Tag Archives: Moneyball

MOV073: “We Love Premarital Sex!”

In this 73rd episode of COL Movies, the boys head back in time – well, technically into the future, yet back in time – to kick off Horror month and to revive Mr. Vorhees in “Jason X”. After some gore and premarital sex, they head to the theater to review the Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”. And no, it’s not a porno…get your mind out of the gutter. There are balls, but not those kind… Anyway, they close out by reviewing the trailer for “J. Edgar” or Jedgar, where Clint Eastwood will be directing Leo DiCaprio in a bio-pic about a cross-dressing Gman (or so the legend goes). In news, we introduce the new segments called “The Cutting Room Floor” or “Cuts” for short, Zack Snyder’s folks talk about “Army of the Dead”, Is Disney setting the standard for 3D, and the unfortunate loss of Steve Jobs. We also take an intermission to talk about the best scary movies of all times. It’s COL Movies…where “we love premarital sex!”

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The Past: Jason X

Rotten Tomatoes: 21% Rotten, 37% Audience

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Director: James Isaac

Starring: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig and Lisa Ryder

Trivia:

  • The space debris floating in space has “Cunningham Reality” written on the side. This is a reference to the name of producer Noel Cunningham, the son of executive producer and maker of the original Friday the 13th, Sean S. Cunningham.
  • Screenwriter Todd Farmer based much of the film on Alien, even naming one of the characters (whom he also played) Dallas, after Tom Skerritt’s character in the Ridley Scott film.
  • Several of the characters in the film are named after screenwriter Todd Farmer’s online friends in the PC game EverQuest.
  • It had four different U.S. release dates before it was finally released.
  • The name “Tiamat” comes from Babylonian mythology. She is a dragon/goddess of the sea, who was slain by the god Marduk who then formed the land from her carcass.
  • Brodski mentioned a gun while the soldiers were suiting up called the “BFG”. This sci-fi gun is well known to players of the PC games Doom and Quake II as the most powerful weapon. “BFG” is an acronym for “Bio Force Gun” or “Big Fucking Gun”, as some called it.
  • Jason Voorhees’ eyes never blink when they are shown.
  • The music played during Jason’s first look at the virtual reality Camp Crystal Lake is the same musical score as the one in Friday the 13th Part 2.
  • The name of the primary ship in the film is the “Grendel” which is the name of a monster in the Old English poem “Beowulf”. Grendel was a direct descendant of Cain from the Book of Genesis, a monster described as half-troll, half-ogre. Like Jason, Grendel rose from a lake in search of victims and seemingly could not be killed. Also, in their fight, Beowulf rips Grendel’s arm off, and in the movie, when Kay-Em shoots up Jason, the first thing he loses is his arm.
  • In the scene where Dallas is smashed against the wall by Jason, the stuntman who did this actually broke his nose.
  • When Stony opens the door and gets stabbed and his blood sprays in Kinsa’s face, she screams. According to the audio commentary, the effects guys weren’t supposed to spray the blood into her face. She was screaming not because she just saw her boyfriend die, but because the fake blood was burning her eyes
  • The “virtual ’80s” scene was originally meant to be much more detailed, including a number of topless women playing volleyball. One idea even included the appearance of Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother, and even went so far as to have Jason attack her, showing the extent of just how evil he had become. The latter idea was dropped.
  • The “sleeping bag death” scene was first done in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and was actually ad-libbed by Kane Hodder in that film out of frustration at re-shooting the same scene over and over.
  • The character Janessa was originally named Jessica, after producer Sean Cunningham’s sister.
  • The first film in the Friday the 13th series to rely on digital effects for death and gore shots.
  • Jason murders 28 people, more than any of the other Friday the 13th movies.
  • The film only suffered a couple seconds of cuts/alterations to earn an “R” rating, making it the least censored entry in the entire ‘Friday the 13th’ series.
  • The character Adrienne is a reference to Adrienne King, who played Alice Hardy in Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part 2.
  • Jason X is the first Friday the 13th film to be rated ’15’ in the UK. Although Friday the 13th parts 2,3 & 6 were originally rated ’18’ they were altered to ’15’, part 6 in 2002 and parts 2 & 3 in 2008.
  • Betsy Palmer was doing a play in Toronto at the time Jason X was filming. According to Palmer, one of the producers contacted her about possibly reprising her role as Pamela Voorhees. They did not come to an agreement, and the character was not included in the film.
  • In Andromeda, Lexa Doig played the avatar of the ships artificial intelligence and Lisa Ryder played a crew member. In this movie, Ryder is an AI construct and Doig joins the crew.

Talking Points:

  • Why didn’t they try ________
  • The comedy of it –
  • Jeff – make sure you watch the trailer! 🙂
  • Love how Jason got top billing in the movie!

What We’ve Learned:

  • Never say “Every thing’s Under Control” when your dealing with Jason Voorhees
  • In the end it always comes down to money
  • Mess with an engineer and you end up with a waste hose in your bunk
  • Liquid nitrogen + your face = a bad day
  • Never let a guy with a machete thaw.
  • Never kill an indestructible killer near the medical bay with nanites
  • Always make sure your android has a complete library of bad ass kung fu movies uploaded in its head.
  • Make sure your space ship is always well lit.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: A Terrible, terrible movie in a very good way. If you like Sci Fi bad movies and FT13, this is for you.
Ray: This is probably my favorite FT13 movie next to the first 2… this is a movie that totally doesnt take it self seriously..but like with all FT13 movies.. your gonna love it ..or hate it.
Steve: If you’re a pure fan of FT13…skip it. But it’s still gory fun.

Intermission: Scary Movies

The Present: Moneyball

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% Fresh, 91% Audience

Director: Bennett Miller

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymore Hoffman

Trivia:

  • When Steven Soderbergh was still supposed to direct, he cast Brad Pitt and Demetri Martin in the lead roles and had already shot interview scenes with baseball players Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson and Darryl Strawberry to be included in the film.
  • During pre-production, director of photography Adam Kimmel was arrested in Connecticut on sexual assault and weapons and explosives possession charges. He was replaced by Wally Pfister.
  • Production of the movie was set to begin on June 22, 2009, but it was surprisingly dropped by Columbia Pictures. Studio co-chairman Amy Pascal axed the movie after objecting to changes which original director Steven Soderbergh made to Steven Zaillian’s script.
  • The “Peter Brand” character was originally going to be named Paul DePodesta, who was Billy Beane’s assistant at the time (he later served as Dodgers’ GM and was employed by the Mets at the time of the film’s release). Demetri Martin was originally cast for this role. However, DePodesta, who visited the set, objected to his portrayal as a pure stats nerd, and so the character name was changed. By the time this was done, Jonah Hill had been cast in the role.
  • In the scene with Billy and the scouts where he mentions Scott Hatteburg, the board behind his head reads “Pratt, C.” on a yellow tab. Hatteburg was played by Chris Pratt.
  • Bobby Kotick, President, CEO and a director of Activision Blizzard portrays Stephen Schott, the owner of the Oakland Athletics in the film.
  • At one point, we hear that Miguel Tejada has struck out to end a game. In the original book, Tejada’s free swinging ways and relatively high strikeout rate was something of a point of contention, with the Dominican shortstop telling Beane and other Athletics’ members that “You can’t walk your way off the island”.
  • Several of the actors playing the ballplayers have baseball experience. Casey Bond spent time in the Giants’ organization, Stephen Bishop played for three years during the ’90s (including one season where he played with David Justice, who he portrays in the film), Royce Clayton played 17 years in MLB and Derrin Ebert played five games for the Braves in 1999.
  • Of all the Oakland players from the season represented in the movie (2002), only one played for Oakland in the season that the movie premiered (2011): Mark Ellis (and he was traded away in the middle of the season).
  • Despite suggestions in the movie that Hatteberg was a bad-fielding first baseman, he ended the year with a fielding percentage (.994) higher than the league average for his position (.993).

Talking Points:

  • Billy Bean vs Billy Beane
  • Performances

What We Learned:

  • Baseball thinking is medieval
  • Anything worth doing is incredibly hard
  • When you get the answer you want, just hang up on them
  • First guy through the wall gets bloody
  • An ugly girlfriend means no confidence

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Strangely enough this movie I actually liked this movie. it kept my attention and kept moving. Never got much of an attachment to any of the character but I liked it. It’s not for everyone though. Feel free to wait on this one.
Ray: Not a movie I could recommend or will plan on ever seeing again. I found the characters douchy, was bored to tears by the story, and annoyed by the blatant attempts at emotional manipulation.. definitely gets a skip in my book.
Steve: I was surprised that I liked it so much. I actually enjoyed it – perhaps because I play ball and could get a lot of the terms and understand it from the team dynamic standpoint. Have to say I’d written off Jonah Hill, but respected the acting job he did in this movie.

The Future: J Edgar

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Leonardo DiCarprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts

Summary:

As the face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life.

Trivia:

  • Joaquin Phoenix was rumored to play Clyde Tolson, but the rumors were denied.
  • Charlize Theron was originally cast as Helen Gandy, but dropped out to do Snow White and the Huntsman. Amy Adams was then considered, but Naomi Watts was ultimately cast.

Talking Points:

  • Anyone know how long this movie is supposed to be?
  • Sexuality is a already a controversy (AfterElton)

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: DiCaprio’s vocal performance is kinda distracting. Plus I don’t feel it’s very clear what to expect. This trailer has failed to get my excitement.
Ray: Definitely a movie I’m interested in.. not thrilled about DiCaprio, but he’s been surprising me lately.
Steve: Looks interesting, but it’s not my kind of film. Only really interested in seeing what they have to say about his personal life.

Coming Attractions:

The Past

The Present

The Future

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CUT001: Tampa Bears At The Movies

In the inagural “Cutting Room Floor” (aka “CUT”) episode, Steve heads to the theater with the Tampa Bears At The Movies group.  Afterward, he interviews folks on their thoughts about both the Daniel Craig thriller “Dream House” and Brad Pitt’s “Moneyball”.
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