Starting Five

Early steakateria roll call. Hence the briefer post. Oh, and those of you who sounded off on me about Bill Simmons yesterday: You are right. I was wrong. My bad.

“Glorrrrrria, G-L-O-R-I-A, Glorrria!”

1. Octa-mom!

That Gloria Mackenzie is 84 and both 1) realized that she had won the $590 Powerball jackpot and 2) upon that realization, did not suffer a heart attack, is astounding. And that someone let her go in front of them in line at the Zephyrhills Publix, hence altering the outcome of the largest payout in lottery history and in effect, the order of the universe, boggles the mind. Mackenzie took the $370 million lump sum payout, which should be $284 million after taxes, which should at least get her to her 90th birthday.

If there is a lesson here, it is that time is the most valuable of all commodities.

2. From 84 to “1984”

The National Security Agency is the Ministry of Information, that Orwellian agency from the author’s ominous and prophetic novel that spies on everyone. Turns out the NSA collects the phone records of MILLIONS of domestic Verizon customers daily, via a top secret court order issued in April. I’m expecting Eric Holder to hold a press conference later this month in which he announces that the NSA has determined that I do not phone my mom often enough. (Guilty, Phyllis). Oh, and NBC’s Richard Engel interviewed a former Air Force drone operator, Brandon Bryant, whose “missions” that originated from a chair in a room at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada were responsible for 1,626 deaths.

3. “Viva Puig!”

A few of you may remember back in March when we went bazonkers praised the spring that Los Angeles Dodger prospect Yasiel Puig was enjoying. He hit nearly .500 in spring training. Earlier this week the Dodgers finally brought him up to The Show, and the Cuban defector did not disappoint. In his second Major League game, Puig homered twice and drove in five runs –batting leadoff, no less- in a 9-7 defeat of the San Diego Padres. Puig also enjoyed the honor of having Vin Scully calling his first career home run. Through three games and a dozen at-bats the 22 year-old rightfielder has five hits and is batting .417. Also, through three games he has taken two curtain calls, which may be a record.

4. Bruins Take 3-0 Lead Versus Penguins

As a matter of fact, there are “We Got The Moves Like Jagr” T-shirts.

It took 95 minutes and 19 seconds, but the Boston Bruins overcame the Penguins late in the second overtime to win 2-1 and take what sports announcers delight in calling a “commanding lead” in the Eastern Conference Stanley Cup finals. BB Jaromir Jagr, 41, the ex-Penguin, outdueled a PP for the puck that led to Patrice Bergeron’s game-winning goal. Sidney Crosby, alias Sid the Kid, has yet to score a goal or record an assist in the series.

5. For Whom The Bell Trolls

Doyel

Last week: “Dwyane Wade is a dirty player.”

This week: “Brian Kelly is screwing Eddie Vanderdoes.”

The nuanced prose of CBSSports.com’s Gregg Doyel sounds more like an anguished wail to be offered a spot on “Around The Horn” or “First Take.”

I’d like to coin a new term to take the place of “page views”, and that is “rage views.” Columns such as yesterday’s, in which Doyel eviscerates Brian Kelly for adhering to a rule (Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher is currently doing the same thing with a dissident recruit, but his name and the school’s appears nowhere in the column; which begs the question, Was Gregg even aware of the FSU connection? Did he report this story at all beyond combing the archives for Deontay Greenberry-related quotes) seem explicitly written to do little more than garner hits due to outraged fans passing the stories to one another via links and asking, “Can you believe this guy?”

Doyel: cool guy, doesn’t pull punches. There’s fearless. And then there’s reckless. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the national columnist — or SportsCenter — to dive into the mess at Navy, where a couple of football players are being investigated for rape. Would this be the lead story on SportsCenter if it were Notre Dame, the other school involved in the longest-running continuous intersectional football game in the FBS? And is it at all possible, since CBS airs the Army-Navy game each December, that the suits at CBS Sports wouldn’t take very kindly to one of their columnists attacking Annapolis in print?

On the other hand, Amir Carlisle, a former USC tailback, was allowed to transfer to Notre Dame and not have to sit out a year due to a ridiculous NCAA waiver that deals with the relocation of parents. That was a joke. And maybe that’s a point Doyel could have made to strengthen his argument about Brian Kelly being a hypocrite (the Philadelphia Eagles’ flirtation shows that Kelly is, at best, disingenuous with the media)… if only he had known about it.

Reserves

Taylor Swift performs “Red” at the CMT Awards. She’s got legs, she knows how to use ’em.

–JW

Starting Five

Um, one cap over to your left next time, Eddie.

1. Eddie VanderGoes

It was Thomas Wolfe who wrote You Can’t Go Home Again, (and it was Horace Greeley who wrote, “Go Westwood, young man”…or did he?) but what if you never leave in the first place? Five-star defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes, who signed a National Letter of Intent with Notre Dame back in February, chooses to matriculate at UCLA. Vanderdoes, from the rural near-Lake Tahoe town of Auburn, Calif., will forfeit one year of eligibility and at least three years of Mike Mayock discussing his pad level.

Tweet-wise (from me): “Eddie Vanderdoes doesn’t owe anyone an explanation. And Notre Dame doesn’t owe Eddie a release. Choices, consequences.”

Vanderdoes joins two august lists (in June, no less) with this decision: 1) Elite players who have signed with Notre Dame under Brian Kelly who either never made it to campus or to their sophomore seasons: OL Matt James, DE Aaron Lynch, QB Gunner Kiel, WR Davonte’ Neal and WR Shaquelle Evans (correction: Evans signed with Charlie, but transferred to UCLA after Kelly arrived, in late August), the last of whom was UCLA’s leading receiver in 2012 and will be a redshirt senior this season, and 2) Notre Dame players who have transferred to UCLA: DE Arnold Ale (who saw significant time on the 1988 national championship team), TE Joseph Fauria and Evans, to name a few.

Shaq Evans: Notre Dame has become a wonderful feeder school for the Bruins.

Over at SI.com, Andy Staples calls the NLI the “worst contract in American sports”, but clearly Andy never saw the deal I agreed to with SI On Campus back in 2003.

Pros of UCLA: Weather, the Rose Bowl as your home field, arguably the most sublimely beautiful campus in the USA, Turtle attended there, In-N-Out Burger just off campus, these girls will be at training table, and the greatest college basketball coach of all time.

Pros of Notre Dame: Parking is much less of a hassle, as is traffic; autumn colors; ND is ranked seven places higher academically by the U.S. News and World Report (17 and 24′ yes, SEC alums, that IS seven places); Gordon Gee finds the school relevant, even if Rick Reilly does not; two more visits to a national championship game in the past quarter-century than the Bruins; the greatest college football brand and coach of all time.

Finally, all of this ground was covered in my favorite John Cusack film, The Sure Thing. You’ll remember that Gibby, a freshman, attended a school in a northerly clime while his buddy at UCLA sent him photos of Nicolette Sheridan with the caption, “This is the UGLIEST girl in California.” Gibby, our hero, chose to remain in the Midwest/Northeast and settle for the relatively plain Daphne Zuniga –who was not.

” ‘Nubile’, by the way, is spelled with a ‘u’.”

It is worth noting, however, that Zuniga would graduate and get an apartment on Melrose Place –and date Jake! Also, more relevant, John Cusack is a Chicago native who now resides in a totally rad Malibu beach house (I’ve been there–twice).

2. Good Rod-dance

Major League Baseball is coming after Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and about 18 others, including former Yankee teammate Melky Cabrera and current Yankee teammate Francisco Cervelli for allegedly using PEDs. Meanwhile, if your crossword puzzle clue “baseball scandal” and happens to be a five-letter word that starts with a “B”, you now must choose between “BALCO” and “BOSCH”.

A-Rod, sporting the “Maverick playing beach volleyball” look, in Central Park a few years ago.

Meanwhile, A-Rod, who has yet to play this season, is still due to earn $114 million between 2013-2017, so you have to think the Yankees hope that MLB does suspend him for 100 games. Or 800 games. How this will affect A-Rod’s ability to hit on Australian bikini models seated behind the Yankee dugout during the playoffs has yet to be determined.

Gut feeling: A-Rod will never play for the Yankees again. I don’t know how, but I don’t think we’ll see him.

3. Career-Wise, He Got the Gee-O-Tine

Gordon Gee “retires” from Ohio State, effective July 1st.

“O-H!”
“I-O…you an apology!”
Sorry, Gordon, not good enough. Gee, who never met a quip that begged discretion, is ultimately undone by his disparaging remarks toward both Notre Dame and the SEC. You have to say something extremely outlandish (read: Stupid) to unite Domers and SEC folk. Congrats, Gordon.

4. Flori-Duh

Don’t blame me. I was watching “House of Cards.”

Guns, intoxication, adultery, alligators, porn/strippers/prostitutes. We’ve seen it all before. But Hitler? Now that is a first. Hitler!

5. King’s Kingdom

This was reported earlier and elsewhere (those six words should be the name of this site…self-induced ZING!) but Peter King will soon have his own site based on his immensely popular Monday Morning Quarterback column.

Five Things I Think I Think About Peter (a former colleague) and the new column:

1) He is SI.com’s 800-pound gorilla, and he knows it. Kudos to him. When SI.com launched and any SI senior writer had the opportunity to embrace the web, it was King and only King who threw himself into it wholeheartedly. While some may have thought, I only write for the magazine, Peter embraced the opportunity to connect with readers on a more intimate level.

2) It shouldn’t try to be Grantland. Do we really need a “Seinfeld Power Rankings”, especially when the sitcom last aired 16 years ago (Holy smokes, are we all so old!).

3) Wonderful guy who brings both the mirth and the girth. I haven’t spoken to him in years, but back in the Nineties he was always the writer who would cheerfully help a fact-checker when you called to ask him where he obtained his information. In that way he was the antithesis of fellow SI NFL writer Paul Zimmerman, alias Dr. Z.

4) Bill Simmons and Peter King: both appear on TV, both were the most popular columnists at ESPN and SI, respectively, and both now have branched out to create their own sites affiliated with the brand. The difference is that Peter spent years as a beat reporter, showing up at the New York Giants practice facility at 5 a.m. so that Bill Parcells would see him when he arrived. Nothing against Simmons, but King amassed his fortune and media empire the old-fashioned way: he earned it.

5) I love that Peter’s initials are the same as the least physical position in the sport he covers.

Starting Five

1. Heat-Spurs: It’s on Like…LeBron

Pop

At last.

A clash of eras, a collision of cultures. Miami. San Antonio.

Team Me versus teammates.

Bieber in the stands versus, well, nobody famous in the stands.

Ocean Drive versus the Riverwalk.

Homegrown versus imports.

This is Now versus That was Then.

GQ versus GP.

The distinguished, under-celebrated franchise that already has four NBA titles –and no NBA Finals defeats– versus the sexy, young team that is attempting to become this decade’s version of the Chicago Bulls. Also, for the third consecutive season the NBA’s Western Conference representative hails from a city that is east of Amarillo. Gregg Popovich, the league’s best coach, versus LeBron James, the league’s best player. Two teams whose top five players (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Dwyane Wade and LeBron) were never all on the court together in their two meetings this season, both of which the Heat won.

If you’re over 40, you are probably rooting for the Spurs. If you are under 30, the Heat. If you’re in your thirties, it’s a toss-up.

Here was LeBron after last night’s Game 7 yawner over the Pacers, referring to his 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers team that was swept in the NBA Finals by San Antonio: “I’m twenty, forty, fifty times better than I was.” He’s better, alright, but LeBron might have been better off simply saying, “Exponentially better.” Meanwhile, I cannot imagine anyone from San Antonio ever saying anything remotely as self-aggrandizing. And that’s simply the difference between the two franchises.

Spurs in 6.

I do wonder who San Antonio has that can guard LBJ. But I don’t wonder that if any coach can figure out a way to diminish his effect on the outcome of a game, it is Pop.

Finally: I will always wonder how this all turns out differently if Russell Westbrook doesn’t get injured.

2. Break Up The Lastros

Including its four-game sweep of the Angels (25-33) over the weekend, in Anaheim, Houston (21-37) has now won six straight. All on the road. It’s the longest active win streak in baseball. The Lastros’ payroll is less than one-fifth of LAAofA’s ($26 million, as opposed to $137 million). I’m sorry, Halos, but you have become the 2002-2007 New York Yankees: a band of highly compensated band of former (Pujols, Hamilton) and future (Trout) MVPs who cannot seem to play well together.

3. Is Don Draper Jay Gatsby?

1. Three-letter first name.

2. Six-letter surname.

3. Neither name is his given name. James Gatz became Jay Gatsby, while Dick Whitman became Don Draper.

4. No one really knows anything about where he came from, even those closest to him.

5. War veteran.

6. Has little regard for the sanctity of marriage.

7. Handsome, successful, dapper, charming, will defend a woman’s honor when it suits him.

8 Refers to Ted Chaough as “Old sport”. Wait, what? No, he doesn’t. Scratch this one.

9. Lives in or near New York City.

10. Ends up face-down in a pool.

4. Cullen Finnerty

A searcher combs the woods near where Finnerty would eventually be found.

It’s been a little more than a week since the former Grand Valley State quarterback, who led his team to three Division II national championships, went missing in northern Michigan during a solo fishing trip. He was discovered two days later, fully clothed and dead but with no signs of foul play. An autopsy was inconclusive, but did rule out blunt trauma. In this story two psychics visit the area in which he died, while a local adds a log to the embers of thought that Finnerty’s death may have involved someone else. Also, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chuck Martin, who was Finnerty’s head coach his final in the quarterback’s final three seasons at GVSU, took part in the search to find Finnerty. Finally, this tragic story has Gary Smith’s name written all over it. I expect a 4,000-word piece in SI at the end of the summer or in early autumn.

5. “Sansa Stark just phoned. She wants to book a smaller room for the family reunion.”

A few more thoughts on Sunday’s incredible, ruthless episode of GoT, in which three key figures were slaughtered. The infamous “Red Wedding.”

DNP, Coach’s Decision: The Lannisters, all of ’em; Theon and his persecutor; Petyr Baelish and Varys; Lady Brienne; Sansa Stark, a.k.a. Mrs. Lannister; the Tyrells; Melisandre; the three dragons.

“We will sack Yunkai…immediately after I shampoo and condition.”

A) So, Gareth died. Fighting for the Wildlings is apparently far more dangerous than being a lieutenant in the Territorial Army.

B) Why didn’t any of the plethora of guards in Yunkai have spears or cross bows? You know, weapons that would have made hand-to-hand combat with three highly-skilled warriors unnecessary? And when Daario SuperHandsome said, “I know a back way into Yunkai”, why didn’t Jorah Mormont ad-lib, “I bet you do! High-five!”

C) The Red Wedding illustrates why you never buy a gift to bring to the reception. Wait three months before sending. With any luck, the marriage will dissolve and y0u’ll save $40 $100.

D) Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Sansa Stark now the rightful heir to the throne of non-existent Winterfell? Which means that Tyrion is the Prince Phillip of Westeros?

E) It doesn’t get mentioned enough: the production values are off the charts. Just the scenes in which they ride past an old castle –and frame the shot so that the gift shop and visitors’ parking are excluded–blows me away each week. And imagine shooting that Jon Snow moment-of-truth scene in all that rain? How long did that take? And how many of the actors caught pneumonia? I love how they spare no expense, how determined they are to make it real. As opposed to the American version of “The Office”, where the Scranton parking lot is bathed in sunshine and flora that could only exist in the San Fernando Valley.

F) As Stephen Douglas points out in his recap for The Big Lead, “Don’t name your kid Ned Stark.”

G) Bran Stark has Hodor, and Arya Stark has the Hound. What would the prepubuscent Stark kids do without hulking, disfigured Boo Radley types to protect them?

H) If you live in New York City and totally want to nerd out for the GoT season finale, Professor Thom’s in the East Village has screenings of the show and even buys a round of Jell-O shots for every show death. That could have been deadly for patrons the other night.

Reserves

Neil Everett: “Game One is Thursday night at 8:30. Tune in at 8 p.m. for the KIA pre-game show… with Magic Johnson.” I watch the KIA pre-game show in spite of Magic Johnson. And my secret suspicion is that Neil does, too. Which is exactly why he said that. Neil, he’s with leather.

If you missed it, here’s an insider’s survival guide for Goldman Sachs summer interns. Although, and it might not land you an offer, but why not go Patrick Bateman on your boss and extol the virtues of the musical stylings of Phil Collins?

“I’ve been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn’t understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins’ presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group’s undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don’t you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I’ve heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your _____. Phil Collins’ solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. Sabrina, don’t just stare at it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

(Editor’s Note: “Turn It On Again” is the best Genesis song, while “Follow You Follow Me” is the most beautiful Genesis song. The latter is euphonic perfection.)

Starting Five

Those Were The Days

1. R.I.P., Edith

Jean Stapleton, the actress who portrayed Edith Bunker on “All In The Family”, dies at age 90. The CBS sitcom is arguably, if not the greatest of all time, the most revolutionary. After an era of escapist sitcom fare (“Gilligan’s Island”, “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched”) that happened to coincide with an extremely turbulent era — one being acknowledged weekly on “Mad Men” — Norman Lear (today they’d refer to him as a “showrunner”) created a half-hour show that dealt with all of the major issues without ever being preachy. Archie Bunker was America’s first bigot on TV, and a polarizing character was he. And as much as you might disagree with Archie on the issues, he had a soft spot for his golden-hearted wife, Edith. Even if he occasionally referred to her as “Dingbat.” Somewhere in heaven, Edith is running to the fridge to get Archie a beer.

2. Sometimes, the Storm Chases Back

Everyone in this vehicle actually survived.

Remember that scene in “Jaws” when Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) informs Captain Quint (Robert Shaw), “You’re going to need a bigger boat?” Well, tornadoes are far more dangerous than great white sharks.

Three veteran “Storm Chasers” perished in the funnel of last Friday’s El Reno tornado in Oklahoma. One body was discovered in their mangle vehicle while the other two were each found a quarter-mile away — in different directions. Mother Nature, she’s the boss. Tim Samaras, 55, was a 30-year veteran of tornado pursuit. He, his son Paul, 24, and Carl Young, 45, were all killed. Ten other people died in Friday’s tornado. On the same day, another group of storm chasers eluded the tornado — barely — but this video provides a clue as to what REAL fear looks like (at the 1:38 mark: “Forty’s not enough!” Hey, dude, nobody likes a backseat driver).

Samaras’ last tweet included a photo of the sky he was seeing and the words — his final words– “Stay weather savvy.” How’s that for irony?

Honestly, I don’t feel sorry for these three men, and I don’t mean that in a cruel way. Much like Steve Irwin, the late Crocodile Hunter, they chose extraordinary (the literal meaning of the term: not ordinary) lives and died pursuing their passion. Samaras recently told an interviewer that after he first saw “The Wizard of Oz” as a boy, he vowed that he’d see a tornado in person one day (I had a similar reaction after seeing Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”). There’s no prize for living the longest; only for living the bestest.

3. Game of Thrones: “One Wedding and Four Funerals.”

After Tyrion Lannister’s marriage to Sansa, I thought that I’d seen the nadir in Westeros weddings. Obviously, I was wrong. After all, the very next week Seth Meyers broke up Stefon’s marriage to Anderson Cooper. Okay, okay, last night’s GoT was both brutal and fearless (dear David Chase: THAT is how you knock out a family). Also, it was a little disturbing just a few days after writing about the murder of Sharon Tate to watch a soldier repeatedly plunge a knife into the pregnant belly of Talisa. And then it is on. And poor Arya. That girl is going to spend years in therapy. Winter is coming.

Stark: Raving mad

1. Lord Walder Frey: “Sara and Saura, granddaughters. Twins. You could have had either…You could have had both, for all I care.” Schwing! Was that Lord Walder Frey’s female progeny or the line to use the ladies’ room at an Indigo Girls concert?

2. “I have no interest in slaves. A man cannot make love to property.” Perhaps not, but I would definitely buy this home a drink.

3. Lord Walder Frey: “A sword needs a sheath, and a wedding needs a bedding.” That’s better than 101% of the best man toasts I’ve ever heard (including the ones I’ve given).

4. Lord Walder Frey (he got all the best lines last night): “I’ll find another.” LWF, the Hugh Hefner of Westeros.

4. Benson, Ginsberg & Olson: That’s the Ad Firm I Want To See

“Mad Men” kept almost all of the action at or near the office last night, which is the way I like it. I’ll have more tomorrow — odds are 2:1 that Robert Evans attended that party in “the Hills” — but by far my favorite scene was Bob Benson’s life-coaching speech to Ginsberg. “The Odd Couple” film was released in 1968, but at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Cutler Gleason and Chaough (they’re right, that is a mouthful), these two are Oscar and Felix.

Bob Benson: Don’t be fooled by that perpetual s#%*-eating grin.

Mad Man O’ Shevitz

Benson: “What I see is fear. Not fear of failure. Fear of opportunity… Damnit, man! Manischevitz are good people! They’re your people. Now pull yourself together and be the man that I admire.”

Ginsberg: “Tell me the truth. Are you a homo?”

Benson: “There’s that sense of humor.”

(UPDATE: The NBA has just fined Ginsberg $75,000)

5. Flori-Duh: Only One Weapon Was Fully Cocked

The headline says it all. What more do you need?

Our Chris Corbellini, who thinks he’s a sports producer but is actually one of the most insightful film reviewers anywhere to be found, sat in a dark room for two hours recently. And THEN he attended a screening of “Before Midnight.” Enjoy.

Before Midnight

by Chris Corbellini

Here we are at last, after 18 years and three feature films of French girl Celine and American boy Jesse walking and talking across Europe, a love story not about what if, but what happened. 

Like his shirt, Jesse (Hawke) cannot decide if he’s in or he’s out.

“Before Midnight” is one of several three-quels released in May, the third movie that follows “Before Sunrise,” when the two meet cute, and “Before Sunset,” when they reconnect cuter. But comparing this third chapter to “Iron Man 3” and “Hangover Part III” is like comparing jazz man Django Reinhardt to a battery-powered, cymbal-banging monkey doll. I’m not against battery-powered, cymbal-banging monkey dolls as a cinematic experience per se, but clearly you’d forget about them after your ears stopped ringing upon exiting the theater. After clocking in at a fat-free 1 hour, 48 minutes, “Midnight” made me want more of the fat of the story. You can’t ask any more of a sequel, Part II, Part III, or of course, “The Fast and the Furious Part 6.”

So let’s catch up, because “Midnight” does it for us almost immediately. After Jesse the novelist (Ethan Hawke) says goodbye to his teenage son at an airport at the end of a summer spent in Greece, the proud papa steps out of the terminal and there she is, his Celine (Julie Delpy), now his wife, on a cell phone with two adorable twin daughters in the back seat of their SUV. If they paused and snapped a photo it’s most definitely a Facebook update – a contented, very successful family unit living the good life under sunny skies (Celine does take out an iPhone minutes later, but to not-quite-playfully film Jesse). It certainly appears as if the once-young lovers found lasting domestic bliss, and the audience murmured excitedly at a recent screening as it unspooled. But like a Facebook post the sweet life imagery may conceal what is really going on around here.

“As a matter of fact, this IS the place where they give you free chocolate chip cookies when you check in.”

The characters may have aged and weathered, but the look of the story remains uniform. The spine of these three pictures are the long conversations – shot from in front of the leads, then another take from the back – to potentially splice in different takes. Yet after revisiting the first two movies you recognize that Hawke and Delpy may have nailed many of those lengthy moments in one take, one tracking shot. And “Midnight” has the crown jewel of tracking shots, a 10-minutes-plus drive with Jesse behind the wheel of the SUV and Celine in the shotgun seat, discussing her career and their children. The journey is a long one (you can see the countryside change in the reflection of the windshield), and during the ride the cracks begin to show in the marriage. The wife snipes at her husband, and the husband gets upset when she takes a call from his son and doesn’t pass him the phone. All of this is buttressed with humor, but Celine just says it when they begin to talk about moving the entire family closer to that son by returning to the United States: “This is the start of the end of our relationship.”

The director, Richard Linklater, cuts away from them just once here, to show Greek ruins that has a funny payoff at the end of the scene. It’s an terrific acting showcase between Hawke and Delpy, who continue to grow up and grow old in these roles together.

Act 2 is spent at a dinner table of a elderly writer who lent them a villa on that Greek shore, and the lively discussion inevitably veers into the differences between the sexes. There have been several Linklater movies where I felt the conversations seemed so casual they must have been improvised. Spike Lee, for example, will do this. All of the Mumblecore movies do this. But no, the discussions here were meticulously crafted by the director and the two leads. They give an older dinner guest the final word, and she explains what it means to lose your life partner, and while all that sex and sniping seems so important to these couples seated near her, we are all just “passing through” before the end.

Indeed, Jesse and Celine should be happier. They have kids who belong in Toys R Us commercial, and pick vegetables out of a garden that looks like it belongs to Vito Corleone. The view over their shoulders belong in a Greek tourism ad (lensed lovingly on coastline in Messinia and Kardamili). So where’s the love? Where’s the compassion, for that matter? It’s nowhere to be found in the final act in a hotel room, when Jesse finally says it for the audience: “We are in the Garden of Eden.” Finally, angrily, honestly, the reasons for the strife in their marriage are made crystal clear.  Not all of their stresses are self-inflicted. Still, the film couple could always communicate clearly to one another, and now that line of communication includes exactly what they can’t stand about each other. So much for the romantic ideal of Jesse and Celine.

I’m convinced the second movie — when they meet again at 32 and regret finally, finally gives way to possibility — is the powerhouse. That screenplay was rightly nominated for an Oscar. But the first film ends with that simple and original montage of all the spots the lovers visited the night before in the morning light. They were indeed just “passing through” and that moment in time was over. “Midnight” summons this kind of storytelling once more, albeit briefly and in the closer quarters of that hotel room. Untouched wine glasses, still full. The bed, tussled. The front door shut. A bitter group of shots, and its passage is not lost on Jesse. Celine’s eyes are like bayonets as her man tries to keep it light during a final, heartfelt attempt at reconciliation. The camera pulls away and I saw no guarantee that nine years from that moment, at 50 with children presumably more independent, that they would remain a couple. I also couldn’t say with any certainty that the relationship was doomed.

This is just like ‘Mama Mia’, except no one’s singing or having sex with Meryl Streep.

Here is a series that could have staying power, like the real-life “Up” films across the pond, which revisits a set of ordinary people every seven years. It doesn’t look like a terribly expensive production each go-around. I hope Linklater and the two leads continue their walking and talking until it finishes with just one of them, grayer and slower and perhaps 98 years young, looking out at a sunset on a Greek shore. Or at a dinner party with friends and family, getting the final line about what a so-called soul mate could be and should be, and what you sacrifice to keep that partner close.