27/01/2009

A Film I Cannot Wait to See



Whilst waiting for the second half of Derby County and Nottingham Forest's infamous Fourth Round FA cup tie to commence (with Derby subsequently proceeding to throw away their victory despite their dominance of the game it has to be said) this gem of a trailer hit the pub's screens.

Now it may have been because me and my Derby mates were all in good spirits being 1-0 up amidst one of the greatest rivalries in the history of British football with a few pints in our system, but for some reason I was totally transfixed by this trailer for its entire 2 minute duration.

Perhaps it is due to the fact I recently turned into a massive Michael Sheen fan overnight after seeing Frost/Nixon, thus realising his portrayal of English figureheads provide more than just observatory impersonations but are filled with real personality, character and an interpretation that always engrosses me.

Or perhaps it is because the story of the eccentric Brian Clough, Middlesbrough born like myself who single handedly managed to prove there is more to football success than money, really intrigues me.

But whatever it is, I cannot escape the fact that this trailer oozes a certain energy and wit which I managed to pick upon despite the fact that the pub's TV had no sound.

Now I am always the first to express my boredom towards British films that are nothing other than generic success stories with the sole intention of aiming to be successful in an American film market e.g. Calendar Girls, Purely Belter, Waking Ned, Lucky Break, Saving Grace, On a Clear Day etc. But I think we could well be in the midst of film with real substance. Unlike the films previously mentioned this does not seem to be chasing a possible American fan base, after all how many American's are going to be interested in Brian Clough?

Ultimately I await the end of March with a positive outlook, firmly in the knowledge that this film will be released! I may not be able to guarantee that it will in fact be as good as I predict or whether it will be a box office sucess but what I can guarantee is that Derby County have no chance of winning the FA Cup this year!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, this has all the ingredients to be a great film, but I wish that Sheen would take a risk and do a film where he's not playing some famous figure from recent history. Look at his filmography - there's not much originality there, except Underworld, which is not much of a departure from the norm to shout about. However he is a good actor. I saw Frost/Nixon on stage and it was wonderful, although Langella was better.

On another note, can I bemoan the stupid British and American film academies for overlooking Wall-E in the best film categories. This film is undoubtedly better than Slumdog, which I fully expect to win most of the best film awards going. What a shame that animation should mean exclusion.

Anonymous said...

The Damned Utd is total garbage and not how a football legend should be remembered. The whole project has upset the Clough family. The scumbags behind this project have only got away with it because Mr Clough is sadly no longer with us. As for the script, can you really imagine Peter Taylor saying to Clough: "Only I can save you from yourself." Utter trash.

Ben said...

Interesting points Ben I wholeheartedly agree. See my Oscar nominations post on my distaste at WALL-E's lack of nominations.

Again an interesting point Mr. Anonymous. But you cannot deny that you have to bend the truth slightly in order to make a film worth watching. If you want something 100% reliable go and see a Brian Clough documentary.

For some reason the Barrie family were up in arms at Finding Neverland but that was still a great film.

Anyway we cannot really judge this film until it is released!