Post by hassan1024 on Nov 8, 2006 14:43:25 GMT 3
Watched this over the weekend and needed sometime to assimilate my thoughts about it. Unsurprisingly, Green Street has taken a bit of a slating from the hard-to-please critics in the UK. More surprisingly though, was the positive response from American audience, who generally have an aversion movies with British actors, and based on football (or soccer as the pagans like to call it).
Hollywood and football don’t really seem to go well together. I’m reminded of a brilliant article that appeared in an issue of When Saturday Comes, sometime last year that began with this paragraph –
“Imagine if movies, like football league teams, were ranked, according to quality, in divisions. Allowing for the fact that movies about Vietnam and the Mafia would be tussling for Champions League spots, and anything with Billy Crystal would be propping up League Two, American ‘Soccer Movies’ would probably be battling for credibility in the nether regions of the Football Conference.”
I laughed my arse off, and movies like Ladybugs, Kicking and Screaming (Eeeeeuuughhh), and Goal don’t do much to refute this point. Agonizingly predictable plots (and endings), poor casting, terrible puns, and little connection with real football don’t do much to help. Fever Pitch remains the best ever football movie I’ve seen, not just because it’s about Arsenal, or that it features on of the most memorable nights in our history, but because it’s got a very British core. The fact that it’s based on true events and stars Colin Firth probably helps.
Green Street isn’t really in the same mould has FP, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. Elijah Wood is Matt Buckner, a student at Harvard, two months shy of a diploma in journalism. Until cocaine belonging to his well-connected roommate is found in his closet and he’s forced to take the fall, presumably after being threatened. And there’s another catch – his room-mate (Terence Jay) is about to see his father elected to some high-ranking post, and he promises to ‘hook’ Matt up. What (or who) with, I don’t know, but like me, Matt doesn’t seem too interested, and instead heads off to London, to be with his Sister Shannon (Claire Forlani – any relation to a one-time Man Utd flop, I wonder) and her husband Steve Dunham (Marc Warren). That’s when he meets Steve’s brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam), the leader of the West Ham United ‘firm’. A firm, apparently is a group of fans who like to indulge in fist-fights with firms of rival teams. The WHU firm have a simmering rivalry with the Millwall firm, whose leader lost his son in a fight, the last time the two teams met, nearly ten years back. Back then, the Hammers firm was lead by someone simply known as ‘The Major’, who has retired since, and Pete doesn’t quite have the same charisma and authority as his predecessor.
Anyway, Matt is quickly drawn into this world, and before long, much to his sister’s trepidation, the timid boy who never so much as threw a punch back in the States is smashing bottles over the head over rival firm member. Well, maybe not exactly bottles, but you get the general idea. The firm quickly warm to him, apart from Pete’s right-hand man Bovver (Leo Gregory) who just can’t adapt to the idea of a ‘yank’ being accepted into the firm. Things go threaten to boil over when Bovver finds out about Matt being a journalist and suspects him of working undercover. To spice up things just a bit, the FA Cup quarter-final draw pits the Hammers against……you guessed it, Millwall. There’s also a stunning revelation about Steve, and all this leads to events spiralling out of control. I won’t go into much detail, just mention that it all leads to a rather messy ending. And Matt, much tougher now after his experiences, head back to America to settle an old score.
Overall a decent offering and one that might cause some controversy. Football is wonderful as a sport but ultimately it’s just a sport. It’s not worth losing your life, seeing your son die, having your wife leave you, threatening someone else’s family, or countless blows and punches. As Matt says, towards the end “There comes a time to stand your ground, and there comes a time to walk away”. Many will slag off this movie on the grounds that it glorifies football-related violence, but I beg to differ.
Best Scene
Matt attending his first football game, a match between the Hammers and Birmingham. The scenes of masses of fans getting off trains, buses, and heading to and milling around the stadium, complete with actual match footage, with actual players (including the cunt who scored againt Arsenal on Sunday) and the roars of the crowd really put baseball and basketball movies to shame. It’s a pity there isn’t more match action thoughout the rest of the movie.
Best quote
When Matt tells Pete that the Red Sox have a player who can pitch the ball at 90mph
“So what? All that means is that he can have a wank faster”
Worst bit
Pete’s accent. More unconvincing than any of Saddam’s defence arguments.
Recommendation
Football fans might enjoy this. The rest probably won’t.
Hollywood and football don’t really seem to go well together. I’m reminded of a brilliant article that appeared in an issue of When Saturday Comes, sometime last year that began with this paragraph –
“Imagine if movies, like football league teams, were ranked, according to quality, in divisions. Allowing for the fact that movies about Vietnam and the Mafia would be tussling for Champions League spots, and anything with Billy Crystal would be propping up League Two, American ‘Soccer Movies’ would probably be battling for credibility in the nether regions of the Football Conference.”
I laughed my arse off, and movies like Ladybugs, Kicking and Screaming (Eeeeeuuughhh), and Goal don’t do much to refute this point. Agonizingly predictable plots (and endings), poor casting, terrible puns, and little connection with real football don’t do much to help. Fever Pitch remains the best ever football movie I’ve seen, not just because it’s about Arsenal, or that it features on of the most memorable nights in our history, but because it’s got a very British core. The fact that it’s based on true events and stars Colin Firth probably helps.
Green Street isn’t really in the same mould has FP, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. Elijah Wood is Matt Buckner, a student at Harvard, two months shy of a diploma in journalism. Until cocaine belonging to his well-connected roommate is found in his closet and he’s forced to take the fall, presumably after being threatened. And there’s another catch – his room-mate (Terence Jay) is about to see his father elected to some high-ranking post, and he promises to ‘hook’ Matt up. What (or who) with, I don’t know, but like me, Matt doesn’t seem too interested, and instead heads off to London, to be with his Sister Shannon (Claire Forlani – any relation to a one-time Man Utd flop, I wonder) and her husband Steve Dunham (Marc Warren). That’s when he meets Steve’s brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam), the leader of the West Ham United ‘firm’. A firm, apparently is a group of fans who like to indulge in fist-fights with firms of rival teams. The WHU firm have a simmering rivalry with the Millwall firm, whose leader lost his son in a fight, the last time the two teams met, nearly ten years back. Back then, the Hammers firm was lead by someone simply known as ‘The Major’, who has retired since, and Pete doesn’t quite have the same charisma and authority as his predecessor.
Anyway, Matt is quickly drawn into this world, and before long, much to his sister’s trepidation, the timid boy who never so much as threw a punch back in the States is smashing bottles over the head over rival firm member. Well, maybe not exactly bottles, but you get the general idea. The firm quickly warm to him, apart from Pete’s right-hand man Bovver (Leo Gregory) who just can’t adapt to the idea of a ‘yank’ being accepted into the firm. Things go threaten to boil over when Bovver finds out about Matt being a journalist and suspects him of working undercover. To spice up things just a bit, the FA Cup quarter-final draw pits the Hammers against……you guessed it, Millwall. There’s also a stunning revelation about Steve, and all this leads to events spiralling out of control. I won’t go into much detail, just mention that it all leads to a rather messy ending. And Matt, much tougher now after his experiences, head back to America to settle an old score.
Overall a decent offering and one that might cause some controversy. Football is wonderful as a sport but ultimately it’s just a sport. It’s not worth losing your life, seeing your son die, having your wife leave you, threatening someone else’s family, or countless blows and punches. As Matt says, towards the end “There comes a time to stand your ground, and there comes a time to walk away”. Many will slag off this movie on the grounds that it glorifies football-related violence, but I beg to differ.
Best Scene
Matt attending his first football game, a match between the Hammers and Birmingham. The scenes of masses of fans getting off trains, buses, and heading to and milling around the stadium, complete with actual match footage, with actual players (including the cunt who scored againt Arsenal on Sunday) and the roars of the crowd really put baseball and basketball movies to shame. It’s a pity there isn’t more match action thoughout the rest of the movie.
Best quote
When Matt tells Pete that the Red Sox have a player who can pitch the ball at 90mph
“So what? All that means is that he can have a wank faster”
Worst bit
Pete’s accent. More unconvincing than any of Saddam’s defence arguments.
Recommendation
Football fans might enjoy this. The rest probably won’t.
