BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Showtime's Fight Camp 360 was a snoozefest


It’s been a busy week for me that I haven’t been able to do much writing. The one thing I was able to do was watch some movies. Went to watch X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern. Then last night finally found the time to watch the DVD of Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley (although I fell asleep midway through it).

X-Men was my first favorite comic book ever. I was able to get hand-me-downs from an uncle of mine (that included the very first 30 issues of the run) when I was in grade school to which I collected from thereon. It was only after Ondoy that I stopped and now cannot make heads and tails of what is going on and who is on the team. I really enjoyed the films but First Class (which is better than the comic series) in some ways topped them.

Green Lantern, had its moments but it’s not great as far as film debuts go. After a while I just wanted to watch the vivacious Blake Lively.

Fight Camp 360, the DVD was every bit as disappointing as the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley. I think technically, Pacman’s camp should just void that contract with Showtime on account of plain suckiness. The four-part series isn’t interesting at all, it’s boring, and inevitably, I have to compare it to HBO’s 24/7 series. The lack of a real script hurts. Instead, it’s a seemingly free-flowing sneak peak where the protagonists tell the story for you falls flat. All the stuff becomes repetitious and the re-use of some footage smacks of the lack of foresight. I even wondered if it was color graded.

I miss the high def cameras used by HBO, the great storytelling, the cinematography, and the keen eye for detail by the producer and the director. And no Liv Schreiber? Can he narrate or can he narrate?

Fight Camp put me to sleep without a knockout punch.

Pacquaio’s advisers, when they aren’t sucking up, should alone on their previous features on HBO 24/7, stayed with the old camp. In case they missed the 24/7 treatment of the NHL’s Winter Classic (between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals) they should watch that.

I figure there next Fight Camp between Pacquiao and Barrera will suck. The fight, I am sure won’t disappoint.

On the topic of sports documentaries, HBO isn’t the only one that has done a marvelous job with sports properties. ESPN, no surprise there has. In fact, I ordered the DVDs of Once Brothers, which we featured here on Brew a few months ago. That was a powerful and moving film. I also ordered the Fab Five story and put on hold Jordan Rides A Bus which is all about Michael Jordan’s baseball adventure.

This long weekend, I’ll get around to writing and watch those Discovery Channel and National Geographic DVDs. Maybe head over to Fully Booked in Serendra to while the time away. That's something I never get bored doing.



2 comments:

  1. You mean Pacquiao and Marquez..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to agree between the 24/7 vs. Fight Camp 360 comparison. The script for 24/7 makes a huge difference as well as the cinematography and editing. I am no film expert but 24/7 leaves a lasting impression every time.

    ESPN's entire set of 30 for 30 is incredible. I have only seen a couple of documentary features but my coworkers can't stop recommending the others.

    ReplyDelete