Posts

Cinematic Throwbacks: April 1996/2006

Image
1996: The 80s and 90s were the glory days of the pulpy, often sleazy studio thriller. But they were all starring adults and dealing with adult things. We youths needed our own version, and we got it with Fear, a real blast of a movie. This is teen Fatal Attraction. Innocent high school girl Reese Witherspoon falls for the initially nice older guy, Mark Wahlberg, but then to the surprise of no one he turns out to be a total psycho, in those ways that only movie villains ever are. This movie could easily veer into total trash, but it has a lot going for it. It was made by a legitimate director, James Foley, who had made Glengarry Glen Ross just a few years earlier. I really like the Pacific Northwest setting. I really like how the parents (William Petersen and Amy Brenneman) are fleshed out as actual people.  The casting was really canny. Wahlberg had begun to get into acting, but was still mostly known as Marky Mark, and we had a year to go before Boogie Nights. His care...
Post a Comment
Read more

April movie reviews

In theaters: THE DRAMA Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are about to get married, but then a dirty secret gets revealed. I mostly enjoyed this movie, despite the fact that I had a hard time buying the aforementioned secret would make anybody on screen act the way they do.  FACES OF DEATH Not so much a remake of the infamous original as a meta sequel. It's alright. I saw it for the inimitable Barbie Ferreira, who is good in it. Movie ends up following some standard slasher beats.  LORNE Entertaining documentary about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. They got just about everybody to go on camera and talk about him, and some of the best parts are the former cast members just cracking jokes.  MOTHER MARY The latest A24 oddity stars Anne Hathaway as a troubled pop star trying to get her estranged friend and dressmaker (Michaela Coel) to make her an outfit for a special performance. I was kind of intrigued by the first half of this, which gave off Phantom Thread vibes. B...
Post a Comment
Read more

Minnesota Vikings have good draft to spite their fans

The 2026 Vikings draft was unlike any in their history. It was conducted without a set GM, since that position has not been filled after the somewhat surprising firing of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah a few months ago. Cap genius Rob Brzezinski was the main man for this draft, I suppose auditioning for the full-time job.  I think he made himself a true contender with the work he did over the 3 days. But I guess I'm in the minority, because for 3 days it was just bitch bitch bitch nonstop from most Vikings fans. The bitching began in round 1, when the Vikings took Caleb Banks, a DT, instead of perhaps a safety. Banks has had some injury issues that knocked his stock down a bit, but if healthy he can be an amazing talent at a position of even greater need than safety. But fans were irate we drafted Banks  cause none of the godly mocks had predicted he would be the pick. Day two was also packed with the potential for immediate impact. In the 2nd round we took Jake Golday, a playmaking lineb...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swept back to reality

Reds 7 Twins 4 10 innings Well, what was your favorite "The 2026 Minnesota Twins are above .500" moment?  A homestand that began with the Twins blasting the Red Sox and briefly having the best record in the AL concluded Sunday with the Twins choking away another game to the Reds and getting swept out of Target Field.  The good vibes are gone.  Sunday's game was virtually a rerun of Saturday. The Twins lead most of the game, then the bullpen blows it in the end. Bailey Ober had a really good start, going 6+ with 1 run allowed and 10 strikeouts. The lineup scratched across a few runs. It looked like that would be enough to avoid the sweep and split the homestand. The Twins demolished and yet to be rebuilt bullpen has been much discussed. They've already reached into AAA for reinforcements, and one of them, Andrew Morris, pitched a scoreless 8th. Then Derek Shelton sent him back out for the 9th, and...oh boy. Morris gave up a pair of singles to open the inning, then afte...
Post a Comment
Read more

The demolition and rebuilding of the Lynx

The WNBA has entered a new world, of fatter contracts and expansion teams. And it's TEARING ME APART!  Well, okay, I'm fine, but it has been quite a week and change for Lynx fans like myself.  It started with the expansion draft. I hated how they did this before free agency, cause the Lynx (as did all teams) had to protect players who were actually free agents. I still don't really understand it.  The 1st pick to the Portlan Fire was Bridget Carleton. I figured she was gone anyway, and she did have a disappointing 2025, but I was still sad to see her go.  The Toronto Tempo (atrocious name) took Maria "Masha" Kliundikova from us.  Then, the actual free agency came, and it was a bloodbath of departures. Alanna Smith to Dallas. Jessica Shepard to...also Dallas. Natasha Hiedeman to Seattle. Dijonai Carrington to Chicago. Everybody was leaving. I get that this was the 1st chance for these players to get the kind of money they got. Lan and Shepard got max deals. I get...
Post a Comment
Read more

Twins springing surprises

TWINS 13 RED SOX 6 My 1st Twins game of 2026 was to see a ballclub that entered the game with the best record in the American League. But it wasn't the Red Sox.  Somehow, the Twins, who entered 2026 with rock bottom expectations, and then began to live up to them with a largely listless 3-6 start, swept a 4 gamer from Detroit and took 2 of 3 in Toronto heading into Monday's game. And yes, that made them a modest 9-7, which tied them with Cleveland for the best in the league.  Make it 10-7, after the most stunning win of the young season, a demolition of Sox ace Garret Crochet. The Twins' resurgent bats began teeing off right away. 4 hits, a walk, an HBP, and an error led to a 4 run 1st.  The 2nd was even more of a bloodbath, with a bases loaded Josh Bell double, a 3 run Victor "The Great" Caratini homerun, and then a Ryan Kreidler solo shot as the cherry on top. Finally, Crochet was pulled. At 11-0, I was hoping the Twins would set a new record for most runs score...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cinematic Throwbacks: March 1996/2006/2016

Image
1996: The 90s was a golden age of movies made in Minnesota. My personal favorite is Beautiful Girls, but a movie being made here at the same time is pretty much the unquestioned most significant film of the era. Fargo, written and directed by local boys Joel and Ethan Coen, is widely acclaimed as one of the best films of the decade. Somehow, I didn't see this in theaters, at least not at the time (I did see a 25th anniversary screening). I have no idea how that happened. I knew the Coens. The movie got a lot of attention. Siskel and Ebert raved about it. The very beginning of the movie says it's based on a true story. It's not, but that's the kind of thing you could still get away with in 1996. It's a whole complicated kidnapping plot, where William H. Macy hires a pair of crooks (Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife, to ransom money from his father in law. Everything goes haywire, and people die, and in comes police chief Frances McDormand ...
Post a Comment
Read more