Movie: Sleepless in Seattle
Why: Heading to Seattle for a free trip!
Best Line: You don’t want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.
Song of the Day: Hot Hot Heat, ‘You Owe Me an IOU’
why: Cause i finally lost in poker last night, and didn’t throw chips at Duke, he owes me!
THE END OF AN ERA…
It’s over. Another year, with higher expectations than INDIANA JONES’s box office gross for the Phoenix Suns. Last season suns.com started, PLANET ORANGE, and promised the team a championship, yet fell short. This year, the Shaq trade gave us high hopes for a successful post season, as Shaq came in pointing at his finger, signaling a 4th championship. Yet, we went down in flames to our old nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs. It felt like Michael Bay opening PEARL HARBOR to mixed reviews and terrible box office receipts, or even worse, M. Nights, LADY IN THE WATER. The results are the same, failure, and at this point, I can promise you it now feels worse to be a Phoenix Suns fan than it does a Boston Red Sox fan.
The Suns have NEVER won a title. How rare is it for a team to be as great as the Suns and never win? Pretty darn rare. In 92-93, the boys made it all the way to the finals on a miraculous first round victory over the Lakers, where coach, Paul Westphal stated the Suns would come back from 2-0 and win the series, than go on to win the championship. Well, they didn’t and thus began our downward spiral into a good, if not great team. We ended up losing 4-2 to the Bulls, behind one of the biggest three pointers in finals history via John Paxson. It plays on that NBA Classic commercial all the time, in case you are one of the few fans that have missed it.
From there, we had a Barkley injury and a trade demand that restructured the team around practically the entire Houston Rockets squad. It failed. Then we try and go Jason Kidd along w/ Penny ‘the greatest thing I did in the NBA was Little Penny Commercials’ Hardaway. The pairing failed. Kidd beat his wife, we traded him along w/ pot-smoking Clifford Robinson in hopes we could get a clean team. Results, injuries a plenty as Kidd and Penny miss several crucial games down the stretch. When Penny came to Phoenix he promised a championship in 3 years, guess what? He was traded in 2.
Bring on, Stephen Starberry, Marburry, who was a complete and utter bust, except for that game 1 half court three pointer he made during the playoffs where the Suns lost 4-1 against the Spurs. We quickly trade him and Penny to the Knicks and get Q Richardson and some salary cap space to go out and bring Steve Nash back in from Dallas. Thus begins the Suns ’supposed’ Cinderella championship run.
2004-2005:
It’s the Suns year. We are doing everything right. D’Antoni wins coach of the year, for practically reinventing NBA offensive coaching, with a European flair, and Steve Nash wins the MVP award. We get all the way to the Western Conference Finals, only to lose to the Spurs, who rough up the Suns defensively in ways they could not anticipate. The Spurs win, big time. The year ends w/ higher hopes for the next season.
2005-2006:
This is gonna be the year. There’s an excitement in Arizona sports, just like when the Diamondbacks won the World series over NY in 2001. People get a sense they are in for a fantastic team that can go all the way. The news breaks, Amare is out for the year with an injury. He’s done. High hopes? Squashed. The Suns still go on to win 54 games and Steve Nash once again wins the MVP trophy. We make it past the Lakers and the Clippers, and it takes 7 games. 7 classic games that deserve air time as much as Game 1 of the Suns vs. Spurs series this year. Up next, the Mavericks in the Conference Finals, and guess what? Joe Johnson gets injured w/ an eye socket issue. It’s supposed to be our year, only thing is they get past us, only to blow a 2-0 lead in the Finals against the Heat, leaving Shaq to get his next ring.
2006-2007:
Planet Orange is launched. The Suns have another tremendous season, heading into the playoffs where they manhandle the Lakers. Amare is a beast and it all leads up to a Suns vs. Spurs match-up that everyone will be talking about for years? Did the referees blow that game due to the mob tie-ins? What if Horry didn’t push Nash into the scorer’s table and Bruce Bowen didn’t break his nose? What if Diaw and Amare didn’t leave the bench and weren’t suspended? All these questions, and the Suns go home w/ a 4-2 loss to the Spurs, who eventually go on to win the whole thing to become the team with the most championships in any sport in the last ten years.
2007-2008:
The window of opportunity is closing. Nash is getting older. Suns know they need to have it this year. Yet Shawn Marion comes to training camp demanding a trade, putting a clash in the Suns loosey-goosey style of play. Things are tough. We don’t lose 3 games all season, but mid-season we make the trade for Shaq, which would end up costing us 1st place in the West as our team tries to gel as best as possible.
Here’s the issue with this season. We give up Kurt Thomas at the start of the year to save on salary cap and go and sign Shaq, for $21.8 million next year, which is going to put us over w/ an older squad. It makes no sense and thus begins the clash between the front office run by Robert Starver and Steve Kerr compared to the offensive minded Coach D’Antoni.
We all know the game 1 history this year. Michael Finley’s three where Amare didn’t rotate over on defense on time to block. Tim Duncan’s only three all season and Ginobli’s winning lay-up in the paint, while the Suns have no time-outs in double OT. This was our game to win, yet we lost it. We were the more talented team and played the better game, yet costly turnovers by Steve Nash, injury to Grant Hill and the hack-a-shaq method forced us to lose what would eventually be the ‘heartbreak hotel’ moment of the series.
We lose the next two games, our first three game losing streak of the season comes at the worst possible time. Then in game 4, with their backs against the wall, the Suns decide to show up and use the mismatch option of Boris Diaw to blow out the Spurs. Was this a brilliant coaching move, or was it the sure sign of the end of an era? For the first time in Suns basketball during the Nash era, we played match-ups. The Suns NEVER play match-ups, their philosophy has always been to play their style of game and they can beat anyone on any court. The Diaw move works great in Game 4 and Game 5, yet it takes Nash away from dishing out his standard 10+ playoff assists. Down the stretch Nash makes more costly turnovers and we D’Antoni doesn’t take Shaq out when Popovich uses the should be illegal in every state, hack-a-shaq technique.
It’s too early for the Suns to be out of the post season. This shouldn’t be happening right now. As a fan, I’ve watched or listened to every game this season. The past four years were supposed to be our year to win it all. A year that would go in the record books. A year that would finally get over that Phoenix Suns curse and put a ring on Steve Nash’s finger, a guy that deserves it much more than any of those Lakers. But here I am writing, once again, trying to keep a positive outlook for next season, when I know in my heart this was probably our last year with this squad to really be ‘where amazing happens.’ Instead, it’s over and I wish I had a ref or suspension to blame like last year, alas, that is not the case, and I’ll go into the summer w/ a heavy heart and hope for the best next season.
As for next season? Will D’Antoni return or will Steve Kerr part ways w/ the brilliant, yet never wants to play his bench coach? Can the Suns make another run w/ the same aging team or are teams like Hornets, Lakers, and yes, even Portland going to be too much for them to handle? Only time will tell.
So with a faint cheer, I retire my Suns bracelet, which hasn’t left my wrist for the past two seasons. I leave this blog and basketball season on a down note knowing that we are at the end of an era. Next year we will not see the running and carefree Suns. We’ll see a much more coached team, with one purpose; a championship.
Heck, if the Red Sox can do it why can’t we?
-Aaron ‘Suns Fan’ Goldstein
NBA 2K8 is now complete
I have an addiction and it comes in the form of NBA videogame basketball. Ever since NBA 2K’s 1st incarnation, which would be NBA 2K back in 1999 on the Sega Dreamcast, I patiently wait for its October release date. The game comes out and I play a short 16 game season on rookie mode w/ the Suns, actually, I always play as the Suns in every year since the game was made (it was much harder when they were weak before nash arrived!). I then get thru the playoffs, normally winning and then move on up to Pro mode. In pro mode I play a 28 game season before moving on to the next level, All-Star, which is where the challenges start to come. From there comes another 28 game season on Super-Star mode and finally a full 82 game season w/ the Suns on Hall of Fame mode followed by the playoffs. This year went like this:
I suffered numerous injuries to my front line; Nash went down for three weeks, Grant Hill was out most the season, Shaq broke his finger in January and Amare twisted an ankle in January as well. It was a tough grueling season and I ended up in 5th place heading into the playoffs, kind of ironic considering the Suns are currently seeded at #6. The first round of the playoffs was nearly impossible as I had to face a Houston Rockets team that had a healthy Yao Ming + T-Mac. I got down in the series 3-1 and gathered up my starters pushing them to near exhaustion, winning game 7 in an exciting OT match for the ages w/ Nash hitting the game winning two. In fact it was such an exciting moment I had Melinda come in and watch the replay repeatedly. Second round was Dallas, who w/ Jason Kidd was surprisingly easier to beat than in the previous year’s game. I won that series 4-2 and headed on to the Western Conference finals where Pau, Kobe, Odem and a healthy Bynum were waiting for me. I got down 2-0 in the Lakers series and then won the next two games in Phoenix, heading back to Los Angeles for an extremely close game 5. In the third quarter it happened, Odem went down w/ a broken knee. From that point forward the lake show looked slow and old. Odem wasn’t dishing it out to an open slashing Kobe nor D-Fish, instead Kobe tried to make it his game and couldn’t take over the way he normally would. I ended up winning the series 4-2. Up to the big show, the NBA Finals VS. the Boston Celtics.
Now the AI (not to be confused w/ AI the player, Allen Iverson), is smart in this game. How smart? Smart enough to know that Boston could not beat me in the running game. They tried to dictate the pace of the game slowing it down to a crawl. My response? Was putting Shaq at PF vs KG and Amare to guard the much weaker/older Perkins. They won the first game by making Nash guard Ray Allen and i was too lazy to switch him off his defensive assignment. The second game I won in OT behind a monster 30 point performance by Amare. Third game, I took behind Shaq hitting almost all of his free throws.
Side note: the free throw % in the game is just like the real thing, Shaq shooting a free throw is one of the toughest challenges. He bubbles it on his right hand for way to long and u have to release it w/in less than 1/2 a second of the right time or else he will miss. So I take the lead 2-1 feeling confident that I have this series and I figured out that if i run i cannot be stopped. Game 4 hits; a 30 point loss that has me bringing in the bench by halftime. On the positive side it was a chance to play Sean Marks along w/ Brian Skinner, who both see very limited minutes. Game 5 was mine to win, by a small margin of 5 points and game 6 I lost on one of the worse turnovers experienced since i’ve been playing the series. I am backing down KG w/ Shaq and he is exhausted, almost at 65 % health and KG gives him a bump and Shaq falls over! KG dishes the turnover quickly up the court to Ray Allen who hits a wide open three, turning into ‘heartbreak hotel’ for my Suns.
Game 7. All the hard work, long hours of 2 games a night comes down to one freakin’ match-up for the ages! The game starts VERY physical w/ Grant Hill getting 3 quick fouls in the 1st quarter leaving me to bring in the sometimey Frenchman, Diaw. Diaw has a monster defensive stance against Paul Pierce limiting him to only 2 points on 1 of 5 shooting, earning him the rotation in the 4th quarter down the stretch. End of the 1st, I am up by 1 on a miracle three by the Brazilian Blur. Second quarter is my resting quarter, I have to manage the minutes of Shaq, Amare and Nash and get them at least 2 minutes on the bench or else they won’t be able to last down the stretch. Just like in every game, the Celtics make their push and go up by 5 points at the half. Third quarter starts and I am running the pick and roll thru Nash and STAT to perfection. Amare has almost 20 points midway thru the 3rd and the Celtics start double teaming him, meaning it’s time for my boys to start hitting the outside J’s. Luckily, tonight, they were on. Nash hits a few along w/ a couple clutch hits from Bell and Barbosa with me down by 2 points going into the 4th.
Cut to 2 minutes to go in the 4th, tie game and I bring the ball up the court for a backdown play w/ Shaq that turns into a double team to a dunk by Amare, up by 2. They come back and hit a three w/ Allen draining almost the entire 24 seconds off the clock. Rather than set up a play, I quickly run it w/ Nash to Diaw to STAT for a quick fade away in the pant, putting me up by 1 point w/ under a minute to go. The Celtics bring it up the court and again take almost the entire 24 seconds off the clock. They finally get it to KG who misses a layup via a hard foul by Shaq that sends KG to the floor. KG hits both free throws, they are back up by 1. I quickly take it up the court and flush it down for a dunk w/ STAT, back up by one w/ under 20 seconds to go. The Celtics bring the ball up the court and run a standard screen and roll play to get KG the ball, but this time Shaq is on him and completely shuts him down. The ball is turned over and i gain control w/ 3 seconds. I run the ball up the court and hit a throw-up a celebration final shot with Nash, who drains the three giving me a 4 point lead and the NBA championship. The gatorade cooler is thrown over D’Antoni and the Suns, who thru the entire season struggled, barely beating the opponents by a DIFF of 3.0 points, win the NBA championship for the first time, but really the 9th time by me since starting the 2K series.
So what do I do now? I’ve beaten the game on its toughest difficulty level and there is no way i am going to play as a another team and betray the Suns. So i wait until next October when the new NBA 2k9 hits the street and my ‘Fever Pitch’ like lifestyle once again starts up w/ all my time devoted to watching the Suns basketball games and playing what is the most realistic sports sim on the market.
Till next season.
Dobler out.
Top 10 Film’s of 2007
10. The Host
You can take ‘Cloverfield,’ for all its shaky-cam JJ Abrams brilliance, which has converted to a box-office smash-hit and I’ll stick w/ this little seen Korean horror flick that takes the monster movie genre to an entirely different level. With social and political statements that never preach too much and a family drama that has you rooting every step of the way, this is the monster movie that everyone in America should’ve been talking about last year, but instead they can rent it on DVD.
09. Bridge to Terabithia
‘Bridge’ wasn’t overlooked at the box office where it grossed over $80 million. Parents took their kids to see the book they remembered as a kid and kid’s wanted to see it because it was advertised like a ‘Lord of the Rings’ style action flick. For those 20 –30 something’s out there that skipped this flick, they are missing this generation’s ‘My Girl.’ I’ve talked to other grown men who’ve seen this movie and not one of them has told me they didn’t weep in ‘Bridge.’ We’re not talking about a couple of solitary tears; we’re talking about sobbing from the halfway point to the end of this poignant tale. All ages should see this movie, not just families. And if that wasn’t enough, the movie is actually better than the classic book it’s based on; how often does that happen?
08. In the Valley of Elah
There’ve been several films this past year dealing w/ the war, yet none of them embodied the power of Tommy Lee Jones’ muted soul-searching performance in, ‘In the Valley of Elah.’ The performance is better than any of his scenes in ‘No Country for Old Men,’ yet no one saw this flick. The final shot of this picture has been sitting w/ me since October, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget what is one of the best pictures of the year.
07. Knocked Up
The world would be a better place if all comedies were produced, written or directed by Judd Apatow. This year he turned in three hilarious pictures, ‘Walk Hard’ and ‘Superbad,’ yet the funniest and most heartfelt of the three is, ‘Knocked Up.’ Besides, it’s every guy’s fantasy for a Seth Rogen like guy to end up w/ someone as beautiful as Katherine Heigl.
06. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
By now most people in Los Angeles and New York have seen this small documentary, which went on to gross just under a million bucks! This is the best documentary as well as the best underdog like Rocky story of the year. You’ll be shouting at the clear-cut villain of the pic, Billy Mitchell as he embarrassingly brags about his top score in the original ‘Donkey Kong.’
05. Juno
Name me another movie with a song that mentions the infinite life ‘Contra’ code? Exactly, there’s never been one. That’s reason enough for me to include it on my best list, other than the more obvious stuff, like writing, directing, and the acting.
04. Ratatouille
Best animated picture of the year? Of course, what else would we expect from Pixar? Brad Bird continues his hot streak, following ‘The Incredibles,’ and ‘The Iron Giant,’ with what could only be described as Pixar’s first ‘art-flick.’ The animation is technically amazing, but more importantly, the story has the same oddball sensibilities that’s made every Brad Bird film a classic.
03. There Will Be Blood
Start handing out the awards now for best performance, musical score, cinematography and sound design all to ‘There Will be Blood.’ But what makes this movie resonate long after the haunting finishing frame, is the intensity in which Paul Thomas Anderson tells a slow-paced period piece. Every frame of Anderson’s previous flicks has always felt climatic, yet he pulls back with ‘TWBB’ and lets each frame breath. The overall greatness of the film is the equivalence to ‘Raging Bull’ or dare I say, ‘Citizen Kane.’ It’s not to be missed in a year filled w/ great pictures.
02. Once
I declared it the best movie of 2007 after seeing it on May 30th of last year. I then went on to see The Swell Season (all the music from the picture), live in concert twice. Both shows were amazing, slight my wrist worthy experiences (due to the depressing nature of their music). Back in May I stated, ‘I could go on and on about ONCE but the real justice is to just go out and see this small gem that is going to be overlooked in theaters and flourish on DVD.’ Sure enough, it’s been overlooked in theaters, but now’s your chance for this film to shine. Rent it, buy the soundtrack and then share it with your friends.
01. Into the Wild
Sean Penn’s masterpiece is the road movie you never took, the adventure you wish you had and more importantly puts Sean Penn on the same level of filmmaker as Terrence Mallick and David Gordon Green. Quite frankly, I didn’t want the film to end and that’s why it’s the #1 flick for me of 2007. There were tons of depressing and comedic flicks this past year; but nothing as personal as Penn’s intimate road picture that made me once again appreciate the brilliance of Eddie Vedder. There may still be a little bit of Alex Supertramp in us all…
Films that didn’t make the cut, but were worthy…
Most depressing:
The Savages: The dog survives; maybe there’s hope to this sad family drama.
Best Romantic Comedy:
Dan in Real Life: It’s clichéd, but also a fun time at the movies.
Best War Flick:
Rescue Dawn: Give Christian Bale an Oscar Nomination and add this to the list of film’s more people should’ve seen.
Best Film Ben Affleck was involved in and didn’t star in:
Gone Baby Gone: As haunting as ‘Mystic River,’ and even more authentic.
Best Musical:
Hairspray: A classic that should be remembered for year’s to come, kind of like ‘Grease,’ but with John Travolta in drag.
Best Genre Picture:
The Lookout: Perfect structure, writing and acting take this genre pic to the next level.
Most Penis References:
Superbad
Best Made for TV like Movie:
The Great Debators
Best Sequel:
28 Weeks Later: The opening sequence tops that of the original and the more recent remake of ‘Dawn of the Dead.’
Best Richard Gere Movie no one saw:
The Hoax
Best Comedy no one saw:
Hot Fuzz: May it live on in our DVD world of cinema, just like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ before it.
Best Film for Film Geeks:
No Country for Old Men
Zodiac
Eastern Promises
Film geek’s are going to be overanalyzing every frame of these movies for year’s to come, heck, I’m one of them.
First, a few songs, I wanted to include on my list, but they just didn’t quite make the cut:
BELIEVE, THE BRAVERY
If you’ve seen any of the trailers for ‘Friday Night Lights’ last year, you’ve heard the song that has been all over KROQ for sometime now.
HERE IT GOES AGAIN, OK GO
The best music video of last year is also one of the best song’s to play in Rock Band.
and The Simpson’s spoof:
DASHBOARD, MODEST MOUSE
I have no idea what the hell the video is about, but what I do know is that this song is even catchier than, ‘Float On.’
Anything by JUPITER ONE
Their song ‘Countdown’ is now in Madden ’08, yet this band is still under the radar. They blend a kind of Radiohead sound mixed with pop radio. ‘Unglued’ stretches their style a bit, while ‘Countdown’s’ the song that will be stuck in your head for days. Check out their myspace:
Dobler’s Top 7 songs and/or albums of ’07
7. THE PILLS WON’T HELP YOU NOW
WE ARE THE NIGHT, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
One of the best chill electronica beats of the year combined w/ an emotional chorus that proves The Chemical Brothers are still one of the most interesting groups. Out of everything they played at the most recent concert I went to, this one stuck w/ me the most. A 6 minute and 35 second masterpiece…
Listen to it at:
6. EVERYDAY
CARLA COMANDO
For those that haven’t seen the original video w/ Carla Comando’s haunting soundtrack where Noah takes a picture of himself everyday, go to:
Then you can see ‘The Simpson’s’ spoof at:
Or, if you still think this one song hasn’t influenced pop culture you can see the slew of NBA ‘Where Amazing Happens’ commercials that effectively use it at:
One song, made for a youtube video is the catchiest piano melody of the year. This song would’ve never made it if it wasn’t for the internet, which makes it all the more fascinating to see it being so overused now.
5. APOLOGIZE (Featuring: One Republic)
PRESENTS: SHOCK VALUE, TIMBALAND
Yeah, it’s now overplayed on every radio station out there, but I remember discovering it off the album and was like, wait a second, Timbaland is suppose to be all hip-hop/dance beats. Then he goes and stretches his range w/ electronica mixed with a hip-hop ballad w/ a background instrumental worthy of a movie trailer.
You can see the music video at:
4. CAN’T TELL ME NOTHING and HOMECOMING
GRADUATION, KANYE WEST
They launched the video for ‘Can’t tell Me Nothing,’ before Kanye’s album dropped and I watched, then watched again.
Kayne’s spoof is pitch perfect as well as his perfect duet w/ Chris Martin from Coldplay in ‘Homecoming.’ The video is terrible, yet the song is the best from Kanye’s last album:
3. GOLDEN
INFINITY ON A HIGH, FALL OUT BOY
I know I have Fall Out Boy on my best songs of the year list, yet I can’t help it. This song helped me fall asleep every night for a little over a month while in Morocco. If I looked at which song has the most plays in my I-tunes library, this one sits at the top, surpassing the old top favorite, which is anything off of the OLDBOY soundtrack. The live version of it doesn’t do it justice, but here it is just in case you want to watch:
2. IN RAINBOWS, RADIOHEAD
This is the band’s best work since Okay Computer. They broke convention with their release of In Rainbows digitally last year, and it sits atop the Billboard Music Charts this week, after being released for sale in the first week of ’08. No video clips needed to hype up this album, you should already own it if you don’t.
1. SAY IT TO ME NOW and the rest of the Motion Picture Soundtrack from ONCE
THE SWELL SEASON
I’ve seen The Swell Season perform live twice now and each time I leave the show either ready to slit my wrists or do a lot of heavy drinking. The film should get nominations for best song for ‘When Your Minds Made Up’ or ‘Falling Slowly.’ Rent the movie, buy the soundtrack and see why all the critics and audiences are in love with the music from ONCE.
Dobler’s 7 flicks that People Missed and Should See!
7 flicks that you should rent, buy, download, netflix, On-Demand or whatever other method people use to watch flicks nowadays.
7. Surf’s Up
Don’t let the animated penguins fool you, ‘Happy Feet,’ this is not. It’s a send-off to ‘Endless Summer’ mixing documentary style filmmaking with animation. It grossed only $58 million at the box office and deserved the viewers that chose to see the 3-D Disney garbage, ‘Meet the Robinsons.’ If you could nominate an animated performance, Jeff Bridges take on the washed up Geek is classic ‘Dude’ worthy.
6. Rescue Dawn
‘Rescue Dawn’ failed to even make it into the top 100 grossing flicks of 2007, yet for all the critical acclaim Werner Herzog’s documentary ‘Grizzly Man’ received, ‘Rescue Dawn’s’ not only the better movie, it also has the bigger stars. The film proves that Steve Zahn’s more than just a comedic actor and Christian Bale once again plays a really difficult role. How this film isn’t in award talks for Bale’s performance is baffling, yet not as frustrating as a marketing campaign that released ‘Rescue Dawn’ as an action flick to go against ‘Transformers!’
5. In the Valley of Elah
There’ve been several films this past year dealing w/ the war, yet none of them embodied the power of Tommy Lee Jones’ muted soul-searching performance in, ‘In the Valley of Elah.’ The performance is better than any of his scenes in ‘No Country for Old Men,’ yet no one saw this flick. The final shot of this picture has been sitting w/ me since October, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget what should be one of the best pictures of the year.
4. Gone Baby Gone
Ben Affleck can direct! Instead of choosing a simple picture for his first stab behind the lens, Affleck goes out w/ a story involving child abduction that’s sure to cause debate after audiences finish viewing it. The subject’s just as dark as ‘Mystic River,’ yet Affleck’s flick feels more authentic than Eastwood’s, with real Boston residents acting in several of the smaller roles.
3. The Lookout
Another one that received critical acclaim and no one saw in the theaters. It’s a genre pic. It doesn’t inspire to be anything more than a crime thriller rollercoaster, and it succeeds on every level. The script is so pitch perfect in ‘The Lookout,’ that it would be worth watching even if it didn’t star Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jeff Daniels. I can’t wait to see what writing trick Scott Frank comes up w/ next.
2. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
By now most people in Los Angeles and New York have seen this small documentary, which went on to gross just under a million bucks! This is the best documentary as well as the best underdog like Rocky story of the year. You’ll be shouting at the clear cut villain of the pic, Billy Mitchell as he embarrassingly brags about his top score in the original ‘Donkey Kong.’
1. Bridge to Terabithia
‘Bridge’ wasn’t overlooked at the box office where it grossed over $80 million. Parents took their kids to see the book they remembered as a kid and kid’s wanted to see it because it was advertised like a ‘Lord of the Rings’ style action flick. For those 20 –30 something’s out there that skipped this flick, they are missing this generation’s ‘My Girl.’ I’ve talked to other grown men who’ve seen this movie and not one of them has told me they didn’t weep in ‘Bridge.’ We’re not talking about a couple of solitary tears; we’re talking about sobbing from the halfway point to the end of this poignant tale. All ages should see this movie, not just families, and for that reason I am calling it the Most Overlooked Film for the 20-somethings, who’d rather see ‘300’ over a film that may not be as technically amazing, but emotionally rings truer than any Spartan.
Dobler’s Worst 7 Pictures of the Year that Critics Loved or did well at the Box Office
I may not see every movie out there, but I see a lot. There are tons of flicks, that’ll populate the critics worst of the year, including:
The Reaping
Evan Almighty
Saw (whatever number they’re on now)
Hostel II
Rush Hour III
Fred Claus
Epic Movie
Ghostrider
Shoot ‘Em Up
The Number 23
Are We Done Yet
And the list could go on and on and on…
Yet, instead of stating the obvious flicks that will make it on those lists, I’m going to list the WORST 7 Pictures of the Year that either Critics loved or made money at the box office. Counting down backwards from…
7. Spiderman 3
Tobey Maguire dances and Kirstin Dunst sings, how much more can Sam Raimi fall from our independent ‘Evil Dead’ graces? To top it off, this was the 1 grossing flick of 2007, my spidey senses tell me I NEVER want to witness such talented people and tons of money being spent again.
6. Shrek the Third
Now say it w/ me people, ‘SHREK is a bad sitcom.’ Since you’ve got that covered, you can expect jokes that are in the same vein as ‘King of Queens,’ and since that show is a hit on TV, why wouldn’t it be the 2 grossing picture of the year?
5. Resident Evil: Extinction
The videogame script for any of the game carnations of ‘Evil’ is better than every installment in the franchise, yet for some reason, people like movies w/ zombies (myself included). But how in the hell can people rush to the theaters to see an ‘Evil’ movie over one of the best zombie pics and best sequels of the year (’28 Weeks Later)? There is no justice when it comes to the undead.
4. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
I hoped that audiences were smarter than a well-designed marketing campaign, but as proven w/ the latest ‘Fantastic Four,’ maybe they’re not. How else would you explain the rise of a mediocre first installment that is followed by an even lamer sequel grossing over $130 million just at the box office! Hopefully, when they go to make round three of ‘Fantastic Four,’ audiences will have learned not to waste their money on comic book trash.
3. Atonement
Critically lauded as well as winning Best Dramatic Picture at this year’s Newscast Golden Globes, but I cannot bring myself to recommend it. Technically, it should win best score, best cinematography, best sound design, costume design and any other award that no one watches the award speech for at the Oscar’s. Other than a fantastic one-shoot sequence I couldn’t stand this stuffy over pretentious drivel that reminded me of all the other costume period pieces receiving critical acclaim from our award season past. See…
‘The English Patient’
‘The Queen’
‘The Hours’
‘Howard’s End’
‘Shakespeare in Love’
‘Sense and Sensability
‘The Pianist’
‘Gosford Park’
The list goes on and on w/ films that are all technical amazing to look and listen to, but I could care less about because the move runs at the pace of a snail.
2. The Last Mimzy
Okay, so maybe it got mixed reviews and it didn’t really hit w/ audiences, but I couldn’t not include a flick that I watched and was laughing out loud at every serious moment. The special effects are worse than anything you’ve seen on Sci-Fi and the acting is so stilted it makes Dane Cook’s performance in ‘Good Luck Chuck’ look Oscar worthy. To top it off, this flick is coming from the man at New Line Cinema who gave the green light for ‘Lord of the Rings,’ Bob Shaye! All I ask is that he wakes me when his pseudo-mumbo jumbo yarn is over. YAWN.
1. Southland Tales
It stars a list of who’s who in the comedy world, yet NONE of it’s funny. It’s like watching a plumber bent over to fix your sink and you can see his butt crack, yet every time you try to look away, your eyes go back to his hairy ass. It’s the car crash you pass on the 405-freeway and slowdown to see exactly what happened. It’s ‘The Biggest Loser’ that makes you feel better about yourself. It’s all these things, and one heap of a political message movie mess in which a director, who made the brilliant ‘Donnie Darko’ stumbles in epic like proportions. Next time I watch it, I’ll turn it into a drinking game and whenever The Rock runs his fingers together like Mr. Burns, I’ll take a shot, maybe then it will become the misunderstood masterpiece that some critics are loving.
Rape, murder, torture and death are the delightful topics of another downer of a holiday release. The studios may be advertising this flick as an uplifting tale, but right after the savages, this is another downer. And I am still baffled from watching a 10 minute CGI kite action sequence!
Dobler Scale: B-
Surprisingly enjoyable. Not sure why i passed up this winning romantic comedy. I’ll never doubt Peter Hedges again!
Dobler Scale: B+
As Ben Rock would say, ‘meh,’ that is except for the lengthy brilliant 1 take on the beach during the war that looks like something out of ‘Children of Men.’
Dobler Scale: C+
