WE HAD AUDIO PROBLEMS ALL NIGHT WHILE RECORDING THE SHOW SO THE AUDIO QUALITY IS SHAKY AT BEST. WE SALVAGED AND FIXED WHAT WE COULD.
Lots to cover this week with MovieFreak, Moreno, and Law so let’s get right to it.
TV Round-Up is mostly Project Greenlight with a little Daredevil and Fargo mixed in there.
Google Voice is Eric King kicking his family out of the house and going movie crazy.
Movie Homework is a deep appreciation for THE SHINING.
What Did You Watch is SICARIO, THE GIFT, KNOCK KNOCK, THE MARTIAN, PRISONERS, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, TRICK r TREAT, BEETLEJUICE, AN HONEST LIAR, SLEEPY HOLLOW, KING OF KONG and more.
Plot: A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom’s most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film’s maniacal killer.
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Writers: M.A. Fortin, Joshua John Miller
Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Åkerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev, Chloe Bridges, and Angela Trimbur.
Is it possible for a film to have too much heart? It is. Especially when you want it to be as silly and gruesome as possible. I don’t mean to skip to the end of my review but that’s where my problems stem from when it come to THE FINAL GIRLS. Book-ended by greatness, the film gets a little too sappy in the second act and there are too many punches pulled throughout for me to completely love it. Let’s discuss.
The tragedy that hits our main character, Max (Taissa Farmiga) in the opening minutes of the film comes fast and hard. It’s sets up the story perfectly and leaves Max a legitimate mess for the majority of the movie. Her arc isn’t so much about being the last girl standing as it is about closure for a part of her life that was stripped form her prematurely. While attending an anniversary screening of her mother’s (Malin Ackerman) cult classic horror film, CAMP BLOODBATH, Max, her best friend (Alia Shawkat), a cute boy (Alexander Ludwig), the resident mean girl (Nina Dobrev), and the film geek extraordinaire (Thomas Middleditch) get literally sucked into the film after a fire breaks out in the theater. After meeting up with the main cast of the film, the rules of survival are simple – stick with the final girl, make it to the end of the film, go back to their normal universe. BLOODBATH is a mixture of FRIDAY THE 13th and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE specifically, with touches of other classic horror franchises scattered throughout. Of course, Max’s mother is in the film and it allows her a surreal opportunity to hang out with her one last time.
The cast of the film within the film is highlighted by Adam DeVine, who is basically playing his character from Workaholics line for line, and Angela Trimbur, playing the slutty dimwit to perfection. The plan go out the window when Max and friends alter the plot of the film with their presence and have to make up a new plot scene by scene. Trimbur, especially, steals almost every scene she’s in. In order to lure the serial killer to the cabin, she’s released in an open doorway to do a provocative striptease and it’s easily the funniest moment of the film. Nothing is even close.
The best character of the film overall however is Middleditch’s Duncan. He is the “Randy from SCREAM” dude that is torn from geeking out over their situation and helping everybody survive because he knows the film like the back of his hand. It’s too bad he’s barely in it. When Duncan takes a backseat so does my interest in their survival. Without him it’s simply just another slasher movie. You can pinpoint the moment when this film turns from witty horror comedy to cringe-worthy mother/daughter love-fest. And that’s not too far after Duncan disappears.
To be honest though, it’s not the mommy issues that bring this movie down a notch for me, it’s the rating. At PG-13, FINAL GIRLS misses an incredible amount of opportunities to dirty itself up. Off screen kills, assumed nudity, and one “Fuck” have no place in the genre that’s being parodied here. A big reason I loved CABIN IN THE WOODS (a film that most definitely paved the way for this film) so much is that it went all out with the appropriate horror staples. FINAL GIRLS gets the tone correct, nails the humor, and seems to leave out all the good parts along the way.
Everybody is decent if not great here, based on performance. The beginning and the ending (which teases a sequel that would playfully rip-off another beloved horror franchise) are brilliant. It’s the meat of the movie that’s missing, and because of the universe that they’re pulling us into, that seems almost unforgivable.
Are you guys sick of me yet this week? Welcome back once again to Binge Sports. After a crazy couple days of wild card action, we’re now down to eight in the race for the right to be called World Series champions. Today, we’ll take a quick look back at the wild card games and how you voted and we’ll look ahead at the matchups for the division series that get underway in just a little while. Let’s get to it.
Wild Card Results
The young Houston Astros rolled into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night with no fear whatsoever. Dallas Keuchel looked fantastic and the bullpen was sturdy as the Astros defeated the Yankees 3-0, getting homeruns from Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez. The Astros won with you as well, picking up 2/3 of the fan vote.
In a big game in Pittsburgh last night, the Pirates were shut out for the second year in a row in this game, this time losing 4-0 to the Chicago Cubs. Jake Arrieta threw yet another complete game shutout and Kyle Schwarber drove in the first three runs, including a massive 450-foot homerun that left the ballpark entirely. With Arrieta on the mound last night, not many people gave Pittsburgh a chance in this game, and that certainly rang true here as well. The Cubs picked up 100% of the fan vote. Nice work.
American League Division Series
Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays
These were two of the hottest teams in the second half of the year. Both were able to continue climbing the ladder and win their respective divisions. Both made big pitching moves at the deadline, with Texas acquiring Cole Hamels and the Blue Jays bringing in David Price, who will start Game 1 this afternoon at 3:30 Eastern/2:30 Central. The Rangers will counter with Yovani Gallardo.
My prediction: Blue Jays in 4
[yop_poll id=”293″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
Houston Astros vs Kansas City Royals
Are the Astros this year’s version of last year’s Royals? They’ve got a bunch of guys that most of you have probably never heard of. They’re young. They play an exciting brand of baseball. They’re just fun to watch. Yep, that sounds pretty close to what we witnessed in the Kansas City run to the World Series last year. For most of the season, the Royals were the best team in the American League, but a slight stumble at the end of the year made things interesting, but they were able to hang on and clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. This should be a fun series to watch. Game 1 gets going tonight at 7:30 Eastern/6:30 Central.
My prediction: Royals in 5
[yop_poll id=”294″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
National League Division Series
Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals
You’ve seen me write about how great Cubs/Cardinals is before, and before I write 10,000 words on this, I’m going to stop myself and just say how excited I am for this. Forgive my bias towards this series, but growing up in central Illinois, the fandom is basically split 50/50 between these two teams, and it’s going to get crazy around here. As far as the actual matchup, these are two really good baseball teams. The Cardinals finished with the best record in baseball, and the Cubs finished with the third-best and played their way into this series with a wild card win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the second-best record in the majors. Yeah, that’s how good the NL Central was this year. This epic series gets underway on Friday evening at 6:30 Eastern/5:30 Central.
My prediction: Cubs in 5
[yop_poll id=”296″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
New York Mets vs Los Angeles Dodgers
I almost feel bad for the Mets. Okay, not really, but their reward for a great year and winning the National League East is a trip to Los Angeles and a date with Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke. I’m not saying they can’t win these games, as the Mets have a great pitching staff of their own, but it will certainly be a challenge. However, the Mets did take four of the seven games from LA this season. We’ll see how things play out starting tomorrow night at 9:30 Eastern/8:30 Central.
My prediction: Dodgers in 4
[yop_poll id=”295″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
There you have it. You know I’ll be following the MLB Playoffs as they happen, so keep checking back for updates, and you know you can always get the latest on Twitter @BingeSports and @THElukenorris. I’ll leave you be for a few days.
Oh, you missed that logo, didn’t you? But that’s what you’re getting this week for the all-new Binge SportsCast is a whole bunch of Luke Norris.
That’s right. After a late scratch from my potential co-host for the week (no worries brother, being a dad comes first), I’m once again flying solo, not the easiest thing in the world to do, but hey, I’m a professional, and it’s Binge SportsCast time.
In a little over an hour, I hit on the MLB Playoffs after watching the Astros beat the Yankees, I prepare you for tonight’s Cubs vs Pirates game, as well as the other series that will get underway this week. From there, I move to the NFL to talk the top 5 teams, followed by a little NHL talk as the season gets underway, and my thoughts on the Stephen A. Smith rant about Kevin Durant this week.
I close up shop with a personal achievement I reached this week and salute….well, just take a listen. Enjoy. As always, keep up with all the latest @BingeSports and @THElukenorris.
Welcome back to Binge Sports and welcome to Week 5 of the Binge Fantasy Football League. Let’s get started with the big news that there’s a new team at the top of the standings as my Italian Stallions won the big 1 vs 2 battle with Murphy’s Law. We had a 3 vs 4 matchup as well, with Touchdown There taking down the Chi-Town Smackdowns. Denny Luis had a good week over in the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest, but wasn’t so lucky against Bigfoot in Sandals. Gotta remember to check that roster at game time brother. Our only Binge battle of the week saw Jack take down Garrett, leaving G Force at 0-4 on the year. But he’s not the only one; Art’s Vatos Locos failed to get off the schneid as well, dropping his fourth in a row to Wayne’s Awesome Team, and now looks forward to a Week 5 battle with yours truly. And Chad D.’s bad week at Binge Media continued as he lost to our resident comic guy, the one and only Nick Spears, whose Jaws of Geno picked up their third win of the year. Let’s check the full results from Week 4, check the overall standings, and look ahead to Week 5 in the BFFL.
WEEK 4 RESULTS
Italian Stallions def. Murphys Law 110.52-81.28
12.5 or Die def. G Force 101.66-65.72
Bigfoot in Sandals def. Oh Hai Denny Luis 70.36-48.90
Wayne’s Awesome Team def. Vatos Locos 81.02-62.58
The Jaws of Geno def. Deflated Balls 75.44-59.44
Touchdown There def. Chi-Town Smackdowns 99.38-96.74
STANDINGS
1. ITALIAN STALLIONS (3-1, 439.50 points)
2. TOUCHDOWN THERE (3-1, 416.74 points)
3. THE JAWS OF GENO (3-1, 373.32 points)
4. BIGFOOT IN SANDALS (3-1, 372.20 points)
5. 12.5 OR DIE (3-1, 359.50 points)
6. WAYNE’S AWESOME TEAM (3-1, 340.20 points)
7. MURPHY’S LAW (2-2, 440.42 points)
8. CHI-TOWN SMACKDOWNS (2-2, 409.92 points)
9. DEFLATED BALLS (1-3, 336.88 points)
10. OH HAI DENNY LUIS (1-3, 250.72 points)
11. G FORCE (0-4, 312.42 points)
12. VATOS LOCOS (0-4, 294.58 points)
WEEK 5 MATCHUPS
ITALIAN STALLIONS (3-1) v. VATOS LOCOS (0-4)
[yop_poll id=”279″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
12.5 OR DIE (3-1) v. MURPHY’S LAW (2-2)
[yop_poll id=”280″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
OH HAI DENNY LUIS (1-3) v. G FORCE (0-4)
[yop_poll id=”281″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
DEFLATED BALLS (1-3) v. WAYNE’S AWESOME TEAM (3-1)
[yop_poll id=”282″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
TOUCHDOWN THERE (3-1) v. THE JAWS OF GENO (3-1)
[yop_poll id=”283″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
CHI-TOWN SMACKDOWNS (2-2) v. BIGFOOT IN SANDALS (3-1)
[yop_poll id=”284″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
And let’s not forget about the big vote. You’ve seen what’s going on. Who has the upper hand?
[yop_poll id=”260″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
That does it for Week 5. Check back in next week for the latest results and certainly don’t forget to get involved in the inaugural Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest as well, where you have the chance to win a special prize from Binge Media, which I will personally pay for. If you’re coming in fresh, you’re already behind, so make those picks count. For all the latest updates, follow @BingeSports and @THElukenorris on Twitter.
Welcome back to Binge Sports and welcome to Week 5 of the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest. Scores were a bit down this week, but that’s to be expected when every single person misses the game worth the most points. Damn you Eagles! But we press on anyway. Beware of the hype that comes along with this next statement: Denny Luis is the winner for the week, but I’m sure you’ll find out about that soon enough. OH HAI!!! That also bumps him up two spots into third place in the overall standings, moving past…well, me…I stay right where I was last week. But we do have a new leader, Mr. Andy Nemenoff, who had the fifth-best score this week, but it was good enough to unseat Chad D, whose balls must have deflated this week with the second-worst score of the week. But there’s a lot of football to go. Let’s check out the full results from Week 4 and look ahead to the Week 5 games.
WEEK 4 RESULTS
Denny Luis: 44
Ed Minkowski: 42
Art1318: 34
Episode IV: 34
Andy Nemenoff: 30
Anthony D: 12
Nick Fortuna: 8
TM: 0
PJ: 0
Chad Forsythe.: -4
Luke Norris: -4
Chad D.: -48
C209G: -50
STANDINGS
Andy Nemenoff: 178
Ed Minkowski: 170
Denny Luis: 144
Luke Norris: 116
Chad D.: 112
Art1318: 112
TM: 98
Episode IV: 94
Nick Fortuna: 66
Anthony D: 60
Chad Forsythe: 54
Harwood: 46
PJ: 10
Poljak: -20
C209G: -64
Bri D: -104
WEEK 5 MATCHUPS
14. Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers
13. Seattle Seahawks at Cincinnati Bengals
12. Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens
11. New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles
10. Jacksonville Jaguars at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
9. Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans
8. St. Louis Rams at Green Bay Packers
7. San Francisco 49ers at New York Giants
6. Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders
5. Washington Redskins at Atlanta Falcons
4. Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans
3. New England Patriots at Dallas Cowboys
2. Chicago Bears at Kansas City Chiefs
1. Arizona Cardinals at Detroit Lions
My picks for the week are: SD-CIN-BAL-PHI-JAC-BUF-GB-NYG-DEN-ATL-IND-NE-KC-ARI
There you have it. Choose your picks wisely. Remember that you must pick EVERY GAME and your picks MUST be placed in the comments section below. Make sure to check back next week for updated standings and point totals, and of course, the Week 6 matchups. For all the latest updates, follow @BingeSports and @THElukenorris on Twitter.
A few years back, on July 1, 2012 to be exact, I was lucky enough to attend Roger Waters’ performance of The Wall at Fenway Park in Bahhston. I have been a Pink Floyd fan for most of my life and I’ve always had much more of an affinity for Dark Side of the Moon than The Wall, but an opportunity came up and I got to see the performance. I remember that date so well because there’s a distinct difference between the life I was living before that showing the life I am currently engaging in. Concerts come and go for certain. Some are better than others, some are lackluster, and while Waters’ has been criticized for being hard to work with and stuck in his ways, after seeing the show performed live I have to believe that The Wall is, and always has been, less a Pink Floyd album than a piece of performance art put together by Roger Waters. The spectacle of that night still stands as the greatest live performance I’ve ever seen. I’ve frequented The Who over the past few years, seen Springsteen perform for 3+ hours without a break and been to a pair of AFC Championship games, but I can honestly say The Wall was as close to a religious experience as I’ve ever had.
So, naturally, I’ve been searching for something like it ever since the show ended, and in truth nothing really compares. The Wall was such a controlled, focused performance with such universal themes that trying to find its’ duplicate would be damn-near impossible anyhow. You can color me pleased, then, when I found out that Roger Waters The Wall was being made into a concert film. Immediately it was on my radar, and then it dropped off because, well, the docket overfloweth and I lost track of it. Cut to this past Tuesday when my main man Bill gave me the heads up that the flick was playing one night only in Providence. Along with a few other friends, we got our tickets and prepared ourselves. In my case, it was a chance to re-experience the show, while Bill, on the other hand, was experiencing the performance for the first time. After two hours of solid entertainment, and then an odd interview filled with dopey softball questions tagged to the end of the movie, the film was over.
As a movie, I’m actually incredibly impressed with how Waters was able to morph the overall theme of The Wall into something more universal than it had been originally. When it was originally written and performed, The Wall was an idea born out of frustration and the weight of stardom. At a performance of their then released Animals, Roger Waters was so insulted by talkative fans that he actually spat at one of them. Upon reflection of what he had done, the idea of a disillusioned and disturbed rock star who had isolated himself from those around him became the start of The Wall. While The Wall still is very much about that story, the larger message of the album is now one of anti-war sentiment. At the heart of the pain and anguish of the main character was always the loss of his father via the war. What Waters has done in the new film is he’s taken the framework of the story and interspersed scenes of the concert performance with his own journey to visit the site of the battle that took his father’s life. While this is very on the nose, you do feel the anguish and sadness of the very real journey Waters drew upon to write his story. It somehow makes the entire album seem more important and valid now than it ever was, but I would also maintain that this is an album where the studio version does not convey what the live performance does. The closest recording I know of to the show I saw, in terms of tone, would be the Is There Anybody Out There recording from 1980. Where the album had to cut a few key songs, namely “What Shall We Do Now?”, the live album preserves it and serves as, in my opinion, the truest form of the album.
As far as concert films go, I think this one floats high above most others if only because of the wonder of seeing a piece of art morph over time. The Wall is something full of negativity and menace, but in an odd way it’s almost as if time has matured the album and added layers to the storytelling. Because of all of that, the film serves as a prime example of how an artist can redefine and reinvigorate his own work over time. I’d give Roger Waters The Wall a very solid and deserved 9 hard-shell tacos on 10.
J-Law has burst back onto the scene with another Entertainment Weekly cover. No, I’m not writing in the third person. Other than that we got some new box office points from THE MARTIAN and SICARIO moved up seven spots. Impressive. Hit the link below for the whole story when it comes to magazine covers, nudity points, box office placements and awards.
A word of warning before you start the show – the is the most messed up you’ll ever hear Ammon. By the time he shows up he must be three bowls and a half case of High Life deep. He has trouble with most words.
Things get started with talk of Moreno’s honeymoon and then somehow lead to Law coming to the rescue of Artie Lange. I don’t know how we do this but it happens.
TV Round-Up ends this season of Ray Donovan talk while also covering some Daredevil, Ash vs. The Evil Dead, and some other tidbits (this means I don’t remember anything for future reference).
Google Voice is epic this week as we get back to our roots and try to decipher what the hell Supka is talking about. There’s lots of fights, yelling, crying, and burps.
What Did You Watch is ridiculous. We review, in no particular order….. THE MARTIAN, THE WALK, BLACK MASS, DOPE, THE VISIT, DEATHGASM, COOTIES, SCREAM, A MURDER IN THE PARK, VACATION, HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS, A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY, BODY SNATCHERS, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, and TED 2. I told you, ridiculous.
Timestamp:
0:00:00-Sounder opening. Should be familiar to you by now 0:03:10-Moreno is back, bitch. Honeymoon talk between the boys (well, not Ammon, because he’s fucking late, AGAIN). Recap of last week’s Bingecast in case you were too drunk to remember. Moreno tells tales of his big day from his POV. Law brings up Howard Stern stuff.
0:44:34-TV ROUND UP. Apparently it is not necessary to have a sounder for this edition of TV Round Up. What the fuck ever. Anyway, Ray Donavan gets some highlights along with Deadwood, Project Greenlight, and Limitless.
1:23:03 Ammon’s Halloween House. It’s ridiculous. And awesome. Also Titanic talk. Because its historical and shit. And because Ammon’s kid is weirdly obsessed.
1:40:21-GOOGLE VOICE. There’s a good amount this week so pop open another beer as you listen. We demand it.
2:12:16-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? The Visit gets dissected by all three hosts. *SPOILER ALERT-THERE ARE SPOILERS.* Moreno fucking fires through his watches with Django Unchained (the D is silent), Scream, Hector and the Search for Happiness, Straight Outta Compton, The Walk (and to an indirect extent Man on Wire), and Dope. Law finishes up with discussion of Murder in the Park, Vacation, Christmas Horror Story, Cooties, Deathgasm, Black Mass, and The Martian. STOP. DROP. SHUT EM DOWN OPEN UP SHOP. WHOA. NO. BINGECAST IS OVA’.