Last week “Iron Man” annihilated the box office by taking $100.75 million and it currently holds a stupendous 94% on rottentomatoes.com, not an easy thing to do. Can the Wachowski brothers’ latest do the same? Can Ashton and Cameron make a good romantic comedy couple? We’ll find out this Friday.
“Speed Racer” is the long awaited directorial follow up for the Wachowski brothers after their “Matrix” trilogy. Except for producing “V for Vendetta” they haven’t done very much.
The days are growing longer, school is a few weeks from being out, and employees at the local cinema are starting to sweat as they dread the long lines of anxious fan boys and girls that will soon fill their lobbies. The blockbuster movie season is days away.
Our first movie this week is the much hyped “Iron Man.” For those of you who do not read comic books, “Iron Man” is all about Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a billionaire weapons designer playboy. He goes to Afghanistan to show a new weapon off to the United States military and gets captured by terrorists. The terrorists try to force him to build another weapon but instead he creates a suit of armor and escapes. When he returns to America he decides to build a better version of the armor and protect the world from evil instead of continue to build destructive weapons.
A week of the NBA Playoffs have been set in stone, and some predictions have been accurate while others have not; the Philadelphia 76ers leading the Detroit Pistons two games to one.
And with many playoff match ups all over the Internet, I will focus on the individual teams in both conferences. Afterwards I will give my predictions as to when they will get eliminated; in the first round or get the championship. The first set of teams I will start out with is the Eastern Conference teams. The predictions state the furthest that team will go while they’re in the Playoffs.
These predictions were written prior to the start of the Playoffs.
Eastern Conference
Boston Celtics:
The Boston Celtics made a 180 degree turn from last season. They finished last season with the worse record in the Eastern Conference with a record of 24-58, and now they led the conference with the best record in the league 66-16. The turnaround started just days before last years’ NBA Draft when the Celtics traded five people for the All-Star forward. Then during the Draft, they traded their 5th pick in the draft and Wally Szczerbiak for Seattle Sonics’ star guard Ray Allen. The inclusion of these two players with current Celtics’ All Star Paul Pierce ended up making one of the most miserable teams in the NBA a championship contender.
Prediction: NBA Championship
Detroit Pistons:
The Pistons have been the most consistent (winning) team in the East for several years and they should have no problem getting to the Eastern Conference Finals, but they have to get past the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics to attain the championship they once had four years ago. They are one of three teams in the East that could take down the Celtics. But like all good teams who have been fighting for a championship, they made minor changes and kept their core roster. It would be fine if they were a young team, but we all know that they are too old now to keep up with the youth movement. Fortunately, they do have the most experience of all the Eastern Conference teams to make it to the finals and even a championship, but they lack the patience of the San Antonio Spurs.
Prediction: Eastern Conference Semi-finals
Orlando Magic:
Hedo Turkoglu has had a breakout season since Grant Hill left the Magic, and has done a great job of carrying the load. Center Dwight Howard also had a great season and led the league two years in a row in dunks. They also signed Rashard Lewis to a 120 million contract. All good teams in the NBA, especially this season, must have at least three All Stars to compete for a championship. But unfortunately for them, they will not make it past the Conference Finals, since they have to face the train of doom that is the Boston Celtics.
Prediction: Eastern Conference Finals
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Last year the Cavaliers were lucky to even get into the NBA finals after they made a upset victory against the Detroit Pistons. I do not see them advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs. It doesn’t matter if Lebron James scores 40 points in every game, he can only do so much for his team. And since they traded half of their roster for Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith; they are no longer the same team from last year.
Prediction: Eastern Conference Semi-finals
Washington Wizards:
If there was a team in the East that was able to pull off an upset, it would be the Wizards. They have played fantastically throughout the season without their star point guard Gilbert Arenas. And now that he’s back in the lineup, the team will be almost unstoppable. But since he came back into the lineup, many will question the team chemistry that his teammates had built up.
Prediction: First round elimination
Toronto Raptors:
The Toronto Raptors are almost in the same boat as the Wizards. They had their leading scorer, Chris Bosh, injured with day-to-day injures until the final weeks of the season and he should give Dwight Howard some trouble in the low-post. Aside from that, they will probably last for five games before they are eliminated.
Prediction: First round elimination
Philadelphia 76ers:
The Sixers have no chance whatsoever in getting pass the first round of the Playoffs, but for arguments sake, if they do manage to put up a good fight against the Pistons then their series will likely last up to six games.
Prediction: First round elimination
Atlanta Hawks:
The Hawks were able to avoid being in the draft lottery for the tenth time this season by being the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. And they will probably have the shortest playoff run, since they are against the Celtics. In fact, they would be lucky to lose within 10 points and that’s just for a morale victory for them as a team.
Prediction: First round elimination
Western Conference
We now continue the saga of the NBA Playoffs with the most stacked conference in NBA history – the Western Conference. Could anyone imagine that teams with 60 percent of their wins would be fighting for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference? I never thought it would happen and I’m sure that everyone else in the world didn’t think so either. The continuation of my NBA Playoff predictions will feature the Western Conference teams.
Los Angeles Lakers:
The Lakers have been very impressive this season, especially without center Andrew Bynum, who was gone for the second half of the season. And they had acquired center Pau Gasol in an unprecedented trade by getting rid of dead weight players like Kwame Brown. Team chemistry is high for now and if Bynum does not return to action soon then that chemistry will stay high and head coach Phil Jackson won’t have to worry about the rotations for the rest of the season. And as long as Kobe Bryant is still scoring 40 points then they have a good chance to get the NBA title.
Prediction: NBA finals
New Orleans Hornets:
I always knew that if the Hornets were 100 percent healthy, then they would be a seed in the West, but I had no idea how high they would get. They were only one game behind the Lakers for Western Dominance. The only weak spot in their game would be the two-guard position with Morris Peterson Starting, but when you have Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic, David West and Tyson Chandler then there are no worries for this team. Unfortunately, I do not seem them going far in the Playoffs, since they would end up facing the Utah Jazz in the second round.
Prediction: Western Semi-finals
San Antonio Spurs:
The old cowboys are still galloping as they hope to eliminate the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. They fought long and hard in the first game of the series, but they are running out of youth and are surviving on the fumes of the old players. And they are running out of time to form a playoff run, and I don’t think that experience is going to cut it in the west, since almost all eight teams have identical records with only a few games separating them.
Prediction: Western Semi-finals
Utah Jazz:
The Utah Jazz are probably the only team in the West to make a repeat run at going to the Western Conference finals. It would be interesting to see the Lakers and Jazz mix it up. But the more interesting match up would be in the semi-finals if they face the Hornets. The main match up would be the two young star point guards Deron Williams and Chris Paul.
Prediction: Western Conference finals
Houston Rockets:
What can you say about a team that has Tracy McGrady? He is the same man who throughout his career has never made it past the first round of the Playoffs, and they are currently facing a very good Utah Jazz team. Unfortunately, his team had already lost both their home games against them. It seems as though they are just running on the fumes of their 22-game winning streak that they had early on in the season. Expect an early exit and a possible change of scenery for McGrady if they are eliminated in the first round.
Prediction: First round elimination
Phoenix Suns:
The Suns General Manager, Steve Kerr, made a fatal mistake this season when he traded away Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal. Since the trade happened, they have been slower than what Suns fans are accustomed to. They still “run and gun” but they do so without Shaq on the court, and when he is on the floor he “runs ands gasps” up and down the court.
Prediction: First round elimination
Dallas Mavericks:
The Mavericks also have suffered from bad trades this season. They traded away 4 members of their roster for Jason Kidd, and they went from being a team that would fight for the first seed in the west. Now they are stuck in the 7th seed with at least 3 wins from winning teams since they acquired Kidd, and they are currently matched up with the emerging Hornets. Expect an early exit for the Mavericks if Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki do not dominate the series.
Prediction: First round elimination
Denver Nuggets:
I guess the Nuggets should have made a trade for Ron Artest when they had the chance. They were embarrassed in game one of their match up against the Lakers and they obviously need defense that Artest supplies. They were lucky to get into the Playoffs after they edged out the Golden State Warriors just to get the 8th and final seed. I expect them to give the Lakers some trouble, but not enough to make the series decided in seven games. They should be done in five games.
Prediction: First round elimination
That terrible beginning-of-the-year movie season is over! Summer blockbusters will soon be exploding onscreen everywhere and this week is an appetizer for what’s to come.
First this week we have “Baby Mama” which stars “Saturday Night Live” alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Fey plays a nearly middle-aged business woman who decides she has to have a kid soon or it will be too late. Only problem is her uterus is not the best one so she decides to hire a surrogate, Poehler. Another problem occurs when Poehler’s surrogate doesn’t have a place to live and has to move in with Fey. The straight-laced business woman must now live with the irresponsible lady who is carrying her unborn child, shenanigans ensue.
With a resounding, “Yeaaaaaah boy,” Flavor of Love is off to it’s third and hopefully final season. Every time I see the ignorant previews, I say to myself: I’m not going to watch. Sadly, another season of FOL has sucked me in.
We all know what to expect, right? A bevy of “beauties” fighting over the prize that is Flavor Flav. Expect a lot of yelling, cursing, finger-pointing, eye-rolling and things of that nature.
But this season, I just don’t have energy to deal with the shenanigans. Where do I start? I’m not going to point out the obvious, which is Flav’s looks. I’m mature enough to get past it. What I can’t look past are the antics of women in the house. Everything from the random herpes test to those annoying twins has caused to me to phase out until it’s time for eliminations.
And riddle me this? What was point of bringing in the new chicks? The original women were more than enough but now you’ve got Tree…? There’s season is very vanilla to say the least.
I miss the days when these FOL girls actually had character. I want to turn on my TV and see the 32lbs of blond weave “growing” from Hottie’s scalp. I yearn for just a glimpse of New York and her drag queen makeup. False eyelashes are the new black? Only in New York’s world. Hell, I’ll even take Buckwild at this point.
C’mon VH1. For a channel known for its tomfoolery, you can do better than this. If you’re going to come and infect my television with the entertainment equivalent of herpes (it just won’t go away!) at least make it worthwhile. I want to see someone getting thrown off the patio or at least into a pool. VH1, you’ve got a long way to go if the most exciting thing to happen all season was the splitting up of those damn Dr. Seuss twins. prices for wall to wall carpet test
So as much as it pains me to say, the sport of boxing is dead and in its place the Mixed Martial Arts is the new big dog of the heap. More precisely the UFC organization is the top dog of the heap or at least seems to be the new fad of the nation.So much like how NBC exploited the Texas Hold’m craze of a few years ago (horribly dull 1-on-1 events) CBS is now promoting an MMA Saturday Night Fights starting May, 31. However, CBS teamed up with the young and relatively unknown to the public EliteXC instead of the vastly more popular UFC for its inaugural event.But the most intriguing part about the fight is that the Internet sensation Kimbo Slice will be heading the main event. Now the only thing I really know about Slice is that in a street brawl he’ll probably leave you more deformed looking than those Orcs in Lord of the Rings but that doesn’t really transition well into MMA.He’s an intimidating individual but the people he’s fighting against on the streets of Miami, Florida were overweight, out of shape and undisciplined fighters (lost to Sean Gannon though). He’s raw, and unlikely to win a match against professional fighter with good wrestler if the fight goes to the ground.This is no UFC and Slice wouldn’t even manage a top-ten spot in its heavyweight division. Yet with that being said, I still plan to see him fight and hope that CBS EliteXC experiment gains popularity, more so to see what else EliteXC has to offer.Unlike the relatively untested Slice, EliteXC has a slew of quality professional fighters including local fighters Scott Smith and Nick Diaz and other notable names that were once a part of the UFC. And what may be the most interesting match down the road if it may occur, a woman MMA fight staring none other than Gina Carano, or better known to the world as ‘Crush’ from American Gladiators (she’s hot too).Blood, testosterone, and chick-fights to warm up a Saturday night of drinking beer and partying. This has all the ingredients of a summer sensation and for me a trip to the drunk-tank later on that night.
Finally! That dreary winter and early spring time is over! This Friday we’ll finally get something worth spending $9.75 on at the movies. Another promising Judd Apatow production is released, along with a film pairing two of cinema’s biggest martial arts stars ever and the least exciting is a thriller with Al Pacino. It must be a good weekend if that is the least exciting.
This will hopefully be the last semi-dull week for a while at the movies. We get a lame looking horror remake, a quirky dramedy, and a gritty LAPD drama this week. Here’s to hoping the latter two deliver because I have no faith in our first choice this week.
“Prom Night” is about a group of high school kids who are stalked by a serial killer at their prom. Donna, played by Brittany Snow, is the main character and target for the killer. The film also stars Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, and Dana Davis, though I’ve never heard of them before.
Blogs from State Hornet staff writers as well as guest blogs from other students, professors and members of the Sacramento State campus.
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