Wednesday, June 2, 2010

First Movie Recommendation

Because I try to see pretty much any movie I can (hey, there's a reason I have cards to three different library systems), I'll try to throw out a few recommendations here and there.
Early this morning, before Satchel wakes up and cramps my style, I watched The Damned United starring Michael Sheen. Sheen is becoming one of my favorite actors to watch. He played Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon. He's also been in all the Underworld movies and soon will be in the Tron sequel. In The Damned United, he plays Brian Clough, one of the top soccer managers in England (this is in the late 60s-early 70s). He leads Derby County from the bottom of the English second division to the Premiership title, then takes over Leeds United, which at the time was the top team in England. But he pretty much hated Leeds United and his job was a disaster, lasting only 44 days. I'm not really giving anything away here because that isn't really what the movie is about. It's more of a character study of a guy who was a great coach but couldn't get out of his own way. Great acting from a strong British cast, some solid soccer background, including mentions of former Sounder coach Alan Hinton, who played for Clough at Derby County. Anyway, good movie, you don't really have to be a soccer fan to enjoy it.
Oh, I also recently saw Pirate Radio, about a boat that sailed off the coast of England and played Rock and Roll "illegally" because Britain didn't allow radio to play that kind of music. Mostly a British cast, including Bill Nighy, who is always entertaining, and Kenneth Branagh, who is also always entertaining. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the lone American. Funny movie, great music.
Jessica and I are also being highly entertained by Deadwood, an HBO series we're now on Season 3 with. While I'm not sure they said "cocksucker" that much in the Old West (which, according to Deadwood, is every-other word), I hope they did. It's also inspiring me to start calling people Hoople Heads. I don't know what it means, it's probably some horribly demeaning word, but it's fun to say.

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