Vic Sage

i just got that It's a gorgeously shot movie, weaving together three stories and time-lines, then merging them at Dunkirk. It's light on character but strong on imagery; it's minimal dialogue makes it a quiet movie that explodes with a moments of intense violence and anxiety... as war itself has often been described. I liked it alot.

First of all, damning a drama for not being funny is kind of missing the point. Yes, IN BRUGES was funny. This one isn't, and wasn't trying to be, despite some comic moments from Rockwell, Harrelson and McDormand. Secondly, i don't find a character's redemption to be too hard to believe. especially, when he's played by Sam Rockwell. It seemed clear to me, throughout the movie, that this not-to-bright momma's boy was desperate for Sheriff Woody's attention (as a surrogate father), and his violence and racism was a rather thin, alcohol-fueled veneer over his self-loathing and a real human desire to connect. When he suffers the multiple traumas the story provides (including the life-affirming, post-mortem letter from Woody) and then is literally purged by flame, his transformation feels earned and valid. As to characters not facing justice for their crimes... it's a small town in the south. The fact that crimes go unpunished doesn't shock my sensibilities or make me cry bullshit. It isn't a perfect movie, but McDonagh is one helluva good writer, its a great cast, and there are moments of great sadness, beauty and redemption in it.

I was class of '83! Mark, is that you? Hey buddie, can i borrow your jet ski?

i won the office pool. 19/24 (89 points in weighted scoring) i missed the 3 editing categories. I knew they'd go together, either to BABY DRIVER or DUNKIRK. I voted BABY DRIVER, which was voting my heart. DOH! You always vote for the war movie in editing categories. And i missed the 2 shorts categories, doc and live action. Nothing to be done about that; Foreign film, Best Doc and the shorts categories are always something of a crap shoot.

Fman99 wrote: Curious to know, from those who have seen them, which of the "Best Picture" movies are worth watching, as Fwife wants to see some of them. I am drawn to "The Post" and "Dunkirk" based on them being based on history, but don't know much about the others. Recommendations? *“Call Me by Your Name” - didn't see it; don't want to *“Darkest Hour” - Its a great performance, but a slow, "inside politics" perspective of the events from Churchill's becoming PM through the Dunkirk rescue. Feels like Masterpiece Theater. [**1/2] *“Dunkirk” - this is the quietest war epic you'll see. You follow 3 story lines that all converge at Dunkirk; minimal dialogue, with moments of great intensity, its like a big-budget art film. I loved it. [***1/2] *“Get Out” - fun horror/social satire. Well done and entertaining. [***] *“Lady Bird” - mother/daughter coming of age story. Great perfs and script, but the girl's character is so annoying, i could see why some would hate it. I found it moving and insightful [***] *“Phantom Thread” - didn't see it; don't want to *“The Post” - didn't see it; i'm planning to *“The Shape of Water” - My favorite non-superhero movie of the year. Del Toro's heartbreaking, gorgeous fairy tale about love is like Beauty & the Beast, if the beast didn't change and Belle was fine with that and fucked him anyway. great perfs all around. [****] *“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” - really good story about a mother's grief, with best perfs of the year. McDonagh's script has some interesting reversals, some great dialogue, and a hopeful denouement. [***1/2]

i had no problem with the accents. I wasn't even aware of them after a while.

dgwphotography wrote: I thoroughly enjoyed Black Panther, but it had better theme music when it was pink. agreed. Mancini over Lamar!

well, you know, you have to change with the times. Just like new baseball uniform designs, panthers sell better when they're black, not pink (unless it's breast cancer awareness day or mother's day).

bmfc1 wrote: Their characters became more focused, hurt more as their needs were ignored, and I felt their pain. Ah. Ok. I was too put off to feel much of anything beyond boredom. But mileage varies.

Did you see it yet?

Surprisingly good mockumentary about the rise and fall of infamous Olympic skater Tonya Harding, from Tonya's perspective. Satiric, but tragic too, with great performances by all, particularly Margot Robbie as Tonya and Allison Janney as Tonya's monstrous mother. The editing is amazing, as it makes it seem like Robbie is actually skating like an Olympic champ.

bmfc1 wrote: The 1st hour I wondered what the hell I was watching. I even asked my son if it was a documentary. By the end I was captivated and still can't help thinking of these people and what they represent in America. They are ignored, not counted, under the radar, and putting them in the shadow of Disney World was brilliant. One of my favorite movies of the year. so what happened after the 1st hour changed your mind? what happened in the remaining [crossout]3 hours[/crossout] 51 minutes was different from the [crossout]3 hours[/crossout] 1 hour that preceded it? Those people were living, ignored, in the kitschy shadow of Disney during that 1st hour too, so what changed for you? Did the unrelenting tedium and sadness just wear you down so you confused ennui with profundity? Seriously, i need to know.

here's a really good article that analyzes what his number this year were likely based on and his potential value next season: https://www.ganggreennation.com/2018/2/2/16962658/a-comprehensive-look-at-demario-davis-value-to-the-jets

i don't know the scoring in your fantasy league, but as a player, i think Davis had a career year and I wouldn't bet a lot on the likelihood that he'll duplicate it.

WTF? Talk about the emperor's new clothes, this much-lauded little indie is a total bore. As I was subjected to the day-to-day existence of little kids in a welfare motel on the fringe of Disneyworld, I kept waiting for something to happen, but virtually nothing does. It's just an unrelenting portrait of the sad, pathetic lives of these kids, with Willem Dafoe trying to look out for them as the building manager. Dafoe is fine, i guess, and some of the imagery is striking (all this poverty and need living in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom), but its so lacking in plot -- it is comprised of a randomly chosen string of incidents that bears almost no relationship to a narrative -- that i lost interest long before its inevitable conclusion. Even MOONLIGHT was more compelling, and i hated that too. What the fuck is going on in Florida? It must be where entropy goes to die, so indie-filmmakers are drawn to it like moths to the black velvet painting of a flame.

so after James Franco wins the Golden Globe for his performance in DISASTER ARTIST, there is a backlash regarding his "history of sexual harassment", and lo and behold, he doesn't even get a nomination from the Academy. Instead, Denzel gets a nod for a movie everyone hated. After the GGs, a few women stepped forward to make accusations about Franco's past actions; some allegations seem credible, some not so much. One accusation I read consisted of a claim that he tried unsuccessfully to talk a woman's 17-year old friend into coming back to his hotel when he was on Broadway in MICE AND MEN. Now that's creepy, but its not illegal. That wasn't harassment, it was a failed effort at seduction. I'm not saying he didn't engage in OTHER acts of harassment, but the way that article read (as written by a female reporter), it asserted as FACT that he was pursuing a "legally underage girl", which is simply a falsehood. 17 is not legally underage in NY, and journalists need to do a better job about this sort of stuff to (1) maintain credibility, (2) have legitimate charges treated seriously, and (3) ensure that these sorts of loopholes aren't there for predators to jump through. There's enough smoke in our culture to warrant a real effort to put out these fires. But calling every ember a conflagration undermines the effort and smacks of blacklisting. There is a lot of real and righteous anger out there, and for good reason, but due process is still a thing and an off-color quip or staged photo, or a clumsy effort at seduction, is not the same (morally, legally or in any other way) as abuse or harassment, much less rape. And we're getting to a place where these distinctions are not only NOT being made, but people trying to make such distinctions are themselves being viewed suspiciously. Now if all this costs us is the ongoing career of James Franco, i'm fine with that. But it's already cost us a smart, effective senator from Minnesota. So i think we need to be more responsible in our pursuit of equity and justice, and that starts with journalists maintaining basic professional standards of accuracy.

wonder woman got skunked!

Here is the list of 2018 Oscar nominations: [u:1l8zrtyr]Best Picture:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Call Me by Your Name” “Darkest Hour” “Dunkirk” “Get Out” “Lady Bird” “Phantom Thread” “The Post” “The Shape of Water” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” [u:1l8zrtyr]Lead Actor:[/u:1l8zrtyr] Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name” Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread” Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out” Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” [u:1l8zrtyr]Lead Actress:[/u:1l8zrtyr] Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water” Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya” Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird” Meryl Streep, “The Post” [u:1l8zrtyr]Supporting Actor:[/u:1l8zrtyr] Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project” Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water” Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World” Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” [u:1l8zrtyr]Supporting Actress:[/u:1l8zrtyr] Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound” Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread” Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird” Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water” [u:1l8zrtyr]Director:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan “Get Out,” Jordan Peele “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro [u:1l8zrtyr] Animated Feature:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “The Boss Baby,” Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito “The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo “Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson “Ferdinand,” Carlos Saldanha “Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman [u:1l8zrtyr]Animated Short:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant “Garden Party,” Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon “Lou,” Dave Mullins, Dana Murray “Negative Space,” Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata “Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer [u:1l8zrtyr]Adapted Screenplay:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory “The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber “Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green “Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin “Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees [u:1l8zrtyr]Original Screenplay:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani “Get Out,” Jordan Peele “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh [u:1l8zrtyr]Cinematography:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins “Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel “Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema “Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison “The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen [u:1l8zrtyr]Best Documentary Feature:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman “Faces Places,” JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan “Last Men in Aleppo,” Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen “Strong Island,” Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes [u:1l8zrtyr]Best Documentary Short Subject:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright “Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel “Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon “Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon “Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner [u:1l8zrtyr]Best Live Action Short Film[/u:1l8zrtyr]: “DeKalb Elementary,” Reed Van Dyk “The Eleven O’Clock,” Derin Seale, Josh Lawson “My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr. “The Silent Child,” Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton “Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen [u:1l8zrtyr]Best Foreign Language Film[/u:1l8zrtyr]: “A Fantastic Woman” (Chile) “The Insult” (Lebanon) “Loveless” (Russia) “On Body and Soul (Hungary) “The Square” (Sweden) [u:1l8zrtyr]Film Editing:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss “Dunkirk,” Lee Smith “I, Tonya,” Tatiana S. Riegel “The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory [u:1l8zrtyr]Sound Editing:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Baby Driver,” Julian Slater “Blade Runner 2049,” Mark Mangini, Theo Green “Dunkirk,” Alex Gibson, Richard King “The Shape of Water,” Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood [u:1l8zrtyr]Sound Mixing:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Baby Driver,” Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin “Blade Runner 2049,” Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill “Dunkirk,” Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo “The Shape of Water,” Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick [u:1l8zrtyr]Production Design:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer “Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola “Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer “Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis “The Shape of Water,” Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau [u:1l8zrtyr]Original Score:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer “Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood “The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell [u:1l8zrtyr]Original Song[/u:1l8zrtyr]: “Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige “Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens “Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul [u:1l8zrtyr]Makeup and Hair[/u:1l8zrtyr]: “Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick “Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard “Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten [u:1l8zrtyr] Costume Design:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran “Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran “Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges “The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira “Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle [u:1l8zrtyr]Visual Effects:[/u:1l8zrtyr] “Blade Runner 2049,” John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick “Kong: Skull Island,” Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlon “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist

While i agree with many of Edgy's criticisms, i liked it nonetheless. I found it funny, touching, and believable. And i disagree that the character has no arc. I admired her spunk and ambition and desire not to settle for a life in Sacramento, so even when she does stupid or cruel things, i hope she's able to work it out. And she does, learning life lessons along the way. In the catholic school kid coming of age genre, its a solid entry after HEAVEN HELP US. i think it'll get a screenplay nom at least, and one for the girl and maybe one for Laurie Metcalf, who is brilliant as always. Also the dad, played by playwright Tracy Letts, is a solid performance.

[on edit] Jacob deGrom Michael Conforto Jay Bruce Yoenis Cespedes Curtis Granderson Asdrubal Cabrera Jerry Blevins Addison Reed Lucas Duda Brandon Nimmo Seth Lugo Neil Walker Wilmer Flores Jose Reyes Juan Lagares Travis d'Arnaud Noah Syndergaard Jeurys Familia T.J. Rivera Kevin Plawecki Montero R.Gsellman Paul Sewald Zach Wheeler Chasen Bradford R.Rivera Aoki Amed Rosario Matz Dominic Smith i thought Harvey was such a net negative that i couldn't rank him. I was close to leaving off Matz and Smith, too, for the same reason, but i couldn't see putting in somebody over them who was barely there unless they had a Syndegaard-like impact. But infielders Reynolds, Cecchini and Evans, and relievers Robles, Ramos, Salas, Smoker and Edgin did not have that sort of impact; they didn't even make Rivera/Aoki/Bradford-level contributions.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Callowness of youth? Edgy MD wrote: metsmarathon wrote: that said, does it not seem a little plausible that in the 30 years since return of the jedi that luke might've taught her even a little bit about how to use the force, and she'd just never taken up the opportunity to go flaunting various jedi tricks? You've got to at least hint at that sort of thing, no? Like Obi Wan's ghosting? Or force choking? I mean, you want hints? We're talking about a series that barely uses establishing shots, and completely eschews scene-setting captions. The Leia thing is a LITTLE goofy, granted. But give me this sort of thing a thousand times over rather than reverent rehash. This movie genuinely surprised me two or three times, and for that alone, I give praise; that most of the outcry from "diehards" seems to stem from the fact that this one subverts expectations seems utterly confounding to me. yup

yup

now THAT'S my kind of movie! I love me some Drax!

Just watched it -- a good but not great film. HELL OR HIGH WATER is tons better, but i thought SICARIO was overrated, despite great performances. Renner and Olsen have good rapport, as they did in AVENGERS:ULTRON (and with a flashback featuring from Jon Bernthal (the Punisher), the movie is a superhero bonanza). And the icy remoteness of the locations is captured well by the shooting style, giving the film an interesting tone of quiet melancholy. But the murder mystery is not very mysterious and the script's treatment of the plight of Native Americans is heavy-handed, preachy and obvious. Still, some moving moments and the final shootout is pretty intense.

Mets (Shea, Citifield) Yankees (YI, YII) Phils (Veterans) Expos (Olympic) Cubs (Wrigley) Boston (Fenway) Oakland (Coliseum) SF (Candlestick) Baltimore (Memorial, Camden) Padres (J.Murphy, Petco) + numerous minor league parks