2016 Movie and Score Awards

2016 was not the best year for movies.  In fact, I would say it’s probably the worst in awhile.  Most of the summer blockbusters were pretty disappointing.  I think I saw nearly every movie from the year I want to see, so it's time to give out some fake awards.  But first, some thoughts on this year's movies.

Let’s start with superhero movies.  Those are the biggest things going now.  There were a couple of good ones, and a couple of stinkers.  The best, for my money, was Captain America: Civil War.  This is not because of the airport scene alone, though that was probably the best scene of the year, but overall it was a solid addition to the MCU.  The second best was probably Doctor Strange, which was a little more fun than I expected.  Visually it was astounding.  The cape stole the show.  Then there’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the most polarizing movie of the year.  I would say it was not perfect, for sure, but it was a heck of a lot better than many people will say.  Ben Affleck was the best live action Batman I’ve seen, Wonder Woman was awesome, Superman was fine.  And, while people make fun of the “Martha” moment, I could not believe I had never thought of that connection before.  I was actually shocked!  Deadpool, which so many people loved, I thought was way overblown.  Suicide Squad was probably the most disappointing movie of the year.  Margot Robbie and Will Smith were excellent, but the rest of the cast was merely good to terrible.  The dancing witch is one of the worst villains I’ve ever seen.  Finally, X-Men: Apocalypse proved that the X-Men trilogies have no idea how to do a finale.  A truly terrible movie.

Science fiction had another solid year.  10 Cloverfield Lane was the most suspenseful movie of the year.  Rogue One and Star Trek Beyond were both excellent additions to their franchises.  In fact, I would argue that Beyond is the best of the new Star Trek so far.  Passengers, as I recently wrote, was disappointing though still well made.  Arrival is a beautiful movie with some interesting ideas that will leave the viewer thinking about them for awhile, and of course wondering what they just saw.  The only terrible science fiction movie was Independence Day: Resurgence, and boy was that one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

Let’s talk about the overhyped movies, because there were a few.  I already mentioned Deadpool.  Another majorly overhyped movie was Zootopia, which I thought was merely a decent animated movie.  I thought it was more annoying than great, and really the spoiled the best scene (DMV) in the trailer.

Speaking of family movies, I really liked Fanatastic Beasts.  Sure, it’s not Harry Potter, but it was still quite good.  Finding Dory was a very good return to form for Pixar.  Sure, it’s not as good as the original, but the octopus was a great addition.  The Jungle Book verges on the overhyped.  It was good, but not great as many people made it sound.  I thought it was a bit disjointed.

Then we have the disappointing movies, which is the largest amount of movies this year.  I already mentioned Suicide Squad, Passengers, and X-Men (plus I guess Independence Day).  The other most disappointing movie of the year was Jason Bourne.  That trailer had me really excited for one of my favorite franchises.  It wasn’t a bad movie, per se, and it had some great action scenes as you would expect from a Bourne movie.  The biggest problem was, as many people have said, it was exactly what you expected.  There were no surprises, it was paint-by-number, it only muddled the storyline unnecessarily.  Another disappointing movie, for me, was Hail, Caesar!  Now I’m not a big Coen Brothers fan, though I really like a few of their movies.  I thought this movie was a can’t-miss, but it ended up being boring and just bad.  And then there was The Girl on the Train.  I read the book because I knew the movie was coming out.  I didn't particularly like the book, but it was quite suspenseful.  With Emily Blunt I figured the movie would be good, despite the negative reviews.  Well, the reviews were right.  The movie was a mess and had none of the suspense of the book.  What a huge swing and a miss.

There’s also a few movies that were just kind of there.  This would include things like Criminal, Hush (which was pretty dumb), Money Monster, Risen (interesting concept not done well), and Now You See Me 2 (did we really need a sequel?).

There was also one very underrated and underwatched movie.  I remember seeing the trailers for The Nice Guys and thinking it looked interesting but not something I'd run out to see.  So I didn't.  And neither did anyone else.  I finally saw it streaming much later, and I thought it was really funny.  Certainly it's not as good as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also from Shane Black, but if you liked that you will like The Nice Guys.  And it actually made me like Ryan Gosling, which I thought was impossible.

One other movie I have not mentioned so far, because I’m still not really sure what to make of it.  Silence.  I really wanted to love this movie.  I did like it…up to a certain point.  (Spoiler)  The martyrdom and the torture of the faithful was powerful, as was the psychological battle of Padre Rodriguez.  But the movie made a huge turn, for the worse, when he hears Jesus’ voice (as someone else said, how dare they put words in the Lord’s mouth?) and then completely destroys itself when he apostasies.  It almost make apostasy seem ok, which is not ok at all.  So while it was a beautiful movie with good acting, I left angry.

What’s left?  The best movie of the year: 13 Hours.  It was the first movie of the year that I saw, and it set a high standard.  It was not perfect, but all around it was the best.  It was very emotional (I left the movie very angry, but for the right reason).  It was shot very well.  The acting was good.  As a friend said, it was like a new Black Hawk Down.  And I finally saw Hacksaw Ridge.  Maybe it was hyped too much for me, but while I thought it was a good movie, it felt incomplete in some way.  I am happy to see Mel Gibson back making epic movies since, no matter what you think of him personally, he is one of the best directors for telling an epic story.

Best Superhero Movie: Captain America: Civil War

Best Action Movie: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Comedy: Finding Dory

Best Family Movie: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Best Suspense: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Best Science Fiction: Arrival

Best Drama: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Movie: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Worst Superhero Movie: X-Men: Apocalypse

Worst Action Movie: Criminal

Worst Comedy: Hail, Caesar!

Worst Family Movie: Risen

Worst Suspense: Hush

Worst Science Fiction: Independence Day: Resurgence

Worst Drama: Money Monster

Worst Movie: Independence Day: Resurgence

5 Favorite Movies:

Rogue One

Captain America: Civil War

Fantastic Beasts

Star Trek Beyond

10 Cloverfield Lane

5 Best Movies:

13 Hours

Captain America

Hacksaw Ridge

Rogue One

Arrival

Best Actor: Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

            Honorable mentions: Andrew Garfield (Silence), Chris Pratt (Passengers), Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling (The Nice Guys)

Best Actress:  Amy Adams (Arrival)

            Honorable mentions: Jennifer Lawrence (Passengers), Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train)

Best Supporting Actor:  John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

            Honorable mentions:  Daniel Bruhl (Captain America), Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman), Adam Driver (Silence), Will Smith (Suicide Squad)

Best Supporting Actress: Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys)

            Honorable mentions: Alison Sudol (Fantastic Beasts), Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train)

Now, let's talk about my favorite part of the movies, the music.  I hate to say that they have been on the decline recently, but so many of them are just white noise any more there's nothing really to distinguish them.  So, very few stood out for me this year.  I'm just going to name those that are worth mentioning, in no particular order:

Arrival (Johann Johannsson) - the best music in this movie isn't even the score, it's a track by Max Richter at the beginning and end

Batman v Superman (Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL) - another lackluster Hans Zimmer effort, with the exception of the fantastic Wonder Woman theme

Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman) - yet another mediocre Marvel score

Doctor Strange (Michael Giacchino) - finally a Marvel score that stood out, with some really interesting Eastern/70s sounds

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (James Newton Howard) - this would be solidly middle of the pack Harry Potter music

Finding Dory (Thomas Newman) - a solid follow up to Finding Nemo

The Girl on the Train (Danny Elfman) - Elfman in his most forgettable

Hacksaw Ridge (Rupert Gregson-Williams) - the music is fine

Independence Day: Resurgence (Harald Kloser & Thomas Wander) - like the movie, the music pales in comparison with the fantastic original

Jason Bourne (John Powell & David Buckley) - while it's hard to go wrong with Powell's Bourne music, there's nothing really that interesting here

The Jungle Book (John Debney) - uses the original Disney music well

The Legend of Tarzan (Rupert Gregson-Williams) - I listened to it, can't say I remember it

The Magnificent Seven (James Horner & Simon Franglen) - the last music the iconic Horner wrote, it's great to hear the original theme spliced in

The Nice Guys (David Buckley & John Ottman) - some decent 70s sound, but like most Ottman there's not much to remember it

Passengers (Thomas Newman) - I've listened to this more than any other this year, and it's so good it makes me want to see the movie again

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Michael Giacchino) - I wrote about this more before, but again I'll say he did very well in the short time he had

Star Trek Beyond (Michael Giacchino) - another good addition to the franchise

Suicide Squad (Steven Price) - there are moments that are good

X-Men: Apocalypse (John Ottman) - see: Ottman comment on The Nice Guys

10 Cloverfield Lane (Bear McCreary) - does a great job of building the suspense

13 Hours (Lorne Balfe) - like the movie, reminiscent of Black Hawk Down

Best Score:  Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Drama Score: Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Animated Score:  Finding Dory (Thomas Newman)

Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Score: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Michael Giacchino)

Best Action/Adventure Score:  Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman)

Best Horror Score: 10 Cloverfield Lane (Bear McCreary)

Best Genre Score:  The Nice Guys (David Buckley & John Ottman)

Best Composition:  Michelle (from 10 Cloverfield Lane, Bear McCreary)

Best Theme: Is She With You? (from Batman v Superman, Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL)

Best Love Theme:  Spacewalk (from Passengers, Thomas Newman)

Best Action Sequence:  The Tunnel (from Captain America, Henry Jackman)

Best Use of Classical/Source Music:  On the Nature of Daylight (Max Richter, in Arrival)

Composer of the Year:  Michael Giacchino

2016 Season Review and Postseason Preview

Well, the 2016 regular season is over.  It was, without a doubt, the most disappointing season I can remember...ever.  At least as an Astros fan.  They've had worse years, definitely, but never one that fell so short of expectations.  But let's look beyond that.  First, let's see how I did with my predictions:

AL East

Toronto - building on last year

Baltimore - I liked their additions

Boston - Price was a good pickup, but too high a price (HA!)

New York - old men get older

Tampa Bay - still a year or two away

Well now, I was close.  The top three are all in the playoffs, just not in that order.  Not bad.

AL Central

Kansas City - love this team makeup

Cleveland (Wild Card) - a solid young team

Detroit - do they have enough?

Chicago - good pieces don't add up

Minnesota - not enough

Nobody saw that many injuries for KC.  Besides that, I was pretty much dead on.

AL West

Houston - too much talent not to

Texas (Wild Card) - a healthy year for a strong team

Los Angeles - somewhat of a mess

Oakland - always in the chase

Seattle - King Felix no more

Oy.  Freaking Rangers playing way above their stats.  Freaking Astros being the Astros.  This was way off.

So I successfully picked 3 of 5 playoff teams, though two division leaders I had in the Wild Card.  Not bad.

NL East

Washington - only Matt Williams could fail with this much talent

New York (Wild Card) - fantastic starting rotation and just enough offense

Miami - if Giancarlo can stay healthy

Philadelphia - rebuilding mode

Atlanta - blowup mode preparing for new stadium

Perfect!  Even the Mets in the Wild Card!

NL Central

Chicago - drinking the Cool-Aid

Pittsburgh - a tough division means they just miss Wild Card for first time in four years

St. Louis - because they can't keep winning

Milwaukee - trying to copy the Astros

Cincinnati - Votto is gone by the All Star Break

Again, flip Pittsburgh and St. Louis and this one is perfect, even with the second place team just missing the Wild Card!

NL West

Los Angeles - they eventually have to live up to the hype

San Francisco (Wild Card) - because it's an even year

Arizona - Pollock injury crushes them

San Diego - not much to see here

Colorado - even less here once CarGo leaves

Top two are perfect.  You know what that means?  I was 5-5 with NL playoff predictions!

ALCS - Houston over Toronto

NLCS - Washington over Chicago

World Series - Houston over Washington (complete homer pick, I hope it is not a jinx)

What a way to jinx!  Next year, I'll pick the Astros to go 0-162.  Yeah, that'll work.

Anyways, here's my look at the postseason:

AL Wild Card:

TOR over BAL

            A tough one to call, with Toronto's experience against a better starter for the Orioles.  Usually you go starter, but in this case I'm going with the home team.

NL Wild Card:

SF over NY

            Again tough, but this time I'm going with pitching.  How can you pick against freakin' Bumgarner?

ALDS:

TOR over TEX

            Somewhat wishful thinking, somewhat expecting the Rangers to play as they did against every team not named "Astros."

CLE over BOS

            Boston's offense is fantastic, but the Indians have a better team.

NLDS:

WSH over LA

            At some point they have to play up to expectations, right?  The loss of Ramos really hurts, though.

CHI over SF

            Mostly because I cannot abide another Giants playoff run.

ALCS:

TOR over CLE

            The Blue Jays get hot and keep rolling.

NLCS:

WSH over CHI

            What should be a great championship series comes down to the wire, and Harper plays hero.

World Series:

WSH over TOR

            I'm sticking with my Nationals World Series pick, and when it comes to the Series I have to go US over Canada.

Awards picks:

AL ROY:  Gary Sanchez

NL ROY:  Corey Seager

AL Cy Young:  Corey Kluber

NL Cy Young:  Kyle Hendricks

AL MVP:  Jose Altuve

NL MVP:  Kris Bryant

RIP Astros 2016

The Astros are 75-70.  They are 4.5 games back in the Wild Card with 17 games left to go.  There are five teams ahead of them.  The West is much worse (11.5 games back).  It is time to put the final nail in the coffin.  It's time to pack it up and start thinking about next year.  2016 is done.

But let's be honest, it was done way back in April.  The dug themselves a huge hole starting 7-17.  Yes, they had a great June, going 18-8.  Everything was clicking.  The problem is, May, July, and August were all about .500 months.  September they are 4-8 so far.  It's hard to make the playoffs with one terrible month, one great month, and three mediocre months, especially in the tough AL.  It's darn near impossible to do well going 3-15 against a division opponent.  Speaking of that division opponent, the Astros just happen to be going up against one of the luckiest teams in baseball history (it's been documented elsewhere).  They are 33-10 in one run games, despite the worst bullpen in the American League.  They are 12 games over their pythagorean W-L record.  Don't give me the "they've overcome so many injuries," most of those injuries helped them (i.e. Prince Fielder).

Enough about the team that makes my blood boil.  What happened with the Astros?

Inconsistency is a big problem.  At the beginning of the season, the pitching was holding the team together.  Now that the offense is straightened out (June was the one month they were more or less together), the pitching has taken a huge dive.  Doug Fister went from a 3.55 ERA and 1.241 WHIP to 5.20 ERA and 1.609 WHIP.  Collin McHugh from 3.76/1.352 to 6.04/1.645.  Mike Fiers from 4.35/1.355 to 5.09/1.440.  Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers improved in the second half, but for Keuchel it for both it was hard to get worse and both have been injured.

  All that being said, the pitching staff totals are still Top 5 in the league.  So what else?

Nobody has stepped up to be that ace closer.  This is where I have to disagree with the Sabrmetric idea of "anyone can close."  Luke Gregerson has good overall numbers, but he is 14/19 in save opportunities.  Ken Giles, again good overall numbers, 10/14 in save opportunities.  Will Harris, gangbusters and deserved All Star as a setup man, 12/15.  The Astros are at 68% save percentage, just below league average but bottom 5.  18 blown saves ties them for third worst.  To show how it's closers only while the rest of the bullpen has been good if not great: they are second in the league with holds (89).

Oh yeah, and then there was the complete lack of anything at the trade deadline.  We need a bat in the outfield?  We need a closer?  Something?  Let's stand pat and just get rid of a couple of unnecessary arms (Feldman and Fields).  Meanwhile, let's watch our biggest rival fill our two biggest holes with a steal of a trade with the Brewers to get one of the best hitting catchers in the game and a closer.  Great job there.  Really proved to the fans and the team that we're in it to win it.  Though, maybe it was for the best given the trade history of our current front office (do I need to start the litany again of the Giles, Fowler, Gomez, etc. trades?)

I've ignored the offense to this point because, in general, they've greatly improved in the second half (though, unfortunately, Jose Altuve has been on a dreadful cold spell the last few weeks).  Much of this is because of fresh faces finally making a difference (remember my complaint about the young hitters in the first half?).  Alex Bregman, who I was ready to hang after a 1-22 start, has steadily improved and now looks like a solid 3B.

  Yuli Gurriel has been hitting since he was called up and finally added some power.

  Probably the best thing that happened was the two big minuses: Carlos Gomez off the team and a couple of lengthy injuries to Colby "Most Streaky Hitter Ever" Rasmus.  Oh yes, and again Evan Gattis hits like crazy when he catches.

So, some bright spots.  What to do?  Here are three keys for the off season:

1. Get a legitimate closer.  I would love to see them bring Mark Melancon back to Houston.  Of course Aroldis Chapman would be good on the field, but I don't love his price tag nor his off field problems.  Kenley Jansen would be another good free agent option.

2. Cut the deadweight.  I would have a hard time resigning any of the team's free agents.  Colby Rasmus has to go.  Luis Valbuena is definitely not needed.  We can find a replacement for Jason Castro (Gattis is not a full time answer.  Wilson Ramos, maybe?).  Doug Fister is the only one I would think about resigning, but only if cheap.

3.  Find an actual first baseman.  What is supposed to be the premier offensive position is one of the worst on the team, with .234/.300/.393 splits and only 18 home runs.  The OPS+ is a dreadful 87, 13% worse than league average.  That cannot happen on a team that wants to make the playoffs.  Heck, even Chris Carter was better than that last year (let's not talk about his 34 HR season this year).  Marwin Gonzalez cannot be the everyday guy.  Tyler White and A.J. Reed for whatever reason can't do it, at least not yet.  The best option might be having Gurriel go full bore this off season to play over there.  If they don't get a 1B replacement, they will need to get an outfield bat.

Right now, here's what I would like to see going into next season:

C: FA?/Gattis/Stassi

1B: Gurriel

2B: Altuve

3B: Bregman

SS: Correa

LF: FA/Teoscar Hernandez/Tucker

CF: FA/Marisnick

RF: Springer

DH: Gattis

Rotation: Keuchel, McHugh, McCullers, Feliz, Musgrove (Fister)

Closer: Melancon

Bullpen: Gregerson, Giles, Harris, Sipp, Devenski

There's always next year...

Another Busy Month: August

It's been awhile since I really got to post much here.  What have I been doing?  Glad you asked.

August has been incredibly busy.

July ended with my move out of my summer assignment to my parents' house, temporarily of course.  The first few days of that week consisted of me packing, first for our Seminarian Gathering, then for seminary.  I had been helping to plan our Gathering all summer, so Wednesday was our last day to get ready before it started.  Mostly it was a trip to the store to buy a whole lot of drinks and some food.  We then had to move it from the van to the room where we would be meeting.  And, because I don't think ahead, I was wearing pants and a polo.  And it was about 90 degrees.  That was a fun day.

Our Gathering started on the 4th with a good talk by someone from the Tribunal, followed by a trip to paintball.  It was my first time paintballing, and it was a lot of fun, despite the heat and humidity and the long pants and shirt.  In fact, on our first "mission," I was the last one out, largely because I had no idea what I was doing so I just stayed in the back.  It almost worked.  I only got two bad hits, one on the top of my head, and one on the collarbone.  Overall, it was a good time.

Friday was a day of a few talks, one by our vocation director and one by our bishop, which is always a good time.  We also had a Jeopardy! game made by one of the seminarians focusing on the history of the diocese.  It was a lot of fun, though I was the judge of who raised their hand first so I was the enemy.

Saturday was our pilgrimage.  This year it was focused on Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, an Italian priest who founded a number of churches in southwest Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.  He was a true pioneer priest, even drawing the plans for many of the churches.  First we went to St. Augustine in New Diggings.  Built in the 1840s, it was restored recently to look exactly as it had 170 years ago.  We had Mass there, Extraordinary Form, which was fantastic.  They even rang the bell for us.

Next, we headed over to Sinsinawa Mounds, home of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sister who were founded by Fr. Mazzuchelli.  In their heyday, they were the largest order in the United States, numbering nearly 2000!

 Painting of Fr. Mazzuchelli when he entered seminary, around age 17

 After he died, he was found wearing this penitential chain around his waist

The habit Sinsinawa Dominican sisters used to wear

We then trekked over to St. Patrick's Church in Benton, the final resting place of Fr. Mazzuchelli.  Holy Hour there was a treat, even if the A/C wasn't working.

 He had a great devotion to Our Lady, Queen of Sorrows

We finished the pilgrimage with dinner at the house of a major benefactor for the diocese.  His farm includes a nice chapel, Stations of the Cross, various statues, and a huge rosary.  What a great man.

Sunday brought us Mass with the bishop, a fantastic brunch, and then the priest/seminarian soccer game in Sauk City.  The seminarians won, of course, 4-2.

Monday was another big event for us.  We had a golf tournament with some of the priests from the diocese as well as some local benefactors.  This took place at the Janesville Country Club, which is the oldest country club in Wisconsin and something like the fourth oldest in the United States.  My group did not do very well, but we still had fun.

Tuesday was picture day!  Always a favorite day.  We also had an event with major benefactors of the vocation office.  And we finished on Wednesday with a talk on the importance of learning Latin as priests of the Latin Rite.  What a concept!

After a half day of "rest" at home, it was move-in day at the seminary on Thursday.  Busy busy busy, but the people here were great about helping make it feel like home.

 My new home

The seminary used to have a baseball team!  Of course, they also used to have 400 seminarians 

Friday the 12th began orientation.  Like most places, it's that "necessary evil" to learn the ropes.  One among many interesting facts, it was built in 1855, making it the oldest continually operated seminary in the United States.  So that was my next week.  One of the highlights was Monday, the Feast of the Assumption.  We went over to the cathedral to help out at the Open Door Cafe, a fantastic organization that feeds 5000 lunches every year at no cost.  We also got a tour of the cathedral.  The less said the better.

Milwaukee cathedral circa 1940s 

That afternoon, thanks to the feast day, we had our only real block of time free for two weeks (or three for me).  I took that time to see Suicide Squad, because I had to.  My short review: despite some great performances by Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, and especially Will Smith, it was one of the most disappointing movies in awhile.  The editing was horrific, and the villain was a Marvel-like throwaway villain, only more laughable.  I'm going to blame the studio for at least a little bit of that.

Our orientation ended with a trip to a lake house on Saturday.  It was a nice, relaxing time for some of us.  Others went crazy playing volleyball and soccer. 

Sunday morning we were free to attend Mass wherever we wanted.  I decided to head over to St. Stanislaus, where my great (great?) uncle was the pastor in the 1880s/1890s.  This former Polish church is now run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.  It was a Low Mass, and I have to admit to feeling a little emotional thinking that I was in the same space as my ancestor, listening to the same Mass that he would have celebrated.

Then Sunday afternoon we headed to our yearly silent retreat in Illinois.  It was a good retreat, focusing on the Beatitudes.  As always, the most important part of the retreat is the personal time with God.  I was able to finish Cardinal Sarah's book, which was inspiring.

And now I'm back in the seminary.  Classes begin Monday.  I'm ready to start theology!