Sports: NBA at midseason (sort of)

I've been neglecting the blog recently, unfortunately. Partly this is due to computer problems, and is thus why there have been no music reviews. I thought about going to see I Am Number Four this weekend, which looked fun based on the trailers. Sadly, reviews I read on Rotten Tomatoes.com described it as Twilight with aliens. I think I'll pass. Unknown has gotten decent reviews, and I'm a Liam Neeson fan. But it just looks too much like Taken, a film Neeson starred in a couple years ago, with the "spin" of basically a Bourne-memory-loss plot. Maybe Netflix. So, the next movie I see in the theater *might* be Rango, depending on RT reviews, and if not that, then definitely Battle: Los Angeles which looks awesome.

So, what to do for now? Well, I haven't posted about sports in awhile. Sadly, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Super Bowl, but they surprised me by getting that far this season. And I don't really mind the Packers winning; seeing TTSNBN lose was the next best thing to seeing the Steelers win it all. With football over (and a headache of a collective bargaining agreement to make), I turn my attention fully to the NBA. This weekend is All-Star Weekend, which is typically the midpoint of the year, although this year it's a little later than that. I'll put up a few of my thoughts of what's happened thus far, and what I think (or hope) will come.

1. Carmelo

The most immediate item on the agenda is the whole Carmelo Anthony situation. As a brief summary, for those not familiar with it, Anthony will become a free agent at the end of the season. Denver has offered him a 3-year, $65 million extension, but he won't sign it. He has (mostly) consistently claimed that he only wants to play for the NY Knicks. However, a few months ago the NJ Nets reportedly came quite close to trading for him, and now the Lakers have even been rumored to have interest in him.

Personally, I'm not much of a Carmelo fan. I think it would be kind of cool to see him go to the Knicks, in order to try to match the Heat in star power (and of course, compete with the other East powerhouses). If he were to go to New Jersey, it would be a complete waste since the Nets aren't even close to being competitive. I don't think it would be a good idea for the Lakers to get him, but I also don't think it would be an obviously bad move. As Bill Simmons (I highly recommend his column/podcast) pointed out, Bynum's injury history does not bode well. So even if the Lakers' strength is their size, can they really count on Bynum to be playing, and at 100%, consistently? On the other hand, Anthony, would give them a third big-time scorer, across three different positions; that would be formidable, to put it mildly.

2. Lakers

*Sigh* You think I'd be used to it by now. The Lakers and their maddening inconsistency in the regular season; this year it seems to be the worst it's been in the Gasol era. How can you lose to a team that just recently tied the American pro sports team record for consecutive losses - a team that you beat by fifty-five point earlier this year?!? It's "only the regular season," but it's worrying. The Lakers have a miserable record against the league's best teams this year, and are 8.5 games behind the Spurs, the #1 team in the West right now.

What's the problem? A few theories. They really don't care about the regular season this year, and aren't that much better anymore to win with minimal effort/focus consistently. This seems to describe the way the team has played, but it doesn't make sense, since they have clearly struggled on the road and would want homecourt advantage if they played the Spurs in the playoffs. Second reason: Ron Artest. His statistics are down, even from last year, across the board. I haven't seen the Lakers play a ton yet this year, but not once have I seen him play well, and most disturbingly, he has looked bad on defense, his old specialty. Third: athleticism. The Lakers' bigs dominate every other team, but beyond that, it's the Lakers who fall short. Kobe is getting older and can't waste his precious legs chasing young guards around; but beyond him, there just isn't much there. Fisher is either done or (hopefully) saving himself for the playoffs like last year; Brown is athletic but is undisciplined and lacks skill; Walton is decent for what he is (a bench player to use when the other team does the same); Artest is sucking; and Barnes is hurt. Which leaves new acquisition Blake, who makes threes and does little else. I knew this would happen when they got him last summer, but I talked myself down. Turns out I was right: they DESPERATELY need at least a solid, young point guard.

What can they do? Well, one good thing that's happened this year is that Odom has improved and is often simply unstoppable due to his size, skill, and athleticism. Kobe is beginning his transition in earnest now to playing as a vet, letting the game come to him (mostly), and spreading out the scoring load. I wouldn't blame the Lakers for trying to get Carmelo for Bynum, but I hope they could figure out a way to get Billups, too (an aging point guard, but a much better one than any they have now). I'm hoping Barnes' return will help, and perhaps getting some of Artest's minutes will finally give Ron the kick in the butt he needs.

3. Season at a Glance

Through this point in the season, the East is led by the following teams, in order: Boston, Miami, Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Indiana. I am quite surprised that Boston continues to lead the East; I thought that last year's Finals were their last gasp. I think their old guys need to be tested for steroids at this point. Miami, sadly, is doing quite well. The good news is that, to me, they seem very beatable (Boston's beaten them all three meetings so far). I think the approach you have to use is the same as when LeBron was on Cleveland: let him do his thing, shut everyone else down. Yeah, he's got Wade now, but I think there is still some vulnerability here. Chicago has surprised me quite a bit. Now, I thought they might be close to this good - but not with Boozer and Noah being injured for as long as they have been. Rose has been phenomenal: 25 pts, 8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. With both big men, they will be really tough to take down. Orlando's big trade was alright; still to be determined, however. Giving up Gortat, Pietrus, and Carter for Turkoglu and Richardson was OK; but why in the world would you want Arenas?! They already have a point guard, Nelson, and Arenas is nowhere near the player he once was. They needed to trade Lewis for someone better; I don't think they have much of a shot in the East now. The Hawks? They get swept in the 2nd round of the playoffs each year, who cares what they do in the regular season? The Knicks' emergence has been neat, although it's the rise of role players like Felton, Gallinari, and Chandler that's been the most interesting. Without Carmelo, though, they don't have a prayer this year. The 76ers are interesting, but I haven't really followed them, and the Pacers will just be first round cannon fodder.

Through this point in the season, the West is led by the following teams, in order: San Antonio, Dallas, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Portland, New Orleans, Denver, and Utah. The Spurs have been perhaps the biggest surprise this year. If anything, I figured Poppovich would try to save his seasoned stars (Duncan, Parker, Ginobli) for the playoffs, but they have really been great, with the help of Blair, Jefferson, Hill, and rookie sharpshooter Neal. Dallas has also been fairly surprising. Nowitzki just stays so consistently good, and Chandler has been huge for them. Had Butler not gotten hurt, I think they would be big time contenders (still are good, just not top tier). LA I've just talked about. Oklahoma City has been surprising in the opposite way: I thought they'd blow everyone out of the water this year. But their defense has been much worse, and Durant has not improved considerably. Poor Portland, hit with injuries as usual; I was actually surprised to see them this high. With Paul back, New Orleans is, too, and Paul has been helped by two good bigs in West and Okafor. Denver is somehow hanging around despite the Carmelo drama, and Utah has been underachieving so far.

4. What to Expect

For the East, I imagine Miami will probably take over the #1 seed, as Boston battles injuries and tries to prevent serious setbacks. They'll have to battle Chicago for the #2 seed, who will be coming strong with Noah after the All-Star break. Orlando will likely improve, as well, with their new roster, and protect the #4 seed from Atlanta. In fact, the Knicks may make a run at the #5 seed over Atlanta. Beyond that, it doesn't really matter. It's a three team conference (and three great ones at that), with Orlando having the best shot at upsetting one of them.

For the West, I think the #1 seed is still somewhat in play. The Spurs do have a big lead, but I feel like Poppovich has to at some point think about resting the big three - but maybe he's just really intent on homecourt throughout. Dallas may have a chance at it, but will need the Spurs to really start tanking. I give the Lakers a decent shot at making a drive for #1, but not the way they're playing right now. The Thunder are another team to watch; if they can start to put it all together, they could also be striking for the #2 or even #1 slot. I think you can draw a distinct line in the conference there, because the #5 to #8 seeds are probably there to stay - however, they're all really close so exact positions are up in the air. There will be plenty of attention on potential playoff matchups, I imagine. For example, the Lakers would probably prefer to get New Orleans or Utah, and avoid Portland and Denver (just guessing).


Whew, that was long! It should be a fun finish to the regular season, and then even better in the playoffs!

Movies: The Green Hornet

Score: ***1/2 out of *****

Long Story Short: The Green Hornet is an action/comedy that takes the superhero genre to places it usually doesn't go. Rogen makes the main character an interesting, entertaining figure to follow/root for/root against (sometimes all at the same time). The film certainly has its share of flaws, including some disappointing action sequences, but its humor is excellent and it manages to end on a high note (unlike many similar films).

Well, a bit of a delay from my last blog post I'm afraid; and since I've seen this film, too. Life does that to you sometimes. Anyway, The Green Hornet is an action/comedy superhero film directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and release on January 14. This film obviously does not have high art aspirations, but it achieves its goals quite successfully. On to the plot.

The film starts with a variety of scenes introducing the main character, Britt Reid (Rogen), as the entitled, asshole son of a mega-newpaper (ie: NY Times) owner. It is also made clear that the father and son have a relationship that is frosty at best, and so Britt's attitude shows little change when his father suddenly passes away. However, Britt soon meets his father's former servant, Kato (Chou); after much talking and drinking, the two decide that they would like to pay tribute to the man they have in common. After performing the amusing prank, the two stumble into a robbery/assault, at which time Kato shows his martial arts talents - and Britt shows his eagerness (and ineptitude) for action.

With Kato revealing all kinds of useful skills, Britt proposes that they have "fun" dealing with crime, as opposed to "just" writing about it in the paper like his father did. So they begin terrorizing the criminals themselves, with the help of the Black Beauty, a Batmobile/James Bond car. However, this draws the attention of crime lord Chudnofsky (Waltz), who soon puts a price on the Green Hornet's head. At the same time, Britt grapples with some complications at the newspaper with the help of his new assistant Ms. Case (Diaz). As you might imagine, these threads come together for a rather explosive finale.

Acting is typically secondary at best in this type of movie, but there are some fine performances nonetheless. I was impressed by Seth Rogen, who I have only seen in pure comedies before. While he makes Britt an impressively off-putting character, he balances it with enough unintentionally self-effacing humor to make Britt tolerable and interesting. I'm not too familiar with Jay Chou; I suppose he does a good job as the naive, innocent foreigner but it's only a serviceable performance. Christoph Waltz, unsurprisingly, does a fine job as the villain, and as in Inglourious Basterds, he has a great mix of humor and genuine menace. Diaz does alright, but the scenes she's in shine more because of the way the film cleverly subverts the cliches of the role she's in (ie: Lois Lane, Mary Jane, etc.) than her acting.

Obviously, the action and the comedy are the main courses in this film. There is certainly some neat action in the film, particularly some Matrix-esque scenes and some involving the Black Beauty. However, much of the action is a bit numbing to be honest and sometimes not very imaginative and/or clearly filmed. It's the comedy that works the best here, in my opinion - and much of this takes place during the action. It certainly helps that the main "hero," the Green Hornet whose name everyone in the city comes to know, is in fact just a normal, chubby guy, and it's his partner who does all the heavy lifting. But the film was simply very successful in getting me to smile almost the whole time, whether in general amusement, a brief chuckle, or a laugh out loud shared with the rest of the theater.

***

Again, The Green Hornet is not competing for the Oscars, but it's a well-made film for what it wants to achieve. Yes, the action gets a bit stale here and there, and Britt occasionally seems to spontaneously change his character, among a number of other flaws I'm sure you can find. However, it's a well-paced film that keeps you entertained in a number of ways. And, it does something that a number of movies recently tend to really drop the ball on: it nails the last act. So, if you're looking for a fun time in the middle of the bleak winter, this one is certainly worth your while.