Frayed Knot

Avatar: - $77 million opening weekend and $2.8 billion gross - 3 Oscars plus 6 other nominations including Best Picture and Titanic: - $29 million opening weekend (15 years ago) and a $2.2 billion gross - 11 Oscars including Best Picture and 14 overall nominations are pretty much the definition of "Mega-Hits"

One of my goals in life is to never see a movie with Adam Sandler in it.

I mentioned in the 'Ghostbusters' thread that I just never got around to seeing that flick. No particular reason really just that, aside from catching a few minutes on TV once or twice, I've simply never sat down and watched it. Which got me thinking about other top movies that, for one reason or another, I never saw either during its first-run in theaters or via any means (VCR/Beta/DVD/Cable/Rental/Network) since: Star Wars for instance (all of them), also E.T. and Schindler's List. So if we limit the discussion to those movies released in your of-age lifespan (and realizing that the definition of 'mega-hits' is subject to interpretation) were there any big hit films that you never got around to? Listing you reasons for not seeing them is optional.

This is one of those mega-hits that I just never got around to.

And then there's the 31 y/o Joseph Gordon-Levett playing 21 y/o Robert Lincoln - but this will hardly be the first time that's been done in Hollywood, plus I think there's a quota now where JG-L has to be in a certain percentage of the movies produced over the last two years.

... Red Dawn? I saw the original (1984) but only on TV a number of years after its release and only because I felt like I was missing out on too many punch-lines. By then it was hard to take it very seriously as the whole tough teens foiling Soviet attack during Reagan-era nuclear paranoia plot and script had become more a time-capsule stereotype than an actual movie. This time it's apparently North Koreans who make the mistake of landing near the wrong high school and get more than they bargained for from a group of teens armed with their huntin' rifles and strengthened by a toughness born of the American heartland and honed on the almighty gridiron. WOLVERINES!!!!

Vic Sage wrote: Vic is lowest on Tejada, highest on Pelfrey I've a bunch of adjustments Noted. Anyone who decides to make changes should either: a) put up a new post with your new list or let us know that you've edited your old post so the changes aren't missed in the tabulating

As compared to the (still emerging) consensus: Swan is low on not only Duda but also Nieuwenhuis (clearly he hates lefty-swinging OFers) and also Hefner who he left off the top-30 entirely. He's higher than most for Thole and for relievers Hampson & Carson who got their only points from his ballot. JCL is low not just on Johan but on starters in general (Gee & Young included) while higher than most on relievers and backup infielders FK balances things out by going low on those same backups (Turner & Cedeno) and is highest on Frank-Frank Monk goes high on fill-in starters Batista & Hefner, but low on relievers like Rauch & Byrdak Vic is lowest on Tejada, highest on Pelfrey Not that any of this means you need to change your votes in some sort of conformity ritual. Merely pointing out the bigger variations for entertainment purposes only, or as places to either re-check your initial impressions and/or dig in your heels and argue your case.

PITCHERS: Dickey - No explanations needed Niese - Solid season and this time went wire to wire with it Santana - HIs final 5 horrid starts ruined all the stats from what had been a great 1st half Gee - Of the three half-season starters he had the best ERA & WHiP, just not as good a peak as Santana Young - A decent, even if not great, 20 starts, although that’s 16 more than we got last time. Parnell - The best of a bad pen even if he occasionally frustrated the hell out of me Harvey - 10 starts, gave up 3 runs or fewer in 9 of them. He’d win this if we were voting on future points. Rauch - Lousy early on, but the most dependable reliever over the 2nd half even though he was at times inexplicably limited to 1 and 2 batter stints Byrdak - As the only LHR for a long stretch he held up his end quite well while he was there Francisco - It’s tough for a full-time closer to finish this low. FF somehow managed. R. Ramirez - Spent most of the year being neither good enough to want to see come out of the pen nor bad enough to want off the team Edgin - More or less was the back half of Byrdak, just for a shorter span Hefner - A handful of good games but more bad than good Pelfrey - Good news: Nice three starts. Bad news: Only three of them Acosta - Gets points for being a workhorse but points off for being a bad one Batista - Appeared in 30 games, started 5, finished 7. That’s all I got Carson - 17 appearances, 13 innings, mixed results. McHugh - For one glorious start Familia - Promising looking, but not enough in this season to rank any higher Hampson - Actually pitched well when he was in there, but 10 innings over 13 appearances only gets you so far Schwinden - 3 games, 2 starts, and 13 runs allowed Beato - Started late, seemed tentative when he did pitch, then was traded for some reason Carrasco - No soup for you Egbert -- Olson -- Someone will need to refresh my memory as to who these guys were. I think BB-Ref is making them up. And all mashed together ... 30 - DICKEY 29 - WRIGHT 28 - NIESE 27 - DAVIS 26 - MURPHY 25 - SANTANA 24 - TEJADA 23 - HAIRSTON 22 - GEE 21 - YOUNG 20 - DUDA 19 - PARNELL 18 - HARVEY 17 - NIEUWENHUIS 16 - RAUCH 15 - BAXTER 14 - TORRES 13 - BYRDAK 12 - FRANCISCO 11 - VALDESPIN 10 - R.RAMIREZ 9 - THOLE 8 - EDGIN 7 - CEDENO 6 - HEFNER 5 - TURNER 4 - PELFREY 3 - SHOPPACH 2 - ACOSTA 1 - BAY

Personally I've gotten as far as: DICKEY WRIGHT NIESE for my top three, but then get a bit lost after that and would love it if someone could talk me out of naming Ike Davis as the 4th best NYM player of 2012 Here's my thinking on the position players at the moment -- * Wright - 1st half MVP candidate had a rather ordinary 2nd half but still led the Mets in virtually everything (Hits, 2Bs, RBIs, RC, RC/27, and even SBs) * Davis - Seems odd to call him the 2nd best offensive player of 2012 after calling for his demotion early in the year. But between the power, the ridiculous knack for displaying that power with runners on base, and his high walk totals to somewhat negate the bad BA he overcomes his flaws better than the other flawed candidates * Murphy - Lots of doubles but virtually no HR power and surprisingly few walks. Was able to hang at 2nd base all year without totally embarrassiing himself, surprising several of us here and maybe on his own team too. * Tejada - Good BA + very good defense vs no power + missed a month * Hairston - Not a complete player by any means, but having half your hits go for extra-bases while filling in decently at all 3 OF positions has its value * Duda - Not enough power considering the downside of his defense and low BA * Baxter - More RC/G than anyone except for Wright. If he could only hit LHP (1-for-19 w/8 Ks) he might actually earn himself more ABs and do more damage. * Nieuwenhuis - An exciting start but then couldn’t adjust to pitchers’ adjustments * Torres - Ummmm, he played CF * Valdespin - A handful of huge moments * Thole - The sad part is that this was the best of our catching corps * Cedeno - Decent back-up all-around infielder * Turner - Similar to Cedeno but with a lesser glove * Shoppach - Not K-ing in 1/3 of your ABs would be a nice start toward improvement * Bay - There’s no hiding a .165 BA * Johnson - He was better than Nickeas * Nickeas - He was Nickeas Quintanilla, Lewis, Rottino, Lutz & Satin played too briefly to contemplate.

To paraphrase that old commercial for the place that apparently needs to update its brand/logo: It’s time to make the Rankings You should all know how this works at this point. Rank from 30 down to 1, based on actual contributions (as opposed to say expectations or per salary) as to who on this year’s squad added most or least to the team and be williing to discuss and/or defend your choices. Or simply join in on the banter. Just hashing out who was the season’s 2nd best position player could be a whole discussion just on its own. There were 47 fellows lucky enough to don the team colors this year from which to choose your personal top 30. 22 position players (listed in order of ABs) WRIGHT -- MURPHY -- DAVIS -- TEJADA -- DUDA TORRES -- HAIRSTON -- THOLE -- NIEUWENHUIS -- BAY BAXTER -- VALDESPIN -- CEDENO -- TURNER -- NICKEAS SHOPPACH -- QUINTANILLA -- JOHNSON -- ROTTINO -- LEWIS LUTZ -- SATIN And 27 pitchers (in order by IPs) DICKEY -- NIESE -- SANTANA -- YOUNG -- GEE HEFNER -- PARNELL -- RRAMIREZ -- HARVEY -- RAUCH ACOSTA -- BATISITA -- FRANCISCO -- BYRDAK -- EDGIN McHUGH -- ERANIREZ -- PELFREY -- MEJIA -- CARSON FAMILIA -- HAMPSON -- SCHWINDEN -- BEATO -- CARRASCO EGBERT -- OLSON

Edgy DC wrote: Can we get together? "Hells YEAH!" I say, but cooler than that. Well, in your head it was cooler than that.

Edgy DC wrote: ... as left-leaning as Hollywood may be, how many great union-organizing movies have they made? If this isn't as good as it gets, it may be close. Matewan? How Green was my Valley? Harlan County USA?

Well, the union bosses were the villains in OtW, the union rank & file not so much. Norma Rae is one of those I've never gotten around to.

I haven't heard of a number of these.

The odd thing is, who would have suspected Liam Neeson making a string of movies where he's the action-adventure star? And now they're doing 'Taken 2' What, does that same daughter get kidnapped again?

About what I expected: a mixture of cheap laughs and actual laughs. Certainly nothing resembling high brow humor, but not insulting either. I suspect 'Family Guy' fans will probably find it a 1/2* to a star funnier than the rest of us.

Vic Sage wrote: It might be shit but, heck, I'd watch Clint talk to an empty chair. Yeah, like anyone would write a script like that. And my wife finds Amy Adams to be way too squeaky The brief reviews I've heard so far involve Amy Adams - who's arguably been at least decent in several other roles - maybe not having enough 'grit' for this part.

There appears to have been just a single 'Terry and the Pirates' movie done back in 1940, although at Five Hours Long maybe that qualifies for a series all by itself. I know there was talk of doing one about 10 years ago and maybe that would have spawned a franchise but I guess that first one never got off the ground.

I, on the other hand, liked this one, and more so than most of the seemingly endless supply of Boston-area crime flicks of recent vintage. I found the story of the lead character wanting to get out of the town and out of 'the life' believable enough. And some good side characters, like not just psycho Jeremy Renner but also the cocaine/meth chick, and from one of the final performances by Peter Postlethwaite as 'Fergie' "We're gonna take down the cathedral of Boston"

I remember critical reviews calling this one one of the worst movies in history. OK, at least one of the worst of the year. Seemed to me like a entry-level vehicle for the heart-throb from 'Friday Night Lights' (the TV show) to get his first lead role, naturally with his shirt off much of the time.

Not to start the year I wouldn't think, but quite possibly at some point in the season. If he proves at all worthy of handling 2nd base it would help since the other three IF positions are less likely to be open.

And Wilmer also gets the season send-off in BA's (final) weekly 'Hot Sheet' Why He's Here: .481/.517/.889 (13-for-27), 4 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 3 RBIs, 2 BB, 4 SO The Scoop: With international prospects, the key word is patience. We live in a golden era of prospect information, perhaps no more evident than in the scouting reports we now have on international amateur prospects�but it's imperative to remember that the path of Jurickson Profar or Starlin Castro zooming to the big leagues is incredibly rare. Take Flores, whose name has appeared on the pages of Baseball America since he was 15. One of the top international prospects in 2007, Flores signed with the Mets out of Venezuela for $700,000 on his 16th birthday, then made a huge splash the next year in the Rookie-level Appalachian League, where he hit .310/.352/.490 in 59 games playing most of the season as a 16-year-old. By the time Flores was 18, the Mets had already pushed him to high Class A St. Lucie. Yet when the 2012 season opened, Flores still found himself in St. Lucie. He had struggled the previous year, but at 20, he was still one of the youngest players in the league and had the same preternatural hand-eye coordination that drew the Mets to him. Now the breakout has arrived. After a strong first half in the Florida State League, Flores got the bump to Double-A in June and has hit .323/.374/.506 in 62 games for Binghamton. His power has surged, with his 17 home runs nearly doubling his total of nine from a year ago. The Mets have shuffled Flores around this year at third base, second and first, with third base likely the perfect-world scenario given that he has the arm strength for the position but not nearly enough range to profile at second. So while it may seem like Flores has been a prospect forever, just remember that he just turned 21 a few weeks ago.

Hah. I neither saw that 'performance' nor was thinking of it here. The new flick seems to fit at least the 'estranged and/or distant from his adult child(ren)' portion of the Clint formula checklist*. May fit several others as well, although we'll have to wait until release time to know. * Clint formula checklist - as per Edgy in the 'Gran Torino' thread Old Clint tinkering around his garage -- mm, probably not here Clint staring down punks -- younger scouts, GMs, execs probably yes. Full-fledged punks, doubtful Clint walking masoquistically and coolly into a showdown even though he's hopelessly outgunned -- maybe in a job sense but not a live or die one Clint walking masocquistically and coolly into a showdown even though he's hopelessly too old -- probably this one Clint having a big enough pair of balls to spit in God's face - ?? Clint ominously coughing shit up -- doesn't sound like it Clint abusing an ethnic minority while begrudgingly growing in affection for them -- could be, depending on who he's scouting Clint being disgusted by the younger generations -- oh almost certainly Clint estranged and/or distant from his adult children -- sounds like the movie's theme

Clint, despite recent claims that he was through performing in front of the camera, gets the lead role in a forthcoming film which is not his and which is, of all things, a baseball movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2083383/