Top Basketball Movies (14 & 13)

14. Love and Basketball (2000)
Starring: Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Dennis Haysbert

Half chick flick, half basketball movie. What’s better than that? Well 13 movies I will name later, but Love and Basketball is a classic. Monica Wright was on my top females list earlier and Quincy McCall is much sweeter than the Eric Foreman I have to endure on Monday nights. Throw President David Palmer into the mix and it’s not half bad. Monica and Quincy grow up together as good friends and star bball players in high school. They finally get together and then go off to college at USC. They then inevitably break up, but then Monica comes back to play him in one-on-one for his love. The dude obviously wins, but they get back together anyway.

Favorite Character: Quincy McCall
Least Favorite: Coach Davis
Quote: “Double or nothing,” Quincy.

13. Semi-Pro (2008)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin

So there’s this guy Will Ferrell who has made a few comedy pictures in his day. Well one of them was Semi-Pro. Although it is not one of the elite Ferrell flicks, the basketball player in me laughed hysterically at most of the bball scenes. The very first basketball game is classic, with Jackie Moon taking over as the star with Coffee Black not out to the court yet. Jackie posts up, demands the ball, kicks it out and demands it again over and over again. He then continues to take eight steps on his way to a sky hook and then gets extremely mad at the ref when a travel is called. Not to worry when Coffee Black enters the game, he takes over, and after dribbling through the entire opposition multiple times, he swishes a three from the corner. While the entire team is hugging and celebrating the basket, you can see the visitors scoring a fast break layup at the other end. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Favorite Character: Jackie Moon
Least Favorite: None
Quote: “In the annals of history people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Flint, Michigan Mega Bowl,” Jackie Moon.

Eastbound & Down Is F'ing In

The hype on Eastbound got so high that it was no longer possible for me to not watch it. I recently finished the six short episodes of season one and was pleased but not that impressed. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay produce the new series, while Danny McBride and Jody Hill wrote the episodes.

• Yeah sure he is the main character, but Danny McBride makes this show. It's not half as good with somebody else that people think is funny. He's been getting a lot of credit now for his work in Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, but if you want to see him at his best, check him out as Rico in Hot Rod.

• The maturation of Stevie (right) from loser dork into loser that acts like a jerk was a masterpiece. Whether it's dressing in all black at the bbq or bringing his band students out to the baseball field and yelling at them when they weren't facing the right way, he was gold by the end of this season.

• The third and final thing that made this first season good was cursing at a middle school. For this reason alone, thank you for HBO. The f word in from of little kids is hillarious. Especially when no one, even the principal, punishes him for his behavior.

Top 5 Characters

1. Kenny Powers- Danny McBride
   
2. Stevie Janowski- Steve Little
   
3. Pat Anderson- Adam Scott
4. Ashley Schaeffer- Will Ferrell
5. Cassie Powers- Jennifer Irwin
   

Combining Lists

I don't know how I could live with myself if I didn't take all of these top ten lists I've been compiling and put them to good use. Let's see who ended up as the consensus top character based on the lists I used. Also I will be figuring out who the top actor from the lists. Normal scoring was used, with 10 points for a number one, 9 for second and so on. You needed to make two lists to be considered. Oh and Ty's list was thrown out.

Top Characters

15. Chester Lee- Rodney Dangerfield in Ladybugs (5 points)

14. Jack Kelly- Christian Bale in Newsies (6 points)

11. Frank Slade (left)- Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (8 points)

11. R.P. McMurphy- Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest (8 points)

11. Ron Burgundy- Will Ferrell in Anchorman (8 points)

10. Doc Holliday- Val Kilmer in Tombstone (9 points)

8. Tyler Durden (left)- Brad Pitt in Fight Club (10 points)

8. Buddy the Elf- Will Ferrell in Elf (10 points)

6. The Joker- Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (11 points)

6. Will Hunting (left)- Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting (11 points)

5. Jack Sparrow- Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean (15 points)

4. Bob Wiley- Bill Murray in What About Bob? (16 points)

2. Roy O'Bannon- Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon (19 points)

2. Bartholomew Hunt- Chris Farley in Almost Heroes (19 points)

1. Verbal Kint (left)- Kevin Spacey in Usual Suspects (25 points)



Top Actors

15. Val Kilmer- 9 points (2 selections)

15. Dustin Hoffman- 9 points (2 selections)

11. Brad Pitt- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Humphrey Bogart (left)- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Jack Nicholson- 10 points(3 selections)

11. Christian Bale- 10 points (3 selections)

10. Matt Damon- 11 points (2 selections)

9. Marlon Brando- 13 points (2 selections)

8. Bill Murray (left)- 16 points (2 selections)

6. Morgan Freeman- 18 points (2 selections)

6. Will Ferrell- 18 points (4 selections)

5. Chris Farley- 19 points (2 selections)

4. Heath Ledger- 20 points (3 selections)

3. Johnny Depp- 22 points (3 selections)

2. Kevin Spacey- 25 points (3 selections)

1. Owen Wilson (left)- 37 points (4 selections)





I haven't seen a smokeshow this bad since Mr.Piglover Jordan was talkin' smack back in '06. O-Dog brought home the 'chip and did it in style. Give it up for Mr. Owen K. Wilson III.

No Sanka for Jaydon

Being the great Jamaican that he is, I was very surprised when I didn't find Sanka Coffie in his top ten movie characters. Actually I was surprised when his entire top didn't look like this...

1. Sanka Coffie- Cool Runnings
2. Derice Bannock- Cool Runnings
3. Yul Brenner- Cool Runnings
4. Junior Bevil- Cool Runnings
5. Mr. Coolidge- Cool Runnings
6. Momma Coffie- Cool Runnings
7. Push Cart Derby Starter- Cool Runnings
8. Joy Bannock- Cool Runnings
9. Whitby Bevil Sr.- Cool Runnings
10. Ben Bannock(only in a picture)- Cool Runnings

Either way I was a big fan of Jaydon's list, especially since he gave some love to Jack Kelly and Ronald F. Burgandy. Also big ups for Linderman getting the number one spot.

Jaydon's Top Ten

10. James Bond(left)- Daniel Craig- Casino Royale

9. Jack Kelly- Christian Bale- Newsies

8. Willy Wonka- Gene Wilder- Willy Wonka

7. R.P. McMurphy- Jack Nicholson- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

6. Ron Burgundy- Will Ferrell- Anchorman

5. Hannibal Lecter- Anthony Hopkins- Silence of the Lambs

4. The Joker- Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight

3. Borat Sagdiyev- Sacha Baron Cohen- Borat

2. Tyler Durden- Brad Pitt- Fight Club

1. Alex DeLarge- Malcolm McDowell- A Clockwork Orange

Larry's Legends

And starting at forward, a 6'3" senior captain, the leading scorer in Vassar College history, Liberty League Player of the Year....Larry Aveetoobahbalabeeeyyyyyy!!! So not only does Lar enjoy making lists as much as the next guy, but he can make some dang good lists. This one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Larry's Top Ten

10. Tyler Durden- Brad Pitt- Fight Club

9. Roy McAvoy- Kevin Costner- Tin Cup

8. Ron Burgandy- Will Ferrell- Anchorman

7. Will Hunting- Matt Damon- Good Will Hunting

6. Westley- Cary Elwes- The Princess Bride

5. Verbal Kint- Kevin Spacey- Usual Suspects

4. John Creasy- Denzel Washington- Man on Fire


3. Red (left)- Morgan Freeman- Shawshank Redemption

2. Roy O'Bannon- Owen Wilson- Shanghai Noon

1. Captain Jack Sparrow- Johnny Depp- Pirates of the Caribbean

Classic JJ

I have six different dude's top ten movie character lists that I will post. The order that I'll post them in will be how closely they resemble my likes and dislikes...With that let's see the greatness of

JJ's Top Ten


10. Ryan Harrison- Leslie Nielsen- Wrongfully Accused

9. Vernon Baxter- Kevin Nealon- Principal Take a Holiday

8. Chester Lee- Rodney Dangerfield- Ladybugs

7. Alfred Borden (left)- Christian Bale- The Prestige

6. Derek Huff- Adam Scott- Step Brothers

5. Kevin McCallister- Macauley Culkin- Home Alone 2

4. Buddy the Elf- Will Ferrell- Elf

3. Bob Wiley- Bill Murray- What About Bob?

2. Randolph Dupree- Owen Wilson- You, Me and Dupree

1. Bartholemew Hunt- Chris Farley- Almost Heroes

Best Christmas Movies 4 and 3

4. Home alone- Home Alone is a classic Christmas story in which a family goes on vacation for the holidays but forgets to bring their youngest child. Like I said, classic. From “Look what you did ya little jerk” a la Uncle Frank to “Buzz, your girlfriend, woof” courtesy Kevin McCallister himself, Home Alone is filled with lines galore. I don’t know how many times Kevin’s classic “For the kids” has been used at my house. Some might downgrade this movie because it’s just a couple of guys getting hit by stupid gags, but it really is much more than that. Any and every one of Marv’s reactions to a trick is comedy gold. The great Juice Box has stated in my presence that “Marv might be the greatest movie character of all time.” His words not mine.

3. Elf- I have said it before and I’ll say it again, Buddy the Elf may be my favorite Will Ferrell character. His innocence and ignorance provide for a beautiful combination. After Buddy finds out that he is actually a human amongst elves at the North Pole, he heads for New York to find his real father. Why does he want to find his father? So they can “make ginger bread houses and maybe even hold hands.” Although his dad, played by Jimmy Caan, thinks Buddy is insane, he takes him into his home for the duration of the movie. Buddy screws many things up in his dad’s life by making spaghetti with maple syrup for breakfast and cramming eleven cookies into the vcr. Of course Buddy ends up changing his dad from a jerk into a nice guy who believes in Santa by the end.

Step Brothers and Will Ferrell

I went into Step Brothers half expecting greatness and half expecting to be disappointed...I believe this movie fulfilled my expectations. Although I have said time and time again, "I can never get a good judgement on a film when I'm in the theatre," I am going to make my comments anyway. Don't get me wrong, there were numerous parts filled with hilarity in Step Brothers. The characters Ferrell and John C. Reilly portray are ridiculously funny. For me Adam McKay (writer/director) and Ferrell let too much of Judd Apatow (producer) sink into this film. Apatow brings to Step Brothers, his regular dirty and disgusting humor that you saw in superbad and knocked up, and I could have done without it. Upon second and third and fourth viewings, my opinions are bound to change, but for now I thought it was very funny, but could have been realed more carefully and become a better product.

On a side note, Grif from Boy Meets World (Adam Scott, but not the golfer) put forth a tremendous performance as Will Ferrell's jerk of a brother.

Also a few of my most memorable moments/quotes...
-Brennan (Ferrell) dressed as a Nazi, mowing the lawn "I have plenty of fertilizer." Followed by Dale (Reilly) across the street in a KKK outfit.
-Brennan and Dale find out they have a lot in common; Brennan- "You wanna go do karate in the basement?" Dale- "Yup!"
-After already mentioning how setting their beds up into bunk beds will give them so much room for activities, Brennan feels it necessary to exclaim again and again about how many activities they will be enjoying in the newly open space of the bedroom.

Now to my next order of business...immediately following the movie everyone I was with (JJ, T-time, Bonzey, Braids, JTB, and the Neon Kid) started talking about where Step Brothers fit in order of best Will Ferrell movies. I, being the pessimist that I am, threw it much lower on the list than JJ and Braids who had it at 1 or 2. I think I said six or something...Now I will take the time to look over his movies and put them in order with this newest addition.

Also take into account that I have only seen Step Brothers once and Semi-Pro twice. I have ten movies in which Ferrell is the main character or tied for main character (Step Brothers, Night at the Roxbury). I didn't count Old School or Zoolander, which I believe he is the third main actor in both.

I've also been reminded by T-time that there is a major difference in favorite Will Ferrell movies and favorite Will Ferrell characters, for example although Buddy the Elf is probably my favorite character, the movie itself isn't as funny as some of the others, and I fail to realize this when I normally rank Elf near the top of the list. The character of Buddy is always on my brain when I think of Elf, that is the problem.

Anyway here we go...

10. Stranger Than Fiction
9. Bewitched
8. Blades of Glory
7. Kicking and Screaming
6. Elf
5. Step Brothers
4. A Night at the Roxbury
3. Semi-Pro
2. Anchorman
1. Talladegan Nights