Frayed Knot

Six ballots cast so far. We'll leave about two more weeks for anyone else who wants to chime in or for those already submitting to update or argue their positions.

My list goes to 11 -- mainly because it appears that I saw exactly 11 2015 movies Roughly in order of good-ness THE BIG SHORT SPOTLIGHT ------------- EX MACHINA THE MARTIAN TRUMBO -------------- CONCUSSION WHILE WE’RE YOUNG DANNY COLLINS CREED -------------- MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION EVEREST None of these really sucked, just kind of get more meh towards the bottom.

Or at least the ones in categories anyone cares about ... BEST PICTURE The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revanant Room Spotlight BEST ACTOR Bryan Cranston, Trumbo Matt Damon, The Martian Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl BEST ACTRESS Cate Blanchett, Carol Brie Larson, Room Jennifer Lawrence, Joy Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christian Bale, The Big Short Tom Hardy, The Revenant Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies Sylvester Stallone, Creed BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight Rooney Mara, Carol Rachel McAdams, Spotlight Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs DIRECTING The Big Short Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant Room Spotlight ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Big Short Brooklyn Carol The Martian Room ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Bridge of Spies Ex Machina Inside Out Spotlight Straight Outta Compton

I've long thought that the biggest dilemma with this project is how to rank the full-year guys vs short-termers with better stats. Cespedes was clearly the best hitter on the team but was only around for 1/3 of the season. Matz (just 35 IP) & Wright (barely 150 ABs) are in similar positions. All were better contributors than the likes of Lagares, Niese, etc. but how much weight can you put on just six starts or barely one month of ABs? and FWIW, both Duda & Murphy are ahead of Cespedes among the consensus of votes so far. I'm one of those who has him above Lucas (though not Murph) but I could possibly be talked into reshuffling things.

Well, unless you're from the camp who prefers not to see a movie made from a book you really like, I think you should make time to see it regardless of whether or not you read the source material. I mean I'm sure the flick has a fraction of the details, explanations, or backstory as compared to the book, plus it certainly takes some unconventional routes towards filling in some of the details (the aforementioned 'guest stars' popping in to break down the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience), but I think it all works and works quite well quirks and all.

'Clever' is a good word for it. I didn't read the book in this case but, as with 'Moneyball', it's not a topic I would have thought of as something that lent itself to a movie treatment - probably even more so in this case. But it manages to translate the dense and arcane into something relatively easy to follow, and the serene Pitt, the very angry Carrell, the smarmy Gosling, and the oddest of oddballs Bale make for some great and contrasting characters.

Missed the playoffs? Hell, they were relegated and now we gotta open next season in freakin' Pawtucket!!

30 - deGrom 29 - Harvey 28 - Granderson 27 - Murphy 26 - Familia 25 - Syndergaard 24 - Cespedes 23 - Duda 22 - Colon 21 - d’Arnaud 20 - Niese 19 - Flores 18 - Tejada 17 - Conforto 16 - Lagares 15 - Robles 14 - Cuddyer 13 - Wright 12 - Matz 11 - Gilmartin 10 - Clippard 9 - Plawecki 8 - Verrett 7 - Goeddel 6 - Uribe 5 - Johnson 4 - C Torres 3 - Campbell 2 - Reed 1 - Nieuwenhuis

It's not really that the film takes dramatic license (well it does, but of course all films are going to toss in more drama as compared to a documentary) it's that it concentrates at least as much on Omalu the person -- his style, his personal life, his motivations -- as it does on the results of his work. And rather than expanding the story they actually shrink it somewhat as the film strictly deals with Omalu's part in the whole concussion and after-effects issue while including nothing on the concurrent and follow-up work done by the crew in Boston that was so much a part of that Frontline doc and the 'League of Denial' book. Edgy MD wrote: Well, considering there's strong evidence suggesting the NFL got to make some personal cuts, that makes a lot of sense. Reportedly the pressure from the NFL came in the form of making sure that no one specific in the NFL was seen as the bad guy, based I guess on the old theory that if you spread the blame around enough then no one person is saddled as being the guy who's responsible. What might say the most about it was that the most direct condemnations of the actions of the NFL and its media partners comes not from the script directly but via a montage of video clips which include a (HBO's) 'Real Sports' interview where a league spokesman mimics a tobacco exec of a generation earlier as he answers "Absolutely Not" to a series of questions on whether he believes there's any connection at all between football and concussions, and also from the (since discarded) ESPN feature 'Jacked Up!' where Chris Berman and his cohorts would cackle at a re-showing of that week's most violent hits. I'm actually surprised they were able to use that last part being that ESPN was a late pull-out from co-sponsoring the PBS doc due, it's widely believed, to ... wait for it, NFL pressure.

Considering that my main complaint about Tarantino movies is that they generally run on longer than his ideas for the plot do -- a condition which often leaves him with nothing else than to have everyone shoot everyone else for the final 20 minutes -- the idea that this one starts slowly isn't a good sign, nor is the 2 hour 48 minute listed running time. Jeez, even Judd Apatow doesn't make comedies that long!! I'm on the fence about whether I want to invest the time in this one.

Yeah, I came away disappointed - particularly so because I had been looking forward to it. With a timely and important topic on their hands, the script focuses more on Omalu the person -- with undertones of how his search for the truth in these cases reflects his search for paradise in America -- which winds up turning the movie into at least as much of a soap opera (like I care how his dating life is going!) as it is about his work and the blowback from it. Smith is fine in the lead role as is his acerbic boss Albert Brooks, and even Alec Baldwin's southern accent is only occasionally annoying. But the movie has some odd editing moments (wait, do we know who this new character is?) and the script (adapted apparently from a magazine article rather than say the more encompassing 2013 book by the Fainaru/Fainaru-Wada brothers 'League of Denial') leaves a lot to be desired and leaves a lot of untouched meat on the table as far as what I assumed was going to be the film's main topic. It's not bad, it just could have been much better.

Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian-born forensic surgeon who uncovered the link between football and long-term cognitive impairment. Not surprisingly, the NFL is not all that appreciative of his conclusions. also: Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, David Morse

An investigative team for a newspaper undertakes a task to take on a very large and powerfully entrenched institution - and predictably more stonewalling than hi-jinx ensues.

At first I read this as 'The Big Short[u:2gwsn9g9]s[/u:2gwsn9g9]' and wondered why they were making a movie about what Bartolo wears underneath his uniform ... but it turns out that 'Short' is singular and is instead about the financial crisis of 2007-8 and how a handful of oddballs and outsiders decide that not only is the system broken, complacent, and corrupt, but it's also stupid. Adopted from the Michael Lewis book (a la 'Moneyball') and directed/co-written by a guy (Adam McCay) who has mostly specialized in directing/writing some of the sillier aspects of Will Ferrell's movie career ('Talladega Nights', 'Anchorman(s)', 'Step-Brothers', etc.), it all seems like an odd fit for a movie and for the principals involved. Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, and Christian Bale star, along with some unexpected guest appearances -- chef Anthony Bordain, sex-pot Margot Robbie, pop-tart Selena Gomez -- who appear as themselves to help explain some of the more arcane financial details and advance the story. No, really, they do.

Vic Sage wrote: and that is why i'm not even going to bother, unless i catch on cable at some point. That was my initial reaction, but then I was led to believe (not just by DWG above but by professional-type reviewers as well) that this one was a top-notch movie on its own - although I'm beginning to think that maybe it's more a case of this one being graded on a curve. Or maybe it's just me, who knows.

Pitchers: deGROM — Best starter start to finish HARVEY — the occasional PR problem aside, not that far behind deG FAMILIA — I wanted to see him as closer even before Mejia went down … then went down again. Now about that HR to Alex Gordon … SYNDERGAARD — we may just have a monster on our hands with this one COLON — he and Niese were almost statistical twins, but Bart seemed to have fewer bad games NIESE — too many good games were marred by bad innings ROBLES — Seems to have ‘stuff’ that’s better than his results. But he’s young and was thrown into some high-leverage spots early on, I think he’ll get there. GILMARTIN — the Rule 5 pickup was good, was versatile, and even tossed in a start MATZ — only so high you can rise on just 6 starts + 3 more in the post-season CLIPPARD — had his bad moments, but came in to stabilize the back of the bullpen when it was absolutely critical to do so VERRETT, GOEDDEL — two afterthoughts who provided 70+ innings of sub-1.00 WHiP. Verrett gets the tie-breaker for his spots starts C. TORRES — 2nd most relief innings on the squad, but not nearly as effective as in 2014 REED — 17 mostly good innings down the stretch although just 15 IP total and many were after the division was already decided A. TORRES — had a few bright moments early, but far too few GEE — started bad, got worse, ended ugly PARNELL — certainly wasn’t his pre-injury self, and may never be

Hitters first: GRANDERSON — From his very own ‘Suxx’ thread to the best offensive player on the team: Led in ABs (by a lot!), Hits, XBH, OBA, and even stolen bases MURPHY — Slow April then his typically consistent Murphiness with a bit of extra power thrown in. Then went wild in October. CESPEDES — Met fans are going to have to fight off the notion that they’re not getting 5+ years of what he was in August, but that August was so absurdly good that it turned the team around. Best OPS and RC/27 on the team by far. DUDA — Absurdly streaky but I don’t know whether he gets points for his hot streaks or points off for his cold ones. d’ARNAUD — With a full season he may just have topped this list. Projected to 450 ABs this year translates to 51 XBHs including 23 HRs. Is that something I can interest you in for your catcher? FLORES — Still don’t think he’s a real SS, but he faked it decently and provided some punch even if still making too many outs. TEJADA — When handed the job he seems to fall off, then when written off he keeps forcing his way back. CONFORTO — 3rd on the team in ‘Isolated Power’ behind just Cespedes and (just barely) Duda. Needs ABs and more exposure to LHPs LAGARES — Bat stagnated which led to being platooned and/or replaced. His good -- though this year not great -- defense in CF noses him ahead of Cuddyer despite slightly worse all-around hitting stats. CUDDYER — Was merely OK at his best, then looked worse and worse as the season went along WRIGHT — Numbers weren’t bad in the small sample once he finally got on the field. PLAWECKI — Brought up earlier than they wanted to, showed some pop but needs more seasoning URIBE — The timing of his hits and the pop in them (15 of 28 for XBs) made them seem bigger than the quantity JOHNSON — Some nice role playing off the bench CAMPBELL — Injuries gave him a chance to play regularly and he gave it back. Even managed to almost lead the team in GiDPs despite half the number of ABs NIEUWENHUIS — A bit better after he was reacquired, but was so useless in the 1st half that the overall picture is still ugly. 114 points of his 688 OPS came on one day. No soup for any of the rest of the bunch.

No better than an average flick to me. Look, I got sick of the whole 'Rocky' franchise many years ago. At this point I don't even remember when I bailed (after '3' maybe) and they're not movies I'll latch onto if I pass by them on the dial (and lord knows there are enough opportunities to do so). Did I get into the first one back when it first came out? ... Sure, but I was also 18 years old or whatever so was almost genetically programmed to like it. But each succeeding sequel was increasingly cheesy and dumbed-down to the point where they not only increasingly sucked but managed to take more and more shine off the original with each tacked-on roman numeral. Hell, I will (and have) watch the original RAMBO before I see ROCKY again. Having said all that, this one certainly had less of the corny crap that increasingly cluttered I thru V (plus whatever they tacked onto after that) and once you get past the flimsy backstory which shoe-horns this previously unknown offspring of Creed into existence it's certainly not a bad movie and Michael B. Jordan is quite good. But in the end it's still just another version of an underdog getting into shape for a fight where he's in over his head but wins the respect of all around who doubted him and the woman who believed in him, yadda, yadda. And Rocky gets to play Mickey - which is certainly a lot better than having Stallone go through a dozen or so suitcases worth of horse-steroids/HGH that he'd have to do in order for anyone to want to see him take his shirt off at his age.

Who, among the following 49 players who suited up in 2015, are your top 30? The only difference this year is that, for the first time in nine seasons, we have post-season play to consider. How a player performed during the (all too brief) post-season games can and should be taken into account, although to what extent is up to the individual voter. Position Players by ABs: GRANDERSON — DUDA — MURPHY — FLORES — LAGARES CUDDYER — TEJADA — d’ARNAUD — PLAWECKI — CESPEDES CAMPBELL — CONFORTO — WRIGHT — URIBE — JOHNSON MAYBERRY — NIEUWENHUIS — HERRERA — RECKER — CECILIANI MONELL — MUNO — YOUNG Pitchers by IP: COLON — deGROM — HARVEY — NIESE — SYNDERGAARD FAMILIA — C.TORRES — GILMARTIN — ROBLES — GEE VERRETT — MATZ — A.TORRES — GOEDDEL — CLIPPARD PARNELL — REED — LEATHERSICH — MONTERO — O’FLAHERTY CARLYLE — MEJIA — STAUFFER — BLEVINS — ALVAREZ MORRIS Have at it.

I remember the story from back when it happened; didn't delve into all the details or anything but I did remember the incident. And, let's face it, it's not like a crazy person in an otherwise successful family is all that unheard of. Was therefore somewhat disappointed with the movie despite some good performances.

I have that '30 for 30' taped so I'll try to get around to it in one of these baseball-less days we've got coming up. And when I do I hope it tells me more than 'FOXCATCHER' did which, while doing a decent job of showing what happened, provided very little in the way of 'Why?' things happened as they happened. Other than that the movie's biggest accomplishment seemed to be making Steve Carrell unrecognizable, as if transforming him to look like JdP supposedly did was a necessary part of the plot.

"I'm heading to Mars this evening." -- Wear your seatbelt "A lot has been commented on about how many films feature (in part or whole) rescuing Matt Damon. Not knowing his family status in The Martian, I'd like to note that a lot of films feature (in part or whole) a parentless Matt Damon. Has any actor ever been so consistently been portrayed for sympathy? He regularly gets orphaned and marooned." -- The existence of still living parents are mentioned in both the book and movie although never seen or heard from in either. "Meanwhile, An Alarming Number Of People Think “The Martian” Is A True Story." -- So just so I have this straight, we DID go to Mars but the moon landings were all faked? I sometimes find it hard to believe that the majority of people in this country walk around with their shoes tied.

So it's quite good (IMO of course) Scott does manage to retain the story and some of the humor. Quite Apollo 13-ish in that (not giving away any secrets here) it's essentially a space rescue flick flipping between outer space and Mission Control back on Earth. I don't think it matches A-13 (I've watched that thing maybe 20 times plus remember the actual event and I still get choked up every time the ship re-establishes communication following re-entry) but it's good enough on it's own. Damon as Mark Watney is required to carry the film through about 85% of it and is up to the task - not always easy to do when you've got no one to talk to but yourself much of the time. But he does and the movie follows the book for the most part. They actually clean up the language a bit in the movie (probably to make it more family friendly). Kristen Wiig's NASA pr flack for instance doesn't get to be as coarse as she was in the book and a couple of the other supporting parts aren't as fully drawn out as they could be. And some of the more science-y tricks Watney pulls are reduced for time and the final rescue mission is punched up to a more adventurous (and less believable) conclusion. And speaking of conclusions they could have done without the 10 minute or so coda at the end. But those are essentially all minor quibbles for a fun ride. Saw it in 3D - which wasn't the intention but there was a mix-up about starting times so it was either that or wait an hour. It was my first encounter with 3D which I consider to be mostly a gimmick. Kind of got used to it partway in but I still would have preferred to see it 'straight' despite a few moments where a particular scene looks kinda cool.

So according to the crack research staff here at CPF Central, the movie debut will either be in October or not in October. More details on this as they become available, but only if you keep it where it is.

Heard/read recently that the October release date I mentioned above and had copied off of IMDB is for some festival that going to serve as its coming out party but that the general public release date is going to be more like late November - which is both what I had originally seen listed and a time which makes more sense for Oscar hype and so on. So it looks like it'll still be another 2-1/2 months or so until this is at a theatre near you. P.S. I like how, in early July, I threw in the line about not having this conflict with NYM playoff games. Turns out I was only being prescient.