Happy Thanksgiving everybody!#
I'm thankful that Melo got another chance. I'm so grateful that I've decided to let Kristaps off the hook.#
UPS is still saying they delivered packages they didn't deliver. They must be throwing them into a creek. So third world. You really miss a service when you come to depend on it, and someone in the chain of people is deliberately breaking the service. #
My mini Irishman review.#- Scorsese has a style, you can see it in the first scene of The Irishman, and you smile, not knowing what's coming next, but knowing it's going to be good. The camera snakes through a nursing home and finds our narrator, an ancient Robert De Niro, and the story begins.#
- They do some fancy CGI stuff to show the characters much younger than the actors are today, but it doesn't work. I was thinking about that all through the movie. How old they are now, the staples of a Scorsese gangland movie, De Niro (76), Pesci (76) and one who's not a staple but also ancient, Pacino (79). And how old are they supposed to be in the scene I'm watching now. It was never clear. And the young CGI version of De Niro looks really old and doesn't look like De Niro. #
- It could have been more emotional, gripping and surprising, as good as any of his films, if he had used new actors. The CGI tricks stole the show and not in a good way, imho. I think that's why The Departed really clicked. None of the usual Scorsese ensemble, the stars were Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin. They played characters their own age. The story and storytelling took over, I never once thought about the movie-making, was completely captivated by the story. #
- However, you must watch The Irishman. Even a not-so-great Scorsese movie is epic and historic, especially with this cast, and especially at this point in all their careers. #
This is decidedly not a Thanksgiving post. Maybe I should hold it for tomorrow, but that's not how I roll. #- I watched a game between the LA Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks yesterday. They're both really good teams doing well this year. Watching the Clippers specifically it's sad for me, a Knicks fan, to see that LA has two highly competitive NBA teams and New York has part of one. We did attract two stars to NYC in the off-season, but one of them is injured and won't play all year, and the other is an asshole whose attitude spoils any hope we might have for interesting basketball in NYC this year and into the future. #
- The asshole of course is Kyrie Irving. If he were a true leader, he'd come to NYC and say hey I'm from here too, and I think it sucks that the city has such shitty basketball. I'm going to do my part to help liven things up, and hopefully the Nets will have a good year (set expectations, show a bit of humility, it works) and maybe we can inspire something interesting to happen on the other side of the river (i.e. at the Knicks).#
- It's so sucky that the biggest market in the US doesn't have a decent team and Dallas, a very random place for basketball, has a good team. Houston also has a great team, and San Antonio, even though they're rebuilding, is ok. #
- I don't know how much longer the NBA will put up with a Knicks owner who has no clue about sports, about the city, for that matter, about people. The Knicks need an intervention. Knicks fans are patient, but the city deserves better from the NBA. #
- PS: This year's Knicks are actually, for the Knicks, pretty good. They're still however in last place in the East, and only 1/2 game better than the worst in the West, the Warriors, and that's another story I want to tell someday.#
