Baseball: The Tenth Inning (2010)

In 1994 Ken Burns released a 19 hour documentary about the entire history of baseball. I watched the entire thing this past summer, reviewed HERE. To my surprise he released a "10th inning" continuation to the series, originally airing on PBS the last week of September. The "Top" of the inning is a 2 hour documentary about baseball from 1992 to 1999. And the "Bottom" of the inning is an hour and a half documentary on baseball from 1999 to 2009. I will discuss them in two parts, since they are quite different in my opinion.

So the top of the inning actually features a lot of different stuff. It talks about the Latin influence on the game, the strike of 1994, and how Cal Ripken, Jr. saved the game. OK, saved the game might be a little far, how about restored America's faith in baseball. I thought the top of the tenth did a great job talking about a lot of different teams. If went into the Atlanta Brave's dominance over their division, the Marlins run from the wild card spot to the World Championship. It went into the Diamondback vs. Yankees, and had a great feel of covering the entire league's development.

The bottom of the tenth was another story. The White Sox, Phillies, and Cardinals all won World series this last decade. Rather than talk about 10 different teams winning in a 10 year span we focused on the Yankees and Red Sox. By focus I mean this was all about the Northeast, sorry midwest, have you heard of this game called baseball yet? I found it almost offensive that it had such a narrow scope. Sure there was a lot about the steroid era. A lot of time on the Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa home run race. But the focus was all on the Red Sox coming back from a 3-0 hold in the ALCS to win 8 straight to their first World Series in almost a century. I get it, it was important. I just thought that once again, just like the EASTERN sports Network [ESPN] the whole focus was on east coast sports, forgetting everyone else.

This is still very much worth watching, and something that my kids will probably enjoy 10-15 years from now when the 11th inning comes out.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link(s):
Top of the Inning: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1738421/
Bottom of the Inning: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1777725/

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Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

With the announcement of the Oscar Documentary Short list, a list of the 15 finalists to get one of five Oscar nominations, I have started to look into watching these films. This one, considered by a few to be a front runner at the award this year, is one of the few already out on dvd.

The film is about an amateur film maker who followed street artists around. A man with no real ambition to create a film, but that was more obsessed with filming everything he saw. He starts by following around some pretty amateur graffiti artists, with little talent, and moderate levels of trust. As he learned more and more about this underground group of self proclaimed artists, he learned of an actual artist who made graffiti art famous.

His name is Banksy, and even if you don't watch this film you should check out his website to see some of his work. He is famous for painting on the Gaza Strip and pulling some complicated stunts, including hanging his own artwork in some of the most famous museums in the world.

The concept of turning the documentary back on the eccentric and nutty French-man that eventually becomes a fraud was pretty fun. Will this film get a nomination? I don't think so. The academy likes to pick films that actually make a positive impact on society and have a good message. Although a fun watch, I don't think this makes any sort of statement. See for yourself, it is not even an hour and a half long.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/

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Man Push Cart (2005)

Sometimes simple drama, character studies can be the most interesting films of the year. Ebert seemed to think so when he saw this one at a festival, liked it so much, and featured it in his own festival later that year in Chicago. Another one that I happened across at the library, and one of Ebert's top 10 films of the year. Upon finding it I was actually very interested in it and excited to watch it.

The story is simple, it is about a Pakistani man who owns and operates a push cart in downtown New York City. He wakes up in his small single room apartment in the middle of the night. Travels downtown, gets to the warehouse, cleans and stocks his push cart, then drags it through the city to his usual corner. It is an interesting look at a lifestyle completely foreign to me, and made the first part of this film very interesting.

The film never fully explains the mans story. It is short, with a runtime of 87 minutes, and never makes an emotional connection with the audience. Maybe this is the point, but the film seemed to detour to an almost romance. Things don't work out, as usual for this man, and his existence stays about the same through the course of the film. I guess I wanted more, I wanted some better conclusions and plot development. The acting was authentic, and the story compelling at time. I can't see suggesting it because the build up in my own head about how good this was going to be saved it from being really boring.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464105/

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Toy Story 3 (2010)

I've noticed myself hating on Pixar for no reason lately. I think people are tired of seeing them win everything. Personally I get annoyed because my favorites (like Ratatouille) get less recognition than the ones I didn't like (Up or Cars). Before watching this one I watched and reviewed the two previous films in the [now] trilogy again.

I have to honestly say that this is my favorite in the series. It is now my favorite for the Animated Oscar and I'm on the Pixar bandwagon this year. The plot and storyline were well developed. The moved the story forward to the toy's owner, Andy, growing up and leaving for college. It is attic, charity, or trash for the toys, and after a mix up it is an adventure to stay together.

I loved it, it was a great sequel in an era where sequels are weak at best. As for the Kids Scare factor, there are some moments that the villain toys at the daycare would scary little ones. It was definitely made for those that have grown up with Toy Story 2 to watch, so the maturity level needs to be higher.

Vote: 9/10, KSF: 3/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435761/

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Predators (2010)

I'm not sure how to describe why I didn't like this movie. I didn't hate it, and the cast was likable for the most part. I just thought that rather than have plot holes they just decided to tell us nothing. We don't know why they are on a mystery planet. We don't know why they are being hunted, other than to "learn"... really?!?

The film has a good cast with Adrien Brody, Topher Grace (That 70's Show main character), Laurence Fishburne, and Alice Braga. I thought that they were miscast though. Brody as an action hero? Grace's character was not realistic at all, and his storyline ended dumb.

The action was fun, the explosions were big, and I had zero expectations from this movie. A 6 is generous, and would be worth checking out if it came on tv.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424381/

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I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

Nominated for the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and one of Eberts favorite films of 2008, I happened across this film at the library and since it was fairly short I gave it a shot.

Let me start by saying that there are some opinions expressed in this documentary that can easily be argued as not the approach our country needs to take. They place blame on our financial crisis on this that might not necessarily the main reason. They do however NOT blame China, and address that our fear in China is exaggerated but somewhat realistic.

This film is all about the national debt and how the National Budget is dangerously high. No matter how you slice it, we are spending the next generations money, and we are sinking into a financial hole that we may never get out of.

Almost a horror film in some ways because the stark reality that our kids might be broke and that we will not have Social Security in 50 years is pretty scary. I enjoyed the film, and will leave it up to you to decide how realistic all of these problems really are.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963807/

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Happy Together: Chun gwong cha sit (1997)

This film makes Brokeback Mountain look like a G rated film. It opens with a sex scene that made me walk out of the room. I waited for it to end to come back in, then had to decide if I should even bother watching the rest of the film. The Asian couple are then looking for a waterfall and get lost, they break up and go through this strange relationship throughout the film. Sleeping around to get back at each other, laying around their slum apartment most of the day.

I really failed to understand the point of this movie. There are even scenes were we just watch a waterfall in silence for several minutes. Some scenes are in black-and-white, other in color, usually when the leading actor is in a good mood. I think film students have put this film on a pedestal for its usage of color. I can't seem to find merit anywhere else.

Part of the filmspotting forum's top 100 films of all time, I'm starting to wonder if that list has any merit. You have been warned.

Vote: 2/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118845/

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