The Dailies 8/31/09: Welcome to Forest Whitaker's House!

Welcome to the latest edition of the Dailies. I went to the local cinema since the last column and viewed a couple of films through the magic of Netflix. Let’s take a look.

Trailerz

The Conversation (1974) – Dir: Francis Ford Coppola. Principles: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Harrison Ford

The Conversation features Gene Hackman in one of his finest roles, that of surveillance expert Harry Caul. Hackman’s character is tasked with recording the conversation of a young couple, and he soon realizes that his work may bring them into great danger. The Conversation has some tremendous scenes of great power, including a memorable finale, and Hackman’s performance as the low-rent spy alienated from pretty much all human interaction is more than a winner. It’s a bit too obtuse, however. It’s very slow and the material between the film’s stronger scenes isn’t very captivating. A lot of people whose opinions I trust love this film, so perhaps I need to see it again, but outside of Hackman’s performance nothing jumped out at me as being very special. B-.

Inglorious Basterds (2009) – Dir: Quentin Tarantino. Principles: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Eli Roth

This summer’s foremost revenge fantasy film (the one where the Jews turn the tables on the Nazis) is a bit of a departure for its auteur, Mr. Tarantino. His customary over-the-top violence and scenes of squirminess are largely replaced in Inglorious Basterds with more scenes of sharp dialogue. This dialogue is often brilliant, and when it fires on all cylinders, the film benefits greatly. An opening scene of a French farmer being quizzed by an SS officer about the Jews living under his floorboards is incredible. Tarantino has a gift for creating tense moods and uses his words to create uneasy feelings of foreboding between various sets of characters. The acting is very strong, as well. Brad Pitt continues to be likable as Lt. Aldo Raine, a Southerner with Apache blood who lives to kill Nazis. Christoph Waltz plays the aforementioned SS officer to perfection. The problem with Inglorious Basterds is the same problem that affected The Conversation. There are many great scenes, but the material in between them cannot sustain the momentum. Add in a nearly three hour length and there are extended periods of relative boredom which hurt enjoyment of the film greatly. B.

Feature Presentation

The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Principle Actors: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney

Movies about ruthless dictators are way too easy. They usually take place in some godforsaken corner of the world, where the masses live in squalor and dead bodies line the streets. The dictator is usually demented and paranoid, and his subjects completely powerless to stop him. Obligatory scenes of the dictator performing some horrid act on a woman or child set the tone of the film: he’s a bad guy.

I resent films that simplify these situations so much because there are actual people like this that have existed and continue to exist. Showing the dictator cutting a child’s ear off takes the thought out of the film; I’m much more interested as to why he’s compelled to do that. Most films are content to show us that warlords and dictators are psychopaths by their actions and expect us to instinctively loathe that character without really getting their motivation. This type of approach can indeed be effective; Lord of War took this approach and worked quite well. In The Last King of Scotland, however, it was nice to finally see a film that tried to tackle the man and not just his deeds.

The man is former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (played with gusto by Forest Whitaker), and The Last King of Scotland follows the relationship between he and his Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy), who comes to the position largely by happenstance. It’s loosely based on a true story, but that’s not important. The film volunteers to show us what a man like Amin is like, whether or not he actually was like how he is portrayed here.

For a film about 1970s Uganda, The Last King of Scotland isn’t very violent. Reprisals and consequences for those who dare oppose Amin are carried out behind closed doors and in dialogue between the dictator and his doctor. The film doesn’t feel the need to delve into the customary shots of mountains of dead bodies or kids being gunned down. Only once do we see a particularly brutal image, of a corpse with all of its limbs severed, and that is done at the perfect time and to great effect. The film doesn’t rely on shock value and works much better because of this.

Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Amin. He plays him straight. He’s not an over the top nutcase. He’s friendly, polite and generous, though we sense there’s something lurking under the surface that isn’t so nice. McAvoy plays a good foil for him and never gets swallowed by Whitaker’s huge performance. The film follows their relationship as it moves from initial highs to total disintegration; Amin’s gradual lunacy and Garrigan’s guilt and feelings of complicity toward Amin’s atrocities make up the brunt of the film.

I’ve always been interested in colonialism and African history. Though The Last King of Scotland takes liberties with real events, it was refreshing to watch something that at least attempted to give me a view of the psyche of a man like Amin. It’s not a terribly complicated film; it’s easy to follow and the important themes are right there to see. But it’s truthful, and it takes a unique approach to an interesting subject. I can’t fault it for that.

B+

John Lacey

Shit from the 90s #4: British Knights!

British Knights was a popular line of footwear that was almost as omnipresent as the first Gulf War, Crystal Pepsi and Jesus combined in the early 1990s. If you were a child or adolescent growing up at that time it’s a given that you either owned, or desperately wanted, a pair of British Knights.

If I had to compare British Knights to something more contemporary, I would point to Sketchers from earlier in this decade. Both were trendy lines of footwear that turned heads, were poorly made by sweatshop labor in some godforsaken corner of southeast Asia and sold at incredibly inflated prices. I suppose the same could be said of Nike or Adidas, but at least those brands have an above average track record of performance at all levels of organized sport around the world.

Founded in 1980 by Jack Schwartz Shoes Inc. of New York, British Knights (or BKs as they were commonly called) were first released in the United States in 1986. The brand didn’t begin to garner recognition though until the early 1990s when the shoes and related apparel were prominently displayed in hip-hop music videos by the likes of Public Enemy and MC Hammer(yes, those two acts were just mentioned in the same sentence.) In fact, Hammer did several commercials for British Knights at the pinnacle of his career and earned $138 million for troubles. This may help to explain how he could afford the ostentatious home and wardrobe that were the hallmarks of his image.

In addition to the commercial spots from Hammer, BKs were an ever-present prize for contestants on several Nickelodeon game shows of the period including Double Dare, GUTS, and Nick Arcade. They were essentially the door prize for goons that couldn’t complete Double Dare’s famed obstacle courses, or the almost impossible series of challenges that concluded each episode of Nick Arcade. I can only assume that several children were greeted by Nickelodeon producers following the tapings of these shows with words along the lines of, “Hey kid, your lack of athletic ability cost you that trip to space camp. But chin up! Here’s a pair of British Knights!”

British Knights reached the apex of its popularity with the release of the Dymacel line in early 1992. The shoes were memorable because they had a cushion of green silicon embedded in the sole that was visible through diamond shaped windows. Dymacels were intended to compete with the Nike Air and Reebok Pump lines. Much like those shoes, the Dymacel “technology” provided no degree of increased functionality whatsoever. Despite this, they looked really cool and as an eight year-old kid you wanted a pair almost as much as an ice cream truck to jackknife in front of your house.

The executives pushing Dymacels even went so far as to pay professional athletes to endorse the line, a first for British Knights. But whereas Nike had Michael Jordan and Reebok had Shaquille O’Neal, British Knights had Derrick Coleman (one of the biggest flops in the history of the NBA draft) and Xavier McDaniel. Although Dymacels sold marginally well, the stature of these spokesmen correlated nicely with the later failure of the Dymacel line.

The decline of British Knights began in the mid-1990s when one of America’s foremost street gangs, the Crips, adopted the shoes as part of their wardrobe and the BK logo itself to indicate “Blood Killer.” As a result, schools and universities banned British Knights shoes and apparel in an attempt to curb gang violence amongst youths. In 1996, Jack Schwartz Shoes licensed the British Knights trademark to a German consortium that marketed the brand as a discount skate shoe sold in department stores. Once one of the top-five selling shoe brands in America, BKs had fallen from that lofty perch to become something akin to Keds.

In 2008, Jack Schwartz Shoes brought British Knights back by re-releasing their incredibly successful 1989 shoe line with such models as Leader, Ultra and Kings SL. The shoes are currently being sold at British Knights official website as a novelty shoe for collectors. So if you have $100 dollars, an old pair of Zoobas and a copy of “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em,” you too can kick it like it’s 1991 all over again.

Matt McDonough

The Random Ten #12

Yes, it’s a dual Random Ten today, which actually makes this a Random Twenty. Matt and I both put our iTunes on shuffle and listened to the first ten songs that came up, just for you. I assume his list will be a little more metal-centric, but you never know what you’re going to get on shuffle! Let’s take a look.

Matt #1) Arcturus - "Ad Astra" - La Masquerade Infernale (1997)

Arcturus received a lot of hype within the metal underground back in 1997 when La Masquerade Infernale came out. They were lumped in with the black metal scene, due to many members being from Norway and having done time in bands such as Borknagar and Ulver, yet one listen to “Ad Astra” reveals a far more complex band than what was expected of black metal at the time. The tune opens with mostly classical instrumentation and drum machines, creating a very sinister, low-key ambience. In fact, the song is hardly metal, although it does feature some nice lead guitar melodies in its first 4 minutes. The strings take a back seat to a piano at about 4 minutes in. The vocals finally start 5:15 into the song, and they are also set back in the mix. The drums take on a very metallic style, yet the music is still dominated by the classical instruments. This was groundbreaking stuff to come out of the metal world, and it still holds up today. The band only releases albums every 6 or 7 years it seems, but I look forward to hearing from Arcturus again.

John #1) The White Stripes – “Union Forever” – White Blood Cells (original issue 2001, reissue 2002)

The White Stripes are one of my favorite bands, and I always enjoy listening to them, but I never actually think to put them on. This track from their third album has a riff that sounds like it comes from a bad old horror film, with brief periods of musical explosion for punctuation. This is certainly not the brightest song ever; it basically features Jack White moaning about love being a crock of shit or something like that. It eventually inexplicably devolves into White reciting (without musical accompaniment) one of the numbers from Citizen Kane (the “there is a man, a certain man…” song everyone sings about Charles Foster Kane in that film). It’s oddly cool, but it really isn’t much of a song.

Matt #2) Judas Priest - "Genocide" - Unleashed In The East (1979)

Upping the speed and intensity of one of Sad Wings of Destiny’s best tracks, “Genocide” sounds absolutely rocking on this version from Priest’s first live album, Unleashed in the East. The guitar work of Tipton and Downing sounds crisp and dangerous, as opposed to the muddy and sterile sound on the studio version. I had the pleasure of seeing frontman Rob Halford’s solo band, Halford, perform this Priest classic in 2000 when they were opening for Iron Maiden (a show which my fellow blog collaborator John Lacey also attended), and it still sounded great. This song goes overlooked in Priest live sets today, but it’s got some great riffs, and an absolutely classic vocal performance from Halford himself.

John #2) Chavez – “Flight 96” – Ride The Fader (1996)

This album was given to me by my good friend Brendan Leonard at our Providence College alumni weekend nearly two years ago, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard any of it. “Flight 96” truly sounds mid-90s. Its guitar riff is really good and sounds similar to what a lot of great alternative/indie bands were doing at that time. Like many of those same bands, Chavez features fairly abrasive guitars, fairly clean vocals, and an interesting theme repeated a number of times (perhaps too many). We get a twist in the middle with a Wilco-like guitar solo, one of those that sounds like it’s going to fall apart at any time (similar to the one in “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” from A Ghost Is Born). After four minutes the riff and song take a heavier and darker tone that punches things up a bit, but everything eventually sounds a bit monotonous and boring.

Matt #3) Audioslave - “Out of Exile” - Sessions @ AOL Music (2005 bootleg)

Audioslave debuted in 2002 with a solid self-titled effort that I quite enjoyed. I was less impressed with their second effort, Out of Exile, however, I did like a few songs from the release. The title track was one that I enjoyed. This live-in-the-studio rendition showcases how great the 3 guys from Rage Against the Machine are at performing in any setting; unfortunately, it also showcases how Chris Cornell is not too much of a live vocalist these days. He struggles through the choruses mightily, but the band sounds great. The best thing about this Sessions… performance is when the band tackles Rage’s “Sleep Now in the Fire.” If you haven’t heard Chris Cornell attempt rapping, it’s hilarious. I envy anyone who got to see Audioslave perform “Killing in the Name” live at any point in time. It must have been comedy gold.

John #3) The Beatles – “Any Time At All” – A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

I still have a hard time coming around to the early work of the Beatles. It has its moments, but it’s too steeped in the big smile lovey dovey pop crap of the 50s for me to warm up to. A lot of early Beatles songs, like this one, have some great pieces that are compromised by on the nose sentimentality and an endless procession of “baby”s. There’s just too much sheen to it, though I can understand why people lost their minds about them at the time. To the song’s credit, there is a nice guitar/piano dual bridge about ¾ of the way through.

Matt #4) Nine Inch Nails - “31 Ghosts IV” - Ghosts I-IV (2008)

Ghosts I-IV was an ambitious project that Nine Inch Nails released in various forms, from a free download to a 4 CD box set that cost around $50. Long story short, Trent Reznor recorded 4 CDs worth of instrumental tracks and released them to his fans via the internet only. It was a bold move, but the surprising thing was that a lot of the tracks were good, some even great. “31 Ghosts IV”, one of the last tracks on the entire set, is one of the best. It is driven by a heavy synth and bass riff, reminiscent of something from the Broken EP, and also features some inventive soloing, not something NIN was ever really known for. The great thing about Ghosts was that most of the songs were in the 2-3 minute range, so they never really wore out their welcome. It works great as background music, which Trent himself sort of described the set as, but it also works if you sit and listen closely.

John #4) Lou Reed – “Oh Jim” – Berlin (1973)

It’s amazing how clearly you can hear Lou Reed’s influence on punk bands just by listening to one of his songs. “Oh Jim” features minimalistic drumming and bass and Reed’s signature nonchalant delivery. About half of the punk and post-punk bands I’ve heard have borrowed Reed’s vocal style. “Oh Jim” gives us a really strong guitar solo that intertwines with a horns section and gradually fades into an acoustic finale dedicated to some guy named Jim. Another interesting oddity.

Matt #5) Mastodon - “Circle of Cysquatch” - Blood Mountain (2006)

Opening with a high-pitched, dissonant riff, “Circle of Cysquatch” was one of the few tracks on Blood Mountain that would have fit okay on Mastodon’s debut Remission. The band had evolved tremendously by this, their third album, but they hadn’t lost their edge or intensity by any means, as the crushing riffs starting at 2:18 will showcase. This song is fairly short and might not hold up against some of their other heavy classics, but it’s a solid track nonetheless.

John #5) Grateful Dead – “Big River” – One From The Vault (recorded 1975, released 1991)

FYI: this was the album playing the first time I ever got “lifted”. But, uh, I never touch the stuff anymore.

Anyway, this kicks ass. Great harmonizing, great guitars, and a great old-timey feel. People make fun of Deadheads, often justifiably, for their appearance, shabby clothes, smell, social status, idiocy, etc. But I don’t understand how anyone can make fun of their dancing after hearing a song like this. It’s impossible not to dance when something like “Big River” comes on. Classic Dead; great stuff.

Matt #6) Soundgarden - “Fell on Black Days” - Superunknown (1994)

This could be my favorite Soundgarden song, although they have so many great ones to choose from. I can’t believe a song so bleak and bluesy was such a big hit, but I guess that just shows the power of a great song by a great band. Chris Cornell sounds absolutely perfect here – smooth in the verses and menacing and vulnerable at the same time in the choruses and bridge. Kim Thayil also lets it rip with the wah wah pedal on his leads, and the rhythm section laid down by Cameron and Shephard is some of the best interaction they’ve ever recorded. If you don’t know this song, you’re missing out on not just one of the best rock songs of the 90’s, but of all time.

John #6) Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Safeway Cart” – Sleeps With Angels (1994)

Alright, 90s Young; we’ll see how this goes. If I’m not mistaken (and I choose to guess even though I have the Internet at my fingertips), I believe Neil dedicated this album to Kurt Cobain.

Young’s always good at setting a mood, and the mood here is decidedly melancholy, using a rusty and distant harmonica to involve railroad/hobo imagery. The problem with a lot of Young’s 90s output is that the songs constantly meander around and never really go anywhere. Often they have strong riffs or good ideas that are either not elaborated on or are wasted entirely (“Loose Change” from Young’s Broken Arrow (1996), which is actually a pretty good album, is a prime example of this wastefulness). “Safeway Cart” is really 6 ½ minutes of not much going on, which was par for the course in those days for Young Neil.

Matt #7) Metallica - “The Memory Remains” - Reload (1997)

People might remember this song more for the innovative video which involved the band playing in a revolving room and a guest appearance by Marianne Faithful, but I think it’s a pretty solid, grooving hard rock track from a time when Metallica did not exactly produce a lot of quality tracks. I’m still an unabashed Metallica fanboy, so of course I like it, but I can understand why the band’s thrash metal fanbase would have vomited upon hearing a track like this. They still bust it out live occasionally to this day, usually resulting in some great crowd participation during the Marianne Faithful sections. You either like this era of Metallica or hate it. I like the good tracks such as this, but acknowledge that they also released some steaming heaps on this album and its predecessor, Load.

John #7) The Afghan Whigs – “Debonair” – Gentlemen (1993)

Gentlemen was the would-be breakthrough album from The Afghan Whigs, a band pegged to be the next Nirvana in the early 90s but never quite made it there. The album is shockingly dark for an early 90s alternative record, perhaps more so than Nirvana or even Alice in Chains. Singer Greg Dulli is constantly in self-loathing mode, and his sleazy whining combined with the quick and desperate guitar work combine to form a dark monument to the 90s alternative/grunge scene. “Debonair” is like a wave of anguish intensified each time the chorus kicks in. Awesome.

Matt #8) Nirvana - “Been a Son” - Incesticide (1992)

A majority of Incesticide is punky songs that were recorded before or after Nevermind, some good, some not so good. “Been a Son” is very good, with a really catchy riff and chorus, and some great distorted bass playing in the middle section from Krist Novoselic. The song’s only about a minute and forty seconds, but it stays in your head for much longer than that.

John #8) Muddy Waters – “Got My Mojo Working” – The Best Of Muddy Waters (1999, song originally recorded in 1957)

I’m not very familiar with blues music; I got most of this stuff from my dad. I’m wise enough to know a good thing when I hear it, however. Blues singers always have the most amazing voices. It makes me wonder why they always complain about not getting laid all the time. What woman wouldn’t want to bang a guy that plays guitar and sings like Muddy? Additionally, “Got my mojo working but it just don’t work on you” is a quintessential blues lyric, and I think one we can all identify with.

Matt #9) Testament - “Musical Death (A Dirge)" - The New Order (1988)

Despite the idiotic song title, “Musical Death” is a great instrumental from Testament, off what many believe to be the band’s best album (I’d say 1999’s The Gathering holds that honor, but from their classic era, this is by far their best). It blows my mind that lead guitarist Alex Skolnick was only about 19 when this album came out, because his technical ability, as well as his melodic phrasing and melody-crafting ability, was off the charts. A lot of bands shredded without crafting many memorable lead hooks (Megadeth), or had great melodies in their lead guitar playing but not great technical ability (Metallica), but Testament had a great way of combining shredding leads with instantly identifiable melodies. Skolnick shines on this, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Eric Peterson’s beautifully clean rhythm parts. Once Skolnick left the band in 1992, Peterson showed he was no slouch on the lead guitar as well, and now with Skolnick back in the present-day lineup, they have an even more cohesive two-guitar attack. The acoustic solo in this song’s middle section is one of my favorite that the band has ever recorded. Great for guitar enthusiasts and fans of instrumental metal, but not for everyone, obviously.

John #9) Jerry Cantrell – “Chemical Tribe” – Degradation Trip (2002)

I’ve never listened to this, Jerry Cantrell’s second album, though his first (1998’s Boggy Depot) honestly sounded to me like Alice in Chains without the soul and dirty majesty that band’s albums had. I’ll always like Cantrell due to his work in Alice in Chains, one of my favorite bands ever, but I find his solo stuff really dull. This song, like most of his, features a standard solo Cantrell cheesy pseudo-metal riff that doesn’t do anything for me, and actually bores the shit out of me. The song is also 6 ½ minutes long. I can handle a long song, but when nothing happens, like in the earlier Neil song, it’s really maddening.

Matt #10) Halford - “Electric Eye” - Live Insurrection (2001)

Fitting that the aforementioned Halford band would show up on this, playing another Judas Priest classic, “Electric Eye”. This was another track that I saw them perform back in 2000, and it sounds more like the classic Priest recording than any Halford-less version that Priest performed live. This was recorded in front of a rabid crowd in Rio de Janiero, so they sing along with not only the words, but the riffs and solos, as well. Absolutely insane energy from the band and from Halford on this recording, but it sounds fantastic. One of the best classic heavy metal tracks of all time, and this is a great version of it.

John #10) David Bowie – “Sweet Thing” – Diamond Dogs (1974)

I’ve never heard this either, and I’d like to thank my friend and one-time contributor to the blog, Mike Keefe, for passing it along to me recently. I’ve actually never really given Bowie much thought before and know close to nothing about him. He’s a completely unconventional rock star, who compensates for his decidedly mediocre voice with his intriguingly weird theatrics, strong and engrossing compositions and really good ideas. This song uses piano and backing vocals triumphantly, especially in the chorus. I suppose I’ll need to investigate this Bowie character a bit further.

The Boston Sports List #1 - Most Hated Teams

Welcome to a new column here on Dr. P’s, the Boston Sports List (name obviously pending), where we’ll examine a plethora of topics in list form from the eye of a Boston sports fan, myself! The column will start with the most hated sports teams from the viewpoint of a Boston fan. I figured some sports-related content might be a nice change of pace from writing about highfalutin movies and indie records.

Let’s take a look at some of the teams that inspire anger, frustration, annoyance and thoughts of suicide in the Boston fan, starting with the bottom half of the top ten.

10.) Cleveland Cavaliers

With the recent resurgence of the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers immediately became one of the biggest thorns in their side, and one of the biggest impediments between the Celtics and yearly NBA championships. The Cavaliers boast the NBA’s best player in LeBron James, they’re nearly impossible to beat at home, and they’ve surrounded LeBron with a group of ugly, mediocre clowns who look awful on paper but always play well against the Celtics.

Perhaps the biggest reason the Cavaliers even made this list is the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinal between the Cavs and Celts. In that tightly contested seven game series (ultimately won by Boston), the Cavaliers threw everything they could at the Celtics and proved themselves to be more than formidable opponents. Aforementioned ugly clowns Zydrunas Ilgauskas (tall Lithuanian mongoloid), Wally Sczerbiak (former Celtics cast-off who played terribly for us and turned into Robert Horry in this series), and Delonte West (another former Celtic stiff who has the most inexplicable and heinous tattoos known to man) played completely out of their minds and frustrated the Celtics and their fans to no end.

Cleveland superstar LeBron James became hated in Boston for constantly feigning injuries and flopping around on the floor at even the slightest bit of contact. In one instance, he was beaten on a rebound attempt by a Celtic (whose name escapes me), then dropped like a stone while holding his eye when the Celtic player swung his elbows after capturing the rebound. When it became apparent that James wasn’t going to get a whistle, he sprung right back into action with 20/20 vision. LeBron’s flops made him an immediate target of derision in Boston and provided Celtics fans with a clear villain on their biggest Eastern Conference rival.

9) New York Giants

Super Bowl XLII. Eli Manning, the league’s premier country bumpkin, threw a ball right in between Asante Samuel’s hands. Richard Seymour had that motherfucker by his jersey. And he managed to wobble a ball to an unknown, currently out of the league clown who succeeded to make one of the most miraculous catches in NFL history. Then he threw a go ahead touchdown pass to a man currently suspended for having shot himself in the leg with a gun tucked into his sweatpants waistband.

Oh yeah. The Giants win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII not only won the league championship, but it ruined what would have been the first 16 game regular season undefeated season in league history. That kinda sucked.

At the time, the game was played under the shadow of Spygate and the latest allegations about the Patriots “cheating” by videotaping other team’s defensive signals. Those allegations were spearheaded by Jon Tomase of the Boston Herald and were released on the morning of the Super Bowl. I am amazed that this man was not fired immediately (like the team needed a distraction of this magnitude on the day of the game; it couldn’t have waited?) and that any self-respecting sports fan in Boston would read the Herald in the first place.

After the game, some bozo on the Giants whose name I forget was spouting about how “cheaters never prosper”. Yeah? Well fuck you. This game turned a team that was not a rival of ours at all into one of our most hated.

8) Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay used to be the best medicine for any ailing Red Sox team. We’ve lost 5 in a row? No worries, we have Tampa coming up. We’re six games behind the Yankees in mid-August? We still have 8 against Tampa. The stats were mindboggling. The Sox used to crush this team.

Then the Rays “got the devil out” and got much younger and much better. Last season involved a heated division race between Tampa and the Sox, and every time it seemed we were going to overtake them, they held us off. The ultimate victory between the teams was claimed by Tampa, who defeated the Red Sox in a seven game American League Championship Series last season to advance to the World Series (where they were summarily beaten badly by Philadelphia). Not only did the Red Sox lose out on the Series, but everything had turned on its head. Lowly Tampa had beaten Boston in a series of important games.

Tampa doesn’t have too many people I dislike. They have a good manager (Joe Maddon), one of the best players in the league (Carl Crawford), and a host of young talent that plays hard and never gives up. This group has proven to be a tremendous pain in the ass for the Red Sox and currently provide some of their toughest competition. They play in one of the worst stadiums in the league (Tropicana Field), one that was antiquated and inefficient before it was even completed. But they play very well there, and now hearing that the Sox are going down to Tampa doesn’t fill me with the joy it once did.

7) Detroit Pistons

This rivalry is slightly more historical than current, though the two teams did meet in the playoffs two years ago in the Eastern Conference finals, with the Celtics advancing in six games. In the late 80s, the Pistons and Celtics were like oil and water. The Celtics were advancing in age and stature in the league, but they still had Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and the other miracle makers of their earlier championship runs. The “bad boy” Pistons boasted Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and shitheads extraordinaire Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer. Trash talking was a given. Punches were often thrown.

The 1987 playoff series between the two teams gave us one of the most amazing endings of a game ever. In game five, with Boston trailing by 1, Isaiah Thomas’ inbound pass was stolen by Larry Bird, who immediately passed it to Dennis Johnson for a layup to win the game. The Celtics held off the Pistons in seven games; the last vestige of the great teams of the 1980s. In the 1988 playoffs, the Pistons won the Eastern Conference Finals matchup 4-2, and in 1989, the Pistons swept the Celtics out of the playoffs in the first round.

Though the teams were very competitive towards the end of that decade, it will be the antics of the Pistons that Boston fans will forever hate. Laimbeer was a constant nuisance to all Celtics (and pretty much the entire league), and Isaiah Thomas once said that Larry Bird was thought of as a great player only because he is white. Basically, the team was comprised of assholes that no one liked. The fact that they beat us in big games was icing on the cake.

6) Indianapolis Colts

You’d think they’d be higher, but the Colts are actually a tough team to hate. I truly don’t dislike Peyton Manning; I think all the ads he does are stupid and he plays up the “aw, shucks” routine a bit too much, but he’s more than a worthy adversary. Players that make me fearful are players like I have a hard time hating. I don’t think Alex Rodriguez is going to come through in a big game against the Red Sox, so it’s easier not to have any respect for him. But I always think Derek Jeter will, and it’s hard to really hate guys like that. Manning is in the same boat.

I don’t like the way the team used to pump crowd noise into the old RCA dome, and I don’t like Tony Dungy, their former coach. Dungy’s pontificating about Spygate and his “I would never do something like that” spiel after the allegations broke soured me on him forever.

Like the situation between the Red Sox and Tampa, the Patriots used to routinely handle the Colts in games big and small. That changed in the 2006 AFC Championship game, where the Patriots blew a 21-3 halftime advantage. The Colts went on to win the Super Bowl that year and Manning got the “can he win the big one?” monkey off his back. Now they’re simply one of the top teams in the AFC and a perennial threat to any Patriots season.

We'll be back soon with more teams from New York!

John Lacey

The Dailies 8/2/09: Resistance is Futile

Welcome back to the Dailies. Another few weeks, another few movies. Let’s begin by taking a quick look at a couple of films I watched since the last column, in a section of the Dailies I like to call “Trailerz”.

Trailerz

Stardust Memories (1980) – Dir: Woody Allen. Principles: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault

Woody Allen’s tribute to a movie that was featured in the Trailerz from two columns ago, 8 ½, is a fine take on Fellini’s classic. It follows many of the same conventions, with a storyline about an unhappy director (Allen) struggling to put together a new film. As with most Allen films, he plays a neurotic, ever-worrying womanizer constantly both questioning and bemoaning his existence. The way Allen implements quick cuts to various talking heads his character encounters helps create a rich assortment of characters who are all fun in their own way, but the story falls flat and Stardust Memories lacks the heart of the Fellini film. In 8 ½, the director character (played by Marcello Mastroianni) is undergoing a complete and total meltdown, questioning his livelihood, his future, his friendships, and the loves in his life. In Stardust Memories, Allen’s character is solely concerned with love, but more specifically which of the many beautiful women in his life he wants to end up with. It’s “8 ½ lite”, and though Allen is certainly a gifted filmmaker (and he has said this is his favorite work), perhaps he aimed a bit high by trying to emulate such great source material. B-.

Bruno (2009) – Dir: Larry Charles. Principles: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, various people being duped by Cohen

Continuing his shtick of playing up a ridiculous character to ridiculous lengths and screwing with both celebrities and everyday dopes, Sacha Baron Cohen follows the highly successful Borat (2006) with this gem. I always thought that Bruno, Cohen’s overly gay character, provided the best skits on his HBO series, and this film is consistently and thoroughly hilarious. Whereas the Borat character allowed Cohen to examine America from the point of view of a naïve Kazakh, Bruno allows him to do the same from the eyes of an extremely flamboyant Austrian. He goes to Hollywood, attempts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, visits rural Alabama and goes hunting with some “sons of the soil”, and generally upsets and offends everyone he comes into contact with. Bruno is not a storyline-driven film, but the character’s charming and innocent idiocy, Cohen’s gift of making his subjects extremely uncomfortable, and the constant barrage of off-color jokes makes the film more than worthwhile. B+.

Feature Presentation

Army of Shadows (1969)
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Principle Actors: Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Christian Barbier, Jean-Pierre Cassel

Army of Shadows is a French film about the resistance movement that opposed the Nazi puppet state that controlled France in World War II. It can be called a “spy film”, but James Bond and other smooth-talking, well dressed secret agents are nowhere to be found. Army of Shadows takes a deep look at espionage and how missions are prepared, what’s at stake, and the toll on those participating.

The film’s director, Jean-Pierre Melville, does a fantastic job explaining the idea of espionage and showing just how delicate the nature of it is. Everything needs to be perfect and everyone involved needs to carry out their job perfectly. If anyone slips up, if the timing of the plan is off, or if the slightest thing goes wrong with the mission, the whole resistance movement is compromised. In Army of Shadows, the spies aren’t able to compensate for a botched job by shooting their way out of trouble. The Germans execute them.

Melville is able to articulate the incredible risk that the participants take for relatively small gain. One member of the resistance is tasked with bringing supplies to a colleague in Paris. He gets off his train with his suitcase to find a wall of Nazi inspectors checking people’s luggage. He manages to get past the first set of inspectors, but another group interrupts him and demands that he opens his suitcase. Inside is a simple radio that, unbeknownst to the Nazi officers, is needed by the French resistance in Paris. The guards accept his explanation and let him pass, but the idea that lives are at risk for such a menial task as transporting a radio is a facet of resistance and espionage that Melville displays wonderfully.

The portrayal of the Germans is not cartoonishly sadistic; they’re not crazed maniacs or one-dimensional evil killers. They’re simply omnipresent. The Germans are everywhere, and the members of the resistance are constantly trying to evade, trick and elude them. The Nazis don’t really have a human face in Army of Shadows. Melville is able to build them as a genuine threat because we know that they exist, and we know that they’ll capitalize if the spies make any kind of mistake.

Army of Shadows does contain a few caper scenes that liven up the film and provide some action. In one scene, three French spies dress as Germans and attempt to rescue a comrade who has been captured and tortured. In another, a member of the resistance is tasked with bring the movement’s chief architect to a rendezvous with a submarine so that he can secretly go to England. These scenes provide a nice balance to the film and show the spies doing some actual “spy stuff”.

But by and large, Army of Shadows presents espionage in a practical and human way. These missions are life and death for their participants, but they’re also more than that. The fate of the French resistance, and by extension, the French way of life, is at stake for those involved. Success is mandatory; it’s good against evil. Towards the beginning of the film, its main character, Philippe Gerbier (Ventura) and his associates are forced to kill an informant who sold Gerbier and the resistance out to the Germans. They bring him to a secret house that they rented and find that a family has rented the house next door, making shooting him or killing him by any non-silent method an impossibility. They gag him and strangle him, while one of the participants breaks down and weeps. Espionage and resistance are often necessary, but never glamorous or fun.

A-

John Lacey