Mailbag time! Memorable movie twists, favorite actors, MVP votes, and signature STL sports moments

How many licks exactly does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? Let's get into the real questions. Thank you for participating and reading.

Some things don’t change. Fritos chili cheese twists being a game changer for crawling into the maze of your phone and disappearing for 30 minutes. DoorDash French fries needing air fryer CPR upon delivery. Drivers going too slow or too fast. And Dolph Lundgren being an immovable force.

The stories are all there. A thief broke into his house only to find a family picture with Dolph in it, and ran out. He put Sylvester Stallone in the ICU for eight days after the Italian Stallion wanted to cut the sparring bullshit. He once snapped a Rubik’s cube and the handle of a chair in the same minute. Recently, he beat cancer. After a doctor told him he had a couple years to live, Lundgren’s internal organs and immune system karate-kicked that fella into next week.

Mailbags don’t change. They’re endlessly fun, because I get to answer people’s burning questions and find out where I stand on certain topics that may be less settled in my mind than I previously thought. Let’s get into the questions that I got from my Facebook and Blue Sky audience. Overall, a versatile array of inquiries.

From Michelle, Crescent Queen: Best salad in STL? Favorite date spots? Best dessert in STL? Favorite brunch spot?

The best salad in town used to be the house salad at Eovaldi’s Deli on the Hill, but my love for pesto and chicken paved the way for Sauce on the Side’s pesto Caesar Salad with shredded chicken. Every time, it’s so good. A great date spot is a semi-quiet spot at a nearby park, Francis or Forest. Bring a blanket, lunch, wine, music, and some fresh air. The best dessert is the cinnamon roll at Russell’s on Macklind, which also happens to be a wonderful brunch spot. Get the Bloody Mary from the bar at Trish if you’ve had a tough week. She uses the vertical pedal on the right with the vodka pour.

From Gary: Top 5 action movies of all time.

DAMN, GARY! Tough one to really provide an answer that would be the same next week, but here’s the list right now. Predator, Cliffhanger, John Wick, Out for Justice, and Die Hard. Watch those and try not to get aroused by heroism, muscles, and wit. Again, these five could change next week because technically, The Accountant qualifies and that movie is just about perfect.

From Dan: Should Josh Allen have received the most #1 MVP votes?

Judging from the vote tally and overall stats, Lamar Jackson would have been just as wise of a pick as Allen. Voters are too biased with the current culture feel of the moment, though. Allen is the underdog loverboy at the moment. The one who can’t quite climb over Mahomes Mountain. I can see why he got the most, but who knows? I am not enough of a football fan these days to provide a solid answer.

From Chris: Most favorite & least favorite #STLCards memory?

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The most favorite has to be David Freese’s triple in Game 6. That series was like a 5-round prize fight. That was the team’s second title inside five years, which may be as close to a dynasty-type feel around here as I see in my lifetime. My son had just overcome a big heart ailment so the hit means extra to me. The worst memory has to be the Travis Ishikawa home run off Michael Wacha. My late grandmother Henrietta, who didn’t understand why people were all standing after a home run at Busch Stadium, even knew that was a bad call.

From Marie: Who are your favorite actors?

Denzel Washington. Stallone for sure. Jon Bernthal. Carla Gugino. Zoe Saldana is something fierce. Mads Mikkelsen. Bruce Willis and Marisa Tomei are fixtures in my movie mind. Arnold may not win any awards, but he still stands in front of a camera and convinces the world that he could take out a whole platoon without even wearing a shirt. I could go on and on, but I’ll add Michael Keaton to the roster. He endures.

From Rach Lynn: Top 5 female actors?

Right now, off the cuff. Sandra Bullock, Scarlett Johansson, Saldana, Jessica Chastain, and Gugino. For Banshee’s sake, I’ll add Ivana Milicevic. Few women could have played Ana/Carrie quite like she did, so BUDMO!

From Chris: Would St Louis have been better off getting a NFL expansion team versus the $ received that our leaders cannot figure out how to manage and make positive decisions with? Thoughts?

Absolutely. This city adores and supports football, through thick and thin with multiple teams and generations to support the statement. Done deal! Stan Kroenke literally blocked Shahid Khan-who is chilling on his giant yacht in New Orleans for the Super Bowl right now-from bringing NFL football here. There were STL businessmen and lawyers set and ready with a plan to build a new stadium, and it got shot down. I would have taken an NFL team over this ongoing egomaniac tennis match between local leaders. You bet!

From Wil: What movie plot twists lingered in your brain way longer than they should have? Such a surprising drop that you couldn’t stop thinking about it?

The Usual Suspects. Seeing Kevin Spacey walk straight instead of crooked after a spellbinding mystery thriller put together by the once-good Bryan Singer still rattles me to this day. My dad and I walked out of Galleria 6 Cinemas like a pair of ghosts who just saw Elvis walk through the atrium. KEYSER SOZE!

From the lovely Erin: Favorite St. Louis Actor/Entertainer?

Jon Hamm. Sterling K. Brown is so good in the new Hulu series, Paradise, and just about everything else. But Hamm is something else. A character actor living inside a movie star’s skin, he can play on any playground and apparently we’re related. People know him by Mad Men and The Town, but go watch him in Beirut. He carries that thing on his shoulders.

From Brian: Best Mexican restaurant in STL? More on the local bowling scene...one of the best bowlers in the world right now regularly practices at Shrewsbury...which also just hosted a huge women's college tournament for the first time.

Best Mexican food here is hard because there’s a ton of “pretty good" ones around but not that many great ones. El Agave gets my vote, though. Located in St. Louis county right off Lindbergh and Watson Road, it’s pretty consistent. That’s what you’re looking for with that food genre. I love you, Brian, but I won’t be covering the bowling scene. Perhaps, I get over there and see this and write something up. Maybe. Remember, this is only a hobby. Don’t forget about that plumbing! It won’t deliver itself. Mexican food runner-up? El Catrin.

From Ron: How many licks does it really take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

These are the kinds of questions that I lie awake at night wondering about while trying to return to a sleepy town. I wouldn’t know because I can’t go more than three licks and bite down to crack the shell open to finish the whole thing off. Someone would have to challenge me to do this and see it through to the other side. A boatload of licks (I’d say 112) and an empty white stick.

From Jim: What is the best sports moment in St Louis history with in the last 30 years: Blues cup win, Freese in game 6 in 2011, Wainwright 200th or Pujols’s 700th home run?

Freese in Game 6. The Blues taking home that Stanley Cup was a glorious time, but baseball has always lived closer to my heart than hockey. It’s what it is, no prejudice or bullshit. As I noted earlier, my son Vinny had just gotten home after fighting a deadly heart condition. I was holding him as Freese hit the triple and I couldn’t shout or cheer too loud because he would wake up. But the feeling that surged through my chest is unforgettable. A little while later, he won it.

Baseball, like life, carries no damn clock. It ends when you get 27 outs or the weather shuts it all down. There’s chance, skill, some luck, and a mixed bag of scenarios that play into the outcome. I love that.

From Bernie (aka my all time favorite writer): Top 5 movies of 2024?

I saved the best for last, ladies and gentlemen. Making a top ten list is hard, but cutting it in half requires extra thought. It’s a real challenge, but one that I welcome with open arms. When Mr. Miklasz tosses the first question into the mailbag and it’s a juicy steak on a hot summer grill, you toss a few movies off the damn boat. Here’s the top ten list from last year in case you missed it.

Sing Sing has lived on my top 3 list ever since I left the Alamo Drafthouse last summer after the screening. Some movies follow you home and into work the next day. The brain stores what it likes and finds interesting. The movie played like a remake of Shawshank Redemption with a true story prison theater program element thrown in for good measure. Colman Domingo can do no wrong and the score from members of The National will be in your iTunes library soon after seeing the movie.

Conclave makes the top five list. Ralph Fiennes is simply tremendous as a veteran Cardinal who must lead up the search for a new Pope, a list that he inadvertently finds his name attached to when the voting begins. The push and pull between old and new philosophies keeps this from drowning you in religious methods and practices. Come for the cast, stay for the final 20 minutes that slap your conscience around the room.

Rebel Ridge is there. I watched it three times and plan on a fourth here soon. Aaron Pierre made his official entrance into Hollywood, Netflix scored a knockout with audiences and critics, and Don Johnson reminded us that he’s still got it. An intelligent action thriller that rips a few pages from the First Blood recipe and adds some timely flavors of its own.

Rounding out the list would be Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Knox Goes Away. The Brutalist and Anora were both terrific, but the former duo are unique experiences. Reeve gives you a full access look to the tumultuous recovery and rise of the cinematic superhero who had to borrow a few of those notes in real life. Keaton’s directorial effort about a hitman who suffers through a vicious strain of dementia while trying to help his son is David Fincher’s The Killer, but in a different pool or neighborhood. It’s well-paced, blunt, wistfully funny, and features Keaton at his absolute best.

Together with that and a rock solid Beetlejuice sequel, he had a banner year.

Thanks for the questions and I hope the next mailbag is as fun as this one. In the words of Dave Matthews, thank you for letting me be myself again.

Oh, and do you believe in magic? Yes, I do.