My Favorite Movies of 2007

It's that time of year again.

To be clear I haven't seen as many movies as I would've liked to this year, with my son now VERY mobile, and mischievous, it's hard to find time to sit down and watch a two hour movie.

Let alone have the energy.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my wife who is always very supportive, and has always encouraged me to see more movies even though I know it puts a big burden on her.

She doesn't have to be so accommodating to my silly viewing needs, so I appreciate that she puts up with my compulsion.

I'd also like to thank my friend Lon who is one of my few friends willing to catch an 11:30 P.M. film to accommodate my unusual schedule.

Like watching a three hour film......at 11:30 P.M.

The movies aren't always good either, sometimes they are really shitty movies like Southland Tales and Spider-man 3.

Bro...that's friendship.

Seriously.

So, before I begin, for some context of my movie tastes, if you haven't checked it out yet, here's my Favorite movies of 2005 and 2006.




So without further ado......








10. 3:10 to Yuma

I love westerns.

I know that this probably isn't on a lot of Top Ten lists, but I'm a sucker for the genre.

I even liked Seraphim Falls.

Which I think nobody saw.

Seriously.

The movie has a great showy performance from an affable Russel Crowe , and a solid anchor by my new favorite actor Christian Bale.

Great production design, solid directing, fun action pieces, the story is solid.

But the film for me falls apart in the end....badly.

Here was a chance to improve on the original, and they blew it.

It wants to feel important, when it should have just been a fun western.

It just loses focus..... and honestly really doesn't have a point in the end.

However still a good movie...and one of my favorites for 2007.






9. Sweeney Todd

I love Sondheim.

Pairing him with Tim Burton was genius.

I admit it's slightly jarring in the beginning, because it's a real musical. Mostly singing, maybe 10 percent dialogue. So it takes a little getting used to.

But this movie feels really fresh, and unique even though the play has been around since 1979.

It's a testament to all the creative people involved.

What's fantastic is that the film succeeds as an engaging piece of drama as well as a Broadway Musical.

Great performances by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

One can argue that they don't have the strongest voices, there's little doubt that they would probably struggle with the piece on stage, but this is a film, it works enough for me.

It's nice to finally see a musical with some real bite.





8. Death Proof

I hated Planet Terror.

I kept looking at my watch, and wishing it would end.

It was especially painful because everybody else seemed to be enjoying it.

I was dreading the possibility that Death Proof would be the same.

To me Planet Terror wasn't a Grindhouse movie.

It was a big budget sci-fi parody, seriously....I saw this movie before...it was called Mars Attacks and it didn't have the wanna be scratch marks and bad splices...trying to seem cool or unique.

The movie defeated the purpose of The Grindhouse concept.

A Grindhouse movie isn't supposed to have big stars like Bruce Willis or crazy special effects.

CGI? Are you kidding me?

Thankfully Quentin Tarantino made a REAL Grindhouse film.

Complete with a limited budget, unusual casting, and retro production design.

He even had long dialogue scenes to compensate for the lack of action due to the small budget.

Genius.

Obviously people didn't get it, much less appreciate it.

For me, Death Proof gave me a flashback to my youth.

Similar to the food critic in the movie Ratatouille.

I dropped my pen in shock and awe.

I remember watching movies like this as a kid.

They would come on late at night, when I wasn't supposed to be up.

Back then I didn't know shit about budget or storyline, or anything remotely resembling criticism.

I had no concept of a bad movie.

For me either a movie was boring, serious, probably important, and put me to sleep, or it had something fun, exciting and cool to see.

Most of the time when I watched a movie I just wanted to see something cool.

Sometimes if I was lucky, I'd stumble onto a movie that had something naughty that I wasn't supposed to see.

It was a certain type of flick, where I would have to wait, sometimes for what seemed like an eternity for the action, or the violence, or if I was really lucky the sex to happen.

When I got it...I wasn't disappointed.

Because it was usually over the top and fun.

I wasn't moved to emotional passion, or provocative thought.

I was moved to shits and giggles.

The question is why aren't there movies like that now?







7. The Bourne Ultimatum

There were lots of big action movies this year.

Big budgets, big casts, big robots, big ships.

None of them holds a candle to Bourne.

I wasn't a big fan of the Bourne Supremacy.

For me it was one of those sequels that destroyed everything that was great about the first one.

He spends the whole first film protecting the girl, and then she dies five minutes into the second film.

What the hell???!!!

What makes Jason Bourne so great, is seeing his expertise through another character's eyes.

You take that away and he's just another Rambo, or James Bond or John Mclain.

He's just like a dozen other action heroes out there.

Give him somebody to guard and protect...he becomes the ultimate hero.

Thankfully, he's in bodyguard mode here, and the results are fantastic.

The ending is a little anti-climatic. But it's still one hell of a ride.

Great action, tense suspense, wonderful sequences.

Best action film of the year.






6. Zodiac

This movie is disturbing on a bunch of levels.

The re-creations of the murders are beyond creepy.

So much care is taken into the details and accuracy.... it almost borders on worship.

But that's the point of the film.

People are constantly obsessed with details that they shouldn't be.

The film for me really takes off in the second half.

It takes on so many levels.

The audience starts to see themselves in the characters. Suddenly things that normally seem crazy start to seem rational and worthwhile.

We actually start sympathizing.

In the end we are left with nothing concrete.

The tag line said it all.

"There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer."






5. Eastern Promises

Viggio Mortensen is bad ass.

If there was any doubt before, it's beyond judgment now.

Wrestling naked, and stabbing a guy in the the eye sort of confirms that for you.

Russian Mafia, stomach churning suspense, engaging characters.

Violence, sacrifice, loyalty, deception.

This movie had it all.

I love the direction that David Cronenberg
is taking in his recent films.

Can't wait to see what he does next.






4. Rescue Dawn

Took me awhile to see this movie.

Really wanted to.

Don't know why I couldn't make it happen.

Had my favorite actor, one of my all-time favorite directors.

I guess a part of me was dreading the subject matter.

Not very fun stuff, imprisonment, starvation, and torture.

But like many of Werner Herzog's films, even in the darkest moments there's.... beauty and hope.

Amazing film, breathtaking images, heartbreaking performances.

Sadly, I'm noticing that it's being overlooked in award season.

Wake up people!!!!

Christian Bale and Steve Zahn deserve attention for their fantastic work.




3. No Country for Old Men


Holy Shit.

For god sakes get the hell out of the way.

If one values their life they'll run away....now!!!

Anton Chigurh is heading this way.

Seriously, I haven't seen anything this evil on screen since Anthony Hopkins brought Hanibal Lector to the life in Silence of the Lambs.

Except Anton Chigurgh doesn't tell funny, little, dirty, jokes to break the tension.

He shoots one in the fucken head with an air gun when one least expects it.

He doesn't even enjoy it.

Enjoy would imply that he cares on some level.

He doesn't care, people are just ants in his path.... ants that need to get out of the way or they'll be stepped on.

Chilling, and epic.

Truly one of the greatest characters in movie history.

It's that kind of performance.

It's a career defining role.

The ironic thing is that like Anthony Hopkins, when he did Silence of the Lambs Javier Bardem has been around for quite a long time.

He usually plays the leading man. The Romantic lead in foreign films.

I don't think that's going to happen anymore.

He's going to be forever remembered as the blood thirsty Anton Chigurh.

He's going to be the next great heavy...in the vein of a young Pacino and DeNiro.

Did I mention that this was a Coen Brothers movie?

Not a George Clooney, or Tom Hanks shitty kind of Coen Brothers movie.

This is Miller's Crossing, Fargo, Coen Brothers.

Thank you God...the return to greatness.


*********Note: The Final Two*********

Most years No Country for Old Men would be the best movie of the year.

But not this year.

It's a real testament of what a great movie year it was.

Now before I continue, I just want to stress that these last films have been going back and forth between number one and two.

Seriously if there was ever a year for a tie this would be it.

Even while writing this post it's gone back and forth in my head at least three times.

So in a way, this is sort of a tie for my favorite film of 2007.

I could take the easy way out, and leave it at that and say for posterity's sake I'm going to arbitrarily assign numbers to them but technically call it a tie.

But I don't want to wimp out.

So I'm going to choose, even though I'll probably change my mind again, and will continue to change and debate as the days go by.

So for my second favorite film of 2007.......



















2. There Will Be Blood


Daniel Day Lewis is the greatest living actor.

Before this movie that point could be debated.

Not anymore.

It's a fantastic performance full of wonderful, authentic, quirks and, multiple nuanced, levels.

Forgive me for being dramatic, but I hesitate to call it a performance...it's more like....a spiritual possession.

Before I saw this film, from watching the clips I thought he was doing a variation of his Bill the Butcher character from Gangs of New York.

But it's so much more deeper than that....so much more layered, his limp, his body language, the history of his soul, his stare is different.

It truly needs to be witnessed to be believed.

This is also an epic directorial turn by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Completely different from his other films, he now has established himself as one of the premiere directors of this generation.

The final scene will go down as one of the greatest scenes in film history.

It'll go down with scenes from The Godfather or Raging Bull in terms of quotability.

Epic.





And my Favorite film of 2007........
















1. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford

Did I mention that I loved westerns?

I hesitate to call it a western really, it's more than that.

It's a drama in the west....with action...and suspense....and great performances.

The first thing one notices in the film is the look.

The production design.

The cinematography.

The feel of the film.

It's almost as if each frame can be treated as a work of art.

The performances are all fantastic.

Brad Pitt has never been better.

Casey Affleck is a revelation.

All the smaller roles are casted perfectly.

The script is remarkable, that it is based on a true story is even more effective.

The movie is also incredibly layered.

What's interesting is that the movie touches on themes that the other films on this list did too.

The setting takes place in the west like 3:10 to Yuma.

The obsession motif in this movie hearkens back to the same themes in Zodiac.

The film explores issues of trust, loyalty, and deception, not unlike Eastern Promises.

The character of Jesse James is a cold-blooded killer not unlike Anton Chigurh.

Themes of dealing with greed, guilt, and ambition are explored like in There will be Blood.

There's even a musical number featuring Nick Cave.

What does it all mean?

Nothing really except that it all adds up to a wonderful representative for my favorite film of 2007.

What a great movie year.

Mahalo Wins a Open Web Award

Looks like Mahalo has won an Open Web Award.

Check it out here:
Mashable Social Networking News

What is an Open Web Award you ask ?

"The Open Web Awards is the first ever online, open collaborative awards event, to recognize the best online communities representing web 2.0. We now have 24 confirmed Blog Partners from several countries from around the world and in several different languages."

Pretty cool considering we are in some elite company.

Crispin Glover on Mahalo Daily!!!

Crispin Glover Interview

It's not everyday that we get to hear from one of the most unique artistic talents working today. So it's super cool that Crispin Glover is appearing in today's Mahalo Daily.

Enjoy!!!

5 Reasons why the N.B.A. SUCKS.......

I used to love NBA basketball... or at least the idea of it. Not anymore....in fact...honestly plenty of times it bores me to tears.

What happened to the game I loved?

For awhile I've been considering why the league that I used to be so passionate about in my youth, means so little to me now. I've come to the conclusion that the game is killing itself....and it's hard to watch. The N.B.A has become a ridiculous circus..... complete with clowns, fruitless high fly acts, and sideshow barkers.

Here are five reasons off the top of my head why the N.B.A. is now my least favorite professional sport.

5. The working class can't sit up close!

One may think it's cool to see Jack Nicholson or Leonardo DiCaprio sitting in the front row cheering the players on, but I think it's the perfect analogy of why the NBA is ridiculous, and out of touch. In Major League Baseball the working class can get great seats on any given night. (Except, of course, in New York and Boston.) NHL Hockey, the same thing. NFL Football?  Are you kidding me? That's all one sees out in the stands.

So what makes the NBA such an elitist, un-fan friendly experience, where only the super rich and celebrities can get to sit up-close to the action? God knows the action isn't anything special....at least what I can see of it....from the nose bleed seats. Isn't it sad that the only way that a father can take his son to an N.B.A. game, and get up close to the action is if his job lands him corporate seats...or he puts out a second mortgage on his house.

Why is that?

Why can't a normal Joe sit up close to the action, to witness the athletic excellence of elite athletes. Does the NBA even care about the working class fan?

4. Players Foul Out!

I finally fork over the 80 dollars to sit in the nose bleed seats to watch Shaquille O'Neal play, and two minutes into the game, he gets three meaningless fouls, and he sits for the rest of the half....not only that...when he does get into the game, he has to play "careful"..... in a meaningless.... regular season game.....

Are you serious?

What the HELL am I paying for then?

To watch his back-up, or worse a no name bench player run up and down the court while my favorite team loses because the best player in the league can't play. Why is basketball the only game that forces players to play less hard? Defense is now defined as a team's ability to make their opponent foul them.

Whole defensive schemes are now designed to get the elite players of a team in foul trouble, and out of the game.

We're supposed to enjoy watching that?

It didn't used to be that way. It used to be that a player got five fouls....and then they had to practically murder someone on the court to get the sixth foul from a ref.

Not anymore.

Surely there are other ways to punish teams then to kick their best players out of the game. What about a technical foul after every sixth foul? Is that so unreasonable?

Imagine if a rule allowed Vlad Guerrero to lose an at-bat? Or LaDainian Tomlinson wasn't able to play in the second quarter because of some silly rule ? How fun would that be ?

Why are fans forced to accept this while watching N.B.A. basketball ?

3. Games were fixed.....& nobody noticed!

Are you kidding me?

Nobody cares about this? Why aren't fans tearing down arenas asking for their money back? The N.B.A. had a referee who was changing the outcomes of games as he saw fit. Not only that on TNT the other night, I saw that Jeff Van Gundy, the former coach of the Houston Rockets said that he knew something was fishy with some games, someone even asked him who he thought it was that was fixing games, before it was announced, and he guessed Tim Donaghy.

Are you telling me that he was the only person that suspected it....and nobody else did?

I doubt it. Did anybody in the league care? Seriously, why does nobody care?

Games were FIXED!!!! It happened in baseball and players are still being punished for it decades later. Games that people paid for, and spent time watching were manipulated for a unsavory outcome. We're supposed to forget about that?

To be honest....we already have.

I can only assume it's because of my next point.

2. The Regular season is meaningless!

Baseball is a marathon grind of endurance, Football is do or die every week.

What the hell is the N.B.A. then?

Answer: It's a blatant, shameless, corporate grab for money. The N.B.A. Season is an 82 game Pre-season. The real season begins in the playoffs, and the most ridiculous part is that practically every team makes the playoffs anyways.

Seriously?

And if that's not enough when the playoffs arrive RARELY is there a surprise. So why do we even have to watch? I can tell you now who'll likely be in the finals. Not because I have superhuman powers or have traveled back from the future. It's because we already know who the best teams are. While hardly watching the games in the season. There are occasionally cute surprises....but do they really do anything significant ? To be honest...they were only footnotes. Players don't even play hard in the regular season games. It's a dog and pony show where the object is to score enough points to justify their ridiculous contracts, and do something spectacular so one can be seen on Sportscenter.

1. The Athletes are a bunch of floppers & overpaid cry babies!

People say they hate watching soccer because they hate when players flop on the ground, and roll around pretending to be hurt?

Don't watch the N.B.A. then. That's all it is now, people crying they were fouled.

Every Second.

None of this outplaying a team. I can't watch a single game now without witnessing players flopping, and pretending they were fouled. EVERY friggin time Kobe Bryant shoots the ball he cries foul....or HEY....or fling his arms out as if he's been shot in the back. He flings his arms out so hard he's starting to REALLY hurt players out there.

I'm supposed to cheer for that guy?

What happened to the hard hat mentality of Kurt Rambis and A.C. Green. Players don't flop on playground courts, they'd be laughed out of the park. Why are the elite athletes resorting to Strasberg Method acting techniques to get ahead in a game?

Why do we have to watch overpaid cry babies fall on the ground whenever someone rubs up against them softer than the way I snuggle up to my wife ? And what's worse, when they don't get their way, they are crying, and complaining up the court to the referee while the other team scores.

The NBA is Fantastic? Are you serious?

The N.B.A. wants us to pay to watch that?

It all comes down to the fact that they are all overpaid. Yeah, I know the business model doesn't support this point, they are entertainers bringing in the revenue, blah...blah....blah.... but do they have to act like primadonnas? Before games they now have a tradition of showing players entering into an arena....and what I always see is these "athletes", talking on their cell phones and listening to their Ipods, pretending not to acknowledge the cameras as if they are annoyed at the cameras very presence at the event.

These athletes look like they don't even want to be there.

Show some enthusiasm, excitement for the opportunity to be paid to play a game. I don't remember Magic Johnson or Larry Bird acting that way.

Those players loved to play.

Yeah, those men were warriors. But they loved what they were doing and they left it all out on the court every night. Hey, I'm not one of those fans that says the modern athlete could have never competed with the Legends.

I know that the modern athlete is bigger, stronger, and more talented. What I'm talking about is character.

What the N.B.A. is now, is mostly a bunch of Nouveau rich punks, who endured very little adversity in life, who haven't earned their due....they won the lottery, and we get to watch them treat us like peasants...thanks N.B.A.

Thanks for nothing.

Joker in a Car

Pretty cool pic of the Joker.

Interesting how they are slowly leaking stuff out, slowly building momentum for the film.

Personally, I've seen enough....I'm sold.

I just hope that they don't go spoiler crazy, it'll be nice to be a little surprised when I finally get to see the film.

Kobe gets his due

For those wondering when Lakers Fans would finally come to their senses....

Last night they finally did.

Kobe Bean Bryant, two time NBA Scoring Champion and Three Time NBA Finals Champion with the Los Angeles Lakers..... was booed....at home.....loudly...in front of a NATIONAL Television audience.

Proof that no one player is bigger than the Lakers Franchise.

Mahalo Daily

It's an exciting day today!!!

Mahalo Daily, a podcast starring Mahalo's own Veronica Belmont is on it's way!!! This is a teaser for the show which begins November 5th, 2007.

Enjoy!!!

Congratulations Barry Bonds

I know it's not the popular opinion, but I'm happy for Barry Bonds.

Yeah, I know he used steroids, I understand that he cheated, I've heard that he's a jerk to fans, and the press, and is known as a selfish teammate.

But he's still a human being....playing the hardest sport in the world.

And now he holds the most respected record in the game's history.

Which means in my book....the guy deserves some credit.

My personal experience with Barry Bonds was in game 2 of the 2002 World Series. My future wife and I were in the Right Field pavilion, maybe 3/4 the way up to the top. Troy Percival was pitching in the ninth, the Angels had a comfortable lead with two outs. So Percival and his 99 mile per hour fast ball decides to pitch to Bonds.

I'll never forget it....right before the first pitch a Giants fan in front of me put on his baseball glove....it was the first time all night he did that.

My wife laughed.

She asked me if it was possible that someone could actually hit it up there.

I said, "No way".

Several pitches later I was eating my words.

Bonds launched the longest shot I had ever seen hit, a shot that Tim Salmon, who played in Angels stadium for 14 years, said was the longest home run he ever witnessed in that park.

I had a direct line to it too....saw it from the time it hit the bat to when it dropped a couple of rows in front of me and bounced over my row.

Amazing.

After the game I walked down toward the front gate, and I looked back to observe the distance the ball had traveled from home plate to the Right field pavilion where I was sitting a short time before.

Amazing.

All I could think was...... that a human being had accomplished that.

A human being had accomplished that.

Too Much Depth?

Usually I believe that a team never can have too much depth.

But the Angels have too much depth.

Seriously....too much.

The following is a list of players that the Angels have....on their bench, that could start on most, if not all teams in the major leagues....today.

Erick Aybar.

Maicer Izturis.

Shea Hillenbrand.

Robb Quinlan.

Nathan Haynes

Jose Molina.

In the minors the Angels have the following players who could start on many teams.

Kendry Morales.

Joe Saunders.

Jeff Mathis.

Brandon Wood.

Curtis Pride.

Tommy Murphy.

Keep in mind this is WITHOUT touching the starting line-ups and current pitching staff.

That's a lot of depth....lots of material to work with to get one more power bat....possibly the last piece in a championship puzzle.

Can ya do it Bill Stoneman??? Or better yet..... will ya do it????

King James, the unstoppable

Wow.

I hope everybody saw that.

Arguably the greatest playoff performance in NBA history was performed tonight from one of the soon to be All-time NBA Greats.

48 Points.

9 Rebounds.

7 Assists.

2 steals.

What was even more impressive were the intangibles.

How he seemed to will the team to victory....without forcing it.

The poise and leadership he showed.

I can't believe how Lebron is almost carrying this seemingly mediocre team to the N.B.A. finals.

Drew Gooden? Zydrunas Ilgauskas? Larry Hughes? Donyell Marshall? Eric Snow? Anderson Varejao? Some guy named Sasha Pavlovic?

No offense....but are you SERIOUS?

Simply amazing.

MAHALO : Human powered search Engine

So.....I'm a guide at Mahalo.

I've been dying to say that for MONTHS.

I can't tell you how many people have asked me what my new job is, and I've had to bite my tongue.

Seriously....friends....family members...my neighbors...it was ridiculously hard to keep a secret.

A couple friends joked that I was working for the C.I.A., or on a reality television show or something.

I'm sure some friends even thought I was a spammer.

Actually, I'm the opposite.

Today is our launch day in the Alpha phase.

We debuted at the Wall Street Journal's D5 conference.

I've been working for the company since February.

My good friend Lon was able to introduce me to the company, and I've been working hard, and having a blast ever since.

I've never been around such a fun, interesting, hard working, and positive group of people in my life.

What exactly is Mahalo?

"Mahalo is the world's first human-powered search engine powered by an enthusiastic and energetic group of Guides. Our Guides spend their days searching, filtering out spam, and hand-crafting the best search results possible. If they haven't yet built a search result, you can request that search result. You can also suggest links for any of our search results."

What are the advantages of a hand crafted search result?

Well for one, hand crafting allows us to prioritize results.

Believe it or not, lots of times when one looks up a person on Google or Yahoo! their Official Site is not even on the first page.

That's because computers are only able to recognize the most popular results...and unfortunately sometimes those results are irrelevant to one's search or worse spam sites.

We are also able to categorize results.

If one takes a look at one of our search pages, one can see that we are able to break up our results into categories, like photos, videos, merchandise and news.

It's like having a personal secretary find the best sites for you....in two seconds.

Obviously the biggest advantage of hand crafting results are that we are able to filter out spam.

We try our best not to link to irrelevant, and fraudulent pages.

The internet is filled with pages designed to generate income at one's expense in time and unfortunately money.

We spend hours a day searching through those sites so one never has to deal with them.

Obviously there is going to be some criticism of the site.

The biggest critique being that we don't have every search result.

We're working on that.

Or initial goal is to hand craft the top 10,000 search results.

Also when we don't have something....we give you the top results from our friends at Google, so that one has at least something to work with.

The company is committed to service and excellence. Every day the focus is geared toward making the site user friendly, and productive.

This isn't some flash in the pan operation.

We have the backing of Roelf Botha, Mark Cuban, News Corporation and CBS.

My boss and the CEO is Jason Calacanis, who founded the successful Weblogs inc.

He's one of the most engaging, smartest and most driven people I've ever met.

He's also incredibly generous, and rewards all the employees here at MAHALO with incredible perks, benefits, and incentives.

The editorial director is C.K. Sample who worked as the director of Netscape.com.

He's also incredibly driven. He's also smart, funny, and really dedicated to the project.

It's hard not to work your ass off for these guys, they are both such great inspirations.

In a lot of ways, it's a dream job, and my family and I are incredibly grateful for this wonderful opportunity.

So hopefully this is the beginning of something special.

Please come by and lend your support.

Also.....Tell everyone you know.

-MAHALO

www.mahalo.com

Guide: Ray Manukay

Putting the Biscuit in the Basket

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is nothing more fun than watching playoff hockey...especially when your team is still in it.

The excellent play is really standing out this year in comparison with the snooze-fest called the NBA playoffs.

It's just too bad that I watched the game on something called the VS. channel, and not in high definition.

I'm a casual fan but this year's NHL playoffs have been fantastic.

I thought it would be Buffalo and the Ducks in the finals, but the Senators proved me wrong.

It's looking really good for the Ducks this year...tonight was another hard nosed, exciting come from behind win for a big, physical Ducks team.

I get the sense that this team is just too big for the Senators, it's just a matter of time before they grind them down.

I jokingly predicted to a bunch of friends that the Ducks would win in five, that the Senators peaked too early....but that's waaaaayyy too optomistic.

Ray Emery is sick...Ottawa is tough.

I wouldn't be surprised if this thing went Seven.

Go Ducks Go!!!

Kobe wants out of L.A.?????

Wow....will wonders never cease?

It's being reported that apparently Kobe Bryant is giving the Lakers an ultimatum.

Either bring back Jerry West as President of the Lakers....or trade him.

Seriously????

Hey, I'm all for bringing Jerry West back to the Lakers. I'm not exactly sure what went down in the first place to force him to retire, I remember hearing whispers that he felt the franchise was ungrateful for his services, or that he clashed with Phil Jackson. Silly stuff like that.

But I don't think this is the way to bring him back.

To me this whole scenario is just mind boggling.

What is Kobe thinking?

Did he seriously think that championships would just fall into his lap after they traded away Shaq?

Seriously....is he that naive?

Franchises don't recover over-night after trading away one of the best players who ever played the game....for practically nothing.

See Boston Red Sox Kobe.

It takes decades.

I thought this is what he wanted?

I thought he wanted to be the man....and score 80 points a night.

Did he really...sincerely care about winning?

Players that care about winning don't force their team to trade away the most dominant interior presence to ever play the game.

But now it seems Kobe after a few seasons..... is feeling restless.

I just can't help but scratch my head in wonder.

I'm interested to see how so-called Lakers fans, (who are really just Kobe fans) will react to this.

To me no player is bigger than the franchise. I'm a Laker fan no matter who leads the team.

I was a fan when Magic and Kareem were playing, and I was a fan when Anthony Peeler and Cedric Ceballos were the leading scorers.

I follow whoever puts on the purple and gold.

If any other player made this demand they would be booed out of Los Angeles.

It's an honor to play for the Lakers....this is the city where Jack sits at courtside every night and where the Laker Girls and celebrities meet.

Lakers are treated like gods here.

I remember being in the Nike store when Devean George came in. One would've thought that Michael Jordan was in our midst. People surrounded him asking for autographs, giving him high fives, shaking his hand...taking pictures with him.

Seriously....Devean George....a bench player at the time.

This is the team with Nine Championships in Los Angeles...this isn't an expansion team that's looking to cut some cap space.

Who in the hell is Kobe to demand a trade from the Lakers???

The Lakers led him to three straight championships.

If Kobe seriously cared about winning he would've signed with the Clippers when he had the chance. As a basketball fan, I could have understood that decision.

The Lakers just traded away Shaq....they are left with mediocre talent.

The Clippers had Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, a nice young nucleus, they still play in the Staples center....he wouldn't have to move....the money was comparable.

It would've been the smart move.

But Kobe chose the Lakers....I assume so he could run things....and be the undisputed man.

I guess he doesn't enjoy running things with a .500 team.

But...isn't this what he wanted???

I thought he wanted to be the next Dominque Wilkins.

A human highlight, scoring machine....with no more championships.

I just don't get it.

Did it hurt him to see Shaq celebrate a championship without him....or maybe he finally realizes that his talent alone can't win championships.

Lots of things have to fall into place.

Truth is....even if Jerry West came back, that wouldn't ensure a Championship.

It takes a special kind of player to win with Kobe.....besides Shaq I don't think that player exists.

That's why free agents don't want to play here.

Like it or not I think Kobe is going to have to get used to being on a .500 team.

Whether it's with the Lakers or any other team.

Pirates of the Carribean 3: At World's End

Perhaps the most anticipated movie of the Year arrives in theaters this week.

Question is....is that a good thing or bad thing?

After the massive artistic misfire of Spider-Man 3, and the box office tanking of Grind house, there is a sense that maybe this high profile summer of sequels would also be known as the summer of disappointment.

Thankfully that is not the case.

Summer Movie season officially begins with Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End.

This film wraps up an entertaining three movie arc with excitement and thrills, while bravely throwing in some heart-felt drama and poignancy.

The first thing one will notice is that this film is a lot darker than the previous movies.

Seriously..... I'm surprised the movie isn't Rated R.

The film explores dark and tragic themes.

Death and suffering are sprinkled throughout the entire film.

Which isn't a bad thing.

In some ways it feels a lot like a second act.

To make a comparison....this is the Empire Strikes Back of the series.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's as good as Empire, by any means....not even close...actually forget I brought that up....entirely.

It's just that the tones and subject matter don't feel like the traditional celebratory ending of a movie series.

For example, unlike the end of most trilogies, this movie has a considerable body count.

Characters we've enjoyed in the series meet heart-breaking, and surprising endings.

And yet it all still feels appropriate.

Lots of credit for the film's success has to go to the outstanding ensemble.

Geoffrey Rush is great as the devious Captain Barbosa, while Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom nicely capture the drama and romance at the heart of the trilogy.

But of course the soul of the film belongs to Johnny Depp, who turns in another, in an increasingly long line of entertaining performances in his expanding career.

This time Depp gets the chance to fully tap into Jack Sparrow's madness and quirkiness....if that seems possible.

If that's not enough Keith Richards turns in a surprisingly grounded cameo as Jack Sparrow's intimidating father.

Kudos also has to go to director Gore Verbinski who has found a way to mix some arthouse sensibilities with some breathtaking summer movie action.

The film isn't perfect however.

There's something about the movie that feels contrived, and possibly rushed.

I've read several reviews commenting on the complicated, and confusing story line in the film.

Which is considerable.

I admit at times it becomes very difficult figuring out who is back stabbing who,and what exactly these characters are seemingly planning, or to be honest, what exactly is happening in terms of plot.

The truth is there are huge holes in the script, and obviously important questions that are never resolved or explained.

That could be the cause of my trepidation to proclaim the film great.

But after some thought, I realized that in the end I'm not really bothered by it all.

Honestly these movies don't respond too well to examinations of plot logic and character development.

These are popcorn films that should be enjoyed accordingly.

What the story lacks in logic, it makes up with eye popping special effects, exotic locales and fantastic set pieces.

What more does one need in a pirate film?

The film also features some genuinely funny moments.

Especially with a scene stealing monkey and a boisterous Parrot.

Hey I know it's cheesy.... but who doesn't like animal humor?

In any case the film is a fitting end to a successful trilogy.

Check it out with the rest of the Earth's population this weekend.