Review: Man of Steel

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel offers up much to embrace, and, yet, in the end, leaves much to be desired. It is amibitious, sprawling, and, at times, engaging. It is also haphazard, distant, and void of an emotional center. I left the theatre feeling disappointed because I wanted to see more of Superman doing the epic things Superman does and less of him getting into a fistfight with General Zod while the two of them laid waste to Metropolis. Two plot points really left me scratching my head. One involving a black hole over Metropolis and the other involving Superman's choice that very, very few superheroes ever make and, to my knowledge, Superman has only made once in the comics. It was a bold choice for the plot and it didn't quite work for me.

And that sums up the movie's impact, really: many bold choices that don't add up to a successful picture, yet left me hoping they'll make another, better movie in the sequel.

This is an origin story. The movie starts on Krypton with Jor-El, played by Russell Crowe, and his wife Faora-Ul, sending their son Kal to Earth so that he may escape Krypton's destruction and start life new on the distant planet. Jor-El also believes that Kal will be a force of good for the human race, perhaps even saving them from themselves. There has always been a messianic component to the Superman legend, but Zack Snyder seems intent on drawing some very explicit parrallels between Christ and Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent. Right there you've got one person with essentially three identities.

The movie bounces back and forth on the timeline of Kal's life, spending much time exploring his upbringing under the loving and kind Jonanthan and Martha Kent. It was wonderful to see Kevin Costner and Diane Lane in these roles. They hit all the right notes as the Kansas farm couple who raise Kal to be their own, Clark Kent. We learn of Clark's struggles to understand his identity and his gifts. These scenes really are the most effective in the film. There's a wonderful and chilling moment when a young Clark is at school freaking out because he can't control his powers. His X-ray vision has him seeing right through people's skins. He hears everyone, everywhere. Only when Martha shows up and talks him through it by having him focus only on her voice does he calm down. A pivotal scene occurs when Clark rescues his fellow classmates when their bus crashes off a bridge into a river. We also see a scene of older Clark working on a boat in the sea and he single handedly saves some oil riggers. With these moments, I really thought we were on to something. I even thought the new take on Lois Lane was working for me. Amy Adams delivers the requisite spunk as a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Daily Planet who has been tracking the story of the mysterious Clark Kent.

Then, General Zod shows up and the whole thing sort of falls apart. Literally and figuratively.

You see, General Zod and his cronies were sentenced to the Phantom Zone and escape after the destruction of Kyrpton. They've found Kal-El/Clark Kent and they demand that the people of Earth return him or he will destroy the planet. Zod also wants to turn the Earth into another Krypton through terraforming. And there's something about a codex that I think I understood, but I'm not sure.

The third act revolves around Zod and his forces trying to terraform while Superman tries to stop them. The U.S. Army is seeking to destroy Zod as well by using the craft that Clark arrived in all those years ago as a bomb that would open a black hole over Metropolis and send the evil Kryptonians away.

I felt a little robbed because I wanted to see Superman doing all kinds of stuff that I guess would've been in earlier incarnations. Several large buildings topple. Maybe, I dunno, Superman could've pushed them back up. I just felt like when he could've really showing off as Superman, he got bogged down in a fist fight with Zod. That probably wouldn't have bothered me, but their fight scene involved a lot of jump cuts and quick shots. It was hard to view it as happening in a tangible defined space. Snyder and his cinematographer do some really funky stuff with their camera, too. When I wanted them to bring the audience close to the action, they pulled it away.

Of Henry Cavill let it be said that he fills the shoes of this iconic character quite admirably. He is unspeakably handsome, yes, but he's also possesses expressive eyes that he uses to full effect. I liked his performance and he captured Clark's struggles to understand how to use his powers nicely. It's a good performance. But, really, they're all good performances. Michael Shannon's General Zod is truly unhinged despite his best efforts to convince everyone he's really just a Creon-figure. Someone who is making tough decisions for the overall good, or at least his interpretation of the overall good. Amy Adams displays the right amount of pluck that the Lois Lane character requires. However, the scenes between Cavill and Adams fell a little flat. There's so much going on that the movie doesn't give the key relationship of Clark Kent and Lois Lane to develop. If Superman Returns spent an inordinate amount of time on Clark and Lois, Man of Steel shortchanges their dynamic.

I don't wish to discuss Superman's choice that I mention in the first paragraph of this review. It's far too much a spoiler. But it is something that stuck with me. Perhaps it was the only choice for him to make. We'll see what ramifications it holds for the sequel. C'mon. You know there's going to be a sequel.

This is not a bad movie, nor is it a particulary good one. It's just a really big one. There are big scenes, big special effects, and even some big ideas. Zack Snyder worked pretty hard it seems to explore the metaphysical quandaries of Superman. When he stuck to that, he had a good movie. When he didn't, and focused on all the bombast and the mano-a-mano of Superman and Zod, he took the air out of it.

Reveiw: Now You See Me

Magic is about misdirection. You think you're seeing one thing, when, in reality, you're seeing another. Magicians are interesting breed it seems to me. They dare you to try and figure out how they did it. The magicians in Now You See Me are very smug about that; taunting Mark Ruffalo's FBI character to keep up. I learned from Christopher Nolan's The Prestige that magic tricks are comprised of three parts: The Pledge, where you are shown a normal, everyday object; The Turn, the ordinary becomes extraordinary (the bunny disappears, the girl is sawed in half); The Prestige, the critical third act that tops the The Turn and really leaves us scratching our heads thinking, "How'd they do that?"

Now You See Me is broken down like that, as you might expect. The Turn: we meet four street magicians/illusionists/mentalists/whatever played by Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco. They're good at what they do, but are pretty much small potatoes that mostly hustle people out of their money. A hooded figure summons them together with some tarot cards (maybe they were tarot) to an apartment in New York where they are presented with blueprints and other information to pull off what looks to be a pretty amazing trick.

 

Then comes the turn. It's a long Turn, but fun to watch. The big trick takes place in Vegas where our magicians, now called The Four Horsemen and financed by the millionaire Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), use their elaborate stage show to stage a three million dollar bank heist. Neat trick. How'd they do it? Mark Ruffalo and the rest of the FBI would like to know. Since it was a French bank they robbed, Interpol is interested, too, so they send in a lovely French agent (Melanie Laurent) to assist. Ruffalo's character is not happy about this. Why can't cops in movies and television work together in a culture of inclusion?

 

Enter Thaddeus Bradley, a former illusionist who now makes his money by making DVDs and television specials that debunk people like The Four Horsemen. He shows Mark Ruffalo's Agent Rhodes how they performed the trick in Vegas. But, really, the FBI can't really charge The Four Horsemen with anything, so they're free to strike again. And they do. In New Orleans. Here, they go to great lengths to use magic and illusion to rob Arthur Tressel of 144 million dollars. Why would they bite the hand that feeds them? Tressler, understandably, would like to know that and asks Bradley to find out.

 

This is where The Prestige comes in and also where I stop sharing plot details. Up to this point, I've covered pretty much what you've seen in the trailers. What this all boils down to is a simple mystery comprised of two questions: 1) How are they doing it? 2) Who are they doing it for? Agent Rhodes is perplexed and highly agitated in his quest. He's being shown up and I started to kind of feel bad for the guy. The Four Horsemen are modern-day Robin Hoods it would seem, but one of the movies missteps is that we don't get to spend enough time with them. However, now that I've slept on it, I realize that appears to have a calculated move. I don't want to say more than that because of spoilers and all that business. To discuss too much would ruin the fun of figuring it out.

 

And that's really the only purpose this film serves. Can you figure it out? Maybe you can. Good for you. Some of you will then chide the movie for being so obvious and simple and chide those of us who were duped. Well, like all good magic tricks, sometimes the fun is in laughing at yourself for being duped. I knew going into Now You See Me that I was going to be manipulated. It's about magic tricks for crying out loud. Of course we're going to be manipulated. I had a great time looking in the wrong place.

 

The movie is not perfect. CGI rules the day in the magic effects. What can you do? Movies use CGI now for just about everything. I had more issues with the movie not taking full advantage of Woody Harrelson. His best scene is his first one. I'm not sure that should ever really happen. Jesse Eisenberg continues to be one of my favorite young actors. I always dig Mark Ruffalo.

 

I wasn't so sure about the plot. There's some stuff about a mystic sect called The Eye that dates back to ancient Egypt. Are The Four Horsemen being initiated into The Eye? I dunno. That part seemed a little forced. Also, as the movie went along and I tried to figure out who was behind what I found myself not thinking about how they did it but rather that they went to an awful lot of trouble and everything had to work just exactly right in order for The Prestige to be pulled off.

 

 



DVD Review: Django Unchained

Say what you want about Quentin Tarantino, but the man knows how to open a picture. In the marvelously entertaining Inglorious Basterds, he staged one of the most memorable opening scenes in many a year. That's the one where Christoph Waltz's Colonel Hans Landa visits a French farmhouse on the lookout for Jews. They are hiding under the floorboards of the house. It's tense, suspensful, and filled with Tarentino's usual crackerjack dialogue.

Now comes another great opening scene with Christoph Waltz. This time he's King Schultz, a dentist-turned-bounty hunter who interrupts two white men leading a group of slaves that are shackled together. Schultz is cultured, dignified, intelligent, charming, and speaks in very measured, eloquent tones. He could Hans Landa's good guy twin. Schultz tells the white men that he seeks a slave named Django because he could be of use to him in hunting some known murderers. We learn very quickly that King Schultz knows how to find people. It's a remarkable scene, really; one that probably requires multiple viewings in order to understand everything that is going on.

I honestly don't know how Tarantino manages to pull it off, but he basically makes exploitation films that have style, flair, and even artistry. He's one of those rare directors that really knows what pretty much exactly how he wants his movies to sound and look. They have their own unique rhythms and cadences. And they are violent. Cartoonishly over-the-top violent. One of the joys for me in watching Django Unchained was the way everybody got shot. First, when the bullet enters the body, blood splashed up from the new wound. After the blood spills, the victim, if not instantly dead, would scream the most hilariously awful screams. At first, I felt really awful for the victim, because, you know, they'd been shot. But then, the screaming just keeps going. It becomes a punchline to a really dark, gruesome joke. The only exceptions were a couple of carefully fired shots from the tiny handgun King Schultz keeps hidden.

Like I said, this is all pretty much straightforward exploitation. Had it been made for half the budget and released in the early 70s, it likely would be paired with a cheesy horror picture at the drive-in. And there would've been more female nudity because that is how they made them back then. Don't believe me? Come over sometime and see my DVD collection. You'll find whole anthologies devoted to B-movie drive-in trash; the kind of movies that inspired Tarantino to make something like this.

This movie is beautifully photographed. Landscapes are key in a Western (and this is pretty much a Western) and Tarantino fills the screen with gorgeous frontier scenery. The plantation scenes are lush and full of great color.

The performances are really strong. Christoph Waltz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and it is well-deserved, but there are two other very compelling supporting performances. First, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Calvin Candie, the sadistic owner of the plantatation known as Candyland. He is an odious, awful man, but DiCaprio does not play him as a villain. Instead, he's a charming and well-mannered; especially if you can look beyond his bloodlust. You see, he is into Mandingo fighting, which is watching two slave men fight to the death. The scene that introduces Candie includes a brutal Mandigo fight scene. I cringed watching it. But DiCaprio's performance is so charismatic, that you want to watch him. It's a real testimony to DiCaprio's talent that he can even pull it off. And, again, Tarantino is such a master of tone.

The other performance, the one that is really sticking with me, is Samuel L. Jackson's Stephen. He is the head of household at Candyland and essentially an Uncle Tom.  Stephen runs the show at Candyland (except for Candie, of course), and it's very hard to watch at times. Stephen is black and a slave, but I don't think he considers himself either of those. I think he sees himself as an extension of Candie.

Django Unchained belonged on the list of  Best Picture nominees. It's funny, operatic, grand, and never wavers from the tone that Tarantino sets from that remarkable opening scene.



Reboot This!

I read that NBC is rebooting the old TV series Ironside this fall. If you don't know what that is, then read this and look at this:

In the new version, he'll look like this:

 

 

I'm not typically a fan of reboots and reimaginings because it tends to smack of not having an original idea. That said, I think there are some shows that could work quite well if given a 21st century spin. So, I give to you:

 

5 TV SHOWS THAT COULD WORK AS A REBOOT

 

1. The Six Million Dollar Man

NBC tried The Bionic Woman a couple of years ago but it failed. They just didn't do it right. Get a charismatic and handsome actor with a little name recognition--Thomas Jane or Paul Walker--and change Oscar Goldman to a woman. That formula is working on Elementary. Maybe you even add a Bourne Identity backstory to provide an overarching mythology to it. Astronaut Steve Austin is a man barely alive after a horrific accident testing a new space age weapon or something. The government uses a top secret technology to rebuild him with bionics, which was originaly designed to create super soldiers. He discovers what they wanted to do with him and he escapes a la Bill Bixby in The Incredible Hulk.

 

2. Green Acres

I'm not kidding. With so many people (especially trendy types) forsaking the processed foods and forging a diet of natural foods, I think the time is right to tell the story of Oliver Wendell Douglas and his wife Lisa, who buy a ramshackle farm in Hooterville. They form relationships with the zany townsfolk while trying to live off the land. Make Oliver and Lisa a young couple in their late twenties and you can bring in the right demographic, one that is not relying solely on nostalgia. Plus, the original series was absurdism, which could definitely play well today if presented as layered comedy. I'm not good with these younger actors today, but find someone who didn't get cast in How I Met Your Mother. 

 

3. Have Gun Will Travel

The Western once dominated network television. Now, it's nowhere to be found. The influence of the genre can be found in shows like Longmire, Justified, and even The Walking Dead, but there are no true Westerns out there. I propose the ressurrection of gentleman mercenary Paladin, who enjoys a posh lifestyle at San Fransciso hotel. He is a well-read, intellectual, and even spiritual, though not adhering to one single organized religion. He considers himself a champion for hire, a man who use his unique set of skills to help those who are in need. In the original series, Paladin had served in the Civil War, so perhaps his character could struggle with bouts of PTSD. I'll take Josh Holloway, who played Sawyer on Lost as Paladin.

 

4. American Gothic

The original American Gothic aired on CBS during the 95-96 season. It was created by Shaun Cassidy and it was creepy as hell. It starred Gary Cole as Lucas Buck, sheriff of Trinity, South Carolina. Lucas has a son named Caleb, whose mother was raped by Lucas. The sheriff holds a supernatural power of the town of Trinity, but his evil ways are slowly uncovered by a new doctor in town. Given the success of American Horror Story and the general popularity of genre television as a whole right now, something American Gothic could easily work on AMC or FX. Plus, the original was cancelled before it even could really resolve its main storyline. 

5. Police Squad!
Because police procedurals are still all the rage. Because the true parody is dying a sad, painful death. No one knows how to do it anymore. We'll change the title. Call it Crime Scene Squad! or something. It's a special division of Police Squad, which, as fans of the original know, is a special division of the police force. I don't know who could step into Leslie Nielsen's shoes, but surely someone could find the right notes. If I didn't know better, I'd swear David Caruso was channeling Frank Drebin just a wee bit in CSI: Miami. But surely not. Right? Imagine a team of ragtag crime scene analysts led by a character played by...well, I'm stuck. I really am. The beauty of the original was, like Airplane!, it turned a usually uber-serious genre and let us view it through a surreal prism. There's so much irony today, I'm not sure who could pull it off. Frankly, Tom Selleck would be amazing but he's already in Blue Bloods. Ya know, Charlie Sheen pulled off this stuff in the Hot Shots! films. Just sayin'.

A Baker's Dozen: Best Baseball Movies, #1

1. Bull Durham, 1988

I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan... I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.
                                                          --Annie Savoy
                                                  played by Susan Sarandon

Annie Savoy is a die-hard fan of the Durham Bulls, a minor league team in the Carolina League. Every season she picks a player to have an affair with and that player proceeds to have the best season of their career. In the season depicted in Bull Durham, Annie has selected the young and immature Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), a young stud picture with a rocket for an arm and a lump for a brain. She's older, sensual, with a penchant for reading Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman during foreplay. He is horny, dim-witted, and inexperienced in just about everything in life, including women and baseball. Annie seeks tutor him, mentor him, help him grow as a player and a man.

The Bulls organization would also like to see Nuke grow, but they're primarily interested in his pitching arm. So, they employ Crash Davis (Kevin Costner in what I think is his best role), the infamous "player to be named later." His job: teach the lunkhead LaLoosh how to be pitcher because the big league team is wanting him on the fasttrack to the Majors. Davis is a career minor leaguer, with only a short stint in "The Show," the hallowed term given to the Majors by the guys on the farm team. Crash is seasoned, wise, and cynical. He has seen it all. His playing days are drawing to an end. He reluctantly takes on this babysitting gig as a means to an end. You see, Crash is just a few homers away from being the all-time career minor league home run king.

So what you have then is a battle of wills between Annie and Crash over who is the right person to mentor Nuke. Along the way, an interesting love triangle unfolds.

Bull Durham is simply the best baseball movie ever made. Generally speaking, it's funny, smart, and allows its characters to engage in real conversations. The peformances are top notch. Sarandon plays Annie just right: sexy and smart, but still just a touch vulnerable. Tim Robbins is an intelligent actor who knows how to give Nuke a certain depth beyond his cluelessness. He's a nice kid and we root for him. I said Crash Davis is Kevin Costner's best role and I stand by that. I've always liked him as an actor and I think his portrayal of Crash is spot on.

The key to the success of Bull Durham is the script and direction by Ron Shelton, a former minor league. Obviously, that lends an air of authenticity to the baseball. Beyond that, though, these characters are alive and well. Shelton allows them to engage with one another and we form bonds along with them. Today, most Hollywood comedies rely on pop culture references and sarcastic one-liners to drive much of the humor. That's not necessarily a complaint. It can work in the right context. What makes Bull Durham rise above most R-rated comedies out today is the emphasis on character. The funny stuff comes from the essence of who the characters are and their reactions seem appropriate. This dynamic is true whether watching Annie and Nuke, Crash and Nuke, Annie and Crash, or the interactions of the beleaguered Bulls trying to get through the season. It's all just delightful to behold.

Bull Durham perfectly meshes two views of baseball in movies: the nuts and bolts of living the game like Moneyball and the notion of baseball as spiritual endeavor like Field of Dreams. Shelton presents us with the reality that those views are two sides of the same coin. I'm a fan of the game and an ardent believer that it's the greatest game on earth. I'm also fully aware of the fact that it is a business that employs men who are trying to make a living and those men work very hard to achieve the highest levels of success. But it starts in the minor leagues with teams like the Durham Bulls, players like Crash Davis and Nuke LaLoosh, and fans like Annie Savoy, who believe in baseball's power. Like Annie says, "Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it's also a job. "

Review: Fast and Furious 6

I'm not what one would label a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise. I vaguely remember seeing bits and pieces of the first film  and saw nothing that engaged me so I moved on. Not my thing. I saw Fast & Furious 6 Saturday afternoon with my wife, son, and youngest daughter (all noobs, like me) and my nephew, who is an ardent fan. He sat fully foward through almost the entire film. He laughed a lot at jokes that I think only fans would get. I was happy for him and there was a certain pleasure in watching someone so enjoy a movie.

That said, it's still not my thing. I'm not averse to car chase pictures. I harbor great affection for Smokey and the Bandit, but that is due mostly to the genius that is Jackie Gleason and the general glee with which that movie presents itself. The whole thing is a wink and a nudge. It's goofy and it knows it. Fast & Furious 6 struck me as a movie that wants to be taken seriously and still want to wink and nod and all that. A few moments made me laugh, but other times it just made me scratch my head.

Perhaps you need to have seen the whole series because apparently there is a whole backstory/mythology to the series and characters. It's not as intricate as, say, Star Trek or the Marvel Universe, but it still exists. And, again, I did enjoy watching other people react to the movie. They were having fun with characters they love and movies are special that way.

The plot centers around Dewayne Johnson assembling a group of criminals who probably know more about cars than I know about anything. They are lead by Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker). Dom, if I followed correctly, was a street racer and Brian was a former cop. Both have performed illegal acts that have basically sent them into hiding. Dewayne Johnson hires them and their cohorts to bring down a terrorist who...well, I'm not really sure. Something about a complex organization of drivers who are up to no good. My son explained to me what they were after, but I didn't recall following it all that closely. The movie isn't really about its story, so much as the stunt work and the cars. To be sure, the real stars of Fast & Furious 6 are the stunt performers. There are some wonderfully staged set pieces that I got a kick out of, including a wild climactic chase scene on what must the world's longest air strip. It seriously took 15 minutes for the big jet to become even marginally airborne.

The performances of the two leads could not be more disparate. Paul Walker is a pretty handsome fella who has a natural charm about him. If I'm a producer, I'm calling his agent to discuss a TV pilot about a Magnum-esque private eye. Vin Diesel has never been an actor that has generated much enthusiasm in me. I know he has his fans, but what I saw in this film was an actor barely speaking above a mumble in an effort to present an aura of cool detachment. It didn't work for me. Neither did Dewayne "The Rock" Johnson's performance as Hobbs, who is an agent of the government, I think. Again, I've not watched previous installments so I'm not sure if he's CIA, Special Ops, or IRS. I happen to admire The Rock's onscreen charisma. He's a natural and is especially effective in action/comedy. Here, I dunno. I wanted to quote Heath Ledger's Joker everytime The Rock appeared. Why so serious?

But the whole thing does that. It works really hard to promote the notion that family is the most important thing of all. I felt bad for the Fast & Furious gang. They go to an awful lot of trouble to prove that.

I know, I know. If I had been following this franchise since its inception, I'd probably be more engaged. I'm the first person to admit that jumping into a series midstream is ill-advised. Season 4 of Arrested Development started on Netflix a couple of days ago. If your introduction to that brilliant comedy starts with Season 4, you'll be lost. Go to the beginning and be quiet until you've done that.

But, I didn't do that. I went with someone whose love of the Fast & Furious franchise abides fairly deeply. And that's ok. For me, as a casual observer studying technique, it relies far too heavily on quick cutaway editing in its action scenes and the acting is all over the place. The stunt work is exceptional and if they gave out Oscars for such things, this would easily be on my short list of potential winners. The tone is inconsistent and Vin Diesel's character did nothing for me, while Paul Walker's was interesting.

Actually, Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris play Roman and Tej, two supporting characters in the gang. They're exchanges are funny and I wanted the whole movie to be about them. Put those two characters in a movie where they are pursued by an apoplectic Dewayne Johnson and then you've got something I would be willing to sign up for.



A Baker's Dozen: Best Baseball Movies, #2

Only a handful of movies exist that truly capture what it means to be twelve years old. Stand By Me is likely the greatest example and I would add the sublime My Girl. If there is one thing that annoys me about mainstream Hollywood entertainment (both film and television), it's the portrayal of children and teens as broad caricatures of themselves; at least in the comedies. Serious Family Films will sometimes be graced with the presence of an authentic teenage presentation, but comedies are a rare breed. It doesn't help that I struggle watching child actors perform. Some of them are so obviously coached, performing the way the stereotypical child performer would, that there's not hint of truth to be found. It's all affectation and manipulation.

So when a movie like The Sandlot comes along, it's as if we've been handed a gift.

The Sandlot operates on some plane all its own in cinema. It presents us with a group of 12 year old boys (some are younger, a couple might be 13) with such authenticity its almost perfect. It's real. And yet, there is fantastical element to it because these boys live in their own world: The Sandlot. They play a perpetual game of baseball not unlike the ghosts in Field of Dreams. This movie is a chroncile of one of those magical summers of youth, or, at least, the way we want to remember them. In addition to baseball, the guys have sleepovers in a treehouse, ogle a female lifeguard at the city pool (part of the movie's funniest and most charming set piece), and embark on a mission to rescue a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth from the clutches of The Beast.

The story centers around Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), a new kid in town who is trying to make some friends. He hooks up with some boys who live for baseball and mischief, even though Smalls (that's what the guys call him) knows nothing of baseball. Fortunately, Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez takes him under his wing. Gives him a mit and an old ball cap so he'll fit in. Their friendship really is sweet because it is natural. Benny is a nice kid and he's cool. Smalls is a nice kid, but a little uncool. It's sorta what it might've been like if Fonzie and Richie had met in 7th grade.

This is a baseball movie, but it's not a sports movie. Baseball provides the common ground for their comraderie. Had Smalls not attempted baseball with them, I wonder if he would've made friends with them. He's unlike them in so many ways and at first the other boys don't know what to do with him.  A catchphrase emerges: "You're killing me, Smalls!" But, if he joins them in their never-ending game, they have enough for a full team. He completes them.The scenes that focus on the boys more or less teaching Scotty Smalls the ways of the 12-year-old universe are simply beautiful. They are moments of comedy, yes. I laughed. But the laughter came not from watching gags (though that can be hysterical). Instead, it was the kind of laughter that comes from recognition. Most of us have been there. They way these kids create a place of inclusion for Smalls provides an example adults can learn from. As we grow older, I think we forget how to do that. Or, worse, we simply choose not to.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the film is the way it treats baseball. It respects it. Honors it. The boys are very good at it and they geniunely enjoy playing. I was reminded of my days growing up in that valley in Southeast Missouri. We had fields all around to play ball in. We grabbed small pieces of flat wood to use as bases and played pickup games. That's the kind of baseball played in The Sandlot. There are no leagues. No underdog David vs. Goliath story. Heck, the "big game" occurs about halfway through the movie and the Sandlot team destroys the opposition, which is apparently from an established team because they have uniforms. This movie isn't about athletes. It's about kids and it's a reminder that baseball is at its most pure when we're kids. It's a critical part of the legend of growing up.