Wednesday, November 02, 2005
GOAL
Featuring: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel
Brief Synopsis: A kid gets 'discovered' by a scout whilst playing football (soccer if you must) in America and tries to make it in the big time of the English Premier League with the ever underperforming Newcastle United.
Comments: As a movie viewing footballer, I went into this film with few expectations and curious to see how all the football scenes would turn out. The plot was very simple and predictable with the appropriate sensei, the obligatory love interest, the teammate who doesn't like him but comes to respect him, the bad boy comes good, the things start off badly but if you persevere, life will improve and so on. Generally a lot of sporting Hollywood cliches so don't expect many surprises. As an expatriate, it was also fun to listen to a British accent again - even if the Geordie one isn't the most widely used in the country...
So the football scenes. Well if you want to a professional football player, it seems like dribbling is the way to go. Most of the football scenes were basically the young lad running, twisting and pirouetting like a ballet dancer whilst on the ball (playing one twos off obliging teammates). Although if you are going to be scouted to play in the Premier League at a late age, I think you are going to have do something special. Impressive juggling in front of the school - I wonder how many takes he took just do that?!?
There's a few minor walk on parts. Shearer has a little humourous snippet although I think the one with Zidane & Raul were better. Beckham's cockney accent makes an appearance too with telling words of wisdom (perhaps drawn from his own life experience). The only mistake I spotted was when the Liverpool team in the line up looked totally different to the actual team on the pitch (although I read there was another one re: the goalkeeper in the Fulham game).
I think any Premiership manager might also have a heart attack if their brand new signing who has only played 3 games gets asked to take a last minute free kick to either propel them to European glory or flounder in the UEFA cup...
Things to learn from this film: Don't judge a player on a rainy, muddy day.
Rating: 5.5 /10
Featuring: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel
Brief Synopsis: A kid gets 'discovered' by a scout whilst playing football (soccer if you must) in America and tries to make it in the big time of the English Premier League with the ever underperforming Newcastle United.
Comments: As a movie viewing footballer, I went into this film with few expectations and curious to see how all the football scenes would turn out. The plot was very simple and predictable with the appropriate sensei, the obligatory love interest, the teammate who doesn't like him but comes to respect him, the bad boy comes good, the things start off badly but if you persevere, life will improve and so on. Generally a lot of sporting Hollywood cliches so don't expect many surprises. As an expatriate, it was also fun to listen to a British accent again - even if the Geordie one isn't the most widely used in the country...
So the football scenes. Well if you want to a professional football player, it seems like dribbling is the way to go. Most of the football scenes were basically the young lad running, twisting and pirouetting like a ballet dancer whilst on the ball (playing one twos off obliging teammates). Although if you are going to be scouted to play in the Premier League at a late age, I think you are going to have do something special. Impressive juggling in front of the school - I wonder how many takes he took just do that?!?
There's a few minor walk on parts. Shearer has a little humourous snippet although I think the one with Zidane & Raul were better. Beckham's cockney accent makes an appearance too with telling words of wisdom (perhaps drawn from his own life experience). The only mistake I spotted was when the Liverpool team in the line up looked totally different to the actual team on the pitch (although I read there was another one re: the goalkeeper in the Fulham game).
I think any Premiership manager might also have a heart attack if their brand new signing who has only played 3 games gets asked to take a last minute free kick to either propel them to European glory or flounder in the UEFA cup...
Things to learn from this film: Don't judge a player on a rainy, muddy day.
Rating: 5.5 /10
