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.

Triple 9: Easy to digest entertainment

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Triple 9 looks familiar. Good cops. Dirty cops. Robbers. Crime bosses. Innocence, brutality and a merciless urge to be the last one standing. All of it. Hundreds of crime films have covered this territory, with good and not so great results. Director John Hillcoat knew this so he acquired a truly unique and top flight cast.

Casey Affleck as the young and noble cop who partners up with Anthony Mackie’s maybe shady officer to police the streets. Bank robbing crew led by Chiwetel Ejiofor’s murderous yet not evil boss. Aaron Paul(Breaking Bad) and Norman Reedus(Walking Dead) are a part of that crew. Hey, there’s Kate Winslet as a Russian crime boss rocking some Goodfellas hair that would make Lorraine Bracco sweat. Woody Harrelson is a police sergeant who drinks too much and happens to sniff some of the evidence. Clifton Collins Jr. is a detective that can’t be trusted. Gal Gadot as the pretty faced temptation.

Throw all these parts into a stew pot, stir them, add some seasoning(great action choreography), a fast pace and what do you have? An entertaining and diverting action film.

Triple 9 doesn’t try to be anything other than what the poster tells you. Entertainment. It may get you thinking about black/white crime, the length cops will go to in order to make a dollar or how dire the world looks. That’s something you already knew going into the theater. It takes the familiar and makes it look better than what it really is. The sum of the parts outweighs any individual piece here in value.

A lesser cast, video game/commercial resume laden director and less exotic features would put this movie on the direct to DVD route chart along with the latest Steven Seagal or Wesley Snipes delivery. The cast and their buy in with the material along with Hillcoat’s dedication to not deliver over the top Malick like monologues keeps the film light and easy to digest. A perfect February treat. This is a film David Ayer writes and directs in his sleep.

When I left the theater, I wasn’t mad about where my money went. I was satisfied. I didn’t have to convince everyone on my way home they should see it but I got what I felt the film deserved to give me. A good time.

Avoid the awful poster tag line, the familiar setup and you may enjoy it too.

Cardinals: The Cubs haven’t won anything yet

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The last time I checked, baseball games weren’t won in December, January or February. They aren’t won in spring training or by preseason polls or predictions. For the St. Louis Cardinals, a challenge from a divisional rival is not only expected but necessary.

When you are the Cardinals, things don’t go according to plan but you deal with it because the General Manager plans on disruption, chaos and misfortune. No matter what was thrown at the Cardinals in 2015, they endured and won 100 games and the division. Their luck ran out but a message was preserved. Trouble may find them, but their shape moving forward won’t bend too much or break. The Cardinals are resilient.

Let’s go over some facts before I break into some subjective prose.

Since 2000, the Cardinals have made the playoffs 12 times. That’s 12 times in 15 tries.

They have made the playoffs five straight seasons, including three straight division titles. I can’t tell you the last time the Cubs, Pirates, Brewers or Cubs did that. That is because they never did. The Cardinals are the team to chase. Nothing has changed. (more…)

The Eternal Echo: Uncomfortable yet thought provoking

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What if a child was raised on nothing but technology? Instead of books, he was shown fighting videos and pornography. Instead of nurturing and a comfy bedroom, he was kept in a dark basement? Instead of parents, he was given three doctors to track his rise(or descent) into madness. That is the basis of Jeff Musillo’s new novel, The Eternal Echo.

If you are tired of cliche riddled crime stories or burnt out romance novels for your lunch hour or evening reading, give this book a shot. This is one of those books that will make you extremely uncomfortable because of the questions it asks the reader every page and the quality of hammer it swings at the plot as it is thrust into the reader’s attention spans.

You won’t find this kind of story anywhere else. Imagine if Dr. Frankenstein got a hold of the internet back in the day when he was creating his monster. Technology lies at the center of this story. Dr. Ravensdale adopts a baby and along with a pair of doctors, raises the kid in an abandoned house that he calls “the laboratory”. They call him “The Subject”. Ravensdale isn’t looking to be a good father or start a family. He wants to get to the bottom of the human psyche. What makes people tick? Why do they need certain things like love, communication or connection? Can they live without those things?

The story is told in flashback as the Good Doctor recounts his story(from his psychiatrist’s diary of questions and observations) about how he went about his plan from a jail cell. There were three phases. Job, Date, Bullying and Sweating it Out. It’s not that simple folks. Ravensdale doesn’t just torture his lab rat pet. He puts him through the ringer. Inter-cut with questions from the shrink, it’s clear early on that the Good Doctor is mad as hell.

When asked about the lengths he went to and if he regretted it, Ravensdale says that it’s okay if you are trying to achieve something amazing. What follows is heart wrenching, shocking and gruesome. There’s science fiction, horror, action, drama and tons of thrills in this book. The Subject is put through several tests, involving getting a job at a library(doesn’t go well), dating(doesn’t go well) and other various tests and it becomes less about the Subject than it does about the upbringing of the Good Doctor.

This book has no real good guy. Nobody comes to the rescue of this wicked plan until its too late. That’s the part that makes it so real and interesting. Musillo avoids any normal pratfalls or plot twists. He doesn’t soften the blow at all. When the Subject loses his mind as his laptop is taken away or he can’t watch anymore videos, he goes crazy. When the Library Manager tells him to get to work, the reaction is something so chilling you may want to stop reading but you won’t be able to.

Musillo asks the most uncomfortable questions with a piece of fiction. If an experiment is important to human psychology, what line can’t be crossed? If you pass that threshold, what does that make you? A mad man or a mad scientist? The Good Doctor, Subject, assistant doctors and other unfortunate bystanders may be the stars of this show but the real star of this story is the brain. Something scientists, doctors and mere mortals are still trying to do this very day. That is the basis of Musillo’s thought provoking and horrifying new novel.

If you rewired a few circuits in the brain and isolated the person, what would happen? Would you create a monster or just fail? Dr. Ravensdale sees it through. So should you.

I appreciate writers who try something new and tackle a new avenue instead of following in others footsteps. Musillo does that with The Eternal Echo, asking the uncomfortable questions and letting the reader answer them.

The Eternal Echo is available on Kindle now and will hit paperback in April.

Vinyl: HBO’s best series since Sopranos

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Bob Marley once said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

When I heard Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger were cooking up an HBO series about the music business in the 1970’s, I didn’t want to believe it. My brain wouldn’t compute what my heart was dancing around my chest about. Arguably the greatest director of all time and the greatest rock n’ roll front man baking a drama cake at the premium cable network giant that collects Emmy awards like I collect coffee mugs. Are you talking to me? No way. Then it happened. Vinyl was a reality.

Two episodes and three hours into this wonderful Sunday exodus, I want more. Right now. There’s a reason HBO renewed this series after one night. You don’t let gold leave the hotel room if you have it for the entire night. You don’t let gold get away so Lena Dunham can whine about her existential crisis for another couple seasons. Vinyl hits a cueball shot back to the glory days of HBO. Sopranos, The Wire, Oz and Boardwalk Empire. Shows that didn’t care if you dug them because they had swagger and walked like a heavyweight. (more…)

Stallone and Rocky:40 years bookended by Oscar

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“It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

Sylvester Stallone wrote those words and embodies them every time he climbs into the skin of his most legendary character, Rocky Balboa. Before he was a superstar and high paid action hero, he was an underdog in Hollywood.

The endurance has paid off. It took 40 years and seven films for Stallone to truly give a performance that deserved an Oscar. On February 28th, he will and should win the best supporting actor award for Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. The young actor and director brought a reluctant Stallone out of retirement to play a character he seemingly “put to bed comfortably” ten years ago. Fortune has a sense of humor, because Creed became a critical darling, a breakout hit and perhaps another Rocky/Creed story.

It all started back in 1976, when an unknown actor brought a script to a pair of producers about a fighter with a million to one shot and wanted to get it made. Stallone wanted to do whatever it took to get his foot in the door and Rocky was it. It wasn’t easy. The studio didn’t want a 30 year old actor taking the part, but eventually Sly won them over and played a part in casting and the actual fight choreography. The film was made for 960,000 dollars and ended up making 117 million, playing in theaters for over a year and winning three Academy Awards.

The film spawned five sequels, with the last having Balboa fight a heavyweight champion(and real life boxer in Antonio Tarver) in an exhibition. That was supposed to be it. A below than average fifth film, starring Tommy Morrison, was erased and the ending of Rocky Balboa was perfect, with the aging fighter sitting at the love of his life’s resting spot.

Then, Coogler, a die hard Rocky fan, came calling with an idea. Let’s take Rocky’s former nemesis and late friend, Apollo Creed, and bring his son Adonis(Jordan) into the picture to truly place bookends on the franchise and potentially bolster a whole new avenue of films. The gamble was plentiful. Critics and audiences spent the months leading up to Creed’s release pondering the worth and motive of another Rocky film. When it came out, the doubts were put to rest. Critics loved it. Audiences were blown away by it. The Thanksgiving release date was a first round knockout.

The signature ingredient was Stallone and an unforgettable performance. The actor, turning 70 in July, had never been better. As Balboa or any other character. Creed brought something out in the actor that people hadn’t seen before. A true authentic and heartbreaking portrayal of a broken down fighter, living alone and fighting off isolation and death. In a classic scene, Rocky urges Adonis to maintain perspective. “Everything I have is dead and buried. It’s back there. In the past.”

Gray and weathered nearly down to the bone, Sly gave his best performance in 73 movies spanning 46 years. It was so unexpected because while he was good and sometimes great as Rocky, Creed showed a different side of Sly. Equal parts defiant and tragic, it brought tears to my eyes when I watched it. It was like he was climbing into the skin of this character for the first time.

The first film Sly played in was The Party at Kitty and Stud’s back in 1970. He made 15 films before he got Rocky. 40 years later, he will step back onto the Oscar red carpet not accepting a “thanks for your service” Lifetime Achievement Award. He will be fighting for an Oscar for the first time since he was nominated for the original film. He should win. No other performance made you feel like Stallone’s did. The nostalgia and grace combined with the unexpected dose of feeling. Sure, Mark Rylance and Mark Ruffalo are brilliant actors, but I am expected to be blown away by their work. Sly’s work in Creed was like a hook to the ribs. I never saw it coming. That deserves recognition.

When Stallone stands up to accept the award later this month, expect the longest standing ovation. Why? There’s a little Rocky in all of us. Regular people who strive to be their best every day and fight against the odds to win, whether it be a business meeting, an evening run or a personal goal. The ring for us rests everywhere we go every day. When you get out of that bed, you are stepping into a ring of numerous possibility. We are all underdogs facing a million to one shot. People can relate to that, and they gravitate towards it.

Sylvester Stallone wasn’t handed anything. He’s earned it every step of the way. At the 2016 Academy Awards, he will step on that stage, shed a tear, thank a lot of people and represent a winner.

He took the hits Hollywood gave him and kept on coming. Long may you run, Sly.

Crossbones: “Captain America: Civil War”Secret Weapon

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While everyone gears up for Iron Man(Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America(Chris Evans) to clash along with their teams of handpicked Avengers, I will be waiting for the entrance of one man. A simple man.

He doesn’t have a superpower. He doesn’t fly, shrink, enlarge or wield a hammer. Frank Grillo’s Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones doesn’t need any of those attributes. In Captain America: Civil War, he is a man out for cold hard revenge. As Steven Seagal once said in an action adventure gem, Out For Justice, Brock may have a “need to impose his will” on his enemies.

Why? At the end of Winter Soldier, he was left for dead under a pile of concrete. After beating Anthony Mackie’s Falcon all over the room, the building collapsed and there was no cool helicopter rescue from Nick Fury for the Hydra soldier. While Rumlow may have died there, Crossbones is what came out of that rubble. He plans on putting a hurt on not only Captain America but whoever else steps into his path this spring.

The first pic of Crossbones was released Monday via Empire Magazine(and it’s fantastic), but I’ve been studying set pics and comic book storylines from this character for a long time. I like simple guys, driven by a certain code or need. While some will be quick to call him a villain, I don’t agree with that. Neither would Grillo. Frank once told me that “They aren’t villains. They may be horrible, but it’s only one side of an ideology. It’s two sides of a different idea. I can find humanity in that and that is what it’s all about. The craft.” That’s Crossbones, a man scarred beyond repair and out for blood. Please don’t call him a traditional villain. You may get punched.

When I think of Rumlow/Crossbones, I think of Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye. He doesn’t have a superpower, but he has a skill and that is good enough to place him in this world. Barton was once an agent himself, and in some other world maybe Rumlow goes a different way and fights for a different cause. In Civil War, he is clearly fighting for his own cause.

You haven’t seen Grillo’s Crossbones in action during the first round of trailers for the May film, but that could be by design from the Russo Brothers. They know that they have something special in this baddie, and want to save him for opening night. While there will be shields, laser beams shot out of hands, and other superpowers on display, Crossbones doesn’t require any of that. He is one of the few Marvel characters who won’t require a single shred of CGI enhancement or aid. What you see is what you get. And it will be a handful.

The character is an embodiment of Grillo and his everyday hustle as an actor in Hollywood. Someone who had to create his own luck, destiny and fight for every scrap he could get. There’s a respect and honor in that particular fight that makes me excited to see what the Russo Brothers, Grillo and Crossbones have in store for me come May. Will the film follow the course of the comics and have Rumlow be the guy to take down Steve Rodgers? I don’t think so but I wouldn’t put anything past Marvel giant Kevin Feige and these filmmakers.

Whatever happens, Crossbones will leave a dent, physically and psychologically. A man apart, Grillo brings him to vivid life in Captain America: Civil War on May 6th. Have any doubts, give the pic another look. Yeah, be afraid. Just be glad it’s all make believe.

Manny Pacquiao no longer has my respect

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Go ahead and take yourself off the Christmas list, Manny Pacquiao.

The Filipino boxing star, set for his final bout in April, said something incredibly stupid and hateful this past week. By comparing homosexuals and lesbians who come together in same sex marriage to “animals”, Pacquiao quickly went from my favorite boxer to someone I couldn’t care less for. Yeah, it can happen that quick.

Athletes are free to have opinions. Part of what connects them to us. While they are ungodly gifted with a certain talent, they have feelings, beliefs and opinions like the rest of us. If Pacquiao doesn’t belief in same sex marriage, that is fine. PLENTY of people don’t. Hence why it took so long to become a legal thing in the United States of America. When he compares them to animals, he goes to a whole other level. Simply because a man decides to spend their intimate hours with another man, Pacquiao will now classify those two men as animals. (more…)

Deadpool: A different kind of Marvel film

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Thank you Ryan Reynolds for giving the Wade Wilson story a fair shake. The memory of sad Wade with his mouth sewn shut in Wolverine Origins is comfortably sitting in my recycle bin right now thanks to the over the top, blissfully gratuitous, blood drunk and utterly hilarious Deadpool. The perfect recipe for Valentines Day escapism!

Here is a movie that will appeal to comic book fans, especially the ones who were angered by the abuse of Deadpool in previous projects. It will also appeal to the people who hate all the Marvel sequels and comic book retreads because there is more self aware humor and self deprecation in this film than all the other Marvel films combined. Reynolds, along with director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, take shots at X-Men films, Wolverine, and other movies(Liam Neeson in Taken among them) here. It’s a free for all. Nobody is protected and it’s all done in the name of entertainment.

At its core, Deadpool is feverish entertainment that you can’t find anywhere else. It may be a fast talking and moving movie about a mercenary full of cancer, dread and deadly thoughts who collects some revenge inside 108 minutes of screen time. It’s also a really good time at the movies and one that will make you laugh out loud. For all of you who thought the red band trailers gave away too much humor and would overshadow the movie, rest easy my little chimichangas. This film isn’t just packed with good one liners that will make you grin. There are several scenes that will make you laugh repeatedly. It is more of a comedy than a serious Marvel film. And yes, it is a Marvel film because Stan Lee shows up.

The key to the madness is Reynolds. It took a truly rebellious spirit to get this material right. Several actors would have chewed up the material or merely try to spray Pam all over it and slide to a paycheck. Reynolds goes the other way and digs in. He wanted to make this movie 10 years ago and finally got some friendly faces to join in on the fun to make a seemingly low budget riot that gambled on an R rating and smashed box office records over the weekend thanks to its strong follow through.

Reynolds is a unique talent, built early on the strength of comedies like National Lampoons Van Wilder, Waiting and Just Friends before growing into a versatile talent with films like Buried, Woman in Gold, and Mississippi Grind. Deadpool was made for Reynolds. This is his home run swing and massive bat flip to the producers who don’t know how to handle precious cargo. The actor expertly splices action, comedy, and an easy going confidence into a grand performance that won’t sing Oscar but instead roll in cash the rest of the month. Few times do an actor and a role seem made for each other, but the spices in the Deadpool recipe called for some Reynolds.

The supporting cast all bring different and much needed strokes to the film. Ed Skrein(Transporter Refueled and Game of Thrones) is the perfect “British Villain”. T.J. Miller and Reynolds have some of the best scenes between superhero and “much needed friend who owns a bar”. Morena Baccarin(Homeland) adds something extra to the “hot girlfriend” role while Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand and the motion capture work of Stefan Kepicic.

After I left the movie, I texted my friend who hates anything and everything cinematic with comic book in the description and said this movie was made for him. Deadpool isn’t just a good time at the movies. It’s a dish that can be savored a few times because rarely do action, comics, comedy and self awareness fit so comfortably together as they do here.

Take your friends and family to see it. It’s something different and truly original in its makeup and execution. A unique blend of Marvel entertainment.

More than anything, Deadpool shows that when a studio treats a product with not only care but respect, really good things can happen.

Marrying at 23 years old: Best Move I Ever Made

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11 years ago, at a place called Orlando Gardens off Watson Road in St. Louis, I married my wife Rachel. I was 23 years old, mostly clueless but sure about one thing. I loved this woman and everything else would sort itself out. That’s life. It doesn’t give you all the answers early on but when a beautiful tough and resilient five foot three inch lady stands in front of you, you get down on a fucking knee.

Rae and I

Around 15 years ago(add a few months to that), I proposed to my wife at a Dave Matthews Band concert. In a haze of reefer and great music, I decided to pop the question. I didn’t have a ring. Only a promise. As Dave played “Where Are You Going”, I took his lead and asked her a question. When you pop the question at a young age, nerves and uneasiness crawl up inside your body like insurgents. Most people fail because they do it to fix something in their life. Some do it because it’s cool. Others watch too many movies. I did it because I wanted to spend some time with this woman. The girl that burned a hole in my back outside Hatch Hall at Mizzou. The girl who left a note on my dorm room door asking me when I was going to ask her out(I was working the manual scoreboard that weekend!). (more…)

“Can’t Stop Colin”: The true story of fighting cancer at a young age

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“Can’t Stop Colin” isn’t just a mantra for the Schlereth Family. It is a way of life. Remember that cool video the St. Louis Blues tweeted out in late January about a young man returning to the ice after a long battle with cancer. Well, here is his story. Meet Colin.

Colin Schlereth hasn’t endured a normal childhood, but the one thing he has never let go of is the pursuit of happiness. He has digested a different value of life and how to live through a unique battle with cancer, one that caught up to him nearly two years ago. Armed with an excellent team of doctors and nurses at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and an assist from the St. Louis Blues, he is thriving today. It wasn’t easy this bright.

Colin’s mom, Becky, remembers the early warning signs. “It’s hard to watch because he started skating at age 3. He’s a beautiful skater and was going up and up. Then, it was an entire year of watching him deteriorate on the ice. We wondered if it was his skates or something making him disengage. It didn’t make sense. We bought two pairs of skates. Then he got a hockey concussion because he was so unbalanced and got thrust into the boards on a hit. The concussion was only the first warning sign. After three months of continued problems, headaches, bigger falls and dizziness, Becky called a sports concussion doctor. An MRI revealed the tumor. (more…)