Milk Review

I seem to be in a Josh Brolin rut, because the last two films I've seen in the theater featured him prominently. In Milk, Brolin plays the pathetic figure that is Dan White. Only Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk surpasses Brolin's. The film takes an unappolegtic approach to documenting Harvey Milk's arrival on the San Francisco political scene. The film also does a great job at re-creating the atmosphere of the City in the mid-to-late 70's. But there are a couple of elements that detracted from the story.

First, the film starts out with the announcements of the assasinations. This really seems unnecessary considering that most of the audience already knows what happened. Starting the film this way doesn't set the stage, it doesn't add to a sense of forboding, it doesn't even help to advance the narrative. All it does it start things off on the wrong note.

Second, the Milk narrative seems to exist purely as a shortcut to telling the story. I'm never sure in the end if Milk actually recorded his story or if this was just a device used to fill in the gaps.

But those two things aside, Milk is good. Seeing it at the Castro theater fill with an enthusiastic audience definitely enhanced the experience, but I think it is entertaining and engaging and worthy of the praise it has received.

Review of "W."

We reluctantly went to see "W." with some friends who were aching to see it this past weekend. Most of the criticisms I've heard have focused on how Bush if portrayed in the movie. If you are a Bush supporter, your view is that the movie is unfair, while critics of Bush feel that the movie does not go far enough in demonizing the 43rd president. I found that neither side is correct. The movie portrays Bush as a man with many flaws that form obstacles to his ambitions and explores his efforts to overcome those flaws. But the movie does have some quirks and weaknesses that stand out and lower it's overall value.

One major flaw is that the movie assumes that everyone knows who all the characters are. Bush refers to many of them by their nicknames only and it is up to the audience to figure them out. Some are fairly easy because they are very famous (or infamous as the case may be) but other (Georgie for instance) are not so obvious.

Next, while several of the performances were very good, some, especially that of Condoleezza Rice become parody's worthy of a SNL skit. I couldn't help cringing every time she spoke. I also didn't buy the portrayal of Powell or Barbary Bush.

There were also weird moments that are given unusual focus for no apparent reason. For instance, a bar-b-cue party hostess escorts Bush across the back yard and her stepping on a dropped corn cob is accentuated for no reason. The pretzel incident also seems out of place since it doesn't seem to impact the story in the least. Other moments are not given enough explanation, as when Bush collapses during the course of his three-mile run.

Overall, the movie was not that entertaining. We should have waited to rent it and then not even done that.

Easy Justice for Trevor Graham

Trevor Graham was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest for lying to investigators about his own dealings with steroids. Graham, who blew the whistle on BALCO presumably because juiced BALCO athletes were more successful than his own juiced athletes gets an easier sentence than his former client Marion Jones, who served six months in prison. Some justice!

Graham was a cheat who undermined the spirit of competition by pushing his athletes to cheat. When his cheating was less effective than other cheats, he sought to quash the "competition" by ratting them out. He was successful in destroying BALCO, but that doesn't make him the hero as his lawyer tried to depict him as being. He was as crooked as BALCO. He deserved at least as much prison time as Jones received. If anything, the judge should have made an example of him and given him the maximum sentence in prison.

You don't reward cheats by going easy on them. It doesn't matter that his career is over. He would never have gotten to the level he attained without cheating. He was no better than the people he ratted out. He deserved the same treatment they got.

The End is Near ... for 2008 Baseball

I have to admit to being a bit torn during the NLCS. On the one hand, I wanted to see the Phils beat the Dodgers. On the other, I wanted to see the drama of Manny's old team facing Manny's new team in the World Series. Alas, the Phils were just too good for the blue boys down south. No tears from this end. Go Phils (I have to root for the NL, real baseball always trumps the "game" they play in the AL)!!!

Davis' Three Ring Circus Act Continues

Davis finally got around to firing Lane Kiffen. But it was not enough to just fire him, he had to undermine him as much as possible because the Raiders still owe Kiffen the rest of this year and next, and want to get out of the contract. Expect the lawsuits to fly within the next week. Al doesn't like paying people he likes, he's definitely not going to pony up some cash to someone he doesn't like.

The party line is that Al has forgotten more about football than Kiffen will ever know. I don't agree. Kiffen may be inexperienced, but he's no fool. He'll probably end up at Kansas City and lead them to a championship while walking over the Raiders the way Shanahan and Gruden did.

But even if the party line were true, the problem is that the football that Al remembers doesn't cut it in today's game. Davis is still basking in the glory days and can't seem to grasp the concept that the glory days and the circumstances that led to them are long gone and will not return. The Raiders cannot win without a strong, independent head coach. Shanahan proved it. Gruden proved it.

Kiffen may not have been the coach to lead the Raiders to glory, but then who is? As long as Davis insists on micro-managing every aspect of the team, they will never get a head coach who can lead them to a championship. The only coach they will get are cast-offs, failures and untried novices like Kiffen.

Maybe Next Year

You know you had a rough season when the best thing to happen is a pitcher winning a Cy Young award while playing for a losing team. The Giants finished one game better this year than last (72 vs. 71). At this rate they might make the playoffs again in about 20 years. But realistically they aren't very far away. They certainly have more potential than the A's.

The A's won three more games, but considering that they were supposed to contend this year, it's safe to say that they not only under-performed, they quit. The white flag trade was indeed a surrender of epic proportions. Not a great way to draw people to fill seats if you ask me.

The Giants will do better next year, if for no other reason than the fact that the Dodgers won the division with only 84 wins. The pitching is there. The hitting may be there. The defense is solid. As long as they hold pat, they should improve dramatically. But there's already talk of trading the hard-luck Matt Cain for a hitter. I don't like that move. Cain got little run support all season. Take him out of the rotation and that trend might fall on Lincecum or Zito. Bad options either way in my opinion.

The potential is there. You just have to stick with it and good things will happen.

Nation of the Absurb

Things just keep getting better in Raider land. Senior officials are disparaging the media and even threatening physical violence. Kiffen is twisting in the wind because Davis can't find a way to fire him and still seem like he's in control. At this rate, fans will be begging the team to move away.

Football Heaven

It's just a little slice of football heaven around here. The Niners walked all over the Lions (I expect it won't be so easy against the Saints), and the Raiders lost a heartbreaker in the last seconds. Now it looks like Davis will can Kiffen any second and possibly name his foot stool, I mean defensive coordinator as the interim head coach. Even more perfect would be for Kiffen to catch on with another team on the Raiders schedule this season and somehow put the beatdown on his old boss' team.

Chaos in the Raider Nation

I've never been shy about expressing my delight when things go wrong for the Raiders or my disappointment when things go well. So week one was great. Not only did the Raiders lose, they lost to the Broncos whose head coach, Mike Shanahan was unceremoniously dumped by Al Davis. Shanahan only went on to lead the divisional rival Broncos to TWO Super Bowl championships. Something Davis' subsequent coaches have not done with the near exception of Gruden, who came close but was fired the season before Oakland's last SB appearance against Gruden's 'Bucs. There's instant Karma for you.

So despite the fact that the Raiders won this week, there are still things to be cheery about. Davis is unhappy with his current head coach (what a surprise there!!!) and it seems just a matter of time before the fit hits the shan and the axe falls for Kiffen. It looks like the defense will have to rely heavily on the blitz to pressure the quarterback. So as soon as they face a quick-release QB, they are toast. The running game is the strength of the team, but if Kiffen is dismissed the Raiders will revert to form and go for bombs and forget about the running game. In other words chaos reigns in the Raider Nation.

My antipathy toward the Raiders runs so deep because of Al Davis. I think if Davis were out of the picture, I could actually like the team. But Davis has made that impossible. He insists on running the team his way which is his right, but he's often more wrong than right. He let go two very successful head coaches (Shanahan and Gruden) in favor of yes men who bowed to his every whim. He demanded and got a lot of money out of Oakland for moving back and then had the nerve to sue the city for not selling out the stadium as "promised". Nevermind that the Raiders were so bad that you could hardly pay people to go watch them.

Now Davis and company want Oakland to not only build them a new stadium, they want an entire shopping center! How dare they. Before the community gives them another handout, they have to give back to the community. That will never happen as long as Davis is in charge. His main concern is for number one. Everyone else can go to hell for all he cares. Oakland has better things to spend its limited resources on.

So Al, if you want to take your team to LA or wherever else, go right ahead. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

The End of the Alex Smith "Era"

I don't know if you can call three years an era, but it appears that Alex Smith's tenure as a 49er is over. I was never happy about the Niners drafting ANY quarterback with a number one pick since so many QB's drafted at no. 1 flame out. But I don't think Smith got a realistic opportunity to be successful with the Niners.

First, he was thrown in the fire with no quality receivers to throw to, a weak running game and very poor pass protection. It's kind of hard to throw down field while lying on your back. His second season brought on a new offensive coordinator and scheme along with poor receivers and pass blocking. His third season? See season two. This season he was faced with yet ANOTHER offensive coordinator and scheme. On top of that he now had to compete for the starting job. He fared poorly all around and now he's injured and out for the season.

So the Niners basically wasted a number one pick on a quarterback that never had a chance to succeed. This is why the team sucks and will continue to suck. My only solace is that the Raiders may be worse than the Niners this season.

Dumb Move Rescinded by LPGA

The LPGA announced that they are rescinding a proposal that required English proficiency for all players. It seems that protests, explorations of legislation and planned lawsuits citing discrimination caused them to reconsider. What I don't understand is why they even bothered with making this proposal in the first place.

The LPGA is composed of many international players. It's true that many Western players do speak English fluently. But there are some who do not. Why would an organization that is trying to have an international appeal propose a measure that would alienate a significant portion of the world's population? The answer is simple: customer relations.

There have been rumblings from sponsor VIP's that some players (specifically South Korean players) are not as fun to play a round of golf with because they can't communicate. So the LPGA's solution to this problem is to make players speak English or be penalized.

In tennis, half of the top ten men and women come from non-English speaking nations. Yet you don't see their organizations proposing this kind of thing. You certainly don't see it from the PGA. Imagine the chaos and outrage if the IOC insisted that all athletes be fluent in French!

Is schmoozing with sponsor VIP's so important that they are willing to ruin their standing as an international organization? The LPGA has severely sliced this shot out of bounds. They've got a lot work ahead to get back on the fairway and set things right.

The State of Sports in the Bay Area

Things are looking pretty bleak if you're a sports fan in the Bay Area. The A's just won their first series since the white flag trades in July. The Giants have played better since the youth movement but are still so deep in the hole that only the Padres are keeping them from feeling the flames of the abyss. The Raiders are still the Raiders. The Niners are still the Niners. Even the Warriors are looking at starting the season without a point guard.

I never understood the Warriors' reluctance to negotiate with Baron Davis. Davis was a leader on the team who brought emotion to the floor unlike anyone since the RUN TMC days. But G.S. felt they could get by without Davis. Now it's time to pay the piper. Monta Ellis is injured and out for three months. G.S. has no experienced backup. If you want to know what happens to teams without a true point guard, just look at the Warriors' record before Davis came aboard.

It's going to be a long fall and winter.

Top Ten Reasons the Niners Will Suck in 2008

In honor of Dave Letterman's nightly shtick, here are the top ten reasons the San Francisco 49ers are going to suck this year.

10. Their number one receiver is 14-year veteran Isaac Bruce.
9. Two words: Quarterback competition.
8. They lost to the Raiders in pre-season.
7. Special teams? Not so special.
6. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
5. Must blitz to pass rush.
4. They have eight (8!!!) play-off teams on their schedule.
3. John York is still running things
2. Nolan is the head coach

And the number one reason the San Francisco 49ers will suck in 2008:

1. Starting at quarterback: J.T. O'Sullivan!!!

It's going to be a long football season. Sigh.

A Pair of Pixar Reviews

My 13-year-old cousin's visit this past weekend provided the perfect excuse to see a couple of animated features, "Ratatouille" on DVD and "WALL-E" in the theater. We missed "Ratatouille" in the theater because we had a baby and had to be selective about the movies we went to see because getting a babysitter can be such a major hassle. So we decided to wait on the movie about the rat chef.

"Ratatouille" was OK if you can get by the idea of a rat preparing a meal. The plot tended toward the predictable in places but the finale provided a surprising twist. There did seem to be a little too much gun play in the beginning for a rated G film including an old woman shooting a shot gun left and right and a lovers spat involving a hand-gun. The rendering of the rats was well done. Almost too well done in fact as the rats moving en masse looked disturbingly very real. It had a good amount of laughs, though some of the witty dialog was mired by the rapid, French-accented delivery of some of the characters. Subtle messages like Remy being slender because of his selective diet while the rest of his family gets fat eating garbage, and the idea that anyone can cook, but only an artist can be a chef, seem to be a little too subtle. But this is not a message movie. It's an animated comedy aimed at children. So I'll give it a pass.

"WALL-E" on the other hand, is far from subtle in showing the consequences of excess and neglect. The risks of being insulated from reality and work are driven home when we see what remains of humanity and how society has become non-existent. The perils of over-reliance on technology is also driven home though I found this point a to be a little ironic considering that the film wouldn't exist without computer technology. But the real focus in this film is on WALL-E and how his quest for love and companionship impacts everyone he encounters.

WALL-E's character is easy to relate to. His sense of whimsy and his loneliness is very poignant and well established at the onset of the film. EVE, who becomes his object of affection is quickly established as an independent-minded, but dedicated worker. Other robots add comic relief like the dirt obsessed cleaning robot, or the over-enthusiastic massage robot.

Ultimately, it is WALL-E's empathetic and self-sacrificing nature that finally prods humanity to step up and take control of their own destiny and take responsibility for the damage done to the Earth. One hopes that we can avoid needing that kind of prodding. As for the end, it works out as one would expect. The villain is foiled, EVE finds her heart and WALL-E finds happiness. But what else did you expect from a G-rated movie? Nihilism?

With both films, Pixar attains new heights in computer animation. The rats look life-like. The garbage blowing around the polluted Earth flutters by like real garbage. But I'm finding that I don't like this style of animation so much any more. Animation is not supposed to be life-like. The point of animation is that you can make things happen that may not be possible in reality. You're not re-creating reality, you're only representing it. Pixar has gotten caught up is being to detailed. Too real. Their films are good fun. But for visual appeal, I still prefer Anime.

Reality Crashes Down on Reality TV Beneficiaries

I've often wondered why the folks from the Extreme Makeover Home Edition rarely ever go back and see how the families they helped have made out. Now I know. It's really a shame. This family was basically given a house that was worth nearly half a million dollars. Free and clear! But that apparently was not enough. My question is. What did they spend $450,000 on?

The Dark Knight Review

I got a chance to see "The Dark Knight" this past weekend, and I have to say that it definitely tops all the other comic book-based movies of this summer. I am even inclined to say that it may be the best comic book-based movie ever. It's that good. The acting (especially that of the late Heath Ledger) is superb. The characters are well-written to be complex and nuanced. Finally, the story itself creates a world where costumed vigilantes and bizarre villains is a plausible reality. It's a wonderful formula that results in a huge success.

I think the thing that really works for this film is the fact that the filmmakers decided to tone down the cartoonish nature of the villains. The Joker is scarred, but he is wearing warped clown make-up instead of being permanently disfigured by a fall in a vat of chemicals. The other main villain, Two-Face, looks like someone who was horribly scared should look. No two-tone suits, face and hair here.

This infusion of realism is what makes the film really shine. As you watch, you are captivated by what the villains are doing not in how ridiculous the Joker or Two-Face look. Batman/Bruce Wayne is a man. He has a lot of hardware and skills to help him. But he is a man. He has doubts. He has desires. He also has faults. He's not the perfect, obsessed crime fighter from the comics.

The only minor complaint I have is that the film feels a little long. There is a lot of story to tell, but some of it could have been told more succinctly. The action scene in China, while entertaining could have been left out completely without hurting the story. But any short-comings are made up by the acting.

I know that some critics have tried to tone down their praise of Heath Ledger's work in this film because of the tragedy of his death shortly after filming. But I think that is unfair. This is his finest work. You don't see Heath Ledger in this film, you see the Joker. I can't imagine anyone exceeding his performance here.

Kudos also go to Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. Each of them brought their A-game for this film. Maggie Gyllenhall and Christian Bale also deliver fine work. Dumping Katie Holmes for the role of Rachel was a master-stroke.

The Dark Knight has raised the bar for the comic book genre of films. It has also done what few sequels have been able to do, exceed the original in quality. I liked Tim Burton's Batman movies. But seeing this has convinced me that as entertaining and innovative as Burton's movies were, they fall very short of the greatness that Christopher Nolan has unleashed here.

Iron Man Review

Got a chance to see "Iron Man" this week. Quick thought? They got the armor right. They and Robert Downey Jr. more specifically, got Tony Stark right. The rest? Not so much.

My main gripe is that the plot takes too long to tell the story. They also made some strange choices in starting the film at one point and then flashing back 36 hours as a sort of do-over. What was the point of that? Also, the armor tweaking sequence just takes too long. Why spend nearly an hour showing the various stages of work on the armor (twice including the prototypes) but only give seconds to showing how the power source was perfected and devised?

The action sequences were well done. The armor effects were blended in seamlessly. There were no points where I thought to myself "that was totally CGI" as I did when watching the Hulk or Spider-man 1. So good job to the tech boys.

One final note. Jeff Bridges just looks freaky without hair. He should play more villains with that look.

About the Biggest Loser

I'm not a big fan of reality TV. I generally view such shows as cop-outs on the part of the networks. But when the writers strike caused nearly all the networks to resort to bad fill-in series, lame pilots, re-runs and reality shows, you either turn you TV off (not an unheard of proposition) or get sucked in. As such shows go, "Biggest Loser" is not so bad. The premise of the show is to help morbidly obese individuals regain control of their lives and become lean and healthy.

Up to the just completed season (number 6), only men have one the contest. During the course of this season, Jillian, one of the trainers expressed her desire to see a woman win. As the number of contestants started to whittle down, it seemed as though her wish might actually come true. Especially once there were only four contestants left and two of them were women.

After the last weigh-in, it looked like a woman was going to be a shoe-in winner. Not only did both of the remaining women lose enough weight to avoid elimination, they should have had a chance to vote the man who still had the most weight to lose out of the game. But this entire season of Biggest Loser seemed to be about how much the producers could screw the contestants and ensure that the guys always came out on top.

When one couple had a chance to eliminate any team that they wanted, the producers changed the rules so that one team (two brothers who pretty much played the heels from the start) could not be eliminated. Each challenge seemed to favor those with greater strength and endurance (men). So it came as no surprise that after the women won the last weigh-in before the finale and were anticipating voting off the big guy, the producers decided to take the decision out of there hands and allow viewers to vote for who the third finalist would be.

Jillian looked as though she was going to walk off the show right then and there. After waiting so long to see a legitimate female contender, her hopes seemed to be dashed since it seemed likely that biggest guy would probably receive the most votes and go on to win. Roger, the big guy, had things in his favor to win the vote because the other guy was an asshole throughout most of the show, while Roger was arrogant but not a dick. Roger also had the better chance to beat the women because he was still significantly heavier than his ideal weight while the other guy was only a few pounds away from his ideal weight. So voters could vote for the asshole with no chance to win, or vote for the Roger. Roger won by more than one hundred thousand votes.

But despite all their efforts, the producers did not get their way. Roger didn't lose enough weight at home. One of the women beat him by a pound to win the show. Girl power prevails at last.

Target Practice with the Niners

If you need anymore proof that the NFL has it out for the 49ers (besides the weak tampering thing), look at the just released 2008 schedule. The Niners play BOTH Super Bowl teams plus two other playoff teams (Dallas and Washington). Why is a team that has missed the playoffs for several years in a row and only won FIVE games last year playing so many top teams?

What happened to the parity scheme that ensured that good teams got tougher schedules? Why is the NFL trying so hard to push the Niners down? Could there be a conspiracy between the league and the Yorks to keep the team lousy so they can relocate easier? I smell a rat!

Baseball is Back ...

But the Giants still suck. If Barry Zito had any integrity what-so-ever, he'd refund his pay every time he pitches a stinker this season. Why should he take money he hasn't earned?

It doesn't look like there is anything to be done to make the team better at this point that doesn't include gutting a pitching staff that may be the only bright light in a dark field. Maybe I'll take up a new hobby this summer and give up on the whole thing.