Keeping the faith
Submitted by Jeff Fox on June 23, 2009 - 10:12am
I really tried to enjoy Father's Day. Church was fine. Good discussion at Bible study, and then we sang one of my favorite hymns during the service. So it looked like a good day.
At 11:15, the phone rang. Did I want four Royals tickets? My 17-year-old son informed me that, yes, I did. Not that he's paying. So much for notions of watching the game in the AC while flipping through the Sunday papers and perhaps catching a nap.
It wasn't pretty, as we all know. I'm basically a full-on nerd when it comes to baseball, and even I stopped keeping score in the fourth. Or whenever it was that Pujols hit the grand slam. Let's just say that the whole experience rattled my faith (in baseball, not God).
So throw me a bone, people. I need a movie or two to pick me up. Sports-related flicks would be good but not necessary. Let me cut some of this off at the pass: I come down on the "Field of Dreams" side of the greatest-baseball-movie-EVER debate. Yes, it's sappy. I don't care. It's worth it just for the speech about America by James Earl Jones. "Bull Durham" is OK, and "The Natural" is, well, whatever. I'd rather watch "Eight Men Out." In the spirit of church and baseball, I must make a confession: My favorite sports movie, aside from "Field of Dreams," is "Slapshot," but please don't tell the folks in Bible study that I've also watched the not-cut-for-TV version. Goodness. Raunchy but funny. And the hockey team in that movie – the Chiefs – reminds me way too much of the Royals right now. I need a pick-me-up and welcome your ideas.
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Major League.
Tin Cup
Caddyshack
the benchwarmers
brewsters millions
chasing october
little big league
up for grabs
Jeff,
A few baseball movies come to mind.
The Pride of The Yankees- Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig. It is interesting to see Walter Brennan before his voice turned Falsetto as it was in The Real McCoys TV show. Also, the extremely bad acting by the little boy in the Hospitol Bed that Lou Gehrig promised to hit 2 home runs for.
Fear Strikes Out - Anthony Perkins (of Norman Bates fame) playing Jimmy Piersall. Jimmy Piersall was a radio announcer for the White Sox about 25 years ago and was pretty entertaining in a nutty kind of way.
Pride of St Louis- The Dizzy Dean Story- Richard Crenna (another Real McCoys actor) plays his brother. Worth watching for the line "He slud into second base.".
Thanks
Joe
I'm never attracted to raunchy comedic style movies; they're just not my thing and I appreciate more subtle humor. However, I kept hearing (well, reading my friends' Facebook statuses) about how wonderful and funny "The Hangover" is. I went to it with my boyfriend with no prior idea of its plot line except that it has a wonderful main cast and it's based on a hangover.
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. Though there are some raunchy parts with its R-rating, "The Hangover" is just nonstop funny moments that are actually creatively funny, not just stupid fart-jokes funny. Part of enjoying the movie so much was hearing other peoples' laughter, too. I'll definitely buy this movie on DVD because it's just a natural pick-me-up.
What funny movies do you like? What is the funnest movie ever, in your opinion?
Great question. Let's see. The first one that sprang to mind was the original "Pink Panther," which, if memory serves, has the Peter Sellers versus the Strativarius scene, plus the guy in a gorilla suit during a chase scene. Classic. I like the wry sense of humor in "Silverado." For some reason, I like "The Great Outdoors." (Maybe it's Annette Bening.) Add "Office Space," "O Brother Where Art Thou," "Fargo," "Airplane!" "Dr. Strangelove," "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Lost in America," "Shakespeare in Love," and, of course, "Some Like it Hot." I'm sure a shrink could look at this list and divine some dark meaning about which I'd rather remain ignorant.
Jeff Fox, opinion page editor, The Examiner, jeff.fox@examiner.net, 816-350-6313
Bang the drum slowly, with DeNiro
another of his is Righteous Kill its with Pacino
I can only give you one that you have not mentioned, and you may not consider it a sport movie, but I did enjoy "Rudy", the dreamer who did. I'll look for better later.
Hey MMinnoe and Civil those are good movies I love them. Rudy was one of those movies where it makes you think dreams can come true at some point. Now, Pacino and DeNiro wow now there are some dang good actors and I love how they can play all the parts that are need to make them look like a good guy, bad guy, mushy guy type thing. Just weird I think they just portrait their parts in so many ways and are great at it.
Now, to some of the movies I like are the ones with Tommy Lee Jones. Now he is another awesome actor.
Like Black Moon Rising; Coal Miner's daughter; the Fugitive; Volcano and space cowboys.
One DeNiro-Pacino movie has become one of my favorites – "Heat." DeNiro is good, Pacino is OK, and they have little screen time together. But the atmosphere of the movie just grabs me, and then there's the rest of the cast: Tom Sizemore (very good actor when he's not on drugs), Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman, Wes Studi, Jon Voight, Dennis Haysbert, Natalie Portman, Hank Azaria, Diane Venora. Even Val Kilmer is less of a stiff than normal.
Jeff Fox, opinion page editor, The Examiner, jeff.fox@examiner.net, 816-350-6313
find righteous Kill same Chem and dialog is great.... its on demand CCast
Hunted is a great TLJ flick & missing
One of my all time favorites is Princess Bride and I also love Robin Hood, Men in Tites (TIGHT tights!). I'll watch either of those any time I catch them. But I just watched Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino last weekend and I highly recommend it but make sure you have the tissues handy.
Ginger now you just named one heck of a funny movie, my daddy and I use to love watching Robin Hood, Men in Tights with Mel Brooks. I didn't get to see Grand Torino, I never get to really watch movies unless no one is home and that is never.
Eastwood was ripped off by Oscar. "Gran Torino" was well done, honest and emotionally wrenching. For my money, there were eight or ten very good movies last year – none timeless classics – and it's hard to say any one or two stood out, but "Gran Torino" would have been at or near the top of my list.
Jeff Fox, opinion page editor, The Examiner, jeff.fox@examiner.net, 816-350-6313
I saw
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Australia last night, What a stinker>>> PU