The World Cup.....of films!

For those that don't like the football side of the World Cup, let's take a look at doing the World Cup with a movie theme. Movie minnows come up against giants of the industry, first the group stages

Group A

South Africa

Mexico

Uruguay
France

This is a tough group, hosts South Africa have some class with movies like Tsotsi and the Oscar nominated District 9 (reassuring to see the South African governament are doing a good job in district 9, i haven't seen any alien shrimp causing trouble in the World Cup yet). however, they are up against France, whose own footballing wonderking Eric Cantona played himself in Looking For Eric though France has the immense catalogue of movies like Breathless, 8 Women, Belle Et De Beast and La Femme Nikita. France take the group quite easily. Mexico has it's own traditions and directors like Alfonso Cuaraon (Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban) and arguably the most talented director right now, Guillermo Del Toro, director of the Hellboy movies, Pan's Labyrinth and Chronos. In comparison, Urugauy winning is as likely as Liverpool winning the Premiership.

Qualifiers, France and Mexico

Group B

Argentina

Nigeria

Republic Of Korea

Greece

Little fancied Nigeria is the second biggest film producer in the world in terms of numbers of movies produced....though most of them fall into the highly localised Nollywood tradition. Argentina on the other hand has a proven major international player with films including El Secreto De Sues Ojos. The Koreans have some major hits up their sleeves including Hollywood remade A Tale Of Two Sisters and director Chan-wook Park's movies such as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. And it has been several decades since Greece's golden age.

Qualifiers, Korea and Argentina

Group C

England

United States

Algeria

Slovenia

Movie minnows Algeria and Slovenia will be knocked out by two of the globe's cinema big boys. The all conquering USA with it's Hollywood industry, they gave us The Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars (with all the crazy Star Wars fans out there, you would think there would be more kids called Anakin, it's probably due to the fact that Star Wars fanatics don't get to have sex), Casablanca et al. But Britain's noble tradition of underdogs coming good (Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Danny Boyle) try to fight of the American attack but the all glitz and glamour USA take the group.

Qualifiers, USA and England

Group D

Germany

Australia

Serbia

Ghana

The nation that bought us Metrpolis in 1926 has in recent years given us The Lives Of Others and Downfall. Down under, the glory days of Babe, Crocodile and Priscilla:Queen Of The Desert seem a few years ago but recent efforts like Wolf Creek remind us of the talent they have and stars like Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman. Milla Jovavich is the playmaker for Serbian cinema while Ghana enjoys one of the most uncensoring governments in Africa.

Qualifiers, Germany, Australia

Group E

Netherlands

Denmark

Japan
Cameroon

Thanks to leading super-striker Paul Vorhoevan, cinema flourished in Holland in the 70's with hits like Soldier Of Orange and Diary Of A Hooker, while he made many huge movies in Hollywood in the 80's and 90's (RoboCop (why didn't the bad guys just shoot him in the mouth?), Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man), it should be mentioned his 2006 home return of Black Book is an immense film to be enjoyed (well, maybe enjoyed isn't the correct word). Dutch homegrown talent includes Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Famke Janssen (X-Men trilogy) and Carice van Houten (Valkyrie). Denmark has the ability to wrongfoot opposition with directors such as Lars Von Trier (Dogville, Antichrist) and Susanne Bier (Things We Lost In The Fire) but they are overtaken by Japan, who's' range of anime (Ghost In The Shell (The Matrix hugely ripped this off)) and horror (The Ring trilogy, Battle Royale, Seven Samurai) make them a current and historically big players.

Qualifiers, Japan, Holland

Group F

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

Group G

Brazil

Korea DPR

Ivory Coast

Portugal

Devoloping a reputation for such hard hitting and gritty dramas as Bus 174, Elite Squad and of course the immense City Of God, Brazil has a few heavy hitters to take on the world stage. An unlikely opponent is the strange communist country of Korea DPR, whose SEK studio has preformed animation for Disney films such as The Lion King and Pocohontas, though these are predominantly American films, second place goes to Portugal, with 101 year old Manoel de Oliveira still making films and films like A Suspeita and No Quanto da Vanda making their originality take them through

Qualifiers, Brazil & Portugal

Group H

Spain

Switzerland

Honduras

Chile

The Swiss attack is led by Maximillian Schnell, Ursula Andress and Bruno Ganz but the bookies favourites here is the ever improving Spanish who have provided some of the most exciting European cinema over the past few years. Pedro Almodovar (Broken Embraces, Volver) on the wing for Spain and Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) as a holding midfielder and Jaume Balaguero [Rec] as a sweeper, Spain would romp the group, Spanish cinema is enjoying a renaissance. Chile has a small industry but is dwarfed by it's Latin American neighbours.

Qualifiers, Spain & Switzerland

Tomorrow in the knock out stages see's the following:-

France vs Argentina

South Korea vs Mexico

USA vs Australia

Germany vs England

Japan vs Italy

New Zealand vs Holland

Brazil vs Switzerland

Spain vs Portugal