4 Feel Good Sports Movies That Actually Have Terrible Endings

WARNING: This post contains spoilers to the following movies. Although considering the title of this post, I would hope you would understand that.

Angels In The Outfield (1994)

THE PLOT:  A young orphaned Joseph Gordon-Levitt has nothing going right for him. He has no parents, no one wants to adopt him, and worst of all, his mighty California Angels baseball team is terrible. Young Jo-Go wants nothing more than his favorite team to win the pennant so he wishes it so. To make up for the fact that he doesn't have a family, God sends down actual angels to make the California Angels play like champs.

THE ENDING: Being in the spirit of Disney, the Angels do end up winning the pennant over the hated and rival Chicago White Sox (and Donald Glover decided that he is not too old for this shit and adopts Gordon-Levitt and his buddy)

WHY THIS ENDING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE: Really, the entire plot of the movie is stupid and the reason for it is because the writers of this movie don't understand baseball. Either that or Jo-Go's character has a low bar for his Fighting Halos. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does not wish for his baseball team to win the World Series, he only wants his team to win the pennant- which are two separate things.

All the pennant means is that you won your league and you now are in the World Series game. However, just because you won your league's pennant and play in the World Series does not mean that you won it all. Ask the Detroit Tigers.

The movie ends up with the Angels winning the pennant and the entire city rejoices. But the team is not done playing. They still have one more series left to play.

I understand that winning the pennant was a much bigger deal back in 1994 and was a much bigger deal for essentially the entire history of baseball before the addition of the Wild Card game back in the mid-90's, but if you are going to make a wish that seems unlikely to happen, why not wish for your team to win it all as opposed to selling yourself short?

How Did My Academy Award Predictions Turn Out?

Overall: 17 / 24 (71%)

You can see all of my predictions for the 85th Academy Awards here

BEST CALL: Predicting Ang Lee (Life of Pi) would win Best Director

WORST CALL: Choosing Tommy Lee Jones over Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor
(Also, I should have chosen "Curfew" over "Buzkashi Boys" for Best Live Action Short. If you read as much Oscar blogs and articles as I have it was obvious)

BIG SIX CATEGORIES: 5/6
(Best Film, Best Director, the 4 acting categories)

Ten Quick Reactions to the 85th Academy Awards Ceremony

1) I thought Seth MacFarlane did an excellent job. I know most of the internet hates him but I thought he was great. He was exactly what you would expect out of Seth MacFarlane: he was crude, he was charming, he sang and danced, and most importantly- he was funny. I adored his opening monologue. I love the jokes at the beginning that were supposed to fail and I couldn't stop laughing at everything involving Capt Kirk. That personified what Seth MacFarlane is: he is both a frat boy and a classy guy. That what you should expect out of MacFarlane. If people didn't like Seth MacFarlane then I don't know what people are expecting out of Oscar hosts.

My favorite MacFarlane joke of the night. After Daniel Day-Lewis won (more below), MacFarlane comes on screen and says, "In order to prepare for this incredible role Daniel Day-Lewis really got inside the 16th President's head. No one has gotten that far inside Lincoln's head since John Wilkes Booth." I laughed hysterically but the crowd did not. MacFarlane's comeback was great as well. "Too soon? Is 150 years not enough time to let that joke fly?" Loved Sethy M and I'll defend his greatness against everyone on the internet.

Apparently hosting the Academy Awards is like being the head coach of the Oakland Raiders: no matter you do you're going to be terrible, you get one year max (two if you're lucky), and everybody remembers and pines for the good old days.

Predicting the Winners of the 85th Academy Awards

BEST PICTURE: Argo

BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

BEST ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURED FILM: Wreck-It Ralph

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Searching For Sugarman

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Michael Haneke (Amour)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Argo (Chris Terrio)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)

BEST FILM EDITING: Argo (William Goldberg)

BEST HAIR AND MAKE UP: Les Miserables

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Amour

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Adele and Paul Epworth "Skyfall" (Skyfall)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Life of Pi

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Paperman

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Buzkashi Boys

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Mondays at Racine

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Life of Pi

BEST SOUND EDITING: Argo

BEST SOUND MIXING: Les Miserables


Stone Cold Locks

- Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis
- Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones
- Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway
- Best Animated Film: Wreck-It Ralph
- Best Documentary Feature: Searching For Sugarman
- Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

Almost A Sure Thing

- Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio (Argo)
- Best Original Song: "Skyfall" (Skyfall)
- Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)
- Best Editing: William Golberg (Argo)

Between Two Candidates

- Best Picture: Argo
- Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
- Best Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Strong Educated Guesses

- Best Orginal Screenplay: Michael Haneke (Amour)
- Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina
- Best Animated Short: The Paperman
- Best Make Up and Hairstyling: Les Miserables
- Best Production Design: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi
- Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Straight Up Guesses / I Stole What Other People Predicted

- Best Original Score: Life of Pi
- Best Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine
- Best Live Action Short: Buzkashi Boys
- Best Sound Editing: Argo

What are your predictions for the 85th Academy Awards?

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2013 Oscar Preview: The Random Categories

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BEST ANIMATED FILM

- In a year where all five nominations came from Hollywood and came to a theater near me, I only managed to see two of them: Brave and Wreck-It Ralph

- Wreck-It Ralph is incredible and it upsets me that it's not getting the buzz that previous Best Motion Picture Nominees Toy Story 3 and Up got. Not only was it (in my narrow mind) easily the best animated picture of 2012, but it was one of the best films of 2012 (#2 on my personal list) and one of the best animated films in the past 15 years.
- Brave was visually stunning and the animation- in regards to the setting and such- were stupidly good. However, the story was thin and dull and if Cars 2 didn't exist, Brave would compete for the worst film Pixar has ever produced. That's not saying it's inherently bad, but that is a result of the high bar Pixar set for itself. Either way, I don't think Brave deserves to win or will win.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Picture

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NOMINEES

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Lincoln
• Life of Pi
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

MY THOUGHTS

5 Controversial Best Picture Winners That Actually Deserved To Win

Now is the perfect time of year for people to produce articles about the biggest Best Picture Academy Award snubs of all time. Hell, we here at The Cover 3 did it. Time Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Entertainment Weekly all recently released their issue of the biggest Best Picture follies of all time. Grantland just had a March Madness style bracket of the worst Academy Award blunders of the past 25 years. The Oscars get things wrong all the time and we love to argue those missteps. However, I think we have gone too far the other way. I think we love to argue about how the Academy went wrong so often that we end up making points we shouldn't be making. I am here to rectify that. This is my list of the 5 Controversial Best Picture Winners That Actually Deserved To Win.

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Director

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NOMINEES

• Michael Haneke (Amour)
• Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
• David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
• Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

MY THOUGHTS

Oscar Robbery: 5 Directors Who Should Have Gotten An Academy Award Nomination

It is no secret that the Academy Award nominations for the 2013 Best Director nominees are atrocious. Every year there are snubs, but this year for Best Director it is out of control. The biggest and most obvious snub is Ben Affleck for Argo, but Katheryn Bigelow not getting a nomination for Zero Dark Thirty is just as ridiculous. You could also make the very strong case that Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained should have been there as well. If the Academy Awards nominations were Affleck, Bigelow, Tarantino along with Ang Lee (Life of Pi) and Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), there would be very little outrage. You would hear a few pretentious rumblings about Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Michael Haneke (Amour) not getting a nomination- they did get nominations- but overall the outrage would be minimal. Also, no one would be complaining that David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) did not get a Best Director nod.

Anyways, in honor of Ben Affleck and his fellow directorial brethren this year, here is the list of the biggest directing snubs within the past 25 years.

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Actor

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NOMINEES:

• Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
• Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
• Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
• Denzel Washington (Flight)

MY THOUGHTS

The Best Films Of 2012 (REDUX)

25)  Bernie
Directed By: Richard Linklater
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, & Matthew McConaughey
STARS: 3 our of 4

24) The Avengers
Directed By: Joss Wheedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, & Samuel L. Jackson
STARS: 3 out of 4

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Actress

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NOMINEES

• Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
• Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
• Qu'venzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
• Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

MY THOUGHTS

Three Biggest Best Picture Oscar Upsets In The Past 25 Years

This post was written by guest contributor Gerald Connor

With the Oscars approaching, we are just waiting for ‘Argo’ to get upset for Best Picture. Ben Affleck, once a Hollywood punch-line, has made an incredible comeback with his directorial skills (The Town, Gone Baby Gone) but has already been snubbed from a Best Director nomination by the Academy. Is Argo pretentious enough to win Best Picture?  Here is a look at three of the worst Best Picture decisions made by the Academy.

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Supporting Actor

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NOMINEES

• Alan Arkin (Argo)
• Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
• Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
• Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

MY THOUGHTS

For the first time ever, we have an acting category full of past winners. Who will win their second (or third) Oscar?

Series Review of Netflix's House Of Cards and The Start of The New Era Of Television

The Golden Age of Television is dead. Shows like The Sopranos and Oz and Deadwood and The Wire are long over. The two shows at the tail end of the Revolution- Mad Men and Breaking Bad- are on its last legs. Breaking Bad will finish its last season in a few months from now and Mad Men is sure to follow soon. For me, once Breaking Bad ends, the Golden Age of Television is over.

We are now in a new age of television. Previously, we had internet message boards and TV box sets to help with our television watching. Now we have blogs, On Demand, and Netflix. If we hear a show is great we can power through an entire season with the click of a finger and catch up instantly. I saw every single episode of Breaking Bad in 2012 thanks to Netflix and the internet (and AMC for airing an original season). Netflix is fully aware of how people watch television nowadays and decided to release every single episode of House Of Cards all at once. Instead of waiting for a new episode every week, viewers can watch new episodes like how they watched old ones- at their own leisure.

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Supporting Actress

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NOMINEES

• Amy Adams (The Master)
• Sally Field (Lincoln)
• Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
• Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

MY THOUGHTS

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Make Up and Hairstyling

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NOMINEES

• Hitchcock
• Les Miserables
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

MY THOUGHTS

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Original Screenplay

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NOMINEES

• Amour (Michael Haneke)
• Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
• Flight (Michael Gatins)
• Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola)
• Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal)

MY THOUGHTS

Live Blogging The 2013 Grammy Awards with Special Guest Bryan Hernandez

Of of my good friends- Bryan Hernandez- and I watched the 2013 Grammy's last night. While we did not watch them together, we did text, Facebook, and Tweet each other throughout the entire night. Here is a recap of hilarious and awesome conversations through various forms of social media throughout the night. BTW, apologies for any grammatical or punctuation issues. We were texting and such after all.

This would have funnier if we were actual live blogging all of this but alas you get it 24 hours later. This will be funnier if you saw all the entire Grammy show and all of the performances. Although truthfully, this is not funny at all. This is all stream of conscience and just our thoughts about what we were watching it in real time.

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Adapted Screenplay

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NOMINEES

• Argo (Chris Terrio)
• Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar)
• Life of Pi (David Magee)
• Lincoln (Tony Kushner)
• Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)

MY THOUGHTS

2013 Oscar Preview: Best Cinematography

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WHAT IS CINEMATOGRAPHY?

Before I begin this post, it is probably best to explain to you what “cinematography” actually is because I’m sure most of you reading this post have no idea. Cinematography is the look of the film. The director is the one in charge and ultimately everyone answers to the director, but the one actually behind the camera is the Director of Photography- or the cinematographer. Everything about how a particular scene LOOKS is due to the Director of Photography (DP). How the light affects the scene, the framing of the scene, and how the scene looks is (mostly) because of the DP. 

For example, about a year ago, shots of the filming of the climax scene between Bane and Batman from The Dark Knight Rises were released. The movie was shot in the middle of summer in Pittsburgh but the scene itself takes place during the cold of winter with snowflakes falling from the sky. When you see the final product, it absolutely looks like Bane and Batman are fighting in the middle of winter and there is no evidence the scene was shot in the wrong season. The way Wally Pfister (Nolan’s Oscar-winning DP) shot the scene and tinted the light and such makes you believe you are watching a gloomy, dark, and cold fight. The reason it looks that way is about of the DP and that’s (generally) what a DP does.

NOMINEES

• Anna Karenina (Seamus McGarvey)
• Django Unchained (Robert Richardson)
• Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)
• Lincoln (Janusz Kaminiski)
• Skyfall (Roger Deakins)

MY THOUGHTS

2013 Oscar Preview: Introduction

In 2012, I saw 121 films, 40 of which came out in 2012. As of the writing of this post I have seen 45 46 47 films that were released in 2012. I absolutely do not consider myself a movie buff (which helps explains why so my times people have come up to me and asked, “Have you seen Film X?” and are flabbergasted when I haven’t seen it). However, what I am is a lover of film. I love to see films, I love to talk about them, and I have seen a shit ton of films in my life. My goal is to see the very best films and one day I hope I will be able to get to a point where I have seen every single Film X. But for right now, all I have are my experiences, my knowledge, and my opinions. I also love debating the Oscars. Even though they let me down every single year, I still do enjoy talking about them nonetheless.