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Every baseball fan should see "Sugar". After a limited theatrical release this spring, the DVD will be out on September 1 and I was lucky enough to get sent an advance copy for review. Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who did "Half Nelson" in 2006, this film is well worth your time.

The basic story line is simple: Miguel "Sugar" Santos is a 19-year-old pitching prospect from the Dominican Republic who is attending a baseball academy run by the fictional Kansas City Knights (obviously based on the Royals). After being taught a knuckle curve by an older Dominican mentor, he gets on the fast track to spring training.

That's where the storyline gets deeper and richer. We learn much about Sugar's family and way of life in the DR and see exactly how so many families there hope and wish and dream of a better life when they have sons with baseball talent.

Sugar does exceptionally well in spring training (you'll recognize the Oakland A's facilities at Papago Park and Phoenix Municipal Stadium if you've been there) and is assigned to "Bridgetown", the Knights' low-A affiliate in Bridgetown, Iowa. The city is fictional, but the team's home park is clearly John O'Donnell Stadium in Davenport, Iowa (visible ads on the stadium outfield walls promote businesses in Davenport), and the team is even called the Swing, which was the name the current Quad Cities River Bandits of the Midwest League used from 2004-2007.

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It's hard for me to believe that almost 43 years have gone by since I was a not-quite-10-year-old lying on my living room floor watching "Star Trek", the TV show now known by Trekkers as "The Original Series".

The cast and stories are legendary in TV history; several feature films were made with them, some good, some ... not so much.

So when I heard they were making a "prequel" to The Original Series with recast Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. characters, I was skeptical. But the new "Star Trek" movie exceeds anyone's expectations and any fears should be dismissed. The casting is inspired, particularly Zachary Quinto as a young Spock and Karl Urban as a young McCoy. Quinto bears a strong physical resemblance to the young Leonard Nimoy and Urban has the McCoy speeches and mannerisms down cold.

But it's not just the casting -- the story is well-done, nuanced in the way Original Series scripts were, and for the modern movie fan who needs action scenes, those are also excellent. Eric Bana is creepily good as the enemy Romulan captain, and Leonard Nimoy reprises his own role as Spock (christened "Spock Prime" for this film), perhaps for the last time. They have, of course, left plenty of leeway for sequels -- and if they do them as well as this one was, I look forward to the next "Star Trek" film. AYRating: *** 1/2

It also got me thinking -- what current Cubs would be most similar to various crew members of the Enterprise and other characters from this film?

Captain Kirk: of course, he's Lou Piniella -- not only because they are both leaders, but they both are a bit headstrong at times and don't always make the right decision. (If you want to pick a player instead... it'd have to be Carlos Zambrano.)

Spock: Derrek Lee, always calm and collected, never saying much but speaking quietly in ways you might not expect.

Mr. Sulu: Rich Harden, precise in his approach to his work, never the big guy but someone you always appreciate having around.

Mr. Scott: Ryan Dempster -- the guy who's always joking around.

Dr. McCoy: also a jokester of sorts, he's Reed Johnson, never the major player but somehow, always around when you need him most.

Mr. Chekov: Mike Fontenot. (You shouldn't have to ask why.)

Captain Pike: Ted Lilly, always willing to go the extra mile (or light-year) for his team.

Yes, it seems like it's been ages since the last game. Hang in there -- it's less than 12 hours away. In the meantime, go see this movie!

Had enough CC for a little while?

Yeah, me too. So last night, I went to see WALL-E, the latest Pixar/Disney collaboration.

This is a perfect example of a movie whose trailer was poorly made; I remember seeing it last winter and thinking, "Why would I want to see that?" A movie about a waste hauler with a too-cutesy name on a desolate Earth? Where's the humor or story behind that?

But many of the movie critics loved this movie, so on a Cubs off-day, I figured this was a good time to check it out.

And darned if they aren't right. This movie is exceptionally well-animated (many of the scenes look "real", not animated, and the animated scenes all have a purpose, not just done to see who can out-CGI their peers), moves quickly and is actually plausible science fiction and makes a point about present-day society, as good science fiction can and will do.

The basic story you likely already know: WALL-E, the too-cutesy acronym for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth", is a little robot assigned to compact all the trash left on Earth after humans have evacuated the planet, having destroyed all plant life, so there's no food. This has been done, apparently, largely at the behest of the huge corporation -- Big 'N Large -- that runs everything on Earth (a veiled slam at Wal-Mart?) Meanwhile, human beings have evacuated to a huge spaceship that is run like a cruise ship and, over the 700 years they've been gone, have turned into corpulent slabs of lard barely able to move. WALL-E, for his part, goes beyond just trash compacting -- if he sees a piece of junk he likes, he saves it in his little "home", lit up with Christmas lights and featuring an iPod on which he plays old movies, enlarging them with a magnifying screen, accompanied by a pet cockroach.

Does this all sound silly? It's not, it's actually rather charming, but when a new robot appears on Earth, quite clearly female to WALL-E's quite obviously male, the love story begins. I won't give any more spoilers after this, only to say that there are the obligatory chase scenes, but those are the least interesting parts of the film. The social commentary, animation and homages to many prior films and TV shows (including "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Star Trek", and clips from movie musicals) are what makes this a must-see, especially since large parts of the story are told virtually without dialogue, and well done, I might add. It's getting some Oscar buzz for Best Picture, and that's in the main category, not "Best Animated Feature", too.

The kids will like the animation and cute characters. Adults will appreciate that this isn't just a formula story; it has depth and meaning. Don't miss this one. It's preceded by another Pixar film, a short cartoon involving a magician and his rabbit, cute and fun.

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TEMPE, Arizona -- Mostly, I'm posting this review as practice.

Practice? Yes, it's spring training, and this new platform is just as new to me as it is to you. I've had a little practice on a beta version, but you wouldn't want to see some of the stuff I posted there.

So, having gone to see "U23D" tonight, I thought I'd post a quick review, just to give you something to read before tomorrow morning's game thread, and also to give me some posting practice.

This movie was filmed during the 2005-2006 U2 Vertigo tour, and they chose to film a show in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- maybe because it was at a huge outdoor stadium that seemed to seat about 100,000. Even the general admission pit seemed to have far more people than the USA arena shows. I saw three of those shows -- two at the United Center, one at Madison Square Garden, and reviewed them here and here.

This film captured the concert experience perfectly, especially with the 3D feature (I was glad to see it here in Arizona, because had I seen it at Navy Pier in Chicago, it would have cost an extra $12 for parking). The most effective use of the 3D was when they had shots from behind the audience in the pit looking toward the stage. When they'd jump up and down it felt like they were sitting in the IMAX theater right in front of me. Pretty cool. If you're a fan of U2 you should see this film; if you're a fan of IMAX films, you should also see this film. I've heard U2 is back in the studio making new music this year and may go on tour worldwide again in 2009.

Nice way to spend an evening on a Cubs spring training off day. Back to the fray in the morning.

Many of you may have seen Will Smith's new star vehicle already; in case you haven't, here's a quick review of this holiday-time action film.

This is the third time that a film has been made based on Robert Matheson's 1954 novel: "The Last Man On Earth", starring Vincent Price (about the last actor I'd think of when I think of this role), was made in 1964, and the 1971 film "The Omega Man", with the second-to-last guy I'd want in that role (Charlton Heston).

The basic story, if you have been avoiding entertainment shows, trailers and magazines for months: a scientist (Emma Thompson, who is uncredited) has found a viral cure for cancer. Unfortunately, it backfires and three years later it has killed off 90% of humanity, and 99% of the rest (along with many animals) have been turned into pale, hairless zombies that jump around every corner and yell like lions (how else would you make this a horror/action flick, without loud noises at unexpected times?).

Smith plays Robert Neville, a colonel in the military whose wife and child are being evacuated from Manhattan before it is quarantined (I won't ruin the method if you haven't seen the movie -- the scenes of evacuation and quarantine are shown in multiple flashbacks that Neville has in dreams). He winds up as the last living human in New York -- every single other being has been infected.

The rest of the film shows various fights he has with the zombies, his attempts to find a cure for the infection, and most affectingly, his relationship with his dog, who is also immune -- mostly. The two of them ride in various vehicles through a New York covered with weeds and with buildings half-destroyed.

That's the coolest part of this film -- the CGI effects, both how they made NYC look abandoned (apparently, they got permission to shut down streets for long periods of time, and actually imported weeds from Florida -- those aren't CGI), and the zombies.

The rest of the movie -- not so much. There are quite a number of plot holes and questions raised that, if you got a reasonable answer to them, would make you say, "This writing is ridiculous!" But that's not why this movie is entertaining. Like many of its type, its purpose is to provide 101 minutes of escapist entertainment on a weekend evening. And it accomplished that goal quite well. Will Smith is excellent as usual; there aren't many speaking roles in this film, and one of the other ones goes to another survivor who shows up, suddenly (and if you think too much about how she gets there, you'll drive some more holes through the plot), and from there, the film drives to a relentless, and actually somewhat happy, conclusion.

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There is a gesture -- a physical gesture -- made not far from the end of "Juno", the only interaction in the entire film between two major characters, which is so tender, so sweet, and so appropriate, it sums up nearly the entire story of this film.

"Juno" could have been a formula film with stereotyped characters, because it is about teenage pregnancy. Instead, what we get is a comedy -- don't get me wrong, there are some hilariously funny lines in this film -- that's also real, because the characters don't react in the way we have come to expect characters in this situation would react. They react like real people, and the result is, we wind up caring deeply about what happens to them.

The basic plot: Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page -- and in this age of bad girl actresses like the Spears girls and Lindsay Lohan, it's refreshing to see someone of this generation with this sort of talent, and who's apparently hardworking and normal; Page ought to be nominated for Best Actress for this role) has sex with "her best friend". It's her first time (and his, too) and, naturally, she gets pregnant. Paulie, the best friend (Michael Cera), isn't at all what you'd expect from a character like this. He's quiet and sweet and is on the track team (apparently, what attracted Juno to him in the first place was his legs), and as we find out, Juno really does love him, and not in the way you see most teenagers "love" in the movies.

When Juno (and we also learn from the film why she has this unusual name) tells her father (J. K. Simmons, who played the editor in the Spiderman films) and stepmother Bren (Allison Janney) about this, their reactions set the tone for the entire film. While Bren and Juno are shown to be at odds over many things -- not uncommon for stepparents -- you can also clearly see that Bren loves and cares deeply for Juno.

Juno eventually decides she wants to have the baby and put it up for adoption, and she and her friend Leah find (in the "Penny Saver"!) a couple who have placed a classified ad looking for a baby.

And once again, this couple isn't what you'd expect. Juno and her family aren't exactly from "the wrong side of the tracks", but it's clear that they live in modest circumstances, while the potential adoptive parents, Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner, in a part far different from her usual adventure roles), live in "Glacier Estates", an upscale subdivision. There's obviously something uncomfortably wrong with this relationship when we first meet this couple -- but it doesn't take the turns you think it's going to; even when the film appears to be going in one direction, the characters don't act in stereotypical ways. Eventually, Juno and Vanessa run into each other at a mall and what happens there will astonish and delight you.

And there, I'll stop; the only thing that remains to be said is that every single character in "Juno" feels real, not acted; the story is human and believable. It doesn't feel written or acted, it feels lived. You'll understand the motivations and actions behind every scene. Jason Reitman, the director (who also directed the comedy 'documentary' "Thank You For Smoking"), doesn't hit one discordant note, and his use of music is, well, just perfect.

Run, don't walk, to see this film. It will leave you smiling. And keep your eyes on Ellen Page, who is all of 20 years old (though the character she plays in this film is supposed to be 16). She is a major talent.

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Tired of reading about steroids and the Mitchell Report?

Yeah, me too.

So while we wait for the expected announcement later today of the Kosuke Fukudome press conference, I wanted to tell you about "The Great Debaters", which will be released to theaters on Christmas Day. I had the opportunity to see a DGA sponsored screening a couple of nights ago.

The movie, based on real events, stars and is also directed by Denzel Washington, who plays a professor and debating coach at Wiley College, a black college located in Marshall, Texas, a small town not far from Shreveport. The year is 1935, and it's the Jim Crow South -- we see events that both define some of the political movements of the day (Washington's character, Mel Tolson, gets involved in union organizing), and we are constantly reminded that the "Negro" (that term is just beginning to replace the somewhat pejorative "colored" as the "correct" term of the times to refer to black people) is put in what white people feel is his "place".

Tolson holds tryouts for the debate team, and winnows the students down to four -- one of whom is someone who's clearly had a troubled past, one who can't stomach Tolson's political views and quits the team, a female student, and the fourth, whose character is only sixteen in the film, Denzel Whitaker, a 17-year-old actor who looks fourteen. The young Whitaker plays this young debater with great dignity and class; in the film his father, a doctor played also with the same quiet dignity by Forest Whitaker (who, despite a resemblance to Denzel Whitaker, is NOT his real-life father), both keeps him in line as a father would have in the 1930's, and also strongly encourages his education, in a belief that education can actually help him rise up out of the situation he was born into.

Tolson hones the debaters' skills and they begin to win debates against similar black colleges. When they try to arrange matches against other schools, they meet with the subtle racism of the time. At last, Oklahoma City University agrees to debate them, the first white college to do so, and while the debate is going on, half the white audience walks out.

The characters are well-drawn and speak realistic dialogue that doesn't sound like "movie dialogue". The climax of the film comes when Harvard University, whose national championship debate team has heard about Wiley's debate winning streak, invites them to come to Boston to debate them. No spoilers here -- go see this film, which has terrific performances as always by two of the best actors of our time, Washington and Forest Whitaker, and keep your eyes on Denzel Whitaker, who nearly steals the whole show from his elder counterparts. There will be Oscar buzz about this film, and justifiably so -- one of the best of the year.

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This weekend, we await the Fukudome Decision, and in many parts of the country, the weather's going to be rotten.

That makes this a good opportunity for me to say: Go see this movie! "Atonement" is a wonder, filled with beautiful period costumes, great settings (from an English country house to World War II France), and great acting by some of today's best young actors (Keira Knightley, James McAvoy).

But the real stars of "Atonement" are the three actresses who play the protagonist, Briony Tallis -- first, as a 13-year-old girl, then as an 18-year-old who has reason to spend the rest of her life "atoning" (thus the film's title), and finally, in a virtuoso performance by Vanessa Redgrave, nearing the end of her life.

Here's the basic plotline: the 13-year-old Briony is a precocious young girl who has written a play, which is supposedly going to be performed by her and a couple of her young cousins, visiting at the English country house in pre-war 1935. The cousins are bored, and so Briony sets her sights on the activities of the adults in the house, including her older sister Cecilia (Knightley) and Robbie (McAvoy), the gardener's son who has been sort of adopted by the family, a brilliant mind who they have put through school.

Events are witnessed by Briony, which she interprets through her 13-year-old mind, and which we later learn through flashback and a different character's perspective, aren't the way they seemed. Then she does something (and unlike some other reviews, I'm not going to tell you what) based on seeing something falsely, that tears the entire family apart, and creates the reasons for the "atonement".

That brings the story into the war years, and director Joe Wright ("Pride & Prejudice") pulls no punches in showing us the horrors of war, both through the characters' eyes and through one incredible, long tracking shot which ends up on the beach at Dunkirk. Terrific stuff.

The real stars of this film, as I said, are the three actresses (Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, and Redgrave) who play Briony Tallis. Each hits exactly the right note for the character at the age she plays her.

There's already Oscar buzz for this film and when you see it, you'll see why.

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