Monthly Archives: February 2020

New York Rangers: After the Trade Deadline

NY Rangers, , , ,

We’re in the final quarter of the season and the playoff picture changes almost every day. All wildcard spots are on fire as many teams are duking it out in the entire league.

At the All-Star break, the Rangers were 11 points out of the playoffs. Today they are 4 points away. They’ve had a tremendous run since Igor Shesterkin was called up from the AHL and with 70 points, they’ve caught up to Florida. Columbus and Carolina are tied with 74 and the Islanders have 76.

The rest of the season is a game of inches. A losing two games could make these teams fall out of contention so the pressure is on.

And for the Rangers, that pressure has been on all season. Going into this week (games with Islanders, Montreal, Philly) are all against contenders. Isles have been not been playing at their best, Philly is doing really well and Montreal is duking it out with Buffalo (66 points) trying to catch up to Florida and Toronto. Toronto land must be in a panic because there is no almost no wiggle room for them. At 72 points, Buffalo and Florida could knock them out of the playoffs. The top 2 teams in the Atlantic division have 90 (Boston) and 85 (Tampa) so the rest of the division is no threat to them. Toronto is 100% on the defense.

But back to our side of the rink, the Rangers are now in some drama. There have been trade rumors for a good 2 months and that book is now closed, stopping that emotional question in the locker room. Chris Kreider has signed a new contract for 7 years at $6.5 million a year. That’s a relief. He’s an asset to the team. He’s hitting his stride right now and he’s always been important in the Playoffs. So close to making it this year, management wants to commit to him. And odds are, they didn’t get an offer for him they could say an absolute yes to. He’s a major part of the locker room, I think losing him would crush a few guys and hinder team morale. Last year when Zucc was traded, the team gave up (Kreider especially). Still, this is a gamble. Kreider is a hot or cold player. He’s an asset or he disappears. With this kind of commitment from the team, the pressure is now on him to show everyone he’s worth it. Time will tell but I’m optimistic. He’d be incredibly hard to replace.

The other trade is Brady Skjei to Carolina for a First Round draft pick in 2020. He’s been with the team for 4-5 years now and rolled with Jesper Fast like twin brothers. He’s well liked and I know he’ll be missed by many on the team. Stats wise, this makes sense and the belief is that he’ll be able to be replaced immediately by the guys that are on hand. Plus the next wave of rookies are coming next season so this isn’t too surprising.

The drama is this humdinger: Shesterkin and Buchnevich were in a car accident last night. Buch is basically okay but Shesterkin has a broken rib. The odds of him being ready to play again in a month is slim to nil. That’s basically the start of the playoffs. Now can they make the playoffs?

Lundqvist’s time to shine is now. With Igor out, he’ll get to play games he otherwise wouldn’t have. There’s a very good chance that this could be his last year with the Rangers, opting to move on by waving his no-trade clause for the final year of his contract. He’s always been a team member and he’s always going to give his all. The pressure is probably bigger now as he can make an impact on getting the team to the playoffs and prove that he’s still a viable goaltender in the league. The good news in this is that Georgiev wasn’t traded so their goaltending as a whole is still in good shape. The Rangers still have a chance to pull this off.

The team is finally playing as a team and they can’t break their stride.

JoJo Rabbit

Movies

JoJo Beltzer is a ten-year-old boy in the Hitler Youth during the tail end of World War II. Entranced and surrounded by Nazi propaganda, his imaginary friend is Adolph Hitler. He gets hurt at a training camp for kids and at home, he discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl.

A remarkable movie in every measure, I’m not sure how many filmmakers could pull this story off. Writer/Director Taika Waititi fuses comedy and dramatics into a brilliant mix to tell the story of a boy coming to the realization that when you look past the hate you are told, we’re all the same–people who want to be happy and live free.

First and foremost, this is a hilarious satire that skewers the Nazi movement while focusing on a small family during this insane time. There is a mountain of physical gags and brilliant one-liners throughout the whole movie that also offer commentary on the entire stupid Nazi ethos.

“I said to draw where Jews live. This is just a stupid picture of my head.” “Yeah, that’s where we live.”

The script quickly navigates from silly to serious like a dance that’s really impressive to watch. When Jojo finds Elsa hiding in a crawlspace upstairs, he’s shocked and terrified of her. With all the stories he’s been told about Jews being literal monsters, he’s afraid for his and his mother’s safety. Elisa rolls with this, at first scaring him into not telling his mother or anyone else. It’s a tough balancing act for Jojo to walk on, wanting to protect his mother from the authorities from finding out she’s a Jewish sympathizer while his inner Adolph keeps showing up to remind him of his duties to protect Nazi Germany. As the days go by, he talks to her more and more and Elisa indulges Jojo by embellishing all of the rediculous tales (Jews sleep upsidedown like bats, they have horns, tails and scales, can read minds…the list goes on) to the point where he writes it all down for a book on Jews (Yoohoo Jews). Over time they talk about real things and get to know each other. This begins to change Jojo’s world view.

Jojo has been told that his father is off fighting for Nazi Germany, so it’s only him and his mother. She’s a gentle and loving person who doesn’t think twice about helping Elsa but must hide as much as she can from Jojo to keep them both safe. While her young son follows the song of Nazi propaganda, she knows that’s not her son’s true nature and tempers his outbursts every chance she can. Elsa picks up on Jojo’s nature too at one point telling him “You’re not a Nazi, Jojo. You’re a ten-year-old kid who likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club.”

Along with this terrific script is the amazing cast. The three main leads, Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo, Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa, and Scarlett Johansson as Jojo’s mother Rosie, are all brilliant. Roman is a ridiculously good actor for his age and he lights up every single scene he’s in. As the main character the entire movie rides on him, so give this kid some awards, please. Thomasin brings incredible courage and warmth to Elsa and this might be my favorite role I’ve seen Scarlett play. I really believed her as Jojo’s mother and her path through the movie was incredibly touching.

This movie looked great from the trailers and it exceeded my expectations. It went in directions I didn’t expect, made me laugh out loud and stole my heart. An absolute winner of a film in my book.

The End of BoJack Horseman

Netflix Original,

The second half of Season 6 was recently released bringing BoJack Horseman to a close. One of the best programs on the platform and arguably one of the best animated shows ever made, BoJack ended the only way it could: poignant, sad, and with a sobering dose of hope.

I’ve been a fan of BoJack Horseman from the start and have written about it on my blog in the past with each new season. I ended up not detailing my experience with Season 5 because the end was such a surprise that I wanted to take the time to think it over and then give my thoughts, but life got in the way and I never sat down to write anything about it. So a week after I finished the final season, I’m going to make sure I get my thoughts into words this time.

BoJack is a challenging show. It’s animated with talking anthropomorphic animals interacting with people. It’s a goofy looking show that is often goofy in its humor. It’s easy to dismiss or not engage with at the start because the initial run-up doesn’t feel like it’s going to do anything new or terribly interesting. Then it gets serious, then it gets complex, then it goes into directions you never thought of while it makes you laugh.

This is a challenging show because BoJack, the main character is terrible. A self proclaimed “piece of shit” it’s easy to root against him. BoJack is an obnoxious, conceited addict who despite being surrounded by others, always feels alone. It’s easy for him to hurt people because his selfish decisions come from a dark place in his mind where everything comes down to what he deems as most important–himself.

With this in mind, it’s easy to think why would anyone want to watch a character like this? That’s the genius of the show. You watch complete characters–flaws and all–navigate the life that Hollywood can foster (and fester). The show goes on to dig into more than just Bojack, the principal protagonists (who can also be antagonists to Bojack, among other story propelling devices) also grow, change, and question what they value. Todd, Mr. Peanutbutter, Diane, and Princess Caroline are all part of Bojack’s life, but they occupy different spaces. Everyone moves to, around, and from Bojack in the course of the series.

And everyone doesn’t act the way they do just because. There are roots to the causes and you find out what they are. There’s some incredible character development done on this show. I don’t just like one or two characters–the whole main cast is rich and memorable. The creativity of this world is absurd. It goes from silly sight gags, dumb references, clever word puns, to serious adult issues in basically every episode without skipping a beat. There’s an episode with no dialog and one episode that is only Bojack giving a monologue and it all works! And it shouldn’t!

With animation, the writers are able to use abstract visuals to represent complex emotions. In this final season, a montage of Diane working on her writing comes up where everything is scratchy and rushed. She rambles on from thought to thought, fighting insecurities and distractions as crumbled bursts of drawings and words. I saw a lot of myself in how her writer’s brain is represented. Her last arc in this season brought me closer to her than any other character on the show. Anyone who works in the creative fields will get a lot from this show.

I also appreciate them ending the show here. It’s far too easy to keep escalating the stakes so high where it gets unbelievable. Plus, Bojack’s cycle of pain can only go so far before it either repeats itself or his story gets overwhelmed by darkness and everyone bails in disgust. The end of season 5 brought Bojack to physically harm someone. That felt like a line he was headed for, the true rock bottom that even he could no longer explain away. Season 6 starts with him in rehab and the other characters go forward (or sideways) without him. They all work on themselves independently. BoJack then becomes dependant on therapy, terrified he can’t be or do anything on his own. The second half he gets a job as a professor at a university to teach acting. He begins to find his self-worth…even as he steps on some toes in doing so. He starts to learn from that as well until his terrible deeds come back to haunt him.

Bojack Horseman goes into territory that shows rarely do. Plus, the intense material never felt like a stunt or an obnoxious means to gain attention or notoriety. There’s a level of respect and earnest desire to talk about issues of mental health, society, sexuality, responsibility, and relationships. The final two episodes are especially noteworthy, they are an absolute trip. A deep introspective into death, morality, and the personal costs of change. Knowing and understanding you always have a choice to make a decision for the best and the desire to do it is incredibly powerful.

I can’t recommend BoJack Horseman enough. I will absolutely be going back to it for years to come. I’ve said basically nothing about the virtues of this show, I’ve left out a lot because so much ground is covered in the 6 seasons. This show has everything I’m looking for in storytelling and I’ll do my best to raise my own work to reach the bar that’s been set here.