NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs made a series of roster moves on Friday in advance of their game against the New York Yankees, including activating lefty Wade Miley from the injured list and placing righty Marcus Stroman on it.

Miley, 35, will start against the Yankees on Friday. He hasn’t pitched since May 22 and had been out since experiencing a shoulder strain late last month.

Stroman, 31, has right shoulder inflammation. The team also activated Yan Gomes (oblique) and Jonathan Villar (mouth) from the injured list while reinstating reliever Chris Martin from the bereavement list.

To make room for the moves, outfielder Clint Frazier was designated for assignment while first baseman Alfonso Rivas and reliever Michael Rucker were optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

The Cubs were hopeful Frazier could restart his career after injury issues with the Yankees, but the emergence of Christopher Morel combined with an appendectomy for Frazier set him back. Frazier was hitting .216 with a .356 on-base percentage in just 37 at-bats

“We haven’t been able to give him real opportunities to watch him succeed,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “It’s a roster construction spot. We like Frazier. We’d like to keep him but we don’t know if that’s a possibility or not.

“He was upset. Emotional would be a good word. I think he likes it here a lot.”

Ross was asked if Frazier could have taken at-bats away from Jason Heyward, the 32-year-old veteran who is hitting .217. Heyward is starting on Friday night.

“No,” Ross said. “J-Hey will get the right-handed [against righties] at-bats.”

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NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs made a series of roster moves on Friday in advance of their game against the New York Yankees, including activating lefty Wade Miley from the injured list and placing righty Marcus Stroman on it.

Miley, 35, will start against the Yankees on Friday. He hasn’t pitched since May 22 and had been out since experiencing a shoulder strain late last month.

Stroman, 31, has right shoulder inflammation. The team also activated Yan Gomes (oblique) and Jonathan Villar (mouth) from the injured list while reinstating reliever Chris Martin from the bereavement list.

To make room for the moves, outfielder Clint Frazier was designated for assignment while first baseman Alfonso Rivas and reliever Michael Rucker were optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

The Cubs were hopeful Frazier could restart his career after injury issues with the Yankees, but the emergence of Christopher Morel combined with an appendectomy for Frazier set him back. Frazier was hitting .216 with a .356 on-base percentage in just 37 at-bats

“We haven’t been able to give him real opportunities to watch him succeed,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “It’s a roster construction spot. We like Frazier. We’d like to keep him but we don’t know if that’s a possibility or not.

“He was upset. Emotional would be a good word. I think he likes it here a lot.”

Ross was asked if Frazier could have taken at-bats away from Jason Heyward, the 32-year-old veteran who is hitting .217. Heyward is starting on Friday night.

“No,” Ross said. “J-Hey will get the right-handed [against righties] at-bats.”

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Had anyone asked me back in Adam Sandler’s SNL days whether he could score as a viable dramatic lead, I would have snort-laughed my Sunny D back up right through my nose. After seeing Hustle, I do believe I may have misjudged Sandler’s ability to project anything requiring more emotional heft than, say, The Waterboy.

The first time Sandler appears in director Jeremiah Zagar’s basketball-centric redemption drama, he looks plum wore out. As we watch him hauling suitcases through a montage of airports and countries, he’s exhausted, disheveled, and moves with the unmistakable bearing and countenance of a middle-aged dude starting to seriously question what he’s doing with his life. So goes the life of Sandler’s Stanley Sugarman, a onetime NCAA basketball player who was taken out by a grisly injury and has been drudging for decades as a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. 

As we follow the deeply empathetic and underdog-heroic Sugarman, Hustle spins a familiar plot (see also Rocky, Seabiscuit, Hoosiers, Moneyball, Bruised, ad infinitum) into a story that’ll keep you invested even if you don’t know a hoop dream from an embroidery hoop.

Moreover, Hustle becomes a pulse-racing thriller every time the action moves to a basketball court or the streets of Philadelphia, which becomes the training ground for Sugarman’s troubled protege, Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez, who plays for the Utah Jazz). It’s not hyperbole to say Hustle could do for Philadelphia’s Manayunk Hill what Rocky did for those 72 stone steps leading to the Philadelphia Art Museum. 

The tension of the scrimmages comes in part from the host of professional players featured throughout and in part from Dan Deacon’s percussive, propulsive, masterful soundtrack, which somehow manages to insistently ratchet up the stakes with every beat without once pulling focus from the gameplay. 

Add in Queen Latifah making the most of an underwritten supportive wife role and Robert Duvall as the 76ers owner and you’ve got, yes, a winning movie. R, 117 min.

Limited release in theaters and streaming on Netflix

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Set around 2014 in unnamed or lightly fictionalized locales in eastern Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa’s 2018 knives-out satire serves as a grim foretelling of Russia’s current tragic misadventure in the region. Presented as a series of vignettes, we witness how all strata of society are impacted by the sudden incursion of Ukraine’s domineering neighbor onto its land. An early sequence of a local governmental meeting devolving into chaos as the chairman is drenched by a bucket of feces from the hands of a disgruntled citizen would feel absurd if it didn’t recall so many comparable scenes from the era after the fall of the Soviet Union. Nascent democracies taking their first steps and falling on their faces. But unlike that time, there’s little but cynical opportunism in the air. In another memorable scene, a citizen shows up to claim his stolen vehicle only to learn that the new government has chosen to “expropriate” it for the cause. The man is also strongly encouraged to contribute monetarily to their cause. As his situation sinks in, the man doffs his cap and sighs. His powerlessness is like ours as we watch the news.

Known best for masterfully edited documentaries that often use archival footage to present events from the past in a visceral, immediate way, Loznitsa blurs the lines between fact, fiction, propaganda, documentary, and drama in unsettling ways. I had to do a little research to make sure the Dixie-like flag of the People’s Republic of Novorossiya was made up. In a time when the most banal information is up for debate, this fake documentary reads as much too real.122 min.

Streaming through Gene Siskel Film Center

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The MCU puts a Muslim American superhero onstage in the brand-new Ms. Marvel. Pakistani Canadian actor Iman Vellani debuts as a wonderful Kamala Khan, a bubbly, rebellious girl lost in daydreams of saving the world like her fave, Captain Marvel. After quite a bit of backstory, hijinks eventually ensue, which lead Kamala to discover her own cosmic powers (both inside and out, naturally). Matt Lintz plays Bruno Cavelli, Kamala’s sidekick, and together they form an enjoyable pair of pluck and gumption. 

Marvel does a great job of spotlighting facets of American culture that often go underrepresented, (including a nice nod to Moon Knight’s Jewish heritage) and Ms. Marvel’s spotlight of Islam is incredibly well done. It felt refreshing and frankly groundbreaking to see a scene of prayer that wasn’t coupled with terrorism, and Muslim parents who weren’t stereotypes of oppression. And as a person who grew up in a family of Black Muslim converts, I was genuinely shocked to see that identity appear onscreen, portrayed by Travina Springer.

The Marvel framework of a six-episode miniseries means that every story gets the same amount of runtime—whether it needs it or not. The first two episodes drag a bit, and one wonders if the story would have been better served by a 30-minute episode instead. However, the story is fun overall, emphasized by beautifully rendered animation and phone text conversations artistically structured into the scenery in a manner that makes you wonder what’s coming next, and whets the appetite for the next Spiderverse flick.

Stream new episodes weekly on Disney+

Read More

Had anyone asked me back in Adam Sandler’s SNL days whether he could score as a viable dramatic lead, I would have snort-laughed my Sunny D back up right through my nose. After seeing Hustle, I do believe I may have misjudged Sandler’s ability to project anything requiring more emotional heft than, say, The Waterboy.

The first time Sandler appears in director Jeremiah Zagar’s basketball-centric redemption drama, he looks plum wore out. As we watch him hauling suitcases through a montage of airports and countries, he’s exhausted, disheveled, and moves with the unmistakable bearing and countenance of a middle-aged dude starting to seriously question what he’s doing with his life. So goes the life of Sandler’s Stanley Sugarman, a onetime NCAA basketball player who was taken out by a grisly injury and has been drudging for decades as a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. 

As we follow the deeply empathetic and underdog-heroic Sugarman, Hustle spins a familiar plot (see also Rocky, Seabiscuit, Hoosiers, Moneyball, Bruised, ad infinitum) into a story that’ll keep you invested even if you don’t know a hoop dream from an embroidery hoop.

Moreover, Hustle becomes a pulse-racing thriller every time the action moves to a basketball court or the streets of Philadelphia, which becomes the training ground for Sugarman’s troubled protege, Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez, who plays for the Utah Jazz). It’s not hyperbole to say Hustle could do for Philadelphia’s Manayunk Hill what Rocky did for those 72 stone steps leading to the Philadelphia Art Museum. 

The tension of the scrimmages comes in part from the host of professional players featured throughout and in part from Dan Deacon’s percussive, propulsive, masterful soundtrack, which somehow manages to insistently ratchet up the stakes with every beat without once pulling focus from the gameplay. 

Add in Queen Latifah making the most of an underwritten supportive wife role and Robert Duvall as the 76ers owner and you’ve got, yes, a winning movie. R, 117 min.

Limited release in theaters and streaming on Netflix

Read More

Set around 2014 in unnamed or lightly fictionalized locales in eastern Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa’s 2018 knives-out satire serves as a grim foretelling of Russia’s current tragic misadventure in the region. Presented as a series of vignettes, we witness how all strata of society are impacted by the sudden incursion of Ukraine’s domineering neighbor onto its land. An early sequence of a local governmental meeting devolving into chaos as the chairman is drenched by a bucket of feces from the hands of a disgruntled citizen would feel absurd if it didn’t recall so many comparable scenes from the era after the fall of the Soviet Union. Nascent democracies taking their first steps and falling on their faces. But unlike that time, there’s little but cynical opportunism in the air. In another memorable scene, a citizen shows up to claim his stolen vehicle only to learn that the new government has chosen to “expropriate” it for the cause. The man is also strongly encouraged to contribute monetarily to their cause. As his situation sinks in, the man doffs his cap and sighs. His powerlessness is like ours as we watch the news.

Known best for masterfully edited documentaries that often use archival footage to present events from the past in a visceral, immediate way, Loznitsa blurs the lines between fact, fiction, propaganda, documentary, and drama in unsettling ways. I had to do a little research to make sure the Dixie-like flag of the People’s Republic of Novorossiya was made up. In a time when the most banal information is up for debate, this fake documentary reads as much too real.122 min.

Streaming through Gene Siskel Film Center

Read More

The MCU puts a Muslim American superhero onstage in the brand-new Ms. Marvel. Pakistani Canadian actor Iman Vellani debuts as a wonderful Kamala Khan, a bubbly, rebellious girl lost in daydreams of saving the world like her fave, Captain Marvel. After quite a bit of backstory, hijinks eventually ensue, which lead Kamala to discover her own cosmic powers (both inside and out, naturally). Matt Lintz plays Bruno Cavelli, Kamala’s sidekick, and together they form an enjoyable pair of pluck and gumption. 

Marvel does a great job of spotlighting facets of American culture that often go underrepresented, (including a nice nod to Moon Knight’s Jewish heritage) and Ms. Marvel’s spotlight of Islam is incredibly well done. It felt refreshing and frankly groundbreaking to see a scene of prayer that wasn’t coupled with terrorism, and Muslim parents who weren’t stereotypes of oppression. And as a person who grew up in a family of Black Muslim converts, I was genuinely shocked to see that identity appear onscreen, portrayed by Travina Springer.

The Marvel framework of a six-episode miniseries means that every story gets the same amount of runtime—whether it needs it or not. The first two episodes drag a bit, and one wonders if the story would have been better served by a 30-minute episode instead. However, the story is fun overall, emphasized by beautifully rendered animation and phone text conversations artistically structured into the scenery in a manner that makes you wonder what’s coming next, and whets the appetite for the next Spiderverse flick.

Stream new episodes weekly on Disney+

Read More

Read More