Rosenbush Cafe

Updated December 7, 2008 at 10p EST

John Parker Wilson passed for 151 yards and Terry Grant rushed for two touchdowns in the first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday but the defense dominated with seven interceptions and 11 sacks. Ouch! Save some for Clemson!

Good to have cornerback Javier Arenas, a junior, back in top form as he had two picks and four tackles. Overall the defense was hitting hard and confident with all tackles led by Rolando McClain and Charlie Higgenbotham each with six; safety Justin Woodall had five tackles and 1 INT and noseguard Lorenzo Washington collected two sacks.

The Alabama Crimson Tide will play its spring game on Saturday, April 12, 2008 in Bryant-Denny Stadium. No big bash the day before as planned with all pre-game festivities cancelled due to some NCAA question of ethics that are so confusing we won’t dignify trying to explain. Plenty of time for later pre-game festivities anyway as opening day is August 30th.

Last year’s A-Day Game was crazy with 92,138 in attendance and university officials forced to turn away a large number of fans. It was Coach Nick Saban’s introduction to Alabama. Although his first year started well at 6-2 the disasterous 4-game losing streak ended the season, but a win over Colorado gave the Tide a 7-6 record. Much improvement was made throughout the year and Saban proved last year he was a disciplinarian and coach and a fair person who earned the respect he deserved through his actions on and off the field.

This year’s home opener is on the road at a quasi-neutral turf in Atlanta against the Clemson Tigers, August 30th on ABC or ESPN.

2008 is also the year of the two-fer with a host of double state opponents; Western Kentucky and Kentucky, Arkansas and Arkansas State, Tulane and LSU and naturally Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Of course with Alabama and Auburn that is 5 states represented with solo performances from Clemson, Georgia and Tennessee and for the first time in years Vanderbilt isn’t on the sked.

2007 SEC STANDINGS
East Overall Conference
12 Tennessee 10-4 6-2
2 Georgia 11-2 6-2
13 Florida 9-4 5-3
South Carolina 6-6 3-5
Kentucky 8-5 3-5
Vanderbilt 5-7 2-6

West Overall Conference
1 LSU 12-2 6-2
15 Auburn 9-4 5-3
Arkansas 8-5 4-4
Mississippi State 8-5 4-4
Alabama 7-6 4-4
Mississippi 3-9 0-8

Pre-season ranking: 24th AP, USAToday: Unranked

2008 Schedule Final Regular Season: 12-0, 8-0
Aug. 30 Clemson @ Atlanta: Tide 34, Tigers 10 24th, Un
Sept. 6 Tulane @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 20, Greenwave 6 13th, 17th
Sept. 13 Western Kentucky @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 41, Hilltoppers 7 11th, 16th
Sept. 20 Arkansas @ Fayetteville: Tide 49, Razorbacks 14 9th, 13th
Sept. 27 Georgia @ Athens, GA: Tide 41, Bulldogs 30 8th, 10th
Oct. 4 Kentucky @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 17, Wildcats 14 2nd, 4th
Oct. 18 Ole Miss @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 24, Rebels 20 2nd, 4th
Oct. 25 Tennessee @ Knoxville: Tide 29, Vols 9 2nd, 2nd
Nov. 1 Arkansas State @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 35, Red Wolves 0 2nd, 2nd
Tide Ranked 2nd place in 9th week before rising to 1st place on November 2nd in both polls
Nov. 8 LSU @ Baton Rouge: Tide 27, Tigers 21 OT 1st
Nov. 15 Miss. State @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 32, Bulldogs 7 1st
Nov. 29 Auburn @ Tuscaloosa: Tide 36, Tigers 01st
Dec 6 in Atlanta: Gators 31, Tide 20 in SEC Title Game

AP: Florida become #1, followed by Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and USC
USAToday: Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, USC and Alabama.

Next Game: Alabama (12-1) versus Utah (12-0) in Super Bowl, January 2, 2009 7 p.m. CST, FOX televising

Good Bear Bryant story

Max is Mad at the similarity to The Road Warrior climax

Reviewed By Henry B. Rosenbush
Edited and updated 3.18.2010

Doomsday is not a bad movie but predictably most films that open cold, that is without advanced screenings for critics, are generally looking for the quick payoff before reviews and word of mouth sinks the production. Expect a reasonably good shelf life for fans on end of the world cinema.

Although not abysmal, it is unlikely to attract many converts either; it is loud, gruesome and dark with enough gore to satiate the audience that craves it and the sight of Rhona Mitra in tight spandex will propel it to reasonable box-office. Expect a quick payoff and a less doomed life in ancillary markets and on cable television.

Once critics got a view negative reviews began spreading faster than the Reaper Virusthat spreads from Glasgow and begins rapidly decimating Scotland. A brief voiceover narration by Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell), who is left behind in Glasgow, establishes that the disease is so pervasive, England decides to wall off Scotland and abandon the entire populace to death. Young Eden Sinclair (Mitra), with an eye wound, is saved as her mother gets her aboard a helicopter when a soldier gives up his seat. Naturally, she will grow up one bad-assed military major with a missing right eye which was replaced with a surveillance device allowing her to keep an eye out for danger.

Whether intended, or not, as social metaphor for the current construction of the wall between the United States and Mexico the walling off Scotland is deemed the only suitable way from containing the infection which presumably doesn’t affect the West or countries outside Europe; the film never explains. England becomes ostracized from other nations and becomes a militaristic police state free from the virus until 2033; 25 years after the original outbreak when corpses are found in the city and the leaders realize the virus has returned to England despite the earlier efforts to contain it.

The plot is far from pedantic; it incorporates most apocalyptical sagas ever committed to celluloid as far back as No Blade of Grass (1970) and I may be the only critic to reference that film but I’ll later bring its relevance. Most reviewers condemned Marshall for borrowing liberally from Escape From New York, I Am Legend, the Max Mad Trilogy (notably the second and third installments), Resident Evil Franchise and 28 Days Later. There are even scenes that echo Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Robin Hood films and even the long forgotten 1950 viral thriller from Elia Kazan Panic in the City with criminal Jack Palance hunted by health inspector Richard Widmark before he can infect New Orleans with bubonic plague.

With a nod today’s paranoia about surveillance it is revealed that satellites in space have spied on Scotland and have known for three years there were survivors in the hot zone. At least as a plot device it explains why the later journey into Scotland is necessary.

Whether homage to the other films or blatant rip-offs British director Neil Marshall’s third film, after the werewolves versus British soldiers in the Scottish highlands, Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005), with female spelunkers battling underground cannibalistic foes, delivers plenty of action drenched in blood. The violence is grisly and mean-spirited; a rabbit is blown to bit to illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of an automatic defense system against unauthorized attempts to enter England and a man is barbequed alive before being torn to bits and eaten by the cannibalistic Scots. There are decapitations, dismemberments and plenty of gunplay resulting in untold numbers of deaths, even a cow gets run over by a military vehicle. If anything, Marshall’s first three features are visceral in their conception even if the story is less compelling.

Rhona Mitra deserves better starring roles

After a viral outbreak comes to England Major Sinclair and a team enter the forbidden world abandoned 33 years earlier in 2008 and almost immediately come under attack. Most of the team are quickly dispatched leaving three survivors and Eden captured, hung from a ceiling and manhandled and physically abused by the mohawked leader of the post-apocalyptic denizens of Glasgow Sol (the over-the-top Craig Conway). After meeting a survivor also imprisoned named Cally (MyAnna Buring), who is Sol’s sister and the possible carrier of the cure, Sinclair escapes into the countryside with two other survivors of the team. At the one hour mark we are finally freed from the dark urban decay for mountains and valleys that evoke the world outside the cities. It is a splendid moment of serenity negated by more violence at the hands of Kane.

As typical of movie plot devices Sol and Cally are offsprings of Kane who now lives in a castle in a feudalistic society complete with ther black knight archetype and a gladiatorial ring where the weaponless Eden Sinclair battles the fully armored knight in a battle to the death. No problem guessing who wins that battle.

Mitra acquits herself well in the heroine role and carries the film. Having starred in the first two seasons of Boston Legal and in Sweet Home Alabama, Mitra has already shown superb skills in dramatic and comedic situations as in Robert Harmon’s 2004 film, and Highwaymen, co-starring Jim Caviezel, where she went from frightened victim to tough survivor. “Highwaymen” is a good guilty pleasure film, mostly enjoyable on a rainy night, and the sight
dressed in a red dress backing across asphalt to avoid the villian’s cat and mouse game is a highlight. Few may remember Mitra in an uncredited role as the next door neighbor rape victim of the “Hollow Man.”

She deserves better starring roles with her unique face and mysterious demeanor. Although portrayed slender and buff she handles the fight scenes well; that trait also did not hurt either Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton in their brave femme roles in, respectively, Alien (1979) and Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991).

McDowell is cast looking tired and grizzled with some juicy madman dialogue (”They started this fire, they can burn in it.”) while other cast members are purely perfunctory as cannon fodder, so to speak. Bob Hoskins has little to do as Sinclair’s boss in what amounts to an extended cameo. Only David O’Hara as Canaris, a power-hungry second command to the Prime Minister adds depth to his duplicitous character.

At film’s climax we are treated to a highway chase not unlike The Road Warrior with the nadir reached when Sol jumps into a speeding Bentley without survivors to try and choke his sister! With a scene already shown in the trailer, a car-through-a-bus crash assures us Sol will not return for a sequel. The dénouement is unsurprising adding an unexpected moment of deus ex machina. Whether the final corker leads to a sequel won’t be decided by the first weekend take of $4.9 million.

While not for all tastes, Doomsday gorehounds will enjoy the endless parade of decapitations, dismemberments and bloodletting. While some critics have rightfully noted its similar arc with other recent films (Legend, Resident Evil, 28…Later) it should be noted the infected characters are shown to less degree than the aforementioned zombie-style plots.

Doomsday reminds of the rarely seen No Blade of Grass, a pollution-themed seventies end-of-the-world grind house feature, that shocked me as a teenager in its unrelenting nastiness towards its characters, especially women, who are systemically killing one another or murdered in ghastly fashion. A gang-rape of a mother and her virgin daughter was so savage it made the mother’s shotgun-emasculation revenge on the lead rapist a vindication and one that received audience applause.

Tech credits are pro within this genre with a nice mixture of live action mayhem and computerized effects for this economical $30 million action film.

A Rogue Pictures release presented with Intrepid Pictures of a Crystal Sky Pictures production, in association with Scion Films. Produced by Steven Paul and Benedict Carver; Executive producers, Peter McAleese, Trevor Macy, Marc D. Evans, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman. Directed and written by Neil Marshall. Camera (color), Sam McCurdy; editor, Andrew MacRitchie; music, Tyler Bates; production designer, Simon Bowles; supervising art director, Steve Carter; art directors, Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson, John Trafford, David Doran; set decorator, Mark Auret; costume designer, John Norster; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Derek Mansvelt; sound designer, Matthew Collinge; visual effects supervisor, Hal Couzens; visual effects, Double Negative, the Senate Visual Effects; special makeup effects designer, Paul Hyett; stunt coordinator, Cordell McQueen; assistant directors, Jack Ravenscroft, Dale Butler; casting, Jeremy Zimmermann.

Reviewed at the Hollwood 16, Tuscaloosa. AL March 17, 2008. MPAA Rating: R (Strong Bloody Violence, Language and Some Sexual Content/Nudity). Running time: 1:49

CAST
Eden Sinclair - Rhona Mitra
Bill Nelson - Bob Hoskins
Norton - Adrian Lester
John Hatcher - Alexander Siddig
Canaris - David O’Hara
Kane - Malcolm McDowell
Sol - Craig Conway
Cally - MyAnna Buring

Birthday at the Café? No.
Find out soon who she is.

This week, Rosenbush Café explores politics and movies in the Heart of Dixie; Previews of upcoming movies and reviews of current cinema. TVSquad is our newest link so check it out for teevee entertainment news. Many more movies for sale will be posted, including foreign, documentaries and cult favorites. Apartment openings for the fall near the UofA are available. We are working with guest writers and expect some new topics to whet your appetites so get your silverware cleaned and ready.

A mysterious occurrence wiped out many files from the pantry, including my only copy of The Obsessive Collector album design story. Been working on a new version as the other one was extensive and very political. The paranoia-surveillance article disappeared, too. Figures, eh? Write about paranoia to get some practice! Luckily, I’m not since I know we are all under scrutiny.

We have changed all the locks and enhanced our security to include electrocution for unauthorized attacks.

Who would attack our Café?

Disgruntled former employees. Doubtful, they are all deceased.
Cyber-terrorists? Probably, not. They have their hands full after unsuccessful attempts at poisoning our well.
Hackers in drag? Perhaps.
Anti-virus snafu? Always possible.
Bush’s Baked Beans Justice Department? We aren’t a threat to national security with our tasty sweet potatoes and kale.

We have directed Citizen Daemon to track down the culprits and paddle their asses raw.

In the meantime, we will continue our promise to provide nourishment for the masses and will not be dissuaded from entertaining all patrons. After all, what is the worst that could happen? Maybe my next sentence will vanish. We’ll save you a seat by

Henry and friend; Henry is on the left!

Rosenbush Café was a restaurant in Livingston, Alabama, in the western section and not far from the Missisippi state line. Started around 1926 by my Great Uncle Edwin Rosenbush, it was operating long before the interstate system altered the landscape and designated businesses to survive or become decayed structures with graffiti and broken windows. RC survived, tentatively, until 1971. Edwin died in 1968, January, and left it to dad who tried to keep it going, but from a city 55 miles away. Today, it is a memory with the property sold in 1995 and a strip mall that still has the name Rosenbush Plaza in small faded letters above the store names.

We watch and read everything we can and then our interests will hopefully becomes yours, even if only once.

Charles Osgood’s Sunday morning program on CBS is a wonderful program catering to all tastes. Today, we had Herbie Hancock and his recent Grammy wins and a segment on The Onion.

As one of my ongoing projects, I update the Appetizers; links frequently and have an esoteric view of everything that can be useful. Today, Onion goes there, next week will be a surprise to me or maybe not!

You will find governmental links for the CIA and Homeland Security and we suggest you check our Virtual Alabama URL. Big Brother is watching my state from every conceivable camera and surveillance device from space. Not science fiction, fact. We also have Mental_Floss for pedagogical reading with a twist of humor and we provide dictionaries, enclopedias and news services from around the globe for quick references.

As a certified movie reviewer with years of experience and an arcane knowledge of the art form, I write about current and past gems and have written explorations of Nuclear-theme fifties science fiction and gave Godzilla a makeover, too! El Cine will continue to grow as I add more cinematic entries. Coming soon: paranoia thrillers The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and The Anderson Tapes.

The Obsessive Collector is currently about to unleash a mammoth long prepared album design treatise that will be entertaining and reveal the mind of obsessive record collecting. It was written, edited and then mysteriously disappeared so I am writing it again and it promises to be better than the lost version!

Did I mention cats? Our fully trained and educated felines cover a wide array of subjects through the Milo Institute of Feline Well-Being .

We serve everyone 24/7 with a flavor for far flung tastes of the globe and hope you’ll visit often.

Director John Sayles and actor Danny Glover on the set

Reviewed by Henry B. Rosenbush

Indie filmmaker John Sayles engaging musical comedy drama Honeydripper unspooled February 4th at the historic Bama Theater, the last local palatial Depression era movie palace, with The Alabama in Birmingham, left in West Central Alabama. The crowd of 900 was diverse with urban upscale blacks and whites commingling with college students, older citizens and even teenagers. How nice that the life of blacks and whites, as depicted in the film, has changed enough that we can all enjoy a movie in the same theater.

Aside from obvious Civil Rights issues of an era not far removed from my personal experiences, this film derserved a better fate; especially in Alabama where racism, violence and finally the triumphant speeches and marches of Dr. Martin Luther King resonated enough that change finally occurred.

A month later and where is Honeydripper now? According to Variety’s Weekly Box Office chart of the 107 top films it ranks 74th showing on 14 screens and has a total gross of $174,264. Credit Sayles for making films he believes in for this little honey of a film has faded from public view.

Sayles has always made small and personal films; some of them are an acquired taste; The Brother From Another Planet (1984) a black alien with a gift for fixing coin-operated machines ends up in Harlem ghetto is anchored by the engaging perf of Joe Morton), Eight Men Out (1988) the infamous Black Sox baseball scandal) and screenwriting credits on such low budget horror as Piranhas (1979), Alligator (1980) and The Howling (1981).

Even in these assignments, Sayles always showed particularly good ears for dialogue and his directing talents merge nicely with his own stories. He was destined to be a great scribe after the wonderful ensemble characters he created for The Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979), still easily one of his most well known early films and much better than The Big Chill (1983) in the ensemble department ane a film that reminds me at times of Between the Lines (1977), Joan Micklin Silver’s wonderful small film about an alternative Boston newspaper and its employees struggling with putting joie de vivre behind them.

Before the review, I must say it was enjoyable seeing a film in a theater I spent two summers working in and meeting the director afterwards to ask a follow up question to my earlier one concerning the realism of the period recreation. They did a superb job and Mr. Sayles spent time answering questions from the audience and he projected true love for the assembled patrons. I doubt I could have taken several minutes of a larger director’s time to thank him for making such a nice film about people. As much as I love the works of Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet, I doubt I could stand a foot from them in the aisle of a movie theater in the deep south.

The point is, Sayles is a big director who works in the Indie film making arena where he can make films he wants to make without the interference (unfortunately, money, too) from producers and film production staffers who can hinder a director’s vision. Kudos to John Sayles, for making this nice small picture and for sharing it with Tuscaloosa.

Filmed on location in several Alabama towns, including Greenville and Midway, subbing for the fictitious town of Harmony, described to newcomer itinerant guitarist Sonny Blake (the superb Gary Clark Jr.) by a black railway station porter: “I have only been arrested once and the town was called Liberty,” which reveals deep subtext that is offered in inoffensive fashion to keep the story in the more uplifting world of blues music. The racial component is present but aside from white Sheriff Pugh (Stacy Keach), a single scene with Mary Steenburgen and a cameo by Sayles as a whiskey delivery man the film is inhabited primarily by black characters.

The film is bookended with two young black boys pretending to be musicians and reminding of our youthful dreams of one day being famous. The story proper introduces a secession of colorful characters starting with Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover) who is about to lose his roadhouse the Honeydripper due to debt. In fact, our first clue that all is not well financially is a thoroughly heartrending scene as house singer Bertha Mae (Dr. Mable John) sings to no audience while urged on by her consort Slick (Vondie Curtis Hall).

On hand for much of the comic relief is Maceo (Charles S. Dutton) as Tyrone’s friend. Tyrone’s wife Delilah (Lisa Gay Hamilton), is the midst of religious uncertainty, while his stepdaughter China Doll (newcomer Yaya DaCosta) naturally falls in love with Sonny. With an excellent score of gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz fused with the unexpected origins of rock and roll composer Mason Darling and music supervisor Tim Bernett have compiled an impressive soundtrack.

They were an appreciative audience and I believe it was not lost on the older patrons, one of whom was me, who lived through the era depicted in Honeydripper of the racial polemic that would have prevented the very audience assembled Monday night from mixing in public in the age of Colored Only signage. Much has changed for the better since 1950 southern bigotry. Fortunately, Sayles the writer keeps the insipidness of prejudice encapsulated in Sheriff Pugh who Keach salvages from caricature by making him a rotund yokel with a fried chicken sandwich obsession and some indirect threats that remains innocuous.

With a concocted idea to save Honeydripper, by attracting the regional celebrity Guitar Sam to play a one night only concert, Tyrone expects to make the necessary funds except he has no idea where to find the legend or whether Sam would perform if located. Enter Sonny who immediately runs afoul of Pugh and is put on a work detail which finds him picking cotton. There is some smoldering potential violence involving two secondary characters whose actions will resolve an awful secret haunting Tyrone.

The bucolic scenery photographed by cinematographer Dick Pope reveals the rural south in pastels and browns while the production designer Toby Corbett reveals a keen eye for the verisimilitude of the period. All tech credits are superb for this low budget film. Once again all good films begin with a compelling scenario and strong acting rather than mind-numbing shootouts and car chases.

The film takes some time to get going with the abundant cast on hand but kudos to Keb’ Mo’ as blind sage guitarist Possum who is subtly revealed as an apparition only seen by Sonny and Tyrone and Dutton’s uplifting buddy role.

Without revealing the ending the introduction of Sonny’s electric guitar provides a wonderful coda that segues nicely with the young boys from the opening scene.

Honeydripper site

Cast
Tyrone Purvis - Danny Glover
Delilah - Lisa Gay Hamilton
China Doll - Yaya DaCosta
Maceo - Charles S. Dutton
Slick - Vondie Curtis Hall
Sonny Blake - Gary Clark Jr.
Bertha Mae - Dr. Mable John
Sheriff Pugh - Stacy Keach

An Emerging Pictures release of a Honeydripper Films production. Produced by Maggie Renzi. Directed, written and edited by John Sayles. Camera (color, 35mm), Dick Pope; music, Mason Daring; music supervisor, Tim Bernett; production designer, Toby Corbett; art director, Eloise Stammerjohn; set decorator, Alice Baker; costume designer, Hope Hanafin; makeup, Diane Maurno; sound (Dolby/SRD), Judy Karp; supervising sound editor, Phil Stockton; associate producers, Ira Deutchmann, Susan Kirr, Mark Wynns; assistant director, Cas Donovan; and casting, John Hubbard.

Reviewed at The Bama Theater, Tuscaloosa, AL February 4, 2008. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Adult Themes, Brief Language and Brief Violence. Running time: 2:02

Honeydripper opened locally in select southern theaters February 8 and sadly, was quickly gone from the big screen.