Beginnings and endings. Yet another coincidence this week as I found myself watching a couple of otherwise enjoyable new films that had endings that didn’t really seem to match their beginnings - or their characters for that matter.   The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Directed by Don Scardino “…and the Amazing Anton Marvelton.” Aside from the problems associated with very long titles, the fact that the sidekick’s name is missing from the title of the movie is indicative of the character of Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and his level of blowhard self-importance. He’s the bullied and ignored kid who rose to fame and fortune and lost all sense of reality and scale in his life. Although

  “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” film review by Gary Chew   “That Old Burt Magic” would have done nicely for the title of the new film “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.” Much of the magic being performed in the film is done by a guy named Burt, and the 1942 song “That Old Black Magic,” would have done nicely on the soundtrack to make the connection between the “Burt Magic” title and the well-known song itself; maybe even a little Louis Prima and Keely Smith doing their recorded version of the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer standard.   But even without the suggested re-titling, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” allows for some good entertainment with a very solid cast of well-knowns wh

The West Coast Fighting Championships return to Sacramento’s Jackson Sports Arena at McClellan Park on Friday, January 18. Local fighters Dave “Badman” Huckaba and Max “Pain” Griffin headline the fight card. Training at Marinoble’s Martial Arts gym in Roseville - where pro fighter Uriah Faber once trained, I sat down with Max Griffin for an interview. Griffin is known for his appearance on Dana White’s The Ultimate Fighter TV show on FX.  Nicknamed Max Pain, Griffin is 27 years old.  He was born in Santa Barbara, California, but calls Sacramento home.  With an amateur record of 22-1, and a professional record of 4-1, the 5’11”, 170 lb. welterweight has a trove of sponsors and is confident

For the first six innings of Tuesday night’s ballgame, the Sacramento River Cats managed just one hit. As it turned out, all they needed to get their offense going was to face a different pitcher. A crowd of nearly 10,600 watched as Las Vegas 51s starting pitcher Scott Richmond had a strong outing, striking out seven River Cats batters. His only blemish was a base hit by Travis Buck in the third inning. Hits were difficult to come by all night, and both teams left 10 runners on base. The River Cats did get on the scoreboard, but their four-game winning streak was halted by a 4-2 loss to the 51s in the second game of the four game series. River Cats starter Bobby Cramer did well in his f

The River Cats are now sitting atop the Pacific Coast League South Division with slightly more cushion between them and the Fresno Grizzlies after defeating the visiting Las Vegas 51s 3-2 on Monday night in front of 8,019 fans at Raley Field. Prior to Monday night, the River Cats were involved in a heated five-game battle against division rivals, the Fresno Grizzlies. The Cats managed to take four out of five games, allowing them to clinch the playoff tiebreaker. With visibly less enthusiasm than seen in recent games, fans filed into the stadium. The Cats didn’t give fans much to cheer about until the top of the fourth inning when 51’s pitcher Zach Jackson walked Travis Buck and Michael

The Sacramento Kings held its second day of summer league mini-camp Saturday; camp ended Sunday. The team is preparing to play in the Las Vegas Summer League Omri Casspi, Donte Greene and newly signed Donald Sloan were the only players on the Kings’ regular season roster to participate in the first practice of the day. Notably missing was the Kings No.1 pick, DeMarcus Cousins. He was hit by Steven Hill in training camp on Friday, resulting in a cracked tooth and a cut lip. He showed up for practice later in the morning and worked on his shooting. Summer league head coach Mario Elie said that he Cousins would participate in the second practice on Saturday. Wayne Chism didn’t practice ei

If making history wasn't enough, Tyreke Evans may not be done making accomplishments this summer. The Sacramento Kings rookie guard is one of three players confirmed by Team USA Basketball's Managing Director Jerry Colangelo to receive invites to its mini-camp, according to the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami. The mini-camp will take place in Las Vegas this July. Evans, along with Golden State Warriors rookie Stephen Curry and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeff Green are set to be invited. "We want to get them into the system and get them ready to play," Colangelo said. "Whether it's this cycle or the next." Kawakami hinted, via Twitter, that the decision came due to a roster expa

There's a troop surge for all you dancers out there, and the Afghan Raiders are leading the pack. Thursday night's Bravado at Mix will be hosting the Afghan Raiders (AR), a musical twosome from Las Vegas. The two musicians, Beans and Mikey, are not ethnically Afghani— the inspiration for their name came from the French film Amelie. "[Amelie] is trying to find her boyfriend and she makes up this long, kind of neurotic story about how he might have been kidnapped by Afghan raiders," said Beans. "We thought it was a really cool phrase and intriguing." Beans and Mikey, the other half of AR, have known each other since high school. Heavy rock and punk music brought them together, and their

 As the Sacramento River Cats finish up a four game-series with the Las Vegas 51s, the Fresno Grizzlies and Reno Aces are in Sacramento’s rear-view mirror in the PCL Pacific South Division standings. The River Cats are in the middle of a pennant race, and July will go a long way in deciding who wins the division. Sacramento plays Fresno and Reno eight times each in July. Sacramento begins the month with a three-game series at Raley Field against Fresno. As of Tuesday, the River Cats are six games ahead of the Grizzlies in the division. Sacramento then goes on the road for their longest road trip of the season, starting with four in Reno. The Aces trail the River Cats by seven games in th

 The greatest thing about baseball is that from game to game you never know what is going to happen. One day your team can be involved in a pitchers’ duel and the next day there is a home run derby at the ballpark. One of the most rare and exciting plays in baseball is when the runner steals home. River Cats fans have been lucky enough to witness this play successfully executed twicethis season. Center fielder Eric Patterson was the speed racer on third in both instances. He first stole home on April 28 against the Las Vegas 51s to provide the winning margin in a 3-2 triumph. He did it again on May 19 against the Round Rock Express as part of an ever rarer triple steal. “The pitcher ha

It is probably the court rules on high profile trials, that if you leave the courtroom while it is in session you cant return back in until the next break. So here I was trying to hold myself so I wouldn't have to miss any of the courtroom action. But being in Las Vegas and drinking bottle of water after bottle of water I found myself having to dismiss myself from the courtroom. I surely didn't want my 15 minutes of fame to go down with people saying "wasn't he the man who wet his pants during the O.J. trial?" So here I was out in the hall again waiting for the next break in the court session. While I was out there I was thinking about my brief encounter with O.J. and thought to myself tha