Friday 25 June 2010
The World Cup.....of films, the quarter finals!
Wednesday 23 June 2010
The World Cup.....of films, the 2nd round
As hard as the Italians work, Godzilla not getting sent off for eating Ennio Morricone in the first few minutes causes a huge outcry as Japan go on to win 3-0
Man Of The Match, Alfonso Cuaron (for getting expelled from film school)
With Richard Attenborough giving a Bobby Moore like defensive display, the Germans can't find a break through for a 3rd and Laurence Olivier dispossess Frank Potente (Blow, The Bourne Identity) and a through ball to James Bond (Roger Moore/Daniel Craig) takes the ball round the 'keeper to level the scores.
The lush New Zealand countryside against the uncompromising Dutch. The Dutch lead with varied documentaries and on the big stage are a one man team led by Paul Vorhoeven who leads a team of RoboCop, bug from Starship Troopers and the three titted lady from total Recall but they simply don't have the quality (or pace if you bring this back to realism). New Zealand, despite showing a naked Harvey Keitel in The Piano which doesn't help, have so many recent big guns and are the form team, Aslan, Gollum and King Kong battle on as a strong team struggle to break the Dutch down, winning on penalties to go through to leave New Zealand manager Sam Neil a happy man.
Man Of The Match, the WETA production team
Spain vs Portugal
At 101, Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira is not the youngest pair of legs to have on the pitch but his 1993 drama Abraham's Valley scores a screamer early on from outside the box. Spain fight back with the big guns coming forward, Volver equalising before half time and the cinematic finesse of Pedro Almodovar takes the game into Spain's favour, and Spanish favourite Penolpe Cruz eases the Spanish into the next round, final score 3-1.
The World Cup.....of films!
France
Qualifiers, France and Mexico
Qualifiers, Germany, Australia
Cameroon
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia
After an artisitc crisis in the 80's, the Italians came powering back with the lies of Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful (won 3 Oscars and was in category for Best picture as well) and Nanni Moretti's The Son's Room. However, New Zealand is used for stunning backdrops in movies like The Piano, Once Were Warriors, The Chronicles Of Narnia and the huge Lord Of The Rings trilogy, ensuring home grown Peter Jackson is Hollywood royalty going on to make the remake of King Kong. Slovakia has never really repeated it's 1960's golden era (The Boxer and Death, The Shop On Main Street) while Paraguay has yet to make a mark compared to other south American countries.
Qualifiers, New Zealand, Italy
Monday 21 June 2010
Who's worse, England or France?
Tuesday 15 June 2010
What's better than the World Cup? the World Cup in Lego!!!
Sunday 13 June 2010
Day 3 and what's worse, those horns or the ball?
On the other hand, the match ball. The Adidas Jublani ball that's been manufactured specially for this tournament. Multiple goalkeepers have complained about the odd flight of the ball and we've already seen more than one goalkeeping disaster which may or may not of been the Jublani's fault.....but FIFA has contractual obligations with Adidas so as money is involved, we won't see a change of the ball, let's hope the tournament isn't remembered for the ball and plastic horns.
Today's first game saw England's fellow group members Algeria face Slovenia in a match Slovenia impressed in getting a 1-0 from captain and former West Brom player Robert Koren (the goal was another long range effort where the ball bounced just before the 'keeper and they seemed to miss it entirely, while this may make England's Robert Green feel better, you have to seriously wonder about this ball, if i was to mean a team lost the final, is that fair/), it's no coincidence that after Algerian Abdelkader Chezzal was sent off, Slovenia scored, the favourites Algeria just never seemed interesting whereas the Slovenians played with all the passion expected at the World Cup, expect them to cause a few problems against the England midfield.
Saturday 12 June 2010
England fail to get the Rob of the Green
The most anticipated game for England in four long, LONG years, one marked by optimism and hope and all those other nasty words that lead down the inevitable road to tears.
So it began, Steven Gerrard meeting expectations before Robert Green made a calamitous mistake (unless your American obviously), this is one spill they won't mind coming from us. The Robert Green jokes will fly around text messages for the next few days so no real reason to add to that (okay, just one, Steven Gerrard says the whole team are behind Rob Green, in retrospect, that's a good place to stand)
Let's look at the positives.....the referee had a good game. Though seriously, it wasn't that bad of a performance and England should of won, though they created a couple of chances, England were a far superior side for skill and possession, patient build up play that didn't work this time as the Americans did their homework and pushed Rooney wide, leaving Heskey in the centre, Lampard should of been in that space....but where was he? don't blame Green, if blame is to be pointed it's at the player that once again in the big games for England, dissappeared! It's hard to fault the other players, Heskey worked tirelessly and if he had his shooting boots (last seen in Leicester in 2000) it would of been so different. Gerrard led by example, winning the ball, playing the ball and making space, it's his hard work that led to the goal. On the wing Lennon was overawed by the occasion and the fullbacks stopped his runs, he had his moments though Milner was shameful tonight, he'll be lucky to play again in this tournament and he knows it, Wright-Phillips was pretty much the same as Lennon, tried but was closed down. In defence, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson were restricted in getting forward, it's no coincidence that when USA broke Glen Johnson was out of position, decent games by John Terry and Ledley King were needed, there was no panic in the England penalty box.
The point is this, bar Green's mistake, he only had one real save to make and he did it well. USA worked hard in this game, personally i felt the pace of Jermain Defoe would of been more effective in the final 20 minutes than whatever Peter Crouch was meant to offer, the USA back line was pushing further forward (allowing Heskey to go for the world record in offsides, currently held by Italy's Fillipo Inzaghi in any international game he played), Defoe would of frightened them, Crouch only humoured them (this country has professional wrestling, Peter Crouch is just an anorexic wrestler to them). The Americans forced Rooney wide and didn't allow him time or space to play and they simply didn't allow England to control the flanks, yet England still should of won and that's a good sign. The USA played the game of their lives, they worked so hard for this point and England HAVE to take confidence from that, a win would of been good, a defeat unforgivable but a draw brings us back down to earth, if England are to win, it won't be at a stroll, if lessons are learnt now, it's better than in the knockout stages. In Fabio we must trust.
and at least Al Qaeda didn't make an appearance