The Big Screen (Makes me Wanna Scream)

I really feel like I’m at the point now where I have almost no desire to see any movies that can best be described as ‘big budget’ or intended for ‘mass audiences.’ I don’t say this to be self-important or snobbish about my tastes (it’s all subjective anyway). But the truth of the matter is that 95% of the standard Hollywood fare simply appeals to me in no way, shape or form anymore.

I have no desire to see any goddamn thing about ‘vampires’ or ‘werewolves’ – and if I did, I’d watch any one of a bunch of movies made years or decades ago about this subject matter that were much better and didn’t involve melodramatic ‘teen angst’ or a cheap nipple thrill or two. I don’t want to watch some sub-standard remake of an 80’s classic that can never really be trumped (i.e. The Karate Kid or the original A-Team show) simply because of nostalgia or the fact that a 2000’s era redux with improved ‘this’ and specialized ‘that’ just kills part of the idea of why the original was so appealing to begin with (the ‘camp’ factor and old-school budget aspect of making that stuff back then).

I don’t want to watch another generic action flick with ridiculous, impossible high-flying stuntery that’s basically predictable, formulaic and only entertaining because of awesome special effects. I’m not somebody who goes to a movie theater primarily because a movie’s EFX kick major arse. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. Toy Story 3 was great, continuing a recent trend of grown adults taking more enjoyment in movies intended for children than ever before. Don’t get it twisted - TS3 is one of the most well-received flicks of 2010. I also am very curious to see Inception, the new psychological drama/action pic starring Leo DiCaprio. People either seem to love it or walk from it not knowing what the hell just happened, and needing another viewing to gauge how they really feel about what just transpired. But by and large, I shake my head a resounding ‘no’ to most of what Hollywood pumps out these days.

So what do I find myself going to see for the most part? Well, usually it’s either a comedy that looks genuinely funny (few and far between, unfortunately), something utterly depressing or a bit more on the sentimental side, but grounded in reality and emotion (i.e. “Winter’s Bone”, “Cyrus” or “City Island”), or a riveting or highly informative documentary (i.e. “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”).

Don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of flicks out there masquerading as high art or overly intellectualized, important pieces of film that are, in reality, just meandering, boring messes. But the indie flicks I mention above are all very strong in their own way and worth checking out in a year that’s been fairly short so far on quality big-screen works.

“Winter’s Bone” especially gets a nod for its dark, ambitious storyline (enough to depress a person by description of its synopsis alone), its outstanding acting and its unique glimpse at an uncompromising, downtrodden way of life that’s not often featured for public consumption (the ultra-poor and the crystal meth-dealers/users that inhabit the most desolate, dark corners of the Ozark Mountain area of Missouri). This flick is getting early Oscar buzz, and rightfully so, especially for the watershed performance of 17-year-old Jennifer Lawrence. She plays the lead character, Ree Dolly, a somewhat desperate but nowhere-near-hopeless teenager raising her two younger siblings while her mentally unstable mother sits around the house in a catatonic state and her meth-cooking/dealing on-the-lam father (who has put the house and property up for bond) has been released from jail. What transpires is a stirring tale of bravery and courage on the part of the main character as she is essentially caught up in a me-against-the-world scenario. Ree is trying to find her father in efforts to save what little her family has left while shady, tight-lipped locals and extended family members eye her with a sense of something more sinister than a mere ‘self-preservation’ type of caution. Gripping stuff.

What maybe makes Lawrence’s performance so impressive are the human subtleties and complexities with which she plays the main character. A 17-year-old in her position would be understandably and justifiably angry 90-95 percent of the time were this a real-life counterpart story unfolding before us. But as a girl mature way beyond her years would do, she saves the explosiveness for scenes and situations that deserve those emotions, while showing an unimaginable range of other convincing but realistic emotions for someone unwillingly caught up in her situation (vulnerability, sadness, desperation, guile, cunning and a will to live/succeed that won’t be topped by anything).

Don’t expect to walk away from “Winter’s Bone” whistling a happy tune. But you can probably expect that you won’t wish you had the last two hours of your life back, as you might after seeing the most recent ‘Twilight’ movie or ‘Jonah Hex.’

It’s a haunting experience that will possibly stay with you for a few days, but unfortunately, movies like this are far too infrequent in these times. Oh and it probably isn’t playing in a whole bunch of theaters either, so if you’re lucky enough to live in or near a city that plays indie, ballsy stuff, do yourself a favor and don’t miss this.

On a final note, after having seen this movie and upon reflection comparing it to other works similar in subject matter but dissimilar in setting, there’s something seemingly more depressing about the prospect of in-the-woods, redneck poverty compared to the plight of the urban poor. Don’t get me wrong – both appear to suck hard (fortunately for me, I don’t speak from experience). But at least in urban areas there are a greater number of opportunities, organizations and people who are attempting to help the less fortunate. In the world of “Winter’s Bone” (or at least the filmmakers would have us believe), there’s nothing but a code of silence and an unwillingness by anyone to deviate from the don’t-ask-don’t-tell attitude of these folks who are either defeated by life or blissfully ignorant in their microcosm of drugs, alcohol, public assistance and an inability or lack of motivation to live a better life. This is powerful stuff, so beware.

So Check it Out

Just a few words on this ridiculous, overblown and now completely over-covered, oversaturated (and over-everything else) LeBron James situation.

Pretty much everyone has weighed in on this by now, and LeBron is apparently a pariah of the worst kind in the state of Ohio (particularly in Cleveland). In less than 24 hours, he went from the most beloved savior the city of Cleveland has ever known (this is kind of sad to begin with, but it is what it is) to the most intensely hated individual as far as the eye can see.

I know this sounds as though it is being set up as a defense of King James, but that’s not totally accurate. The way in which he announced his departure from Cleveland so that he can ‘Take his Talents to South Beach’ to play with his ultra-talented buddies Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh (the latter of whom joined the Miami Heat just a couple days before LeBron’s ‘announcement’ Thursday night in a one-hour, live televised ESPN special) couldn’t have been less tactful or more heartbreaking to the Cleveland supporters. For that, Cavs fans have every right to resent LeBron James.

But the ‘aftermath’ stories I’ve read and news reports I’ve seen are a classic example of people going to extremes that can only be described as unhealthy. Burning jerseys in the streets and sending emails or calling into sports shows as if their lives are literally ruined are just a couple of examples. If the sun rises and sets in your world every day by the probability of whether your favorite professional sports team wins a championship, you need a change in perspective, as well as a few other things (and this is coming from one of the biggest sports nuts out there – ask anyone who knows me). Hey Cleveland fans - grow up and stop acting like LeBron just raped your mother and sister and then burned your house down. He’s a paid professional athlete that remained intensely loyal to your shitty team for 7 years. The Cavs’ franchise and ownership had plenty of chances to do a more adequate job of surrounding LeBron with an actual championship-caliber supporting cast. Failed. Cleveland always fails at this. They have a loser’s mentality. You don’t put all your hopes on one superstar and wait until he carries you to the promised land. You BUILD a championship around your best player or players. Look at the construction of any title-winning team over the past couple of decades for evidence of this.

Would the Patriots have won all those Super Bowls with Tom Brady and a bunch of scrubs? Would the Celtics have won two years ago without aggressively making their team better by adding the ‘New Big 3’ and a cast of solid role players? Can any championship-level team bring home the hardware with one superstar and a bunch of chicken-hearted ‘yes men’ teammates who can’t take over when the ‘superstar’ is having an off night? (I bet you can guess who I’m describing here). Sure there were times it seemed like LeBron’s heart wasn’t in it fully, and when it almost looked like he was mailing in those playoff performances in 2009 and 2010, but in some respects can you really blame him? Nobody else on that Cavs team ever showed the ability to step up. He reached the point where he just didn’t care any more. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, frankly.

For all his insane, inexplicable physical talents, LeBron still doesn’t have a ring. And if Cavs fans thought he was going to get it with their ‘good-but-not-great’ group of underachievers, then they were living in an unrealistic pipe dream world. It was a rude awakening, but it’s probably good that it happened so they can stop living in la-la land.

As for LeBron, he is also not blameless. Not by a long shot. Look, it’s clear that he shouldn’t have handled this the way he did. It became increasingly evident over the last few days that D. Wade, Bosh and LeBron had it planned out that they’d join forces somewhere (why not South Beach?). They all knew what they were doing but acted as though they were taking their time and testing the free agent waters so as not to appear so cold and callous. But we all know now what was going down. Why LeBron couldn’t have made it clear that he wasn’t returning to Cleveland days or weeks ago, while STILL not saying definitively where he WAS going, is still beyond me. Cleveland fans would have had more time to recover from the disappointment before his announcement, and he could have done this without the ‘public spectacle’ aspect of the whole thing. But if we know nothing else about him, we know that LeBron wants all eyes on him. Always. He wants to be the ‘Global Icon.’ He wanted the news of where he was going next to be THE NEWS. And guess what – it worked. But at what cost? A lot of people losing a lot of respect for him (including the entire state of Ohio). But he either didn’t foresee that consequence because of his youth and lack of maturity, or he just didn’t care.

As for Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert’s assertion that he vows that the Cavs will win a championship before LeBron does, I can only laugh my ass off at that one. Maybe Gilbert will try to sell me a bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan too. I’m not saying that Miami is a lock to win a title with these 3 guys on the same team now – I still think Boston, Orlando and the Lakers (and maybe a couple others) are better overall teams at this moment, but Miami has gutted its roster (only 8 total players on the current team) in order to attempt to build the best supporting cast it possibly can around these 3 mega-stars. I know I’m only one of many when I say I can’t wait to see how next season is going to play out. And no matter how much you hate LeBron, you know damn well you feel the same way if you’re a basketball fan also.

Oh and for the record, I was wrong! I really thought Bron-Bron was either staying put or going to Chicago. I honestly think he would have had just as strong a chance in Chi-town to win titles as he does in Miami with Wade and Bosh.

Mid-Summer Sports Drama

July is usually a dead sporting month, featuring little more than Major League Baseball action (an All-Star game that most people don’t care about aside from learning whether the AL or NL gets the home-field World Series advantage) and NFL mini-camp or player contract reports as everyone holds their collective breath knowing that another season of football is only mere weeks away.

But this is July of 2010, which means we’ve got quite a riveting World Cup Soccer Tournament going on in South Africa, as well as one of the most action-packed, star-studded free agency NBA classes that we’ve seen in years.

Of course, the U.S. was knocked out of the World Cup by Ghana in the first round of single-elimination play. And now we’re down to the semifinals, where we’ve got Germany vs. Spain (sounds about right), and … the Netherlands vs. Uruguay (uh … okay?!). Yes, so no matter what happens now, it’ll be worthy of some above-average interest. Germany and Spain are world powers in ‘futbol’, but the other two teams are not. Semi matches are Tuesday and Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., which means most of the working world here in the U.S. is going to miss them. Unless you’re savvy about watching stuff online at work while also getting stuff done and not being caught.

As for the NBA dramatics, all anybody wants to talk about is ‘Where is LeBron going?’ It’s worse than a frigging soap opera already. We understand that the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers organization is doing everything allowed by law (and probably quite a bit of stuff that isn’t) to hang onto their most prized possession. And we understand that a handful of other teams with which James has agreed to meet (Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Heat, Clippers, etc.) are all making their individual best imaginable sales pitches to persuade the superstar athlete to jump ship. There are a zillion different theories on where he’ll go and why.

But what’s most likely?

Take it from a non-expert (and why wouldn’t you?) – he’s either staying put or going to the Chicago Bulls. Above all else, LeBron has proven to be intensely loyal. There’s only so loyal a player can stay before his patience is exhausted, but we all know that the Cavs haven’t actually given him a championship-caliber supporting cast yet. If they’ve convinced him, one more time, that they can do that and are giving him a short-term deal with a boatload of cash, he may grant his beloved home-state team one more chance.

The Knicks and Nets suck too much and are going to for the next few years in order for him to agree to go to either franchise (despite the best efforts of Jay-Z, Mayor Mike and that new, Russian, multi-billionaire N.J. Nets owner), and he wants a championship now (as he damn well should, seven years into the league with his super-human abilities but no rings on his fingers).

The Clippers are just a West Coast version of the Knicks/Nets, and they’ve got a notoriously cheap, uncaring owner in Donald Sterling.

Playing with Dwayne Wade in Miami seems tempting, and those are two superstar players. But as we’ve seen year in and year out, you need more than two fantastic players to win a title. You need a strong supporting cast and deep bench. The Heat still won’t have that, even if LeBron joins them. The Heat plus LeBron would still fall to the Lakers in an NBA Finals Series, especially considering that L.A. isn’t likely to lose any pieces of their two-time defending championship team.

Who does this leave besides Cleveland to woo James? The Bulls.

Don’t think LeBron wouldn’t absolutely relish the possibility of going on a Jordan-like run in Chicago. Can he and Derrick Rose be the Jordan-Pippen for the new era? They’ve also got Joakim Noah as an exceptional post player, a feisty young team and an organization that seems committed to winning. If anyone can lure LBJ away from the state of Ohio, it’s probably Chicago. And don’t also think that LBJ wouldn’t be tantalized by the prospect and challenge of trying to be the next ‘Jordan,’ or at least eventually drawing the comparisons. He has a lot of hardware to pilfer before we can even begin having that conversation, but the fresh start in another city might be just what he needs. Don’t forget, Jordan was in the league almost as long as LeBron has been before he started piling up the trophies in the early 1990s.

Oh and Cleveland, it’s not like you don’t already know this or anything, but if you actually want to win a championship, you’ll have to do better than bringing in an over-the-hill, past-his-prime veteran (ala Shaq) to round out a supporting cast that’s not proven any ability to make a title run.

Good luck to all competitors in the LBJ Sweepstakes! Won’t be long now until we find out who wins.

Oh yeah and let’s not forget about the other super-duperstar free agent players that are on the open market right now (D-Wade, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson and several others), many of whose decisions could change the face of the league for the next several years to come.

On a closing note, the Knicks just moments ago agreed in principle with Phoenix Suns standout power forward Amare Stoudemire to a 5-year, 100-million dollar deal. Stoudemire will be reunited with Mike D’Antoni, the former Phoenix coach who left to coach the Knicks a couple years ago. This is a great get for New York, but also leaves them with limited money/negotiating power to get another big-time player. Stay tuned.