Hastily compiled … and spoilers follow …
Category: Entertainment (Page 2 of 5)
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Carl Reiner doesn’t throw 94, but he is 94 — and he’s a legend. So even though he had to cancel his plans to throw the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, it was still great to see another legend, Orel Hershiser, meet him at his home for some pitching tips and a conversation about their careers.
Reiner wrote more than 50 episodes of his creation, “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and directed such movies as “The Jerk,” “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” and “All of Me.”
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
From the year that brought you a career-high 20 complete games from Fernando Valenzuela and 210 hits from Steve Sax, Dodger Stadium is bringing back “Top Gun” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
The two blockbusters, each celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, will be the postgame features this summer in the Dodger Stadium Movie Series, presented by Fandango.
“Top” will play on the DodgerVision screens 15 minutes after the 4:15 p.m. Dodgers-Padres game ends on July 9, while “Ferris” will be shown following the 1:05 p.m. August 13 game between the Dodgers and the Pirates.
For more information, visit dodgers.com/movies or call (866) Dodgers.
Dodger Stadium will host Beyoncé’s “The Formation World Tour” on September 14. Tickets go on sale to the general public May 13, but Dodger fans can jump ahead with a presale that runs from 10 a.m. May 11 to 5 p.m. May 12 by visiting dodgers.com/beyonce.
The Dodgers are playing an afternoon game at Yankee Stadium that day, part of a 10-game road trip September 9-18 to Miami, New York and Arizona that is their longest of the season.
— Jon Weisman
Guns N’ Roses has added a second show at Dodger Stadium for its “Not in This Lifetime” tour, produced by Live Nation.
Tickets for the added August 19 show will be available on a 48-hour pre-sale for Citi cardmembers beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m., followed by a Dodger pre-sale Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets for the general public go on sale beginning Friday.
The Dodgers will be in the middle of a seven-game road trip to Philadelphia and Cincinnati, returning home to play the Giants from August 23-25, followed by the Cubs from August 26-28.
— Jon Weisman
Guns N’ Roses will bring its “Not in This Lifetime” tour, produced by Live Nation, to Dodger Stadium for one night, August 18. A 48-hour pre-sale for Citi cardmembers begins Tuesday at 10 a.m., with tickets for the general public going on sale beginning Friday.
The Dodgers will be in the middle of a seven-game road trip to Philadelphia and Cincinnati, returning home to play the Giants from August 23-25, followed by the Cubs from August 26-28.
— Jon Weisman
While many root beers strive to make a bold statement, sometimes to the point of being the blue-tuxedoed uncle at your best friend’s wedding, AJ Stephans is daring only in its restraint. It dials back the sweetness and doesn’t linger, living extremely in the moment, not like a brash teenage snowboarder but rather a delicate piccolo artist inhaling each note, otherwise rapidly forgotten. Lack of edge prevents it from reaching the top tier, but unpretentiousness prevents it from sinking to the bottom.
Sampling date: December 1, 2015
Ingredients: Pure carbonated water, cane sugar, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, citric acid, sodium benzoate
Nutritional information: 12-ounce serving, 175 calories, 0 grams fat, 44 grams sugar, 30 milligrams sodium, 0 grams protein
Headquarters: Orange, Massachusetts
Rankings to date:
1) Route 66 Root Beer
2) Bulldog Root Beer
3) Capt’n Eli’s Root Beer
4) Sparky’s Root Beer
5) AJ Stephans Root Beer
6) River City Root Beer
7) Cool Mountain Root Beer
8) Rat Bastard Root Beer
By Claire Miller
The first organized sport my parents signed me up for was Little League softball. I still remember my first game playing for the Reds with a proud No. 7 on my back. At my first at-bat, my coach tossed a rainbow slow-pitch from roughly 10 feet away, and I blasted it down the third base line for a stand-up triple. Instantly, I was hooked.
Later in the season, I went over to a teammate’s house for a playdate. Given we weren’t typical “girly girls,” playing with dolls was not our idea of fun. Instead, she popped in her favorite movie on girls playing baseball, “A League of Their Own.” Instantly, I was hooked.
By Jon Weisman
Paul McCartney will bring his “Out There” tour to Dodger Stadium for an August 10 concert.
This will be McCartney’s first performance at Chavez Ravine since the Beatles’ penultimate live gig on August 28, 1966, and first in Los Angeles since two nights at the Hollywood Bowl in 2010.
The tour features music from McCartney’s entire career, as a solo artist (including his most recent studio album “New”), member of Wings and as a Beatle. The set list will also include material from Paul’s most recent studio album NEW, a global hit upon its release last year.
Tickets for the newly announced dates will be on sale May 5. American Express card members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning May 1. Check out paulmccartney.com or dodgers.com/mccartney.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5pV-sgapPg&w=550&h=309]
By Jon Weisman
Grammy-winning musician Lupe Fiasco will perform at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers’ 5 p.m. game Sunday against the San Francisco Giants.
The performance is free to fans with a ticket to the game, and comes a day after Robin Thicke takes the Dodger Stadium stage, all part of the Dodgers’ Opening Weekend, presented by Bank of America.
Known for his sharp and dynamic lyrics, Fiasco had a breakout hit in 2006 with “Kick Push” and followed that with Billboard No. 1 “Lasers.” Next for Fiasco is the album “Tetsuo & Youth.”
Well, this puts a period on the sentence that was my last big paragraph of filmgoing for a while.
Now that I’m working for the Dodgers, my years of going to movies by the bushel will take a break. I saw nearly 60 of 2013’s films, but that number is going to come crashing down in 2014.
So for perhaps the last time for a while, here is my annual ranking of the films, using the system I designed long ago.
As I’ve said before, it’s a system that is decidedly personal, because film is decidedly personal. I don’t think there’s any such thing as a “best” film, but only a “favorite” film, because what we bring to a film and what we desire from it is so idiosyncratic. Here’s the boilerplate explanation:
Ambition (1-7): How much the film is taking on, in subject matter and in filming challenges?
Quality (1-10): As objective as I can be, how well do I think the film succeeds in achieving its ambitions?
Emotional resonance (1-13): How much did the film affect me personally. This category gets the most weight because it’s the most important – I’d rather see a flawed film that touches me than a technically perfect but emotionally stultifying picture.
Two last quick points: I wouldn’t get caught up in single-point distinctions – those don’t amount to a significant difference between films. I could tinker with the grades every time I revisit the list.
If you want to look back, here are four past charts: my favorite films of 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2006.
I will say this – I’m less enchanted with my system than I have been in the past. I don’t tend to award much variance in ambition, and I’m having more trouble distinguishing between objective quality and emotional resonance. But this isn’t the time I’m going to change things up, so here we go …
| 2013 | A | O | ER | T | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Is the Warmest Color | 3.5 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 23.5 | Loved the deep, patient exploration of the arc of a relationship – it at once had an intimate and epic feel. |
| Gravity* | 5 | 8.5 | 10 | 23.5 | No film mixes cinematic and spiritual ambition better this year. A thriller in more ways than one. |
| Short Term 12 | 4 | 9.5 | 10 | 23.5 | Spot-on great storytelling of both a character and a place. |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 4 | 8.5 | 10.5 | 23 | A movie that I found easy to cherish – a loving and lovable homage with its own originality. |
| 12 Years a Slave* | 4.5 | 9 | 9 | 22.5 | Unassailable in its worth and inner integrity. I can’t explain why at times I felt numb. “Roots” had more impact. |
| Her | 4 | 8.5 | 10 | 22.5 | Takes what could have been a sitcom story and turns it into something extraordinary and moving. |
| Saving Mr. Banks | 4 | 8.5 | 10 | 22.5 | Strong movie throughout, and the stuff about the flawed fathers got to me. |
| Captain Phillips | 4 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 22 | Intense. Hanks builds to some phenomenal moments. Somali parts well-played. |
| Dallas Buyers Club* | 4 | 9 | 9 | 22 | Legitimately strong story that should transcend qualms about who the protagonist is. Leto is amazing in it. |
| The Way Way Back | 4 | 8.5 | 9 | 22 | Touching and sincere. |
| August: Osage County* | 4 | 8.5 | 9 | 21.5 | Adeptly juggles numerous stories and got at the true contradictions of family life and love. Underrated at Toronto. |
| Mud | 3.5 | 9 | 9 | 21.5 | Really engrossing story, superbly acted by the kids. Troubled somewhat by the ending. |
| The Past | 4 | 9 | 8.5 | 21.5 | Another complex multi-person relationship drama. Tough but good. |
| The Place Beyond the Pines | 3.5 | 9 | 8 | 21.5 | Very strong, though Mendes’ character would have benefited from more development. |
| All Is Lost | 4 | 8 | 9 | 21 | Taut and nearly silent, but the main question was, why wasn’t their cursing in every minute? |
| Inside Llewyn Davis | 4 | 8 | 9 | 21 | A good personal journey movie, that maybe stops short of the knockout punch its ending should have. |
| Frozen | 4 | 8 | 8.5 | 20.5 | Definitely more depth than advertised, but also strong in humor and music. Didn’t quite get why secret had to be a secret. |
| The Wolf of Wall Street | 4 | 8.5 | 8 | 20.5 | As a comedy, very ambitious with some great moments, but also lagged for me in places. |
| What Maisie Wants | 4 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 20.5 | A rough story to tell but it works. |
| The Iceman | 3 | 9 | 8 | 20 | Rock solid, with Michael Shannon giving dominant performance. |
| Blue Jasmine | 4 | 7.5 | 8 | 19.5 | Hits some great notes – liked even if I didn’t love. |
| Despicable Me 2 | 3.5 | 8 | 8 | 19.5 | Worked very well – I think I liked it more than the original. |
| Enough Said | 3.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 19.5 | Loved the exploration of a mature relationship, just wish big reveal hadn’t been so delayed and sitcommy. I miss Gandolfini. |
| Prisoners | 4 | 8.5 | 7 | 19.5 | Strong, gritty movie, a little slow-paced in first half but pays off. |
| Stories We Tell | 3.5 | 8 | 8 | 19.5 | A really interesting film if a bit rough around the edges. |
| The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby* | 4 | 7 | 8.5 | 19.5 | Liked the material overall and the two-part experiment, but not convinced it wouldn’t be better as one piece. |
| Fruitvale Station | 3.5 | 7.5 | 8 | 19 | Narrowly focused but important and heartbreaking. |
| How I Live Now* | 4 | 7 | 8 | 19 | The quest is a weird one, but it’s a beguiling fantasy. |
| Labor Day* | 3.5 | 7.5 | 8 | 19 | Liked this maybe more than I should – kind of a indie-spirit Hallmark movie. |
| The Armstrong Lie | 3.5 | 8.5 | 7 | 19 | The crazy denial comes to life. |
| The Short Game | 3 | 8 | 8 | 19 | Funny to see this at around the same time as “Bad Words.” |
| 42 | 3 | 7.5 | 8 | 18.5 | Liked the acting more than the script – mostly a paint-by-numbers telling of a great story. |
| Nebraska | 3 | 8 | 7.5 | 18.5 | Might be selling short its ambition, but though I enjoyed it, not sure what it adds up to. |
| Philomena | 3 | 8 | 7.5 | 18.5 | Pretty intimate and well-told story. |
| The Spectacular Now | 3.5 | 8 | 8 | 18.5 | Touching. Liked that drinking was key element but not central. Shailene Woodley too adorable to be an outcast, though. |
| Admission | 3.5 | 6.5 | 8 | 18 | Underrated – didn’t all ring true, but hard not to notice the attempt. |
| Bad Words* | 3 | 7 | 8 | 18 | At times profane for the sake of it, but among the most fun films of the year. |
| Can a Song Save a Life* | 4 | 7 | 7 | 18 | The joy of making music. Even its darkness is kind of bright. Tremendously likeable. |
| Casting By | 3 | 8 | 7 | 18 | Nice piece of work on an area that deserves attention. |
| In a World … | 3 | 8 | 7 | 18 | Fun story and a nice showcase for Lake Bell. |
| Picture Day | 3.5 | 7.5 | 7 | 18 | Tatiana Maslany expectedly adorable, and it was an interesting (and slightly strange) ride. |
| The Invisible Woman | 3 | 8 | 7 | 18 | Solid period piece, with Fiennes beguiling as Dickens. |
| To the Wonder | 3.5 | 6.5 | 8 | 18 | Eloquent, beautiful love story sandbagged by inexplicable lack of attention to Affleck’s character. |
| Out of the Furnace | 3.5 | 7 | 7 | 17.5 | More true grit, a la Prisoners, which perhaps was better because its antagonist was better. |
| Lee Daniels’ The Butler | 4 | 6 | 7 | 17 | Worthy subject and occasionally moving but far too on the nose in places. |
| Night Moves* | 3.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 17 | Low, low-key film struggles toward the end after it all goes down. |
| Rush* | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 | Beautifully shot with good lead performances, but fairly conventional storytelling for a sports film. |
| The Croods | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 | Ends on a good note but kind of tedious in the midsection. |
| Turbo | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 | No great leap but a likable enough tale. |
| American Hustle | 3.5 | 7 | 6 | 16.5 | I’m probably being harsh on it, but was not involved in the story until the final hour, and it didn’t stick with me after. |
| Austenland | 3.5 | 6.5 | 6 | 16 | Points for the ambiguity in the love story, points against for its clumsiness. |
| Oz the Great and Powerful | 4 | 5.5 | 5 | 15.5 | Uninvolving script and really questionable casting. |
| Monsters University | 3 | 7 | 5 | 15 | Harmless but pointless for me. |
| The Incredible Burt Wonderstone | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | Gross miscalculations about Carell, Carrey and Wilde characters undermined what might’ve been a really good comedy. |
| Spring Breakers | 3.5 | 5 | 5 | 13.5 | Certainly not your typical Spring Break movie, certainly stylish, but did not make me care at all. This year’s emperor with no clothes. |
| Planes | 3 | 5 | 4 | 13 | A sorrowful rehash of past aspirational animations. |
| Before Midnight | 3 | 5.5 | 4 | 12.5 | Pretentious as ever in the first half, hardly groundbreaking in the big fight in the second. The love for these films remains mystifying. |
| Dom Hemingway* | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | Aside from a couple good moments, thought this was pretty much flatulent. |
| You Are Here* | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 10 | Matthew Weiner’s feature was the biggest disappointment of the year. |
*Seen at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival
By Jon Weisman
Let’s just say this – I knew Shirley Temple before I knew any Dodgers. It wasn’t the same with my kids, but when I was a young kid in the early 1970s, the mighty mite was still a huge presence. Heck, I even was watching the grown Shirley in “Fort Apache” with John Wayne.
Shirley Temple Black passed away Monday at age 85. Click the following link to see video of Temple at a 1939 charity comedy-baseball game.
Temple was also featured – or the Temple name and impact, at least – in the Betty Bao Lord book, “In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.”
Shirley Temple Wong sails from China to America with a heart full of dreams. Her new home is Brooklyn, New York. America is indeed a land full of wonders, but Shirley doesn’t know any English, so it’s hard to make friends. Then a miracle – baseball – happens. It is 1947, and Jackie Robinson, star of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is everyone’s hero. Jackie Robinson is proving that a black man, the grandson of a slave, can make a difference in America and for Shirley as well, on the ball field and off, America becomes the land of opportunity.
Andre Ethier will be a guest on the upcoming third season (which begins February 17) of Disney XD’s “Lab Rats,” reports Michael Schneider of TV Guide. So sometime while Ethier is gearing up for the 2014 season, you’ll also see him gearing up with these bionic teens.
A year ago, I published a couple of pieces for Variety on what I called “The Wallflower Syndrome,” named in honor of 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and describing films that weren’t getting the awards consideration they deserved, in large part because they didn’t have the right pedigree, or they simply weren’t loud enough to grab people’s attention.
Wallflower Syndrome plagues Oscars
More musings about the Oscars and the Wallflower Syndrome
This year, I’m making “Short Term 12” winner of my just-formed 2013 Wallflower Syndrome Award. It’s a wonderful movie, with an absolutely superb performance from Brie Larson, that really should be seen and considered with the best film work of the year.
Congrats to my brother Greg, who will be an executive producer on the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels.
Carl Crawford, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
A.J. Ellis, C
Juan Uribe, 3B
Dee Gordon, SS
Clayton Kershaw, P
