciating soldiers for doing things I would never in a million years want to do and acknowledging that I, a (liberal, bleeding heart) civilian, can never understand what it's like to go through what they go through, while also being slightly uncomfortable (if not disturbed) by some of their actions (like the general glorification of violence -- cheering when you kill people, etc). I think I'll just say I'm glad it's not me and I'll refrain from judging a soldier except for the most egregious offenses, and leave it at that.

Year End List

2011-01-23T00:49:00.000-05:00

I still want to see Blue Valentine and Biutiful (Innaritu!) and I'll probably watch whatever foreign films and documentaries that get nominated for Oscars and are available on netflix streaming (shameful way to choose what to watch I know), but other than that, I've just about seen what I want to see for 2010. I only really loved one movie but I liked a lot of others and have only seen a few I'd consider bad (time to stop trusting that Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe combo). Anyways, I hope to rank everything I've seen in the next week or so.

Rabbit Hole - 7.0

2011-01-23T00:42:00.000-05:00

I initially had Rabbit Hole pegged in the Revolutionary Road, Little Children suburbia is hell category. Well it turns out this film actually fit into the Ordinary People losing a child is hell category. It's hell either way but it's better (no, worse) this way because at least in this movie there is a legitimate reason for the characters to be so miserable and treat each other like crap other than mere boredom.

So once I figured out what exactly Rabbit Hole was about, I was able to appreciate it. It's definitely the type of movie you appreciate instead of enjoy. It's set in the aftermath of the protagonist couple, played capably by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart (Kidman is apparently close to a lock for an Oscar nomination, though I was personally just as impressed by Eckhart's performance), losing their 4 year old son in a freak car accident in front of their house. It's sad to watch both characters turn to outsiders to try to deal with their grief, and it's not hard to imagine how losing a child tears so many marriages apart.

On a random note, I saw a teaser trailer for this movie when I was watching TV the other day and the ad sold this movie as funny. Like the voiceover guy explicitly said "Rabbit Hole is funny." I will never trust another teaser trailer in my entire life. If I went to see this movie expecting a comedy and ended up watching two people grieve the death of their young son for the next hour and a half, I'd be pretty freaking pissed.

NBC Thursday Night

2011-01-20T23:35:00.003-05:00

So I watched all six of the NBC comedies tonight. My ranking of the 6, based on a combination of tonight's episodes and how much I've been enjoying them lately:

1) 30 Rock - it's been hilarious this season. Even had a good Dr. Spaceman cameo tonight.

2) Community - I really liked tonight's episode. I haven't loved it in the past but I'm going to pay more attention when it's on now (less multi-tasking).

3) The Office - it's hit or miss these days. The Daryl, Dwight, and Andy combo tonight was good (probably my 3 favorite characters at the moment) and the supporting characters are always good for a few laughs per episode. But the Michael/Holly, Jim/Pam, Dwight/Angela couplings are all just blah.

4) Parks and Rec - Amy Poehler tries to walk that Steve Carrell tightrope between annoying and funny and comes down too much on the annoying side for me. Aziz is freaking hilarious though, and I found myself enjoying some of the other supporting characters tonight.

5) Perfect Couples - I laughed a few times during the pilot. Nothing spectacular but not as terrible as...

6) Outsourced - god this show sucks.

Winter's Bone - 7.5

2011-01-18T13:09:00.002-05:00

Winter's Bone opens with a young boy riding a skateboard, a young girl playing with a doll, and a slightly older girl doing laundry, set to a presumably traditional Ozark folksong, all taking place in what becomes a familiar setting of a dilapidated, broke down trailer home. The scene combines the universal (kids playing), with some of the unique aspects of this particular story (the Ozark culture and the decrepit conditions its people endure), and brilliantly sets the tone for rest of the movie.

Besides the acclaimed, outstanding, surely soon to be Oscar nominated performance from Jennifer Lawrence, what stood out most in Winter's Bone was the bleak, hopeless atmosphere. The film really had a cinema verite feel, so the story felt real, like it was a situation that you could easily imagine happening often in that part of the world, or at least some variation of it. Set against this gloomy backdrop, a 17 year old girl was just trying to do what she could to keep her family together. I'm already a sucker for stories about kids being raised by slightly older kids (think Wallace or Michael in The Wire), so watching Lawrence's character fearlessly navigate the Ozark drug underworld was quite an experience. The patriarchal nature of that society, where it seemed it was a man's right to aggressively grab a young girl's face whenever he wanted to tell her something, made that experience even more harrowing.

I briefly complained about family relationships being hard to trace in The Fighter but that was a piece of cake compared to this film. That minor quibble aside, Winter's Bone was a compelling, character driven story that showed that a pervasive culture of drugs and violence has ruined more places in America than the inner city. It's a should-see (a notch below must-see in my book) for Lawrence's performance alone.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - 6.0

2011-01-15T00:41:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying this chapter of the Harry Potter saga did a lot of the same things that the last few movies did well, the stuff that has been going on since (the genius) Alfonso Cuaron took the franchise in a new and much more compelling direction following Chris Columbus' first two kiddie movies. The atmosphere was perfect, it was beautifully shot and stunning visually, and competently acted; I especially enjoyed the soft spoken creepiness of Ray Fiennes' Voldemort and the overtop, couldn't be further from Queen Elizabeth, craziness of Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange. All in all it's just a well-made film. There was also one creative sequence that I loved -- the retelling of the story of the deathly hallows, with Hermione's narration and stick figure animation, was just awesomely creative and captivating, and exponentially better than the typical flashback scene one might expect.

However, there were several things I didn't like. Full disclosure first, it's been 4 years since I read the book, and while I loved it at the time, I don't really remember it that well (especially the first half, aka this movie) and haven't thought about it a whole lot in the interim. So I don't remember if it was so blatant in the book or not but it was just an all too convenient plot device that all Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to do to escape even the most perilous predicament was simply grasp hands and disapparate to where ever they wanted. Maybe it's a necessary feature in this type of story but the ease of the trio's getaways grated on my nerves while watching the movie in a way that didn't happen at all while I was reading the book.

Furthermore, along similar lines of HP7 coming dangerously close to typical action genre pitfalls, there were a couple moments that felt so derivative that it was almost like I was experiencing deja vu. First, when they flashed back to Dumbledore falling to his death from the Hogwarts tower, it looked so much like Gandalf's fall in the mines of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring (white hair flowing in the wind and everything) that I honestly forgot what movie I was watching for a split second. And then in the Harry transportation scene (which was actually pretty well done, other than Mad Eye's death basically being reduced to an off hand comment that was seemingly forgotten 5 seconds later), when Voldemort keyed in on the real Harry, I could've sworn they just used stock footage from LOST and Voldemort transformed into the smoke monster for a few seconds. Now I love both Lord of the Rings and LOST but I don't love when I feel like they're being copied. It was only two small and relatively insignificant moments but it played into a broader feeling of unoriginality and an overall lack of freshness (which is a bit inevitable in the 7th movie of a franchise I guess).

Lastly, I'm still a little irritated they made this into two movies in the first place. The studio's excuse that the story demands 2 films, blah blah blah, is taking the easy way out in my opinion. The wandering through the woods part of the book was a bit drawn out as it was so when you're adapting it into a movie, why not cut that down instead of expand it even more and center an entire movie on it? No need to answer that since it isn't exactly rocket science -- the studio is going making hundreds of millions of dollars by making two movies instead of one. So the bottom line for me was Part 1 was mostly just a setup, a beautifully shot and immaculately crafted setup but a setup nonetheless, for the finale. I'm still confident Part 2 will be incredible (it'd take some doing to really screw that part of the story up) but I have tempered my enthusiasm ever so slightly.

Blackmail - 6.0

2011-01-11T22:22:00.004-05:00

Blackmail marks the beginning of a new personal quest -- to work my through Alfred Hitchcock's entire filmography. This was inspired by the purchase of Hitchcock's first 20 movies on DVD for only $5.49 (http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Hitchcock-Legend-Begins-Classics/dp/B000UVV25Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294801322&sr=8-2) and a Hitchcock/Truffaut book I bought in which the master discusses all of his films.

Blackmail is one of Hitchcock's early features (it came out in 1929) and was actually the very first British 'talkie.' While that's a cool piece of trivia, it wasn't the best thing for the quality of the film, as Hitchcock actually started filming it as a silent movie and changed course midway through the production at the insistence of the studio. So Blackmail ended up being this strange combination of silent and talkie (it basically made a complete switch 20 minutes into the movie). Predictably, the sound is clunky and the dialogue not quite synchronized (furthering the problem, the lead actress had a thick Czech accent so they had to dub in another actress' voice -- edited to add, after reading about it in the Truffaut book, apparently it wasn't dubbed in (they didn't have the technology) but the other actress stood off camera with a microphone and spoke the dialogue while the lead pantomimed her lines... I'm sure that drove Hitchcock the perfectionist crazy). The plot is also very slow developing. However, with all that said, if you love Hitchcock, it's fun to watch just for the early glimpses of his genius. There was the ancestor of a tracking shot as two characters ascended several flights of stairs, clever use of reflections and shadows, and interesting camera angles. And of course, even early on, Hitchcock was an expert at building suspense.

1 down, about 55 to go (I've actually seen 20 of Hitchcock's movies now and I believe he directed 53 total).

The Fighter - 8.0

2011-01-10T12:12:00.016-05:00

30 seconds into The Fighter (which is an absolutely horrible title by the way) I was blown away by Christian Bale's transformation into this washed up crack addict. Watching such a big star become a character like Dickie Eklund, so you forget you're watching a star at all is pretty incredible. Combine his go for broke performances in movies like American Psycho, The Machinist (which I haven't seen), Rescue Dawn, and The Fighter with his more straightforward crowd-pleasers like The Prestige (awesome, underrated movie) and Public Enemies, and of course his work as the best Batman ever, and you've got easily one of the best actors of his generation. It's about time he got some Oscar recognition, which he'll no doubt be receiving shortly.

After admiring in awe Bale's performance for a few minutes, the rest of the movie eventually sucked me in too. About halfway through I was ready to declare The Fighter not at all a sports movie, but instead a story about a decent guy (Wahlberg's Mickey Ward) trying to overcome his dysfunctional, selfish yet loving family. Then the rest of the movie was a pretty predictable sports movie; a couple training montages, adversity overcome, some drama surrounding the central romantic relationship, and (SPOILER) the underdog ultimately coming out on top.

But The Fighter did differ from the typical sports movie in a few ways, some good, some bad. For one, it thankfully reversed the recent trend in boxing movies where the boxing scenes are filmed in such a way that you can't tell what the hell is going on (as much as I love him, Michael Mann was a pioneer of this movement in the otherwise excellent Ali). On the other hand, the boxing scenes were also filmed in such a way that a dramatic, surprise knockout wasn't all that exciting. I respect the effort to be minimalistic but there's something to be said for hollywooding it up (for lack of a better term) a little bit in those moments. On the other other hand, I did appreciate The Fighter going the anti-Hollywood route and never unnecessarily and unrealistically vilifying Ward's opponents as cheap shot artists or heartless thugs; Ward's character was developed well enough in the non-sports first half of the movie that they didn't need to manipulate the audience so they would be rooting for him.

While the family relationships were difficult to trace and the timeline was a little hard to follow at times (it seemed weeks and even months would pass between scenes at a few points), The Fighter told a quality story that was elevated by great acting. Bale was obviously terrific but Wahlberg and Amy Adams were good too, while Melissa Leo's turn as Ward's mother/manager was a scene-stealer (and definitely Oscar worthy as well). Overall, terrible title, good movie.

Ajami - 8.5

2011-01-08T11:53:00.018-05:00

Ajami is an Israeli film in the same vein as City of God or Amores Perros (high praise already, the back of the DVD also compared it to The Wire and Boyz N the Hood). It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009, and it's not hard to see why. It has that gritty, authentic feel that makes you feel like you're eavesdropping on someone's real life instead of watching a movie.

The title, Ajami, refers to a diverse neighborhood in the Israeli port city of Jaffa (which is now a part of Tel Aviv) and the story deals with the interactions and conflict between the various ethnic groups that uneasily co-exist there, including Jews, Arab Christians, Arab Muslims, and Bedouins. According to Lily, it's a very accurate portrayal of life in Israel and really illustrates the depth and hopelessness of the racial and religious divides which lead to so much senseless violence.

The film itself was co-directed by an Arab and a Jew (which gives me just a tiny bit of hope) and deals with multiple characters, told through five different intersecting, non-linear stories. Now I'm always a sucker for this type of plot as it is, but putting aside my bias in favor of this structure, I really don't think it felt at all forced or gimmicky. I'm not very good at judging acting in foreign films because I feel like I'm reading the subtitles 75% of the time, but the largely non-professional cast came off as natural and assured. Ajami was consistently engaging, and also timely and relevant, though quite depressing as well. I think it has earned its place alongside other modern classics like City of God or Amores Perros ... though I don't think I can in good conscience compare anything to The Wire (and no movie will ever be able to match its breadth and scope).

I'm back

2011-01-08T11:53:00.003-05:00

I've been watching a lot of movies lately so I think I'm going to use this blog to review them. Not sure how much I'll get to in my backlog (probably not very much since I have a busy few weeks/months ahead of me), so I'll just go ahead and say, of the current crop of newish releases, I really liked Black Swan, The King's Speech, and 127 Hours, while I thought True Grit was technically brilliant but left me feeling a bit cold inside.

Last Post Here

2008-02-12T01:43:00.000-05:00

From now on, I'll be posting on Jeremy's blog...

Clean Sweep

2008-02-10T00:49:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty pumped after Obama's clean sweep of Nebraska, Louisiana, and Washington (with 20+ point margins in each). Yeah, yeah, the demographics of these states favored Obama, Hillary expected to lose, blah, blah, blah. Well you know what? The rest of February favors Obama also and if Hillary is shut out she's done. Just like Giuliani, you can't pin all of your hopes on some state(s) that are a month away and endure a string of losses where your opponent gains invaluable momentum. Virginia looked like it could've been a toss-up but right now Obama is polling 15-20 points ahead, so it looks like the Potomac Primaries will all 3 go to Obama also. Wisconsin's primary (on Feb. 19) is probably Hillary's best shot in February for a win but by that point Obama will have a 7 state winning streak (assuming he wins Maine's caucuses tomorrow which is probably not a given but them being caucuses certainly is a big advantage for him) and all the momentum. Not to mention, he has already been destroying her in the midwest, so even though the polls are close right now, I'd be shocked if Hillary won Wisconsin. I just can't see her winning Texas and Ohio decisively after 2 weeks where Obama, with all the momentum, can focus solely on these 2 states. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but in my opinion, things are looking great for Obama right now (and this is not even taking into account all the play the national polls where Obama is consistently doing better vs. McCain than Hillary is have been getting recently).

Pearl Jam

2008-02-09T02:45:00.000-05:00

I've always liked Pearl Jam but recently I've started to really get into them more. I just randomly came across this great live performance of a great song (Porch). It makes me jealous that Jeremy has seen them live 30 times or whatever...

Writers' Strike Over?

2008-02-08T13:22:00.001-05:00

It appears that the writers' strike might finally be coming to an end. Perfect timing too so now they can get back to filming those last 8 episodes of the new season of LOST.

Looking Ahead

2008-02-06T11:37:00.000-05:00

In the next week, there are 8 more primaries or caucuses for the Democrats, so after the Super Tuesday draw, these should be vitally important. Here they are, with my guess as to who is favored.

Saturday Feb. 9

-Louisiana - 67 delegates - in the south, large black population, should be a huge Obama win right?

-Nebraska - 31 delegates - Obama just won huge in Kansas, and like Kansas, these are also caucuses, where Obama has yet to lose because of his superior ground organization. Also hugely favors Obama.

-Washington - 97 delegates - I honestly have no idea how this is trending or what the demographics are. My guess is that Obama won't be able to draw on the dislike of the Clintons in the Pacific NW like he can in the Midwest and that he doesn't have the advantage of a large black segment of the electorate like in the South. But I at least characterize the Pacific NW as very progressive which should definitely help Obama (not sure of how many Latinos there are though). Anyways, Washington is also a caucus state so Obama should certainly win but this might be the best Feb. 9 state for Hillary to challenge in.

-Virgin Islands - 9 delegates - not that it matters but Obama should win this too I'd guess.

Sunday Feb. 10

-Maine - 34 delegates - another caucus, I'd expect Obama to win pretty easily.

Tuesday Feb. 12

-District of Columbia - 37 delegates, Maryland - 99 delegates, Virginia - 101 delegates - these 3 all should favor Obama in a big way. My guess is Virginia has the chance to be the closest, but that really is just a guess.

Obama has more money and has already been airing ads in all of these states while Hillary was still solely focused on Super Tuesday. The fact that she is not expected to do well over the next week should soften the blow some but if she loses every one of these contests, Obama should gain some huge momentum (not to mention a lead in delegates won and perhaps in overall delegates too). The only other races in February are Hawaii and Wisconsin (both of which also favor Obama) so he'll really need all that momentum because March 4th is Ohio and Texas (161 and 228 delegates) and right now both of these states favor Hillary in a pretty big way. My hope is that his momentum from probably a 10 state winning streak, his money advantage, and the fact that he'll have 2 weeks between Feb. 19 and March 4 to solely focus on Ohio and Texas (he's had huge bumps the more time he spends in a state) will allow him to at least be very competitive in these two states. Either way, the rest of February at least looks really good for Obama.

Delegate Count

2008-02-06T11:25:00.000-05:00

This site has a good running total of delegates won (much better than any of the news site are providing at the moment). As of right now, Hillary won Super Tuesday 655-640, but California still has 210 delegates not yet assigned (good for Hillary obviously). However, Georgia, Illinois, and Colorado have a combined 103 delegates not yet assigned also, and since Obama won each of these of states by huge margins that should more or less offset the California delegates and we'll end up with Hillary winning Super Tuesday by a very very small margin (looks like my hope that Obama could keep it within 50-100 delegates was a little too conservative). Basically after Super Tuesday, delegates won (so not counting super delegates - Obama was up by 15 coming in) should be a virtual tie.

Super Tuesday

2008-02-06T02:29:00.000-05:00

Super Tuesday didn't go quite as well as I hoped in some states (Cali, Mass, NJ) but all in all, it isn't a bad result at all for Obama. It truly is a split decision, Obama won more states (13 to 8 right now with NM still up in the air) but Hillary did better in the big states. To show just how close it is, the total 'popular vote' for each candidate as of 2:30 AM tonight (using CNN's numbers) is 6,212,188 for Obama and 6,186,726 for Hillary. For Obama to compete like that nationally really is impressive, especially considering he was losing in just about every one of these states two weeks ago besides Illinois. The states coming up favor Obama so if he can stay within 50-100 delegates after everything is tallied up today, then he has a legit chance to have a lead in delegates by the end of the month. It really is still up in the air but I'm hoping that having the primaries spread out more now will benefit Obama, as will his money advantage.

4 things I'm excited about

2008-02-05T03:19:00.001-05:00

So there are four things over the next two days that I would normally really be looking forward to individually and by coincidence or divine providence they are all happening in a short period of time. They are: Super Tuesday, Duke at UNC, Mexico vs. USA and national signing day for college football recruits. Just for fun, I'll rate my excitement (in order):

1. Duke/UNC - 10/10 on the excitement scale - #2 vs. #3 (damn you Memphis for not losing and setting up #1 vs. #2), at the Dean Dome, I'm going, it doesn't get a whole better than that (well unless Ty Lawson was playing that is).

2. Super Tuesday - also a 10 but loses out to Duke/UNC for me, though I wouldn't have thought an election (and even more a primary) could get this close to the biggest game in college basketball in my eyes. But what I can say, my Obama boner is raging. Like Duke/UNC, I'm hoping for the best but still preparing for the worst. Put me on suicide watch if Hillary wins big and the Heels lose as well.

3. Mexico/USA - 8/10 - would be more excited if it was a qualifier instead of a friendly but Mexico is bringing a really strong team and the US hasn't had a big game in a while, so I'm getting pretty pumped (sadly I'll have to watch it recorded since it's on at the exact same time as Duke/UNC - as many nights as I've got nothing to watch and the two best sporting events in a while have to be on at the exact same time?). I'm especially excited to see Adu and Altidore, not to mention the scoring machine Michael Bradley (he has literally been scoring every game for Heerenveen for the last month now and has 16 goals on the season - and he's a midfielder!).

4. National signing day - 7/10 - I've been following UNC's football recruiting more this year than ever in the past so I'm pretty excited for this. We've got a decent class so far but signing day is huge and there are several big recruits we're still in the picture for. Though I'm not nearly as obsessive about college football as basketball, it would be pretty cool to have a good football team, and with Butch Davis at the helm, I'm sure we'll eventually get there.

Could it be?

2008-02-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

Checking out some of the new polls and man they look good for Obama. Ahead by 1 and 6 points in California in 2 different polls. Ahead by 22 points in Georgia. Ahead by 5 points in Missouri. Ahead by 3 points and behind by 1 points in 2 different national. Behind by only 6 points in New Jersey. I'm hesitant to get my hopes up after the NH polling debacle but I am definitely cautiously optimistic for tomorrow.

Once - 8.5

2008-02-03T00:39:00.000-05:00

Once tells the story of two lost souls who find each other, and themselves, over the course of a music-filled week in Dublin. Its indie roots and plot, along with its subtlety and intelligence, remind me of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with very good music substituted for realistic dialogue. And while I'm not normally a fan of musicals, the songs in this film undoubtedly work. Not only were they 'good' songs in general, they advance the plot in a creative and unique way. I found myself moved (not to tears mind you but moved none the less) by this movie and the passion evident in the music (which was written and performed by the two lead actors) played a huge role in this. To top it all off, in contrast to another relatively similar movie like Garden State that was entertaining and admirable throughout but cheapened itself by taking the easy way out when it came time to provide a conclusion, Once had a pitch-perfect ending that was worthy of the excellence of the rest of the film. I will eventually post my final 2007 movie rankings after I see I'm Not There, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and a few others, but it is safe to say that as of right now the only movie I'd definitely rank above Once is Atonement.

LOST

2008-02-01T02:19:00.001-05:00

While I was not blown away by the season premier of LOST tonight, I did really enjoy it and like the direction it is going in. It definitely felt like an episode meant to set the stage more than anything else. The switch to flash-forwards is brilliant since the flashbacks were becoming more and more superfluous towards the end of last season. There's still tons of mysteries out there (of course) and more questions than answers but I am excited to see where it goes from here with Jack vs. Locke, who are the other 3 besides Jack, Hurley, and Kate that are part of the 'Oceanic 6', what happened to everyone else that didn't get off the island (if not dead, still on the island I presume? Jack betrayed them in some way to get off maybe...), who was in the casket in the season 3 finale, who are the people from the Naomi's boat, etc, etc. And oh yeah, what the hell is going on with this Jacob stuff? On that note, a screenshot from what Hurley saw in the cabin: Yep that looks like Jack's dad and no that doesn't look like the 'Jacob' Locke saw last season (that Jacob actually looked a lot like Locke). No clue what it means but certainly an interesting twist. I hate that we have to wait a week for a new episode and hate it even more that in all likelihood the damn writers' strike is going to leave us with only 8 episodes this season. I just hope those 8 episodes are as good as the last 8 from last year.

Here Comes Barack

2008-01-31T03:37:00.000-05:00

Just saw these new polls, presumably taken after SC and the Kennedy endorsement (but before Edwards dropped out). It is now a tie in Connecticut, Hillary leading Massachusetts by only 6 points (she was up by 37 points in the previous poll listed on that site), and even more importantly only 3 points in California (she also had a double digit lead in Cali in previous polls). Even if he loses, cutting down the margin in Massachusetts is important because it has 121 delegates. If Obama can do better in NY than Hillary does in Illinois and then blow her out in Georgia (don't know if this is likely or not but definitely lots of black voters there so hopefully similar to SC) and keep it close in Mass and New Jersey (again not sure how close he'll be able to keep it in NJ) then Obama comes out about even in the non-Cali 100+ delegate states, which seemed to favor Hillary heavily a week ago. In most of the smaller states, Obama seems like he has the advantage, though it varies from state to state of course. So if we assume Obama can come out with only a small loss from NY, NJ, Mass, Illinois, and Georgia and beat Hillary in the rest, then California will be the huge momentum shift. If he closes the gap even more (apparently Ted Kennedy is campaigning hard for him there) and can manage to win California, then Obama will be our next president. If winning such a diverse state, without all that many black people, doesn't give Obama the ever-elusive electable tag, I don't know what will. Even more importantly, Cali has a whole shit ton of delegates (441). Winning is obviously ideal, especially for the media coverage and the opportunity to spin it into momentum for future states, but it now looks like he'll at least be able to keep it close and more or less split the delegates at worst, which is much better than it looked pre-SC. It should be really interesting but there's my optimistic blueprint for a successful Super Tuesday for Obama - keep it real close in Massachusetts (the Kennedy endorsement has to help here right?), keep it somewhat close in NY and NJ, win big in Illinois and Georgia, take an overall victory from the rest of the states, and win in Cali (or at worst lose small). Now come on Edwards, endorse Obama and keep the momentum going (and you too Al Gore).

There Will Be Blood - 8.5

2008-01-28T01:12:00.000-05:00

Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, the story of a singularly motivated early 20th century oil tycoon, reminds me of No Country for Old Men in a lot of ways. It is perfectly crafted, there's a purpose behind every single shot, it works tirelessly to create an authentic atmosphere, and it is light on dialogue and heavy on top notch acting. But like No Country for Old Men, while watching There Will Be Blood, I found myself wondering where's the heart? With No Country there are a few likable characters at least, a class of being more or less non-existent in There Will Be Blood. But then I realized this movie doesn't need likable characters, it offers a much more rewarding experience by building up and tearing down its main character and leaving the viewer confused about what to think and feel. Instead of offering up a hero, There Will Be Blood provides a fantastic anti-hero - savvy, hard-working, intelligent yes, but also completely cold and heartless and without a care for anyone else other than himself in the entire world. It wouldn't have worked nearly as well if it didn't have Daniel Day-Lewis, the greatest currently working actor and one of the greatest of all-time, immersing himself in the lead role. Daniel Day-Lewis giving a standout performance is to be expected but just as importantly Paul Dano (who played the voluntarily mute son in Little Miss Sunshine) offers a legitimate foil to Day-Lewis' oil man with his prophetic preacher. As the story develops, the relationship between Day-Lewis and Dano's characters is one of the most interesting aspects of this film. Similar in theme and scope to Citizen Kane, There Will Be Blood would be a worthy Best Picture winner and Day-Lewis, in my eyes at least, is a mortal lock for Best Actor.

Ratatouille - 8.0

2008-01-28T01:01:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to watching Ratatouille (in beautiful bluray) and came away very impressed. There were only a few laugh out loud moments (for me at least) but I was consistently entertained and even ended up rooting for the characters, which is quite a feat for an animated movie. With a very good screenplay (deservedly nominated for an Oscar), I appreciated that this movie steered clear of going for stupid easy laughs unlike some other recent animated movies (Shrek 3) and also didn't over indulge in slapstick. As it was, the few very well done slapstick sequences were perfect and some of the best moments of the entire movie. I haven't liked some of the other highly lauded recent Pixar efforts that much (like Finding Nemo) but this movie really won me over about half way through and ended up being impossible not to like. Bravo Brad Bird, creating this and The Incredibles, I anoint you animation genius.

The Science of Sleep - 7.5

2008-01-28T00:43:00.000-05:00

The Science of Sleep is Michel Gondry's follow up to the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, well follow up in tone and theme at least if not chronological order because Gondry did direct the also very good documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party in between. The Science of Sleep stars Gael Garcia Bernal as a creative young man whose dreams intertwine with his waking life - sometimes so much so that he can't tell the difference. The plot takes off when Bernal falls in love with an equally artistic young French woman named Stephanie(played by Charlotte Gainsbourg) who he wants to share his world with. Similar to Eternal Sunshine, Gondry seamlessly weaves real life with Bernal's dream world. This tactic serves its purpose but sometimes I found myself wishing they'd just get back to the real plot. That's only a minor quibble though because overall this was a well-crafted, involving movie that also managed to find some emotional resonance due to Bernal's extremely likable character's romance with Stephanie.

Thank You For Smoking - 7.0

2008-01-28T00:33:00.000-05:00

Thank You For Smoking is a funny, relatively smart satire of the way lobbyists do their jobs. Aaron Eckhart gives a charismatic performance as the fast-talking tobacco lobbyist who can seemingly argue his way out of anything but is caught in a moral dilemma when trying to reconcile his line of work with setting a good example for his son. It's an entertaining movie that flies by at only a 1.5 hour runtime but is really nothing too special - if I had written this review right after I finished it, it would've gotten at least a point higher but now, a few days later, I realize it wasn't all that memorable.

Obama!

2008-01-27T03:39:00.000-05:00

Obama's victory speech (part 1 and part 2) from last night's huge win over Hillary. Super Tuesday should be interesting... I also should have reviews up in the next day or two of There Will Be Blood, Ratatouille, Thank You for Smoking, and The Science of Sleep.

Oscar Nominations

2008-01-22T14:21:00.001-05:00

Oscar nominations were released today - glancing through, no real huge surprises. My predictions were actually pretty damn good (pat myself on the back) other than thinking American Gangster would be a big contender (only got a nomination in supporting actress for Ruby Dee out of the big categories). Best Actor and Best Actress did offer some surprises, with Tommy Lee Jones (for In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (for Eastern Promises) picking up nominations and Denzel and James McAvoy (among others) getting snubbed. For Best Actress, Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth 2) and Laura Linney (The Savages) each picked up nominations and unfortunately Keira Knightley was snubbed. Outside of no nominations for Knightley and Denzel I'm pretty happy with everything. Jeremy will be happy to see Michael Clayton heavily represented (a little more heavily than I had thought it would). Here are the nominations, and in italics my early pick for the winner: Best Picture No Country for Old Men Atonement Juno There Will Be Blood Michael Clayton Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood George Clooney, Michael Clayton Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah Best Actress Julie Christie, Away From Her Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose Ellen Page, Juno Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age Laura Linney, The Savages Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton Best Supporting Actress Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone Saoirse Ronan, Atonement Ruby Dee, American Gangster Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton Best Director Ethan and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood Jason Reitman, Juno Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Best Adapted Screenplay No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood Atonement The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Away From Her Best Original Screenplay Juno Michael Clayton The Savages Ratatouille Lars and the Real Girl

John Edwards

2008-01-22T04:28:00.000-05:00

Saw this letter from Martin Luther King Jr.'s son to Edwards. I can't believe that us democrats have two outstanding candidates like John Edwards and Barack Obama, both of whom I would be proud to vote for, and yet, in all likelihood, we're still going to nominate Hillary, who will not only be a worse president (in my opinion of course) but who also has a much greater chance of losing the general election. It really is unbelievable to me. Anyways, here's the letter:

Dear Senator Edwards:
It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father's legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.

There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are -- a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don't have lobbyists in Washington and they don't get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.

From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.

I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father's words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

Sincerely,

Martin L. King, III

USA 2, Sweden 0, the African Cup of Nations

2008-01-22T03:54:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I missed the US's 2-0 victory over Sweden this weekend because I was in Charleston. Both teams fielded very weakened sides with all the big European leagues currently in action (besides the Bundesliga), with the US going almost all with MLS players (and a few that play in Scandinavia where clubs are still on winter break) and Sweden using domestic-based players as well. The goal-scorers for the US were UNC grad Eddie Robinson (in his first cap) and Landon Donovan, who now holds the all-time US scoring record. Jozy Altidore played the 2nd half and drew the PK that Donovan converted. I wish I could've watched if for no other reason than to see him in action again. Not a whole lot can be taken from a game like this but it is nice for the US to start winning again, now with 3 consecutive victories leading up to our next game, a February 6th friendly against Mexico. In other soccer news, the African Cup of Nations started over the weekend but unfortunately is not being televised at all in the US (not even on setanta or goltv). I still might try to catch some games from online feeds but I'm pretty disappointed there's not going to be any on TV. The Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 1-0 today in a game that probably featured as many top-tier players (Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Kalou, Eboue, and Mikel are all key players on clubs still left in the Champions League, not to mention Yakubu, Kanu, Zokora, Meite, Martins, Utaka, and Yobo, all who are regulars on solid EPL sides) as any international match outside of a Brazil/Argentina WC qualifier until the Euro this summer. Ivory Coast definitely has the strongest team in the tournament and beating Nigeria today was their biggest hurdle in group play so they should be advancing (though Mali with their trio of Kanoute, Diarra, and Keita might have something to say in this group as well, Nigeria/Mali will be a very interesting match). Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, and Nigeria could all theoretically challenge for the title but my guess is that the biggest challenge to Ivory Coast will be the hosts, Ghana who unfortunately are playing without Stephen Appiah. But with Essien and Muntari anchoring the midfield, they should be pretty tough to beat. Even so, Ivory Coast are the favorites for a reason and I expect they'll go one step farther than 2 years ago when they lost to Egypt (the hosts) in PKs in the final.

Mike Huckabee

2008-01-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

Just saw this quote from Mike Huckabee on perez hilton's blog:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.

So much for separation of church and state if this idiot is elected president - he, of course, doesn't have a great shot but we did elect GWB twice so I'm not putting anything past us.

The Kingdom - 6.0

2008-01-14T19:47:00.001-05:00

The Kingdom works relatively well as an action drama with a pretty interesting plot, dealing with an FBI team's investigation of a terrorist attack on an American oil company in Saudi Arabia. This FBI team happens to be quit star-studded with Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Chris Cooper all involved. Directed by Peter Berg (of Friday Night Lights fame) and produced by the one and only Michael Mann, the production is top notch and there are some very good action scenes. However, the movie ends up falling short by basically half-assing it when it came to the political side of the plot, kind of delving into why this terrorist attack happened and why the US is so hesitant to send investigators, but not really going into it all the way. It is also cringe-worthy how heavy-handed the final scene is. And oh yeah, it suffers from what I'll call the action movie syndrome, where the villains have seemingly never shot a gun before and the heroes are invincible. But even with these faults, this was a decently interesting and entertaining movie. One other positive note - this movie had an astounding amount of actors from TV shows I like/liked - Jennifer Garner (Alias), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), and the dad from Six Feet Under all have prominent roles. And then Coach Taylor and Lyla Garrity from Friday Night Lights even show up for a scene each. I also could've sworn I saw Daniels from The Wire in there for a second but he didn't show up on imdb so I guess I was wrong on that one. Oscar Outlook Should be a contender in all the big categories...just kidding of course. No chance for any nominations.

La Vie En Rose - 7.0

2008-01-14T19:21:00.001-05:00

La Vie En Rose is a relatively standard musical biopic dealing with Edith Piaf, an apparently legendary French chanteuse. It does deviate from standard genre fare by not telling a linear story, instead jumping around to different points of Piaf's life. I normally love this type of story-telling but I'm not sure how necessary it was in this movie. One thing it did do was highlight the quality of the lead actress, Marion Cotillard. In one scene, she's playing a 20 something singer on the rise and in the next a 50-year-old broken down woman on her death bed, and is equally convincing in both. She really did a wonderful job and it's easy to see where the Oscar buzz is coming from in her case. It did lose points for excessive melodrama but overall, while not exceptional, it was a pretty good movie. Oscar Outlook Persepolis was chosen as France's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category, so La Vie En Rose (and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as well) can't be nominated there (talk about a stupid rule, if all 5 of the best foreign language films are from the same country, then they should all be nominated). Anyways, perhaps a Best Song nomination(s) are in order and certainly a Best Actress nomination for Cotillard. Now her chances of winning are another question. She just won the Golden Globe for Best Performance in a Comedy/Musical over Ellen Page who figures to be her biggest competition along with Julie Christie for the Oscar, so that bodes well for her. It should be a really interesting race - I personally think Cotillard gave the best performance of the three, but all three were excellent. Predictions Best Actress Nomination - Cotillard can't overcome Julie Christie

About a Boy - 8.0

2008-01-14T19:11:00.001-05:00

About a Boy is a light, effective romantic comedy. More in the mold of Love Actually (also very good) than most of the shit that inhabits this genre, it mostly avoids going for cheap laughs and melodrama. While there were only a few laugh out loud moments, it was consistently entertaining throughout. Hugh Grant is good as the charismatic loner and one of my favorites, Rachel Weisz, even shows up as a love interest for him. Very solid movie.

Venus - 3.0

2008-01-10T01:47:00.001-05:00

Venus tells the story of a dying man's relationship with a young woman. I watched it because Peter O'Toole played the dying man and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance last year. While O'Toole certainly did a fine job (though I must say I'm glad Forrest Whitaker ended up beating him out), I could never get past the creepiness of an old ass man in an at times sexual relationship with a 20 year old girl. Since this relationship was the linchpin of the movie and any emotional resonance that it produced would come from the viewer buying into it, the movie obviously failed pretty miserably in my eyes since I was cringing half the time the two main characters were on screen together. Maybe because I never cared about the characters a whole lot, I also found the story pretty dull. O'Toole's evolution from former leading man into crotchety old man was the only bright spot in this disappointing drama and even that had an air of been there, done that (Henry Fonda's performance in On Golden Pond immediately comes to mind as a better version of the same transformation).

The Wire, Season 5

2008-01-09T01:40:00.002-05:00

I watched the first two episodes of the fifth and final season of The Wire tonight and it's as good as ever. I will miss the school scenes from season 4 but Michael and Dukie (and Bug) have been seamlessly incorporated into the show with new roles and the newspaper story arch looks promising to say the least (the black editor is a great character). It really is firing on all cylinders - it's so good that I don't hesitate to call it the best show of all-time at this point (though admittedly my sense of all-time in the TV universe only goes back 10 years at the most).

Oh baby

2008-01-07T02:03:00.000-05:00

Obama now has a double digit lead in New Hampshire over Hillary according to a new poll. It's really looking like he might actually get the nomination. A presidential candidate I'd be proud to vote for...

Top Films of 2007

2008-01-02T15:15:00.001-05:00

Here's my list of the top movies from 2007 that I've seen thus far. The only movies that I still must see are There Will Be Blood, I'm Not There, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly while I'll probably eventually watch several others as well. Anyways here's the list as it stands right now. 1. Atonement 2. Gone Baby Gone 3. American Gangster 4. Michael Clayton 5. The Bourne Ultimatum 6. Juno 7. 300 8. Superbad 9. Eastern Promises 10. Knocked Up 11. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 12. Zodiac 13. Sweeney Todd 14. Away From Her 15. Charlie Wilson's War 16. No Country for Old Men 17. Rescue Dawn 18. Ocean's Thirteen 19. Sicko 20. Rocket Science 21. Mr. Brooks 22. Transformers 23. 3:10 to Yuma 24. Shooter 25. Live Free or Die Hard 26. Reign Over Me 27. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 28. The Simpsons Movie 29. Spiderman 3 30. Shrek the Third Atonement is easily my #1 but from #2 (Gone Baby Gone) to #16 (No Country for Old Men) there isn't much difference in my eyes and if asked I would say all of those are good movies. And as you can tell from the bottom of my list, I thought the big blockbusters from this year were pretty terrible.

Juno - 8.0

2008-01-02T15:00:00.001-05:00

Juno succeeds both as a comedy and a drama. It is successful as a relatively realistic portrayal of what a (albeit very witty) teenage pregnant girl trying to give her baby away for adoption might go through. It never downplays the seriousness of this situation but remains funny and entertaining at the same time - quite a feat. The lead actress, Ellen Page, is excellent, as is the script. The supporting cast is also solid, with Michael Cera playing the awkward teenage male to perfection once again. Overall, a very good movie. Oscar Outlook Juno is getting hype for a Best Picture nomination, as well as Best Actress and Supporting Actress. It also will be a contender for original screenplay. Like Little Miss Sunshine its status as lighter than its competition could help it in the Best Picture category, at least for receiving a nomination. Page seems a lock for a nomination and Jennifer Garner has a chance for her first as well, though her competition is going to be really tough. Predictions Best Picture nomination Best Actress nomination for Page Best Original Sceenplay Win - this seems like the typical comedy with a serious side (like Sideways or Little Miss Sunshine) that will get lose for Best Picture but succeed in screenplay.

Charlie Wilson's War - 7.0

2008-01-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

I mostly agree with Jeremy's review of Charlie Wilson's War. It is indeed trapped between genres and the tone is strange at times. Its primary strength is Aaron Sorkin's snappy script which takes advantage of the charisma of the lead actors, in particular Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who really was exceptional. I was relieved Sorkin never went too far with the heavy-handedness, instead simply showing how easy it was for Charlie Wilson to get billions of dollars for weapons for Afghanistan and how hard it was for him to get a (one) million dollars for schools. American foreign policy in a nut shell right there. Anyways, this movie was both entertaining and made some interesting political points but suffered because by trying to do both, it excelled at neither. Oscar Outlook Charlie Wilson's War is certainly a contender in pretty much every big category, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Director, Picture, Adapted Screenplay. Ultimately, I think it will suffer because there were so many political films this year that flopped so horribly (Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, etc) so it is likely to get thrown into that group as well, especially with less than stellar box office numbers. So even though it's a quality movie and will get a look, I think it definitely has an uphill battle to receive nominations in the major categories. Predictions Best Supporting Actor nomination for Hoffman - PSH was outstanding and should get his 2nd Oscar nomination Best Adapted Screenplay nomination - the competition is stiff here (Atonement, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, among others all fall into this category) but Sorkin's script was good enough that he should get Charlie Wilson's War a second nomination.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 7.5

2008-01-02T14:16:00.000-05:00

I am not at all a fan of musicals but Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd is easily the best I've seen in recent years (overcoming some oh so stiff competition I know). First of all, the music is good, obviously a key factor. I wasn't bored during the songs and actually enjoyed them for the most part. Second of all, the singing more or less served the plot. A big pet peeve of mine is the 10 minute song or dance sequence that is just for show and doesn't advance the story at all (or have anything to do with it - my (least) favorite example is Gene Kelly's 30 minute dance scene in An American in Paris - I mean I could tell he was a good dancer after the first 30 seconds, now get on with the fucking 'story'). Third, it was very impressive visually. There was a lot of blood but it was very stylized, which seemed to fit the story. Overall, Tim Burton established a consistent and effective tone, which the sets and visual effects had a lot to do with. And lastly, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter both turned in fantastic performances. They both sounded good singing but also did a great job of effectively expressing their character's feelings in the non-song parts, often with a lack of dialogue. Very impressive. My only complaint was a relatively slow beginning which actually had me dozing off at points (though I had gotten up at 7:30 that morning for Arsenal's raping of Tottenham so I was tired to begin with). But once this movie got going, it was really quite good. Oscar Outlook Sweeney Todd certainly has a legitimate shot in almost all of the major categories. Depp is a lock for at least a Best Actor nomination and I think he'll be the only realistic challenger to Daniel Day-Lewis. As an extremely well-respected actor who has never won before, he is definitely a contender. Helena Bonham Carter also gave a performance worthy of a Supporting Actress nomination, though there's strong competition out there, so she is certainly no lock. Best Picture and Director nominations also look like a good bet. Finally, nominations (and possibly wins) for visual effects, costume design, art direction, and makeup should be forthcoming. And Sweeney Todd will also no doubt dominate the Best Song category. Predictions Best Actor nomination - Depp can't overcome DDL Best Supporting Actress nomination - Bonham Carter sneaks in Best Director nomination - Burton gets his first nom Best Picture nomination - I think this movie will end up with several nominations but no wins in the major categories, though it should be more successful in some of the smaller categories.

Mr. Brooks - 5.0

2008-01-02T14:04:00.000-05:00

Mr. Brooks has some decidedly positive elements that hint that it could've been a very effective thriller. First of all, Kevin Costner's character is a dynamic and interesting anti-hero and Costner plays him well, or about as well as Costner can play somebody. Also, surprisingly (to me at least) Demi Moore's turn as a savvy cop on Mr. Brooks' trail is not a disaster either. And the general plot and serial killer set-up is pretty good. Unfortunately, this movie suffers from a couple of unnecessary subplots, namely the other serial killer who Moore's character had put away but is now out of prison and hunting her. I kept waiting for this story to tie into the heart of the movie, the cat and mouse between Costner and Moore, but it never did. This movie would have been significantly better if this story was not included at all. Almost as egregious was the casting of Dane Cook. What a terrible terrible actor (spoiler coming though I doubt many want to see this movie if they haven't already) though the scene where he was killed was one of the more gratifying moments in recent cinema. Bottom line, this was a very flawed film, but had a few saving graces that kept it from disaster status. Oscar Outlook Mr. Brooks doesn't have an Oscar outlook obviously, though a Razzie for Dane Cook would be richly deserved...

Glengarry Glen Ross - 3.0

2008-01-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

I'll start off my holiday reviews with the only movie not from 2007 and the most disappointing of the bunch. Glengarry Glen Ross features a ridiculously strong cast (which is why I watched it) with Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin (all Oscar winners) as well as Ed Harris and Alec Baldwin (Oscar nominees). While the acting was fine, nobody really stood out besides Pacino's fast-talking real estate salesman. In all, the movie felt staged which isn't surprising since it's apparently a famous play - a problem that wouldn't have been a big deal except the story just wasn't very interesting. Pretty dull movie.

New Reviews Coming Soon

2007-12-29T02:16:00.000-05:00

I have seen Juno, Charlie Wilson's War, and Sweeney Todd in the last week (all three were solid) and will have reviews up in the next day or two. I also watched Mr. Brooks (flawed but not terrible) and Glengarry Glen Ross (dull) and will have quickie reviews of those two as well. Other than that, with UNC bball and Arsenal games coming at me fast and furious and the Steelers starting another improbable playoff run ala two years ago in a week (I wish), I'm pretty much in sports heaven right now.

Champions League Final 16

2007-12-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

The draw for the final 16 of the Champions League was held today so I figured I'd do some power rankings and predictions. The power rankings are based on how strong I think each side is and does not take into account the difficulty of their draw. 1. Inter - With Ibrahimovic taking his game to the next level, Inter really has it all - they have so much depth at striker that they can loan a player as talented as Adriano out (to Sao Paulo) getting nothing in return. So far, they've lost 1 match all season in all competitions and done it without the contributions of Patrick Vieira or Marco Materazzi. With the depth of their squad, they have to be considered favorites. 2. Real Madrid - Real hasn't been quite as impressive as Inter so far this season but they've been on great form as well. They seem to have solved the problem they had with the 'Galacticos' by building a team instead of just a bunch of flashy stars. Don't get me wrong, they do have some offensive stars with guys like Robinho (playing like one of the best in the world currently), Raul, Sneijder, and Ruud van Nistelrooy. But they also have some fantastic role players, like powerhouse midfielder Mahamadou Diarra and Guti, not to mention a very solid defense anchored by Cannavaro, Ramos, and Casillas. They will no doubt be distracted by a tighter league race than it looks like Inter will have to deal with, but they certainly have the quality and the depth to go all the way in the Champions League as well. 3. Manchester United - After a bit of a struggle early in the year, Man U has been playing great recently. With Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs and Tevez they certainly have the offensive firepower while Scholes' return will give them a boost in the center of the midfield where Hargreaves and Anderson are now settled in. What is sometimes overlooked regarding Man U is how good their defense is - Rio, Vidic, Brown, and Evra is currently the best back 4 in the Premiership and one of the best in the world. 4. Barcelona - Barca has struggled a bit away from home and some early season struggles should've been expected from a team with so many new players. I expect them to start gelling some in the second half of the season and they should be a big threat in both La Liga and the Champions League. Messi, Eto'o, and Ronaldinho in attack, Yaya Toure, Xavi, and Iniesta holding down the midfield, and Puyol, Milito, Zambrotta, and Abidal in defense looks like a great first team. The crazy thing is I had to leave out Henry, Deco, Gudjohnsen, Marquez, and Thuram to make that first team. The pieces are there, though to me, the most important player is probably Yaya Toure, someone has to do all the ball-winning in the midfield to let those attacking players shine and Toure is really the only option. An injury to him would be devastating. 5. Arsenal - I have a feeling that Arsenal won't be making too deep a run in the Champions League this year, with Le Boss instead choosing to focus all of his team's attention on winning the Premiership. Not to say they will be fielding weakened sides or anything of the sort but I definitely think the Premier League is priority #1, even more so than any of the teams listed above. With that said, Arsenal can field a side which may not have as many huge stars as other top teams but that is a true team and can compete with anyone. Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Rosicky, Flamini, Cesc, Hleb, van Persie, and Adebayor (or Eboue instead of Rosicky or van Persie) is a side I am very confident in. 6. Chelsea - Chelsea, who might not be in the Premier League title race, will probably focus on winning that elusive Champions League crown more than any other big club. I would have them rated higher if it weren't for all the injuries - both Drogba and Terry out for extended time periods is a killer to them. But if those two are fully healthy by the quarters, they can certainly beat anyone. I'm just not confident that they'll be at the top of their games with Terry with a serious foot injury and Drogba with knee surgery followed by a month playing at the African Nations Cup. 7. Milan - terrible form in Serie A where they currently sit 11th but that's the same story as last year at this time and they went on to win the whole thing. But this team is certainly aging so it really will take a string of unbelievable performances from Kaka for them to make another run. He's done it before so there's always a chance... 8. Liverpool - similar situation to Chelsea where they might be out of the Premier League title race, though unlike Chelsea, as a club the Premiership is absolutely priority #s 1, 2, 3, and 4, so they might not have the same hunger since they have had so much success in the Champions League the past 3 years. With that said, you can't count Liverpool out in a knockout competition after how well they have done in these under Rafa Benitez. With Torres around (and Babel and Benayoun) and Macherano fully entrenched in the team, Liverpool are stronger this year than last so they could easily make a run and win the whole thing. I think these 8 clubs could all legitimately win the CL this season and there's a drop-off after them. 9. Roma - I could see them making a deep run but I can't really see them winning it all. De Rossi, Perrotta, and Pizarro are a good trio in midfield while they also have a pretty good defense. They have very good wing play with the likes of Mancini, Giuly, and Taddei. And of course Totti is always dangerous up top and Mirko Vucinic has been in great form. Good team but not sure I can see them going farther than the semis. 10. Lyon - After 6 straight French titles and never advancing past the quarters in the CL, the Champions League means everything to Lyon. There's still a lot of quality in the team, Juninho, Kallstrom, Govou, et al are established while Benzema, Ben Arfa, and Toulalan are outstanding young players. They could also receive a huge boost if Coupet and Cris return to full health. So it's still a strong side but it's hard not to wonder how good they could be if they could just hold onto all their players. In the past few years they've lost Essien and Malouda to Chelsea, Abidal to Barca, and Diarra to Real Madrid. It's hard to continually lose players of that quality to the clubs that you will be directly competing against in the CL. 11. Porto - I can't see them making a run like they did 4 years ago, but they do have a solid team, as they showed by winning Liverpool's qualifying group. I have particularly been impressed by Quaresma every time I have watched him. 12. Sevilla - so-so to poor form in La Liga but still managed to win Arsenal's qualifying group (granted this group was a joke and the only really impressive game from Sevilla was their 3-1 win over the Gunners). They definitely have some quality players - Kanoute and Fabiano is a great striking pair and Jesus Navas looks to be a great winger, and of course, Dani Alves. When they're playing well, they can play with anybody (as evidenced by that 3-1 win over a weakened Arsenal side and especially their 2-0 win over Real). Unfortunately, they haven't been on top of their game very often so far this year. 13. Schalke 04 - the only German side in the last 16, I can't see them going too far. Kuranyi is a good striker, I like Rafinha, and Pander (if healthy). Quarters is about as far as I could see them going. They should have a great home atmosphere. 14. Celtic - Should also have a great home field advantage but probably don't have enough quality to make any sort of run. 15. Fenerbache - don't know a whole lot about them, except that Turkish crowds are absolutely insane. I'll be rooting for them. 16. Olympiakos - and the last of the not as good sides that will have outstanding home atmospheres. They gave Real a couple of stiff tests and knocked a pretty good Werder Bremen side out so they certainly are not completely hopeless. Predictions Here's the draw and my picks: -Inter over Liverpool - toughest possible draw for Liverpool, Inter is just too good for them, though this will be a really interesting tie to watch. -Chelsea over Olympiakos - Chelsea lucks out with an easier draw when Drogba and Terry might not be at full strength. -Real over Roma - should be very tight but Real slips through. -Schalke over Porto - Schalke 'upsets' Porto and is the team everyone wants to draw in the quarters. -Arsenal over Milan - another great matchup, you really thought I'd pick against the Gunners? -Barca over Celtic - probably the biggest mismatch of this round, Barca will roll. -Sevilla over Fenerbache - Sevilla continues its good form in the CL in what will also be a tight matchup. -Man U over Lyon - I'd love to pick the upset but Man U is just too good a side, maybe if Lyon had Essien and Diarra controlling the midfield I could do it.

Away From Her - 7.5

2007-12-20T20:05:00.001-05:00

Away From Her tells the story of a married couple torn apart when the wife (Julie Christie) moves into a rest home after being diagnosed with Alzheimers. It really is a well-done, heartbreaking story that brutally portrays the horrors of Alzheimers. Julie Christie shines and has been getting well-deserved hype but her male counterpart Gordon Pinsent also does his part carrying the film. There's a side story between Pinsent and the wife of another Alzheimer victim (played by Olympia Dukakis) that didn't necessarily work for me, but outside of that, I have very few complaints. Oscar Outlook Will probably be overlooked in all the major categories besides Best Actress, where it seems that Julie Christie is currently a front-runner. She's probably a lock for at least a nomination. Predictions Best Actress Win - Christie deservedly wins her 2nd Oscar for doing one of the Academy's favorite things - playing a character with a mental illness. A former star turning in a fantastic performance at an old(er) age also should greatly help her chances (think Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond).

Rescue Dawn - 7.0

2007-12-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

Warner Herzog's gritty Vietnam P.O.W. film benefits from some beautiful shots and very good performances from Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. Herzog does a good job of presenting a realistic portrayal of life beyond enemy lines and never falling into the trap of glamorizing any part of warfare. My only complaint was an overly (and unnecessarily) sappy final scene, but overall, this was a pretty good movie. Oscar Outlook Bale and Zahn's performances are worthy of nominations but there's just so much competition. Bale, in particular, is due for his first nomination and with this and 3:10 to Yuma both being so well-received this year, it would seem he has at least an outside shot of slipping in there for a Best Actor nomination for one or the other. Rescue Dawn could also easily receive a nomination for Best Cinematography. Predictions Not enough hype surrounding it and too many other good performances out there, so no acting nominations. And of course no nominations in any of the other major categories.

More Praise for Lupe

2007-12-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

From a New York Times review: Lupe Fiasco could easily dumb it down. Instead he earns every bit of his self-righteousness.

Atonement - 9.0

2007-12-19T12:14:00.000-05:00

I've waited a few days to review Atonement since I saw it, partly because I'm lazy but also to see if my enthusiasm for it has died down at all ... it hasn't. It's a pretty amazing movie that I briefly considered giving a perfect 10 before I made up a new reviewing rule that I can't give 10s to movies upon first viewing. Anyways, Atonement's set-up of a falsely accused young man being torn away from his love and sent off to World War II reminded me of a cross between The English Patient and Cold Mountain, it really did seem like Anthony Minghella belonged behind the camera for this one. But parallels to those two Minghella epics mostly ended there as Atonement went in different directions and did different things than either of those two (very good) films could have dreamed of. Atonement speaks to the power of jealousy and the imagination and is an extraordinarily powerful story. It starts off in a pretty straightforward fashion but when an argument between the two soon to be lovers Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy) is seen through a window by Cecilia's little sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan) and then in the next scene the same 'argument' is shown from Cecilia and Robbie's points of view, you know this film is different. This particular scene is crucial as it gives the viewer a glimpse into how Briony could becomes confused by what she is seeing. As the movie progresses, imagined moments and real-life are seamlessly intertwined as the plot continues to effortlessly shift through time until finally concluding with one of the best endings to a movie in recent years. The story is so good, this was always going to be a good movie as long as nobody screwed up too much. But instead of just not messing it up, the main players in Atonement raised their games to the level of the material. The production is superb - the upper class '30s British family life and the World War II scenes feel equally authentic. The pacing is perfect and some of the shots are breathtaking. In particular, there is one 5 minute long shot (with not a single cut) of the British army's retreat in northern France that is worthy of a masterpiece. To top it all off, the acting in general is brilliant while Keira Knightley and James McAvoy both turn in virtuoso performances. I really can't think of a single thing this movie didn't do well. There are a lot of movies I'm looking forward to seeing before the end of the year (I'm Not There, Juno, There Will Be Blood, Charlie Wilson's War, among others) but I'll be shocked if anything knocks Atonement off its lofty perch as my #1 movie of 2007. Oscar Outlook This movie is certainly good enough, and has the hype, to be nominated in all the big categories. A Best Picture nomination seems to be a lock, as do Best Director and Adapted Screenplay (not to mention a bunch of other smaller categories like cinematography, costume design, art direction, etc). As for the acting categories, three actors seem to have a chance at nominations, Keira Knightley for Best Actress, James McAvoy for Best Actor, and Saoirse Ronan for Best Supporting Actress. Knightley looks like a good bet to get nominated and perhaps challenge for a win, while the other two's nominations look to be more up in the air. The Academy seems to like when child and teenage actors give adult performances, so this should help Ronan, as does the quality of the overall film. McAvoy's performance is certainly Oscar-worthy but he has stiff competition with Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) a lock for one spot, and Denzel Washington (American Gangster), George Clooney (Michael Clayton), and Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) all looking like good bets for nominations as well. So assuming he can't knock off any of those 4, McAvoy will be left fighting every other good performance from this year for the last spot, obviously a tough situation to overcome. Predictions Best Picture win - period piece, epic nature, overall quality of the film scream Best Picture Best Direction nomination - Joe Wright, only 35 making his 2nd film, loses to one of his more experienced counterparts Best Actress nomination - Knightley will get nominated but won't win Best Supporting Actress nomination - same thing for Ronan Best Adapted Screenplay nomination - loses out to No Country for Old Men in this category Best Actor snub - the 4 established stars listed above all get nominations while the 5th comes out of left field, like Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson last year

Lupe

2007-12-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

I liked this glowing Boston Globe review of The Cool. Also, here's EW's take (A-). I've now listened to the complete album about 4 or 5 times and I'm starting to pick out my favorite songs ("Hip Hop Saved My Life" and "Dumb It Down" currently top the list). I'm also now confident enough to say I like this album better than Lupe's outstanding debut Food and Liquor - though I still haven't found a single track quite as good as "Hurt Me Soul" on The Cool, which really isn't much of a criticism since "Hurt Me Soul" was always going to be pretty impossible to top. Bottom line, Lupe is incredible.

Danny Green

2007-12-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a good article from SI about Danny Green dealing with his father's imprisonment.

George R.R. Martin

2007-12-17T20:47:00.001-05:00

Here's a pretty good interview from Entertainment Weekly with good old GRR. There's some (not too encouraging) info about the next book, A Dance With Dragons, (surprise surprise he's still working on it) and the potential HBO series (a script has been submitted but not yet greenlit). It's a good read but also a bit depressing to think that the next book and the TV series are both a long ways off.

NYC

2007-12-16T23:28:00.001-05:00

There's a picture of me and my mom in the bottom of the Empire State Building from this weekend in New York. It was my first time in NYC other than once when I was little and one day for a Yankee game a few years back. We spent all of our time in Manhattan and I had a great time. Among other things I saw the World Trade Center Memorial, which was really quite moving, the Christmas tree/lights at Rockefeller center, had lunch in Little Italy, saw a Knicks game at MSG, and saw Atonement right off of Times Square (which was excellent and won't be coming out in NC for a few weeks ... I'll have a review up tomorrow probably). Despite some bad weather, it was really just fun walking throughout the city. Overall, New York made a very favorable impression on me, it's definitely a place I'd like to come back to.

Rocky II - 7.0

2007-12-15T01:06:00.000-05:00

Rocky II was slow at the beginning during Rocky's 'retirement' period and especially suffered during this section of the movie due to a complete lack of chemistry between Rocky and Adrian. I suppose it's partly intentional but in every scene Rocky and Adrian seemed like they had just randomly met each other a few minutes before. I will say that the story with Adrian and her coma and her telling Rocky she just wanted him to win when she woke up did set up Rocky's motivation during the training montage and fight scene very well. And this last 45 minutes to hour was awesome. Great montage, though all the kids running along with Rocky was pretty goofy, and the fight scene was one of the more exciting and suspenseful sports movie scenes I can remember, right up there with the fight in the original Rocky. So basically this movie didn't work at all as a drama but once it got into gear as a sports movie, it was extremely entertaining.

Euro 2008

2007-12-14T13:54:00.000-05:00

So Euro 2008 qualifying is over and the draw was made a few weeks ago. Here are the groups: Group A - Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey Group B - Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland Group C - Holland, Italy, Romania, France Group D - Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia Here's how I would rank the 16 teams (not taking into account the difficulty of their group): 1. Italy - defending World Cup champions have to be ranked #1, though with Totti's retirement, they'll really have to rely on Toni to be a top striker. Outlook - obviously an incredibly tough draw, and maybe as WC champions won't be as hungry as France (who will want more revenge - France already beat Italy once in qualifying) and Holland. I still expect they'll advance and possibly make a deep run, though once you're in the knockout rounds of a tournament with this many quality teams, it really is a toss-up. Easily could win it all or get knocked out in the quarters (if they do manage to make it out of their group). 2. France - if I give Italy credit as WC champs, I gotta give France credit as the beaten runners up (in PKs no less, in a game they outplayed the Italians I'll remind you). They struggled a bit in qualifying, losing to Scotland 1-0 twice, but they did beat Italy 3-1 at home and draw 0-0 away, both very good results. First major tournament in 10 years without Zidane will be interesting but they'll have several players at the ends of their primes who will no doubt be looking for one last major trophy like Henry, Vieira, Makelele, Thuram, and Gallas. These still very capable players should form the backbone of the team with younger guys providing support (and possibly outshining them) like Ribery, Malouda, and Abidal (all part of the last WC) and Nasri (the new Zidane at Marseille?), Benzema (tearing it up for Lyon), and Toulalan (also a key player for Lyon). I'm also hopeful that Domenech will be smart enough to bring a large Arsenal contingent to Euro 08 - Gallas is a no-brainer and Diarra is currently France's first choice right back. Strangely, Sagna is Arsenal's first choice right back ahead of Diarra but Diarra's backup for France. Either way, Sagna has been in the picture for France and has a decent shot to be part of the team. Flamini and Diaby have both been called-up for France recently as well, though I'd say with his recent form, Flamini has a much much better shot of making the team than Diaby. And if Domenech is smart, he'll consider Clichy, who hasn't received a French cap yet, but imo, is one of the best left backs in the world. Outlook - Also an extremely tough draw, but I still like their chances to provide a performance similar to the last WC - struggle in qualifying, pull it together at the tournament and make a good run, hopefully they'll go one step further than they did that time. 3. Spain - they are notorious underachievers at major tournaments but maybe this will be the time they put all their talent together (I feel like this has probably been said before...). They have a great striking pair in Torres and Villa and plenty of creative midfielders with Cesc, Iniesta, and Xavi, among others. I'm not as sure about their defense, but Casillas, Puyol, and Ramos should provide a solid backbone there. Outlook - a manageable 1st round draw, they should top their group. Unfortunately for them, in the quarters, they'll have to face the runner-up in the group of death, so either France, Italy, or Holland. Then if they get past that, the semis will most likely be whichever team won the group of death. I like their team, but it'll be tough (understatement) to make it through potentially France and Italy (in some order, or Holland if one of those teams slip up) to even make the final. 4. Germany - breezed through qualifying, but on paper, don't look as good as Italy, France, or Spain. Ballack can't get on the field at Chelsea and Schweinsteiger and Podolski aren't automatic starters at Bayern. Frings, Borowski, and Schneider have been struggling with injuries. They just don't seem to have as much firepower as the other top teams but they're still Germany, no matter who they put out there, they'll no doubt somehow end up making a run. It's like the complete opposite of Spain. Outlook - Shockingly, Germany received a very favorable draw. They won't have to face Italy, France, or Spain until the final and have probably the easiest group. Barring upsets, they will have to go through Portugal and Czech Republic to make the final, but that looks much more manageable than Spain's potential route. 5. Portugal - Figo, Rui Costa, et al are gone but Cristiano Ronaldo is currently one of the 2 or 3 best players in the world. He has some support with Deco, Maniche, Nuno Gomes, and Tiago still around and Nani and Quaresma as promising younger players. They should have a very solid defense with Carvalho and probably Pepe at the center of it and one of my favorites, Miguel at right back. Outlook - not as hard as the Italy, France, Holland group but still very tough draw with Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Turkey. I think this is the team most likely to challenge Germany on this side of the bracket for a spot in the finals against the whoever survives between France, Italy, Spain, and Holland. 6. Czech Republic - also qualified easily (including a 3-0 win over Germany). There's a lot of talent here, best keeper in the world in Cech, Rosicky, Galasek, Plasil, Rozehnal, and Ujfalusi. I'm not sure about the aging Koller, Baros combo up top, but if they perform, the Czechs look good. Outlook - tough group with Portugal, Switzerland, and Turkey, I could easily see them getting bounced in the group stage if they aren't on top of their game or making a run all the way to the final. 7. Holland - a pretty uninspiring qualifying campaign that included narrow 1 goal wins over Luxembourg, (twice), Albania (twice), and Slovenia, a draw against Bulgaria, and a loss to Belarus. They have a ton of attacking players at top clubs - Ruud, Robben, and Sneijder at Real, van Persie at Arsenal, Babel and Kuyt at Liverpool, and Seedorf at Milan (will be interesting to see if he'll be involved or not). van der Vaart is also having a great season at Hamburg, so on paper, they should have a great attack, but in qualifying they only scored more than 2 goals once, and this was obviously against much weaker competition than they will face in the actual tournament. I also think their defense can be exploited against top teams. It'll also be interesting to see which of the players from their U21 Euro championship squad make a difference in the real thing - Babel looks like a good bet and Rosyton Drenthe has gotten some playing time at Real so maybe he as well. Outlook - extremely tough draw, will do great to make it out of the group. If they do manage that, but finish 2nd, they'll probably be up against Spain. Making it to the quarters will be a good tournament. 8. Croatia - looked good in qualifying, especially in beating England at Wembley in a game they didn't need to win (after losing a few days earlier to Macedonia, go figure). They don't have any huge stars but instead solid players at basically every position. My guess is Eduardo and Kranjcar will be the key players, if they play well, they can compete with just about anyone. Outlook - pretty good draw, should advance out of their group and then face a tough, but not impossible, matchup with Portugal, Czech Republic, or Switzerland. Good bet to make it to, and lose in, the quarters. 9. Switzerland - they had a very good World Cup, could've easily been in the quarterfinals. Should have most of that team back in Euro 08, and will have a big advantage as hosts. Barnetta looks like the key to their attack but it will be more interesting to see how their defense holds up. It isn't hard to imagine the always shaky Senderos being taken advantage of by a speedy attacker. Outlook - unfortunately for the Swiss, they will be facing some of the quickest-paced attacks in the world in the first round in Portugal and Czech Republic. They have the talent to make it to the quarters, but it will be tough given their draw. 10. Sweden - Sweden is always there, not too threatening, never looks likely to make a run at winning it, but normally advances out of their group. They have one of the best strikers in the world in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, currently on top of his game at Inter. They also have a solid anchor for their defense in Villa's Olof Mellberg and solid guys like Kim Kallstrom in the midfield. It looks like a normal Swedish team, solid but not spectacular (outside of Ibra that is). Outlook - should fight for the 2nd spot in group D with Greece and then get knocked out by whoever comes out on top in Group C. 11. Greece - the defending champs looked like flukes when they didn't qualify for the World Cup but they were much more impressive in qualifying this time around, qualifying with room to spare. I still believe that their Euro 04 title was a fluke and hate them for ruining so many potentially amazing matchups by upsetting a 'better' team 1-0. In my eyes, they still have a lot to prove. Outlook - my guess is they finish 3rd in their group, behind Spain and Sweden 12. Romania - won Holland's group in qualifying - Mutu gives them a star in attack and Chivu an anchor for the defense. Outlook - would be a threat to make the quarters but not in this group. What a horrendous draw for them. 13. Turkey - qualified on the last day with a superb 2-1 away win over Norway. I thought their passing and movement looked great that day and think they could provide some problems for their opponents on the big stage. Outlook - tough draw, will do great if they could pick up a few points. I am looking forward to their games against Portugal and Czech Republic though, as they should be extremely open, entertaining matches. 14. Poland - qualified ahead of Portugal in their group, I might underrate them due to their lack of players playing for clubs in the better leagues in Europe. Outlook - doable draw, if they can get 3 points off Austria, and don't manage anything against Germany, it will come down to their game against Croatia. I think they'll lose but they're an underdog who actually has a chance to sneak into the quarters unlike a better team like Romania. 15. Russia - can thank England's choke job for even being here. They had a good start to qualifying and a great 2-1 home win over England, but losing to Israel, then struggling at Andorra in their last two games aren't the most inspiring results. They do have Guus Hiddink though, so that'll give them a fighting chance at least. Outlook - could conceivably take points in the games against Sweden and Greece. My guess is they end up with a draw and two losses. 16. Austria - didn't even come close to qualifying for the last World Cup, though they did have a nice 2-2 draw with England and no absolutely terrible results. Even with homefield advantage, they look like a much weaker side than the Switzerland and the other 14 teams who had to go through the very difficult qualifying process. Outlook - should have a chance for points against Croatia and especially Russia, hopefully they can pick up something from one of those games. There's obviously one notable absence from these 16 teams - England. I watched more of England's qualifying matches than any other team, including their 2-1 loss to Russia and 3-2 loss to Croatia (though the 0-0 home draw to Macedonia proved to be just as important). For most of the qualifying process, injuries to Owen and Rooney left them with not enough quality attackers. It's sad that England doesn't have any good strikers after these two (and Owen isn't that great to begin with) but what ended up letting them down in the end was their defense. Without Terry (huge loss), Ferdinand, or Ashely Cole against Croatia, they gave up early goals and then couldn't hold on for the draw after making a nice comeback. Not having a quality goalkeeper also came back to haunt them in this game, with Croatia's first goal being a huge Scott Carson error. England should be fine, for the next World Cup, the back 4 of Terry, Ferdinand, Cole, and Richards (an absolute beast) looks great. Gerrard and Rooney should provide the heart of the attack (please Capello, do not try to play Lampard and Gerrard together - Gerrard is 10x the all around player, just go with him and a holding midfielder like Carrick or Hargreaves) and hopefully for them some of the young wingers like Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Ashley Young will be ready to start opposite Joe Cole (or instead of him who knows?), while another striker will emerge - Agbonhalor looks great or maybe Theo, who looks great until he has to make the final pass or shot. England was pretty unlucky not to qualify but have nobody to blame but themselves. If a striker or two and a keeper will emerge, they should be a threat in South Africa. And finally, here's my predictions for Euro 08: Group A - winners - Portugal, runner up - Czech Rep. Group B - winners - Germany, runner up - Croatia Group C - winners - France, runner up - Italy Group D - winners - Spain, runner up - Sweden Quarters - Portugal over Croatia, Germany over Czech Rep., France over Sweden, Spain over Italy Semis - Portugal over Germany, Spain over France Finals - Spain over Portugal So there you have it, Spain (finally) puts it all together, and on the back of one Cesc Fabregas, win a major tournament (Cesc takes down the Premiership, Champions League, and Euro in the same year ... what a player...)

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool

2007-12-14T13:53:00.001-05:00

I've listened to Lupe's new album 1.5 times since downloading it last night and so far, so good. Good might actually be an understatement, more like so far, so great. Lupe is incredible.

Superbad - 8.0

2007-12-10T19:45:00.000-05:00

Upon a second viewing of Superbad, my opinion has more or less remained the same. McLovin is definitely the funniest character, the interactions between Seth and Evan are hilarious, and the scenes with the cops are hit or miss. It loses a little bit from not seeing it in theaters (as do all comedies) but it still holds up well. I still haven't decided what I like more between this and Knocked Up however. Right now, I'm leaning towards Knocked Up but I really should watch it again. Either way, a big thanks to Judd Apatow for giving us a year with two legitimately good comedies - almost more than the last 5 years combined.

300 - 8.0

2007-12-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Upon a second viewing of 300 (in beautiful bluray), I'm knocking half a point off of my original rating. There are certainly some problems here, namely some cringe-worthy cheesy dialogue and heavy-handed freedom and democracy triumphing over tyranny moments. But overall the movie still undeniably works. It's fast-paced, action-packed, and has some well-choreographed, badass fight scenes. Like Sin City, there isn't much depth to it, but it is still extremely entertaining.

Bottle Rocket - 8.0

2007-12-10T19:30:00.001-05:00

Wes Anderson's feature debut about a couple of bumbling wannabe 'thieves' (played by Owen and Luke Wilson) is quirky (how shocking for a Wes Anderson movie to be quirky...) but not overly so, and the characters grew on me so much that I actually ended up caring about what happened to them by the end of the movie. As such, I think it is now my favorite Wes Anderson movie. I would rank them as follows: 1. Bottle Rocket 2. The Royal Tenenbaums 3. Rushmore - need to see this one again, only saw it once and that was years ago 4. The Life Aquatic I'm not the biggest Wes Anderson fan but I have liked 3 of the 4 movies of his I've seen now (I thought Life Aquatic was terrible) so he's definitely growing on me. I'll probably wait for The Darjeeling Limited to come out on dvd though, so I guess I'm still not that big a fan.

Alpha Dog - 2.0

2007-12-10T19:25:00.000-05:00

Only half watched this Justin Timberlake movie about a teenage boy who is kidnapped as collateral for a drug debt his brother owed some thugs - and from what I could tell, it sucked. Tons of bad dialogue and laughable acting screwed up a potentially decent story. Definitely pass on it if for some strange reason you ever have the urge to watch it.

Michael Bradley hat trick

2007-12-09T14:10:00.001-05:00

Michael Bradley had a hat trick today in Heerenveen's 4-2 win over Groningen in the Dutch Eredivisie. Bradley plays a more defensive role for the US so it's nice to see him showing potential as a goal scorer for his club (though out of all the European leagues, the Dutch league is probably the easiest to score in...but a hat trick is a hat trick, impressive either way). My guess is this is the first time an American has a had a hat trick in a league game in one of Europe's better leagues (Eredivisie would be in the 2nd tier probably in terms of quality). Pretty good and Bradley's still only 20...

Artificial Intelligence: A.I. - 5.0

2007-12-07T17:30:00.000-05:00

Other than The Lost World, this is probably the least favorite Spielberg movie I've seen (and I've seen about 20 of them). The pacing was pretty bad and there seemed to be a lack of cohesion between the separate sections. It was also heavy-handed at times, a common complaint of Spielberg films but one I have rarely agreed with. Even with its faults, it was not a complete failure - the overall plot was interesting (though it was a bit drawn out), it was visually quite impressive, and Jude Law in particular gave a good performance. So I didn't hate it, but it's hard not to be disappointed when a film conceived by Stanley Kubrick and brought to life by Steven Spielberg is anything less than stellar.

Half Nelson - 5.0

2007-12-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

I watched this one from Netflix as part of my attempt to finish off watching all the Oscar nominations from last year. Ryan Gosling certainly turned in a very good performance and the movie was well-done and all, it was just kind of boring. It was a small indie movie that felt half an hour too long. I should have some reviews of new movies up soon - I plan to see I'm Not There this week and Atonement at some point in the near future, and maybe Enchanted too, though right now I'm leaning towards avoiding the public embarrassment of seeing that one in theaters and waiting for it to come out on DVD. I also put La Vie En Rose and Away From Her at the top of my Netlfix queue because it looks like the lead actresses from each (Marion Cotillard and Julie Christie) currently look like frontrunners for Best Actress.

No Country for Old Men - 7.0

2007-11-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

No Country for Old Men, the newest Coen brother production, is a throwback to their early filmmaking days, a suspense-filled thriller reminiscent of Blood Simple. It tells the story of a regular guy (Josh Brolin) who finds a bunch of money in a small Texas town (presided over by sheriff Tommy Lee Jones) and then is hunted by a maniacal killer (Javier Bardem) in search of said money. From cinematography to sound to editing, the film is impeccably put together with every single scene and every single shot serving its purpose. The dialogue is also outstanding - realistic, clever, and articulate at times, without being too verbose. And the acting is also superb, with the three leads all turning in fantastic performances. Tommy Lee Jones and Bardem seem to be receiving most of the accolades but Josh Brolin more than held his own in what really was the lead role in the film. Technically, this is close to a perfect movie. So those are the good things...all very important of course but in my opinion No Country suffered because it was almost too polished and well-put together. I admire and appreciate the skill of the Coen brothers but where's the heart? Tommy Lee Jones' character provides some, Josh Brolin's wife a little more, but it just didn't quite do it for me in this completely subjective, unquantifiable area. I guess the best way I could put it is like this: this movie did so well to build so much suspense but I still never found myself really caring what happened to the main characters, which I wouldn't say defeats the purpose of building suspense but perhaps at least dampens it. My other quasi-problem was the ending. Not to spoil too much but lets just say the ending doesn't provide a whole lot of closure. I normally am a fan of open-ended endings (like Pan's Labryinth for example, was the fantasy world real or just her imagination?) but Jeremy made a legitimate point regarding No Country. He argued that the way the Coens ended the movie was a cop-out because they had written themselves into a corner and couldn't think of a way to provide a satisfactory conclusion. I'm not sure I agree with this or not, right now I'm kind of torn. My guess is I probably won't have a strong opinion one way or another until I watch this movie again (and honestly, I could easily see this movie gaining a lot from a 2nd viewing, I'm afraid I may have missed some of the subtleties). Oscar Outlook No Country for Old Men with its rave reviews (96% on rottentomatoes) is obviously a huge Oscar contender. It looks like a good bet to at least get nominations for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor for Bardem. I personally think both Brolin (lead actor) and Tommy Lee Jones (supporting) gave Oscar-worthy performances and will be in the mix for nominations but there will be so much competition out there, it'll be tougher for them to find a spot than Bardem in the flashier role as the crazed killer. Basically, No Country looks like a good bet for nominations in several big categories but the tougher question is, does it have a chance to win any of these? For Best Picture, my thinking is that if both NCFOM and There Will Be Blood are nominated, they will split the vote of those looking for a technically brilliant, superbly acted independent drama and that some other 'bigger' movie will sweep through and take the prize (Atonement? The Kite Runner?). I think that NCFOM has a better shot at director, especially since the overall quality of the film could very well be seen as almost entirely a product of the influence of the Coens. It also has a great shot at supporting actor, it'll be interesting to see how the competition shakes out but it looks like Bardem is currently the front-runner. Adapted screenplay will be a really tough category, with a bunch of the other big overall contenders providing competition (There Will Be Blood, Atonement, The Kite Runner, and American Gangster could be the other four nominees) so it's really hard to say. But a movie like this is definitely more likely to get rewarded for screenplay than picture. Predictions Best Picture Nomination Best Director Win - I'm waffling on this one because I haven't seen many of the other big contenders but I'm thinking the Coens will be only the second ever pair (I think this is right) to share best director (this also happened with West Side Story). Best Supporting Actor Nomination for Bardem - could easily win but I'm guessing (and really it is just a guess) that he won't Best Adapted Screenplay Win - the Coens get two wins, I feel much more confident about this prediction than the directing one.

American Gangster - 7.5

2007-11-22T18:37:00.000-05:00

Ridley Scott's latest represents a return to form of sorts, his first really good film since Gladiator, in my opinion. While Blackhawk Down and Matchstick Men were both decent, The Kingdom and A Very Good Year were out and out flops, so it was nice to see such an accomplished filmmaker not disappoint this time around. American Gangster tells the story of Frank Lucas, a savvy 'businessman' who rises to the top of the New York City drug trade in the '70s. Denzel Washington gives an outstanding, Oscar-worthy performance as Lucas, while Russell Crowe is more than capable as his foil, the cop attempting to bring Lucas down. While the two do not interact at all until the last 20 minutes, it is their 'relationship' that is the driving force behind the movie. Scott and the screenwriters take care to not present the story in black and white, with charismatic good cops trying to be bring down the evil bad guys. In fact, they essentially do the reverse, emphasizing the good aspects of Lucas - he is a family man, extremely intelligent, humble, likable, and principled in his own way. On the other hand, Crowe is one of the few honest cops in the whole movie, but he also carries a holier than thou attitude, which is especially off-putting considering he is a womanizer who neglects his ex-wife and son. These well-developed characters, not to mention the outstanding actors portraying them, set up an intriguing dynamic in the film that confuses the viewer as to who they should be 'rooting' for. As such, Denzel's Lucas is one of the better anti-heroes I can remember. This movie also succeeds because of a flawless production that seems to authentically recreate its '70s NY setting (well at least for as far as I can tell). However, though it's quite a good movie, a few problems hold this film back from true greatness. For one, all that detail, layer upon layer, seems to take a little bit away from the main story. For example, Cuba Gooding's character, Nicky Barnes, seems to be haphazardly thrown into the story without a real purpose. Apparently, in real life, Barnes was one of Lucas' biggest rivals in the NY drug trade, but in the film, he seems to just be tossed in there - I actually had no idea he was a rival of Lucas after watching the movie, I thought he worked for him. The few scenes with Joe Louis feel the same way, like they were just put in there so Joe Louis would be in the movie. Partly because of this, the films other weakness, its pacing, suffers. The middle half of this movie was great, riveting stuff, but the exposition and the conclusion both dragged a bit. Even so, I'm really splitting hairs here. While American Gangster wasn't The Godfather or Goodfellas (what is?), like The Departed it's another great throwback gangster movie made by serious filmmakers and actors. Oscar Outlook Since Oscar season is now really heating up and pretty much every new movie I see for the next 4 or 5 months will be an awards contender, I'm going to starting giving my extremely speculative (and relatively uninformed) opinion on what the Oscar chances are for said film. I'll include predictions for nominations and wins that will no doubt make me look like an idiot a few months from now. American Gangster, with its strong opening weekend and warm reception looks like a very good bet for at least Best Picture and Best Actor nominations (for Denzel). If not for Daniel Day-Lewis' apparent powerhouse performance in There Will Be Blood, I would say Denzel was the current frontrunner in the Best Actor race. As it is, it looks like he (and everyone else) is going to be a big underdog against DDL. I will be shocked if this movie isn't nominated for Best Picture, but I'll also be pretty surprised if it wins. With The Departed winning last year, I'm guessing the Academy doesn't go with back to back gangster movies for the big prize. In my opinion, its best chance for a major award is Ridley Scott for director. He's never won an Oscar and could receive a lifetime achievement award of sorts this time around. It helps that he has several snubs that look really bad in hindsight on his resume, including not even getting a nomination for Alien or Blade Runner. It is rare for a director to win without his movie taking Best Picture but it would be fitting in this case since Steven Soderbergh won Best Director in 2000 when Ridley Scott's film Gladiator took Best Picture. One thing that I think will ultimately work against Scott in this area is that two of Scott's biggest competitors could be the Coen brothers (No Country for Old Men) and Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows Your Dead). These, of course, are also revered directors who have also never won Best Director so those voters looking to give out a lifetime achievement award could end up splitting their vote. Ruby Dee is also getting hyped for a Best Supporting Actress nomination but she had such a minor role, I'm guessing she ends up getting left out. Russell Crowe could conceivably end up with a supporting nod also (though he could be considered a lead) but I'm guessing he won't. A screenplay nomination is likely (I think it'll be up for adapted though I'm not positive). Predictions Best Picture nomination Best Actor nomination for Denzel Best Director nomination for Scott (though I think he has a good chance, I don't think he'll win) Best Adapted Screenplay nomination

USA 1, South Africa 0

2007-11-17T15:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some player ratings from today's underwhelming friendly. Since most of our players were pretty bad, I'm also going to include what I think/hope their long-term projection for involvement with the national team is (ie will they around for the World Cup in 2010). Starters: Tim Howard - 7.0 - made one good save, had nothing else to do. Projection - Clearly our #1. Steve Cherundolo - 7.5 - man of the match, solid defensively and got forward to score a nice goal (surprisingly strong finish from a fullback). It was telling that South Africa's winger on Cherundolo's side, Delron Buckley (a very capable player who gets regular playing time with Borussia Dortmund) had pretty much no impact on the game whatsoever. Projection - obviously locked in as our starting right back going forward. Carlos Bocanegra - 7.0 - looked good, it was telling that the defense looked exponentially shakier in the 2nd half after Boca and Cherundolo had been subbed out. I stand by my theory that Boca is good against the weaker teams but mainly due to lack of speed will struggle against the best teams (more evidence of this when he gave away a PK against Liverpool a few weeks ago, though Fulham did hold Liverpool scoreless for 80 minutes at Anfield, so maybe it isn't the greatest example). Projection - right now he is our defensive anchor and clearly has a spot in the starting lineup for any match that means anything. Oguchi Onyewu - 6.0 - he was fine, pretty much same old - big, intimidating presence in the middle of the defense but overly physical at times. Projection - I like him and think he steps up when challenged by a good center forward but it'll be interesting to see if he maintains his starting spot throughout qualifying and heading up to the next World Cup. If Cory Gibbs ever gets healthy, he could challenge for it, but other than that, I don't think there are too many legit threats on the horizon. Heath Pearce - 4.0 - I thought he played well against Brazil but was thoroughly underwhelmed today. He was so so defensively (though Pienaar coming down his wing is a pretty tough matchup) and gave away possession by just booting the ball forward countless times. Can see how he lost his spot for Hansa Rostock, who I think are actually converting him to a winger right now. Projection - him being made a winger by his club is not good nows for his future since left back is probably our most wide open starting position whereas we've got enough depth on the wings to send arguably our best one up top to play forward (Dempsey). My guess is he'll be in and out of the lineup throughout qualifying but at best will be a backup by the time the World Cup rolls around. Benny Feilhaber - 4.0 - also a pretty pedestrian performance from Benny. Looked out of sync and didn't really do anything of note. Projection - I do not like him playing on the wing, he is not dynamic at all. I thought he was at his best during the Gold Cup playing in the center of the midfield and breaking down the opposing defense with his passing. He's a good passer and a good enough ball-winner, he belongs in the middle imo, though we do have a glut of central midfielders right now, especially with Michael Bradley's seemingly guaranteed place in the lineup. Not getting much playing time for Derby County, one of the worst Premiership sides ever, is not a good sign for Feilhaber's future. I still think he'll be in the picture for WC10 but he doesn't look like a sure thing to be in the first 11 any longer. DaMarcus Beasley - 3.0 - lower grade for him than either Pearce or Feilhaber because I expect more. He was pretty garbage though he did do some decent defensive work. He actually could've easily had a goal but he didn't finish the one chance he had on the long through ball (sent by Dempsey I believe) and Adu never looked up when he hit it horribly wide instead of squaring it to Beasley for the easy goal. Projection - obviously a starter. Maurice Edu - 7.0 - after a shaky start he played quite well tonight. He was an aggressive ball-winner in the midfield and while his distribution was shaky at times, it wasn't hopeless either. He also made a very nice play to set up the goal, carrying the ball forward well before hitting a perfectly placed (and just as importantly, timed) through ball to Cherundolo. Projection - for the immediate future, I would still certainly place him behind Mastroeni as the starting holding midfielder. But Mastro is 31 and Edu is 21, so I think there's a legitimate chance that Edu could be one of our starting central midfielders by 2010. He's not quite the defensive, ball-winning dynamo that Mastro is but looks to have more potential offensively (it should also be noted that with a Bradley/Edu partnership in the midfield, it isn't as set who is the attacking midfielder and who is the defensive one as it is with say Mastro and Donovan). While this might be wishful thinking, Edu looks like he has a chance to develop into a true all-purpose midfielder in the mold of Patrick Vieira or Michael Essien. If he's ever half as good as either of those guys, I'll be thrilled. Michael Bradley - 3.0 - it seems I change my opinion of Bradley every time I watch him play. I thought he was excellent in the last few games but today I thought he was pretty horrible. In particular, he showed absolutely no creativity when he had possession of the ball - I would guess he didn't even look upfield at least half the time he received the ball, instead opting to either play it square or backwards (with the next player inevitably, hopelessly, launching it long). This was even worse because South Africa wasn't exactly applying tons of pressure in the midfield so several times, he had time and room to turn and try to make a more positive play. The thing is, I'm not sure if this is Bradley or simply the way he is told to play by daddy. I've never actually seen a Heerenveen game but right now they're sitting at 4th in the Dutch league and Bradley has scored 5 goals in 13 matches, so it seems he gets forward while playing for his club. Of all the US players, Bradley is the one who confuses me most. Projection - not taking into consideration that his dad is the coach, even if he's been somewhat inconsistent, Bradley has shown a lot playing for the US this year, and he's still only 20. Like Edu, he seems to have the tools to develop into an all-purpose midfielder. A few months ago it looked like it'd be a tandem of Bradley and Feilhaber going forward but now it looks like Bradley and Edu could be the future. It's exciting because if they keep playing together, develop chemistry over the next 3 years while they also develop as players (in particular offensively), they could be a really good pair by 2010. I would still like to see more Ricardo Clark (I don't follow MLS at all but I did see he received a 9 game suspension for a violent foul, which is discouraging, but from what I've seen of him with the national team, he could have a future) and with Bradley, Edu, Feilhaber, and Clark (ages 20, 21, 22, and 24), if they all continue to develop, we should be set at this position for the foreseeable future. Freddy Adu - 5.0 - I won't be too harsh on Adu since the service into him sucked ass for the most part. He had a couple nice touches and runs but was too selfish when he was through on goal (and simply made a poor attempt at a finish) and as Jeremy pointed out to me earlier today was basically the opposite of Bradley. Whereas Bradley was always playing the ball backwards, Adu was too aggressive, always looking to make the killer pass and in the process needlessly gave away possession (mostly with through balls to the goalie) several times. While this is far from the optimal way to play the game, there is something to be said for this over Bradley's approach. I mean, if Adu plays 10 hopeful balls forward and 9 roll right to the keeper but just 1 of them sets up a goal, he's done well. Unfortunately, none of his balls even set up a chance on goal today. Projection - he seems to finally (I say finally partly in jest because the dude is still only 18) be growing as a player and fulfilling some of his potential. He has done well at Benfica recently, scoring several goals in their league cup (where they rest first team players and let the younger guys play) and even breaking into the first team as an often used late sub (coming on in champions league matches and scoring a late winner in a league game). It really seems like, after a few years of stagnation, Adu is growing into a potential star, and if his growth continues, he has a great shot to be heavily involved in the WC qualifying and in South Africa '10. What I'm curious is where he'll end up playing. Forward, winger, or central midfield/withdrawn forward are the three options I see. I would say withdrawn forward but Landon has that position locked down for the US, so it'll be interesting to see where Adu ends up. Clint Dempsey - 5.5 - did next to nothing as a 'striker' (though he did almost score a true goal scorer's goal when he snuck in and got a touch on Mokoena's header back to his keeper) but looked good when dropped back into the midfield and gained possession (like when he sent a great through ball to Adu). Not Clint's best day but he wasn't horrible either. Projection - obviously will be involved in one way or another but the question is at what position? He's definitely best in the midfield but we need forwards right now. Hopefully, we can find a real solution to our striker problem because playing Dempsey as a forward not only gives us a relatively ineffective striker but also deprives us of our most dangerous midfielder (outside of Donovan I guess). Subs: Jon Spector - 6.0 - of the subs, he looked the best defensively. Did give away possession on occasion but who didn't in the 2nd half? Our best 'possession' was probably stringing together 3 consecutive passes before 'passing' it long to South Africa's keeper. Projection - he's young (21) and gets some playing time at a competitive club (West Ham). The thing is, he's stuck behind Cherundolo at right back, so if he becomes a regular over the next 3 years, it'll have to be at another position. He is versatile so he would be a valuable bench player on a World Cup roster (I think he could play in the center of the defense and even played as a defensive midfielder his last game for West Ham) but I doubt he'll be a starter unless he gets a serious look at left back. Brad Guzan - 6.0 - I paid exponentially more attention to him when the announcers mentioned Arsenal had scouts watching him (I guess they want someone else around besides Almunia and Fabianski with Lehmann possibly leaving). While he didn't have a whole lot to do, he looked solid back there and was noticeably vocal, which is a good trait in a keeper. Huge minus in my eyes - he was annoying the fuck out of me with his time wasting (for christ's sake, it's a goddamn friendly!!! just punt the ball and get on with the game). How shocking that he plays for the Mexican MLS team (Chivas USA). Projection - looks to have a good chance at our #2 keeper spot. Keller should be out of the picture by 2010, so now it looks like it's between Guzan and Hahnemann, and I must say Hahnemann has never impressed me a whole lot. Dan Califf - 2.0 - he was pretty dreadful, probably the worst player in what was a godawful 2nd half performance. Projection - hopefully we won't ever have to rely on him in an important game. Jonathan Bornstein - no rating - only played the last 5 minutes so no rating. Projection - figures to have the inside track at left back after solid performances over the summer unless something has changed that I'm not aware of (poor play in MLS? Like I said, I don't follow it). Sacha Kljestan - 2.0 - he was pretty damn bad too, several bad touches, no positive influence that I recall. Projection - don't know enough about him to say. He is only 22 so that's a positive. Jozy Altidore - no rating - no rating because he had like 1 touch on the ball. He did win several headers (though he didn't really direct them well and there was really no one up top to direct them to even if he was more precise) and made one good run that was overlooked by Edu I believe. Projection - rumors that Real Madrid are interested in him as a long-term replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy. It would be pretty awesome if they did bring him in in January, especially if he got even a little bit of playing time (substitute appearance here, Copa Del Rey start there). If RVN taught him some of his goal-poaching tricks, it'd be all the better. I hope from here on out, unless it's because he's heavily involved in club duty (whether it be at Real or some other European club that grabs him in the winter transfer window), he's involved in every friendly just to incorporate him into the national team picture. I don't want to get too optimistic but he could be the answer to our striker problem. Other players who I figure could be important leading up to the next World Cup: Landon Donovan - wish he'd move to Europe but whatever, he's still our best player. Danny Szetela - another promising youngster who made his first appearance for Racing this past week in the Copa Del Rey. Eddie Johnson - will be interesting to see if he ends up moving to Europe in the next month. Supposedly, there's a good chance he will. I still haven't given up on him as a potential starting forward. Cory Gibbs - I've always really liked him. Mobile, good speed, but he hasn't played in forever. If he returns to what he was before injury, he at the worst, is great depth behind Bocanegra and Onyewu, and could possibly challenge for a starting spot. But at this point, that seems like a long shot. Marvell Wynne - I have absolutely no idea how he did for Toronto FC in the MLS this past season (other than that he got a lot of playing time) but I've had my eye on him since he looked great in the U17 world cup 4 or 5 years ago. Maybe the answer at left back? I really need to watch more MLS... Bobby Convey - I've always been a big fan... if he gets healthy, he should challenge for a starting wing spot and if nothing else, he'll be a great sub to use if we need more offense. While there are other old standbys who could have a role to play like Twellman, Ching, Ralston, Conrad, and (god I hope not) Josh Woolf, I'm not nearly as excited about any of them as the guys above. Anyways, while the performance today was poor, the future for the US looks bright. Howard, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Onyewu, Dempsey, Donovan, and Beasley all are solid players in their prime while guys like Bradley, Edu, Johnson, Feilhaber, and Convey are young and should keep improving. What's really exciting are the Adus, Altidores, Wynees, and Szetelas, who haven't done anything yet for the national team but could have a big impact over the next 3 years. We should have absolutely no trouble qualifying (though if this group of players was in Europe, South America, or Africa, that would be another story entirely) and if given a non-impossible draw (like last World Cup), we should at least make the 2nd round. I also think we could easily better our performance from South Korea '02, though probably not our quarterfinal result (people forget now, but a lot of things fell our way in that cup, getting a weak host nation as our seed, Portugal overlooking us 1st game, losing to Poland but still advancing, drawing Mexico instead of Italy in the 2nd round). We're moving in the right direction, if Altidore and Adu can provide that attacking cutting edge we've never had, we could reach a new level... On a side note, unfortunately, Mexico's prospects are looking better than ever as well. They have numerous players in the Champions League right now (though they are concentrated at only a few clubs, PSV, Stuttgart, and Barcelona) and have a potential superstar striking combo with Giovanni dos Santos (only 18 and getting playing time this year at Barcelona) and Carlos Vela (also 18, playing on loan at Osasuna right now but probably on his way back to Arsenal at some point). We've been dominating them in recent years but it looks like we'll have to really step up to continue it.

UNC-Davidson

2007-11-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

Jeremy's post about the UNC-Davidson game inspired me to write out some thoughts from yesterday's UNC game in Charlotte. While we certainly didn't play great, Davidson is definitely a quality team (probably 2nd or 3rd best out of conference team we'll play this year behind Louisville and maybe UK or Ohio St) and we essentially played the 1st half with no contribution from our 2nd best player (Tywon) and the 2nd half with no contribution from our best player (Tyler). Those 2 will certainly play way better than they did last night almost every game (I'd be willing to bet this will be one of Ty's 2 or 3 worst games of the season, if not his worst) and that'll make a big difference. I also expect more from Deon, though not nearly as much as some others. Lasting things to worry about from this game imo: 1. getting the ball into the post - we couldn't do it consistently against a solid team and when we did, both Tyler and Deon were terrible passing out of the double team. One thing I noticed last year and again last night is that QT is by far our best player at feeding the post and Danny is unbelievably bad at it. 2. interior/help defense - Brandan was not a great defender but he was a shotblocker, something we do not have right now. Tyler and Deon are completely worthless in this area (Tyler in particular doesn't even challenge shots because he's worried about getting into foul trouble), so when our perimeter defenders got beat, it was an easy layup more often than not. Hopefully Danny and Stepheson can help with this throughout the year and that Deon is better at it than he looked last night (he did lead that under-19 USA team in blocks over the summer...the performance that it seems has led to much of the hype surrounding him as a capable replacement for Brandan). Surprisingly Encouraging things: 1. Danny at the 4 - if Deon doesn't live up to the hype, we'll see a lot of this throughout the year. Assuming we're not playing a team with 2 legit post scorers (and I can't imagine we'll play a whole lot of teams that have these), Danny is a serviceable rebounder/defender as a 4 (and an upgrade as a help defender over Deon) and adds a lot by giving us another 3 point shooter (think Jawad/Marvin playing the 4 in '05) and a great free throw shooter at the end of games. He's going to be very important this year. 2. Wayne, Wayne, Wayne - best game he's ever played. Made big shots at the end, scored in a lot of different ways. His game reminds me of Joe Forte, good enough 3 point shooter, great pull-up game and willing to go all the way to the basket. People forgot how good Forte was, but if Wayne can be as good this year as Forte was his freshmen year (soph year, Forte averaged like 22 ppg), we have a great shot at the championship. 3. QT/Bobby - QT was solid as the backup point and Bobby looked healthy and confident playing the 2 (he did a good job defending Curry, as did Marcus) and also looked better at the point than he did last year. Playing Bobby at the 2 is an extremely smart move by Roy imo and sets up a great rotation with set roles for everyone (huge contrast from last year). Ty, Wayne, Marcus, Deon, Tyler starting...QT is the backup point, Bobby is the backup 2/3rd point, Danny will jump around between 3 and 4, Alex is the 3rd true big man. 4. We won a legitimately close game that could have gone either way in the final 2 minutes. We lost these more than we won them last season... I actually went to the game in Charlotte and it was a good time. The Bobcats arena is very nice and the atmosphere was quite good with very impressive support for Davidson in about half the lower level for their 'home game' and the rest being UNC fans. Though we didn't play especially well, I was thrilled to get out of there with a win. I'll be very interested to see how Davidson does against Duke, State, and UCLA to see just how quality a win this was.

Marathon Pictures

2007-11-14T15:36:00.000-05:00

Marathon pics here.

Marathon

2007-11-12T00:32:00.000-05:00

So Jeremy and I did the Outer Banks marathon today, with my Dad, Alexa, and Jon all doing a half. I ended up finishing the full in 3:53. 3:45 would've been nice but whatever, at about mile 20 I stopped caring about my time and just wanted to finish. At this point, I'm just really happy it's over with...

iPhone

2007-11-04T01:55:00.000-04:00

So I got an iPhone for my birthday - so far, so good. It's pretty incredible - the network is slow when there's no wifi but it's still usable... and that's pretty much my comprehensive list of 'complaints' at this point. The best thing is, I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of cool features I haven't figured out how to use yet.

Obama

2007-11-04T01:43:00.000-04:00

So Jeremy's post about the Obama rally more or less covers my feelings on it. While Obama is certainly inexperienced and probably naive, he is an inspiring candidate who seems to have real moral convictions. Also, I think his inexperience could easily be offset by him surrounding himself with intelligent advisors (ala Bill Clinton), who unlike the current incumbent in the oval office, will be willing to listen to both sides of an argument and not see everything as black and white. While I do agree with Jeremy that it would be nice to hear more specific policy suggestions, at this point, I would not a view a vote for Obama as voting against the other guy (like I do my vote for John Kerry), instead I would actually be excited to support a presidential candidate. And for the record, the same holds true in my eyes for John Edwards, who I think I might actually prefer a little bit to Obama. But either one (or especially an Obama/Edwards ticket or vice versa) would be a huge step in the right direction for America.

Transformers - 6.0

2007-11-01T03:01:00.000-04:00

Transformers is pretty typical of the Michael Bay, summer blockbuster, watch everything blow-up genre - it was shockingly directed by who else but the one and only Michael Bay. While much of it is pretty standard fare, including bad acting, nonsensical plot transitions, and terrible dialogue, I did find Transformers more entertaining than many of the other blockbusters that were released this summer like Spiderman 3, Die Hard 4, and Pirates 3 because it didn't have that same been there, done that feel to it. In fact, I was extremely impressed by the special effects in Transformers (and this was watching it on DVD not in the theater mind you) as the actual transformers rarely seemed clunky or out of place while interacting with humans. I was pretty skeptical that a transformer movie could work on this level, so well done special effect mavens. Bottom line, in what was an extremely weak summer season, Transformers was probably the most entertaining action blockbuster out there besides the new Bourne and Harry Potter movies - not the highest of praise but when it comes to Michael Bay, better than a lot of the other crap put out there status actually places it in a pretty lofty place in his filmography. note - sorry for all the Michael Bay hate, he is what he is and really isn't all that bad. It's just that I read a suggestion that he could do a better job making this new war film called The Few than Michael Mann, which obviously is one of the more ludicrous things every written (or said) - I mean what's next, demanding that Spielberg turn over the reigns of the new Indiana Jones movie to Brett Ratner? Anyways, that's what put me in an even more anti-Michael Bay mood than usual.

Americans Support Military Action Against Iran

2007-10-30T14:51:00.000-04:00

Or at least 52% do according to a new poll. Man a lot of people in this country are fucking paranoid idiots aren't they?? A good quote from JFK to show how far we've fallen: "I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. . . . And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well." That whole balance between military strength and moral restraint doesn't really seem to exist anymore.

Why I'd Vote for John Edwards

2007-10-30T03:43:00.001-04:00

Here's the end of one of the best speeches I've ever read by a contemporary US politician: I stand here today the son of Wallace and Bobbie Edwards. The father of Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack -- and I know, as well as you, that we must not be the first generation that fails to live up to our moral challenge and keep the promise of America. That would be an abomination. There is a dream that is America. It is what makes us American. And I will not stand by while that dream is at risk. I am not perfect -- far from it -- but I do understand that this is not a political issue -- it is the moral test of our generation. Our nation's founders knew that this moment would come -- that at some point the power of greed and its influence over officials in our government might strain and threaten the very America they hoped would last as an ideal in the minds of all people, and as a beacon of hope for all time. That is why they made the people sovereign. And this is why it is your responsibility to redeem the promise of America for our children and their future. It will not be easy -- sacrifice will be required of us -- but it was never easy for our ancestors, and their sacrifices were far greater than any that will fall on our shoulders. Yet, the responsibility is ours. We, you and I, are the guardians of what America is and what it will be. The choice is ours. Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine. It is the easier path. It is the path of the status quo. But, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the American people demand, but has divided America into two -- one America for the very greedy, and one America for everybody else. And it is that divided America -- the direct result of this corrupt system -- which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned us of -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice. Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations of Americans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept the faith. I run for president for my father who worked in a mill his entire life and never got to go to college the way I did. I run for president for all those who worked in that mill with my father. I run for president for all those who lost their jobs when that mill was shut down. I run for president for all the women who have come up to Elizabeth and me and told us the like Elizabeth they had breast cancer -- but unlike Elizabeth they did not have health care. I run for president for twenty generations of Americans who made sure that their children had a better life than they did. As Americans we are blessed -- for our ancestors are not dead, they occupy the corridors of our conscience. And, as long we keep the faith -- they live. And so too the America of idealism and hope that was their gift to us. I carry the promise of America in my heart, where my parents placed it. Like them, like you, I believe in people, hard work, and the sacred obligation of each generation to the next. This is our time now. It falls to us to redeem our democracy, reclaim our government and relight the promise of America for our children. Let us blaze a new path together, grounded in the values from which America was forged, still reaching toward the greatness of our ideals. We can do it. We can cast aside the bankrupt ways of Washington and replace them with the timeless values of the American people. We can liberate our government from the shackles of corporate money that bind it to corporate will, and restore the voices of our people to its halls. This is the cause of my life. This is the cause of our time. Join me. Together, we cannot fail. We will keep faith with those who have gone before us, strong and proud in the knowledge that we too rose up to guard the promise of America in our day, and that, because we did, America's best days still lie ahead. Of course, Edwards isn't going to receive the nomination and I do believe that Hilary is both an improvement over Bush and a better choice than any of the mainstream republican candidates. Even so, maybe she'll grow on me (I mean even John Kerry grew on me and I thought at the time and still believe now that Edwards would've not only made a better president but also a better candidate than Kerry did) but right now I can't help but be disappointed that she's likely to be the nominee when I would prefer any of Obama, Edwards, or Al Gore exponentially more and any of those 3 would likely win against whoever the Republicans throw out there. The funny thing to me is those who call Hilary too liberal, a socialist, whatever. In my opinion, she's not nearly liberal enough. She's nowhere near a socialist, she's a fucking corporate candidate (trying not to use the term whore) who will be a political pragmatist and make no real changes, too worried about her reelection hopes to step out of line to where ever her true beliefs have disappeared to. In short, she's too much of a politician. When she does become president, I do believe she can help fix some of the mess Bush has created and in that way be part of a short term solution; but long term, she and her special interest money are just as big a part of the problem as Bush, Rove, Giuliani, or any of the other republicans us liberals love to hate. Too bad the American people are so dumb that things like how much Edwards' haircut costs or how big his house is are more important to most than his actually ideas. But we are the people who elect presidents based on how likable they are instead of how well-suited they are for the responsibilities they will have and the challenges they will face, the people who elected fucking George W. Bush twice, so it's hard to be surprised any more. At this point, it's hard not to think we deserve what we get.

Jeremy lookalike

2007-10-25T01:04:00.001-04:00

This dude (Andy Comeau), who is one of the new fellows in the new season of House, bears a striking resemblance to Jeremy (even more so from the side and back....of the head, haven't had a good waist down shot yet unfortunately). The first time I saw him (no full facial shot mind you) I was actually torn for about 5 minutes wondering if Jeremy had some secret life as a crappy TV actor in Hollywood that he wasn't telling us about, even rewinding, pausing, and slow-moing on the DVR. Anyways judge for yourselves: On another note, the Jeremy lookalike has been just about the most interesting aspect of the new season of what used to be a pretty entertaining show.

Thierry Henry

2007-10-24T03:59:00.000-04:00

Watching some old Arsenal highlights I came across some ridiculous goals from Henry (2 of which I'd seen before, 1 that I hadn't). Enjoy: backheel vs. Charlton turn and lob vs. Man U solo run vs. Liverpool And though it isn't Henry, I'll leave you with a must-see goal from his Barca teammate Leo Messi from last season vs. Getafe (he was all of 19 years old at the time) where he beats 5 defenders and the keeper on a 60+ yard run.

The New Invincibles? Arsenal 7 Slavia Praha 0

2007-10-24T02:54:00.000-04:00

No ratings for this game cause I didn't see it live (Barcelona 0 Rangers 0 was the game on ESPN2, a decently entertaining match, though a goal or 2, or even an attack or 2 from Rangers' side, would've been nice) but I did see the highlights and all I can say is wow. Cesc 2 goals, Walcott 2 goals, Hleb 1 (and forced an own goal), Bendtner 1. The first goal from Cesc is nice, the next 2 are sort of trashy, but the 4 in the 2nd half are all essentially perfect goals - no dead ball set pieces, all from the run of play, combination of quick passing, intelligent movement, great skill on the ball, and superb finishing. This game reminded me of Man U's 7-1 demolition of Roma in the CL Quarterfinals last year where they just scored great goal after great goal - Man U's was of course a much more important game against a better team, but that's the only recent parallel I can think of... As usual Cesc (age 20) was at the center of most everything - but just as important to Arsenal now is the unbelievably underrated Alexander Hleb. Man he's an incredible player, I can't think of many who are playing better than he is currently. Maybe he doesn't get as much hype because he's never going to play in important international matches for Belarus but if he keeps it up at this level, more people will have to notice his play. God it pisses me off that freaking Belarus can produce a genius footballer like Hleb (or Togo a top class striker like Adebayor, or Mali players like Freddy Kanoute, Mahamadou Diarra, and Momo Sissoko, or goddamn Ivory Coast with stars at damn near every position with Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Kalou, Kone, Keita, Eboue all getting regular playing time for teams in the Champions League) and the best the US can do club-wise in Europe is DaMarcus Beasley starting about half the games for Rangers. Where are our star players? Maybe 5 years down the road, Adu will be at Arsenal, Altidore at Man U, and Szetela at Real, but I can't believe we haven't had a single player break through at a truly elite club yet. I mean Mexico now has a freaking 17 year old who gets regular playing time at Barcelona (Giovani...not to mention Rafa Marquez who regularly features for Barca as well) and we own them. All I want is a few American star players, is that too much to ask? Ok that rant took me a little off topic, back to Hleb - he is one of the most technically gifted players I've ever seen (does he ever have a bad touch on the ball?), has great vision and unselfishness, runs off the ball constantly, and is even finishing this season (check out Arsenal goal #4 today). But Hleb and Cesc's excellence have come to be expected, the big story from this match is Theo Walcott, who was composed enough to make the most of a mistake for goal #3, had a brilliant finish on goal #5, and a perfect (and unselfish) one-touch layoff into the path of Cesc to set up goal #6 (the best of the bunch imo, though Eboue's backheel for goal #7 is freaking ridiculous). Walcott has looked good coming off the bench lately (set up the 2nd against Bolton on Saturday) but this is by far his best game yet. Hopefully it's a breakout and a sign of things to come, cause the Gunners will need it with van Persie out for a month and Liverpool and Man U coming up. If Arsenal still hasn't lost in 2 weeks, we might be looking at some new Invincibles (probably impossible but imagining this Henry-less Arsenal side starting the season so well that the Invincibles can be mentioned is incredible as it is).

Gone Baby Gone - 8.5

2007-10-22T02:05:00.000-04:00

I was ready to crown Michael Clayton as my new favorite movie of the year (a distinction which will likely change hands several times over the next few months) until I saw Ben Affleck's directing debut Gone Baby Gone a few days later. Reminiscent of Mystic River (which it should be since the source material is by the same author), this film tells the story of a young P.I. (portrayed with a who the hell knew he could act so well performance by Casey Affleck) investigating the kidnapping of a young girl in his Boston neighborhood. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris also come through with fine supporting turns, as does The Wire's Amy Ryan, playing the girl's drug-addicted whore of a mother. My man Omar even shows up, sadly only for a solitary scene, and even worse as a cop, not as a bad ass loner who robs drug dealers. Even so, one of my general guidelines is that anything with Omar in it is better than it would have been if Omar wasn't in it. The same holds true for Daniel Day-Lewis, Mr. Eko/Adebisi, and films directed by Michael Mann. Back to the movie - as the true story behind the kidnapping unfolds, every twist and turn worked for me before Casey Affleck's character was finally put in a truly morally ambiguous situation. Once Gone Baby Gone ended, I was left with the first movie in a while that really had me putting myself in the shoes of a main character and considering what I would do in their situation...and not coming up with an easy answer. Ben Affleck hasn't acted in a good movie in years, if this movie is any indication, maybe he's found his new calling behind the camera. I for one will be looking forward to his next attempt at directing much more than his next (inevitably disastrous) starring role.

Michael Clayton - 7.5

2007-10-22T01:53:00.000-04:00

George Clooney's newest film, Michael Clayton, is well-written, well-made, and well-acted, with Clooney and Tom Wilkinson both turning in Oscar-level performances. The overall plot is interesting and after getting past a slow first 30 minute or so set-up phase, this movie moves along nicely. Bottom line, similar (though not quite as good imo) to The Insider, it is an intelligent, thrilling drama that could easily pick up several Oscar nominations - though since it is still so early in the season and real contenders are only just now starting to be released, it really is impossible to say. However, I will say I'll be very surprised if Clooney's combination of a fine performance here and his status as an Oscar darling and one of Hollywood's foremost lead actors doesn't get him his first Best Actor nomination.

USA 1, Switzerland 0

2007-10-18T14:05:00.000-04:00

Player ratings from yesterday's USA game: Marcus Hahnemann - 6.0 - he didn't have a whole lot to do but didn't make any mistakes either. Steve Cherundolo - 6.0 - made a few good runs forward and was good enough defending. Not a spectacular performance but solid. Oguchi Onyewu - 7.0 - gets a little too physical sometimes, getting close to giving away freekicks and even PKs but he pretty much shut down their big forward (Streller) in the first half. Carlos Bocanegra - 8.5 - he played great, anchoring one of our best defensive performances in recent memory. Switzerland really only had 1 or 2 real shots on goal and nothing too dangerous and Boca was a huge part of it with great positioning and a few big tackles. He was also unlucky not to score when he redirected a shot directly to their keeper from 6 yards out. Eddie Lewis - 3.0 - I normally think he's ok but in this game he was pretty terrible both at left back and left winger. Our defense looked the most shaky before he was moved up to the wing and once he was playing as an attacker he gave away possession nearly every time he got the ball and when he didn't he wasted several good crossing opportunities. He also took too long on a good scoring chance and ended up hitting it right at the keeper for a relatively routine save. It was telling how much better our offense looked when he was subbed out (along with Twellman). Benny Feilhaber - 6.0 - he had a really good first half where I thought he was probably our best attacking player but tailed off as the game went on. Maurice Edu - 7.0 - for a guy making his first cap against pretty good competition he did surprisingly well. He didn't necessarily shine but never looked overmatched either. I didn't know much about him before but he certainly looks like a good guy to have around especially since Mastro is aging and hurt half the time. Michael Bradley - 8.0 - After very good to great performances against Brazil and Switzerland (not to mention a goal scoring binge for his club Heerenveen) he's really starting to grow on me. As his offense has improved he's really turning into a good all-purpose midfielder and he's still only 20. He played well today and then found himself in the right place at the right time to score the winning goal. Damarcus Beasley - no rating - He got hurt like 10 minutes in and tried to play through it but was never the same. Hopefully the injury isn't a long term thing... Taylor Twellman - 3.0 - along with Lewis, he was the other guy who I thought was bad out of the starting 11. Maybe never got great service but was pretty worthless either way. Our MLS forwards really suck. Clint Dempsey - 5.0 - not his best day but never saw much of the ball. I am very impressed at his overall conversion from winger to forward though. Subs: Heath Pearce - 6.0 - defense looked way better with him at left back instead of Lewis. Brad Guzan - 6.0 - made one good save on a free kick that he stupidly gave away with his handball outside of the box. Dan Califf - 7.0 - did well at center back coming on for Onyewu at halftime. He did miss one great goalscoring chance on a corner though, hitting a free header over. Freddy Adu - 9.0 - hard to overstate how much more lively our offense looked when he came on for Twellman. Had a hand in the attack that led to the goal, could've easily scored chipping a through ball one time just over, drew and took a dangerous freekick, and had a nifty back heel right into the path of Cherundolo - all in the span of 15 minutes that he played. He looked significantly better than the last time I saw him play, hope he gets some more time at Benfica and for the national team. Danny Szetela - 8.0 - along with Adu, him coming on for Lewis paid big dividends for our offensive production. Sent in the cross that led to the goal and in general looked very confident out there for a guy making his first cap. He's an exciting prospect, someone who should hopefully be a starter by the next world cup. Robbie Findley - no rating - also making his first cap, looked lively but didn't have much to do. Overall, this was a very solid performance from the US. We were playing against a good Switzerland team who could've easily been in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup (didn't concede a goal in the WC) and had most of their regulars and we pretty much shut them down - outstanding performance from our defense. Though we did have some good chances here and there, our offense didn't look too dangerous for most of the game, clearly missing Landon. For as much crap as I give him for not asserting himself, he's definitely our most important offensive player. We did take it to another level offensively when Adu and Szetela came in which is especially encouraging since these are two of our most promising young players. Great to end our losing streak and get a win on European soil. Next up is at South Africa in a month, winnable game no doubt (hope we get them as our seed in the WC draw...).

Lethal Weapon 2 - 6.0

2007-10-16T02:28:00.000-04:00

So I haven't been watching too many movies lately, mainly because Halo 3 has pretty much consumed me for the past week or so. Anyways, I do plan to definitely see Michael Clayton soon, and possibly In the Valley of Elah, The Kingdom, and Gone Baby Gone. As for Lethal Weapon 2, I queued it up on netflix because it's available in bluray - it's basically the same movie as the others in the Lethal Weapon franchise... though I do consider #4 as a bit of a departure from the first 3 - I think #4 is the funniest (mainly because of Chris Rock) but conversely the overall plot and action scenes are much weaker. As for this one, there's some decent chase scenes, some funny lines, several instances where Mel Gibson gets to be a badass, and a hot Dutch chick. Nothing groundbreaking but overall decently entertaining.

Friday Night Lights

2007-10-11T16:46:00.001-04:00

The first season of Friday Night Lights successfully combines sports, drama, and romance as well or better than any other movie or TV show I've ever seen. By the end of the season I actually enjoyed the football scenes the least out of any part of the show - this isn't really an indictment of the quality of these scenes, they were very good (though not great) but instead more of a statement regarding how good the rest of the show is. I was also extremely impressed with how they handled some delicate issues such as steroids and especially racism with the episodes dealing with the latter being possibly the strongest in the entire season. The season 2 premiere was very good - the new dynamic between now absentee father Coach Taylor and his wife and daughter is especially promising (this family plus Matt is really the heart of the show imo). However I am with what seems like the general consensus that the whole subplot of Landry killing the guy who was stalking Tyra and then covering it up is extremely stupid. The scene where he kills the dude was well-handled and realistic enough I suppose but Landry not going to the police is completely inconsistent with his character (one of the best characters in the show). I don't think this subplot will ruin the show but I admit I am a little worried.

Law School

2007-10-05T04:55:00.001-04:00

After finishing up my personal statement in the last few days (thanks Jeremy and Alexa), my UNC Law application is officially submitted. Woohoo for me, hope they accept me...

One Nil to the Arsenal - Arsenal 1 Steaua Bucharest 0

2007-10-03T04:16:00.000-04:00

here are some brief player ratings from Arsenal's uninspiring 1-0 away champions league win today (9th win in a row). Manuel Almunia - 6.0 - a bit shaky but kept the clean sheet Bacary Sagna - 7.5 - gave up nothing defensively but didn't get forward a whole lot Gael Clichy - 6.0 - good defensively for the most part but had 1 or 2 lapses, dangerous as always going forward but his crosses were terrrrrible Kolo Toure - 8.0 - a rock as usual, great heads up play to get back and make a back save when Almunia came too far off his line Phillipe Senderos - 8.5 - played great today, probably because Steaua is a physical team that tries to attack through the air, Phil's strength. I'll have more confidence when he plays this well against a team with some speedy strikers who like to run at the defense. Emmanuel Eboue - 3.0 - man he played really poorly, gotta trust Wenger but he still hasn't shown much as a winger Alexander Hleb - 8.0 - vital player, in the middle of every attack and man is he good on the ball Cesc Fabregas - 5.0 - another uninspired performance especially with the high standards he's set this year Mathieu Flamini - 7.0 - played well again Emmanuel Adebayor - 7.0 - started off poorly but ran hard and eventually set up the goal Robin van Persie - 7.5 - only had one real chance all game and buried it Well there's back to back 1-0 away wins for Arsenal, the type of games I'm convinced they would've drawn or even lost last season. Up next are Sunderland and Bolton at home, obviously anything less than 6 points from those 2 matches would be a huge disappointment.

Arsenal 1 West Ham 0

2007-09-30T02:13:00.000-04:00

Player ratings from Arsenal's hard fought road win today: Manuel Almunia - 7.0 - didn't have a whole lot to do but came through when necessary Bacary Sagna - 7.5 - rock solid again, what a signing by Wenger, possibly the best right back in England at the moment. Gael Clichy - 7.0 - and pairing up with the best right back in England, it's the best left back in England. Arsenal's fullbacks ability to completely shut down the opposition's wing play while also constantly getting forward into dangerous positions themselves (Clichy a little moreso than Sagna) has been a huge factor in the great start to the season. If these two aren't France's starting fullbacks in their next Euro qualifier, Domenech is an idiot (which he is and they won't be). Kolo Toure - 8.0 - superb as always, great leader, always makes the big tackle, rarely out of position, and even bursts forward with dangerous runs from time to time. One of the best centerbacks in the world imo. When he's gone for the African Cup of Nations in January and February, he'll leave a massive hole to fill. Phillipe Senderos - 5.0 - and the weak link of the defense - this guy continues to scare me, he lacks pace and doesn't make up for it with exceptional positioning. He also commits way too many clumsy fouls so he's always a risk to give up a PK or get a red card. He was ok today but Dean Ashton got the best of him several times, even getting open on a corner for a header, which is surprising given that Phil's greatest strength is that he such a strong player in the air. Gallas can't get back soon enough. Alexandre Hleb - 7.0 - he was playing well before a bad tackle knocked him out (Noble was lucky to get off with a yellow). Great cross to assist the goal. Abou Diaby - 7.5 - he was lively today, looking more comfortable on the left flank than any previous games - hopefully his superb goal against Derby coming into the middle from that position gave him confidence. Cesc Fabregas - 6.0 - off day for Cesc, it was a real battle in the midfield, and he held his own but wasn't able to excel like he has been this season. Unfortunately, his streak of I believe 7 straight games with a goal ended today - absolutely incredible run, especially for a guy who is a playmaking midfielder that spends hardly any time at all in the opposing teams penalty area. Mathieu Flamini - 8.5 - the best player on the field today, won the ball time and time again in the midfield and distributed it well. What a story he's been - was looking to find a new team before the season because he didn't feel he had a future at Arsenal and now has taken that holding midfielder role and made it his own, so much so that Gilberto, perhaps Arsenal's best player last season, has so far played almost exclusively as a centerback. Emmanuel Adebayor - 5.0 - off day for him but he still did ok, held the ball up well before passing it to Hleb for the cross that resulted in the goal. Robin van Persie - 7.0 - pretty inconsistent performance, invisible at times, and gave the ball away too easily on occasion. But also scored the only goal of the game on a nice header and could've easily had a 2nd if it wasn't for a great save by Green to push his shot onto the post. Subs: Emmanuel Eboue - 4.0 - first time I've seen him as a winger this year and I wasn't overly impressed. He was electrifying coming forward as a rightback but doesn't look as comfortable doing so from a more advanced position. But at the same time, I can't blame Wenger for converting him since Sagna has taken over at rightback and we are in desperate need of wingers. Hopefully, Eboue will grow into this new role. Gilberto Silva - 6.0 - I felt much more comfortable about holding a 1-0 lead when he was brought on as another defensive midfielder. Nicklas Bendtner - no rating - only second time I've seen him play this season, didn't really have a chance to do much. It was great to see Arsenal's amazing run to start the season continue with a tough road win over a decent West Ham team that could easily challenge for a European spot this year (though they'll probably finish around 10-12 imo). That's 6 wins in 7 matches in league play, with the only blemish being a 1-1 draw at Blackburn where Lehmann gifted the Rovers their goal, 3 wins in 3 matches in the Champions League, and 1 win in the League Cup (a dominating performance of Arsenal's reserves over Newcastle's 1st team no less). With Henry gone, not even the most optimistic Arsenal fan could've predicted a start to the season like this. But really, it seems that Henry leaving for Barca (he scored a hat-trick today too, good for him) has been a blessing in disguise as all the young players now feel more comfortable and don't have to worry about deferring to a star. Instead of a one-man show, it's a true team effort, game in, game out, and it's been awesome to watch. In Wenger I trust.

The Office, Season 4 premiere - 9.0

2007-09-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

The new season of The Office kicked off with a hilarious hour-long episode last night. The first half of the episode, dealing mostly with the aftermath of Michael hitting Meredith with his car, was a little bit stronger but I was still laughing consistently in the last 30 minutes as well. The main characters, Michael, Dwight, Jim, and Pam are all great but what makes this show so amazing are the secondary characters - Andy's nipple chafing, Creed's interest in Meredith's painkillers, Kevin's obsession with Jim and Pam (not to mention him running a 5k in a suit), Stanley's unrelenting surliness, Michael's irrational hatred of Toby, etc, etc were some of the funniest moments from last night. As for the overall outlook of the season, I'm glad the Jim and Pam situation is resolved (for now) as dragging it on for another season as it was would've surely become tedious. Ryan becoming Michael's boss should be interesting as well, and whenever he comes back to Scranton will be hilarious, especially considering how bitter Kelli still is. But really, the ongoing plotlines don't even matter that much, just the everyday stuff in the office is what makes this show so great. It's easily the funniest show on TV and after LOST and The Wire, my favorite currently running show period.

Eastern Promises - 8.5

2007-09-28T20:38:00.001-04:00

David Cronenberg's latest is far superior to his last critically acclaimed, graphically violent, Viggo Mortensen vehicle, A History of Violence. Unlike in A History of Violence (which was ok but not great imo), Eastern Promises is fast-paced and gripping from the first shot to the closing credits. The plot, centering around a midwife (Naomi Watts!!!) who becomes involved with the London-based Russian mafia after she delivers the baby of a teenager who was forced into prostitution and finds her diary when she dies during childbirth, is very interesting with a tight 100 minute run time and refreshingly, not a single wasted scene in the entire film. Viggo Mortensen, as a driver and close confidant of the bosses' son, gives an incredibly strong, oscar-level performance, seamlessly and believably transitioning from menacing to compassionate from one scene to the next. Some of the violence could be considered gratuitous (I for one could've done without Viggo's naked fight scene or even one or two less throat-slashings) but I think overall it was important in establishing the dark tone and atmosphere of the film. Don't hold me to it, but right now, I would probably consider Eastern Promises the best film thus far of 2007.

Heroes, Season 2 Premiere - 6.0

2007-09-28T20:21:00.000-04:00

I understand many of Jeremy's complaints regarding the Heroes season premiere and agree with several of them, especially regarding the predictability of this particular episode (I'll also be extremely annoyed if the little girl's nightmare drawings transform into visions of the future ala Isaac's paintings). However, while this episode was somewhat subpar, I do think overall it sets up some interesting storylines for the rest of the season. Unlike Jeremy, I'm still interested in what happened to Peter Petrelli; the new Mexican killer girl could be cool (she will end up being a very sympathetic character imo, and she's hot); and Hiro in feudal Japan is sort of cool (though I'm far from sold, even if they did bring in Sarc from Alias to play the white samurai). And I think potentially the best sign is that it seems they are moving on from having just one or two evil individuals like in season 1 (Sylar, Malcolm Mcdowell, and to a lesser extent the Petrelli mom) to having this broader mysterious organization that Mohindar and Mr. Bennet are now apparently declaring war against. This could certainly backfire but for now, I'm intrigued. Not sure how well everything will end up tying together but at the moment, I'm looking forward to watching Heroes this coming week more than any other show outside of The Office.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - 7.5

2007-09-28T19:59:00.001-04:00

This is a very stylish and clever crime thriller from Guy Ritchie. It is fast-paced and entertaining and all the storylines end up tying together relatively neatly. I do however have a few small complaints. For one, the humor was far less consistent in Lock, Stock than in Ritchie's subsequent film Snatch, with Lock, Stock noticeably lacking a consistently hilarious character like Brad Pitt's fast-talking gypsy boxer in Snatch. My other (pretty unreasonable) complaint (that also applies to Snatch) is that the accents are sometimes close to indecipherable for me. This is pretty annoying as it is, but even worse since the dialogue is really the heart of the entire film, so missing a line here or there is worse than it would be with say The Boxer, another movie that comes to mind when I think of difficult accents to understand. Even so, Lock, Stock is a highly enjoyable movie that I suspect will also score well on the rewatchability scale.

reviews

2007-09-28T19:53:00.000-04:00

I should be writing my personal statement for my UNC law application right now but instead I think I'll write up some reviews of what I've been watching lately. Enjoy...

Burma

2007-09-28T16:33:00.000-04:00

Here's a good blog with a lot of pictures (one of the best ones I've found is seen above) and up to date news on the ongoing democratic protests in Burma against the ruling repressive military junta. Unfortunately (and amazingly) it's blogs like this that are now the main source of news for what is actually happening in Burma, especially since the government has now shut off all internet access within the county. Such a sad story, though it is inspiring to see these people risk imprisonment and even their lives to fight for basic rights that we casually take for granted.

Halo 3

2007-09-25T03:39:00.000-04:00

So my roommates and I went and picked Halo 3 up at midnight tonight and I've spent the last couple of hours playing online. The gameplay seems relatively similar which is obviously good because there was no need to make major changes in the first place. There are new weapons and maps but none of them has made a huge impression on me yet. The biggest change is that the online play is exponentially better - there are more pre-game options so you aren't just put into a random game like with Halo 2 and by choosing to prioritize a good connection during our game selection we were able to play live with 4 different accounts on the same TV without any lag at all. This is absolutely amazing - with Halo 2, it started to lag with 2 people playing together and became unplayable with 3+. The graphics are also quite impressive but the improved online play is definitely the best improvement.

Friday Night Lights

2007-09-21T02:46:00.001-04:00

Chalk another one up for Jeremy - this show is awesome. I'm starting to see a pattern emerge here, Jeremy recommends show, Ben ignores recommendation, Jeremy persists, Ben gives in, Ben loves show (this pattern can also be applied to games). Anyways, after reading this article by the Sports Guy (whose other favorite shows are The Wire, The Sopranos, and LOST, hmmm those sound familiar, he's got good taste...) I went to Best Buy and bought the complete first season for only $25. I watched the first 7 episodes today with my roommates and the general consensus is this show rocks. I'll give it a rating when I finish the entire season but at this point anything below a 9 would be a shock.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor - 9.0

2007-09-21T02:35:00.000-04:00

I don't normally review music because really I hardly ever listen to complete albums, especially newer stuff - mostly I've been downloading good songs to listen to while running lately (Maroon 5 and Michael Jackson baby). But since I've listened to this entire album a good 5 times in the last week and 5 or 6 songs considerably more times than that, I felt compelled to write something about it. I think the reason I like Lupe so much is because he combines good lyricism with some really thoughtful and intelligent rap. Really the only thing that separates this album from Illmatic (my all-time favorite rap album) is that with Illmatic there really are no weak tracks (only having 9 songs might have something to do with that) whereas there are a few on Food & Liquor I'm starting to regularly skip over. Even so, this album is awesome and Lupe is now on the short list of rappers I really like.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - 4.0

2007-09-21T02:29:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty listless watch everything blow up action/sci-fi flick. I actually thought its biggest strength was that it didn't fall into the common trap of taking itself too seriously and thus had a few good comedic moments. Even so, I was pretty bored after half an hour and the last chase scene (which was probably close to a 4th of the entire movie) especially dragged and dragged and dragged on.

3:10 to Yuma - 5.0

2007-09-19T01:31:00.000-04:00

While this movie did do a few things well (pacing and production value come to mind), overall, it was a bit of a disappointment given the high expectations I had going in. First off, the acting was only good, not great which, when actors of the caliber of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are involved, is a pretty significant letdown. But while the acting was not quite as exceptional as I would have hoped, the bigger failure of this movie was with an overly unbelievable ending (even for a western). I felt like the motivations behind Crowe's character's final actions were not adequately explained and thus these actions were pretty fantastic and implausible. For me, the last 15-20 minutes put a damper on what was a relatively enjoyable previous hour and a half. Bottom line, this movie was only ok. Worth seeing? If you like westerns, then sure - the atmosphere, sets, and plot (until the last scene) are all top-notch. But unfortunately, while 3:10 to Yuma did have its strengths, Unforgiven it was not.