Cruisazy, Hoffman, the creator of Lost, and the American Action Flick Redeemed in: MI3

RottenTomatoes.com rates MI3 at 70% fresh. This is not a rating
to be proud of. About 20-30% of the 'fresh' (i.e. positive) reviews
are from sycophantic wanna-be movie critics who would slather praise
on Barry Levinson's Toys, Rob Reiner's North, or Andy Sidaris's
Hard Ticket to Hawaii. In other words, in order to drop below the 60%
threshold and be deemed 'rotten' the film must be spectacularly
bad.

Here Ye, Here Ye!: MI3 is a great action flick.

MI3 is not the best action movie ever... its not Die Hard, its not
Raiders of the Lost Arc, its not The Martix, but its very, very good.
It does all the things that a big-budget Hollywood action
flick should do: keeps the action moving, amazing stunt/action
sequences, intriguing plot twists, strong casting, strong-enough
script, & not leaving you with the feeling that the film has
basically mined action flicks of the past 20-30 years for
80% of its content.

It ain't perfect... it wraps up too quickly, and the quintuple-crossing
that goes back and forth at the agency is nonsensical, confusing,
half-baked.. even unnecessary, but I think that's the way MI
creator Bruce Geller intended for these things to unravel, so whatever.

A few salient points:

1) Tom Cruise turns in an excellent performance.

Clearly the guy has some quirky personal life issues. Or perhaps
a lifetime subscription to National Geographic quantity of
quirky personal issues. But seeing the man in a film is not
tantamount to asking him to babysit your kids. He's an actor.
And for about twenty years, from Risky Business to A Few Good Men
to Magnolia to, well, MI3, he's been turning in solid performances.
And in that time span, he has not (to my knowledge) committed
a major felony or done a self-satisfying POS like Battlefield
Earth.

2) Philip Seymour Hoffman turns in an excellent performance.

Which is great. But I needed this one, on a very self-satisfying
level. I love Philip, but, as I noted earlier on this here blog,
Capote damaged me. Hoffman turned in a high caliber,
award-deserving performance, but it wasn't the type of role
I enjoy watching him in, and shortcomings with the film on the
whole made it difficult to endure. He breaks new ground with MI3.
Add arch-evil bad guy to the resume. In short, give me Owen Davien,
Sandy Lyle, Brandt, & Scotty J., or give me death.

3) The dude who created Lost earns some points with the Davester.

J.J. Abrams created ABC's hit series Lost, and also directed MI3.
Lots of people can't stop talking up the genius of Lost.
Like 24, I just don't get it. Without going on here, let me just
say at the outset, I can't take a show about a group of people
stranded on an island seriously when, in the second season, the
characters look more or less as dapper as the cast of The Young
and The Restless, or The Real World. So... I'm glad on some level
Mr. Abrams and I have bonded. PS-- Anyone who suggests that Lost
is on the same level as The Sopranos, even in its 5th and
puttering-out season, should do hard time. OK, maybe, like
18 months. More than a year.

Enough already. Don't believe the hype. Two thumbs up for MI3.



Time out, time out... lets take another look at this thing.

Music Recommendation: Wilco's Kicking Television

I very belatedly got my hands on a live Wilco recording,
and discovered what I thought might be the case for some
time now: I appreciate Wilco about 50% more hearing
them live vs. their studio albums. Which has vaulted
Wilco from a band I generally enjoyed and certainly respected
to one that I am actively highly ecstatic about. I have
seen the light. Not planning on taking a road trip to
Calgary to see them this summer, but the time will come.
At any rate, without blathering about the nuances of why
I like the sound of their live stuff so much more, I will
simply highly recommend the band's new live release,
Kicking Television. 4.5 Stars out of 5. Certainly, from a
sound recording and engineering perspective, some one..
people.. did a really good job with this one. So do what
you will. I say, run out and buy it this afternoon.
Instant gratification. Makes the world go round.


Apologies to Ben Tevelin. You were right.

Celebrity Sighting in NYC: No Joke

I've spent about 30 minutes of my life in Hollywood, California,
and didn't see a thing. I had a miserable hangover and stomach
ache from drinking too much rum the night before (this was about
five years ago, don't think I've had a big rum night since), and
a footlong hotdog from Pinks with everything including the
kitchen sink on it did make me feel much better. But that's
neither here nor there. At any rate, I've seen a boatload of
celebrities here in NYC. As I was walking to the West 4th St.
subway today, I passed Alec Baldwin talking rather pointedly to
an uber-attractive woman who looked to be about 30 years his
younger. I'm guessing the conversation didn't have anything to
do with custody of his daughter, Ireland. Or maybe it did, in a
roundabout kind of way... In these minutes before I head out
on the town for another Saturday night, I will now chronicle the
big names I've seen here in the Big Apple:

Tom Cruise -- Riding in car hooked up to a production truck
in Harlem, 120th St. and Morningside.

Kevin Bacon -- Sat across from me on the M3 NYC Bus heading
up Madison Avenue (only time a person has been a prick...
announced to the whole bus after he got on, without anyone saying
anything, that "we don't know you." I wanted to be, like,
dude, you're the guy from Tremors and My Dog Skip.)

Philip Seymour Hoffman -- Ran into this fellow like 3 times
in the span of a few months. First at a Halloween party with
the Atlantic Theater Company, then at the Nader Rally at MSG,
then at an anti-war event at Cooper Union. By the way,
upon first viewing, I found Capote to be boring and uninspired
with a bland script that didn't allow for a shred of character
development outside of Hoffman's character. I enjoyed P.S.H.
much more in boogie Nights and The Big Lebowski, and have a
feeling that he'll redeem himself in MI3.

Tim Robbins -- City Hall. All the above guys so far are about
5' 8". Robbins could play power forward in the NBA.

Jon Stewart -- Again, on 6th Ave, around West 4th. Guy is
like 5' 6". Not kidding.

Jeff Daniels -- Right outside the Christopher St. MTA stop.

Mike Gordon -- Cruising down Church Ave. in Tribeca

(B-/C list... Sam Rockwell on Court St. in my hood, Chris
Matthews with his NYU teenage son on St. Marks Place,
Steve Forbes at a Yankee game, Mandy Patinkin on Broadway
on the UWS, Jesse Martin at a Mos Def concert at the Bowery,
+ I partied with Anthony Mackie at my place in Harlem before
he got famous (OK... I was DJing, and he was hanging out in
the kitchen, not like we were doing kegstands together)).

OK, will expand this list as memories come to me. Clearly,
I have not had as much luck with the ladies. But I was
stoked to see Baldwin today... a fine actor in my opinion,
and I have loved his older, hardened roles in recent
flicks such as The Cooler and Along Came Polly. 10 4.

My August & Controversal Thoughts on the NBA Playoffs and NFL Draft

NBA Playoffs: So far, so good. Actually... we're only
a little more than halfway through the first round, and
I think the 06' playoffs have the makings of being the best
in a very long time. The exciting/interesting stories and
plotlines are numerous:

1) Last second buzzer-beating heroics, starring Brent Barry,
Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Martin
2) Unexpectedly tight/thrilling series in Spurs/Kings and Bulls/Lakers
3) LeBron James
4) LA Lakers stepping up + riveting game 4
5) Clips winning first playoff series in 30 years and impending
Battle of LA
6) Mavs finally getting their playoff act together
7) Udonis Haslem throwing mouthpiece at Joey Crawford and
Reggie Evans, Reggie Evans.

OK, now here's my commentary which the majority sportwriters and
talking heads have been missing. Has to do with point #4...

Steve Nash was a fine MVP candidate, if we're going by the regular
season. He improved his already impressive stats, and led a retooled
team to 50 wins. Maybe Bryant or Billups or LeBron was more
deserving, but not by a significant margin. The key thing to keep in
mind here is the award is based on the reg. season, not the playoffs,
and that the playoffs are a completely different animal than the
reg. season.

I have been very impressed with improved play of LA Lakers, and
believe that Kobe and Phil Jackson deserve a lot of credit. The
heat Steve Nash is taking, however, is not deserved. He is playing
on a team with essentially no inside players. With Kurt
Thomas going down with injury, Tim Thomas, who was playing
basketball at the Y a few months ago, is the closest thing the Suns
have to a big man. This makes winning in the playoffs almost
impossibly difficult. Nash has no big body to dish to in the paint,
and the lack of big men on defense has allowed Lamar Odom and
friggen Kwame Brown to be effective. That the Suns have won a
game and kept others close is a testament to Nash's effectiveness--
and I don't count them out of this series as most other pundits do.
He missed a lot of shots in Game 5 and committed some key
turnovers, but then again, perhaps he was also clearly calling for
a timeout at the end of OT and got screwed. I predict that the
Lakeshow will get stomped by the Clips in the Battle of LA.
Brand and Kaman will be the difference.

NFL Draft: I have two things to say, which I've not read
in print or heard on the airwaves or the tube.

1) The Texans drafted the wrong guy, but not for the reason
everyone is saying.

Last year I watched a Texan team with a good RB in Dominic Davis
and a good WR in Andre Johnson and a decent defense. I also
remember watching an offensive line that couldn't stop Pee-Wee
Herman or Verne Troyer, which led to QB David Carr getting
sacked on every other play. Call me crazy, but if I am the Texans,
I am drafting D'Brickashaw Ferguson and signing a couple other OTs
in the off season and trying to run an offense that isn't 3-and-out
80% of the time.

Now lets get real provocative-like. I might receive my first
e-threats of physical harm for writing this. So be it.

Reggie Bush was not the answer for Texas, unless the goal was
simply to sell more tickets. I see the career track for Reggie
Bush playing out not like Barry Sanders or Priest Holmes, but
more like Warrick Dunn. That is, I see him breaking 1,000
yards most seasons, but not going much above that, and not racking
up a load of TDs. In USC's big games against formidable D-lines
last year, it was LenDale White who was doing the dirty work and
breaking the goal line, and Bush getting tackled around the line
of scrimmage, or ripping off a Willie Parker-esque run or two.
I'll say it... mixing in Reggie Bush with D. Davis, or simply
giving Bush the starting job, would not have made the Texans
much better this season or next if the O-line was not addressed.

In a similar vein

2) The NY Jets did NOT have a good draft.

There is a fairly simple explanation for this. The Jets QB
plan for the 2006-2007 is, unless I am mistaken, Chad Pennington
backed up by Pat Ramsey. This is a little problematic as:

A) Pennington has a bum throwing shoulder, and
B) Patrick Ramsey sucks.

I'm not saying Matt Leinart was the answer, but having him as
an option in week 4 after Chad has had his 3rd season ending
shoulder surgery and Ramsey has completely bungled a couple
starting attempts, after what happened last season (read: major
problems at QB), I think this would have been the wise
decision. If the Jets had been able to sign Matt Schawb in the
off-season then, fine, this was a great draft. But it won't
pay dividends in the short-term. I predict 7 Jet wins in 06.

Of course, part of the problem here is that we'll never know
if Leinart was good, as he is heading to the Arizona Cardinals.
And I'm guessing I'm not the first person who opines
about the NFL to throw that one out...


Pop Quiz: Which person shown above is your Imported-From-Canada 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP???