4 posts from January 2008

One of my life's great pleasures is film and I was struck the other day about the lack of decent action sequences in the last few years (mostly due to quick cuts by the director - haven't seen Rambo yet) - Here is my list of top action sequences of all time (please let me caveat this by admitting I am a complete hypocrite as I hate all lists (film, books, sports) as I believe they are all subjective;  sort of a beauty in the eye of the beholder belief, but I understand their place in terms of illiciting conversation and debate).  However, if you like action, I suggest that you check these out if you haven't yet:

• Matrix Reloaded - from the point when the keymaker scurries off after seeing the Frenchie up till the scene on the freeway - this blew me away - I still think this is the best of alltime
• Hard Boiled - Hospital Escape by Tequila (might be cheating since it's so long, but it has my favorite line by any screen villan "there is no room for error now - the innocent must die" - In fact John Woo should have a separate section - this is the director that felt that Wilford Brimley should kill people with a Bow and Arrow in Hard Target
• T2 - from the mall to the aqueduct - my favorite action film (favorite drama - godfather)
• Kiss of the Dragon - Jet Li escaping the hotel & End fight (btw the school of black belts and the twins)
• Matrix - Springing Morpheus
• Opening Sequence to Rundown - I'm Biased

Now there are other sequences that bare mention but, I don't know if I would put them in the same catagory as the others due to the scale of the scenes:

• Storming of Normandy in Saving Private Ryan - Speilberg really captured the theme of whismy that I think they all must of felt
• A lot from When We Soliders - It's a solid flick which only pays off when (spoilers) Chris Klein dies (hilarious)
• All major battles from the LOTR's movies
• The majority of Black Hawk Down (I wonder why we have no more peace keeping missions in Africa anymore?)

Other Recent flics that I think one might have missed:

• You Can Count on Me - v good - good linney and ruffalo
• Nobody's Fool - Newman should have won the oscar
• Defending Your Life - my favorite romantic comedy of all time
• The Pianist - another flic that I can watch anytime of day - its doubtful that you missed this though...
• Big Fish - Good father son flick without all of the incest that permeates the 21st century - damn you Dick Gephardt

Comedies that need to watched soon:

1. Beerfest - some people didn't see this after being dissappointed by Club Dred (a pretty good flic in its own right), but this in many ways better than Super Troopers
2. Wet Hot American Summer - pure gold
3. Daniel Tosh - DVD special - its' not as good as his live standup, but pretty decent - his album, "True Stories I Made Up" is one of the funniest comedy albums to come out since David Cross' last one

Recent Films I had to sit through:

1. The Number 23 - instead of watching this film, go down to your local butcher and pay him roughly 6 and half bucks to kick you in the balls for 2 hrs.  While not the best anology, you might have have more self awareness after the butcher. 
2. Cloverfield - the fact that the ticket to this film cost me 12 bucks for a matinee, started us out on the wrong foot.  After the necessary popcorn and soda, my tab for the experience had already reached $22.  For a 2:10 PM start time, the film started at 2:45 PM (most of the commericials focused on anti-Huckabee ads placed by Romney's campaign - also another strike against the film - who knew that Huckabee fed on the blood and bone marrow of the elderly? not i).  I guess that I had higher hopes for this (why?) flic, because I found my self a bit dissappointed at the end of the feature.  As I was trying to grasp on how I would change the film for the better, I drew a blank, so what does that say about me?  I guess the one thing that they could have improved, is that none of the characters are sympathic.  I could have cared less about any of them which is always a bad sign for a horror movie when most of the movie turns on the death of the next character.
• A perfect example of this is the film 28 days later, where Danny Boyle almost forces you to like each character (BTW the sequel - 28 weeks later - worth renting)
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - I go back and forth on this film, simply because, I thought it would be impossible to capture the sentiment in the book and translate it to film, but after a bit of time - I like the film - the first 20 minutes work well
4. Bully & Alpha Dog - 2 movies I lump together, but still kind of like, not sure why as there are great performances in both by different actors but, the larry frank "young, fucked up, and lacking any consequence" films entertain me - they aren't great but I'm glad they exist
5. Lars and the Real Girl - my bro and I suffered through this - if you have a chance to see this, don't - same thing for Dan in Real Life...

what am I listening to:

• Web - the roots - the tipping point
• Tour is War - Josh Martinez - midriff music
• Colours - Donovan - Donovan's Grst Hits
• Hang on Sloopy - McCoys - Best of 60s party hits
• Playboy mansion - U2 - Pop

Media day offered just another intriguing glimpse into both psyches of the Giants and Pats prior to the big game - pundits galore try to make more of Brady's injury than is exactly there.

I jump to Strahan's evaluation of TO's injury prior to their divisional game where he asked reporters if they actually believed if they seriously thought that TO wouldn't play - the same thing here - this is a case of too much time between playoff games leaving 24 networks scrambling for non-issues to discuss prior to the game.

Here are the questions that I want to know prior to the game:

1.  Which weapon will the giants D - try to eliminate during the game?  The Jags and Bolts smothered Moss, leaving Gaffney, Welker, Watson, and Stallworth to pick up where they left off in the passing game.  And whne Brady faultered, BB realized that he has a top ten RB playing for him and a top O LIne that let Maroney roll over the Bolts all game.

2. With Spagnoluo's blitzing defense, can the g-men allow to have single coverage on the outside with the banged up secondary of Ross and Webster, who have admittedly played well of late, but I wouldn't stake my life on them holding Moss from 2 long TDs

I believe that this game will simply come down to the Giants' defense, and by that implication, I am assuming that the Gmen's offense will need to have a decent combo of Jacobs and Bradshaw mixed in with hitches, posts, and ins to Burress, Smith, and Toomer.  Because if they don't, this game won't be even close...

Half a season has passed and I must admit, I am a bit shocked at some of the standings:

1. How are the Knicks not the the topteam in the in NBA, let alone the East?
• They have the highest payroll in the NBA - most likely due to the spectalur acquisitions of Jerome James to mop up Zach Randolph's ball sweat.
• Isiah Thomas, on of the most beloved NBA players of all time, has been given one of the prouest franchises in the NBA and reduced it to Clipper's/King's level of B-ball.
• Not lost on anyone is the fact that Isiah Thomas was CONVICTED of sexual harrassement in the off season - can you imagine a job where you worked where your boss was convicted (CONVICTED) of a misdemonar (or feolny) and nothing happened (those that work on wall street - don't answer).
• The worst part of the team is that he does have the ingridents of a playoff team there - their starting five should be:
• Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, David Lee (I know charles smith), zach randolph, and eddy curry

More to come...

Apparently this is my first blog, something that I have always dreamed of since I was born.  I remember third grade when after learning the anatomy of the T-Rex - some cat named Jack's Filthy Bandanna (actually a ten year old, Lou,  with a severe fear of females) told me of the blog. This blog was apparently a journal that you could keep between yourself, and anyother bored idiot that sought to find you out - this comforted me...either way it seemed like a new medium that either completed exposed the person writing it for the good or for the bad (depending on who was reading it).

This blog (or as I call it "the cleanse") was where I could spout off about things in my life with no one to pay attention to, and those that did?  (They needed more help than I for reading this excrement). 

Either way, I have been blogging since I was in 3rd grade - with little to no success.  Every serious post that I submit to the Huffington Post, I receive a standard rejection letter, which states that no matter how much I care about the american political process, my support for Walt "Clyde" Frazier as a political candidate wouldn't take much water...but I digress, we all know that the McCain, Biden ticket should take the White House in a Reaganesque landslide over the Mondalian (Obama & Anyone)....

Well, I figure if anyone is reading I might as well drop a little knowledge on the upcoming Superbowl:

• My one conern about the NFC game came true with Tynes kicking - this will also be a factor in the upcoming bowl
• My beloved Giants will not lose as bad as they did to the Ravens in 01 - Eli will play better than Kerry Collins (4 ints in the bowl)
• James Butler will cost the Giants at least 7 (or more) points (on a deep ball or off of poor tackling)
•  The Giants will either compete to the end or fold like wet torillas (ala SB against the Ravens) 1 scenerio (Pats 42 - Gmen 20) or (Pats 42 - Gmen 35)
• But there is something about this Giants team that giants fans haven't seen in ages, i.e. a loose team that doesn't care that much about winning - this game reminds me a bunch of the first Pats win against the Rams (the super team - the Rams, marching into the bowl - greatest show on turf; playing against an underdog with no chance to win, who has been finding ways to win all playoff games to date.)
• Final call (extremely biased): Giants 28 - Pats 27

What am I listening to now? Apple Scruffs - George Harrison.

Hope you are well...