Mike's Archive

Category: Movies

  • I Should Be Famous!

    A few crazy “blast from the past” tidbits that I stumbled upon recently:

    1) I was a die hard fan of “The Office” on BBC, and as such started watching NBC’s version as soon as it premiered. As skeptical as I was, I grew to love the US version as much as the original. My favorite character? Jim (played by John Krasinski), who is simply hilarious. So, how shocked was I the other day when I found out that I knew him when I was a kid???

    Really, I knew his brother Paul, who I played basketball with growing up. (Paul later played hoops for Brown.) It wasn’t, however, until I read that John went to Newton South High School (where I attended Freshman year) that I even came close to making the connection.

    2) So, on that same Newton South tip, my Wikipedia research brought up another somewhat famous South Alum — Hollywood director Eli Roth. Growing up, Roth was the bully-ish older brother of my classmate Gabe. I always thought he was a pompous jerk, but that hasn’t stopped him (probably helped, actually) from writing and directing the 2005 horror hit Hostel.

    The one tidbit about Roth that I remember was that he and his friends claimed to have handed out vodka at the Boston Marathon. I say “claimed” because I can’t confirm that this story is true, having not been there, but these were a bunch of punk kids, so it is certainly possible. What a dick move!

    Speaking of Roth and his friends, the were also responsible for starting the now infamous Newton South “scavenger hunt” in 1990 (my freshman year, btw). As stated on Wikipedia, the school “gained notoriety in 2002 for its “Senior Scavenger Hunt”, a student-organized contest that featured theft, vandalism, and various sexual acts committed by the graduating seniors in exchange for points.” (Of course, thanks to the Smoking Gun you can read the list.)

    Roth has written a movie based on this experience that is currently in production.

    3) Lastly, a quick shout to Jessica Chaffin, sister of my buddy Johnny.

    Perhaps I should take back my statement that “I should be famous.” Instead, if you were the sibling of a friend of mine growing up — you should be famous!

  • Fever Pitch, The Movie

    I watched Fever Pitch this week, in honor of Patriot’s Day. Amazingly, it was better than expected. As a die hard Sox fan, I worried that it would make a mockery of the whole thing, but it was pretty well done. (Perhaps, of course, this is because I was expecting a disaster). The one thing it did, however, make me, was depressed that I wasn’t in Boston in October of ’04 — simply a time that will never, ever be duplicated.

    While we’re here, there are two technical gripes I need to get off my chest (partial spoilers):

    Today, April 17, 2006, is Patriot’s Day, the New England-only holiday that centers around the Boston Marathon and an early Sox game. It also kicks off “Spring Break” for all Boston area elementary, middle and high schools. However, in the movie, Ben is a middle school teacher who goes to Sox Spring Training every year during “Spring Break”, in March. While I understand how important this event is for the story — it is when Barrymore’s character finds out how psycho Ben is about the Sox — how could they let that go? Knowing this movie would be heavily watched by the Nation, how could they have “Spring Break” in Boston occur in March? It just doesn’t happen!

    On Ben’s first trip to Fenway (in ’80), he walks in and sees Big Jim Ed and The Eck shooting the bull by the batting cages during BP. A few moments later, however, as the game starts, the second baseman is wearing #14. And, he’s a white guy! Now, any die-hard Sox fan from the 80’s, which the Farrelly brothers are — should know that Rice wore #14.

    There, I feel better now.

  • Ferris and Cameron’s Ticket Stubs: Cubs-Braves 6/5/85

    This is one of those “God Freakin’ Bless the Internet” Moments: You’ve seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, right? Of course you have. Well, apparently Joe Sheehan over at Baseball Prospectus has traced the Cubs game that Ferris, Sloan and Cameron attended to this Cubs-Braves game from 1985 (the movie came out in ’86). I can’t decide if I’m more amazed that someone actually took the time to figure this out or that I didn’t try to first. Gotta love the web! (via Deadspin)

  • Every Little Thing She Does is…

    Is it me, or is “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” the most commonly used song in movie previews of all time? Is there any other song that even comes close?