FOOTBALL
The pitch was iced over from the morning sub-zero temperatures. I couldn't feel my toes, despite the thick sock layers and the boots. If you looked closely enough, your breath froze in the air with ice particles drifting before your eyes.
Today was not a day I wanted to play. I clocked the referee doing his pitch inspection... and then the managers of both sides went out to greet him. I couldn't hear a damn thing for them being out of earshot.
Players from both sides were doing their best to warm up. Surely they're not going to let the game go ahead. A selfish part of me was wanting it called off. I didn't have the confidence today. Haven't felt confident for a couple of months in all fairness. And when you're low, your game suffers – makes you look bad. I wasn't bad, on the contrary, I like to think I was good – the numerous awards before this season proves so.
I don't know why, but when I think about my playing days, there are a handful of moments I remember vividly. This was one of them. Not wanting to play because of experiences outside of football had a knock-on effect on my game, and that was not on! I loved to play.
I'd play in goal if I had to, just to play the game. In fact, I had to for a couple of games because we had no goalkeeper. That was fun, I didn't mind it at all – I saw it as a challenge. We lost, but I gave it my best and I pulled off a crowd-applauding save, which gave me a boost.
There was one time, this was a Saturday morning when I was probably 12 when I got kicked on numerous occasions during a game. Did the referee blow his whistle? Did he bollocks. That really infuriated me because it was so obvious – the pre-meditated leg was swung into my midriff like he'd watched Bruce Lee for reference the night before. I went down and looked at the ref – he looked directly at me and waved play on! The dirty bastard. I got up and went after the ball only to be belted again. No whistle! The cheats!
We won the game in the end, but that wasn't the point. It's a memory from my playing days I still remember. I guess I'm not painting such a wonderful picture of what it was like for me as a young lad playing the game. But in all honesty, for all the bad, there was far more good. The good that I will never forget either, such as collecting a Player of the Season Award from one of my idols growing up, Kenny Daglish. There was a photograph of that moment, but I donated it to my godparents who put it up on the chippy window for their customers to see.
Other wonderful moments came from my stint as a striker. I pleaded for my manager to give me a shot. He duly obliged and we won the game 8-5! I scored seven of those goals, but because we shipped in too many, it wasn't long before I had to play back in defence again.
Anyway, I have so many memories from the game, and the experiences all helped me to grow thicker skin. Putting yourself out there and taking responsibility as part of a team in any sporting activity is something I'll always have.
I put together this video together, combining my love for film with my hobby, football (the opening is completely inspired by District 9, Blomkamp 2009). Thanks to #ChallengesByCin and Srdan for setting up #YourHobbyExposed.
Movie Recommendation: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE view
SPOILER REVIEW: Wonder Woman 1984
Duck with Black Cherry Sauce view
GAMESHOWS
60 Seconds Challenge: Seth vs Nick view
Christmas Dinner on a Roll view
THE WORLD'S END...
End of the world narratives entice audiences – call it a morbid fascination or cathartic release, we can’t help but be drawn to them, to borrow a cliché, like a moth to a flame.
The 1950s played on our fears of the atomic age, the 1980s exemplified it further with the threat of World War III based on the rising tensions between America and our friends in the East, Russia. Today, we are inundated with messages of doom and gloom because of climate change.
2020 hasn’t been kind to any of us – from all corners of the world (as if that makes sense, but then since when did 2020 care about being coherent), we have had to hunker down much to the amusement of our leaders I’m sure. H.G. Wells often prophesised in his narratives of a dystopian future – he was certainly more accurate than Nostradamus – I thought it would be apt to close the year outwith my top five world ending movies.
5. TAKE SHELTER (2011)
Michael Shannon gives a terrific performance of a man who has a premonition of the world coming to an end, so he sets out to build a bunker to hunker down in, only for no one to believe in his insanity. The mood is bleak as is the rising tension, as his warning looks to bear fruit.
4. MIRACLE MILE (1988)
Anthony Edwards of E.R. fame, stars in this mostly shot in ‘real time’ narrative about a man who is mistakenly told that the world is about to be nuked in 70 minutes. The resultant mass hysteria as word breaks paints a horrifying picture of our potential final moments before the warheads hit.
3. KNOWING (2009)
Nicolas Cage plays an M.I.T. professor who stumbles upon a list of numbers recovered from a time capsule only to determine that it pertains to the coordinates of each major disaster covering the previous 50 years, including ones that have yet to happen. Director, Alex Proyas throws everything, and the kitchen sink at this one. Highly entertaining and frightening at the same time!
2. SNOWPIERCER (2013)
Chris Evans stars in this Korean film directed by Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho about a train that travels around the globe after a failed climate change experiment has left the world a snowy, iced up ball. The last remaining people are sectioned off in a hierarchal split from the lowest of lows at the back of the train cars to the wealthy elites further up the front of the train – bring on the revolution. Social commentary on the way our world is now couldn’t be more on point!
1. The Road (2009)
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=479046078465836926
My Movie Recommendation!
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The Filmmaker vs The Spectator
Warner Bros. has drawn the ire of many a cinephile about their decision to move their 2021 slate from the cinemas to their streaming platform HBO Max.
But why the vitriol from filmmakers the likes of Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve? Full disclaimer: I'm a fan of both directors, having watched all but one of their released films to date. They have done remarkably well for themselves by having their film concepts financed by the studio. In fact, when some studios choose to play safe with pre-sold products made to the order of the masses as though it were paint-by-numbers, Warner Bros. stuck their proverbial necks out and handed over budgets in excess of $250 million for original stories with head-scratching narratives designed to appeal to the ‘snobs’ or ‘elitists’ of filmgoers. They gave Nolan carte blanche, and yet, the decision to move their slate to their streaming platform so audiences can watch their films during a pandemic when most cinema chains are shut, has Nolan scream bloody murder from the rooftops. Here’s what Nolan has to say once he found out what was happening:
“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,”
Nolan further added, as if spitting in their faces wasn’t enough:
“Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”
This is the man who insisted his film Tenet be released during the height of the pandemic when few screens were still operational. For a film that cost $250 million, and will need to double its money to break even (cinema chains eventually end up with roughly 50% of the cost of a ticket stub by the end of a film’s run) and that does not count for marketing, which would be in excess of $100 million, Nolan seems to be a bit short-sighted. The film grossed $359 million worldwide (only $57 million from the U.S.) – well short of breaking even! It lost money. Nolan’s insistence lost the studio money. Before anyone bashes the statement here, consider the ramifications of that on other filmmakers and crew members. Studios will no longer make these ‘original’ films if they lose money. They will no longer invest in new talent. They will no longer offer opportunities for others. WE lose out as spectators. Choice of what to watch will be removed and instead replaced with formulaic driven content. The expression, ‘never bite the hand that feeds you’ springs to mind when I came across this story when the news broke out that Warner Bros. was moving 17 films to HBO Max.
Even more cynicism tells me that Nolan's gripe is subconsciously rooted in his backend points he's bound to lose out on based on box office takings!
Denis Villeneuve recently wrote in Variety:
“With this decision, AT&T [Warner Bros.' parent] has hijacked one of the most respectable and important studios in film history. There is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here.”
With all due respect Mr. Villeneuve, you do not speak for me as an audience member! You sir took one of the most boring films I thought couldn’t be made worse and did the unthinkable, wasting 3 hours of my life – at the cinema I might add – to watch the mind-numbingly, over bloated, self-congratulatory bore fest that was Blade Runner 2049. Go ahead, do your worst and tell me how wrong I am! The opening sequence, just like the opening sequence to the original were the only moments in either film to hold my interest. The rest, meh!
Now to be even more clear, these films in 2021 are still going to be released theatrically, but also on HBO Max the same day. They will be streamed for one month on HBO Max before being removed to continue its theatrical run. Warner Bros. has given audiences the choice – finally! The choice to watch when they want, where and on what to access the content. Times have changed. Anyone who knows me will know how much value I place on cinema. My first ever memory was of my first cinema experience to watch Superman 2 for Chrissakes! You can read about that piece here.
Trust me when I say, I dearly love the cinema experience. However, technology has changed drastically over the years to the point where the experience I love so much can be replicated almost as easily from the comfort of your own home without the distractions of nob-heads kicking your chair behind you, or selfish twats grabbing the biggest rustling bag of chips right when the film is about to start. Munching their way through Doritos, or stinking up the place with rank hotdogs while you’re trying to immerse yourself into the film is not the kind of experience I want when I watch a film. The cinema experience has changed all right. But not for the better in my opinion. I welcome the move to streaming from Warner Bros.
The argument could be that cinema is an artform. These films should be experienced as the director intended. To some extent I can agree. I discussed the idea of cinema as a science or artform here. Personally, I consider it to be an artform. But it is up to the spectator who pay their money and put these filmmakers up on their pedestal. Without us they have no voice. There’s a power shift… and audiences, dare I say, will come out on top in this digital age.
The only drawback I see about all of this, is the thousands of jobs from those that work in cinemas, should cinemas become no more. However, instead of over-bloated budgets, monies from studios can be directed towards programmes to help nurture talent, and those working customer service jobs in these cinema houses can affiliate with such programmes. Or perhaps cinema chains can be more like arthouse cinemas, part funded by studios who would normally pay astronomical fees for 'star' salaries, and instead 'donate' or 'sponsor' these chains. A win-win for all!
Oh, and by the way, the largest cinema-going demographic is the 16-24 age range. I do not belong in that bracket anymore. I have young children too. I don't have the time or financial luxuries that Villeneuve and Nolan cry foul about in terms of who he deems is the audience. If a film is streaming, there's a great deal more chance I will 'experience' their films from there. At least I will have seen it – isn't that good enough?
Now, where’s Wonder Woman 1984 – give me access to HBO Max, Warner Bros.!
Nolan’s latest, Tenet is out now on DVD – I have asked for it for Christmas to which end I will post my review on Cinnamon Video once I’ve seen it.
As for Villeneuve, his latest ‘opus’, Dune is due for release on October 1st 2021 (theatrically AND on HBO Max). for what it’s worth, I really did enjoy Arrival and Prisoners (both of which I went to the cinema to watch).
In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on Nolan’s comments. Do you agree with him? Do you prefer to watch from home, on your mobile device or tablet? Does it matter to you about watching film at the cinema?
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