Vic Sage

this is based on a dreadful Broadway musical, which i walked out of at intermission. Maybe the movie will be more palatable, but i doubt it.

She looks like a Tralfamadorian about to do a dive off the high board into a time pool...

how did my daughter get control of Edgy's CPF account?

Interesting that they "only" went with eight when they had the option of going with as many as ten Actually they went with nine, but the point remains. A shitty year if you can't even find a 10th film you like well enough to nominate... especially irksome when they purposely overlooked GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO, which was clearly one of the best movies of the year.

2011 movies i saw: (* = oscar nomination) ADJUSTMENT BUREAU ADVENTURES OF TINTIN * BRIDESMAIDS * CAPTAIN AMERICA CONAN THE BARBARIAN COWBOYS & ALIENS DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 2 THE EAGLE EVERYTHING MUST GO GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO * GREEN HORNET GREEN LANTERN HALL PASS HANNA HARRY POTTER 7 * HUGO * I AM NUMBER 4 THE IDES OF MARCH * IMMORTALS JACK & JILL JUST GO WITH IT KUNG FU PANDA 2 * LIMITLESS MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4 MONEYBALL * THE MUPPETS * PAUL PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 PRIEST RANGO * REAL STEEL * RED STATE RIO * RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES * SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 THE SMURFS SUCKER PUNCH SUPER 30 MINUTES OR LESS THOR THREE MUSKETEERS TOWER HEIST TRANSFORMERS 3 * WAR HORSE * WATER FOR ELEPHANTS WIN WIN X-MEN:1ST CLASS ZOOKEEPER My top 10 so far: CAPTAIN AMERICA GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO * HUGO * THE IDES OF MARCH * MONEYBALL * RANGO * RIO * RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES * WAR HORSE * WIN WIN X-MEN:1ST CLASS nominees I still plan to see: THE ARTIST THE DESCENDENTS DRIVE MARGIN CALL MIDNIGHT IN PARIS MY WEEK WITH MARILYN TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY WARRIOR nominees i wouldn't see on a bet: ALBERT NOBBS ANONYMOUS A CAT IN PARIS BEGINNERS CHICO & RITA EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE THE HELP THE IRON LADY JANE EYRE PUSS N BOOTS A SEPARATION (or any of the other foreign film nominees) TREE OF LIFE W.E.

[u:cb37gtrx]1. Best Picture:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Artist" ''The Descendants" ''Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" ''The Help" ''Hugo" ''Midnight in Paris" ''Moneyball" ''The Tree of Life" ''War Horse." [u:cb37gtrx]2. Actor:[/u:cb37gtrx] Demian Bichir, "A Better Life" George Clooney, "The Descendants" Jean Dujardin, "The Artist" Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Brad Pitt, "Moneyball." [u:cb37gtrx]3. Actress:[/u:cb37gtrx] Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs" Viola Davis, "The Help" Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady" Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn." [u:cb37gtrx]4. Supporting Actor[/u:cb37gtrx]: Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn" Jonah Hill, "Moneyball" Nick Nolte, "Warrior" Christopher Plummer, "Beginners" Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" [u:cb37gtrx]5. Supporting Actress:[/u:cb37gtrx] Berenice Bejo, "The Artist" Jessica Chastain, "The Help" Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids" Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs" Octavia Spencer, "The Help" [u:cb37gtrx]6. Directing:[/u:cb37gtrx] Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist" Alexander Payne, "The Descendants" Martin Scorsese, "Hugo" Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris" Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life" [u:cb37gtrx]7. Foreign Language Film[/u:cb37gtrx]: "Bullhead," Belgium "Footnote," Israel "In Darkness," Poland "Monsieur Lazhar," Canada "A Separation," Iran [u:cb37gtrx]8. Adapted Screenplay:[/u:cb37gtrx] Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants" John Logan, "Hugo" George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March" Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, "Moneyball" Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" [u:cb37gtrx] 9. Original Screenplay:[/u:cb37gtrx] Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist" Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids" J.C. Chandor, "Margin Call" Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris" Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation" [u:cb37gtrx]10. Animated Feature Film:[/u:cb37gtrx] "A Cat in Paris" "Chico & Rita" "Kung Fu Panda 2" "Puss in Boots" "Rango" [u:cb37gtrx]11. Art Direction:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Artist" ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ''Hugo" ''Midnight in Paris" ''War Horse" [u:cb37gtrx]12. Cinematography:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Artist" ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ''Hugo" ''The Tree of Life" ''War Horse" [u:cb37gtrx]13. Sound Mixing:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ''Hugo" ''Moneyball" ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon" ''War Horse" [u:cb37gtrx]14. Sound Editing:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Drive" ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ''Hugo" ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon" ''War Horse" [u:cb37gtrx]15. Original Score:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams "The Artist," Ludovic Bource "Hugo," Howard Shore "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias "War Horse," John Williams [u:cb37gtrx]16. Original Song:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets," Bret McKenzie "Real in Rio" from "Rio", Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett [u:cb37gtrx]17. Costume:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Anonymous" ''The Artist" ''Hugo" ''Jane Eyre" ''W.E." [u:cb37gtrx]18. Documentary Feature:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Hell and Back Again" ''If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" ''Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" ''Pina" ''Undefeated" [u:cb37gtrx]19. Documentary (short subject):[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" ''God Is the Bigger Elvis" ''Incident in New Baghdad" ''Saving Face" ''The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" [u:cb37gtrx]20. Film Editing:[/u:cb37gtrx] "The Artist" ''The Descendants" ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ''Hugo" ''Moneyball" [u:cb37gtrx]21. Makeup:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Albert Nobbs" ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ''The Iron Lady" [u:cb37gtrx]22. Animated Short Film:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Dimanche/Sunday" ''The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" ''La Luna" ''A Morning Stroll" ''Wild Life" [u:cb37gtrx]23. Live Action Short Film[/u:cb37gtrx]: "Pentecost" ''Raju" ''The Shore" ''Time Freak" ''Tuba Atlantic" [u:cb37gtrx]24. Visual Effects:[/u:cb37gtrx] "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ''Hugo" ''Real Steel" ''Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

opening title sequences used to be an artform, particularly in the 60s and 70s, with the influence of pop art. Saul Bass did many of the title sequences for Hitchcock's films and are still powerfully evocative. http://www.artofthetitle.com/category/designers/saul-bass/

i like both those ideas, but wouldn't a "live" draft require an in-person meeting (which penalizes our out-of-town participants)? And keeper leagues require an optimism about our continued existence as a species (or even a CPF subset of our species) that i'm not sure i share.

it was ok; not much more than that. the difference between this and THE CANDIDATE, in which Redford's idealistic young politician is co-opted by the candidate's amoral political operative, is that this presents an idealistic young political operative co-opted by an amoral politician. I preferred THE CANDIDATE. by a lot.

a terrific movie, though a bit disjointed. the first 20 minutes and last 10 minutes comprise one story, and the middle 1.5 hours are another. But the framing story is necessary to set up the whole trilogy. Frankly, i found the framing story more interesting than the serial killing nazi story it encompasses, which i thought was kind of predictable. The last 10 minutes could have been fleshed out into a pretty good thriller all by itself. The performances are terrific, the direction chilling, art direction evocative... the opening title sequence is, in and of itself, one of the best music videos i've ever seen. Mara deserves an Oscar.

finally caught up with this one on netflix. pretty disappointing, considering the premise and talent involved, and the overrating it generally got from the press. take a mediocre "the airforce has captured an alien" movie (or X-FILES episode), mix liberally with Spielbergian coming-of-age characters and parent/child dysfunction themes, throw it against a background of disaster movies and other 70s cultural detritis, without a genuine surprise, plot twist, or original notion anywhere in the vicinity, then shake it up and spew it out. feh.

didn't see it in IMAX... maybe that would've made a difference for me, but i doubt it. I hated the 1st one, found the John Woo sequel perversely entertaining (now THAT'S a good bad movie), the 3rd one has been completely forgotten and i forgot this one as i walked out of the theater. and not a minute too soon. yes, some great set pieces, strung together by almost nothing.

i wasn't the one who characterized them as "evil", in this context; Elster did. I just said the movie was a nakedly cynical attempt to revive a franchise they own. i think the are evil for other reasons.

So... it's like every Muppet thing ever made? similar, not identical. While somewhat more self-referential than most of the movies, that self awareness was always an aspect of their shtick. And it's superior in quality to most of the later films. If you liked the TV show and the first movie, this is in that spirit, with a bit more cheek.

Disney doesn't have to be the pure embodiment of evil. Agreed they don't have to be... they just choose to be. Time and time again. Even acknowledging this was an artist-initiated project, and one not hatched by Disney, would Disney have financed and distributed this movie standing on its own merits, if they didn't happen to own the Muppet franchise, with the Muppet corners of their theme parks remaining relatively empty, and merch sitting unsold on their shelves? Do you know what impact their "notes" to Segal as writer had on the final direction of the film? Can i bet alot, since the financing entity usually exercises its authority on most Hollywood movies? The entire theme of the movie is about reviving the Muppets (as an entity in the entertainment industry)... now whether that notion was conceived by Segal, then brought to Disney, or whether Disney helped him reach that theme, isn't really the point. Certainly, if Segal as writer wants to get Disney to let him use their property, he's going to have to come up with a concept they will love. So that precludes a whole range of ideas and perspectives that an artist might explore in reconsidering the iconic cultural artifact called "muppets" and leaves only that perspective that most serves Disney's commercial interests. So sorry, but i don't think that what some earnest actor/writer says on a talk show sheds much light on what motivates the business decisions of Uncle Walt's empire.

i remember really liking this 25 years ago.

on the one hand, it was sweet, corny, sentimental, entertaining ... but more for me and my wife than it was for my 11-year old son (who was bored but polite enough not to say so) or my 14-year old daughter (who wouldn't be caught dead going to this movie). on the other hand, its a nakedly cynical attempt by Disney to revivify a moribund asset. Yes, i teared up a bit during RAINBOW CONNECTION. fuck you, Uncle Walt.

More people would read reviews written like that. Tell that to the Crane Pool Press. I'm looking for a new gig.

No, that was "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457419/ a really stilted, overripe bit of fantastic treacle that would be better left unwatched. as to DR. PARNASSUS, if your going to bother downloading it, i'd recommend best possible version (Blue-Ray/HD) to fully appreciate its qualities.

Edgy DC wrote: Not to mention the Gilliam tendency to be undercut by a mid-shoot disaster. Wonderful visual thoughts haphazardly assembled, leading to appealing peeks into an inarticulate vision of an unclear pantheon. It gets an almost from me. Heath Bell's disappearance wasn't even the real problem, so much as too much seemingly conceived on storyboards and in the editing room. The presumed script that underlied it all was almost invisible. it's a mess, but not without significant pleasures. I've watched a 2 to 3 times, and each time i can't stop watching, but always feel like "wow, what the hell was that?" Yet compelled to see it again. like a cold sore i can't stop flicking with my tongue.

MFS62 wrote: Holy Gears and Sprockets, Batman! Have we all mised this? While the baseball world has for years been trying to come up with a fair measure for "clutch", it appears m.e.t.b.o.t has come up with a way to quantify the "anti-clutch". I can see it all now. Instead of just saying a player is a "gagging motherfucker", we will now be able to say how the player ranks on m.e.t.b.o.t's scale of suckitude. Get an oil change and a lube, you mechanical marvel, and send the bill to SABR. You've earned it. Later i think you misunderstand the SABRmetric understanding of "clutchiness". It is not a matter of debate that, in retrospect, a given player may have hit better than his standard production in variously defined "clutch" situations. The problem is, this analysis is (1) dependent on the definitions of clutch situations, and (2) retrospective. "Clutch" is a way of characterizing past performance, not a projection of future performance. That there is little consistency from season to season of a particular player's production in "clutch" situations is indicative of the influence of sample size and luck, i.e., randomness, in their production. In other words, with few exceptions, "clutch" is not a character trait (that would therefore be predictable and repeatable) but randomness (therefore irrelevant to future performance). so while its entirely appropriate to say "that guy got a clutch hit last night" or "he was clutch in that series" or even "what an amazingly clutch year he had", it requires real proof to demonstrate that "that guy is just clutch".

yes, parnell sucked over the course of around 100 "high leverage" plate appearances. But he was pretty good over the course of 160+ medium and low leverage PAs, which metbot's new formula still ignores. I agree that he hurt more than he helped overall, but i would reiterate that THAT is not the standard. Surely, of the guys that showed up and played, he should be ranked in the bottom tier, but he DID show and play, and deserves ranking over guys that had a cup of coffee and were no more successful than he was in "high leverage" situations; they simply weren't given the opportunity to fail that he was given, based on his success in low-medium leverage situations. In other words, you've penalized him for failing in one situation, with no recognition of his success in others, while rewarding those who were never even given the opportunity to fail. again, i'm not arguing with your last list. i think its entirely defensible and rational... now. And i'm not a big Parnell fan either. I'm just saying.

m.e.t.b.o.t. wrote: the updated rankings as generated by m.e.t.b.o.t. are as follows: RankPlayerAdj WPAAdj PT%Score30Reyes18445%684829Beltran30724%665428Dickey-15157%558027Duda22983%527626Wright13344%517425Turner8004%494924Bay1964%458123Pelfrey-21097%446822Murphy8274%444821Pagan-1465%441720Tejada10783%432819Niese-16575%375518Gee-18376%366417Capuano-32136%311616Isringhausen11421%260715Davis12291%251514Acosta9901%246513Rodriguez10761%242312Thole-9223%240211Beato342%213710Harris-3702%20069Paulino-3642%17728Batista5491%15757Hairston3611%15726Young6841%15245Igarashi2011%14154Evans-4392%12263Pridie-8772%11472Buchholz771%9081Carrasco-10832%4740Baxter1200%461-1Byrdak-8081%375-2Schwinden-4131%301-3Herrera270%278-4Nickeas-2571%259-5Satin-490%182-6O'Connor-760%123-7Pascucci60%95-8Stinson-3550%61-9Martinez-1480%40-10Misch-2700%-50-11Emaus-4130%-52-12Hu-4410%-249-13Boyer-5980%-388-14Thayer-7460%-421-15Parnell-30332%-1171 that'll do, bot... that'll do. while i might argue that Byrdak and Parnell were do more consideration than Igarashi, Carrasco and Batista, i think that's splitting hairs over who is at the bottom of the list. overall, your new formulation seems to have produced a rational list.

yes, that's why i think i can take him.

30. Reyes 29. Beltran 28. Dickey 27. Murphy 26. Wright 25. Duda 24. Bay 23. F-Rod 22. Gee 21. Niese 20. Capuano 19. Pagan 18. Turner 17. Tejada 16. Acosta 15. Thole 14. Pelfrey 13. Beato 12. Harris 11. Hairston 10. Davis 9. Young 8. Isringhausen 7. Parnell 6. Byrdak 5. Evans 4. Paulino 3. Pridie 2. Buchholtz 1. M.Batista 0. Vic Sage -1. Carrasco