5 Things On My Mind: Bravo Grillo, Eastwood left in cold by studio, Gray wants to stay, and the lackluster Blues
All the opinions fit to be shared with the world rest here. Please, continue.
Sundays can feel like a drag. The work week is upon you, and the rigors and stress await any workday. Evading it is as clueless as thinking traffic on the way home will suddenly part like the red sea. Skinker chooses to disagree. It’s not all bad, though. If you cherish the weekend and spend it right, the following week could be alright.
Let’s get into the things (some of them at least) that have remained in my head for longer than 24 hours.
SONNY WANTS TO STAY
The St. Louis Cardinals’ ace wants to stick around, even if the rebuild is in motion. I don’t blame the guy. He’s unintentionally chasing Mike Morgan history, playing for a wide variety of teams. St. Louis is close to his offseason home; shorter drives are great as you get older. For 12 seasons and two leagues, he has driven quite a lot and chased the ultimate title. Three All Star Games and two top 5 Cy Young finishes are quality, but a hunger remains to climb higher.
Busch Stadium is a nice park to chase Cy in for a couple more seasons. Gray is 35, settled, and finished off the 2024 season in dazzling fashion after a rocky midseason stretch. The expense is where it will cost St. Louis. He will go from making $10 million to $25 million, and it will bump to $35 million in 2026. I love having Gray around, because an ace gives you a shot every week to start a winning streak.
Like the desire to want Willson Contreras to remain a Cardinal, it provides some kind of anchor to a growing roster of younger Cards. The cost (around $43 million for both) makes you wonder if ties were cut. Go all the way, or only halfway? As MLB.com writer John Denton said recently on the sadly defunct Morning Drive, Cardinals fans are in for a sad, tough stretch of baseball. For the moment, some of the big names wish to stay, including Sonny Gray.
BLUES STRUGGLE, STIR AND REPEAT
The 2024-25 season was a wildcard from the jump. Losing Robert Thomas and Philip Broberg just propelled the St. Louis Blues into early season mediocre form. They’re technically below average, but can put a fine stretch of play together. However, the loss of Broberg has caused aging Ryan Suter to see an uptick in minutes, which diminishes his value. It’s like making someone Hamburger Helped two meals in a row; after a while, the secret is out.
Thomas is an ace on the dot, arguably the team’s best player. He can set up players, and was starting to shoot for goals more often. Thomas was only getting warmed up, so losing him for at least two months was a rough hit to take in the first month of the season.
Still, the team is 8-9-1 going into today’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. A win or two away from being back on track. The entire roster has chipped in, but the team has failed to go on a real streak. Treading water will be the norm until players return. The Blues were a bubble team from the first puck drop. Making the playoffs was unfortunately more of a long shot than a sure thing, and now precious time is lost.
At the end of the day, though, a solid 10-14 days of hockey could turn the tide. Someone has to step up, and Jordan Binnington has to get over a rough stretch to hold down the fort in net. The defense has come apart since Broberg’s injury, but the goaltending has to get sharper overall. Hold on, folks.
WARNER BROTHERS FAILS TO PROMOTE FINAL EASTWOOD MOVIE
What a load of crap, WB? Clint Eastwood has made just about every movie with that studio, going back decades. He takes a big budget and makes the film for half or slightly more than half. Instead of costing $60 million up front, Eastwood turns it in for $35 million. That’s easy to turn around into a profit.
So, why hide his so-called final movie, Juror #2, like it’s the cinema plague? I understand marketing there has taken a hit with the merger with Discovery and possible pending collision with Paramount Pictures, but you could have put this final Clint flick on a pedestal for a modest cost. Nicholas Hoult isn’t a star, but he does have a fine resume and already scored this fall with The Order. The cast has plenty of “I know that face” actors, so the sell wouldn’t be hard. John Cusack starred in a fine jury film called Runaway Jury.
Anything is possible with an Eastwood film, so shame on W.B. for failing to give it any press. They’re rolling it out like a small indie film from a first-time director. As a Critics Choice member, I have it to view in my queue, but there hasn’t been an expanded release. Remember when movies came out on the same day everywhere in theaters? Sexy times.
Warner Brothers lost Christopher Nolan because they put the simultaneous theater/streaming launch a go in 2021, thinking the pandemic-suffering crowd would respond and feed both avenues. It didn’t happen, with a lot of expected hits becoming bombs instead. The stink of those moves and decision-making up top has caused a ripple effect of fear. It’s sad. Clint has remained more loyal than the makers who control where his product goes and can be seen.
Sorry, Clint. Thanks for hanging around this fucked-up release terrain for so long.
A BEAGLE’S STARE, BEWARE!
While Roscoe may not be the biggest animal in my house, he still carries a thousand mile stare. In his eyes, it’s a land of undiscovered bacon bits or a large jar of barely touched peanut butter. To you, he’s just staring into your soul. The dog knows how to con a few minutes of petting and eventual snacking out of you, without the slightest of movements.
When he has to move, the tick fever-impaired Arkansas rescue carries no limitations. Leave bread too close to the edge of the kitchen counter, and it’s a goner. He can open gates, pantries, doors, and will hop off unstable furniture to check a table left for crumbs. Tenacious only begins to explain it.
Here’s the thing. He’s getting old. All the brown fur in his face has been replaced by white. He’s not as quick or fast jumping as he used to be, the product of living to double-digits in age. As he cranks towards 11, Roscoe doesn’t seem to care what the ground has to say about potential collision following a chase for food. I only wish he’d stick around forever.
Shouldn’t dogs live forever? Answer yes, and let’s move on.
BRAVO, FRANK GRILLO!
The longtime action star is having quite a finish to 2024, and big 2025 plans are happening soon. If you’ve read me for longer than five years, you must have read a feature, interview, or section of commentary on one of the last true action heroes of cinema. Most try to be as authentic as he is, but few end up there.
After a negative review of his movie, Black and Blue, he stopped responding to texts and interview requests. However, I still find his movies and style of entertainment fun to watch. If you take a movie star’s vanity personally, most of the players in the game may let you down. Grillo is kicking ass and taking names, nearly a decade and a half following his fierce landing into Hollywood.
After years of small roles and thugs who could slug with their fists, he landed big roles in a popular MMA film called Warrior, The Purge movie series, Marvel, and got into cult television king status with an all-time performance on Byron Balasco’s Kingdom. Mixed in are a bevy of action bangers, guilty pleasure blasts like Cop Shop or a healthy dose of holy shit in this season’s Steven Miller offering, Werewolves. On the TV strip, he’s the thorn in Sylvester Stallone’s gangster side on Tulsa King, a very enjoyable Paramount Plus series.
Grillo, like Jason Statham, knows what he is to audiences and also knows how to deliver. Directors work with him over and over due to a piece of authentic performance that gets seen every here and there, yet not enough. Frank still offers that. Just wait for him to wreck John Cena’s Peacemaker Season 2 party as Rick Flag Sr.
If you consumed James Gunn’s Suicide Squad, you’ll know Cena killed Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag. Grillo is Rick’s dad, and will be very pissed. A quick shot of him walking down a federal building office-looking set means the gears of revenge are already in motion. It’s a perfect casting choice.
Good for you, Grillo. Keep punching, as Stallone often says on Instagram. Those two have been playing up the season finale of Tulsa King for a couple of weeks, building up a nice level of hype for a couple longtime action threats. Old and older, they entertain like any of the younger crowd. We know who will win tonight, but I’m hoping for more action than the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight.
With that, I’m out. Don’t let Monday kick your ass.