Jaime Marks Is Dead Movie Review

Jaime Marks Is Dead is an ambitious film that will have its faults overlooked by the audience because it is an independent movie. The movie is at its best when no one is talking. Some of the shots are breathtaking gorgeous, but the holes in the script take what could have been great story into a film that makes you feel just as lost as Jaime Marks.

The movie opens with Gracie, a young teenage girl, finding the body of a dead teenage boy, the often bullied Jamie Marks, near a creek. As someone who was bullied very early in life (not nearly to the degree what’s depicted in the movie) seeing that took me out of the movie and made me remember some memories I didn’t want to remember. In one bullying scene Adam, the main character, sees what’s happening to Jaime and does not help or ever had a conversation with him.

In the aftermath of Jamie’s death the life at the high school goes on seemingly normal, like nothing ever happened. It was as if a ghost no one thought was real to begin with disappeared. After school Adam visits the creek where Jamie’s body was found and he meets Gracie for seemingly the first time. After a brief conversation she invites Adam over to her house. (If only it was that easy to receive an invite to a girls house back when I was in high school.) While in Gracie’s room Adam sees Jamie for the first time, standing outside. To Adam’s surprise Gracie sees and has seen Jamie for quite some time. At this point you’re either going to go with the story or just turn it off.

When Adam leaves her room he meets Jamie and they begin a friendship. The biggest tragedy is they could have been really good friends if Adam ever had the courage to talk to Jamie while he was still alive. The idea of a lost great friendship is sprinkled throughout the film, but I think the film would have been better served if it focused more on that than the subplots about the courtship with Gracie, the new found friendship between Adam’s Mother and her new friend and the other “people” Adam and Jamie meet.

Some plot points were unnatural and occurred simply to move the plot, which took me out of the film (I was saying to myself, “Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense for him to do that.”). I applaud the filmmakers and the financers for taking a chance on a movie they had to know going into it the subject matter they’re exploring are subjects most people do not instinctively want to see. There are few scenes of horror that feel a little misplaced, but the biggest horror was no one knew how smart and caring Jamie was; that Jamie had to create his own Shakespearean Tragedy in order to feel love.

Grade: 40-45 (on the 20-80 scouting scale)

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DraftKings Picks: Wednesday May 13, 2015

I finally gave in and I’m going to give daily fantasy sports (DFS) a shot this year. This is my first year playing so there will be bumps in the road, but if you read my fantasy guide you know I am going to be overly prepared before I do something.

I’m playing at Draft Kings so all of my analysis and picks will be based on their scoring system.

My Strategy

To maximize your scoring potential you need to find pitchers who throw a lot of innings, strikeout a lot of batters and have a good chance for a win. Since you also lose points for hitters reaching base (hits, walks, hits batsmen) you want to avoid high strikeout, high walk pitchers (Francisco Liriano for example). Also, if they’re walking a lot of batters their pitch counts will be high, which means they won’t pitch deep into games.

With hitters you want players who will hit for extra bases because the scoring increases progressively for extra base hit type. Also, there are no penalties for hitters making outs so you can draft a Mike Zunino and not worry so much if he goes 0-4 with three strikeouts. Power is emphasized in the scoring so it’s imperative to find players who are going to hit home runs and make hard contact.

Speed is another way to find easy points at a low cost, but you want to make sure you grab players who have a high stolen base success rate because you lost points for every caught stealing.

Last Note

This is the most obvious thing, but it has to be said. You are responsible for your own lineup. It is your decision to play or not play a specific player or in general. I’m giving the best analysis I can and if you agree then, that’s great. I’m going to be wrong sometimes. In fact I’ll probably be wrong a lot because like I said at the start I am a beginner there’s going to be a learning curve.

My 50/50 Lineup

  • P: Francisco Liriano (PIT) — $8,900
  • P: James Shields (SD) — $9,500
  • C: Andrew Susac (SF) — $3,100
  • 1B: Freddie Freeman (ATL) — $4,900
  • 2B: Alex Guerrero (LAD) — $2,700
  • 3B: Miguel Cabrera (DET) — $4,900
  • SS: Hidden
  • OF: Ryan Braun (MIL) — $4,900 Mike Trout (LAA) —$5,100
  • OF: Hidden
  • OF: Hidden

I would have won yesterday’s 50/50 if Stephen Strasburg didn’t get lit up, but you know what they say; do not let a bad beat get the best of you and get back up on the horse. Choosing two pitchers was a bigger challenge than I thought because all the “elite” pitchers had warts. Matt Harvey didn’t look good in his last outing and despite what the overall numbers say the command hasn’t been that sharp. Cole Hamels is walking 11 percent of batters and that number was not fueled by 1-2 starts. He’s walking a lot of batters each outing. I went with Francisco Liriano because he’s facing the Phillies and the lineup is fairly left handed. Of all the elite pitchers I’m the most confident James Shields should be able to provide 7 innings, 0-2 ER with 6-plus strikeouts. All that said, I’m not very confident with my pitchers. Liriano walks a lot of batters and Shields’s has been giving up a lot of home runs.

If Alex Guerrero is going to continue to be priced this cheaply he’s always going to be in my lineup. I don’t know why the Giants are not playing Andrew Susac that much, but in his brief Major League career he’s mashed lefties (.325/.413/.575) with a lot of hard contact. Overall, I’m choosing hitters who make a lot of hard contact because they have the highest probability to hit home runs.

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Noah Syndergaard’s Debut

I’m sure every fantasy writer and/or blogger is going to throw their two cents about what they thought of Noah Syndergaard and I’m going to as well. If he’s able to make to 22-23 starts this year his floor is a top 60 starting pitcher and his ceiling is a top 10 starting pitcher. He’ll likely be a top 40 pitcher, but I love what I saw tonight in Chicago. If he’s available on waivers and you play with FAAB I would spend 20-30 percent of my budget to acquire him.

The delivery is very simple and repeatable, which will allow him a better chance to limit the walks, which what he’s shown this year in Triple-A.. The fastball was obviously very good as it touched 98 mph in bursts and he was able to sit in the mid-90s the entire game. Not only does he have a great fastball but has two very good secondary pitches. The changeup was the better pitch last night. He threw it with the same arm action as the fastball, which makes it  hard for hitters to pick up. The slider (most refer to it as a curveball) had really hard spin and good downward tilt. What impressed me the most was he threw any of those pitches irregardless of the count and situation. Not only did he throw any pitch he threw them for strikes, he threw them for quality strikes. It’s possible he may get sent back down to Triple-A because Dillon Gee’s DL stay should only require the minimum 15 days. However, anyone who saw Syndergaard pitch knows he’s easily the superior pitcher and gives the Mets the best chance to win. Since the Mets have a lot of injuries in the bullpen I bet when Gee comes off the DL, he’ll go in the bullpen and Syndergaard stays in the rotation.

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