Daily Loaf

If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you can catch The Grind weekdays from 10-3 p.m. on 1010 AM radio. If you’re outside the broadcast area or just prefer listening online, you can check out the show at WQYK AM’s website. For this week’s show, the guys and I discussed Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness, previewed the upcoming season of ABC’s Lost and threw a shout-out to a special person celebrating a happy birthday. Hope you enjoy it …

Click here to listen to Joe on The Grind with Flip and Bill

It’s hard to believe, but Mel Gibson hasn’t starred in a movie since 2003’s The Singing Detective, a flick I’ll cop to having no recollection of at all. (Robert Downey Jr. co-starred!) It’s not that he disappeared: In 2004 Gibson directed The Passion of the Christ, bludgeoning religious moviegoers into grizzly submission at the box office; and in 2006 he made Apocalypto, perhaps running slightly ahead of our current Mayan end-of-the-world craze. 2006 was more notable for Gibson’s DUI arrest, during which he made anti-semitic remarks to the arresting officer and claimed to own Malibu. After a 20-plus year ride as a Hollywood golden child, Mel Gibson fell out of view.

But hey, this is America; we’re a forgiving bunch, right? Anyone expect Tiger Woods to still be on the shit-list if he resolves things with the wife and starts dominating major golf tournaments again? Doubtful. And while I don’t condone what Gibson did (both the DUI and the jackass comments were stupid), the man is still a fine actor. Case in point: Edge of Darkness, a new revenge fantasy/political espionage thriller from director Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale). Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a Boston police detective whose daughter is gunned down right in front of him. At first, the cops figure it must have been a blown hit on Detective Craven, but as he starts investigating it becomes clear that the killers got their intended target.

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Welcome to a very special, spook-tacular edition of Kevin’s Korner. This week, as we get our costumes ready, our tricks perfected and our tolerance for candy pushed to its peak. Plus, I have some great movie news, including scary tale involving a Spider-Man villain, the newest film from the Broken Lizard crew, and so much more. So, grab some candy corn and read on. And have a great (and safe) Halloween!

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We now take a brief break from the world of sports to discuss cinema.

Movies are a matter of personal preference. A film that I may love, someone else may think is total garbage and vice versa. For example, critics acclaim Citizen Kane as one of the greatest films of all time. Personally, I think it’s unwatchable. I guess it’s a generational thing. I’m sure years down the road, people will see modern classics like Pulp Fiction or Crash in whatever technological format they’re available in at the time and think they’re pieces of crap. Or maybe they’ll stand the test of time. Who knows?

There are, however, more recent movies that I’ve sat through and wondered how people could have dubbed them cult classics. What am I missing? Again, cinema is a matter of taste. I won’t hold it against someone who thinks Titanic is the best movie of all time (it’s not, by the way), but I certainly won’t sit with them and watch it. I think I have a pretty good feel for what’s good and what’s not, but for the five movies I’m about to mention … I just don’t get it.

Do they make your overrated list? If not, feel free to throw your hands angrily in the air and tell me I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about. Convince me to sit through them again and I promise to give them a fair shake … while wincing uncomfortably on my sofa. Also please feel free to comment on any movies I may have forgotten. I’m sure there are plenty.

Okay, here goes….

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