Recaps

[Arizona Sports] D-backs have no answer for Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. in series finale loss - "[Gallen] lasted five. He gave up four earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Pretty much frustrating really,” Gallen said of his performance. “Today was probably one of the first days it felt like my delivery was feeling pretty good, pretty back to normal. Just made three mistakes that ended up in home runs. “I just didn’t land enough breaking balls for strikes to get ahead in the count. I just had to come over the middle with fastballs (is) pretty much what it boiled down to.”

[AZ Central] Zac Gallen's struggle continues as Diamondbacks punished by Padres -After Gallen was hit hard by the San Francisco Giants last week, pitching coach Matt Herges wondered if opposing hitters have begun to take a different approach against Gallen than they had in the past. On Sunday, Gallen agreed with that assessment, citing words from a coach he had in his youth: Good players are even better self-evaluators.

[dbacks.com] Gallen unable to find groove in finale vs. SD - "Un-Zac-like," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said of the outing. "There were eight hits, and I think [11] total baserunners. That's not who he is. I know that. He's aware of that. I know he's going to just come out pounding away on it for the next several days to make his next start as good as could possibly be. It's an easy bet to say that he's going to figure things out or attempt to figure some things out. There have been some tough outings, but when he does it right, he carries us deep into the ballgame and allows very few opportunities, very few baserunners with very few run-scoring opportunities."

Team News

[The Athletic] How Diamondbacks rookie Tyler Gilbert went from nobody to no-hitter – The Athletic - Many wondered if he’d even make it to the majors at all. But not Gilbert. “I knew there was never anything that was going to prevent me from getting to the big leagues,” he said Saturday night, a half-hour after he bequeathed his glove to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “That’s something I really bought into, especially this year. No matter what. I was just so confident in myself. I know my stuff can play up here. There was never a doubt.”

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly lands on COVID list after positive test- Lovullo sounded conflicted when asked how he feels about losing players to contact tracing when their absences could be prevented or shortened by getting vaccinated. “I am frustrated that we’re missing a couple of players,” said Lovullo, who has previously said that he is vaccinated. “As far as me using my platform right now to tell you whether I believe they should or shouldn’t be vaccinated, I’m not going to go that far.” Lovullo was then asked if the “personal choice” of getting vaccinated is less personal when it impacts an entire team. “We should have that conversation over dinner,” Lovullo said. “I’d rather do it there than right now. Obviously, I’m probably showing you how I feel."

[Foco.com] Tyler Gilbert Arizona Diamondbacks No Hitter Bobblehead - Our pals over at Foco wasted no time after Gilbert's remarkable performance on Saturday night. They'll be putting out a commemorative bobblehead of the player to mark the feat. No pic yet of what it'll look like, but if their previous bobbles are anything to go by, should be cool. The bobblehead is limited to 102 pieces, costs $50.00 and will ship in December,

Outlaw King (2018)

Rating: C

Dir: David Mackenzie
Star: Chris Pine, Florence Pugh, Stephen Dillane, Billy Howle

On the one hand, this is another case of “kiltwashing”; you don’t get much more American than Captain Kirk (v2.0) himself. But the film gets credit for most other areas in this regard. Director McKenzie is Scottish, and still lives there after a brief flirtation with Hollywood. It was also filmed in Scottish locations; though as is sadly normal, Scotland appears to stop at Aviemore. There has been some shade thrown at this for playing fast and loose with historical authenticity. In particular, the Battle of Loudon Hill which forms the film’s climax, is radically different from the way it unfolded in reality. Bruce was also already married to Elizabeth (Pugh) well before he began his rebellion against the English king, Edward I (Dillane). It still does considerably better than Braveheart in this area. Then again, Highlander is probably more historically accurate than Braveheart. Not, to be honest, that I care. This is not a documentary.

Anyway, it begins with Edward I having suppressed a Scottish revolt, and forcing their nobles to bend the knee. There’s an amazing, unbroken 9-minute opening shot which includes this, a swordfight between Bruce and the king’s son (Howle), and the enthusiastic application of an F-sized catapult against Stirling Castle. Sadly, it’s largely downhill from there, perhaps due to five writers including Mackenzie. The film seems to be pulling in an equal number of different directions, and only sporadically comes to life – usually when people are trying to kill each other. It follows Bruce as he plans a second rebellion after the death of William Wallace (whose limb makes a cameo). Robert gets his arse handed to him and retreats to the Western Isles to regroup. He and his allies return to wage guerilla battle against the English, leading up to the Loudon Hill battle. It ends in a lengthy set of captions covering the next 300 years.

Sadly, the Bit With the Spider, which every schoolboy learned about Bruce, appears to have been left on the cutting-room floor. So much for your so-called “historical accuracy,” eh? It also never manages to engage the emotions with any consistency. Pine has a decent accent, but in terms of performance, resembles his arboreal namesake. Say what you like about Mel Gibson’s Wallace, there was no shortage of passion. Here, it feels as if liberating Scotland was more a job Bruce was given; even his rabble-rousing pre-battle speech is utterly forgettable. Any life here is typically found around the edges in some decent supporting performances. Pugh shows sparky courage in standing up to her English colleagues, and Aaron Taylor-Douglas (yes, Kick-Ass himself) is a lot of fun as the contractually obliged lunatic Celt warrior.

The 121-minute edit delivered to Netflix manages to feel both short and too long simultaneously, which is an interesting feat. There’s a sense of the surface just being scratched, in the nods to political and clan intrigue. Yet there are also any number of scenes which felt superfluous and/or over-long. Not among those, however, is the final battle. Those fond of horses should avert their eyes, CGI or not.