The trailer for the upcoming Your Highness directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express and a bunch of arty indies) is pretty damn funny. Let’s all hope that the movie lives up to this high standard. cough…cough…
Danny Boyle’s latest is the very true to life retelling of the Aron Ralston story. The vast majority of the film takes place with Ralston, played by James Franco, trapped in a narrow stone canyon. I’m sure I won’t be the only one to compare this film to Rodrigo Cortes’ Sundance prem-ing Buried – but apart from the similar predicament of the protagonist, the two are really quite different. Buried is all about the gimmick – “How can we make an interesting movie that only takes place in a confined space?” But 127 Hours starts from a different place – “What is the best way to tell the story of someone stuck in a confined space?” While the difference is subtle, it allows the filmmakers a greater amount of leeway to experiment with the idea of confinement and its effect on the character.
The greatest flaw in the film is that we all know from the beginning how it is going to end. This creates a bit of an anticlimax once we get past the gruesomeness of the final decision. However in this case, the journey becomes the destination. Boyle’s vision let’s us peer into the mind of Aron Ralston and Franco does an incredible job of bringing us along as he goes through the different stages of hope, grief, remorse, and desperation. What starts as an incredibly compelling if not very cinematic story becomes a very interesting exploration of a character in an extraordinary situation. Look for Franco to be rewarded at Oscar nom time with possibly more noms to come along for the ride.
Doug Liman (Swingers, Go, and… Jumper) had a whole lot of options on how to approach making the film adaptation of the Valerie Plame & Joe Wilson story. His decision to focus on the intensely personal side of the relationship between the husband and wife seems to have been a good one – if for no other reason than to showcase the superb acting talents of Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. That being said, the story is serious international thriller territory and the high tension suspense scenes are great. But if that was all the film had to go on, it would be pretty unfulfilling – mostly because of the incredibly frustrating trajectory of the story.
Everyone knows that Plame and Wilson got fucked by the Bush White House (specifically Cheney via Libby via Novak) but it is genuinely interesting to see how their story played out behind the news reports. There is a-whole-nother movie just in what happens when a field operative like Plame gets yanked from her cases. The Butterworth brothers’ screenplay is based on Plame’s autobiography of the same name and Liman also worked very closely with both Plame and Wilson to make sure the details were correct. Not only that – Liman actually traveled to Baghdad to shoot some of the scenes. Liman is a camera on his shoulder kind of director (he’s his own DP) and the end result is both a visceral and personal telling of a very interesting story.
AFI Fest 2010 is once again an absolutely free film festival and this year’s lineup presents some very exciting offerings. All of the free advance tickets are gone but more tickets are released online the day before a screening at 10am and at the box office the day of the screening at 10am. Here is a quick look at some of the highlights:
This year’s fest include’s the LA premieres of a whole ton of movies that have played on the fest circuit. I’ve mentioned all of these before so I won’t spend too much time. On the Hollywood front there is Aronofsky’s Black Swan, John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, and the premiere of Ed Zwick’s Gyllenhall/Hathaway starrer Love and Other Drugs.
From the Asian film world, the fest will host LA prems of Miike’s 13 Assassins, Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage, Korean thriller The Housemaid, and the Cannes Palme d’Or winning Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives from Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
From the European continent comes Godard’s Film Socialisme, Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, Nigel Cole’s Made in Dagenham, and the 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog.
Blank City
Celine Danhier’s debut feature docu chronicles the indie film scene in late 1970s New York City. If you have seen Edo Bertoglio’s Basquiat starring Downtown 81, then you have an idea of the bombed out Lower East Side that directors like Jim Jarmusch and Lizzie Borden used as their backdrops. This looks fascinating. Congrats Aviva!
Barbershop Punk
Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, and many other notable musicians feature in this docu about fair use, big business, and the first amendment from first timers Georgia Sugimura Archer and Kristin Armfield.
Karamay
Xu Xin’s documentary questions the Chinese society in the wake of a horrible catastrophe that left 100s of school children dead because they had to wait for government officials to leave a burning building before they could escape. Not only does the subject matter sound pretty heavy, but the film clocks in at a hair short of 6 hours!
Casino Jack
Kevin Spacey plays Jack Abramoff in the dramatization of the documentary by the same name, This film is directed by the very recently departed George Hickenlooper.
Boy
Los Angeles finally gets a chance to see Taika Waititi’s (Eagle Vs. Shark, Flight of the Conchords) wonderfully funny coming of age story about a Maori boy in rural New Zealand. Do yourself a favor and get to see this one as it isn’t likely to get much of a release elsewhere.
Amigo
Chris Cooper stars as an American Colonel in John Sayles’ latest film which is set in the Philippine-American war.
Submarino
Thomas Vinterberg returns to Danish filmmaking with this drama about estranged brothers.
The Myth of the American Sleepover
Playing the Young Americans section, David Robert Mitchell’s indie debut is a story of teen love set in modern metro Detroit.
Mi Madre and I headed to Vancouver earlier this month for a very fun 24 hours tromping around the town, checking out restaurants, bars, parks, and art. Here is a short account of the trip. Please check out the links to read my considerably more detailed Yelp reviews of each of the spots we visited. I’ll also link to photos from my Vancouver photoset on flickr.
After checking into our West End hotel the Blue Horizon (the same hotel where my grandfather stayed for a few months when he first moved to Vancouver in the 1970s), we hit Robson heading east. Our first stop was Japa Dog (4* on Yelp) (photo) – a little lunch time amalgamation of a hot dog stand and Japanese street food. That provided us with some fuel for the long walk down seedy Hastings street. But before we got there, we passed the big construction project that is Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium (photo). When the retractable roof is completed next year it will be the home of Vancouver’s new MLS franchise, the Whitecaps.
Hastings Street is starting to show some signs of gentrification. I only saw two people smoking crack openly on the street. There was still some pretty cool street art to be found (photos 1 | 2 | 3). Once past all that, we came to our destination, Commercial Drive. I had read that The Drive, as it’s known, is one of the more happening parts of Van and the reports seem to be true. It isn’t quite Los Feliz or Abbott Kinney, but it did remind me of The Ave in Seattle’s University District.
We stopped for coffee on the north end of The Drive at Pane Vero (4* on Yelp) before heading down through the heart of The Drive’s shopping district. Amongst other spots, we ducked into the memorable 10,000 Villages (5* on Yelp) where we bought a very cool trivet made of folded newspaper from the Philippines. After that we headed down The Drive past a number of Italian groceries and soccer bars where we spotted a very cool Italian soccer mural (photo). We went on to explore the Portland-esque neighborhood behind The Drive and then stopped for happy hour at an enjoyable spot called Timbre Restaurant (4* on Yelp).
From there we jumped on the skytrain and got out at the east end of False Creek where the sun finally peeked out for a bit (photo). The south east corner of False Creek is where Vancouver’s Olympic Village was built last winter. They’ve turned the media center into a very nice recreation center and all the athlete’s housing is now condos for sale (though most seemed empty). The weird part is that it seemed like they have done as much as possible to wipe away the signs that this is where the Olympics took place. No rings, no flame – the only hint was a street sign that ready Athlete’s Drive. Really it was kind of strange.
Just west of the condos is a very cool park (photo) with some great sculptures and some big kid toys. We had a great time checking this place out and the nice view across the creek (photo) before walking back downtown over the Cambie Street Bridge. Looking down from the bridge there was a very cool view of a huge pile of concrete street barriers (photo).
We walked back through downtown and up to Gastown where we walked past photogenic alleyways (photo) and shops (photo). We had a before dinner drink at my new favorite bar the Alibi Room (5* on Yelp) before heading to the dinner spot we decided on, the disappointing Pourhouse (3* on Yelp).
After dinner we walked back west past a cool interactive wooden art installation (photos 1 | 2). Our destination was a bar (pictured above) near our hotel called O’Douls (3* on Yelp). Unfortunately the advertised live music was a glorified hotel lobby band. But we did have a great time ending the evening sipping whiskey (photo). Stay tuned for news on my momma’s upcoming blog Sketching Scotches (working title).
We awoke to a rainy morning and after coffee took a nice drive around Vancouver’s Stanley Park. We then headed south to trendy Kitsilano where we stopped for brunch and the funky and delicious Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe (5* on Yelp) (photo). After eating we were off to the extremely enjoyable Museum of Anthropology on the UBC campus. I’m going to post a whole photoset of all the cool masks inside the museum soon, but for now here, is a photo of Arthur Erickson’s beautiful building.
After the museum it was time to drive back south to the US of A where we met John and friends for a delicious dinner in BHam at Bayou on Bay (5* on Yelp). All in all it was a fantastic trip. Vancouver is just as fun a city as I remember from those 19 year old drunken escapades – only this time with much better food. I look forward to the next trip. Thanks Momma!
Today is the first day of Austin’s Fantastic Fest – undoubtedly one of the coolest film fests in the country. Set at the game-changing Alamo Draft House Cinema, Fantastic Fest features best genre and foreign genre flicks of the year. The mission is to show fun, scary, gross, hilarious, and just plain weird movies that you might not get a chance to normally see in the theater. Unfortunately, I won’t be there this year – but here is a quick look at what’s playing.
13 Assassins by Takashi Miike had its debut at Toronto and is a fitting closing night film for the fest. Other flicks playing at Fantastic Fest that I have mentioned here before include Japanese thriller Cold Fish by Love Exposure‘s Sion Sono, the stylized star-studded actioner Bunraku, and trip fest fave Enter The Void. Pretty much every HK action flick at TIFF will be at Fantastic Fest. This includes Dante Lam‘s Fire of Conscience, Andrew Lau‘s Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, and Wilson Yip‘s Ip Man 2. Finally two other festival faves that might make their way to a theater near you, the Korean thriller The Housemaid and Matt Reeves‘s very well received Let the Right One In remake Let Me In.
The Cool
I’m not sure why but the Mel Brooks classic Spaceballs keeps coming up in conversation recently. If I was at the fest, I’d be sure not to miss this raucous Spaceballs Quote-A-Long. Another cool looking flick is the documentary Nerdcore Rising about the new brand of videogame and pop culture reference filled hip-hop known as Nerdcore. Guillermo Del Toro is involved with two Spanish language thrillers at the fest: Julia’s Eyes and Agnosia. The Butcher Bros. out-there horror which I had the pleasure of seeing at Sundance, The Violent Kind will also play.
The Kick Ass
Along with the actioners I mentioned above, there are plenty of cool martial arts flicks at the fest. Tony Jaa returns with his Muay Thai stylings in Ong Bak 3. Action choreography legend Yuen Woo-ping directs Michelle Yeoh in True Legend. Gallants is a martial arts comedy that stars a whole bunch of HK legends. Donnie Yen stars in Black Mask director Daniel Lee‘s latest, 14 Blades.
The Rising Sun
Fantastic Fest always brings in the best in Japanese Cinema – especially when it’s wacky. Co-directed by three of Japan’s wackiest, Tak Sakaguchi (Samurai Zombie), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, Tokyo Gore Police), and Noboru Iguchi (RoboGeisha), Mutant Girls Squad promises to be an absolute crack up. On a bit more serious note, Yoshihiro Nakamura follows up last year’s Fish Story with the suspense thriller Golden Slumber. And a film I am very excited about: Takeshi Kitano makes his return to Yakuza films with his ultra-violent Outrage.
The Just Plain Weird
Machete Maidens Unleashed is a hilarious sounding docu about the world of 1960s-70s exploitation films in the Philippines. Norwegian Ninja tells the possibly true story of a ninja sent to spy on the USSR by Norwegian King Olav. Naan Kadavul is a “music-infused Tamil epic about a dope-smoking Vedic superman and a group of beggar slave children.” …wow. Finally – be sure not to miss the action-sci-fi-horror-sfx romp of the season, Sharktopus
Lemme know if you makes it to Austin.
In this video, Making Future Magic, the folks at Dentsu London use iPads to produce this awesome 3D effect. Skip to 1:30 where the flick starts.
The town has been buzzing about the Aaron Sorkin penned, David Fincher helmed The Social Network since the script topped the best scripts list last year. The finished product more than lives up to the hype. How great is it when after watching a movie you feel compelled to spend another hour poring through the Wikipedia entries for the characters you’ve just seen? I wanted to know more – and see more – and we will all definitely be hearing more about the filmmakers and actors as they march towards the Oscar podium.
Fincher’s expertise shines through when you walk out of the theater and realize you were completely engrossed in the details of the fascinating story and forgot to even think about it as a movie. Aaron Sorkin’s script is simply as good as they come. There is no way it doesn’t win the Best Adapted Oscar. These two are utter pros. Count me in to lobby they team up on a TV series. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score is dense, moody, and perfect. The young actors shine across the board. Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield both kill it as rivals fighting to influence Zuckerberg’s tiller. Eisenberg may have played the awkward character before, but it is impossible to imagine anyone else playing Zuckerberg so well. He brings a sympathetic aspect to the unlikely bajillionaire that one can’t help but imagine might not be the real Zuckerberg’s strong suit. But it is necessary here. It brings the audience in, keeps us intently interested, and leaves us wanting more. One big advantage of telling a story this topical: the sequel is literally yet to be written.
The Social Network hits theaters Fri., Oct. 1.
The King’s Speech has been the hit of the early Fall Fests – winning the Audience Prize at Toronto and a slew of positive reviews at Telluride. These fests are often launching pads for a big awards push and The Weinstein Co. seems poised to do exactly that. While a Best Picture nom might be within reach, it seems all but decided that both Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush will receive acting noms (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively) and screenwriting, costume, and production design noms could hitch along as well.
If the film emerges as a front runner for Best Pic then count Director Tom Hooper in for a Best Director nom – quite a boon for a filmmaker better known for his TV work (HBO’s John Adams and Elizabeth I). Hooper’s previous feature attempt was last year’s The Damned United. While that film never quite connected with audiences, its real strength was in the relationship between the two main characters: a soccer coach and his assistant. Replace The Damned United‘s Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall with The King’s Speech‘s Firth and Rush and you find a very similar dynamic. Firth is excellent as the stammering King George VI, but it is Geoffrey Rush as the King’s speech therapist and confidant that steals the show. Helena Bonham Carter turns in an admirable performance as well as the King’s perfectly witty Queen. My only complaint is the film drifts a bit too far into the melodramatic at points. Thankfully, the strong performances and touching relationships are enough to right the ship. While it might not quite make my top 10 list, The King’s Speech should at least make everyone’s must-see list.
Another season of awards mania is kicking off and TIFF’10 is in full swing. Here is a round up of the 70 or so films playing at Toronto that might be worth having on your radar.
Beginners
So far, critics have been very kind to Mike Mills’s (Thumbsucker) second feature which stars Ewan McGregor, Chrisoper Plummer and Melanie Laurent (from Inglourious Basterds). The very intelligent “oddly charming comedy” is a partially autobiographical story about a son dealing with his father’s coming-out a few years before his death.
Trust
David Schwimmer’s directorial follows up to Run Fatboy, Run has a quite different tone and is said to be considerably better in quality as well. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener star in this dark mainstream drama about a 14 year old girl whose 16 year old online bf turns out to be a 40-year old serial pedophile.
Super
Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, and Kevin Bacon star in James Gunn’s violent superhero comedy. While reviews have been mixed, the film has made one of the notable big sales of the fest to IFC.
Cool It
Ondi Timoner (Dig!, We Live in Public) is back with this docu about climate change deniers.
Henry’s Crime
Keanu Reeves stars as a highway toll booth operator who is arrested for a bank robbery he didn’t commit in this Malcolm Venville comedy.
Let Me In
Much to my astonishment, word out of Toronto is that Matt Reeves’s (Cloverfield) remake of Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In might be even better than its predecesor. The film stars the girl from Kick-Ass (Chloe Moretz) and the boy from The Road (Kodi Smit-McPhee) alongside Richard Jenkins.
Stone
John Curran (The Painted Veil) directs Robert De Niro, Edward Notron, and Milla Jovavich in what is said to be a messy thriller with some good performances.
Mark Romanek made his name as one of the most interesting directors with music videos such as NIN’s Closer, The Perfect Drug, Fiona Apple’s Criminal, and The Eels’ Novocaine for the Soul. It is therefore not surprising that his sophomore feature effort (after 2002’s One Hour Photo) is more of an atmospheric success than a captivating story. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield (the next Peter Parker) as clones genetically engineered for organ donation. The story begins with the three as small children in their clone-filled boarding school and follows them through the revelation and eventual acceptance of their fates. An unrealized childhood romance between Mulligan’s Kathy and Garfield’s Tommy flares up when the pair are young adults and leads them towards a long rumored hope that those who fall in true love will be spared.
Romanek makes some very mature decisions and his muted style is quite striking. Adam Kimmel does gorgeous things with dreary English photography creating a memorable earthy palette. This is refelected brilliantly in the costume design which serves as a window into the repressed emotions of the characters. All three leads give stunning performances – nothing new for Knightley but very encouraging to see from Mulligan’s as a follow-up to her Oscar nom’d performance in An Education. Given that all of these elements hit, it is particularly dissapointing that the story is a bit of a miss. I couldn’t help thinking over and over that this must be a much better book. Critical moments in the plot seem to happen at the wrong time or are never shown at all. It seems odd that the characters never really question their roles in this world. But the most grievous fault is that the romance between Kathy and Tommy is tragically underdeveloped. I needed to fall in love with Kathy if I was going to truly mourn for her plight and it simply never happened. Romanek’s film is admirable in its competent style – but unfortunately just doesn’t deliver as a love story.
The festival season is kicking into high gear. Venice is winding down, Telluride just wrapped up, and big daddy Toronto kicks off tomorrow. Most of the movies we will be talking about at Oscar time have just premiered or will premiere this month. Here is a quick look at 10 films that have had people talking from Venice and Telluride. Watch for a more in depth look at the Toronto lineup coming soon.
Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky’s follow up to The Wrestler is shaping up to be one of the most devisive films of the season. It’s premiere at Venice had many top critics split. Though most agree on the film’s quality, it sounds more like one of those films you appreciate rather than enjoy. There is, however, a general consensus that Natalie Portman’s performance will be good enough for a very strong Oscar push. But with the very crowded Best Actress category this year, it won’t be quite the slam dunk it might have been in years past. The trailer highlights the handheld styling which didn’t seem like a hit to me, although it certainly will increase what appears to be the film’s most noticeable feature: it’s dark and brooding milieu. …Well most noticeable after Mila Kunis that is.
Miral – The consensus seems to be that Julian Schnabel’s latest is no Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The film stars Slumdog Millionaire‘s Freida Pinto as a Palestinian orphan (she’s Indian btw). It sounds like Pinto’s lack of experience may be partially to blame for the film’s shortcomings though reviews have not been kind to Schnabel’s tackling of such a difficult story either. It remains to be seen if the Weinsteins are able to translate the spark plug subject matter into box office receipts or if this one will make a quick appearance on the art house circuit before getting lost in the awards shuffle.
Somewhere – I’ve been a huge fan of everything Sofia Coppola has done, even the critically panned Marie Antoinette . So it is no surprise that I am pretty excited for her follow-up. The film tells the story of a young girl (Elle Fanning) and her Hollywood star father (Stephen Dorff). Reviews from Venice have been positive. No one is calling it revolutionary, but it is competently told story that doesn’t stray too far from Coppola’s lovely style. Sounds exactly like what I want.
Never Let Me Go – Mark Romanek has often been called one of the most visionary directors working today due to his incredible music videos (NIN, Jay-Z, The Eels, Fiona Apple). Therefore, I was surprised to realize that Never Let Me Go is only the second feature he has helmed (the first being 2002’s One Hour Photo). This film is adapted from a dystopic Japanese novel by screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days/Weeks Later, Sunshine) and stars IT-girl Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and future Peter Parker Andrew Garfield. Reviews after its Venice and Telluride unspoolings have been mixed but call it powerful and have universally praised the acting. I am hoping to see it soon and have some more thoughts here.
The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper’s period comedy about the stuttering King George VI has been the early darling of the Fall fests. Critics have consistently put it forward as the film to beat in the run to Oscar gold and called Colin Firth’s Best Actor nom and Geoffrey Rush’s supporting nom sure things. Hooper has so far been better known for his TV success (John Adams, Elizabeth I) than for features (last year’s The Damned United). That may be changing this season.
I’m Still Here – Comparisons have already been made between Casey Affleck’s “documentary” and Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop. Echoes of “Is it real?” can be heard all the way from Venice. But from early accounts, the movie isn’t half of what Banksy’s film is. What could potentially be an interesting look at celebrity is reported to instead be an ego driven star-studded prank. As one review put it, the film is more like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm than a documentary. The question isn’t necessarily whether or not Joaquin Phoenix and Affleck orchestrated the quitting-acting-for-hip-hop stunt for this movie – but rather why anyone should care.
Meek’s Cutoff – I missed Kelly Reichardt’s last feature Wendy and Lucy – but by all accounts it was a bit slow. Reports from Venice about her take on the Western genre seem to echo that sentiment. One review reported that by minute 40, a quick glance around found most people sleeping. Another report called it more boring than watching paint dry. Too bad because star Michelle Williams is supposed to be quite good and I’ve always found the Oregon Trail subject matter particularly interesting.
The Way Back – One movie which has garnered a lot of speculation is Peter Weir’s tale of a group of men who escape a Soviet labor camp in 1941. While early reports from Telluride have been very positive, there is some question as to whether the film will be moved forward from its scheduled January release in time for awards eligibility. Weir’s credits include a number of great films from Witness and Dead Poets Society to The Truman Show and Master & Commander. Given that he has been nom’d for 6 Oscars and never won, I’m guessing the film’s distrib Newmarket gives it a push.
Tabloid – Errol Morris has made some of the best documentaries of all time (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War) and it sounds like his latest is up there as well. Tabloid tells the hilarious story of beauty queen turned S&M hooker turned tabloid queen Joyce McKinney. From all accounts, the movie was the star of Telluride and should make a splash when it makes it to theaters (hopefully) soon.
127 Hours – Yet another big director with a big follow-up (Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire in this case), Danny Boyle’s latest stars James Franco as that dude who cut off his own arm after a rock climbing accident. Critics have been mixed on the film – skewing a bit more positive – with many singing Franco’s praises. Could it be his year for a nom? The trailer evokes Into the Wild and the scenery looks gorgeous – but sitting for two hours watching a guy trapped by a rock sounds like a horrifying experience. Here’s hoping Boyle’s mastery of the medium can make it an enjoyable journey.
If there is one thing that will always get a blog post, it is an innovative interactive music video. You gotta seriously hand it to The Arcade Fire for their The Wilderness Downtown vid. A little Chrome + personalized G.Maps + HTML5 = very cool.
Thx Matt
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin is probably the coolest movie theater in the country. Not only do they have the killer food and drink at your seats setup, but their love for cinema is unmatched. This summer, the Alamo is taking their show on the road, bringing 9 classic films in a series titled “We Are All Workers” across the country (including three dates in California). What’s even cooler – the Alamo has commissioned artist Olly Moss to make a new poster for each film in the series. Check out all the posters in hi-res here.
Props to Garth Davis for this very creative skate vid starring Steve Berra and his crew on the streets of Mexico City. Even with out the ill effects, this is some pretty incredible stuff.
Rolled from GT (a la Joel)
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the directing duo behind Half Nelson and Sugar. So the fact that their new feature stars Zach Galifianakis and looks amazing has me doing backflips. It is set for release September 24th. Here is the official page.
There are some great blurbs about what else the fall movie calendar has in store in this article on iW.
As we launch into the final 8 games and final 8 teams of the African World Cup, there probably isn’t quite as much to be gained from ranking the remaining squads. There are at least 5 teams with a realistic chance of winning it all – and after this weekend there will be 4 teams with a chance, no matter who comes through. Instead I want to take a quick look at an odd phenomenon that maybe isn’t as random as it seems.
The English Premier League is without a doubt the biggest professional soccer league. The best players for the majority of teams competing in the Copa ply their trade in the EPL. Yet out of 105 EPL players who started this tournament, only 13 are left. For you number lovers, 14.2% of the players in the Cup play in the EPL, 25% of the total players are left, but only 7% of the remaining players play there. To top it all off, the biggest star left in the Cup, Liverpool’s Spanish star Fernando Torres, is having an awful tournament. Arsenal’s Dutch goal machine Robin Van Persie isn’t doing much better and their Spanish play maker Cesc Fabregas can’t even get spot in the starting XI. With big guns like Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Drogba, Anelka, and Vidic all eliminated, that leaves just one bonafied EPL star alive and doing well in the World Cup. That man is Manchester City striker and Argentine star Carlos Tevez – who scored 2 key goals in Argentina’s Round of 16 win over Mexico.
So what is going on? Everyone knows that the England National Team couldn’t get their shiz together – and I think we need to start by looking there. The EPL being such a big and important league with so much money at stake, it seems that the EPL stars have allowed their priorities to switch to their clubs’ success. Even in a world cup year, any given star might only play some 10-15 games in their national jersey. By contrast, a successful club team will expect upwards of 50+ appearances from a healthy star, not to mention all that additional time in training. With annual competitions like the EPL title, FA Cup, and especially the Champions League, the world of soccer has created an extremely competitive and exciting landscape. But the downside is that the world’s biggest players are quite simply distracted when it comes to performing for their countries. Want more proof? Just look at the what is quite possibly the second biggest league in the World: Italy’s Serie A. No surprise that every single player from Italy’s anemic 2010 National Squad call Serie A home.
My picks for the Quarters:
Brazil over Holland. Can the Dutch potentially win? Absolutely. Will they? I just don’t think so. Robben might have a shot at scoring one of his magical goals from outside, but apart from that I just don’t see the Dutch penetrating the Brazilian back line.
Uruguay over Ghana. Ghana might put up a fight but I don’t think they will find the net. Uruguay’s Suarez and Forlan are simply dynamite together.
Argentina over Germany. We are getting an early final here with arguably the two teams in the best form matching up in the quarters. Will Messi finally find the score card? It doesn’t really matter with both Tevez and Higuain playing next to him. I just don’t see them giving in.
Spain over Paraguay. There is a bit of an upset chance here unless Spain starts to turn it on. I think they will do what they need to do to beat P.guay – but with Argentina awaiting them in the Semis, the fun might not last for la Furia Roja.
What a wild group stage of the World Cup it has been! Two huge power houses have gone home in France and Italy. Spain was facing an early exit today as well (which would have been a much bigger upset), but did what they needed to and move on as a still heavy fave. But of course the big story of the the final group games was the incredible USA finish! It may all be house money now, but we have a real chance to beat Ghana and keep the train rolling.
The power rankings for the final 16 were a bit harder, especially down towards the bottom. But I had to look at match ups and who was likely to advance. I’ll break it down after the list. Again, numbers are my rankings from the last go around.
1. Argentina (1)
2. Netherlands (3)
3. Spain (4)
4. Brazil (2)
5. Uruguay (7)
6. Germany (6)
7. USA (8)
8. Japan (15)
9. Portugal (6)
10. Mexico (17)
11. England (13)
12. Paraguay (10)
13. Chile (9)
14. South Korea (18)
15. Ghana (16)
16. Slovakia (28)
Uruguay vs. South Korea – Uruguay is one of only 2 teams to not allow a single goal in the group stage (Portugal being the other). The South American teams are rolling and I see Uruguay continuing the trend with their great defense and goal scoring duo of Forlan and Suarez just starting to heat up. South Korea is a well organized team but they looked less than dominant in their 2-2 draw with Nigeria. I don’t think they have what it will take to beat Uruguay – but I’d rather have USA face them than Uruguay in the Quarters, so go South Korea!
USA vs. Ghana – Who would have thought the USA would win our group and avoid Germany? Ghana is fast but they are young and I think our experience will get us through the round. But Ghana has the x-factor of having all of Africa behind them (lotta good that did the African teams in the group stage). Anything can happen, but USA wants it every bit as much if not more than Ghana.
Germany vs. England – Germany looked so dominant in their first game but then fell way off. They barely beat Ghana on the strength of my new favorite German Mesut Özil. Lucky for them, England has been less than stellar as well. All either team needs is one of their incredible super stars to heat up and it will be lights out. Will it be Rooney, Gerard, Lampard or Klose, Podolski, or Muller? I’m giving the nod to Germany but it could be in PKs.
Argentina vs. Mexico – Mexico is playing well and I can’t wait to see Javi Hernandez playing for Manchester United, but they have the unfortunate task of facing Argentina who tops my power rankings for a second time after another dominant performance over Greece. It makes me happy that new guns like Hernandez and Vela are bringing a positive face to our southern border rivals (Blanco can choke on a Tecate can and die) but I won’t be too sad to see them exit at the hands of the Albiceleste. But come on Messi, let’s see some knockout round magic!
Netherlands vs. Slovakia – I didn’t give Slovakia any credit (had them at 28) but their showing against Italy was awesome. Vittek is playing lights out. However they are going up against The Netherlands who are the only team other than Argentina to finish the group stage with a perfect 9. Guess what, they didn’t drop a point in qualification either. The Dutch ain’t losing – especially to Slovakia. Robben even saw the pitch Thursday which means only good things for the Oranje as they look toward a tough Quarter final against Brazil.
Brazil vs. Chile Question… What happened to that beautiful samba football? I couldn’t even stay awake during that snorefest versus Portugal. Maybe Dunga is a brilliant tactician but the boys gotta play if they are going to win. Chile was just as unimpressive in their draw with Spain – wait they lost..? whatever – no one even tried in the last half hour. Chile came in second in CONMEBOL qualifying but lost both their matches with Brazil. I imagine they’ll lose this one too unless they get some serious inspiration before Monday.
Paraguay vs. Japan Wow! Hello Japan! The Blue Samurai are playing incredible football right now and Keisuke Honda might be the hottest player in the tourney. All three of their goals against Denmark were great but that Honda free kick was something else. Paraguay looked great in their first 2 games, but the 0-0 draw with New Zealand was unimpressive. If Japan plays the way they did yesterday, then P.guay doesn’t stand a chance.
Spain vs. Portugal A Round of 16 Iberian derby is an exciting prospect but neither team has been playing to their full potential. Yes I know Portugal put in 7 against North Korea but their draw with Brazil was lackluster and Ronaldo seems to be out to lunch. Spain has so many good players that they should win every match 6-0. Even with Torres cold as ice (I say bench him… and then sell him to Chelsea for half their squad), they should be able to easily put down the pretty boys.
