Last Place Wisdom: Championship Week, A Long Awaited Arrival
The TFLOEG Championship has officially started, and the season will come to a close on Christmas Day. The whole season for me has been building to this moment, Clarke vs Keith with glory on the line. Regular Season 1 vs 2, Grizzled Veteran vs fresh faced Newcomer. From my perspective, Clarke started the TFLOEG arms race this year, assembling an incredibly strong team with in-season pickups of Matt Ryan, Rob Gronkowski, Dez Bryant, Jordy Nelson, Demariyus Thomas, Matt Forte, Bilal Powell to just name a few. No team has gone through more changes this season than Clarke, with some of his moves working out better than others, but his desire to constantly improve spurred the rest of the league on.
If you look at the transaction history, Clarke picking up Rob Gronkoswki on October 20th was followed shortly by John trading for DeMarco and Green, was followed again by Clarke trading for Matt Ryan, and led directly to myself feeling the need to make my own splash for Melvin Gordon. I can't speak for John, but I know seeing Clarke assemble the team that he did was very influential in my own decision making to go for it now. The funny thing is of our arms race really ended up meaning a lot less than it could have given injuries to Gronk, Green and Gordon.
I'm going to keep to my tried and true method and not make much in terms of predictions this week, but there are going to be 2 storylines to follow. Christmas Day, there might be some big NFL playoff implications on the line at Heinz Field, but the real storyline will be Antonio Brown vs LeVeon Bell with our matchup on the line. Bell has been on an incredible hotstreak, however Brown outscored Bell the last time they played Baltimore. The other matchup to watch will be Thomas vs Nelson. I was surprised when Clarke offered me this trade back at the deadline, as I thought he was going for it and that Nelson was a step ahead of Thomas in value. Both players have been good, but it would be quite something if the Championship came down to this trade made literally at the last minute.
On that note, football talk will be ending. Best of luck to Clarke in the finals, it really will be anyone's game.
Movie Rankings of the Year
At Men's Breakfast a few weeks ago it was mentioned in an offhand that I should do up my own movie of the year rankings for the blog and I took that to heart. If like me you read John's write-up and thought, this person really takes his movie's seriously and I enjoy reading his thoughts, but it would be better if I had seen anything on his list, then hopefully mine is the list for you. While John might watch movies every weekend and fill his list with arthouse and celebrated Auteurs, since having 2 kids I rarely get to your standard blockbuster and catch films months after they've been released, if at all. Consider this your biased, every-man's perspective on the films I managed to see this year. There's nothing objective about it and I'm not even saying the films at the top of my list are better films than the bottom, it's just what I happened to like this year at the movies.
9. Zootopia - This was a favourite of critics and audience. I hated it and thought it was grossly overrated. I went into the movie with Aiden and high hopes; I had seen the preview where the main characters were talking to Sloths in the DMV and it was probably the funniest thing I had seen all year Unfortunately, that was the only good part of the movie. Combined with the pretty blatant messaging told in the story, this film was certainly at the bottom of my list of things that I had seen.
8. Kung Fu Panda 3 - Another film I took Aiden to go see; it's the 3rd movie in a series that even when it was fresh was only alright. Nothing about this movie really stands out in a good way, but because it didn't let me down like Zootopia it falls one spot higher.
7. Risen - When it comes to religiously focused Hollywood films, this film is far from the worst. It had an interesting take, and strives to be more than straight message fiction, although it's success at that was not fully realized.
6. Finding Dory - Judging by their placement at the bottom half of my list, this was not a good year for family movies in my opinion. Finding Dory was fine I suppose; I just really enjoy Finding Nemo and Dory fails to live up to the expectations set by the original. Pixar is usually pretty reliable, however 3 of their next 4 films are sequels so it might say something about the current and future state of the industry when even the best filmmakers have fallen into this trap.
5. Suicide Squad - Listening to John's thoughts on this film, I certainly feel like he would place this at the bottom of his list. I didn't hate it, although it was probably disappointing given that I had high hopes based on the trailers. I enjoyed Harley and the Joker, the Batman cameos and Will Smith as Deadshot. However, the characters were thin, the plot was straightforward and the villain was stupid. In short, it had all of the problems that I typically find with a Marvel movie.
4. Captain America: Civil War - Speaking of Marvel movies, here's Civil War. To be quite honest, it was rather forgettable as I don't totally remember everything that took place in it. It did have the best villain yet in a Marvel film (Tony Stark), and Spiderman and the Airport fight scene were top notch. In my mind they didn't really do enough to create the rivalry between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and despite the stakes never being higher, the stakes really weren't all that high. To figure out where it fits on my Marvel rankings, I will need to watch it again to see how it holds up, and see if it's more of a Winter Soldier or more of an Avengers 2.
2/3. Rogue One - I'm hedging a little by not making a clear distinction between my #3 and #2 choices; I haven't had enough time or motivation to determine which I truly enjoyed more.
Rogue One was the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy, and I think it it going to hold up far far better than The Force Awakens. Growing up, part of what I always loved about Star Wars was the wider political setting of the universe. In the original trilogy, Rebels vs an Evil Empire made sense. I the prequels, as bad as they were, the civil war makes sense. The political situation in the Force Awakens makes no sense, but a return to the Rebels vs Empire and a deeper look into the workings of the Rebellion is a huge improvement.
It's settings and feel totally place it within the Star Wars universe, and it made me think of many of the Star Wars video games I have played throughout the years. It's a fairly straightforward action and spy flick, but despite the fact that you can pretty much guess how it will all play out it doesn't take away from the film. On the downside, none of the characters are all that memorable outside of K-2SO, and the film continues with the unfortunate trend of lacking a cameo by Wedge Antilles, the original great Star Wars continuing character.
2/3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Despite the critical reception, I loved this film and thought it was a great continuation in DC establishing their own cinematic universe. To get the negatives out of the way, I agree the plot can be somewhat confusing to follow, as the pacing and editing make some odd choices in the way they present information. On the plus side, I think it treats the question of how the world would react to discovering a Superman extremely well, and it builds up a well thought out reason for bringing Batman and Superman into conflict. Lex for all his craziness ended up being a fairly well developed villain, and Wonder Woman probably ended up stealing the film for me; I loved her introduction that much.
Most of all, I appreciate that this film wasn't afraid to take chances. It doesn't hold your hand and it doesn't play things safe. From the moment I discovered Doomsday was in the film, I should have expected Superman to die, but for whatever reason it still caught me a little off guard. I love that it gave a real nod to the comic books, as this was the most comic book like portrayal of Batman we've seen, and all the foreshadowing the movie gave to Apocalypse and the future of the DC universe.
1. Warcraft - Unsurprisingly to John, Warcraft was the #1 film I saw this year. I don't even think that it's objectively a great film, however no other film was as much of a joy for me to watch and experience. The film does a poor job of explaining all the backstory and world building that goes in to the movie, and I can understand how critics may have hated it or been confused at what was going on. For someone who was already a fan and familiar with the world, both from WoW and the earlier strategy games, it was one great moment after another. Doomhammer! Kadghar turning a guard into a sheep! Guldan vs Durotan! The film was a series of great moments to me, and I'm incredible thankful to China for loving the movie so much that the possibility of a sequel has gone way up, as I was sad to see it end and wanted to experience more of the universe on film.
The Papa John's Pizza Positivity Party of the Week
It should be easy to be feeling good this week, both because it's Championship Week, but also because we get to celebrate the Incarnation of God in human form with family and friends. The song this week is by no means my favourite Christmas song (that was done last year with my Advent of Christmas songs), but you can bet the streak I'm on I'm not going to be changing things up now, so let's rock the mic for a little Christmas in Cali'
On the Next Last Place Wisdom
If you look at the transaction history, Clarke picking up Rob Gronkoswki on October 20th was followed shortly by John trading for DeMarco and Green, was followed again by Clarke trading for Matt Ryan, and led directly to myself feeling the need to make my own splash for Melvin Gordon. I can't speak for John, but I know seeing Clarke assemble the team that he did was very influential in my own decision making to go for it now. The funny thing is of our arms race really ended up meaning a lot less than it could have given injuries to Gronk, Green and Gordon.
I'm going to keep to my tried and true method and not make much in terms of predictions this week, but there are going to be 2 storylines to follow. Christmas Day, there might be some big NFL playoff implications on the line at Heinz Field, but the real storyline will be Antonio Brown vs LeVeon Bell with our matchup on the line. Bell has been on an incredible hotstreak, however Brown outscored Bell the last time they played Baltimore. The other matchup to watch will be Thomas vs Nelson. I was surprised when Clarke offered me this trade back at the deadline, as I thought he was going for it and that Nelson was a step ahead of Thomas in value. Both players have been good, but it would be quite something if the Championship came down to this trade made literally at the last minute.
On that note, football talk will be ending. Best of luck to Clarke in the finals, it really will be anyone's game.
Movie Rankings of the Year
At Men's Breakfast a few weeks ago it was mentioned in an offhand that I should do up my own movie of the year rankings for the blog and I took that to heart. If like me you read John's write-up and thought, this person really takes his movie's seriously and I enjoy reading his thoughts, but it would be better if I had seen anything on his list, then hopefully mine is the list for you. While John might watch movies every weekend and fill his list with arthouse and celebrated Auteurs, since having 2 kids I rarely get to your standard blockbuster and catch films months after they've been released, if at all. Consider this your biased, every-man's perspective on the films I managed to see this year. There's nothing objective about it and I'm not even saying the films at the top of my list are better films than the bottom, it's just what I happened to like this year at the movies.
9. Zootopia - This was a favourite of critics and audience. I hated it and thought it was grossly overrated. I went into the movie with Aiden and high hopes; I had seen the preview where the main characters were talking to Sloths in the DMV and it was probably the funniest thing I had seen all year Unfortunately, that was the only good part of the movie. Combined with the pretty blatant messaging told in the story, this film was certainly at the bottom of my list of things that I had seen.
8. Kung Fu Panda 3 - Another film I took Aiden to go see; it's the 3rd movie in a series that even when it was fresh was only alright. Nothing about this movie really stands out in a good way, but because it didn't let me down like Zootopia it falls one spot higher.
7. Risen - When it comes to religiously focused Hollywood films, this film is far from the worst. It had an interesting take, and strives to be more than straight message fiction, although it's success at that was not fully realized.
6. Finding Dory - Judging by their placement at the bottom half of my list, this was not a good year for family movies in my opinion. Finding Dory was fine I suppose; I just really enjoy Finding Nemo and Dory fails to live up to the expectations set by the original. Pixar is usually pretty reliable, however 3 of their next 4 films are sequels so it might say something about the current and future state of the industry when even the best filmmakers have fallen into this trap.
5. Suicide Squad - Listening to John's thoughts on this film, I certainly feel like he would place this at the bottom of his list. I didn't hate it, although it was probably disappointing given that I had high hopes based on the trailers. I enjoyed Harley and the Joker, the Batman cameos and Will Smith as Deadshot. However, the characters were thin, the plot was straightforward and the villain was stupid. In short, it had all of the problems that I typically find with a Marvel movie.
4. Captain America: Civil War - Speaking of Marvel movies, here's Civil War. To be quite honest, it was rather forgettable as I don't totally remember everything that took place in it. It did have the best villain yet in a Marvel film (Tony Stark), and Spiderman and the Airport fight scene were top notch. In my mind they didn't really do enough to create the rivalry between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and despite the stakes never being higher, the stakes really weren't all that high. To figure out where it fits on my Marvel rankings, I will need to watch it again to see how it holds up, and see if it's more of a Winter Soldier or more of an Avengers 2.
2/3. Rogue One - I'm hedging a little by not making a clear distinction between my #3 and #2 choices; I haven't had enough time or motivation to determine which I truly enjoyed more.
Rogue One was the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy, and I think it it going to hold up far far better than The Force Awakens. Growing up, part of what I always loved about Star Wars was the wider political setting of the universe. In the original trilogy, Rebels vs an Evil Empire made sense. I the prequels, as bad as they were, the civil war makes sense. The political situation in the Force Awakens makes no sense, but a return to the Rebels vs Empire and a deeper look into the workings of the Rebellion is a huge improvement.
It's settings and feel totally place it within the Star Wars universe, and it made me think of many of the Star Wars video games I have played throughout the years. It's a fairly straightforward action and spy flick, but despite the fact that you can pretty much guess how it will all play out it doesn't take away from the film. On the downside, none of the characters are all that memorable outside of K-2SO, and the film continues with the unfortunate trend of lacking a cameo by Wedge Antilles, the original great Star Wars continuing character.
2/3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Despite the critical reception, I loved this film and thought it was a great continuation in DC establishing their own cinematic universe. To get the negatives out of the way, I agree the plot can be somewhat confusing to follow, as the pacing and editing make some odd choices in the way they present information. On the plus side, I think it treats the question of how the world would react to discovering a Superman extremely well, and it builds up a well thought out reason for bringing Batman and Superman into conflict. Lex for all his craziness ended up being a fairly well developed villain, and Wonder Woman probably ended up stealing the film for me; I loved her introduction that much.
Most of all, I appreciate that this film wasn't afraid to take chances. It doesn't hold your hand and it doesn't play things safe. From the moment I discovered Doomsday was in the film, I should have expected Superman to die, but for whatever reason it still caught me a little off guard. I love that it gave a real nod to the comic books, as this was the most comic book like portrayal of Batman we've seen, and all the foreshadowing the movie gave to Apocalypse and the future of the DC universe.
1. Warcraft - Unsurprisingly to John, Warcraft was the #1 film I saw this year. I don't even think that it's objectively a great film, however no other film was as much of a joy for me to watch and experience. The film does a poor job of explaining all the backstory and world building that goes in to the movie, and I can understand how critics may have hated it or been confused at what was going on. For someone who was already a fan and familiar with the world, both from WoW and the earlier strategy games, it was one great moment after another. Doomhammer! Kadghar turning a guard into a sheep! Guldan vs Durotan! The film was a series of great moments to me, and I'm incredible thankful to China for loving the movie so much that the possibility of a sequel has gone way up, as I was sad to see it end and wanted to experience more of the universe on film.
The Papa John's Pizza Positivity Party of the Week
It should be easy to be feeling good this week, both because it's Championship Week, but also because we get to celebrate the Incarnation of God in human form with family and friends. The song this week is by no means my favourite Christmas song (that was done last year with my Advent of Christmas songs), but you can bet the streak I'm on I'm not going to be changing things up now, so let's rock the mic for a little Christmas in Cali'
On the Next Last Place Wisdom
- No Last Place Wisdom next week
- Win or Lose, I come back for one last recap of the 2016 season
- Super Bowl Party information
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