We'll continue our reviews by Red Mosquito Forum members today with a post from Australia. Thank you to our moderator, Sarge, for this great review.
Nights out like this are a rarity for me these days, especially during the week. It's not that I'm unsociable. After long working days and dealing with the kids, I often don't have the energy left. Yet I persevered. I meandered down to the theatre precinct, to meet with some mates. We grabbed some Gami Chicken for dinner. I had no idea what the fuck this was, but found it to be a mixture of tasty and insanely spicy food. After destroying my taste buds permanently, we headed up to the theatre.
We found some good seats, and relaxed before the previews started. This was the point that something began stirring in my belly. A minor rumbling warning, deep down in my gut; a little reminder of why I don't usually eat spicy food. The film started, and it didn't waste any time jumping into the baseball side of things. The Cubs and Wrigley Field.
Being Australian, Baseball isn't a widely followed sport here. Actually, we know fuck all about it apart from what The Simpsons has told us (it's boring if you're sober?). But I found this quite interesting. We're told of the long history of a teaming struggling for success, i.e. the classic underdog story. We're also told of the supposed curse of the Goat. Eddie quips "I don't believe in goats" - haha, funny fucker.
Intertwined into this story are mentions of Eddie growing up in Chicago. When he was a kid and would buy hotdogs from a bar know as Murphy’s Bleachers. We meet meet the owner Beth. who has a close friendship with Ed. Beth and her husband Jim Murphy bought the bar in 1980, but Jim sadly passed away in the late 90's. There's early 90’s footage of Ed walking around the outside of Wrigley Field. I seem to remember seeing some of this footage in PJ20. But most of it's new - barring a scene featuring an excited Ed finding a pile of dumped turf. He mentions he wants to take it home and have his own piece of Wrigley in the garden. Ha, the rich fucker can probably afford to buy the entire Wrigley Field now.
During this journey, someone seemed to have plugged a hose into my belly button. They were pumping air, or something into my gut. The deep rumbling increased. The ache worsened. And my discomfort was getting out of control. Am I going to explode?
There's a lot of sentiment in the story. I mean absolute fuck-loads of it. Snippets and short stories about some of the famous people tied to history of Wrigley Field. Such as Harry Caray. We see footage of him singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. This intertwines with footage of Ed doing a (likely) drunken rambling of the same song. It's a horribly beautiful duet. In a light hearted moment, we meet the old fellas who wait outside around the field. They stand in hope of catching home run balls. These guys appear to be bonkers. Once of them states “My specialty is to wait for the ball to stop rolling, then I grab it!.” Yeah, quite bonkers.
This film did it's best to try and make us blubber. We're shown Steve Gleason doing a small speech and introducing Inside Job. We're also introduced to a fellow named John who queued up for 2 4 days so he could be at the front of the show. His father had died shortly before the concert, and he talked about how he sang Release prior/after. (I wasn't clear on this, he either sang with his dad while he was dying, or he sang it after with his family). So Ed calls him out during the concert, and mentions that John had been going through a hard time recently. They played Release for him. We watch John's mixture of emotions, through teary eyes. No, wait. Fuck off I'M NOT CRYING YOU ASSHOLES!
Meanwhile, some farts were working their way out of my swollen gullet. Thanks to the loud cinema, nobody hear. But the stench. Fucking hell. The stench.
The story winds its way to where the tension rises in the final few Cubs games. Where it looks like they may not quite reach the pinnacle. But then, obviously due to Ed singing I Believe in Miracles, SPOILER ALERT - they mother fucking win the World Series. Jubilation and celebration ensue. Then we're shown the brand new fancy ass locker rooms and facilities Wrigley Field now have. It seems to double as a bar/nightclub. Are there strippers on those bar tops during the games?
It's a great, emotional and uplifting story. Interspersed into this story are live songs played at Wrigley Field over 2 nights in August 2016. I have to say, the cinematography and sound are the best I've seen from a PJ DVD. Fuck me, they sound great. We've heard/seen a lot of these songs up-teem fucking times. But seeing them on this scale of production was interesting. And something else to behold during these songs, is that the band appeared to be having fun.
Unfortunately, I wasn't having as much fun. Gami was proceeding with a full frontal assault on my digestive system. The ensuing farts were not providing near enough any relief. And, at one moment I felt a large fart bubble thump into my lower bowel. Is that the big one? After a horrid noise, there was a stench of death. Oh shit. That felt a little hot.. and wet... Ugh. Bodysnatcher flashed in my mind. What would he do now? FUCK YOU GAMI CHICKEN!
For those that are curious, the use of the baseball story VS songs is actually well balanced. We're provided with between about 2-5 minutes of baseball/Ed story for each segment. Then between each of these, we're shown a pair of full length live songs. During each song, there's very little baseball footage, but live band/crowd footage.
Some points to note, Crazy Mary was pretty good. Lightning bolt sounded different in the mix, in comparison to the other songs. Not worse, but quite different. It was somewhat heavier in production. I wondered if this meant the mixing done by someone else. Or was there more a purposeful emphasis placed on this one? We're given a performance of Last Exit that has more energy that previous performances. Proving that these guys are not dead yet. Overall, the song selection was reasonably good. It drew mostly from the early to mid eras of PJ discography. With notable omissions from the entirety of Backspacer, Binaural, and No code.
At a mid point in the film, we're treated to the rooftop rehearsal on Murphy’s Bleachers. This was a highlight. Rarely heard Thumbing My Way was a treat. We're shown little jams, and tid-bits of songs, while a crowd is gathering in the street below. The band seems relaxed, happy, and content. There's banter. More of this please. Seriously.
There were only a couple of moments where I caught myself dozing off. During Go, and Inside Job - (hey, it's a fucking long song). Apart from that, I was thoroughly immersed. Danny Clinch successfully bathes us in the atmosphere. Not only in the Cubs journey, and the history of Wrigly Field. But also in the pleasing visuals and audio of the live performances.
Also, a special fuck you goes to B. He mentioned something about snippets of new songs during/after the credits. I stuck through only to be assaulted by a live performance of Mind Your Manners. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad performance. But why place it here after the credits? It's an abrupt note to end on. Why not show another acoustic rooftop jam song? Something laid back. That would have worked for me, but not this. This was a shite ending. When I watch the DVD, I'm never watching beyond the credits.
Above all, it's a great flick. We filtered out of the theatre, and I immediately made a beeline for the toilets. Bodysnatcher, you would have been proud. I didn't shit my pants (as suspected earlier) but I fucking destroyed that bowl.
Film - 9.5/10
Gami chicken 2/10
My Gut 0/10
