OK folks, movie quiz is back. I thought I would tweak it a little this time. I am posting 12 quotes from 12 different movies. The twelve quotes have a specific connection. So...here's how we'll do this: the winner will win a $10 Trader Joe's gift card as usual. And, as usual, identifying the movie from which the quote comes is worth one point, and naming the actor who uttered the phrase is also worth one point. Naming the right connection will be worth 10 points. This means that the total points possible is 35: 25 points for the quotes (quote number 6 is uttered by two people), and 10 points for naming the connection. I will take entries until Friday, November 2 at 9PM. Please e-mail your entries to losbascoms@mac.com. Any entries posted in the comments section will be deleted, as they will be seen by others. Finally, please do not look on the internet for the answers! No cheating :)!! If there is a tie, I have a question in mind to break the tie. Good luck!!
1. "Life is like a box of chocolates..."
2. "La de da, La de da..."
3. "FREEDOM!!!!!"
4. "Sam, I thought I told you never to play that..."
5. "For Frodo..."
6. "We keep you alive to serve this ship...row well and live."
7. "I coulda been a contender..."
8. "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night..."
9. "Four jacks! You owe me 15 grand pal!"
10. "This is not the stuff of which martyrs are made..."
11. "Yo Adrian."
12. "Why didn't you take off all your clothes? You could have stopped forty cars."
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Trouble with the Curve
The only trouble with this movies is it has no curves, other than that, it's a great piece of entertainment. There is nothing unpredictable about it and nothing cutting edge. This is just a simple piece of Hollywood confection, and it is to be enjoyed as such. The acting is great, the story is interesting enough, and since the subtext of the story is baseball, I simply couldn't look away.
In the movie, Clint Eastwood plays Gus Lobel, a veteran scout for the Atlanta Braves who, like Eastwood himself, is getting on in years. He has a highly uneasy relationship with his only child Mickey (named after Mickey Mantle, and played very well by Amy Adams). Mickey had been shipped away by her father after her mother had died. He didn't know how to cope, so he sent her away to relatives. Gus is beginning to lose his eyesight, and his employers have begun to doubt his ability to do his job. They send Gus out on a scouting trip to check out a hot high school prospect in North Carolina. Unbeknownst to Gus, the Braves also send a young hot shot numbers cruncher to make sure Gus gets the job done and signs the hot prospect. Gus' friend and colleague Pete (John Goodman) contacts Mickey to see if she can accompany Gus on the trip because he is worried about him. The problem with this scenario for Mickey is that she has just landed a promotion at her law firm, and the expectations on her are high, so the last thing she should be doing after landing the promotion is going off to North Carolina. While on the road, Gus comes upon Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a scout for the Red Sox who is also checking about the hot shot high school prospect. Gus knows Johnny because he had once drafted him for the Braves, but Johnny's arm gave out, and he ended up going into the life of scouting. These plot elements all set up a somewhat predictable outcome, as the father and daughter are forced to deal with old painful issues, and the old scout is forced to show his stuff to the young hot shots.
In an era when there are two distinct schools of thought about baseball which are beginning to merge, this movie takes a highly romantic view of baseball. Whereas "Moneyball" was the story of one man's struggle to overcome his romanticism with science, this movie is about a man who is trying to overcome new fangled technology with old school thought. Witness, for example, Gus' advice to one young prospect: he flies the prospects family in on the Braves' dime, and the kid suddenly goes 4 for 4. Gus is not only knowledgeable about the game, but a brilliant psychologist as well (except of course, with his own daughter). All of this sets the stage for a very entertaining story which gives the audience a sentimental favorite as well as a villainous, arrogant numbers cruncher with whom Gus clashes.
Baseball is a game, like other sports, that is unpredictable. The thing that made "Moneyball" such a great movie is that it acknowledged the human element within the numbers crunching. This movie swings to the romantic side, and that's what makes it likable, but it lacks the same kind of truth. Having said that, it's a highly watchable story, and there are so many "only in the movies" type moments that we can take it for what it it: an entertaining piece of fiction. None of us know how much longer Clint Eastwood will be making movies, but when he does exit, we will have all lost something. His presence here is the movie's heart, especially as the story allows us to see more into his mind. Amy Adams is a great presence as well, as she brings the correct blend of stubbornness and grace that makes her character work. Justin Timberlake and John Goodman are both good in supporting roles, bringing further depth to the story. As a father of a daughter, it is special also to see the connection between these two, especially when it comes to baseball.
In the movie, Clint Eastwood plays Gus Lobel, a veteran scout for the Atlanta Braves who, like Eastwood himself, is getting on in years. He has a highly uneasy relationship with his only child Mickey (named after Mickey Mantle, and played very well by Amy Adams). Mickey had been shipped away by her father after her mother had died. He didn't know how to cope, so he sent her away to relatives. Gus is beginning to lose his eyesight, and his employers have begun to doubt his ability to do his job. They send Gus out on a scouting trip to check out a hot high school prospect in North Carolina. Unbeknownst to Gus, the Braves also send a young hot shot numbers cruncher to make sure Gus gets the job done and signs the hot prospect. Gus' friend and colleague Pete (John Goodman) contacts Mickey to see if she can accompany Gus on the trip because he is worried about him. The problem with this scenario for Mickey is that she has just landed a promotion at her law firm, and the expectations on her are high, so the last thing she should be doing after landing the promotion is going off to North Carolina. While on the road, Gus comes upon Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), a scout for the Red Sox who is also checking about the hot shot high school prospect. Gus knows Johnny because he had once drafted him for the Braves, but Johnny's arm gave out, and he ended up going into the life of scouting. These plot elements all set up a somewhat predictable outcome, as the father and daughter are forced to deal with old painful issues, and the old scout is forced to show his stuff to the young hot shots.
In an era when there are two distinct schools of thought about baseball which are beginning to merge, this movie takes a highly romantic view of baseball. Whereas "Moneyball" was the story of one man's struggle to overcome his romanticism with science, this movie is about a man who is trying to overcome new fangled technology with old school thought. Witness, for example, Gus' advice to one young prospect: he flies the prospects family in on the Braves' dime, and the kid suddenly goes 4 for 4. Gus is not only knowledgeable about the game, but a brilliant psychologist as well (except of course, with his own daughter). All of this sets the stage for a very entertaining story which gives the audience a sentimental favorite as well as a villainous, arrogant numbers cruncher with whom Gus clashes.
Baseball is a game, like other sports, that is unpredictable. The thing that made "Moneyball" such a great movie is that it acknowledged the human element within the numbers crunching. This movie swings to the romantic side, and that's what makes it likable, but it lacks the same kind of truth. Having said that, it's a highly watchable story, and there are so many "only in the movies" type moments that we can take it for what it it: an entertaining piece of fiction. None of us know how much longer Clint Eastwood will be making movies, but when he does exit, we will have all lost something. His presence here is the movie's heart, especially as the story allows us to see more into his mind. Amy Adams is a great presence as well, as she brings the correct blend of stubbornness and grace that makes her character work. Justin Timberlake and John Goodman are both good in supporting roles, bringing further depth to the story. As a father of a daughter, it is special also to see the connection between these two, especially when it comes to baseball.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)