1. Yankees: A week of playing several mediocre teams hasn’t changed our opinion that the Yanks are the best team in the division, league, and sport. However, their success does not come without concerns–injuries threaten to slow their pursuit of a second consecutive World Series.

2. Rays: The Rays finally got their first no hitter in team history. Tampa Bay has won 5 in a row with that well-balanced approach, and they have been hot over the last few weeks. They have come back from the All Star game just as strong, and are looking to take advantage of a close race.

3. Rangers: Several games ahead of their competition in the AL West, the Rangers have relied on the incredible bats of Vlad Guerrero and Josh Hamilton to carry them through the first half. Cliff Lee pitched 3 complete games in his first 4 starts, and he is just as good as ever in his new uniform.

4. Padres San Diego has kept winning after the break, and are the best team in a very strong division right now, no small thanks to their pitching staff, which leads the league in ERA. However, to secure the NL West, they will need to hit much better. Adrian Gonzalez is the ONLY San Diego player in the top 120 NL OPS leaders. It is really, really difficult to put into words just how terrible that is.

5. Braves: The Braves fall a spot simply because they have only played mediocre ball in the last week. They may want to watch their backs, as the Phillies have cut the divisional deficit in half with a sudden charge. With Troy Glaus in a major slump, the Braves will need to step it up to keep the lead.

6. Cardinals: With one of the most complete teams in the league, the Cardinals have been on a tear. It won’t be long before their lights-out play puts them higher on this list, as they came back from the break with a vengeance. Adam Wainwright is undefeated at home, and has more wins and a lower ERA than all but one player in each respective category. Chris Carpenter makes one of the best 1-2s in baseball.

7. Reds: Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, and Brandon Phillips sure can hit–but the Reds will need to pitch considerably better to catch up to St. Louis in the NL Central race. They are holding steady at the lower end of the Power Rankings for now, but don’t be surprised to see them fall a bit in the coming weeks; they just don’t seem to have the talent to continue at this pace.

8. Giants: Winners of 8 of their last 10, the Giants have brought the heat since we chided their poor offense. In the interim, the Giants have jumped from being 10th in NL runs scored to being tied for 7th. Perhaps even more welcome, Matt Cain’s losses no longer outnumber his wins.

9. Red Sox: The middle child of the AL East, the Red Sox keep winning games, but nobody seems to notice. Unfortunately for them, the old standbys in the Bronx and the young upstarts in Tampa have the division in a chokehold. They need to rebound quickly from several post-break losses if they want to be taken seriously as a contender in the AL East.

10. Phillies: After many had left them for dead, the Phillies decided to wake up. The Phightin’s have won 7 straight games, and Ryan Howard is leading the charge. His .300 batting average is a welcome surprise in Philadelphia. A Shane Victorino injury meant an early callup for star prospect Domonic Brown, and he didn’t disappoint in his first start, going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. It will be interesting to watch him filling in a for a playing that wasn’t providing the Phillies with much offense anyway, and it will be very interesting to watch the Phillies in their quest to dethrone Atlanta in the NL East.

Films that know exactly what they are about have a pretty big leg-up over those that don’t. For instance, a horror thriller that is aware of its quintessentially-80s roots has a unique advantage over a bad horror movie that takes itself way too seriously. Predators, fortunately, is the former. From the opening shot, Predators puts the action in overdrive. At several moments throughout the picture, the explosions, falls, and battles are so violently over the top, it is as if the director is winking at the audience, embracing the flash of its predecessors while simultaneously making fun of their camp.

Adrien Brody is, surprisingly, good in his role as the hardened mercenary Royce. The rest of the militants on the alien planet do an adequate job of playing to their typecast characters, whose stereotypes probably border on the racist. Topher Grace even turns in a decent performance as the only unassuming member of the team, offering a few laughs here and there.

The movie plays out like one long chase scene. Apocalypto comes to mind, and like Apocalypto, Predators works because it clings to this plan and rides it the whole way home. Certainly, it won’t be winning any Academy Awards any time soon, with little else in mind than entertaining an audience seeking a little bit of Schwarzenegger-in-the-jungle nostalgia. Beyond the action, the laughs and the gore, the plot and premise and characters are underdeveloped. Regardless, thanks to its attitude and usually exciting execution, it is perfectly deserving of our better-than-worse rating of 3.5 MovieHumans.

With a gigantic budget, Christopher Nolan had some pretty giant expectations to live up to with Inception. After the incredible success of The Dark Knight, we knew he had the vision for great things; but Inception works with unfamiliar material, in a world that hasn’t already been explored and fleshed out for us.

Not only did Nolan and his stellar cast live up to expectations—they surpassed them with ease. The visuals, the story, the writing, even the music; the film comes out firing on all cylinders. Going in, I expected to be wowed by Nolan’s imaginative story, but I was very impressed with the cinematographic execution. The movie cuts from scene to scene, often with little transition, to give the very convincing notion that any moment might be part of an elaborate dream. This ability to evoke a reflective emotional state has been one of Nolan’s most impressive powers in the films he has given us so far.

DiCaprio succeeds with his now perfected “flawed hero” role, and his character might be interesting enough all by itself. Ellen Page shows off a surprising amount of poise in her role as Adriadne, giving us a side of her that we haven’t been able to witness until now. Cillian Murphy is stellar, as always, and the rest of the supporting cast provides enough flair and subtleties to make every character seem real.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Inception’s greatness is this: in about two and a half hours of running time, I didn’t feel that even a second dragged or fell flat. Nolan showed us with Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight that he can craft a film so perfectly that every moment is immersive and gripping, and Inception is no exception.

1. Yankees: In our first Power Rankings after a long hiatus due to site maintenance and the All Star Game, the Yankees are out in front. After doggedly chasing the Rays in the East for several weeks early in the season, Los Yanquis have finally proven themselves to be the best team in the division, league, and sport. However, their success does not come without concerns–injuries threaten to slow their pursuit of a second consecutive World Series.

2. Rays: As well as the Yankees have played, they will have to play a lot harder to put any sort of comfortable distance between themselves and the Rays. Tampa Bay wins with a well-balanced approach, and they have been hot over the last few weeks. They have come back from the All Star game just as strong, and are looking to take advantage of a close race.

3. Rangers: Several games ahead of their competition in the AL West, the Rangers have relied on the incredible bats of Vlad Guerrero and Josh Hamilton to carry them through the first half. Their are several grueling weeks to come, however, and they will need to step up their pitchin–oh wait, they traded for Cliff Lee. Look out for the Rangers in the second half.

4. Braves: Now that injuries have hampered their only real competition in the NL East (the Phillies), the Braves have turned it on in the middle of the season. Pitching, which everyone thought would be the Braves’ strength for the last two years, has finally come to Atlanta, and they are quickly putting distance between themselves and the rest of the division.

5. Padres San Diego is the best team in a very strong division right now, no small thanks to their pitching staff, which leads the league in ERA. However, to secure the NL West, they will need to hit much better. Adrian Gonzalez is the ONLY San Diego player in the top 120 NL OPS leaders. It is really, really difficult to put into words just how terrible that is.

6. Cardinals: With one of the most complete teams in the league, the Cardinals have been on a tear. It won’t be long before their lights-out play puts them higher on this list, as they came back from the break with a vengeance. Adam Wainwright is undefeated at home, and has more wins and a lower ERA than all but one player in each respective category. Chris Carpenter makes one of the best 1-2s in baseball.

7. Reds: Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, and Brandon Phillips sure can hit–but the Reds will need to pitch considerably better to catch up to St. Louis in the NL Central race. They are holding steady at the lower end of the Power Rankings for now, but don’t be surprised to see them fall a bit in the coming weeks; they just don’t seem to have the talent to continue at this pace.

8. Red Sox: The middle child of the AL East, the Red Sox keep winning games, but nobody seems to notice. Unfortunately for them, the old standbys in the Bronx and the young upstarts in Tampa have the division in a chokehold. They need to rebound quickly from several post-break losses if they want to be taken seriously as a contender in the AL East.

9. White Sox: The White Sox have the lead in the AL Central and are widening the gap every day. Paul Konerko has provided some surprising help for Chicago, who need only to keep up the good work to stay atop their division. Rumors are circulating of trade talks to pick up a player or two before the deadline, which will bode poorly for the perennially under-appreciated Miguel Cabrera and his second place Tigers.

10. Giants: The Giants supposedly have what San Diego lacks when it comes to players that can provide good hitting–however, Matt Cain’s awesome ERA of 3.3 has been wasted on a 7-8 record, thanks to awful run support (furthering evidence for my opinion that pitching wins are a useless statistic). If San Fran can actually put up more runs than 10th in the NL, they might have a shot at the division.

Obviously, this post is coming a little late. Our illustrious review team (Brian) composed this weeks ago, but we have only now been able to get it up. In other words, rent this movie if you can’t see it in theaters, because 4 and 1/2 MovieHumans is tied for the highest rating we’ve ever given.

Who would have thought that Michael Douglas still had an ace up his sleeve?  I didn’t, but after watching Solitary Man, I couldn’t help but sit back in my seat, impressed at the acting chops I had just witnessed.  Consistently way above average, Douglas didn’t do much that was blindingly original; the basis for his character here is something that he has excelled at for most of his career, most notably in Wall Street: the debonair, jaded professional who can talk the talk.  And indeed, that’s where we drop in on him after the beginning credits roll.  But the movie takes a turn just a few minutes in, fast-forwarding that man six years into the future, ripping the stable structure of success out from under his feet, and exposing a fascinating character study of a man who is still addicted to his former self, unable to come to terms with the “now” of his life.

There are two films recently that have dealt with very similar topics: The Wrestler, and most recently Crazy Heart.  Don’t be alarmed, though; each film does a fantastic job of exploring the material in its own unique fashion.  There are awards galore surrounding this particular theme, as Mickey Rourke was nominated for an Oscar for the former, and Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for the latter.  I may be jumping the gun, especially since this movie is being released in the summer with little chance to be Oscar bait, but Douglas may have a chance to make this a hat trick.

Now to be fair, Douglas also has a stellar cast supporting him, with a very random assortment that includes Mary-Louise Parker, Danny DeVito (their friendly chemistry on-screen is unbelievable), Jenna Fischer, Susan Sarandon, and Jesse Eisenberg.  Also making an appearance is Richard Schiff, as well as Olivia Thirlby, the up-and-coming starlet of Juno fame, who is unfairly uncredited in the film.  These characters all swirl in and out of the mix, fittingly, since Douglas’ character, Ben Kalmen, masochistically alienates himself from the people he cares about most: his daughter, his ex-wife, his best friend from college.  His desires to both reconnect and break away are equally strong, butting heads for the entirety of the film.  When one seems to succeed, the other suddenly overcomes again, and the crushing equilibrium settles in again.  There’s simply not much in the equation here that doesn’t work.  The actors all seem to innately understand their characters, and the characters themselves work seamlessly in the plot.  No one tries to steal scenes, no one proves more ambitious than the original material itself.

The script shines here, and it thankfully gives Ben Kalmen one hell of a rocky road to climb.  The best stories have almost too many obstacles in them, and the script toes that line exactly, making us feel for him while at the same time shaking our heads when he manages to screw up yet again.  His pearls of advice, delivered here and there, sometimes ring true and sometimes just sound like the clichés of a man with a sick view of the world.  Even Kalmen admits at one point, thoroughly wasted, that he “says a lot of stuff.  Some of it’s even true.”  We’re looking point blank at the deconstruction of an ancient myth: that wisdom is an inevitable side effect of age.  Kalmen isn’t wise; he just appears to be so, and he’s so good at keeping up appearances that he’s even fooled himself.  For the entire film, he is so agonizingly close to seeing the real Ben Kalmen, but he instinctively backs away from the cliff every time he gets close.  Every line of his is carefully constructed, and they rarely fall flat.

It’s really true of the whole film: it rarely falls flat.  We see real emotion, genuine turmoil, and although much of the film takes place in public venues with simple talking head setups, it really feels like there’s action, on both an internal and external level.  We’re satisfied upon walking away, and while we could gripe about such small things as a score that could have been better utilized, or a couple of awkward cuts here and there, we really don’t want to.  It says a lot about a film when there are so many positive aspects that the negative ones seem not to matter.  We can only hope that the dramatic fall lineup of 2010 provides us with a few more gems to match this one.

1. Rays: The Rays continue to lead the AL East and our rankings with the the second best pitching staff and lineup in the major leagues. Keeping up this level of play makes Tampa the team to beat right now. David Price and Matt Garza have been incredible in the early goings, and it must be very encouraging for Rays fans to see these young pitchers enjoying so much success.

2. Yankees: Just behind the Rays in the AL East, and just behind the Rays in our Power Rankings, New York has played up to expectations in the early goings, and will certainly keep things interesting with Tampa in what is currently baseball’s hottest fight for a divisional crown.

3. Phillies: Just when we called them unstoppable, the Phillies hit a bump, looking downright terrible in the last several games. They were almost no-hit by Daisuke Matsuzaka. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have dipped below the .300 mark after swinging the bat fiercely over the previous few weeks. They need Rollins and his energy back fast.

4. Twins: Minnesota is playing fine ball on all levels–while their offense has slacked off a bit over the last several games, the pitching has picked it up. The Twins will be fighting all season to keep the other AL Central teams at bay, but they way the have been hitting long balls bodes well for them.

5. Tigers: Detroit is nipping at Minnesota’s heels in what may shape up to be a very close divisional race in the AL Central. They keep finding ways to win, but they’ll need consistency to keep up with the very balanced team up the road. A tough season awaits for Miguel Cabrera’s bunch.

6. Dodgers: The NL West seems to be the division of the hot streak this season. Now, it’s the Dodgers who are on fire, although losing Andre Ethier for an indefinite amount of time might be bad for the division leaders. We’ll see if Matt Kemp and James Loney can pick up the offensive slack.

7. Cardinals: You would think that one of these days we’ll be able to mention the Cards’ success without talking about Albert Pujols. While a slump for The Machine looks like a good week for everyone else, he has still dropped off a bit this month, and the Cardinals need him on all year.

8. Padres The Friars are still good, but suddenly they have to battle the Los Angeles Dodgers. The pitching staff has been surprising to say the least, carrying a team whose offense has done little to impress. They haven’t started so well in a very long time, and with Adrian Gonzalez leaving some room for improvement, they might even keep it up.

9. Blue Jays: Vernon Wells has been about the only good thing in the Toronto lineup, but he has been solid. Ricky Romero and company, however, have been driving the Blue Jays to new heights, and they are making a good case for third best team in the AL East. Still, it will require a lot to overcome the competition in New York and Florida.

10. Rangers: The Reds and Rangers are vying for this spot, with both teams coming on strong in the past week. But Cincinatti plays against 4 awful divisional opponents, and we respect Texas more and expect them to continue to win, which they have managed to do more often than their stats might suggest.

In September of 2004, several well-done promos starring Dominic Monaghan and a few other actors I didn’t know convinced me to turn on ABC for the premier of Lost. Six years later, the first show that I ever watched the whole way through, from start to bitter end, has said farewell with a highly anticipated finale. With two hours of time in which to wrap up an epic television series, Lost set out to be emotionally and narratively satisfying in its last episode. It would be safe to say the sheer emotional impact of seeing unforgettable characters like Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Locke for the very last time had a strong impact on me in itself. After so many hours of the show, and so many storylines and amazing acting performances, the nostalgia was powerful and it was saddening to see them go, especially since it seems likely that not all of them will stay in the limelight. As such, the finale already had a natural pull that was hard to shake. Beyond this, the creators attempted to end a show that many felt would be all but impossible to end right.

The results were mixed. On the one hand, the feeling was there. Certainly, we had all been waiting for Kate and Jack to finally profess their love for each other, and after years of separation, it was good to see that they got to be together in the alternate, post-first-life plane. That they and everyone else were finally united was a touching ending.

But Lost is a science fiction/mystery thriller. And while the ending was thrilling, the sci-fi and mystery of the early seasons were scrubbed for an ending that allowed the creators to dodge criticism of their substance because of its shift in focus. By saying “it isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about the characters,” the creators attempted to redirect a lot of the focus–but for those of us who have been there from the very beginning, I don’t think this was enough. We deserved more. We deserved more narrative closure and we deserved less of what was, regardless of its emotional power and warm fuzziness, something of a “cop-out” ending, a bait-and-switch of afterlife theories. If all of the characters got to go to this wonderful new existence anyway, what was the point of saving them? Why not just all die in the island reality to end up in paradise LA? In other words, the finale might have provided some emotional satisfaction, but it was lacking the narrative satisfaction that we were promised.

Still, the exchange of tearful “I love yous” on the cliff was the grand culmination of a six season love story, and I guess they got to be happy in the end, which many of us were rooting for. And the creators did bring back several of the characters that they had wantonly slain in the earlier seasons. The sadness of the island reality was ultimately overwritten by the happiness in the last scenes of the “next step” in their lives.

One of the best parts about the finale was its self-awareness. Hurley’s crack-up line about everyone dying and Kate’s disbelief at the indiscretion of Christian Shephard were emblematic of a show with an almost post-modern wryness about itself. That was commendable.

While the people in the Church may be very content to move on, they have each other to spend time with for a while. I don’t, and as such, I am rather upset at being given no choice but to move on without the characters I love so much. Lost may not have given us a fully developed send-off, but it certainly deserves all of the nostalgia and emotional loss that come with a final episode. The Pilot was one of the finest I have seen, and the first season was the best first season of any show I’ve ever watched. What came after had its ups and downs, but the character development side of things continued to strengthen alongside the action as the seasons went on, which was a welcome surprise in a world of droll, over-dramatized medical and detective shows.

Lost left me with a feeling of unshakable sadness–it was a wonderful show that I really wish I could have spent more time with. I also wish that it provided me with a more complete ending, and a better attempt at closure. But I’ll say this. After six years of waiting for Jack and Kate’s final, sappy love scene, I was pleased to see Lost end with all of my favorite characters together in a happy place, to leave us with a lasting memory of the happiness it brought to us. Yes, it brought hours of consternation and frustration too, but the final sendoff provided enough to leave me with memories fonder than otherwise. There will never be another show like Lost, and it will really be missed.

If it is entertainment you seek, seek no further. Seriously, this movie is all about fun, and it spares no expense in bringing it to you. Surprisingly, it doesn’t cheat its audience out of the character development and decent script that its predecessor offered, instead presenting a sound combination of style and substance that one doesn’t often find in a sequel.

Robert Downey Jr. has solidified his “comeback” and is now just a great actor at work. His charisma carries the film through any of the low points of mediocre one-liners and plot excessiveness. Scarlett Johansson is decent, but it is Gwyneth Paltrow who really shines opposite the hero, continuing to play a great foil. Iron Man II is nothing if not a conventional action movie, but it succeeds because it does its job with the right amount of flair–special effects rarely impress us anymore, but this movie packs some exciting punch, especially in the penultimate battle that pits Downey Jr. and Cheadle (also good) against a swarm of awesomely bad drones.

The comic relief is still entertaining and the leads are good, allowing the film to offer enough substance to sustain all the gusto. It isn’t without the occasional over-the-top pitfall, but Iron Man II knows what it wants to do, and executes according to plan.

1. Rays: The Rays continue to lead the AL East and our rankings with the the second best pitching staff and lineup in the major leagues. Keeping up this level of play makes Tampa the team to beat right now. It should be fun to watch them fight it out with the not-too-shabby NL East.

2. Phillies: Leading that not-too-shabby division, the Phillies  look unstoppable right now. The starting pitching settled down a bit and the bullpen has stopped giving up games. More importantly for Philly, the offense has really been in a groove over the last week or so, thanks to timely hitting by Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Howard, all of whom are enjoying .300+ batting averages.

3. Yankees: Just behind the Rays in the AL East, and just behind the Rays in our Power Rankings, New York has played up to expectations in the early goings, and will certainly keep things interesting with Tampa in what is currently baseball’s hottest fight for a divisional crown.

4. Cardinals: You would think that one of these days we’ll be able to mention the Cards’ success without talking about Albert Pujols. Not yet. They should contend with the Phillies for National League supremacy all year, but since St. Louis lost the first series, we’ll slot them just below the Phightin’s for now.

5. Twins: Minnesota is playing fine ball on all levels–while their offense has slacked off a bit over the last several games, the pitching has picked it up. The Twins will be fighting all season to keep the other AL Central teams at bay, but they way they have been hitting long balls bodes well for them.

6. Tigers: Detroit is nipping at Minnesota’s heels in what may shape up to be a very close divisional race in the AL Central. They keep finding ways to win, but they’ll need consistency to keep up with the very balanced team up the road. A tough season awaits for Miguel Cabrera’s bunch.

7. Dodgers: The NL West seems to be the division of the hot streak this season. Now, it’s the Dodgers who are on fire, although losing Andre Ethier for an indefinite amount of time might be bad for the division leaders. We’ll see if Matt Kemp and James Loney can pick up the offensive slack.

8. Padres The Friars are still good, but suddenly they have to battle the Los Angeles Dodgers. The pitching staff has been surprising to say the least, carrying a team whose offense has done little to impress. They haven’t started so well in a very long time, and with Adrian Gonzalez leaving some room for improvement, they might even keep it up.

9. Blue Jays: Vernon Wells has been about the only good thing in the Toronto lineup, but he has been solid. Ricky Romero and company, however, have been driving the Blue Jays to new heights, and they are making a good case for third best team in the AL East. Still, it will require a lot to overcome the competition in New York and Florida.

10. Rangers: The Reds and Rangers are vying for this spot, with both teams coming on strong in the past week. But Cincinatti plays against 4 awful divisional opponents, and we respect Texas more and expect them to continue to win, which they have managed to do more often than they stats might suggest.