My Top 10 'Scrubs' Episodes

For the sake of those who have not seen 'Scrubs' or any of these particular episodes, I will avoid leaking any spoilers.

10.) My Long Goodbye (Season 6)
-Nurse Laverne Roberts is in a coma, and nobody knows when she will wake up. Elliot comes to visit and remembers the times when she was down and Nurse Roberts cheered her up. Carla comes in and tells Elliot not to say goodbye because people have come back from worse. Jordan is giving birth and only gives Dr. Cox two hours' notice; he immediately starts freaking out. Carla won't accept that Nurse Laverne Roberts is going to die. A ghost of Nurse Roberts follows Carla around until Carla finally says goodbye to her.

9.)My Best Laid Plans (Season 4)
-Molly returns to Sacred Heart, and J.D. blows off his girlfriend Kylie to go out with her. Carla tries not to make "mountains out of molehills" when she realizes Turk is still in contact with an ex-girlfriend. The Janitor bets Dr. Cox that he can get a date with Elliot, the wager being his van against Dr. Cox's Porsche.

8.) My Finale (Season 8)
-(Series Finale) J.D. intends to leave Sacred Heart to move closer to his son, while Elliot and J.D. move their relationship forward

7.) My Old Lady (Season 1)
-The three interns (J.D., Turk and Elliot) have to face death for the first time: J.D.'s patient is a headstrong but kindly old woman, Turk's is a young man who just needs some company, and Elliot's is a Hispanic woman who does not speak any English. The episode's writer, Matt Tarses, won the 2002 Humanitas Prize in the 30 Minute Category for this episode.

6.) My Philosophy (Season 2)
-Elliot demands single-sex locker rooms from Dr. Kelso, who is considering ways he might acquire a bigger office. Turk pops the question to Carla, but not in the way he'd originally planned. A favorite patient of J.D. is back in the hospital for her heart condition.

5.) My Last Words (Season 8)
-J.D. and Turk set aside their personal plans to comfort a dying patient

4.) My Fallen Idol (Season 5)
-Feeling guilty over the deaths of three patients, Dr. Cox comes to work drunk and is forced to take a leave of absence. The staff organize shifts to visit Cox at home and console him in the hope of his return, but initially, J.D. refuses to take part. Meanwhile, Turk begins a new orthopedic rotation, but struggles to connect with and ultimately is overheard insulting his, new overly sensitive attending. Guest stars Paul Adelstein as Dr. Stone. This is also one of the few times we hear Dr. Cox call J.D. by his real name.

3.) My Catalyst (Season 3)
-Dr. Kevin Casey (Michael J. Fox), a skilled surgeon who has a long history with Dr. Cox and who suffers from crippling OCD, imparts wisdom to everyone at Sacred Heart.

2.) My Occurrence (Season 1)
-Jordan's brother and Dr. Cox's best friend Ben (Brendan Fraser) comes into the hospital after piercing his hand with a nail-gun; however Dr. Cox and J.D. later become worried when his hand won't stop bleeding, with J.D. going into denial about the results of Ben's tests. A series of paperwork bungles nearly has Turk operate on the wrong patient, and has Elliot incorrectly inform Jill (Nicole Sullivan) that she's pregnant.

1.) My Screw Up (Season 3)
-Jordan's siblings, Danni (Tara Reid) and Ben visit to celebrate Jack's first birthday. Carla tells Turk she will only take his last name if he has his mole removed. Dr. Cox is dismayed to learn that Ben has not been to a doctor for followup since his remission. Dr. Cox angrily blames J.D. for a patient's death and excuses him from his duties.

Honorable Mentions

My Way Home
-Scrubs' 100th episode: J.D. gets called in to work on his day off, but the only thing he wants to do is get home. Meanwhile Elliot tries to convince everyone she is an expert on endocrinology following her brief fellowship, Carla has doubts over being a parent, and Turk has to wrestle over an issue that will either help his career or break his conscience.

My Musical (Season 6)
-The arrival of a patient who hears music all the time results in Sacred Heart turning into a full scale Broadway musical. Elliot tries to tell JD that she doesn't want to be roommates with him any more, while Carla attempts to decide whether she should return to work or not

My Best Moment (Season 4)
-When J.D. has to address a group of pre-med students about what it's like to be a doctor, he strays off the beaten path and chooses to discuss his best moments as a doctor instead. When he challenges the rest of the staff to do so, they all reminisce about their fondest memories in the medical field. Meanwhile, Elliot is forced to face her fear of children when she is left in charge of a ten-year-old boy, whose father is being treated in the I.C.U. Elsewhere, Dr. Kelso gets a dose of Christmas spirit and stuns the staff with his change of heart.

My ABCs (Season 8)
-J.D., Elliot and Dr. Cox each choose an intern to work with. J.D. picks Denise (Eliza Coupe) who lacks compassion towards patients. Elliot's intern, Katie, tries to use her to land a case study with Turk who picks Ed over Katie due to his multi couloured pen. Dr. Cox chooses Ed (Aziz Ansari) who is lazy and overconfident.

My Unicorn (Season 4)
-In actor Matthew Perry's directorial debut, J.D. befriends the son of a noted singer who is unwilling to donate a kidney to his ailing father. Carla and Jordan, despite the warnings of Turk, teach Elliot to use her sexuality to her advantage, which causes catastrophe.

Where is the Love?

I saw on YouTube that there is a very poor debate on "The Gay Agenda" and Prop 8. Just figured I'd give my two cents in blog form, since I do not have a web cam:

Jesus came to this earth preaching love, tolerance and compassion.

"...love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39)( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:36-40;&version=31;)

Jesus ate with the tax collectors, healed lepers, performed miracles on the Sabbath, all in the name and glory of God the Father.

Where, if not the church, can broken people go to have the unconditional love of Jesus shown to them?

As a church are we supposed to say "Well, once we heal ya of that whole 'gay/alcoholic/wife-beating/child-beating thing' you'll be welcome within our sanctuary (regardless of the fact that it's called a SANCTUARY.)"

Jesus didn't care about any of that. He loved and died for EVERYONE. Even those who don't believe.

He sat at a well and spoke with a Samaritan woman, who any self-righteous Jew would not have associated with, he stayed and spoke with her telling her of the light to come.

I'm not saying I disagree with everything you say, but I don't see Jesus in anything that you are saying. I only hear the Christian agenda to keep marriage a "holy sacrament" which, to be honest, it isn't.

The Pagans get married, Mormons get married (some times more than once at the same time), savages in Africa and South America get married and they may have never heard of the word or of God.

Love is a choice.

I don't believe that being a homosexual is something that is a result of "bad wiring", it's a choice. Just like Christ CHOSE to give His life as a ransom for any and all who would accept His love and sacrifice.

It's the lack of love in the church that makes me dislike being jumbled in with "Christians" like Pat Robertson and many other agenda pushing "Christians" looking the sell another book or two.

I have been using the term Christ Follower to describe my faith. It usually gets strange looks from people, but they're not my judge, nor are they the kind of people who I take stock in their opinions anyway.

I don't know if I made any sense, or if anyone will agree with anything I have to say. But that's what I believe.

Rodgers Saying All the Right Things... for Now

They say you never want to be the man who replaces a legend, but that you'd rather be the guy who replaces the guy who replaced the legend.

Aaron Rodgers, however, is trying his best to put an end to that mantra by any means necessary. Even if that means reaching out to the paradigm of replacement QBs, Steve Young.

Young replaced Joe Montana in San Francisco back in 1991. "I've just got to be me. I'm not Brett, I'm never going to live up to his legendary status regardless of how well I play," said Rodgers. "Steve Young was a great QB in San Francisco. But Joe (Montana) won four Super Bowls. And Steve still had a Hall of Fame career. I want his advice."

Ever since Brett Favre finally said the 'R' word, Rodgers has been under a microscope. His every move has been monitored, and he has taken it in stride. He has answered the same questions every time the press has been allowed access to the locker room after the teams "voluntary" workouts.

When asked what it's like to finally be the starting QB of the Green Bay Packers, Rodgers has given very mature answers, saying "I know the pressure I'm under. I know who I'm following. I know that it's a tough situation and a lot of people are expecting me to fail outside of this locker room," he said after the first OTA. "I'm just trying to get the guys we've got here now to believe in me."

With the "boo-yah!" network (ESPN) over-analyzing the Packers draft selections of Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn—second and seventh-round picks respectively—putting added pressure on Rodgers to succeed. When asked about a potential QB controversy, Rodgers responded confidently, saying "I think that is a false statement, actually. And coach (Mike) McCarthy would say the same thing."

What the "boo-yah!" network seemed to magically forget was that the Pack was in dire need of backup QBs, and the free-agent market wasn't exactly booming with "Packers" material.

General Manager Ted Thompson brought former Minnesota Vikings QB Daunte Cullpepper in for a visit and an interview, but quickly decided against bringing in the injury-prone former All-Pro to the green and gold. "They had to bring in a guy that would back me up," said Rodgers. "It was either going to be through free agency or the draft."

Favre's favorite target over the last several season, Donald Driver, has been quoted as saying "...the transition between Favre to Rodgers has been seamless. Brett; he's not here, but his spirit is here," continued Driver. "Nothing's changing, we're not going to do anything different than what we would do if Brett was here. The play calling is going to stay the same. The cadence is going to stay the same. There's nothing different, you just see a different face, but you all move on."

"One guy I really need in my corner is Donald (Driver.) We've had some really good conversations about getting on the same page. It was obvious with him and Brett—all they needed was eye contact,” Rodgers said "I know the comparisons will happen. Probably for my entire career as a Packer and as long as I play in the NFL...My connection will be the guy who followed Brett Favre," Rodgers knowingly admits.

The Packers have great depth at every offensive position. (They really only lack in experience at QB. But scouts have ranted and raved about Brian Brohm being more than NFL ready, having been a three-year starter and running a West-Coast style offense at Louisville.)

With the emergence of Ryan Grant last year, and with the promising talent of 2007 second-round pick Brandon Jackson looking to secure the backup spot, the Packers are not hurting for offense. The running game looks to be a lot brighter situation than last year, when the Packers were ranked 32nd in the league for rushing average, until Grant broke out against Denver on Monday Night Football in Week Nine.

Their receiving corps isn't bad either, with starters Greg Jennings and Donald Driver being followed by second-year pro James Jones and this year's second-round pick Jordy Nelson from Kansas State. Rodgers will have his pick of the litter with a maturing receiving group.

The drama of Favre's will-he, won't-he un-retire charade has faded, and the post-Favre era of the Pack has begun. From the look of all the attitudes around the Packer's mini-camp, Rodgers should be a more than suitable replacement for the future first-ballot Hall of Famer.

But Rodgers' charisma and good looks will only get him so far in the city of Green Bay. He still has to back up all his talking of "going out and playing his game." And proving his doubters wrong by establishing himself as a durable QB who can play more than four quarters in an NFL season without getting hurt.

On Second Thought, They Were All Bad (A Nerds Rant)

A year ago this summer the world saw the third installment of the live-action Spider-man movies hit the movie theaters world-wide, with an unprecedented hype machine working for it, Spider-man 3 was supposed to be the ultimate superhero movie. Long story short; it wasn't. By any stretch of the imagination.

Now I find myself immersed in plenty of new and old Spidey reference material through my local book and comic stores, and I have to say all three movies could have been so much better.

The character of Spider-man is the wise-cracking jester of the Marvel universe. Spidey is also a pretty smart arachnid. In the comics he creates his web-shooters, he figures out how to defeat his opponents with his wits, not his brawn, or by complete happenstance-as seen in all three movies. The Sam Raimi directed Spider-man films have grossed well over $1 billion globally. But if you dig into what Raimi is actually putting on his scripts and transferring to the screen you may see things a bit differently.

First- Raimi's magnum opus prior to the Spider-man series was the Evil Dead trilogy. A series that was originally premised as a horror franchise that quickly became a comedy/thriller (loose terminology on "thriller.") Raimi-much like Tim Burton- is unwilling to evolve his shooting style, which is very evident in Spider-man 2 when Doctor Octopus' (Alfred Molina) grafted extremities kill the doctors preparing for his autopsy. The camera movements and cuts are almost precisely the same as a scene in Evil Dead 2.

You can argue that it was an homage to his earlier work, blah, blah, blah. But why does he have to give himself an homage? Why does the "birth of Doc Ock" have to come with a scene from Evil Dead? Why not create something new?

Throughout the movie series there seems to be one constant thing with the character of Spider-man: he's a mute!

Part of the tactics employed by the comic version of Spider-man is to aggravate his foe to the point where they will make a costly mistake. In the movies? Spider-man never does anything to the opposition, they set up a trap and it backfires due to either his "spider sense" (ala spidey 1,) a revelation by the villain (spidey 2,) or just accepting an apology (Sandman in the third film.) So it would seem the only villain who was actually defeated was Venom (who was not actually even named in the film) and how is Venom defeated? By a bomb that Harry brought with him on his flying snowboard.

Now let's divulge ourselves a little deeper into the psyche of the movie villains. Most obviously with all of the villains in Raimi's Spider-man films is the idea that they all should be personally connected to Peter somehow.

First The Green Goblin: Connection- Peter's best friends' father.
The Lowdown: The casting of Willem Defoe as Norman Osborn/GG was excellent. The voice of the Goblin was creepy. As Norman, Defoe made you believe he was a huge jerk. The costume, however, was a total joke.

A genetically enhanced, and mentally torn Norman Osborn who, after having his funding threatened to be pulled by some bias jerk of a military leader was forced to test his formula for strength enhancements in humans on himself. The trials of the serum proved the formula to not be ready for human testing, causing increased aggression and insanity. But in his desperation Osborn tested the serum on himself, thus creating the Green Goblin.

We can't really blame Norman Osborn for wanting to save his company, can we? So is he really a bad guy? Or someone who was pushed to a drastic measure and suffered the consequences of someone else being a d-bag to him?

Next we have
Dr. Otto Octavious/Doctor Octopus: Connection- One of Peter's role models. Peter meets Otto and his wife, Rose, through Harry and really connects with them

The Lowdown: Played by Alfred Molina, who also performed the role very well, but as my good friend Matt has pointed out in his blog (http://anotherdamncomicblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/its-almost-like-its-2004-all-over-again.html) Doc Ock is really at no fault of his own because, for whatever reason, his arms have some artificial intelligence and thanks to a "neural inhibitor" Dr. Octavious is able to manipulate the arms to do his will. But after the accident that grafts the arms to his body, the inhibitor is broken and the arms begin to take control of his mind.

Can Octavious be blamed? I don't think so, he's a grieving widower who only wants to see his life's work completed. Whereas the arms for some reason, as are all artificially intelligent beings apparently, are evil.

It is, nonetheless, in the first meeting between Spider-man and Doc Ock, during a bank robbery, that we get just the second time in the series where Spider-man makes a witty remark by shouting "Here's your change" at the villain while throwing back a bag of... Change. Right!

In the third installment we find Spider-man facing three, maybe four (if you stretch the main "moral" of the movie, which the fourth villain would be Peter, himself) villains the New Goblin/Harry Osborn, the Sandman and Venom/symbiote.

We will discuss this villains in order of appearance

First we have
New Goblin/Harry: Connection- Peter's best friend

The Lowdown:Having discovered Spider-man is actually his best friend, Peter Parker, Harry has had one motive since the first movie: Avenge his father, Norman, by killing Spider-man.

At the end of Spider-man 2 Harry discovered his father's old "Goblin Lair" Harry takes his inheritance and runs with it. Modifying his father's original goblin designs into his own style.

With continuity errors aside (why doesn't the "Goblin Juice" make Harry go insane?) Harry can't be blamed for wanting to avenge his father, can he?

Next we have The Sandman/Flint Marko: Connection- Marko is discovered to be the actual shooter of Peter's Uncle Ben

An escaped convict Marko falls into a particle accelerator full of sand while on the run and is turned into the Sandman (this is probably the best scene from Spider-man 3)

Marko leads a life of crime as a way to get money to help his sick daughter, which makes his life of crime okay.


Finally we have Venom/Eddie Brock/symbiote: The connection- Eddie is a competing photographer with Peter at the Daily Bugle. The symbiote had originally been with Peter, creating the black Spidey costume.

The Lowdown: Venom is created when Peter ditches the symbiote at a church where Eddie Brock is praying for the death of Parker. The symbiote quickly finds itself on Brock, thus creating Venom

Venom is about the only real villain who is being bad, just for the sake of being bad. But he does also have a vendetta against Spider-man/Parker, so he is kind of justified.

The final part of this rant goes towards the casting of the recurring characters and the montages of the films.

Tobey Maguire; a soft spoken actor who does a great job preparing for roles, but could not emote on screen to save his life. As Peter Parker/Spider-man Maguire has found stardom. But this is a hollow victory due to the fact that his stardom is due the fact that he has the role, not his portrayal of Marvel Comics cornerstone character.

Kirsten Dunst; how she landed this role, no one will ever know! Her biggest role before landing this one was when she was 12 years old. Her portrayal of Peter/Spider-man's biggest supporter is a slap in the face to creators Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. The Mary Jane on screen is nothing short of a prima donna, even though she hasn't accomplished anything yet.

James Franco as Harry Osborn is easily the best casting decision to the main cast members of the Spider-man series. He looks like he could be the song of Willem Defoe (aka Norman Osborn) and is a solid actor.

Finally the montages need to end!

The "Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head" montage in Spider-man 2 was quite funny. But it was pushed to it's limit in the third installment during Peter's "dark phase" with his Saturday Night Fever strut.

All-in-all with a regrading of the Spider-man movies they go from the first installment to the most recent go as such:

Spider-man : C
Spider-man 2: C+
Spider-man 3: D

Baby Mama Review

Grade: B


In 2004 Tina Fey and Amy Poehler became the first all-woman tandem for the Saturday Night Live segment “Weekend Update.” The comedic chemistry between the two made the “Update” segment a highlight during a harsh transition time for the SNL crew. Now, two years after their last segment together, Poehler and Fey reunite in the comedy Baby Mama.

We are first introduced to Kate Holbrook (Fey) explaining how badly she wants a child of her own, scaring away her date.

After being told Kate has been told she has a one-in-a-million chance of conceiving a child through artificial insemination, or natural conception workaholic, Kate decides she has reached the end of her self-dependent road of trying to have a child and reaches out to a surrogacy agency to help her fulfill her maternal desires. Enter Angie (Poehler,) a woman who “knows how to get pregnant” as she casually blurts out in her first meeting with Kate.

Much like on Fey’s NBC show 30 Rock she seems to have been type casted for the role of Kate, as she plays a successful woman who shares an “interesting” relationship with a boss who is less than modest in his accomplishments.

Baby Mama is a perfect example of how chemistry between two leading roles can overcome straight acting talent. Along with a solid, and extremely humorous supporting cast such as Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver Baby Mama can definitely walk on its own quickly after the movie’s opening crawls out of the gates.

Martin plays the quirky, hippy owner of the organic food company that Kate who has creates humorously awkward moments. Such as his reward to Kate for finding a perfect spot to open a flagship store in midtown Philadelphia is five minutes of “uninterrupted eye contact.”

Weaver’s character- who is not only the president of a surrogacy planning center, but also an extremely fertile woman herself- plays the object of Kate’s envy, being several years more advanced than Kate. Weaver’s portrayal of the extremely air-headed and whimsical Chaffee Bicknell is a delight to see. The fast quips between Bicknell and Kate are extremely pleasurable.

For what it brings to the table, Baby Mama is a comedy that everyone can enjoy. There are several scenes that could have played out as a skit on SNL, with a little more depth than just the string of one-line jokes the show has become known for. The overall message of the story doesn’t shy too far away from what you would expect from this movie, which does hinder the movie from bringing it to that next tier of pregnancy comedies that have become so popular lately (i.e. Knocked Up, and Juno.)

Skillet Fries Up the Coronado

Skillet and their cohorts fried up the stage at Rockford’s Coronado Theatre on Tuesday, April 1st.

Hot on the heels of the release of their fifth album, Comatose, the hard-rock band has been hitting the road with fellow rockers Decyfer Down and Thousand Foot Krutch as part of the promotional tour for their new CD.

The opening act- Decyfer Down- kicked off a high adrenaline show with several new songs from their upcoming yet-to-be-named album, then finished the set with songs from their debut album End of Grey.

As far as most opening bands go, Decyfer Down warmed up the still piling in crowd with their powerful lyrics and the hard to miss stage presence of their front man/bassist Caleb Oliver kept the audience on its feet with their hands waving. Songs like “Burn Back the Sun” and “Break Free” had new fans rushing the merchandising tables for CDs, and shirts.

The next group to perform was the Canadian rock quartet; Thousand Foot Krutch. Out in promotion of their new CD The Flame in All of Us, released in late 2007 the album has already been hailed by fans and media as the groups best CD to date. Playing the title tracks “The Flame in All of Us” and “My Own Enemy” along with several fan favorites such as “Rawkfist,” “Move” and the ballad “Breath You In” kept the fans screaming/singing along with lead vocalist Trevor McNevan all evening.

Breaking into the music industry in the late 90s the band has seen three of its five albums reach the top 100 in Billboard sales.

At one point during the set McNevan snuck off stage and ran into the audience with a search light that was segued by various audio clips from news reportings of school shootings beginning with Columbine’s tragedy and ending with the recent NIU shootings audio. The intimacy created by the song and the heartstrings that were tugged by the beginning tracks drew a somber hush over the previously roaring audience.

Finishing off their set with a few more songs from their new CD TFK filed off stage after a short curtain call.

Then in a single moment all the “Panheads” (fans of Skillet) erupted when the entire amphitheater went dark. With a single spotlight fading up on a cellist, on top of a stack of amplifiers, strumming the opening lines of the albums titled track “Comatose” with the band running onto the stage to kick off the beginning of their set.

Never being ones to deprive their fans of an entertaining show Skillet frontman John Cooper told the audience that he was “going to shut up and just play some rock and roll.” Which was followed by a set of songs that entailed an awesome light show and lots of fan interaction with high-fives being thrown out by all mobile members of the band-the drummer obviously couldn’t get up and give high-fives.

Having toured with bands like Breaking Benjamin, Saliva, Seether, Three Days Grace and Staind, Skillet has created a large fanbase, but remains loyal to their roots as an inspirational rock band. With songs like “Comatose,” “Whispers in the Dark,” “The Last Night” and “Rebirthing” offering new hope, instead of a lot of hard rock’s more prominent bands “emo,” self-pitying lyrics.

In her first tour with the band, Skillet’s newest drummer- 18 year-old, Jen Ledger- proved to be a great addition as she not only performed the songs flawlessly, but also came out from her behind her set to sing a solo and a duet with pianist/guitarist Korey Cooper (John’s wife) during the song “Yours to Hold.”

Originating as a Christian band and breaking into the mainstream airwaves with their album Collide has given the band a whole new market to share their style of rock and roll. The Tennessee natives have earned national recognition with songs like “Savior” and “Collide” from the 2003 hit album Collide.

Formed in the late 90s Skillet has seen several members come and go, but they have never stopped doing the two things that give them sold-out venues: always focus on the fans, and always write about hope and faith.

Having gone through several different sounds such as a style of techno/electronic rock, the group has adapted their music help them reach a group of young music lovers with their unique and personal lyrics.

As another way to get the fans more involved in the show, local radio station 101QFL was running a text message based contest where fans would text a specific word to a number and prizes would be issued to the 101st texter.

One of the prizes was a chance to hang out with opening band: Decyfer Down- along with QFL and band merchandise and the final contest that was announced during Skillet’s set which had a grand prize of two free week-long passes to the Cornerstone Music Festival in Bushnell, IL from June 30th- July 5th.

While the series of concerts and potential of winning the prizes in the texting “raffles” were well worth the admission price of $22 the merchandise was extremely overpriced at $30 for t-shirts and $50 for hoodies for all the bands.

The Comatose Tour will be concluding in Lancaster, PA on May, 11th. If you missed them this time around, you can trek down to see Skillet perform along with hundreds of other bands in Bushnell, IL on July, 2nd at the Cornerstone Music Festival.

To check out more on these bands you can check out their websites at DecyferDown.com, ThousandFootKrutch.com, TheFlameinAllofUs.com, Skillet.com or MySpace.com/SkilletMusic

"Leatherheads" Review

Grade: B

In 1925, college level football represented the pinnacle of fame a young athlete could ever want. Professional football was pure anarchy, with very few rules and even fewer fans.

In the George Clooney directed football comedy Leatherheads, the face of college football was Princeton star Carter "The Bullet" Rutherford (John Krasinski) - a speedy game breaker who took time out of his studies to serve in the Great War. While serving Rutherford became a war hero and awarded the Medal of Honor.

In the professional ranks, however, the face of the game was Jimmy "Dodge" Connolly. A man well past his prime, Connolly lived for the love of the game - albeit a dirty game - and gave the small fan base a reason for watching the rag-tag teams fumble around the field, making up rules on the spot. With pro football apparently on its deathbed, Connolly bargains with a Chicago hotel owner to invest in the Duluth Bulldogs and help bring the Bullet to the professional ranks by playing for the team and to become the face of the suddenly changing game.

Upon his arrival to pro football, Rutherford brings many new aspects to the game: new plays, new rules, and team curfews - much to the dismay of Dodge, who had "never played a clean game."

Leatherheads is not the comedy most would assume it to be as presented by the advertising campaign for the picture. Although there are many scenes with good laughs, the movie focuses primarily on the controversy of Rutherford's alleged heroism in France.

There are a lot of political undertones that have come to be expected from Clooney since his 2005 directoral debut; Good Night, and Good Luck. These undertones manage to work with simple camera work, amazing set and costume designs, and a stellar cast that includes Oscar winner- Renee Zellweger, Stephen Root and Wayne Duvall.

The sets, dialogue, music (composed by Randy Newman), and even body language takes you back to a believable Roaring 20s setting. The film features several montages accompanied only by Newman's score, whose jazzy musical styling flourishes in this period piece.

The chemistry between the two Oscar winners is undeniably electric. With their quick banter and the characters charisma Clooney and Zellweger pull off the romantic tension effortlessly.

Leatherheads is an enjoyable movie with a smooth storyline that does not complicate the continuity of the picture. With it's well above-average acting performances by all cast members Clooney's newest feature is well worth catching a weekend matenee.