rugbyrugbyrugby
Ah, it's that time of year again. Eyecandy and violence, aka Six Nations.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm hummina MMMMMMmmmmmmm Jonny Wilkinson. How does that man stay so pretty in a sport where 99% of the team have cauliflower ears and broken noses? But rather amused in the line-up for singing that his teammate completely eclipsed him. I know his position doesn't have to be big, but christ. if Jonny Wilkinson is small, how big are the rest?
Ireland/Italy. Good god, yawn much? Even the tries were boring. When it comes to awarding Man of the Match and one of the commentators goes 'Well, we had to award it to someone' you know it's bad.
England/Wales much more fun. Wales so tiny compared to England. Wales completely forget they're playing England and try a running game and screw up the first half. Seriously. Everyone knows England play a grinder game, objective #1 being 'Stop the other side moving at all'. Slightly peeved that I missed the Alun Wyn Jones stupidity and they didn't replay it. Second half, I will admit that that was a nice little run and try from Hook after his muppetness when it came to scoring penalties in the first half.
Sunday, didn't bother with Scotland/France. But considering since about midweek parents and I had had a gradually cautious ramping up of curiosity about Invictus, we went and saw it at 6pm. And yay, it is of the good. Usual spare gritty storytelling and camerawork from Clint Eastwood (I'd spent part of Friday explaining this style to Mum), brilliant performance from Morgan Freeman (who has apparently spent bloody years having tea with and observing Mandela), the only problem being that he didn't giggle enough and that you were always aware that it was Freeman *playing* Mandela (unlike, say, Helen Mirren as the Queen or Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin). Matt Damon was good as François Pienaar, as was everyone else. Many giggles came from the game scenes. Because against the actors playing the Springboks, he looks about the right size, and he'd be the right general size for the '95 team. However, come the game scenes where he was inserted into the scrums against current day players and he looks so tiny! The complete non-sensationalism style worked very well for the story, and watching Mandela latching onto how big a symbol the rugby could be was very well done. A good portion of the story is told from the POV of the security team, which really, really works. Great acting, good script with much wry humour, and no, the symbolism isn't overplayed because hello, that's how it was. Also, if you see any reviews complaining about too much rugby - no, there wasn't. Fit perfectly. And Bend It Like Beckham now has a rival for 'by the sainted boots of Bobby Robson, sport that looks engaging onscreen!' Oh, and they had them watching bits of other matches. I'd forgotten how funny Jonah Lomu trampling English players was. Also, heh on the bit in the tunnel where they're showing the Springboks going 'ohshitohshit Lomu'.
Would like to see other opinions, especially from any South Africans. need to go check on the american opinions to see how they took it. Not sure where the whining about not explaining the rules comes from, as they *do* explain bits, as the black half of the security team have no idea either. Will be amused if this film changes the 'rugby isn't so tough' perception some Americans have, since they show how beaten up you get.
snowing outside. eyeing it with caution as I didn't bring my leggings today and am not wearing the shitkicker boots.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm hummina MMMMMMmmmmmmm Jonny Wilkinson. How does that man stay so pretty in a sport where 99% of the team have cauliflower ears and broken noses? But rather amused in the line-up for singing that his teammate completely eclipsed him. I know his position doesn't have to be big, but christ. if Jonny Wilkinson is small, how big are the rest?
Ireland/Italy. Good god, yawn much? Even the tries were boring. When it comes to awarding Man of the Match and one of the commentators goes 'Well, we had to award it to someone' you know it's bad.
England/Wales much more fun. Wales so tiny compared to England. Wales completely forget they're playing England and try a running game and screw up the first half. Seriously. Everyone knows England play a grinder game, objective #1 being 'Stop the other side moving at all'. Slightly peeved that I missed the Alun Wyn Jones stupidity and they didn't replay it. Second half, I will admit that that was a nice little run and try from Hook after his muppetness when it came to scoring penalties in the first half.
Sunday, didn't bother with Scotland/France. But considering since about midweek parents and I had had a gradually cautious ramping up of curiosity about Invictus, we went and saw it at 6pm. And yay, it is of the good. Usual spare gritty storytelling and camerawork from Clint Eastwood (I'd spent part of Friday explaining this style to Mum), brilliant performance from Morgan Freeman (who has apparently spent bloody years having tea with and observing Mandela), the only problem being that he didn't giggle enough and that you were always aware that it was Freeman *playing* Mandela (unlike, say, Helen Mirren as the Queen or Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin). Matt Damon was good as François Pienaar, as was everyone else. Many giggles came from the game scenes. Because against the actors playing the Springboks, he looks about the right size, and he'd be the right general size for the '95 team. However, come the game scenes where he was inserted into the scrums against current day players and he looks so tiny! The complete non-sensationalism style worked very well for the story, and watching Mandela latching onto how big a symbol the rugby could be was very well done. A good portion of the story is told from the POV of the security team, which really, really works. Great acting, good script with much wry humour, and no, the symbolism isn't overplayed because hello, that's how it was. Also, if you see any reviews complaining about too much rugby - no, there wasn't. Fit perfectly. And Bend It Like Beckham now has a rival for 'by the sainted boots of Bobby Robson, sport that looks engaging onscreen!' Oh, and they had them watching bits of other matches. I'd forgotten how funny Jonah Lomu trampling English players was. Also, heh on the bit in the tunnel where they're showing the Springboks going 'ohshitohshit Lomu'.
Would like to see other opinions, especially from any South Africans. need to go check on the american opinions to see how they took it. Not sure where the whining about not explaining the rules comes from, as they *do* explain bits, as the black half of the security team have no idea either. Will be amused if this film changes the 'rugby isn't so tough' perception some Americans have, since they show how beaten up you get.
snowing outside. eyeing it with caution as I didn't bring my leggings today and am not wearing the shitkicker boots.