Author: D. Buffa

A regular guy who feels a journalistic hunger to tell the news. I blog because its wired into my brain to write what I think in print. I offer an opinion. A solo tour here. Take regular stories and offer my spin on them. Sports, film, television, music, fatherhood, culture, food, and so on. Commentary on everything. A St. Louis native and Little Rock resident who wants to write just to keep the hands fresh and ready.

Searching for Sugar Man: Music lover dream

· Leave a comment ·

Searching for Sugar Man is a music lover’s delight and covers a tale any true storyteller can appreciate.  The story starts surrounds a pair of South Africans, one a passionate music lover and the other a journalist, chronicling their wild goose chase across the world searching for a voice without a trace.  The voice belonged to the mysterious music prodigy Rodriguez, a folk singer who popped up in the early 1970’s and caused a frenzy in Detroit before disappearing.

Sony Picture Classics

Director Bendjelloul adds vivid illustrations and comics of the existence and journey of Rodriguez while the seekers do the hunting and we follow along like anxious children awaiting results of the two men’s search.  From Detroit music producers to regular working class people to officials and journalists in South Africa, the tale spans generations and many music lovers as they declare their love for a musician who nearly faded away for good–but was found with some hard detective work constructed out of passion for a musical voice that couldn’t be forgotten. (more…)

End of Watch: Best cop film since Heat

· Leave a comment ·

End Of Watch is one of the best movies of the year.  I’m a sucker for movies about cops, especially gritty buddy cops stories, but this movie blew me away and sailed through the roof of expectation.  A powerfully done crime epic about the brutally violent streets of South Central L.A. where cops put their lives on the line every time they go on watch.

Open Road Films

This movie is so authentic, the tension and close encounters of these police officers crawls up inside your chest and system and doesn’t care to leave.  Ayer, pulling writer and director duty here, doesn’t spare the viewer a single barbaric image.   Taylor and Zavala are two police officers who ride through districts full of plain criminals, drug dealers, gangbangers and full blown killers.   They see, deal with, and fight against IT ALL.  Gyllenhaal and Pena spent 5 months on ride alongs in L.A. and spent more time together developing a friendship that seems life long on the big screen.

Watching these two young men bicker, joke around, work together and contemplate the next stage of their life or day never feels or looks like two actors playing roles.  The acting is so brilliant that we forget these are actors playing make believe.   (more…)

Argo: Ben Affleck’s best

· Leave a comment ·

For as long as I can remember, a movie has been the biggest con in the world.  You gather real people together in order to make a fictional world with a plan to entertain.  In 1979, CIA specialist Tony Mendez(a perfectly understated Affleck) used the front of a movie production crew to rescue six American diplomats hiding out during a time of war.  Argo is the first movie in 2012 to full embody the idea of an Oscar winner.

Warner Brothers

The story blends drama together with a thriller and mixes in killer comedy from Alan Arkin’s director Lester Siegel and John Goodman’s legendary makeup artist Don Chambers, two men who helped Mendez make a fake movie.  A hard edged thriller that doesn’t take itself too seriously.  What more could you ask for in the beginning of the awards season?   For over 75 days, the Americans were trapped and this was the best bad idea in the agency.

Affleck’s attention to every detail is amazing here and creates a legit reputation in Hollywood for Affleck’s skill as a storyteller behind the camera.  Real photos are brought to stunning life here and the real Tony Mendez and hostages were involved in the making of the film.  The post credits sequences features a message from the U.S. President at the time, Jimmy Carter, who says in a matter of words, that the mission was top secret but cemented Mendez’s reputation as one of the best agents in the history of the CIA.  The movie is a riveting and smooth presentation, laying out the grounds for the revolution in a narration to Mendez’s idea to the building of the mission.   (more…)

Skyfall: The Best Bond film

· Leave a comment ·

If there is one thing I’ve always appreciated about the Daniel Craig Bond films, it is the deep introspection into the soul of Bond and the things that make him tick.   Pierce Brosnan was never given a chance to dig deep into the hero’s persona and with every Craig adventure, we find out more and more about the mental makeup of the most famous on screen spy in movie history.   It’s easy to make a fun action movie with Bond circling the globe, getting bad guys and taking as many women to bed as he sends evil bodies to their graves.

Sony Pictures

When a screenwriter and director make it their ambition to dig into the mindset of the heroic centerpiece, that commands appreciation.   Skyfall is the best Bond adventure in ages because it is the most complete film yet about the man.  All three directors of the Craig movies(Martin Campbell, Marc Foster, Mendes) deliver the usual Bond thrills(sexy women, luxurious cars, thrilling action sequences) but this film delivers the sharpest story.

The beginning of the film sees Bond supposedly killed in action, and when he returns from a disappearance, his motherly mentor M and the MI6 facility are put in danger by the ruthless and goal driven Silva(Bardem, creating another bizarre juicy bad man).   Silva has history with Bond, M and the intelligence agency that sets in motion a thrilling cat and mouse chase that includes the best introduction of a villain ever.   Tied to a chair for the purpose of making contact, Bond meets Silva in what amounts to a quietly intensifying confrontation that includes wit, skill sets, honesty and a small sliver of homoerotic tension.   Silva wants payback and Bond needs to stop him.   I’ve always admired the relationship between Bond and M in Craig’s tenure.   (more…)

Out Of The Furnace: Casey Affleck standout

· Leave a comment ·

When I exit a movie, I make an attempt to break it out into categories instantly.   Is it worth watching, worth fighting for or simply one you can miss?  Some movies are easier to review than others but more than a few movies are hard to put a rating on.  Letter grade or number style ratings can force a film critic into a room where he isn’t comfortable.  With Out Of The Furnace, I put myself in a predicament.  I liked what I saw.  There were some parts I even liked a lot.  Other parts I was okay with.  In the end, I can easily recommend Scott Cooper’s grim covered blue collar menace filled tale, but it didn’t blow me away like I thought it would.   Let’s break it down into great, good and average parts.

There’s a quiet sense of power that turns more conventional thriller layers of the movie into something more and I lend that credit to director Cooper.  He creates realistic people with his characters and works very well with actors.   You can’t build chemistry in a film school and in this film the ease with which the actors work is evident from the start.  The relationship between Bale and Affleck’s brothers, which is built up slowly over the film’s first half, is genuine and powerful.  This is the best part of the film.  Affleck’s Rodney, a torn apart Iraq soldier trying to make a living at home that doesn’t include giving his life to the mill, where his brother Russell(Bale) works and his father contracted a disease from.  A scene between the brothers where Russell pleads Rodney to get a regular job is punctuated by Affleck’s tenacity he brings to the broken man.  (more…)

Anchorman 2: Utter disappointment

· Leave a comment ·

(older movie reviews with a new coat of paint)

Look the first film is a classic to me.  I can recite line for line from the film and have watched it at least 45 times in full.  Going into this film I wasn’t expecting anything near it as far as greatness, fresh appeal and comical sync.  I simply wanted a funny movie.  A movie that would make me laugh and urge others to go laugh this weekend.  Expecting the same thing from a sequel that came with the original is lunacy.  So what did I think of this movie….

Paramount Pictures

Anchorman 2 is an utter disappointment.  This will come as sadness to a legion of Ron Burgundy fanatics.  Walking into this movie, expecting something special and grand, I was left feeling like a customer who came to see a seasoned comedian and was given flat jokes instead.

You ever been to a comedy show expecting a good time only to hear crickets?  Tonight’s film left me cold and isolated.   People around me were laughing hysterically at this story line that beamed like a shiny new skyscraper in 2004.  Burgundy and the gang were doing 24/7 news and what was shaped up to be a raucous affair didn’t feel right from the start.  (more…)

American Hustle: An actors showcase

· Leave a comment ·

When you walk into a film that screams Oscar bait, your expectations are automatically shifted.  Ask a critic and he or she can deny it until they die, but it’s hard to judge a film destined for Academy Award treatment in the same manner as others.   If anything, one can be harder on these films because they are loaded with so much talent and ambition.

Columbia Pictures

While imperfect and a little long winded, David O. Russell’s follow up to Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, is a wildly funny look back at the Helter Skelter days of the 1970’s and how a great con could topple not just the law but organized crime as well.  The moment the credits roll, the sound of the era and the looks swell your lenses and take you right back to that period of time where looks traveled farther than your words or integrity did.  The film opens on a potbellied Bale arranging his elaborate hairpiece/comb-over special and it’s a sight that sets you up for the entire film.   The confidence of Russell and his cast guide you through the more uneven and glossy parts of the film.  (more…)

Grudge Match: Sly and DeNiro create laughs

· Leave a comment ·

Watching Stallone and DeNiro trade the oldest jokes in movie history for a couple hours is like watching two old pros handling a customer at a car sales lot.  It’s engaging at first but after a while, a tiring experience and one that needs to be retired soon.

Don’t get me wrong here, there were times in this comedy that I laughed and enjoyed myself.  I would be lying though if I said it was worth paying full admission for at a movie theater.  There is simply too much fine entertainment at the movies right now to send you to this A.A.R.P. boxing party.

Warner Brothers

The experience isn’t dreadful and could make some easygoing movie couple’s night.  Alda makes a fine comic replacement for Mickey.   Basinger returns to the big screen to the play the flame that got away.  Hart brings a few laughs and energy but wears you down by the halfway mark.  Stallone and DeNiro are fine comic actors but they seem to be going through the motions and are bored by the material.   (more…)

Cards fans & writer Andrew Weaver joins The Dose

· Leave a comment ·

Another week and another random guest on the DOB podcast. This week, Andrew Weaver joined the pod to talk St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Weaver dished on how he came into the sport and fell in love with it. How his allegiance to the Texas Rangers switched after the 2011 World Series to the Cards and why he hasn’t turned back.

Among the topics discussed:

*Should fans really be worried about Adam Wainwright? He had another rough outing.

*Can fans trust the breakout of Aledmys Diaz?

*Should fans get the head of Mike Matheny and John Mabry on a stick?

*Are graham crackers really good?(Not kidding)

There’s more where that dialogue came from. Here’s a taste of what Weaver has to offer on Twitter:

And this:

You can follow Andrew right here.

Coming soon(possibly). DOB on Itunes! Submitted and we shall see. Once they realize this is a halfass unprofessional podcast, they will deny me but one can hope.

I want to have more random guests on. Broaden it up. Hope you are liking the guest list.

Dose of Buffa 2

 

 

Draft Day: Kevin Costner conquers football

· 1 Comment ·

Attention all football fans and casual observers alike, get ready to love Ivan Reitman’s new movie about the fanaticism that surrounds NFL National Draft Day.  Reitman, along with screenwriters Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, have crafted a perfect spring blast of cinematic entertainment and also pay a fine salute to the millions of NFL maniacs out there who drop everything and watch the pro teams select the college elite.  And for all the people who don’t care for football but love a good story, no worries because this is simply a very good movie that may teach you a few things about the most popular game in the United States.

Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate 

Reitman made a perfect choice when he casted the white hot Kevin Costner, who deserves a lifetime achievement award for being awesome in any sports related film.   Playing Sonny Weaver Jr., Costner dials up the charm and carries a perfect blend of cynicism and pride in showing us a guy driven to live up to the legacy of his legendary coaching father and bring this team back from the dead.   (more…)