Benjamin Grimm

I don't have high hopes for an Avengers movie either. It would be monumentally difficult to mix Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk (plus Ant Man, Captain America and the Wasp) on screen without it looking very silly. But that's another story. I don't mind villains being killed off in the movies. You have to keep Dr. Octopus alive in the comics because there are forty or fifty years worth of stories to tell. But at most there will be maybe five or six Spider-Man movies; they won't need to go back to Doc Ock again. (And if they reboot the Spidey series twenty years from now, then can once again reuse Doc Ock anyway.) I didn't like how they piled on the villains in Spider-Man 3. I don't know if it's a lack of confidence in Sandman or Venom. It may be partly that, but I think it's largely from a desire to get more characters to merchandise. And that's even worse, because it drives the storytelling in a way that's counterproductive. Favreau seems to have a plan. I think he'll take the Iron Man franchise in a good direction. My hunch is that Iron Man 3, if it gets that far, will be the best superhero movie to have a 3 in the title.

Yes, Downey's appearance in Incredible Hulk is the first step in stitching together a big-screen Marvel Universe. Rumor has it that it's laying the groundwork for an eventual Avengers movie.

We're going tomorrow night. I can't wait. Iron Man was never my favorite either, but there are few movies that I've so eagerly anticipated. I've just been getting a good vibe about this movie. I think Downey was a great choice for Tony Stark. (I would have picked Clark Gable, but he's dead at the present time.) And Favreau seems to be a real fan who knows what makes the characters tick. (As opposed to those clowns who did the Fantastic Four movie.) Let's have a little sing-along: Tony Stark Makes you feel He's a cool exec With a heart of steel As Iron Man, all jets ablaze He fights and fights with repulsor rays Amazing armor He's Iron Man Ablazing armor He's I-ronnn Maaaaan!

You know, I don't remember. When I think of the movie, though, I don't think of San Diego.

Finally! A poll where I've seen both films. My vote goes to Mister Smith.

On both of these polls so far, I've only seen the big city film and not the challenger. I suppose the right thing to do is to refrain from voting unless you've seen both films. (Or really love the one that you did see, I guess.)

Valadius wrote: He deserves a memorial in Washington. All seven episodes are sitting unwatched on my TiVo, but I did read the book a few years ago. And I agree with Valadius' statement. They should put it right near Jefferson's. (I think there's plenty of room there, isn't there? I haven't been down that way in a long time.)

The reviews that I've seen have been pretty bad.

The most recent War of the Worlds didn't show New York getting devastated, but a small New Jersey city instead.

When we were in Tokyo my son and I both got a kick out of seeing a clock tower that (we think) Godzilla destroyed.

New York has the more recognizable landmarks than any other city. It's far more dramatic to see the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Empire State Building destroyed than some unfamiliar skyscraper from Cleveland or Phoenix. If any other cities want in on the destruction action, I think Washington, San Francisco, and London could be strong contenders. (The White House did get destroyed in Independence Day and Magneto destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge in X-Men 3. If Big Ben hasn't been cinematically destroyed yet, it's time will come.)

AG/DC wrote: The Third Man would definitely bat third forSan Francisco. Bullitt would lead off. The cleanup hitter, of course, would be So I Married an Axe Murderer. I'd say The Third Man should be credited to Vienna, if that city ever gets an expansion franchise.

RealityChuck wrote: San Francisco should also have AFTER THE THIRD MAN, favorite of mine since it's one of the few New Year's Eve films After the Third Man? I know about "The Third Man" and "After the Thin Man." Are you referring to the William Powell/Myrna Loy sequel to The Thin Man?

I was expecting to see Eight Men Out for Chicago.

Sleepless in Seattle (Seattle also has had some hit TV shows set there, like Frasier, Grey's Anatomy and Dark Angel.)

Maybe they took the Staten Island Ferry.

It was watchable. The ending was too hokey. Unmemorable, but not awful. It couldn't overcome the dumb premise, though. A virus that makes people into super-strong zombie vampires? Sheesh.

Pixar has set the bar very high. This was a nice movie, visually beautiful, but it just wasn't as good as most of their previous stuff. 2.5 stars from me.

Cute. A few chuckles. Nothing remarkable though. I gave it two stars. (I would have done 2.5 if that was an option.)

When I saw the category, and before I clicked on the link, two movies immediately popped into my head: Humphrey Bogart saying good-bye to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca and Charlton Heston discovering the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes. Bogie made the list, Heston didn't.

Oops! Fixed.

30 David Wright 29 Carlos Beltran 28 José Reyes 27 Oliver Perez 26 John Maine 25 Tom Glavine 24 Carlos Delgado 23 Orlando Hernandez 22 Moises Alou 21 Aaron Heilman 20 Billy Wagner 19 Shawn Green 18 Paul Lo Duca 17 Jorge Sosa 16 Luis Castillo 15 Lastings Milledge 14 Pedro Feliciano 13 Ramon Castro 12 Ruben Gotay 11 Damion Easley 10 Endy Chavez 9 Marlon Anderson 8 Carlos Gomez 7 Joe Smith 6 Pedro Martinez 5 José Valentin 4 Scott Schoeneweis 3 Guillermo Mota 2 Aaron Sele 1 Mike Pelfrey

Well, then maybe Easley has too many points. That doesn't mean that Wagner has too few. I'm not putting Wagner down in any way. I just see him as a supporting player (because of his role) and can't see him as one of the top ten most important players on the team.

I know that some saves are more difficult than others, but many of them are not all that difficult. And I don't believe that the ninth inning closer faces tougher hitters than any other pitchers. The opposing team can be at any point in their lineup when he comes into the game. They could be at 3-4-5 or at 7-8-9. And the available pinch hitters in the ninth inning may or may not be dangerous. I don't like, and don't agree with, the whole role of the modern day closer. Does Wagner contribute to wins? Sure he does. But not nearly as much as the guys who score or drive in runs or the guys who pitch six, seven, or eight innings. Bullpens are important. If you add up the Schaefer points of Wagner, Heilman, Feliciano, Smith, Schoeneweis, Mota, Sele, and Sosa (excluding his starts) you'll get a total that shows how important the bullpen is. But the way things are today, I can't argue that any one individual should be that highly ranked.

Because all they're contributing is a lack of failure. They're asked to get three outs without giving up two runs.