The Spring Invitational Has Begun!

That’s right folks, it officially began last night at the Westbury and will continue tonight! Teams earn 5 points for a win, 3 points for a 2nd place finish, and 1 point for 3rd. Team can also earn points for physical challenges. The first one has just been posted! After a couple of months, the Top 20 teams receive an invite to play in the Big Spring Event. The first couple of these were a load of fun, so get your best team together and come on out to quizzo! I’ll reveal the locale for the Big Spring Event next week.

TONIGHT: Four different places to earn points, including a couple where you’ve got a great shot. We start at O’neals at 8 p.m. Been kind of quiet the last couple of weeks, so this is a great place to get a win. $3.50 margaritas and a $50 GC for first place. I then move to City Tap House at 10:15 p.m. They will be having a Mardi Gras party in the bar area, so we are gonna be playing in the back room. We’ve done it a couple of times and it actually went pretty well. I have a feeling that getting through the bar is going to be a nightmare, but remember if you walk around the side outdoors you can enter into the back room, or at least the back of the bar area, so you won’t have to deal with that craziness.

Keep in mind also that Koob and Kristy will be hosting their POP! Quiz tonight at the Raven, and yes the winner of that can earn points in the JGTSpI. That begins at 8 p.m. and Kristy has promised a rather risque 50/50 round.

In Manayunk, Mike returns to the Terrace Taproom. Action starts at 8 p.m. He’s gonna be doing his Oscars quiz tonight, so be sure to study. I actually pulled a few out when I played last night by studying beforehand. Hope to see ya tonight!

Question of the Week

Mardi Gras celebrations in this city ceased during the Civil War, but were revived in 1866 when one single man, named Joe Cain, paraded through the streets and mocked occupying Northern forces.

Vote: What was the Best Best Picture Winner of All-Time

Mike, Koob, and Junior have spoken. Now tell us which of there picks you thought was the best Best Picture winner…or fill in your own next to other.

Bonus! The Best Best Picture Winners According to Koob

Koob’s Best Pic resume isn’t quite as impressive as Junior and Mike’s but it is pretty damn good. He’s seen 63 out of 83. So I thought it would be pretty fun to throw in his two cents. So w/o seeing Mike or Junior’s he threw in his Top and Bottom 5, and the results were interesting. He agreed with both Mike and Junior on Casablanca, and agreed with Mike on Godfather. Here are his other three best.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. This is my favorite film of all time, so of course it has to be on my list of the five greatest best picture winners. Jack Nicholson’s best role hands down. Perfect from start to finish with one of the best endings of all time. Look for appearances from Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd as some of the mental patients.

JGT’s Take: I also love this film. The baseball scene is one of my favorite film scenes of all time.

THE GODFATHER PART II. I rank this slightly ahead of The Godfather, but just barely. I go back and forth on this all the time, but I give the slight edge to Part II because of the way it masterfully tells both the story of Vito Corleone’s journey from Italy and rise to power, along with Michael Corleone’s transformation from a man doing whatever it takes to protect his family to a a cold-blooded and ruthless overlord who drives his family apart. The betrayal of Michael by Fredo and it’s subsequent aftermath are some of the most heartbreaking and chilling scenes ever caught on film.

JGT’S take: As I stated earlier, I like this one a little bit better than the first one. (Here’s my review of it from a couple of years ago. Needless to say, after since rewatching Godfather I, I get the Marines scene at the end now.) They’re both brilliant, but the second one just covers so much ground in so little time, and ties together so brilliantly and heartbreakingly at the end.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS . Choosing the 5th movie was hard as there are many deserving candidates, but in my own humble opinion, this movie gets the edge simply because Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in this movie may be the best performance ever captured on film. Ted Levine is also scarily convincing as the serial killer Buffalo Bill, but he was completely overlooked by the Academy. I guess they were afraid to award such a creepy performance.

JGT’s Take. I am not a horror film fan. I don’t like spending my free time making myself scared. If I wanted to do that I would just walk 12 blocks south of my house at night time. That said, this is a really well done film that I enjoyed when it came out. Buffalo Bill has haunted my nightmares ever since. Another good reason not to watch horror films.

The Best Best Picture Winners of All-Time, According to Junior

Junior and Mike Minion agreed on two films, meaning there were three films that he loved that did not make Mike’s Top 5. I have not seen any of these three films, but I do have Mutiny on the Bounty on DVR and plan on watching it in the next week. I will review it after watching. Interesting to note that both Mike and Junior had Marlon Brando Best Actor films included. Here are Junior’s picks:

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.A Best Picture doesn’t have to be a sweeping epic to be worthy of accolades. This was a fun movie with a great script and lots of memorable scenes. I like movies from the ’30s that take place in contemporary times which are just as much escapist fare now as they were then. This solidified Frank Capra’s reputation and moved him along to a long and successful career.

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY. Two consecutive Best Actor winners (1933’s Charles Laughton in ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII’ and 1934’s Clark Gable in ‘It Happened One Night’) team up for the best screen version of “Mutiny on the Bounty”. Laughton and Gable played magnificently against each other. All of the production values were great and holds up remarkably well after 76 years.

ON THE WATERFRONT. Very authentic look at the rough lives of dock workers and their corrupt boss and one guy’s turmoil as he is torn between his loyalties. Terrific work by Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, Lee. J. Cobb and Eva Marie Saint, all of whom were nominated for Oscars (Brando and Saint won). Brando gives his famous ‘I coulda been a contender’ speech in this film. The music score supports the film perfectly.

The Best Best Picture Films Ever, According to Mike Minion

You may have read Mike and Junior’s shared Oscar favorites last week. They both thought that Casablanca and Rocky deserved to be in the Top 5 Best Picture winners of all time. The three below are three of Mike’s Top 5 favorites. Keep in mind, Mike will be hosting an Oscar quiz tonight at the Westbury at 9 p.m.

THE GODFATHER. Greed, love, duplicity, murder, ambition, and cannolis: this film has it all. Great quotes, a wonderful roman a clef (which ties into another Best Picture winner: see footnote below**), and a stellar performance by Al Pacino in his first big role combine to make this a nearly perfect film.

JGT’s Take: No argument here. Brilliant film. That said, I think I like part II a little bit better (it also won Best Pic.)

PATTON: The opposite of Rocky, this film is big in every way. In an era full of larger-than-life characters, Patton was the largest. George C. Scott captures the essence of the man beautifully (check out You-Tube for some of Patton’s real-life speeches) and makes him accessible and more human at the same time. One of the greatest performances ever. Fun fact: Scott won, but declined to accept the Ocsar for Best Actor.

JGT’s Take: Embarrassed to say this: never seen it. I know. I know. Trust me, it’s on the short list.

GIGI: I can’t come up with any rational reason why I like this movie, so I’m not gonna try. More to the point, I’m not sure I want to know. It’s a corny musical (which generally annoys me) with a terrible social message (which REALLY annoys me) and worst of all, it’s set in France (which… well, you get the point). But for some reason, I really, really like this movie. Sue me.

JGT’s Take: Not embarrassed to say, I’ve never seen this. Mike encouraged me to DVR it, which I did. Will I actually ever sit down and watch it, or will it perpetually take up 7% of my DVR space? Only time will tell.

**It has been suggested that the character of Johnny Fontane was based on Frank Sinatra. The role he asks his Godfather to help him get is the fictional version of Maggio in From Here to Eternity, which won an Oscar for Best Picture and several others, including a Best Supporting Actor for Sinatra. This is much clearer in the book than the movie, but it’s hard not to make the connection in either case.