Bronco quarterback Jake Plummer has been smart, accurate and efficient this season, but Dan Nied is waiting until the playoffs to judge the Snake's season.
Forget the MVP talk and the idea that something special is brewing here.
Pay no mind to the best regular season a Bronco quarterback has seen since John Elway roamed the mountains.
Just put it out of your head because Jake Plummer hasn’t proved a thing yet.
Certainly Plummer has earned the respect of fans with his decidedly un-Plummer like year. If the season ended today, he would have the best quarterback rating of his nine-year NFL career, the second-best completion percentage of his career and, most importantly, would have thrown 14 fewer interceptions than he did last year.
That would be all well and good if Plummer was 25 and playing for the Houston Texans. But with the Broncos, who saw John Elway practically turn water into wine, Plummer’s only job is to win in the playoffs.
While it might be nice for fans to see 18 touchdowns to only six interceptions heading into Saturday's game at Oakland, they should know Plummer hasn’t fully turned the corner yet. They were burned by him last year when the Broncos were embarrassed by the Colts. The team still has not won a playoff game since Elway retired.
Bronco fans are still under water every time Plummer throws a pass – that is, they are holding their collective breath. For anyone who has followed Plummer’s career in Arizona and Denver, there is a tiny little thought that evil Jake will show his ugly face in the playoffs.
It seems like Plummer has flipped the switch this season. Seemingly overnight he has gone from one of the most unreliable quarterbacks in the game to one of the most efficient.
But the playoffs loom in a few short weeks, and that is when Plummer will have to prove to the Broncos that he can be counted on to not toss left-handed hook shots out of his own end zone.
He may do it. He seems to have turned this corner because of experience and coaching. That is not a combination that can be erased in only a few weeks.
But still doubt lingers because once bitten twice shy is exactly how the Broncos feel right now.
In Jake they trust.
But not until he performs in the playoffs.
Jeff Hindenach reviews the phenomenon that is "Brokeback Mountain"
By Jeff Hindenach
210 west News Editor [send email]
Is America ready for a love story between two cowboys?
It seems as though it’s shaping up that way. In its first weekend in limited release, Brokeback Mountain, the story of two cowboys from Wyoming who form a bond while herding sheep one summer, has done the unheard of by raking in more than half a million dollars from the five theaters that were showing it in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Monday it received the top three awards; best picture, best director (Ang Lee) and best actor (Heath Ledger), from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Firm Critics Circle. The movie was also recognized by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as the best movie of the year, to add to its growing buzz.
A haunting love story set in 1963 Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain follow the lives of Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) after a summer where the men share an intense connection Although the two end up moving on to lives with dysfunctional marriages and broken families, they continue their relationship on and off for over 20 years with “fishing trips” to the mountain. The beautiful thing about this movie, and the very thing that might entice the homophobic audience, is that the love story between the two men is spoken in silence. The dialogue is short, yet full of meaning.
The word love, nor the word gay, is ever used. After a short, intense sex scene during that summer, little contact is ever made between the men. In fact, near the end of the movie, they could actually pass as fishing buddies. But in the moments of silence between the men, you can feel the intense passion between them shake your very core. No one is more intense in this way of speaking in silence than Ledger.
He gives an unparalleled performance that I have rarely seen on screen. His character is a tough, gritty cowboy who is scarred from his past and rarely opens up to anyone. Yet he has these emotional outbursts that force you to feel his pain. Ledger portrays the perfect balance of the character’s sheltered softness and intense passion. Annie Proulx, who wrote the original short story the movie is based on, has been quoted as saying Ledger’s performance is so convincing, she wonders how he got into her head.
Also shocking the audience with her performance as Mrs. Jack Twist is Anne Hathaway. Although her role is small, it is amazing to see her transform from a lively rodeo queen into a cold Texan housewife. Hathaway and Ledger have the most intense scene on the phone that could easily land her an Oscar nod.
Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams, who plays Ledger’s wife, also give outstanding performances, but the real gem in this movie is Ledger. His performance is above and beyond any actor's I’ve seen so far this year. If this movie is going to get an Oscar for anything, it will be his performance.
But the real strength for Brokeback Mountain is its underlying love story.
It sounds cliché, but it really does transcend the gay storyline of the movie. It could be played out in any scenario and still have that intense and haunting passion. And my hope is that is what will draw people to the theater.
Dan Nied has watched TV show after TV show get ruined by movie studios. Now, he believes Hollywood has gone one step too far
I was intrigued by Starsky and Hutch, and Garfield had Jennifer Love Hewitt, so it couldn’t have been all bad.
When Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman teamed up for Bewitched, I was interested, if not a little put off that Ferrell’s name wasn’t Dick.
I even liked Keenan Thompson as Fat Albert.
I just shook my head at Scooby Doo.
Then Hollywood gave us a black version of the Honeymooners starring Cedric the Entertainer as Ralph Kramden. While that was akin to casting Jason Biggs to play J.J. from Good Times, all I did was cock my brow.
But then the Dukes of Hazzard was released with Johnny Knoxville and Stifler in the lead roles. Jessica Simpson was Daisy Duke and, yeah that loosened me up for a minute, but still, I couldn’t help thinking I would rather watch Coy and Vance than these flaming retards. But I bit my lip until I nearly bled.
See, I was initially excited about this phenomenon where movie studios turn old TV shows into movies. After all, it was a can’t-miss premise. The shows were good, so the movie HAS to be good, right?
No. They ruined them all. Hollywood has collectively shit upon some of popular culture’s greatest gems. They took the great, and turned it insipid.
The worst part of it? They aren’t done yet. Now, Hollywood is going after the queen bee, the sire of television from 1977-1983.
CHiPs, coming to a theater near you.
Don’t vomit quite yet until you read this next sentence:
Fez is Ponch.
There is only one thing left to say to Hollywood:
Screw you.
You got to hell. You go to hell and you die.
Seriously! FUCK YOU!
Where the hell do you get off making CHiPs into a movie? There is only one possible way this could happen that would be even remotely acceptable. First, get Wilmer Valderrama out along with whatever American Pie retread you’ve cast as John. Then, insert Erik Estrada and John Wilcox into the roles that only they can play.
Then call it CHiPs 2000. It might still suck, it might still be embarrassing, but at least the audience won’t feel half-retarded when they see it.
Please stop, Hollywood. I beg of you. If you need original material then I’d be happy to write a screenplay or two to help out. It might not be that good, but at least it won’t desecrate the upbringing of an entire generation of Americans. It won’t be recycled crap with not even a passing interest in creativity. You want a buddy cop comedy? I’ll give it to you. I’m sure thousands of other writers can do the same, even better. But please, look in the mirror and try to convince yourself, Hollywood, that this gimmick is working. It can’t be done, because deep down you know that unoriginal bullshit is an insult to every intelligent consumer of popular culture.
Is it possible that the future of cinema will bring us these gems?
*Diff’rent Strokes, the movie. Starring Eugene Levy as Mr. Drummond, Nick Cannon as Willis, Lindsey Lohan as Kimberly and Gary Coleman as Arnold (maybe you can try this, ONLY if Gary Coleman can play Arnold again.)
*Mr. Belvedere, the movie. Starring John Goodman as Mr. Belvadere and Haley Joel Osment as Wesley.
*Blossom, the movie: Starring Nicole Richie as Blossom and Jessica Simpson as Six. Joey will again be played by Joey Lawrence.
*Who’s the Boss, the movie. Starring Ashton Kutcher as Tony, Tara Reid as Angela, Paris Hilton as Samantha, Aaron Carter as Jonathon and Rue McClanahan as Mona.
*The A Team, the movie. Starring Fred Willard as Hannibal, Ashton Kutcher as Face, Steve-O as Murdock and Vin Diesel as B.A.
*Growing Pains, the movie. Starring Freddie Prinze Jr. as Mike Seaver, Hilary Duff as Carol Seaver, Topher Grace as Ben Seaver, Stifler’s Mom as Maggie Seaver and Eugene Levy as Jason Seaver, with Bam Margera as Boner.
This is what we’re heading for. If movie studios don’t start respecting audiences, we’ll see Britney Spears playing Kelly Kapowski opposite Snoop Dogg’s Zack Morris.
Are we ready for that?
It doesn’t matter. It will be shoved down our throats soon enough.