A Mixed Bag of Tricks
Some thoughts mid-week in mid-March as we try to turn out a not mid-column.
So I usually collect my thoughts for a Friday column but I have a few thoughts about a variety of things so here we go.
The Oscars happened on Sunday and I didn’t see a second of it. Apparently John Cena got naked, sort of. And the awards went mostly to the folks people seemed to think they should - at least, out of those who got nominated. I always try to watch as many Best Picture nominees as possible, and every year I think there’s way too many mediocre films that get a pretty hallowed ground prestige of being a Best Picture nominee.
I thought Oppenheimer was a very, very good movie and I’m happy to see it get recognition, as well as folks like Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey, Jr. I also really enjoyed Barbie, American Fiction and Past Lives in terms of other nominees.
I thought The Holdovers was fine. I thought Poor Things was maybe great, or maybe not - but I’m super glad I saw it. Very confusing movie (and I just saw it the night before the Oscars so perhaps my take is still evolving). I thought Maestro low key stunk - good performances, zero story and I just didn’t care for a second about any of it.
I would very much still like to see Killers of the Flower Moon, Anatomy of a Fall and Zone of Interest, but will take my time.
Are movies worse now? Is this a good crop of movies or a bad one? If there were still just five movies to nominate, I think there’d undeniably be five defensible choices. But there’s too much fluff. And it devalues the movies overall.
Moving onto the NFL, free agency opens this week - and by the time you read this (even by the time I’m writing this), players will have moved from team to team. The 49ers will be waiving DT Arik Armstead, who has been with the team since before Kyle Shanahan showed up. It’s a loss for sure - except that Armstead hasn’t really been healthy enough and costs a LOT of money. Which he may well get from another team. I hope this doesn’t cause the team to prioritize DT over Offensive Tackle, which is the biggest need on the team in my opinion. The interior line as well - if they had managed to block Chris Jones effectively, or even ineffectively but got a hand or two on him - the 49ers may well have just won the Super Bowl.
Last year, I predicted the Niners would be very quiet in free agency, and they shocked me by signing Javon Hargrave to a major contract right out of the gates.
This year, they have been linked to another DT, former Dolphins stud Christian Wilkins. I’d be surprised if that’s where they wanted to use their money but there isn’t a ton of available good offensive linemen or cornerbacks, so ideally they focus on that in the draft. [Note: I couldn’t even finish typing that sentence before I just saw Wilkins is likely heading to the Raiders. So, there.]
Some folks have already moved - Russell Wilson to the Steelers, and the leaked stories about who will sign where (like Wilkins above) are juicy enough that a true free agent roundup after the dust settles makes sense. For now, enjoy the madness.