Bad News Bears Film review
By Paul Anthony
It seems like back in the earlier 2000’s Billy Bob Thornton was making a name for himself with his style of acting and that being a mean and yet sarcastic A-Hole, it only made sense that he would be good in this role. 2003 was good year for him and Bad Santa was a hit and could he struck gold again? I think over time this film began to have a cult following but at the time of its release the budget was 35 million and it only grossed 34 million which would make it a failure. I wonder why the budget was so high to begin with, I would have thought this film’s budget would be around 15-20 million, because minus Billy Bob Thornton and Marcia Gay Harden, there really wasn’t any other big name that would command a lot of money, most of the cast was just kids or extras. A lot of times most of the budget will go to graphics or big names stars, which makes me wonder how much Billy Bob was going to get for this film. As I stated this film should have been around 20 million tops. In the end it doesn’t matter I don’t think they were aiming for a series unless the numbers really wowed the studio.
Here we meet Morris Buttermaker a washed up former baseball player who works as a exterminator and wanting to make more money because a coach for a baseball team, which are basically the wild crazy kids of the losing team. Added in the equation the Buttermaker who drinks and flirts with women actually fit in with the kids, he then realizes he needs to put together a winning team after arguing with another coach. They then get a sponsor even though it was a strip club and Buttermaker recruits a girl who is a daughter of his ex and a hot shot kid who can bat and things start to change for the team but then Buttermaker changes his ways when he realizes he is having fun and wants the kids to do the same. they make it to the championship game where Buttermaker pulls his stars. so the others could play the game and they come up just short but doesn’t matter he celebrates with the team for coming in second place with non-alcoholic beer.
Now I never watch the very first film so I can’t compare the two films, I think the best part of the film was Billy himself, the rest of the laughs were far in between with the kids not being actually funny just being kids. Which can be a hit and miss and in this cast was a miss. Now the story was good but the execution just wasn’t there. In the end the film could have been better at the time. In the end I am giving this film a C for a rating. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. Obviously the film didn’t make a profit so we never got a sequel but as I stated before I don’t think they were aiming for a series.
Saturday Sequel Presents Major League 2
By Paul Anthony
How is life treating you as we spend another week inside? Recently and I do mean this, MLB has been in the sports news and I nearly forgot that we are nearly two weeks into the baseball season and I realized that I am missing baseball, even though my team sucks that is besides the point in any case this was the perfect time to watch a baseball film and one that has a sequel. Only one film franchise came to mind and that was Major League which for the first two films starred Charlie Sheen. Let’s do a little recap here. The first film came out in 1989 and a was a goofy comedy which was Rated R. The film focused on the Cleveland Indians and the team owner who wants to sell the team and no longer wants to spend money on the team. With the terrible payroll the team gathers a bunch of no bodies but with a little magic, the team actually starts to win and nearly heads to the World Series. The Movie was made from an 11 million dollar budget and grossed nearly 50 million dollars. Which meant a sequel was coming but did the film live up to the legacy of the first film?
The story made sense, which I was fine with. Here in the next season the team has changed their ways since becoming a winner, Many have cleaned up their image, which includes Rick “The Wild Thing” Vaughn ditching his bad image and now is wearing a suit! Willie Mays Hays in the offseason became an actor. Pretty much the whole team now look like the classic good guys, however their focus on their image made them lose their edge in their skills at playing baseball. The evil owner sold the team to their third basemen who retired and took over the team. The season starts with the excitement that they could head to the World Series. However that soon ends when the team starts to lose badly and the fans start to turn on them and they begin to lose their way and lose fans in the stands which means the team was sold back to the previous owner and she continues her wicked ways which with a few little trades sparks the team to get their mojo back and once again the team starts winning and even makes it into the playoffs but this time they win and head to the World Series which the film never shows.
Like I said before I was okay with the story because they did have unfinish business and the film showed us how winning changed their ways but the movie had a higher budget which was 25 million, that alone was 14 million higher than the previous film but the film barely made 30 million, 20 million less than the first film. Making it more family friendly, I believe did hurt the film, look the film had grown men in it and we couldn’t get a PG-13 rating at least. I did feel like the comedy which was the main thing that made the previous movie shine was hurt by the rating. I didn’t laugh at all and felt like the jokes were cheap. In the end I am giving this film a D rating it just wasn’t there for me
Saturday Sequel Presents Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls
By Paul Anthony
I have to admit I never thought the first film ever truly made money but I was wrong. The benchwarmers was a film that came out way back in 2006 and had a budget of 33 million and made 65 million so a 32 million dollar profit. The movie was comedy of course but had a good plot with just certain things being way over the top which you can expect when you have film that stars Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Lovitz. Not to mention the film was made by Happy Madison which Adam Sandler production company. Now when I first saw this movie it wasn’t in 2006, maybe 6 or so years later I actually got to watch and I thought it was pretty decent for what they wanted to do. I never researched if there was ever going to be a sequel or anything like that but then one day a few weeks ago one film caught my eye on Netflix titled benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls. Yes the sequel is a direct to DVD film and the title makes you think this film going to be true garbage but in this case I thought this film was better then the first one despite the title. First only person who is back from the first film was Jon Lovitz reprising his role as Mel but even then his character wasn’t that much over the top with his billions of dollars. In this film the new lead is played by Chris Klein.
The Plot follows ben whos is played by Chris Klein, who was once a up and coming star in the minor leagues of baseball but one game gets his balls crushed when he gets struck by a baseball, it ruined his career and family. years later he works as a landscaper, his wife left him and took their son who sees of course. It is revealed that he became a lawyer through online classes though most good companies don’t approve of that, he gets a job with one of the best companies in the city but the trick is which he learns when he gets there is that his boss only hired him to play on the softball team which Ben no longer wants to play baseball, so he quits and continues to search for a job until he comes across Mel’s firm who wants him both as a lawyer and a manager as of his firm softball team. At the firm he sees a intern that is determine to save her little town from becoming a sewage plant which in the long run they do win the case. However the Firm’s softball team is a joke until ben coaches them and make them believe in themselves and they start winning games and make it to the championship against the defending champs which just happen to be Ben’s old employers of course the benchwarmers win but with some over the top stunts and fights and the film ends on a happy note.
Besides some minor over the top scenes that does nothing for the movie I thought this film was pretty good. Now the comedy wasn’t there though it was a comedy because of the over the top scenes but it never made me laugh instead this felt like a truly a film on a low level about underdogs, the film went away from using kids but that was okay. The acting was average nothing stood out too much in a bad way. Plot was basic and predictable but that is okay as well. In the end I am giving this film a C plus or 70 percent. It’s not the best but not the worse either and better then the first I thought so at least.
The Price of an Legend
By Paul Anthony
Let’s ask ourselves how much we would spend on a Jersey? Now Imagine that jersey being from a legend an baseball god. Recently Babe Ruth’s jersey that he wore with the Yankees from 1928 to 1930. Someone bought the jersey and your mind will be Blown away when I tell you for how much!
Try spending over five million dollars on a jersey that you will never wear in your life. Crazy I know right, just think if you had five million dollars how would you spent it? I don’t know buy a nice house and new cars, have the kids college funds taken care of. However if you have 5 million to spend then you have plenty of money then but still over million is a lot for a small item. Now I get Babe Ruth was a god in the baseball world, his stats rank nearly number 1 for nearly 50 years and so forth, there may never be another player like him in anyone life time. He did things that the other home run kings never did. So it makes sense that his jersey would be auctioned off at a high price which crushed the previous record which was over 4 million dollars, oh by the way that jersey was his jersey as well when he played for the Boston Red Soxs in 1920.
I am a Baseball fan, I really am but I still think that amount of money is crazy to spend on just a jersey, but hey if you take good care of it and the older it gets then the more money it will be worth. Who knows you might even get ten million for it. Then again it can be difficult to give something up that you bought because you do love it.
Baseball has been around for a very long time, well 150 years and a Babe Ruth Jersey from that era is rare since in that time frame many people didn’t care about the jerseys and I can Imagine no body thought someone’s jersey would be worth that much money, so I’m guessing they didn’t want to take good care of them. Just think Babe Ruth played for 21 seasons and we are only hearing about two jerseys. When or if more jerseys of his pop up in auctions I am sure they will sell for even more. Just think if someone had his rookie jersey and they wanted to sell it. I would think that jersey would be over ten million but who knows we will just have to wait and see!
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