Sunday, February 1, 2009

Superbowl comments

Looked like the Cards' defense wasn't going to even slow the Steelers down on their first possession.  Good goal-line stand.

Land of the Lost is going to be a movie?  Sleestaks, anyone?

The Cardinals first possession wasn't so impressive.  Good that they're at least trying the running game.

Steelers second possession is starting like the first:  Making the Cardinals defense look silly.

Almost intercepted!  Should've been, maybe.  

No one can seem to bring Big Ben down.  Nice spiral after scrambling all over.  :(

The Steelers don't seem to have any trouble getting first downs.

First quarter passed quickly.  

Ok, Land of the Lost stars Will Farrell.   Might be really funny.

Heh - baseball reference in the Superbowl - Ted Williams' eyesight.

10-0.  Blech.

The return there isn't a good start for the Cards getting on the board.

Since Abrams is doing Star Trek, will there be lots of mysterious plot elements that never get resolved?

Warner got good time, but didn't manage to connect.  It did hit the receiver in the hands (after a dive).  

Maybe a first down here?  Yes.

Nice catch by Breaston!  Another 1st.

James gets another one after a reception.  Seems to be working much better than the running game, but they really need to keep some running going.  Holding penalties don't help, though.

Another good catch by Breaston.  Bobbled it a bit.

Hooray!  Great time to pass, decent pass, good run after the catch & good block.

Touchdown Cardinals!  Despite Warner stumbling in the backfield, as is his habit.

Now we get to see if the Cards' defense can get a stop.

Looked like they were going to manage a loss, but a great move made the tackler miss.

Nice defensive coverage.

Penalties on either side...  3rd & 17.

Yup, they got the stop.  Nice work.

Yeah, baby!  Great run back after what looked like was going to end up stuck in a corner.

James makes a good run.

Oops - chop block.  Followed by a sack on the next play.  3rd & 22.  Where's Fitzgerald?

eTrade is weird.

Hmmm...  not quite sure what happened on that reception.  The ball was short, for sure.

Great tackle immediately after the catch.  Time for another stop.  Almost grabbed Rothlisberger right after the hand-off.

Interception!  Deflected up, very helpful.

Ok, the Teleflora commercial was funny.  Talking flowers - very creepy.

Hightower looking good, diving for the 1st down.

Under a minute in the half.

Ah, good to see you, Larry F.

Oh, crap.  100 yard interception return.  It looked like the Cardinals might've taken the lead, and then a huge guy getting a huge interception and making a huge runback.  Defensive player of the year, indeed.  Warner just didn't see the coverage, I guess.

Whose bright idea was it to have a bunch of 3D halftime commercials?

How come it took so long to get Bruce Springstein at the Superbowl?  Fabulous choice. 

2nd half starts - lots to catch up.

Good run by James.

Good catch by Boldin - had to go up to get it, and got hit right after that.

Turnover, again.   Nope, incomplete pass.  

Weird Coke commercial - kind of WoW-ish or something.

The Monster.com commercial was hilarious.

Who's covering that guy down there?  Yeah, the one who got the ball.  And then got a facemask.

Roughing the passer?  No way.  The shove was a little late, but c'mon.  Crap call.

The Cards really need a turnover now.   They're not stopping anything.  Ok, they stopped that one.  They need more than one stop, though.

They finally got to Rothlisberger.  He still managed to throw the ball away & avoid an intentional grounding call.  They manage to keep them to 3.  No, maybe not - a personal foul.  Crap.  Stupid.  Now the Steelers getting 4 chances to go 5 yards.  

Batted ball, and another opportunity for an interception, but no dice.

They stopped Rothlisberger.  Good job for the defense, though they did manage to give the Steelers 3 penalties for 35 yards.  Hard to stop a team when you give them a third of the field for free.   Good work on the stop.

CareerBuilder had a good commercial, too.  Not as funny as Monster's, though.

Cute Coke commercial, reminscient of Fantasia.

3rd quarter's almost over.  The Cardinals run is going ok.  And they made another 1st down, so that's good.

Whoa, who was that Steelers player who barely fit in his helmet?

Finally, good protection & a good throw for a good gain.  The protection was too good - holding.

Yeesh, almost a blocked punt.

Finally, they get to Rothlisberger, and good pass coverage, with the exception of the holding.  This is making another stop quite a bit less likely.

Yay, a sack!  Non-trivial, getting him down.  And a stop.

Wow, really fortunate, making that catch without a fair catch call.

Hmmm....  2 completed passes in a row.  Good start.

Good run after the catch - 22 yard gain.

Fitzgerald gets a catch, but a flag.  Oh, good - defensive holding.  Cool.

Another nice catch by Fitzgerald.

So, now Warner has to avoid throwing the ball to the Steelers at the goal line.

Hightower makes it to the 1.  This might be worse than having it at the 5.  Now what?  Up to Fitzgerald?  Yeah, of course.  :>  20 - 14.

hulu - Okaaaay.  Not that I wouldn't buy Alec Baldwin as a creepy alien.

Time for a stop.  Are the Steelers just going to run it?  Nope, and they sacked Big Ben again.  Very nice work.

Yes, another stop.  Good work, Cardinals D.

MacGruber...  an SNL skit makes it to a Superbowl commercial?  At least it had old whats-his-name in it.

Flag after the completed pass...  what'd Boldin do?  Nothing - against the defense.  

Nice, another pass in the middle & run.  Ooh, saw a little bobble in the replay.

Whoa, almost an interception, on the play after a hold.  Lucky.  And another one.  3rd & 20... what are the options now?  Whatever that was, it didn't work.

The Steelers penalties don't seem to matter - half the distance to the goal when it's at the 2?

Doh!  I thought that he didn't make it out of the end-zone.  Challenge!  Should've been a safety.  Well, maybe.

Doh again!  They made the 1st down.

No, there's a penalty - holding - resulting in a safety!  Wow...

The Cardinals still need a touchdown.

Ouch - nice tackle.

Incomplete pass to Boldin.  Should've caught it, I think.

Run, Larry, run!  Woohoo!  Touchdown Cardinals!

Almost did that too fast.  The Cards now lead by 3, with 2 and a half minutes left.  The Steelers can certainly score in that time.

The Steelers start on the 22.  How are the Cardinals going to get the stop?

Another penalty - holding, again.  Lots of penalties in this game.  I read an article that implied that these two teams are cheaters, so cheaters really do win.  ;-)

Way to break up that pass, Francisco!  A product of BYU... those Y fans will be insufferable.

Blitz looked good, but they couldn't get through, and the Steelers converted for a 1st down.

Another 1st down, but the clock keeps running.

Yes, they got to Rothlisberger.  They're around mid-field now.

Ack!  Francisco falls down, and the Steelers make it to inside the 5.

49 seconds left.  The defense has to come up really huge.

They missed on the 1st attempt.  He probably should've caught that.  Holmes was really high.

No, he wasn't in play!  I don't think.  Yeah, he was - what a great catch.  :(

35 seconds left.  No way, not even Warner & Fitzgerald.  Let's watch, anyway.

77 yards in 29 seconds.  That's a really tall order.

Good pass & catch.  Time out.

Decent pass & catch.  Last time out.

Forced fumble & recovery by Pittsburg.  Now it's over.  Well, barring review.  Not quite clear from the replay - I don't think he was throwing yet.

Bummer.  What a good game, though.

















Monday, June 30, 2008

Leann Rimes concert review

Leann Rimes concert

Admittedly, I'm not a country music fan. I do own a Johnny Cash album, and I did buy a Dixie Chicks album (whole 'nother story I'm not getting into right now), but I'm pretty clueless when it comes to country music. So, when a friend of mine scored a couple of free tickets to see Leann Rimes, I said, "Ok, that could be fun."

It was. She has a great voice, her backing band was solid, and there was some variety in the music I wasn't expecting. I think I understood about a quarter of the lyrics. Maybe it's her accent, and maybe it's her enunciation (or lack thereof). I could catch most of the choruses (chori?), but even those kind of blurred together. She did play at Abravanel Hall, which has good acoustics, to put it mildly. That makes me think my ears weren't suffering from loud (it wasn't) concert distortion.

I was thinking about picking up an album of hers, to see if I can hear anything more, but I'm not that motivated. I'm not sure which album would be a good choice, either. Maybe if I'm kicking around GrayWhale, I'll pick one up used.

Get Smart review

Get Smart review

First things first: As a kid, I absolutely despised the Get Smart TV show. Way, way too stupid. I was a serious kid, I guess. This movie was quite dumb, too, but a lot of fun in the process. Steve Carell was born to play the part (sorry, Steve) of Maxwell Smart. There were a lot (a lot) of laugh-out-loud spots. It'd be even better with beer.

The highlight of the movie, of course, was Anne Hathaway. Holy smokes. I don't know whether the original series had Agent 99 being much more competent than Smart, but it isn't hard to imagine. She had a fun interview on Leno, pushing the movie - very funny.

One pleasant surprise was The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) as the super-macho (yeah, that's a stretch) field agent. He was a riot, playing it straight. Come to think of it, it seemed like everyone played it straight, which made it pretty funny. He also had a very funny interview on Leno - what is it about that guy? You'd think he was a comedian or something. ;-)

Iron Man review

Iron Man review

I finally got to see this last weekend. Everyone I'd talked to enjoyed it, and I'd seen lots of good reviews, so I was ready to be impressed. It was good, and it was fun. Some points:

  • Yeah, Robert Downey is perfect as Tony Stark - arrogant, swaggering rich boy.
  • Fabulous supporting cast:
    • Jeff Bridges as the bald second in command with facial hair. Obviously, the bad guy.
    • Gweneth Paltrow as the boss' personal assistant. Some good lines, a nice dress, but a little too much the comic-book cliche. They did make fun of that during the movie, though, which was cute.
    • Leslie Bibb as the nosy, annoying investigative journalist. Yes, very hot.
  • All that said, the bad guys weren't quite bad enough. Iron Man ends up fighting... another iron man. It did have the feel of Robocop, with the hero being the smaller, less powerful version, figuring out a way to defeat the bigger, tougher version.
  • The fight scenes were fabulous. 'Nuff said.
  • The scenes where Stark is trying to figure out the controls on his new suit were tense and hilarious. The robot assistants were great.
I think I need to catch this one again at Brewvies. Maybe I'll do that after seeing The Hulk. When's a movie coming out about The Avengers? No, the comic book Avengers, not Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg (and I think there was a movie version of that series, but I didn't catch it).

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Lots of movies

I'm so far behind on my movie reviews, I'm going to go the quick and dirty route. See below. No, I don't know why there's all that dead space in there.



















































































MovieGenreRatingBlurb
Flags of Our Fathers
War
Excellent
Heroes from battle of Iwo Jima are used to sell war bonds
Letters From Iwo Jima
War
Even better
That same battle from the Japanese perspective
The Last King of Scotland
History
Excellent
Forest Whitaker is amazing playing Idi Amin. A friend of mine asked,
"King of Scotland? He is black?" ;-)
Doctor Jeckyll and Mister Hyde
Horror
Good
Classic with Spencer Tracy
American Gangster
Crime
Very good
Great late 60s / early 70s feel in a different type of gangster movie
SuperBad
Comedy
Good
Funny, gross, silly, McLovin
Ratatouille
Comedy
Great
Animated tale of a cooking rat in Paris. Some of the graphics were terrifying - the rats looked way too real. Some were just striking, e.g. Ego's trip back to his childhood.
License to Wed
Romantic Comedy
Ok
Predictable but cute. Robin Williams is a blast, as he usually is.
Bad Santa
Crime Comedy
Raunchy
Yes, "Raunchy" is a rating. Very crude, with some extremely funny bits. Lauren Graham was great.
Waiting...
Comedy
Ok
Describes the wonderful work environment in a not-quite-fast-food restaurant
Kevin Smith Speaks
Lecture
Good
If you're a fan, it's fabulous. He does the lecture circuit, stopping at a number of universities. He's very engaging.
Babel
Drama
Very good
Interesting interweaving stories
3:10 to Yuma
Western
Good
Apparently a remake. Kind of has that feel of an old western. Gritty, but not to the degree of an Unforgiven.


Too many movies

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Balls of Fury review

This'll be brief. If you like old martial arts movies, or ping-pong, or both, this movie is very funny. Christopher Walken is hilarious, way over the top (unusual, right...), and eminently believable as the megalomaniac bad guy (yes, quite a stretch for him). Dan Fogler is funny, though I don't know I've seen him anywhere else. IMDB to the rescue again. No, not much that isn't brand-new. The real reason guys will enjoy this movie, though, is Maggie Q, who also made an appearance the earlier reviewed Die Hard sequel.

Worth a rental, especially if you have plenty of beer and maybe a ping-pong table available after the viewing.