Theatrical Review: GOAT

Date: Saturday, February 14 2026
Time: 12:20 (start time was 12:36)
Party: 2 (my sister and I)

Setting the Scene

It was Winterfest in East Stroudsburg where they place unique ice sculptures in front of the various small businesses around town. It was also the warmest weekend we'd had in months. It finally peaked into the 40's after several weeks of 20's and lows as low as -6.
Needless to say, it was CROWDED in town. We took the back roads up to a point and by the time we got to the theater, it was movie time.

I'm not sure if this is going to be a common thing now, but they had a sign saying to buy tickets at concession. They have a kiosk to pay by credit card or gift card. I don't know if it's laziness or they're short staffed or it's an elaborate trap to get people to spend money on refreshments when buying tickets. But I'm not really a fan of this approach. It's also kinda hard to choose your seats on the screen when the screen is upside down.
We got in when they were already into previews. There was nothing special. They had "Hoppers" for the zillionth time. Not sure if constantly doing ads during the Olympics is convincing more people to see it or it'll have the opposite effect.
"The Breadwinner" looks like a modern remake of "Mr. Mom" but they kicked the absurdity scale up to 11. I think it could've been a halfway decent movie if they didn't make the missteps look so ridiculous or overblown.
"Minions & Monsters"- I don't know if this is a sequel or a mid-quel or what. But my sister and I had seen nearly all of the Descipable movies so we'll see this one at some point, if only on cable. 
Then they had a trailer for a non-Miyazaki animé film with a really long title that I didn't have time to write it down.

The Movie

The two of us grew up with "Space Jam" and that was part of the reason my sister wanted to see this movie. Plus we like Steph Curry, more for him being behind "Holey Moley" than his skills on the basketball court.
Actually, we're not really big basketball fans. I've been filling out March Madness brackets since 2009 but that's basically it.
That is to say- you don't need to be a basketball fan or have any idea of the rules to be able to enjoy this movie. The game is technically called roarball and each of the teams in the conference plays on fields with different climates, including volcanos and glaciers. That in itself is a pretty cool twist on the game. 

Will Harris is a small medium goat with big dreams. He loves his hometown team, the Vineland Thorns and their top player Jett Fillmore, despite them not having won a championship in 50 years. That on its own is something a lot of sports fans can relate to, being devoted fans to a home team that isn't always playing their best.

Will is experiencing some other setbacks of his own- including falling back on his rent and ultimately getting booted out of his apartment by his landlord. A gerbil (played by Wayne Knight, making this his first basketball movie since Space Jam) with LOTS of mouths to feed.
At the local court, he gets into a match with the movie's antagonist, Mane. Although he comes up short, his friends had the foresight to film the game. The resulting edited video goes viral and it catches the attention of the owner of the Thorns. Ergo, Will gets drafted to become the 6th player of the team, much to the chargin of Jett and confusion of her teammates. 

As cool as Jett is- played to perfection by Gabrielle Union- it was a bit frustrating how long it took her to give Will a chance to even play. But much of her reluctance comes down to her own struggles and not wanting to be that player who's put out to pasture before their time.

The rest of the team has their individual quirks too and they're really fun characters. Archie the rhino is a single dad and his twin girls have some hilarious dialogue. Lenny the giraffe (played by Steph Curry) has a side hustle as a rapper. Olivia the ostrich is a little high-strung from too much scrolling on social media. And Modo the komodo dragon... he's easily the most memorable of the characters in the whole movie. He's so weird and out there with plenty of moments where you're either laughing or uncomfortable or a bizarre mix of both.

There'd been a number of animated movies in recent years featuring animals with human characteristics- Zootopia and Sing come to mind.
But while characters in those franchises mostly walk on two legs, the animals in this movie stand out. They still have that anthropomorphism thing going on but when they're angry, scared or even excited, they'll get down on all fours and act as you'd expect them to act if you'd seen them in nature. Jett does some cat things, including recoiling when someone hits her with a spray bottle. And Will has those goat clichés people either love or hate, depending on whether you think they're overdone. He also has this weird superpower where his eyes turn from circles to ovals and it helps him have better peripheral vision on the court. 

I'd commented how I'm not a big fan of Gen Z lingo being slowly incorporated into movies and things like cancel culture and social media. This movie takes these things and handles them really well. Except Will getting feedback at a press conference about outrage from the cockroach community after complaining his roomate's house is full of roaches... that joke just felt like cheap and throwaway. 

For the animation, it's very colorful and lively. At times, it almost feels overwhelming how much is happening on screen at once but I suppose kids who are already hyped up on sugar and whatnot will be into it. 
Our theater had a fair amount of kids in it and there was some laughing. But easily the best moment was at the end where one kid just starts cheering and a few moments later, the movie caught up to that amount of excitement. Plus there was a short round of applause at the end. 

Steph Curry had said how this movie is partially inspired by his own story. While I wouldn't call 6' 2" short, that is considerably short compared to most basketball players. There's a few little references to him. I'm sure I'd seen his "night night" victory pose on some commercial so I recognized it when Will did it during the scene the Thorns win their first game with him playing.

Overall, yeah, it was a fun movie. I'm glad we went out to see it. It did have its setbacks and its slow points, but the action is really good and there's a lot of heart with these characters. What's not to love about that small town underdog mentality?

Grade: B+

Ice Princess (2005)

Director: Tim Fywell
Writers: Meg Cabot (of "Princess Diaries" fame) and Hadley Davis (Scrubs, Spin City, Dawson's Creek)
Composer: Christophe Beck

Cast:
Casey Carlyle- Michelle Tratchenberg
Joan Carlyle- Joan Cusak
Tina Harwood- Kim Kattrall
Gen Harwood- Hayden Panettierre
Teddy "The Zambonie Driver" Harwood- Trevor Blumas
Nikki "The Jumping Shrimp" Fletcher- Kirsten Olson
Tiffany Lai- Jocelyn Lai
Zoey "Skater Thief" Bloch- Juliana Cannarozzo
Michelle Kwan & Brian Boitano as themselves (ESPN commentators)

Personal History

I don't know whether I first encountered this movie on Disney Channel or at Blockbuster. But Michelle Tratchenberg (aka "Harriet the Spy") attracted me to it initially. It was the first time I'd seen her since "Harriet the Spy" (another movie I loved as a kid, but hadn't seen all the way through in ages) and I wanted to catch up with her in this next role.
Since this movie, I believe she did "Entourage" for a couple shows and more or less disappeared. The last time I saw her was on "Hollywood Game Night." (Going through her bio, I do remember seeing her in "17 again" where she was Zac Efron's daughter).
I think I also wanted to see it because Hayden Panettierre played Kairi in "Kingdom Hearts" (I saw at least half a dozen Haley Joel Osment movies because he played Sora. I knew David Gallagher [who played Riku] from "7th Heaven" but hadn't seen him since I started playing the game).

And of course I love watching figure skating... which is the reason I ultimately watched this movie again [according to my Facebook timeline, it was Saturday 2/22/14... I remember it being a Saturday], got it on DVD and watched it the other night.

This is my way of kicking off the ISU Grand Prix series, which begins next week.

Originally, I was going to go through my history as an avid figure skating fan and how Evgeni Plushenko and the Sochi Olympics reawakened the fan in me...
but I decided it's better to focus on the movie.
I have another platform for all that craziness :P

Movie Discussion
"Ice Princess" is one of those sugary sweet predictable Disney movies... not that that's a bad thing. And at second glance, this movie is a few elements short of being a LifeTime movie. That's how dramatic it gets at certain points.

The movie revolves around science geek Casey Carlyle who has a knack for physics. Her teacher introduces a scholarship opportunity to her, which involves putting together a personal science project that involves physics. She's raised by a single mom and the two of them have spent years planning to get her into Harvard. It's that old cliché of "I want you to have a better life than I ever had." While it does from a place of love and good intentions, it also involves a lot of pressure about fulfilling expectations.

We get a similar storyline with one of our figure skaters and her mom/coach. Tina Harwood was a former athlete in the sport, but was banned from the sport after an incident at warm-up where it was believed she intentionally crashed into and injured another skater. She not only built a local skating rink from the ground, but she's also pushing her daughter, Gen, to become the champion she wasn't able to become. (By the time this ban was lifted, she was 26 and too old to compete... although these days, what constitutes as being "too old" is being challenged more often).

There is a lot of drama in this movie and had it been written any differently, it would have worked as a soap opera or made-for-TV movie. And it might not have been as fun or accessible as it became as a Disney movie.
The only feel-good cliché that's missing is Casey going on to win the final event of the movie... but she places well enough.

The fact that the story is co-written by Meg Cabot helps a lot. She wrote the Princess Diaries book series, so she understands how to write for teenagers for sure. As for parents... well... they're written as teenager see them, which is overbearing and expecting too much.

While Casey watches Sasha Cohen compete in the 2004 US National Championships, she has a lightbulb moment-- she can apply physics to figure skating.
She travels to the local rink and is able to convince Tina and the other skaters' parents to allow her to film them for her project.
And it really is an interesting idea that has some real-life applications to it. But as Casey says, the computer doesn't make the jumps. However much skaters train and replace bad habits with good ones, there's always room for error to creep in. Whether it's an equipment issue or a compromised mindset.

What ultimately gets the ball rolling that alters the lives of both mom-daughter teams... Casey's friend Ann suggests that she puts herself in the project to make it more personal. Casey had always skated for herself on the pond behind her house, but she'd never taken any lessons.
She enrolls in a novice class during the summer and steadily falls more and more in love with the sport to the point where she's competing.

When I saw the movie back in February 2014, I wanted to double-check a certain line of dialogue-- something about the importance of nailing the short program.
At first, Gen tells Casey not to freak until after the long program, but later she says you don't have a chance if you mess up in the short.
That situation wound up fitting Japan's Mao Osada at Sochi. She had a really bad showing in her short program and even though she nailed her free skate, the damage had already been done. Luckily for her, she was able to redeem herself a couple months later at the World championships. She's one of those skaters that is heralded as one of the best yet I'd only seen her perform well a handful of times. But when she's on her game, she is fantastic.

This time around, it was interesting to watch the girls doing all these jumps and being able to actually recognize what they were. I watched an YouTube video once where two athletes explained the difference between all the jumps... if I'm going to be watching the sport this much, I should learn to recognize what I'm looking at.
From a factual standpoint, the movie appears accurate to me. And these girls, whether or not it's the actresses or stunt-people making the jumps, are really talented.

Another thing I learned from this movie: you can't compete on new skates until you've spent at least 10 days breaking them in.
It was a turning point in the movie that I really didn't see as foul play until later on.

During a sectionals competition, Casey does an amazing short program, which included triples Tina and the skaters didn't know she had in her. Tina decides to take her out and get her new skates because one of them gave her trouble during her skate. On the surface, I still feel like she meant well by it, but the timing of it is pretty suspicious. Especially because Casey's mishap on the ice allowed Gen to get 4th place (just enough to qualify for regionals).

There are several times throughout the movie where Tina comes off as unlikeable. She may be harsh a lot of the time, but she is always honest with Casey, particularly about what she needs to succeed in this sport. You have to want it more than anything.

Although she does well with her scholarship project, she realizes, despite the mishaps between her and Tina, that she loves skating and doesn't want to give it up to fulfill her mom's dream for her.
This seemingly last minute decision to change the trajectory of her future puts a rift between them, but because this is a Disney movie, all the kinks get ironed out before the final curtain call.
This cliché of the parent seeing their kid perform their given talent and changing their mindset... I've seen it happen so many times.
It's just too bad that it doesn't always happen in real life [although here I'm thinking more about how some parents are unable to accept that their children are something other than heterosexual... while many do come around, there are several that do not and that leads to otherwise preventable suicides ] and it doesn't always happen in movies...
"Dead Poet's Society" is an amazing movie, but it's brought down by the fact Neil's parents can't accept him wanting to be an actor and his suicide is blamed on Mr. Keating just because he broadened his horizons and encouraged him to follow his own path. This is the only movie where I've seen this non-acceptance happen and I sometimes wonder if that's why this cliché exists in the first place.

I'm sorry that I'd been overly harsh with this post. But watching the movie the other day, I just had a lot of these thoughts coming out. Maybe because I know this movie isn't exactly brilliant and it's predictable so I wanted to be realistic for a  change.

I also want to add that I somehow doubt that Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano, let alone ESPN, would cover a local junior figure skating event :P but of course we need to have some cameos by important figures in the sport.
To this day, Michelle Kwan is still very much celebrated and looked up to by her contemporaries and younger up-and-coming athletes. Brian Boitano on the other hand... I think more people are obsessed with his sexuality than his actual talent. Unlike Johnny Weir [half the people who know of him roll their eyes at his flamboyance and I'm part of the other half that adores him for his talent and his open/honest persona], I don't know if Brian is doing shows anymore. Last I heard, he had a Cooking Channel show...

and just like that I'm back to positive. As much as I love to be positive about things, every now and then, there's a need for brutal honesty to balance it all out.


...also forgot to mention it has some great music. The opening song is "No One" by Aly & AJ and after seeing this movie, I picked the album up for the first time in years and found another reason to fall back in love with these songs.
It also features "Set Me Free"- one of my favorite Michelle Branch songs.
"Ray of Light" by Madonna is the music for Casey's short program. IMDB notes a mistake that skaters cannot use lyrics in their competitive programs. This was a rule that was changed in 2014 and last I heard, Johnny Weir & Tara Lipniski still aren't fans of it. For me, it depends on the program and the skater. If lyrics enhance the program, I'm all for them. Otherwise, it's a distraction.

29. The Karate Kid (1984)

Code-name: Bonsai
("To baby trees!")

Director: John G. Avildsen
Composer: Bill Conti
(funny enough, these two previously collaborated on the "Rocky" movies. Coincidence? I think not ;) )

Type: coming-of-age, karate, sports, high school drama

Cast:
Daniel Larusso- Ralph Macchio
Mr. Miyagi- Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (RIP 2005)
Ali Mills- Elisabeth Shue
Johnny Lawrence- William Zabka
Cobra Kai Instructor John Kreese- Martin Kove
Lucille Larusso- Randee Heller

Notable Nominations:
OSCAR- Best Supporting Actor- Pat Morita
Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor- Pat Morita
(no love for Mr. Miyagi from The Academy or the Hollywood Foreign Press? Shame on them!)

Write-up:

Bad News First

For a change of pace, I'll get the majority of my negativity towards the rest of the film's series out of the way so I put most of my focus on the good stuff...

:sigh:
in fall of 2012, I let curiosity get the best of me and I haven't quite forgiven myself for it...
that was when I finally got around to watching the 3rd Karate Kid movie. all because it was included in a boxset with all four movies (the three parts and the Hilary Swank reboot), I had to see how it all ended...

Let's put it this way... it inspired an entire blog entry where I was debating whether sequels or remakes were a greater sin in Hollywood...
I don't know what was more inexcusable: the villains having no redeemable qualities or the fact they recreated the climatic film on this movie while spitting on its face.

I should probably stop there before I stoop to too much negativity...

Perhaps the day will come where I'll give the Hilary Swank reboot another shot. Years ago when I saw it (long before she won those Oscars and I loved her in "Freedom Writers"), I didn't like it because it just wasn't the same without Ralph Macchio. And do not get me started on the 2010 remake. Out of complete loyalty to this picture [and the late Pat Morita, the one & only Mr. Miyagi], I will refuse to watch it because you shouldn't remake something that wasn't broke to begin with. Certainly not an 80's movie. Just my opinion :shrug:
So I'm pretty much going into discussing this movie after watching it for the first time since the atrocity I addressed above... hopefully 2 years is enough space :-P

How I got into this movie

I was a Power Rangers kid growing up. Loved the series so much I thought about taking karate and gymnastics so I could do the same moves. :-P

The gymnastics thing never happened (for a reason I'll get to later), but I did take karate for five years. Of course, beforehand, my dad made sure I understood it had to be about more than just emulating my favorite TV series.

I worked my way through the ranks of Tang Soo Do, earned my black belt (something that will forever remain one of my proudest achievements) and had it for a year before I "retired." I was never much of an athlete with my lack of speed and hand-eye coordination, but however much an athlete being a black belt made me, all that went away after I needed surgery on my back.

Ironically, the year after the surgery was when my school actually ran tests on students for scoliosis. But yeah, since 11/15/99, I've had titanium rods and screws in my back and I often don't remember that they're there.

Before I make another unnecessary side-bar here on back surgeries, I'll cut to my point. A couple years after I started taking classes, my folks rented the movie, figuring it would be appropriate for me to see. Especially because one of our warm-up exercises was the crane technique.
My earliest memory of it was that we watched it at night and I see the beach scene very clearly.

The Story

Daniel and his mother move from Newark to California, where she has a new job.
The plot begins when he is introduced to some of the local kids. Freddy, who lives at the same apartment complex, invites Daniel to a beach party with his friends. He hits it off with a cute girl, but winds up getting his butt kicked by her ex-boyfriend, Johnny.
This becomes a reoccurring theme, making Daniel even more troubled about this move because other than Ali, he hasn't been able to fit in or make any friends.

It gets to a point where he almost gets killed in a fight and Mr. Miyagi, the complex's handyman, arrives to save his life. They set up a deal with the instructor of Cobra Kai, where Johnny and the other bullies train, where they agree to stop beating on Daniel until December 19th, the day of a tournament.

And of course we all know the rest: Mr. Miyagi assigns Daniel chores around his house, which oddly enough become part of his training. Mainly how to put up an effective defense with blocking. Other lessons like balance and punching come as well.

Then in every sports movie you can name, you have the climatic fight scene and the hero wins...

The Cast

I guess you could say that I find this to be a very iconic cast. All of the main actors, whether I'd seen them in other movies or not, I will always associate them with "The Karate Kid."

I cannot say enough good things about Pat Morita in this. I know it wasn't his first role and he was well-known for his comedic acting, but he's just so amazing in this. Mr. Miyagi comes off a little odd when you first meet him, but as the movie progresses, you grow to appreciate and love him for what he brings to Daniel's life. He's a bit of a surrogate father figure, but gives him the tools to mature into a better, more confident, person.
He is still sorely missed by many fans of this movie and his other work. Can't believe it's been almost 10 years.

Other than "Soapdish" and years ago "Adventures in Babysitting" (been meaning to see that again because it's been ages), I hadn't really seen Elisabeth Shue in any other movie besides this one.
She plays Ali Mills, who comes from a rich family, but she comes off as a very sweet, kind person. Of course, her being charmed by Daniel does lead to many problems and it continuously puts a strain on their relationship. Between him not wanting to be around her because he's afraid of getting beat up or feeling like he isn't good enough for her.

I read a few comments on message boards from people asking why a girl like her would be interested in a guy like Daniel.
To that, I shrug and say "why not?"... but maybe because I would consider him my type.

On the other hand, though, Billy Zabka's a good looking guy too and I'm sure Johnny has his good points. But they sure don't come out a lot in this movie, where he walks around with this alpha dog attitude like he owns the place.
Come to think of it, this actor plays a lot of jerks and bullies, so I guess he wound up getting typecast that way. (whoa, just looked at his profile, he earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do also... although it was years after doing this movie, which he had no karate experience going into).

Martin Kove who plays Cobra Kai instructor Kreese... that dude's freaking scary and years later, he's still paying the price for this dead-on portrayal of a radical karate teacher. Rumor is people still come up to him and gives him crap for what his character did in this movie.
...and if more people saw the third movie, he'd probably get worse.
I think years ago, I saw him on an episode of "Win Lose or Draw" where I was thinking how unnatural it was to see him not being so intense, but quite the opposite.

Now for Ralph Macchio...
By far, this is his best role. Not that I'd seen him in many.
I wanted to see "My Cousin Vinny" on the mere fact he was in it. Luckily my disappointment that he was playing a supporting role didn't last long 8-)
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/08/66-my-cousin-vinny-1992.html #66 on my list

I saw his stint on "Dancing with the Stars" and was pleasantly surprised with him. Then it was also surprising to see that at age 50 something, he's not in the same shape as he used to be :-P but it was great seeing that he aged well and is the same nice guy he was in his work.

Probably his first major role was in the adaptation of S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders," a movie that was the first outing for a lot of young actors. I saw the movie as part of my class where we were studying the book (another entry worth doing later on).
Watching it, I often wondered if he had a major growth spurt between this movie and "Karate Kid" because he's easily the smallest guy there. Then again, maybe they were just tall.
Sometimes when I watch this movie, I imagine Daniel as a second-coming of his "Outsiders" role, Johnny. He had a pretty rough life, but maintained a positive attitude no matter what. And when he comes back as Daniel, he comes back with a vengeance, to prove he won't be pushed around anymore.

The Music & Soundtrack

I gotta give major props to Bill Conti on this particular production. People talk about how the best movie scores carry the emotional weight of the picture. Depending on what you hear, how dark or light, tense and lovely the score sounds, you're compelled to feel the same way.

Of the top of my head, this is one of the best movie scores I'd ever heard. You can say whatever you want about this movie being dated, maybe being cheesy 80's or whatever, but the score has as much credibility and power in bringing this picture together as the directing and the writing.

Every character and situation has its own soundtrack. Mr. Miyagi has a lot of panflute and soft music playing in the background. Daniel's confrontations with Cobra Kai has a lot of 80's influences as well as your signature "villain" music. The tender moments with him and Ali, those have their own sound too, as does the tournament.

There's a lot of great 80's songs on this soundtrack, most of which are by one-hit wonders or lesser known acts (none of them ring a bell for me, and I'm a major 80's fans). Survivor (best known for "Eye of the Tiger") wrote "The Moment of Truth," which plays in the end credits.
But my favorite is "Cruel Summer" by Banarama. It was funny to me how the song came on the radio one time at work and one guy said how it made them think of this movie. It was the first time I heard it and I often associate it with the scene where Daniel meets up with Ali at school and he gets kicked out soccer try-outs for fighting.

Apparently, it's the only song not on the official soundtrack, which SUCKS. One of my many favorite 80's songs and among my favorite summertime jams 8-)

Miscellaneous

I think I'd covered most of the main themes in this movie.

But to Ralph Macchio for a second, though, his acting is pretty incredible. I don't think he gets a lot of credit because he's not one of the biggest names that comes to mind with "great actors." Although some of that is because he hasn't been in many other productions with this much staying power and he only acts on occasion these days :shrug: which I completely understand.

Actors can talk about how their characters take a beating or how that can sometimes become a reoccurring theme in their career.
Between this movie and "The Outsiders," when his character is in pain or under duress, my gut convulses. I absolutely believe him and want nothing more than defy the constraints of reality and tell him everything's gonna be okay. I hate in movies when my favorite actors get into that kind of trouble or worse, they wind up getting killed, but Ralph Macchio is the only one that comes to mind... for me, that stirs me up with the slightest groan or a difficult inhale of breath.

That resonated a lot with me as I saw this movie a lot of a teenager and that gut feeling helped me become a better writer. Unfortunately, that may have turned me into a masochist because that's the area where my best writing came out. I promise I'm trying to work on that :-P

The Best Sequel

"Karate Kid Part 2" (whoa, it came out 9 days before I was born :-P) is one of those rare sequels that delivers just as well as the original film. Sure, some of the same themes are repeated. Daniel goes to a new place, gets in entanglements with one of the locals (thankfully not as relentless as Johnny was), and finds love.

The only thing that didn't resonate with me was how Daniel's relationship with Ali falls apart in the first couple minutes of the movie... after the aftermath of the tournament of course.
Supposedly they were going to prom and she crashed his beloved car :shrug: Elisabeth Shue resumed her studies at Harvard (yeah, I know!) so her presence in this movie was just this conversation Daniel has with Mr. Miyagi.
I suppose it was there just to give Daniel an excuse to go to Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi, there was nothing keeping him in California for the summer.

Taking into account, it just is so silly that Daniel had to have a different love interest in every movie in the series.

I'd become more of a Japanophile as I've gotten older, though I use that term loosely :-P I love Japanese culture as presented in films and animé and that's about it.
But I love how it's portrayed here. It gives the film a different enough feel to separate it from the original, but maintains the same dignity.

And it helps that Peter Cetera sings the main theme "The Glory of Love"... another of my favorite figures from the 80's.

Final Thoughts

It's not the first movie that comes to mind when I think of my favorite 80's movies. But regardless, it's one of them and it doesn't matter if it winds up being #10 on that top 10 list. As I get older, I look back on it fondly and find even more reasons to love it. If you really look at it, you'll see how well constructed it is. How strong the character development is. How compelling the score is. I always enjoy it and it's one of those occasions where I really can't find any fault in it.
But maybe that's just me being biased 8-)

70. A League of Their Own (1992)

[Quick Personal Note]

Before starting into this entry, I wanted to take a moment to greive the loss of Cory Monteith who, as a huge fan of the show, I knew as Finn Hudson from "Glee." 

Cory was 31, but I felt the gravity of his loss the most among other recent "gone too soon" celebrities (Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston)... mainly because "Glee" is like my favorite soap opera. You actively follow the characters and all they go through, delight in their triumphs and support them even in the darkest of times. 

It goes without saying he will be sorely missed by Gleeks everywhere.

...now back to business
...



Code-name: Marla


"How about Marla? What a hitter."

Director: Penny Marshall
Type: Baseball, Dramedy

NOTABLE NOMINATIONS

Golden Globe- Best Original Song- "This Used to be My Playground"- Madonna
Golden Globe- Best Lead Actress (Comedy/Musical)- Geena Davis
Grammy- Best Song for Motion Picture/TV- "Now & Forever"- Carole King

Cast:
Jimmy Dugan- Tom Hanks
Dottie Hinson- Geena Davis
Kit- Lori Petty
Talent Scout Ernie Capadino- Jon Lovitz
Mae- Madonna
Doris- Rosie O'Donnell
Marla- Megan Cavanagh
Betty Spaghetti- Tracy Reiner
Evelyn- Bitty Schram
Shirley Baker- Ann Cusack
Walter Harvey- Garry Marshall
Bob Hinson- Bill Pullman

[Write-up]
as always, be wary of spoilers

geesh... that's a lot of names to remember :-P

this is one of many movies growing up my mom nagged me about watching. as in 
"You have to see [fill in the blank]. You'll love it."

Truth be told, 9 times out of 10, she's right. She's got great taste in movies.
(regarding the 1% of the time where our opinions differ... one of them was "The Family Man" with Nicholas Cage and the other was "The Wedding Date" with Debra Messing... I'd be open for checking into both at a later date, if only to see if I wasn't old enough to appreciate them or I just plain don't get them).

Regarding the nominated songs, as much as I love Madonna's music, I really didn't like her stuff in that period in the 90's... much like "Take a Bow," it's way too melancholy for my tastes. 
But having songs like "Frozen" and "Beautiful Stranger" in that decade really helps take the edge off so I don't miss her 80's stuff quite as much.

In preparation for this entry, I rewatched the movie a couple weeks ago. 
I found myself stunned that I never saw the first 10 minutes.

It's not a foreign concept by any means. Details that make movies from my past memorable to me usually happen after the first 10 minutes anyway and tend to taper off by the halfway point. 
It depends on the picture obviously, but this was one of those movies where all my favorite quotes cropped up in the first hour or so.

I don't remember much about my first time seeing it other than being disappointed with the ending. Particularly, how the final baseball game turned out.

At its core, the movie is a tale of two sisters and their relationship over this period of time. In the vast scope of things, it's about the women's baseball league that formed in WWII when most of the ball players were serving in the war.
The majority of it takes place in the past during 1943.

What I didn't catch until this recent viewing was that Dottie didn't want to attend this reunion of the AAGPBL (all-american girls professional baseball league), but her kids and grandkids talked her into it. Supposedly she'd been in mourning for a period of times since her husband passed away.

I always came in at the scene where Jon Lovitz pays the girls a visit to recruit Dottie for the league. She has zero interest, but her younger sister Kit does. He decides to take her on as long as Dottie comes too. And there you have it.

...I'm not quite sure what in my DNA compels me dislike Jon Lovitz... maybe it's because he usually plays immoral or unpleasant characters... maybe I just need to find "The Critic" on YouTube to refresh my memory of something I enjoyed him in... man, that was a long time ago...

Aside from that, all of the actresses shine in their designated roles. 
Of the two sisters, Kit is my favorite. There's just something that scrappy attitude and that desire to prove herself that compels me to follow her through all the trials and tribulations... wanting nothing more than for her to succeed. 
Lori Petty, I'd only seen in one other role... and I didn't find out until years later that she was the trainer in "Free Willy." (another bit of childhood nostalgia there). Just love her.

Sometimes with the sisters, it seems like there's a lot of anti-chemistry going on. Only during this past time had I really picked up the depth of their rivalry.
Madonna and Rosie, on the other hand, had a great chemistry as tough-gal besties Mae and Doris. Great characters. Not surprisingly, considering who played her, Mae was into some risqué business before joining the league. Most priceless is the scene where the girls go into confession and the priest dropped his Bible numerous times because she told him "everything." 
And who else would use dirty books to teach Shirley Baker how to read? :-P 

Other notable cast choices were Tracy Reiner (aka daughter of the director) and Garry Marshall (aka brother of the director).
Although I have no confirmation of this, I wondered if Walter Harvey was a spoof on Hershey because Harvey chocolate bars were the main sponser of the league.

And my mom and I know Bitty Scrham (aka the receipent of the stand-out quote "There's no crying in baseball) as Sharona, assistant to Adrian Monk on the USA series "Monk."

Can I just say how mind-blowing it was to see Tom Hanks in this role this past time?
Who would have thought that a couple years after doing this role, he'd win TWO Oscars and officially join the A-list. Just WOW... 
Jimmy Dugan is, by NO means, a nice guy. At least not for the first half of the movie :-P 
he's a drunk, he's a tobacco chewer/spitter, he cusses, he yells and his attitude stinks to high heaven... he's a former ball player whose career ended after he shredded his knee and, as far as he's concerned, he got stuck with coaching a bunch of girls.

It goes without saying that his lines are some of the funniest in the entire movie.
My personal favorite: "I haven't got ball players. I got girls." 
Just how he says "girls" has me in stitches.

Marla is one of my favorite characters simply because the humor used referring to her.
...starting AFTER we get passed Jon Lovitz almost turning her down because she's not the prettiest girl... physically, she could almost pass for a female version of Igor (ala "Young Frankenstein"), but the girl can HIT and when her personality comes out, look out :-P 
again, Mae's doing... she snagged her future husband singing at a bar after Mae and some of the girls gave her a dress and "a lot of liquor"...

two classic moments: at the top, I quoted part of the newsreel they shot of the Rockford Peaches and the other girls' teams. But with Marla, the camera was panned WAY back and we see her wave.
then at the finishing school, the woman in charge giving advice on how to beautify the girls shuddered at the sight of her and said she needs "a lot of night games"
... a little cruel, yes, but I get a kick out of it every time.

Probably the only fault this movie has is that it runs a little too long and drags. 

The friction between Dottie and Kit is hard to get through sometimes. It especially sucks when Dottie voices her thoughts on quitting the team and the manager resolve the situation by trading Kit instead, all because they don't want to lose their best player... real jerk move.
But after reviewing the movie a few times, I don't mind the ending quite as much as I used to. Kit deserved that moment of victory.

I also feel kinda bad about the scene where Betty gets the telegram about her husband's death. As if it's like "God forbid it happens to Dottie because she's one of the primary characters"... my new opinion on the scene kinda originates from another movie where a similar thing happened... 
"What to Expect when you're Expecting"... by no means is it a great piece of film-making, but I couldn't help but feel that Anna Kendrick got stuck with the one-night-stand/miscarriage storyline because she's the least famous actress in this all-star cast. I'm sure there were other reasons, but I have my suspicions. 

Despite the misgivings here and there, the heart of the picture keeps it from straying too far off course. 
One scene I always dread going into is where Shirley Baker is going through the roster lists after try-outs and we're led to believe she got cut... because you feel so bad for her... then one of the other girls gives her a hand, intutition leading her to conclude she might not be able to read, and the huge weight is lifted off her shoulders as well as those of everyone watching when they find out she's a Peach along with the rest of the main cast.
Hey, it's the 40's... and it was definitely a good point to make about that period in time... cannot say enough how well they handed the emotional integrity of that scene.

The movie ends with the women YEARS later reuniting for the opening of their wing in the baseball hall-of-fame. We find out what happens to some of the other characters. Everyone made it except for Jimmy Dugan and Evelyn who passed away. But in her place is that chubby, bratty kid she took with her on road games.

To which I gotta ask: what kind of stupid name is Stilwell, anyway? Heck, I don't know how you can even call that a name. Seriously... 

And Dottie and Kit see each other for the first time in a long time.
Kit is there with her entire family, which has me asking why Dottie's family couldn't come along too :-P

I guess you could say that Harvey was the best sponser for the league... because amidst all the things going on, this movie is a good one because you're always coming back for more of that warm and gooey center that appeals to us on a emotional evel as well as tickles our funnybone.