CosmicBills

7/30/05 There is nothing like the opening of Trainging camp -- especially when you score tickets inside the Wilmont Cancer Center tent (which means free grub and drinks). My trusted photographer and I braved our way through the breakfast buffet at 8am so we would have the nourishment needed to put together an excellent Training Camp report for all our out of town TBD brethren. I must say that the food was delicious. Aside from the eggs and french toast, there was a bit of football going on at Fisher. The first official practice of the year looked very much like a first practice. There were a few misques, a couple blown assignments, dropped balls and a bunch of offsides by the O-Line. A lot of the players looked as if they were still getting their legs under them -- either that or they were preoccupied with what they should wear to the upcoming parade. Our initial vantage point was in the endzone of the grass field which gave us a great view of the Defense going through their blitz packages. However, when the team shifted into positional drills, we found a great spot near the RBs and OL (the pictures linked have some great ones of Willis). We were also able to watch JP run through the skeleton drill. Finally, the Offense squared off against the D for a twenty minute session of 11 on 11. It is safe to say the Defense dominated this session. JP was sacked numerous times (well...would have been sacked, he was never touched -- thank you Troy Vincent), threw a couple of really bad balls that would have been picks (Clements dropped two that I saw). However, Willis and the running game looked great during this time. But, it's difficult to say how much that means since it wasn't full contact. Overall, the best unit of the day was the LBs and DL who both were flying to the ball. These units looked great in individual and team drills. The worst unit by far was the OL. Gandy and Geisinger both got beat repeadly by Shobel/Edwards and Geisinger was offsides three times. Here are the quick impressions: - I know everyone wants to know about JP. Well, I think he was a little nervous today. He threw some nice balls, but in the 11 on 11 he got lit up. 2 picks and at least 4 sacks (I stopped keeping track after that). On the plus side, he seems to have nice chemistry with Lee Evans (more so than Moulds). A couple of times when the protection broke down, he scrambled and found Evans for nice gains. I will keep an eye on JP (as everyone will) but I am hoping today he was just a bit nervous. - Let the controversy begin! Holcomb looked sharp and people in the stands were cheering louder for him than JP - I came away unimpressed with Gandy today. In one on one drills he got schooled by Schobel, Posey and even Oyi Osunde. He had slow feet and McNally was riding him. - Bennie Anderson is a monster. He is huge! And, he actually looked sharp in one on one pass blocking drills. - The right side of the OL looked good, even Mike Williams played well. - The backup lineman looked terrible. Geisinger was atrocious. The saving grace was Duke Preston who stood out -- but maybe that's because he was the only one pretending to be a revolving door or jumping off sides. - Shaud Williams took number 20 - Roscoe Parish made a couple of very nice catches. However, so did Reed. Both guys seem to be pushing eachother already. Reed looked faster and leaner than last year, and it is apparent he is ready to fight for his job. But Parish dazzled in the 7 on 7 drills...but when it came time for 11 on 11 he didn't make a catch (that I saw). - Lee, Shaud Williams and Gates all looked good. The battle for back up RB should be a good one. This is the unit we got closest to and they have a lot of good natured ribbing going on between them. You can tell the competition will be fierce. Out of those three, Lee impressed me the most today. But my money is still on Shaud Williams getting plenty of chances. - At the end of practice, Holcomb, Mike Williams and two other lineman (didn't see who) had to stay after and run sprints. McNally was the coach making them run, but I have no idea what for. TD was there watching, and on the last sprint, Mike Williams came up lame (see the picture). Looked like a cramp, but he walked gingerly off the field. I could have sworn I heard TD call him a P**sy though Pictures found here! http://community.webshots.com/album/408330859RFQyVv

Just got back from camp. Mike Williams, Holcome and two other players had to do sprints after practice (for what I don't know) and Mike pulled up lame on the last run.... He looked okay, hopefully just a cramp.

Everything that I have heard about it is the Super Star mode is the main upgrade. The franchise mode is the same and the gameplay (outside of the new "vision cone passing") is the same. The graphics and such are maxed out for both the PS2 and Xbox, thus there are no changes. The word is the Nex Generation Madden '06 (due out for the Xbox in November) is going to be the major upgrade for the franchise (graphically at least). But for the older systems, it is essentially a new roster upgrade. All that being said, I am still getting it. The super star mode seems interesting, although I have heard there are a number of minor flaws in it (as should be expected since it takes a while to iron out the problems in any new feature).

He didn't direct Poltergeist. Like Goonies, Gremlins, Back to the Future he was the exec producer. He did the story for most of them, but never directed 'em. He didn't get along well with the director of Poltergeist (well, at least according to the E True Hollywood story ), but he let him shoot his own movie. I know there are tons of stories about how he took over, but I have never heard any of the people on the production say anything other than it was Hooper's shots/framing etc. Its the same thing he's doing with Flags of Our Fathers. It's Eastwood and Haggis's movie, but Speilburg is Exec Producing (because I believe Dreamworks bought the book rights).

Absolutely. There is no better unit in the world capable of dealing with this sort of thing.

I hope they find the lead on whatever cell(s) are in London and let the SAS sort 'em out. You know those guys are chomping at the bit right about now.

Best wishes to all the people of the UK this morning.

They get around that by having only the machines there. The pilots are beamed down into them through the lightning storms. So you can assume the pilots aren't immune. The problem with the machines being there first, from a story standpoint, is that it makes no sense. If they wanted the planet badly enough to PLAN this invasion before man was ever here...why hide the tripods? Why not take the planet then when there was no resistence?

That all goes back to the story problems IMO. It never decided what it was really about, so morphed into a story about nothing.

For me, it's all about story. Sci-fi or comedy...it doesn't matter. Give me a good story and I am a happy man. That's why WOTW fell flat for me. It had serious story issues that kept poping up. The surface stuff was great (special effects, sound, acting, etc). I was tense for a large part of the movie thanks to the digital wizardry. However, the story issues kept me from being fully engrossed in the film. The movie isn't so much about an alien invasion as it is about Ferrier's family (or lack there of). An interesting idea that makes for good drama, but they didn't go all the way with it. It just petered out into nothing (as did the alien invasion). When a story isn't sound, the holes appear to be much bigger. Ordinarily I wouldn't have minded the little plot holes (the whole "tripods were here before man" thing, the blood sucking plot that was never -excuse the pun- fleshed out fully, the bloody vines, how Robbie survives and makes it to Boston etc etc etc). All those things wouldn't be an issue if I was fully engrossed in the main story of Ferrier and his kids. But no, the movie never made up its mind about what it was really about. An invasion? A family? Thus, they wound up with two flapping strands of two seperate stories with no satisfying resolution in sight. That is why the end feels rushed...and that is what keeps it from being anything more than a special effects demo reel.

True to the book? The movie was about a working class, dead beat dad trying to salvage his relationship with his children during an alien invasion. The book was about a scientist running around London during an alien invasion. The movie was alright, not great. I expected more. Essentially it was two movies in one and niether had a totally satisfying conclusion. Something was lacking but I can't put my finger on it. I would rank WOTW behind Crash, Batman, Episode III and Cinderella Man for this summer season.

I think the first half of the schedule is tougher than it appears. Also, if things go right, JP will be at his worst in games 1-3 and then steadily improve as he goes. Thus, I see the team at 6-10, with the Bills dropping games to Texas (who is much improved from last season) and to the Raiders (the Bills don't play well on the WC and the Raiders have improved).

Blasphemy!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/0...obit/index.html

The movie pretty much was word for word the first draft of Goyer and Nolan's initial script. I would be shocked if there is much, if anything, on the cutting room floor. There certainly wasn't anything more in the script. (however, I only read a first draft, not the shooting draft).

You just said it again! Maybe you should work on clarifying your thoughts. "Nor felt they were good films". Your entire point this whole thread has been Hollywood doesn't make good movies anymore. That is flat out false.

Of course you are right. Everyone has their own tastes. The point is there is a big difference between not enjoying a film and a film being bad. Like all art, cinema has its own set of rules and guidelines it uses to determine what makes a GOOD film and what makes a BAD film. Certainly individual taste is an element of the equation, but a small one. For VA to make assertions that movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Seven, Good Will Hunting etc are BAD films simply because he doesn't like them is insane (even more so when he considers Cheaper by the Dozen and Patch Adams as examples of GOOD cinema). For me, I despise the movie 'Magnolia'. It did nothing for me. I found it overly pretentious and dull. HOWEVER, I also can admit that it is well acted, well directed and is well written (from a technical standpoint)...it's just not MY taste.

Kelly was a great QB. The best the Bills have ever had. But most fans (myself included) don't care about numbers. We care about wins. Kelly was great because he won. The only way JP (or any Bills' QB) can surpass Kelly is to win the game he couldn't. Imagine (a very hypothetical situation) if Brady was the Bills QB (with all the same stats and wins). Not many people would be arguing Kelly was the better QB because he has better numbers. Everyone of us would say Brady is the franchise best...and how could anyone argue with 3 rings in 4 years? Isn't it that simple?

Simple: win a ring.

Oh, I see what you are saying now... Go watch the beach scene again, I think you are missing it. No one loses an arm or leg from bullets. It's the mortars and the heavy 88s on the ridge doing that damage. Trust me. No one in that film was shot and suddenly had a limb fly off.

Why am I being dragged into this? I don't pretend to know enough about unions or drug laws to be involved in this conversation. I am just enjoying the show on this thread But thanks for thinking I know anything about this!

No, I have never served in the military nor seen anyone shot. I cannot imagine a more terrible sight. I cannot possibly understand what you have seen. However, you weren't in WWII or Normandy. Neither one of us can understand what those vets experienced nor what it really looked like. So I have to side with the men who were there, the ones I have spoken with personally. None of them said any bit of SPR was "shock and awe" to help sell the film. In fact, most say it is the most realistic WWII film they have ever seen. In fact, Hanks and Spielberg spent months in pre-production for SPR going through the script to be sure everything in it was as real and authentic as they could get it. Thier aim was to recreate (to the best extent they could given it's a movie and not reality) the sacrifice these men made during the battle of Normandy. It was NOT a movie with marketing considerations in mind.

On what levels did SPR fail as a film?

I understand and respect this part of your statment. I am the same way. This is where we totally disagree. Seven's script was very, very well done and tight. And surprisingly it almost all made it to the screen. There are no holes in the plot or with the characters. When you put Pulp Fiction and Ryan on the same level as the Fast and the Furious there is a serious problem there. Pulp Fiction is undeniably QT's best screenplay (it's brilliant on many levels) and his direction (when you consider it was a very low budget film) is perfect. I can't tell you how many veterans I have spoken too about Private Ryan that have told me it is the most realistic film ever made of Normandy. Several who I spoke with had to pause the movie numerous times because the visuals, the characters and the action were just too close to home. So to state that the production qualities for Ryan (let alone the directing and acting) were poor is just ignorant of what the movie was really about. And, as Kelly and I said above, there are PLENTY of good films made each year. The percentage of good movies has not dropped over the past 50 years at all. You just have to look for them.

Amen!