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.

New “Purge” film: Get your Frank Grillo on

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Time for you all to get your Grillo on, folks!

The veteran action star has returned for another night of Purging. The third film in the series centers on the upcoming election and Frank Grillo’s ex-cop has joined the team of Elizabeth Mitchell’s idealistic Presidential candidate, Charlene Roan. She wants to end the Purge, and that means a lot of fellow Washington suits and other groups want her gone. So it’s up to Grillo’s Leo Barnes to save the day again. He has a little help though, in the form of Mykelti Williamson and other Roan supporters.

While the original Purge was entertaining and different, it lacked that distinct must see quality. The Purge: Anarchy brought that to the table, taking the hunt and survival game to the streets. It also informed the rest of the world about Grillo, one of the hardest working hustlers in the business. At the crisp yet subtle age of 52 years young, Grillo is showing these other wannabe action stars how it is done. He’s authentic and that is what separated the sequel from the original.

The third film has a witty twist to it, jumping ahead to the present and putting a female candidate at the forefront. The third film wasn’t a given, but something Grillo and director James DeMonaco decided to do again. Grillo elaborated in our chat last month, “They weren’t planning on doing another one. The second one surprised everybody. (James) DeMonaco and I looked at each other. He said, “You want to do another one?” I said I would if he would, and that’s how it all began.”

The Purge: Election Year takes Grillo’s character, Leo Barnes, from a street avenger in Anarchy to a man with a new lease on life. “You basically get a knowledge of why they called him Sergeant and he goes back to what he was doing before the second film, based off the events of “Anarchy”. You also see from a political standpoint what the purge is really about.”

There’s also an unlikely and completely fortuitous link to Donald Trump in the film. “It’s funny because the film parallels this thing going on with Donald Trump and the election. There’s a character really similar to Trump in the film and it’s by complete accident.”

There are plenty of sequels that shouldn’t happen or merely happen to serve a profit(looking at you Saw franchise). Others, like this one, are made because the audience demanded it and because there is an ability to combine guilty pleasure action and world weary fear.

And, Frank Grillo is involved. The Purge: Election Year arrives on July 4th. Show some self respect and watch The Purge: Anarchy on demand, on Itunes, on DVD or via a neighbor’s goodwill. Trust me it will be worth it.

Peyton Manning: Take the ring and hang it up

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That’ll do, Peyton Manning.

Aided by a vicious defense led by Von Miller and a running game anchored by C.J. Anderson, Manning has collected that elusive second Super Bowl, with Denver beating the Carolina Panthers 24-10. The one he needed to vindicate a Hall of Fame career that hopefully ended on Sunday night in San Francisco.

Manning became the oldest quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. He became the only quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different teams. He has collected 200 wins, between the regular season and the playoffs, and that is also a record. Add in a slew of regular season records and Manning has done it all. For the postseason, he completes 63 percent of his passes and threw 40 touchdowns against 25 interceptions.

Manning admitted in the week leading up to Super Bowl 50 that he wasn’t exactly Bruce Springsteen anymore. “I’m still a part of the band. I’m not the lead singer, but I can still play a few solos.” He isn’t what he used to be, but that was by design. The Broncos defense, the quickest in the lead, didn’t need Manning to be Joe Montana out there. Wade Phillips defensive schemes were more than enough to sink the ship of Tom Brady and scramble the brain of the young Cam Newton. All Manning had to do was take the field, limit the mistakes, make some precise passes and hand the ball off.

He went from  the guy who wasn’t supposed to play football five years ago after four neck surgeries to a guy tossing a two point conversion at the end of Super Bowl 50 to pound the nail into the coffin of another team. The Colts cast him off after he was deemed damaged goods. When he brought Denver back to the Super Bowl two years ago, the Seattle Seahawks embarrassed him. He was denied against New Orleans years earlier. Today, he can wake up and acknowledge that he was able to bring the Broncos back to the promised land at the rye old age of 39 years old. The only guy who can claim to do that this late in the game is the guy who brought Peyton to Denver. A man named John Elway.

Now, Manning should ride off into the sunset. Hop on a bronco, grab his hat, sit high and ride off. He should say no to that lame offer from Stan Kroenke and the LA Rams when it comes in. Flip Stan the bird as you ride past his house. He has no reason to go out there and be a part of that circus, unless he wants to be laid out at least 4-5 times per game behind that weak offensive line. The Rams are 5 years away from thinking about a Super Bowl, so forget it. There’s no need to be Johnny Unitas or Joe Namath on a football field, existing as more of a prop and marketing tool than an actual football player. Manning should walk away a champion while his back is straight and his brain is intact. Very few players leave when it’s right in their head and heart.

Let me give you some numbers before I leave.

In his career during the regular season, Manning completed 6,125 passes for 71,940 yards(40.8 miles worth). He threw 539 touchdowns and 251 interceptions while fumbling 47 times in 266 games with a 96.5 passer rating. He won a pair of Super Bowls to go with those stellar stats.

Peyton Manning will retire. Bet on it. He will rest, talk with his family, hug his son, kiss his wife and drink some Budweiser. He’ll film a dozen commercials and host Saturday Night Live. He will hang out, reap the rewards of a 17 year career. He will hang out a little and decide if he has thrown his last pass. Sometime this month or next, before the NFL draft unfolds and training camp uncoils, Manning will call it a day. He can’t go out on a higher note and will hopefully resist the Brett Favre body assault tour.

Peyton Manning loves football, so I can only hope he takes that passion to the sidelines and becomes a coach. He won’t be able to stay away and will stick around to keep an eye on his brother and the upcoming fleet. He has one of the smartest minds in the game and doesn’t need to be a color analyst next to Joe Buck or cram into a booth with Boomer and Steve Young. Be a coach. He will make a great head coach one day.

When Manning threw his last college football pass, I was a freshman in high school. When he won his first Super Bowl I had been married for two years. As he contemplates retirement, my son is four years old. Every football fan has their guy. The one they root for no matter what. Manning is my guy.

It’s time for my guy to hang it up. He’s at the top of the mountain. Everybody is looking up at him now. He is the star. One last time. There’s a reason several Broncos and Panthers players broke out their camera phones to snap photos of Manning and get a moment with him.

Everybody wants to share the stage with a legend.

Ben Affleck: The Saving Grace of Batman V. Superman

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It’s funny how one TV spot can change fans opinion of an actor’s take on a role. The latest Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer focused heavily on Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, finally unleashing the sinister nature of the new Bat. Apparently, Wayne doesn’t like the potential damage an alien can bring to Earth. Check it out.

Affleck will save this film from being a campy overstuffed mess. I said it then and stand by it now. When he was first announced as the next Batman years ago, the dawn of fan hatred began. They threatened everything close to Affleck except for his beloved Boston Red Sox and lovely ex-wife Jennifer Garner. It was a serious revolt and worse than the Daniel Craig/James Bond dirt talk.

Why? A number of reasons that all centered around one. Affleck sucked in Daredevil. There are other reasons people will list, but this one takes the cake. The last time Affleck put on tights and tried to be noble, the result was a flop and something Netflix had to clean up later(ironically, the new season of Daredevil premieres a week after Bat and Sup do battle). The reality is that Daredevil was terrible on a whole new level and not just with Affleck. Mark Steven Johnson’s directing was wretched, Garner wasn’t good at all, and the saving grace was Colin Farrell, having too much fun as Bullseye.

Affleck has made a strong comeback in the last ten years, getting nominated for Oscars and directing a trio of films(Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo) that stand up to any other director’s last three films. He has also become a better actor by mixing himself into ensembles and taking the right parts to properly utilize his talent. Love or hate the guy, there’s rapid truth to the fact that he can’t miss right now.

Warner Brothers seems to think his performance is pretty good. Many if not all of the recent TV Spots have focused on Batman and many of the trailers have as well. Director Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel was a good if not great film and the studio declined to give him another stand alone Superman film. Isn’t that telling?

Warner Brothers has dished out three Batman film per decade and only give Snyder one Superman film even after it made some good money. Why? They like Batman more and really like Affleck’s take on the character. Why else would you see Batman in Suicide Squad and there be confirmed rumors of a feature length stand alone Affleck Batman film? A studio doesn’t pour 200-300 million dollars into a guy they are not sure about. They all know Affleck is going to be fantastic as Wayne and do Batman justice as well.

It’s the perfect mix of actor and role, especially since this Batman is older, edgier and has something to prove. Affleck nearly didn’t take the role before Snyder told him what the world around Batman was and how he would fit into it. This is not your ordinary Batman. This is a mad man and someone who saw lives lost in the finale of Man of Steel, a huge plot point and basis of fan criticism that is playing a role in the new film.

Stop worrying about whether Affleck will be as good as Bale and check your hatred at the door knowing he won’t be as bad as Tobey Maguire was as Peter Parker. Ben Affleck will be the best part of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. He will be the one you will be walk away talking about. The film, well, that is still a mystery.

Affleck is a reason for even the casual comic book movie and film lovers to take a chance with this summer tentpole.

The Tackle: 16 Years Later

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January 30th, 2000. Super Bowl XXXIV. The night of “The Tackle”. The evening Mike Jones never paid for a drink again in any St. Louis bar.

My dad and I were nervous. Steve McNair and the Tennessee Titans were like the boxer that wouldn’t go down. The St. Louis Rams had outlasted the Titans to this point without completely finishing them off. Jevon Kearse had done his best to rip Kurt Warner’s head off all night, but the Rams were a step in front. The Rams were up 23-16, and McNair was going to drive down the field like there was no defense, only doors that kept opening with short smart and timely passes. Whether it was a handoff to Eddie George or a slant that the Rams didn’t see because they were in prevent mode, the Titans were charging.

In addition to this stressful moment, my best friend Josh wouldn’t put the guitar down. He was in that “I want to be the next Stevie Ray Vaughn” stage where’d he pick up a guitar, strum about 3/4 of a song, struggle and then start over. All night, he wouldn’t put the instrument down. My dad must have thought about tossing him through the window(it was a short fall).

Finally, as McNair started the final march, my dad said, “Okay, Josh, that’s enough. Seriously” I’ve never seen my friend so shell shocked but my dad was right. This was important. My dad and I never saw a Super Bowl team before. I’d only been following this team for five years, freshly scrubbing off the bandwagon paint from my clothing. We couldn’t believe what was happening. St. Louis was in denial for the past four months, thinking they were politely stuck in some fever dream that wasn’t ready to end yet. Warner had been marking up cans of corn in a grocery store a short time ago, and Dick “Glass Case of Emotion” Vermeil hadn’t led a team here since the Eagles years and years before. The Titans, led by the young(and actually good) Jeff Fisher, were tenacious and wanted to shock the world, defeating the Greatest Show on Turf.

After scoring 49 points against the Minnesota Vikings and barely squeaking by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Rams had done just enough to stay ahead tonight. Or did they?

McNair, suddenly was more elusive than ever before. Kevin Carter and D’Marco Farr couldn’t find him, reach him or chase him down in time. He rolled out and found Kevin Dyson streaking across the field, towards the end zone on a slant that couldn’t be denied. Linebacker Mike Jones, in an interview with Fox Sports, said the defense was running a base 77, which was a cover defense. It was a man to man setup, but a bracket coverage where the safety dictated the play. Jones said he was lined up to stop the tight end, but had his eyes on Dyson the entire time. When he stopped him, tackling him in perfect form, wrapping his legs and having Dyson fall like a tree, it was before the one yard line. To Dyson, it was just another tackle. To the rest of the coaches, players and the city of St. Louis it was the football equivalent of a closer in baseball firing the final strike past the hitter to seal the championship.

When it happened, my dad and I sprung up in elation but had to temper it to make sure it was actually a stop and the game was over. When it was over and Jones had saved the game for the Rams, it was party time. Honestly, all I could focus on was not falling down the stairs which were a short leap away. For the first time in St. Louis, a Super Bowl was in our possession. No matter what has happened since, I will never forget that furiously entertaining fall and winter of football in St. Louis. Warner coming out of nowhere to lead the way with Marshall Faulk driving the car with wingmen Issac Bruce and Torry Holt. I’ll never Jones, a formerly respected yet widely unknown linebacker, being the last line of defense.

The banners can be taken down, but the tackle will never fall. Roger Goodell can slam St. Louis with every possible greedy lying manipulative move, but he can’t take this away. He can hand the extra 100 million to California dreaming teams like San Diego(which is the biggest slap in the face to St. Louis ever) but he can’t demolish memories.

16 years ago, Mike Jones made the tackle and the Rams won the Super Bowl. It may sting now and sit in a bitter corner inside your heart but it should never waver or go away.

Bret Hart fights to make cancer tap out

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When he was in his prime wrestling condition in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Bret Hart would grab his opponents legs and twist the body over and crouch over them while pulling the legs back. The opponent would to have submit or literally act like a spider and crawl out of there. In the end, Hart got his enemies to tap out. These days, he is fighting hard to make cancer tap out but he can’t exactly wrestle it.

The aging wrestler is battling prostate cancer, as he notified people of in a lengthy Facebook post.

 

It is with great remorse that I feel compelled to speak truthfully to my friends, family and my millions of fans around…

Posted by Bret Hart on Monday, February 1, 2016

Hart will undergo surgery this month to remove the cancer and hopefully rise again, like he once did in the ring. A charismatic performer inside the ring and someone who made it a point to see his fans outside the ring, Hart is easy to root for. Wrestling has plenty of bad guys but Hart isn’t one of them.

He bled for his sport, as he acknowledged in the FB post. He suffered numerous concussions and underwent several surgeries near the end of his career. Wrestling may be viewed as fake and a theatrical act, and it is, but that doesn’t mean the body doesn’t take a particular glutton of punishment. Hart has given his fair share over the years and is still standing.

Hart deserves a win. He’s faced tragedy on all fronts.  His brother and fellow wrestler Owen died tragically in the ring 17 years ago due to a rigging accident. He was only 34 years old and just had a birthday 16 days before. Owen had planned to get out wrestling and had money set aside.

There is never a guarantee when someone faces surgery and cancer. It’s an uphill battle. When it comes to Hart, he’s faced plenty of adversaries and mountains of pain in his life as an entertainer. Here’s to hoping he can climb into the ring one last time and take this villain out.

Here’s to hoping he can get cancer to tap out.

Amir Khan is a stepping stone for Canelo

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On May 7th, The Pride of Mexico, Canelo Alvarez, will take on challenger Amir Khan. I expect this fight to be competitive for 3-4 rounds before Canelo takes over and demolishes Khan.

Here are a few reasons:

First, Canelo is the better fighter and can’t be stopped right now. He has evolved from a mere puncher into something else. A boxer with speed, precision, power and an ability to be patient when the opening bell rings. He has 46 wins, 32 knockouts and has only lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a one sided school session. Canelo may fall again but it won’t be to Khan.

Second, Khan has one real skill and that’s speed. It will work for a few rounds while Canelo sets the table, finds his pace and creates lanes of attack. Once Canelo finds Khan and lands a few hefty shots on that glass jar, the fight will take a turn for the worse. If Lamont Petersen and Danny Garcia had their way with Khan, Canelo won’t find much trouble this May.

It’s not a one sided fight. Khan isn’t a bad fighter and is a the perfect stepping stone for Canelo before his big fall bout with Russian mega puncher Gennady Golovkin, who is undefeated and carries a 99 percent knockout rate into an easy pick up bout this spring. Khan isn’t a pushover for the chamo, but not ultimately someone who carries a real shot of rupturing the Mexican’s future endeavors.

Khan has won a few fights in a row and recently beat STL’s own Devon Alexander, but he steps into a different zone with Canelo. He wanted a payday with a big champ and after getting denied by Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will invite King Khan to be beaten up and take home a nice paycheck for it.

This May bout is about keeping Canelo warm and showing the boxing fans some class in giving him a worthy opponent for his annual Cinco De Mayo clash. While Khan is worthy, he won’t last past the sixth round. Once the atom bomb fists of Alvarez find him and get in the range, the fight will come to an end. Khan doesn’t back down and has the heart of a lion and each men like to trade so it will quick yet explosive.

While it may not go the distance, fighters like Canelo and Golovkin are bringing back the explosive heyday of boxing. Big hard punching yet smart fighters who are marketable. A Canelo fight may not seem like a must buy to casual fans but he is quickly becoming a highly entertaining fighter and someone who could own the sport by the end of 2016.

Catch his latest step on May 7th.

 

No NFL team adoption for me

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When the Rams left St. Louis on January 12th, my team affiliation was gone. For good. While I hold a special place in my football heart for Peyton Manning(something that has been there since his debut), I won’t merely drop my Rams devotion and pick up another team like I would buy a new shirt at a clothing store. Where’s the special in that?

I’ve always been a traditionalist when it comes to sports. I root for St. Louis sports teams, because those are the teams I grew up on. I don’t root for a team because everyone else does or because it’s cool or would create millions of hot take articles. I was born into the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team but was too young to know about the Cardinals football team in St. Louis. When the Rams came calling in 1995, I saw it as a chance to truly love and follow an NFL team. I was 13 years old. Ready for get fully acquainted.

Now that Stan Kroenke has come, waved his money flag like a can of rogaine in the late 1990’s, I see no reason to cheer for the Rams or any other football team. I laugh and sneer at the people who grab another team within a week and change their Facebook and Twitter profile or cover images to that team. How is that even possible? How can that happen so fast? The NFL isn’t even that great of a sport to just switch to another team.

A bunch of guys smashing into each other repeatedly, lowering their brain strength and longevity in life one head smash at a time. The NFL sucking millions of dollars from fans while not caring about their own players. The writing has been on the wall for years. Maybe having an NFL team like the Rams, horrible or not, concealed the wound. That blockage is gone now. All I see is greed, a waste of time and a pure vault of energy to be relocated elsewhere.

So when 2016 begins, I won’t be following a team. Manning will be retired and there are other players worth watching, but the blood pressure drive and addiction to follow the sport will be gone. That deteriorated when the Rams left town and the true ugly of Roger Goodell and the NFL showed their colors.

The NFL stabbed St. Louis in the back. How? Before you toss dome guidelines at me, let me tell you the NFL didn’t have to drag this out. They could have simply saw the money potential in LA and agreed to move the team to LA. Forget rules. The NFL makes up rules as they go along. Who cares about the thousands of fans in St. Louis who saw a good stadium plan come to fruition and some hope restored. Dave Peacock got it all in place, and even got the funding from the city and state. Forget how late Francis Slay or Jay Nixon was to the party. It got approved. Instead of giving St. Louis an extra 100 million, Goodell offered 100 million EACH to Oakland and San Diego to stay put. That’s a knife into the back. The NFL didn’t just tell us no. They showed us a secret pathway to the promised land, led us there for months and in the end all we saw was a brick wall of denial.

The NFL will never get my money again. It barely got much of it. I’ve slowly moved away from the league, covering it and watching it over the past 2-3 years. It goes deeper than the Rams moving. I moved to Arkansas in December of 2014 and didn’t even seek out the NFL Network package. I didn’t do it in 2015 either. While I followed the Rams from afar and wrote about them a little, I started to detach. That could have been from being distanced, knowing Stan would get his way or maybe a slow disinterest in a league that ONLY cares about money and promotes greed. It all just started to stink. Why should I lend passion to a league that doesn’t give back? If I do that, my son may think it’s a good idea. No way. I am done.

Super Bowl 50 may be the last one I really watch with intent. Thank Manning for that. That’s loyalty that may be flawed but it’s real. It’s my last ride too. Next year, I may watch. I may not. One thing is for certain. Passion will be less if not remote. I won’t watch with that burning desire to get a certain outcome. That’s gone.

For all of you who jump to the Kansas City Chiefs or Arizona Cardinals or another team this summer, I won’t judge or mock you. I may laugh a bit. Question your reasoning and newfound loyalty. Some people need the NFL for financial(fantasy football) or personal reasons. Some of you just need it.

I don’t need it. I can’t do it. I won’t do it. I can’t just pick up another team and act like the Rams never existed to me. Where’s the special in that?

Dave Matthews Band: Proven live performers

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It doesn’t matter if Dave Matthews has a new album cooking(he does but it’s not close to completion) or not, he just wants to play. It’s in his blood. I imagine Matthews sitting in his Seattle home and fidgeting through several cups of coffee after driving his girls to school and taking care of his other son, and getting dancing nancies running through his mind. Sooner or later, he picks up a notepad and scribbles down a playlist. It’s good, but not as good as it could be, so he starts over. Another pot of coffee is made and he is at it again. This time, the playlist is perfect and there is only one thing to do. Get the band together and play.

On May 11th, Matthews and his band will kick off their 25th anniversary tour in Wichita, Kansas and plow through a schedule that takes them from the Midwest to the East coast and back to the West Coast, finishing at The Gorge in late September. All summer long. That’s the only way DMB knows how to do it.

When you go see Dave Matthews Band live, it’s an experience. I’ve seen DMB perform live six times, and that includes two different baseball stadiums. Unlike some live bands who simply show up and fulfill a contractual agreement, DMB gets on stage and plays like they don’t want to leave. Originating from Charlottesville, Virginia, Matthews and company have been at this for over 20 years and don’t want to stop anytime soon. This summer, they will embark on tour and it will stop in St. Louis at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in May.

Your favorite bands aren’t exactly ones you listen to every day. They are the ones you trust that when needed, they can lift you up no matter what with their voice and ability to play. For me, it’s the Dave Matthews Band. Like any well known band, they have their lovers and their haters. The happy crowd easily outpaces the negative group, because if not the stadiums, arenas and outdoor pavilions wouldn’t be packed. Every time they go on tour, the crowds are enormous and when you are inside this crowd, it’s not like a bored table reading or orchestra snooze fest. This isn’t Yanni or Michael Bolton. When I saw DMB at Busch Stadium, people were dancing in the middle of the aisles in front of you. If you looked up to the loge, they were shaking up there as well. All over. This band gets you moving. For 25 years, that’s been their promise. A good time.

Great bands transcend studio album work into a live experience. The true test of any band is how they sound live. Anybody can sit up in a studio and a producer can find a good sound and make their music shiny and whole. Live, there is no safety net. The band is thrown into the abyss of public review and if they aren’t good, crickets will be heard. Trust me, I’ve heard a band get something worse than boos. Utter silence.

For DMB, it’s always been an experience live. In a new digital driven age of Justin Biebers and Miley Cyrus’, Matthews and his crew’s authenticity is welcome. It could be Boyd Tinsley on the violin, rocking with Matthews on “Two Step”. It could be Carter Beauford cranking the drums on “#41”. Local STL guitar wizard Tim Reynolds teasing the crowd that he may have 15 fingers when he spins the finale of “Lie in Our Graves”. Jeff Coffin, who replaced LeRoi Moore on the sax eight years ago, gets involved with bassist Stefan Lassard on a tune. Rashawn Ross adds his own element of surprise on the trumpet.

For Matthews, his motto is simple. When Rolling Stone asked him what the idea was this summer, if anything is different, Matthews was quick to answer. “We’re trying not to suck.”

That’s fine by me. Dave Matthews Band comes to St. Louis on May 29th. Go see them. Take a friend. You won’t be disappointed.

 

“13 Hours” will stir something inside you

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When they are done right, films about war and terrorism cut right through me. Every time. Upon leaving the theater, I think about a world where my son Vinny wakes up and I am not around due to some conflict hundreds of thousands of miles away that has nothing to do with him or I. Michael Bay’s latest film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, is visceral, powerful and throws one of the most embarrassing moments for the U.S. Government in your face. The result is a film that kicks you in the gut.

September 11th, 2012. Benghazi, Libya. Hell on Earth. The farthest leap from a vacation spot or landing spot for someone not trained to kill. A U.S. compound holding a 36 Americans was overrun by Islamic militants, hellbent on killing everyone inside, including a U.S. Ambassador. Six ex-military mercenaries, stationed nearby at another secret U.S. base, were suddenly tasked with saving as many lives as they could. Some died. Some lived. The foolhardy move was the government not sending support of any kind, neither through the air or on the ground until it was nearly too late.

13 Hours will make you mad and get you fired up, but that’s only because Bay, screenwriter Chuck Hogan and a superb cast do their jobs very well in depicting a tragic day in our nations history. The Bay critics, and I am one of them, may brush his attempt at dramatic artistry, because of how badly he fumbled Pearl Harbor nearly two decades ago. I decided to give him a fair shot. Bay enlisted a few of the real American soldiers who stood and fought when they didn’t have to, same as Peter Berg did when making Lone Survivor, the story of Operation Red Wing and Marcus Luttrell. That authenticity and total buy in helps the film transcend off the screen and into the heads of its audience.

A good cast helps. These guys are game. My view and general opinion of John Krasinski pulled a 180 degree turn here, as the actor most known for his comedic role on The Office gets down and dirty to play ex-Navy Seal Jack Silva. Equipped with a beard, a six pack, and a charismatic yet tactical personality, Krasinski inhabits Silva quite seamlessly. You never think it’s a hard pull for the actor, as he deftly slides into this world. He is the central base of the cast, and the one you will get to know the most.

James Badge Dale, one of Hollywood’s best Everyman and Anything performers, is Tyrone “Rone” Woods and is a box of matches lit up and thrown in the air. Dale is a natural chameleon and perfectly plays Rone without overdoing the machismo connective tissue of the team leader. Pablo Schneider(Orange is the New Black) provides the comic relief as Kris “Tonto” Paranto, one of the team members who mixes the light and dark of the situation. Calm under pressure and easy to drop a one liner, Schneider(another face of cinema) really fares well here. Dominic Fumusa, David Denman and Max Martini aren’t given dual layered characters but still provide fine work to round out a cast that also includes Toby Stephens(Black Sails) and Demetrius Grosse(Banshee).

This movie will stir you up and not let you down so easy. American lives were lost and they could have been saved. When I watched this film, I thought of Lone Survivor and the scene where Mark Wahlberg’s Luttrell calmly tells a fellow soldier, “It’s just Afghanistan, that’s all.” That’s what I get when I watched this flick. Wrong place. Wrong time. However, these six men didn’t have to stand and fight or go rescue others. They could have simply stood their ground and waited. For these guys, that wasn’t in the makeup. The actors and director place you down in the fight.

Few directors(outside of Christopher Nolan and Michael Mann) do action better than Bay. He doesn’t just blow stuff up here. He creates many sounds with his bullets, explosives and shrapnel. When a mortar is launched out of the cannon and towards the Americans, you ride with it from the base launch until the landing spot. 50 caliber machine guns and grenades are like supporting actors, tearing scenes and people apart. Bay spares nothing and doesn’t pull a punch. The gloves come completely off here and it’s great.

The movie does a great job of slowing down and allowing some character development, especially between Krasinski and Dale. Since the real guys consulted on the film and helped Hogan put the events together(along with Mitchell Zuckoff’s novel), the quiet scenes don’t feel added. Just something to show that it wasn’t all shooting and fire that night. The fair dose of humor also helps keep things smooth and sailing.

Nothing hits harder than a well done action flick that happens to be based on a true story. Upon leaving 13 Hours, you’ll feel anger, rage, sadness, and a powerful urge to talk to your husband, wife, girlfriend, dad, sibling or friend about what you just saw. It will spur discussion and not just from the political friendly crowd. 13 Hours will light many up inside.

Well done, Mr. Bay. I didn’t think you had it in you.

Suicide Squad > Batman VS. Superman

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Prediction: Suicide Squad will be better than Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice(BvS) and for a couple simple reasons. Tighter focus and David Ayer.

I trust Ayer as a filmmaker more than I do Zach Snyder. Each guy is dealing with the DC comics crew but one’s vision is shining a lot brighter than the other. Snyder has hit close to the bullseye with big bombastic cinema such as 300 and Man of Steel, but he’s never dealt fans an emotional thrill ride like Ayer’s End of Watch and Fury. Each have dished fans a turd or close to it(Snyder with Sucker Punch and Ayer with Sabotage), but what I trust and appreciate Ayer’s writing more than Snyder’s. At his worst, Ayer reverts back to his gritty LA corrupt cop landscape with Dark Blue, Harsh Times and Training Day. At his worst, Snyder is Michael Bay’s slightly more talented brother yet erratic.

Ayer, writer and director of Suicide Squad, has a better idea of what he is trying to do with this big summer release. Snyder, working with David S. Goyer’s script, is still chasing down Christopher Nolan while tracking down his own identity. SS feels like Ayer’s baby, while BvS feels arbitrary and adopted. One is authentic and the other could be Spider Man 3.

A lack of focus is seriously affecting BvS, because Snyder and Goyer are packing every single comic book character into the film and overstuffing it. Man of Steel 2 has turned into a DC broken heroes and villains gala. Suicide Squad has an identity and deftly mixes in a little Batman and Joker future setup while producing tons of spinoff possibilities. At first, BvS was two super popular heroes squaring off. Then, Lex Luthor was thrown into the middle. Then, Wonder Woman is also showing up. Aquaman is there too. Doomsday is going to show up and eventually be the big bad, and he came from General Zod’s DNA, manufactured by Luthor. Somebody else may show up.

Why do I know all this? The trailers told me. The seemingly endless supply of trailers. Ones that play during television shows, sporting events and theater showings. You can’t avoid them or look away. It’s too hard. It’s like walking into a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot and not peeking. With a movie sporting so many heads, less is more but that is impossible with Snyder. He goes big or he goes home.

He’s doing this team up film because Man of Steel had a mixed reaction. Everybody didn’t love it like they did other comic relaunch films. I sincerely believe this. Warner Brothers thought about this pairing and went with it over another solo Sups film. They are trying to keep up with Marvel and can’t afford another slumping effort. While I really like what I’ve seen of Ben Affleck’s Batman/Bruce Wayne, I doubt the rest of the film.

On the other end, Suicide Squad looks like a punk rock concert in the 1970’s. Wicked cool, assured, and delivered with a succinct unknown flavor. The two trailers have dished out the plot, some action scenes but haven’t spilled the entire canister of juicy details. How Batman and Joker connect. How this story ties to the bigger picture. How the pack of villains will turn on each other but how? Where will the film leave Jared Leto’s Joker? So much is left to the imagination. I always trust a graphic novel over a comic book pairing. One film seems forced and the other feels easy going.

Will Smith’s Deadshot. Maggie Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang. Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flagg. Scott Eastwood, Adam Beach and others are playing these hypnotic interesting characters that non hardcore fans know little about. The less we know the more interesting it sets up the film to be.

The plot is also killer. A bunch of bad guys being dispatched on a suicide mission to save the world, or basically apocalyptic Chicago. Doesn’t that sound more interesting than a mortal Dark Knight fighting an alien before they join forces and maybe form the Justice League. I have hope for BvS but I don’t feel like I need to worry about Suicide Squad.

Both films tie into the DC comics plan. One seems to have a handle on what it’s doing. One is showing all the cards way too early. One is making Queen’s greatest hit sound relevant again. One is pounding us with Hans Zimmer’s score.

Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice arrives in March. Suicide Squad arrives in August. I am anxious for one. I can’t wait to see the other.

Which one do you want to see more? Which one has been marketed better?