L.F.C. Are they making progress?

Are LFC making progress or continuing their decline?

After the shambolic collapse in London against Q.P.R. last week and the dismal reaction against Wigan at Anfield last Saturday the question of where Liverpool Football Club actually stand in the grand scheme of things has once again reared its ugly head. Within moments of each final whistle it had been pointed out from numerous sources that we are closer to the bottom clubs than the top ones in terms of league points and would be in the bottom three if the league was based on points collected since the turn of the year, and while this little factoid may sound shocking it does, in fact, mean very little.

L.F.C. are currently seventh and thirteen points off fourth, which is now the height of their ambition league-wise for the foreseeable future.

So, the question remains is this progress? Well when looked upon harshly it would seem not; at this stage last season we were in roughly the exact same position the only differences being we were in the midst of a spectacular run of form which saw us shoot up the table and nearly clinch forth place only to fall at the last few hurdles, as well as the fact that we hadn’t had a summer of very heavy investment in a long time. So surely after a busy summer in the transfer market , backed by our shiny new American owners, L.F.C would be nearly certain of a Champions League finish, well as we all know, football is very rarely that simple.

Firstly it has been well documented by many, myself included, that Liverpool got it all wrong in the transfer market last summer, http://vinnieharte.tumblr.com/post/12641736502/l-f-c-summer-transfers , but any dissection of their current faults must start there. I hope it is now clear to everyone, and I include whoever is buying players at Anfield in that statement, that a policy of buying young British players, while being admirable, will simply not yield results. The market for players with an English passport is so over priced and filled with average players that it makes it a minefield to successfully deal in. Need proof? Name ten British. premier league players who have made a successful career abroad in the last 15 years, there’s not very many I can assure you. And while defenders of the English game will preach about cultural differences or players not wanting to go abroad because the E.P.L. is the strongest league in Europe the simple fact is the vast majority of British players are simply not good enough for other leagues. In other countries skill and guile on the football pitch are revered above all other attributes, this is not the case in England and it shows in the quality of players they produce, even Germany renowned for their efficiency and hard work ethic always manage to produce skilful players to help balance out their teams.

The reason this is so relevant to Liverpool’s current plight is the fact that most of their lost points this season have been where they have been dominating play but not making clear-cut chances or converting them; and this will continue to be the case unless they change their transfer market strategy. How many of those home draws would have been converted to wins had we had a player (or, heaven forbid, maybe even two) like Aguero, Tevez, Villa, David Silva, Mata, Robben, Ribery, Ozil, Fabregas, Xavi, Schweinsteiger, Cavani, Nasri, Alonso or any number of creative midfield players or forwards who can unlock a stubborn defence with a moment of magic.

I realise very few if any would actually play for L.F.C. in their current state but one thing is for sure you will not find players of this calibre scouting in England, which is why we need to widen our gaze if we are to make any progress.

So now that we have examined the problems and possible solutions to our league form let us examine the case being made for the club actually making progress; namely the fact we have won the League Cup and are in the semi-final of the F.A. Cup.

I am not one of those people who think the League Cup is a pointless trophy, and I am pretty sure I am not alone in this, in fact I know for certain all of Arsenal’s 2010-2011 squad agree with me. Look back on the reactions of Arsenal’s, a team who hasn’t won anything in years, players reactions to getting beaten by Birmingham in last years final. If you can’t win the league this trophy matters a great deal and if you can you still want it although it does take the lowest priority. However to all those who say it is a Mickey Mouse cup and one that nobody wanted to win, I say look at our run of games. Are these people actually telling me that Stoke, Chelsea and Man City did not want to win this trophy? If they are seriously suggesting this I recommend they take up following another sport as they clearly do not understand football.

At this stage we cannot know how the F.A. Cup run will turn out although we have been given the kinder (theoretically) of the two draws, but if we were to win it this season it must surely go down in history as a very good one.

However regardless if Liverpool win the F.A. Cup or not severe tactical and managerial mistakes have been made this season, many of which are borderline unforgivable. It has been apparent that L.F.C has been missing quality wingers for years, especially on the right so for Dalglish to not have addressed this in three transfer windows is nothing short of criminal. Yes he plays Jordan Henderson there but he is not a winger nor should he be asked to imitate one, his game is at a crucial stage of development and he should be given all the minutes he can be in his favoured position which obviously centre midfield. King Kenny sometimes decides to address the problem by playing Stewart Downing on the right of midfield and as limited a winger Downing is on the left he is positively shocking on the right, forever cutting inside and narrowing the team rather than providing desperately needed width, which as one would rightly assume, is the exact opposite effect that a winger should provide his team. Couple this with the fact that he failed to strengthen our forward line bar a free transfer of a thirty something dodgy kneed Craig Bellamy and the case for the prosecution takes on even more weight.

These are not the decisions of a great manager and if Liverpool are ever to be a great force again that is one thing above all else that they need; a great manager. You only need to look at Manchester United to see how far a great manager can take you. Alex Ferguson has taken one of the worst (on paper) United sides in years and has them sitting above one the most expensive and talented squads in football and on course to win a record 20th title, all the while coping with a young keeper finding his feet in the game, crippling defensive injuries throughout the season and an over reliance on aging players. Ask yourself honestly could our manager do the same? For all his positives, and he has many, not least his desire to play good football Kenny Dalglish is a limited manager for the modern game in my opinion and L.F.C. will not make the progress desired by many with him at the helm.

With all that said Liverpool are playing some of their best football in years, bar the ‘08-09 season and it does make a refreshing change to not have to cope with the constant negative tactics that plagued the last two managers reigns, and yet as the case has been for years they simply lack the personnel to be a threat over the course of an entire season; which unfortunately is neither progress or decline, it is simply Liverpool.

Like Crazy Film Review

Directed by: Drake Doremus

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence.

Length: 90 mins

Reviewed by: Vincent Harte

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching we are in that period of the year where traditionally we are subjected to a spate of sub par romantic comedies designed to pull on our heart strings while at the same time giving us a bit of  a chuckle along the way. If you are willing to forgo the comedy aspect of a this formula, Like Crazy is one of the most genuinely touching and romantic films to hit our screens in quite some time.

Telling the story of Jacob (Anton Yelchin, Star Trek, Fright Night) and Anna ( Felicity Jones, Chalet Girl) two final year students who meet and fall in love while attending university in L.A. Like Crazy attempts to show just how much somebody can love another person and how much they would be willing to sacrifice to be with them. After graduation the plan is for Anna, who is attending university in the states on a student visa, to return to England for the summer and to reapply for a working visa and return to Jacob within a few months. However, when faced with the possibility of being apart for such a long time Anna makes a last minute decision to violate her visa and stay in America for an extended period before returning home for a family wedding. Unfortunately things take a turn for the worse when she attempts to return to Los Angeles and is refused entry by immigration, the two young lovers must then begin the fight against bureaucracy and their own insecurities in order to stay together.

One of the main things that is so refreshing about Like Crazy is the fact that we know nothing of these characters before they were in a relationship together; we are not subjected to Anna fretting about getting a boyfriend while all her friends start pairing off nor do we see Jacob pining for a girl who loves The Smiths or counter culture just as much as he does (a stable of most romantic comedies as I am sure you’ll agree). Instead we are simply shown two people who are madly in love  but who also have their own interests and differences both cultural and personal.

The look and feel of  Like Crazy is also very unique; shot on inexpensive cameras the film has an almost home movie feel to it which meshes with the intimate nature of the story wonderfully. The dialogue, the entirety of which was supposedly improvised, feels very natural and really captures the difficulty of expressing how you feel to another person when you are unsure of what they themselves are thinking inside.

Aiding the film in its quest for realism is the way it is edited together, during tense conversations we will be shown the characters in a variety of positions in a short space of time, alluding to the passage of time, to help drive home that it is hard for them to express how they feel to each other and must build up the courage to do so and plan their words carefully; there are no grand speeches on the nature of love or why the other person means so much to them, this film is much more clever than that.

Verdict.

Like Crazy is an extremely good movie; it takes a familiar plot and shows it to us in an unconventional way making it look and feel extremely fresh. It is superbly acted and scored and you can tell everyone involved put a great deal of effort into this film. Slight criticism must be made at it for never really explaining in great detail why Jacob is so reluctant to migrate to the U.K., it is implied this is because his post graduation business venture is going much better than planned but without at least one big conversation between the two regarding his moving to England you sometimes get the impression he is just a bit of a selfish twat. While this does not ruin the film by any means it does detract from it somewhat.

4/5

Haywire Film Review

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGergor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas .

Length: 93 mins.

Reviewed by: Vincent Harte.

It’s safe to say that good old fashioned action movies have had a pretty rough time of it since their heyday ended in the mid 90’s. Sure, every now and again we get a big action blockbuster like The Bourne Ultimatum or Taken, but these days we mostly have to put up with drivel such as G.I. Joe or Transformers to get our high octane action fix. Haywire tries to address this blatant imbalance and it succeeds in doing so with flying colours.

Starring Gina Carano (who according to her IMDB page is an actress/model/professional MMA fighter) Haywire tells the story of Mallory Kane, a freelance black ops specialist who is betrayed be the director of her company, played by Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Star Wars),after she breaks off their casual romance.

As is often the case in productions such as these the set up is almost inconsequential, all that matters is our hero has been treated unfairly and they will proceed to make anybody even remotely involved pay in increasingly violent and painful ways. And this is where Haywire really stands out, the fighting scenes are intense and extremely believable. Drawing heavily on its leads MMA background people will invariably becoming involved in some form of close-quarters combat and invariably will come off far worse than Ms. Kane, with broken bones dished out on a regular basis to anybody foolish enough to try and stop her. One particularly unfortunate character meets his untimely doom with his head squashed between her legs, a fate I’m sure even he felt a bit happy about.

Director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Contagion and Out of Sight) brings his typical stylish approach to the globe-trotting storyline, much of which is set in our very own capital city of Dublin, to proceedings with his trademark use of music on show in abundance here. Apart from Carano, the rest of the cast does a good job in keeping the movie ticking along nicely, from McGregor’s wimpy jilted lover out for revenge to Michael Fassbender’s suave spy sidekick/would be assassin every part is well cast and everyone performs their task with little to no fuss and some aplomb.

Ultimately though Haywire is all about the action and it comes thick and fast and is extremely satisfying to see Kane track down everybody who wronged her, not even Puss in Boots himself Antonio Banderas is able to stand in her way when she gets in full swing. Expect big things from Carano in future female cantered action flicks in fact she seems readymade to step into Angelina Jolie’s hot pants should they decide to reboot the Tomb Raider film franchise.

7/10

Coriolanus Film Review

Directed by: Ralph Fiennes

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, James Nesbit and Lubna Azabal.

Reviewed by: Vincent Harte

It was over a decade ago that Baz Luhrmann attempted to bring Shakespeare into the modern era so that the kids, as well as old English professor types, could find it interesting. The result of that experiment was Romeo + Juliet a fairly divisive film to say the least, but one that was saved from mediocrity by having an amazing cast, a great soundtrack and being based on one of the most well known stories of all time. So here we are in 2012 and Ralph Fiennes is attempting to do the same with a much more obscure Shakespearean play, what will the results be this time around?

To sum up; not great. Coriolanus is an interesting enough story; it tells the tale of a General in the Roman imperial army who is loved for his heroic deeds on the battlefield against Rome’s enemies, but whose detest for the common people and his reluctance to hide this fact makes him a figure of hate to the general population. Things come to a head when after a particularly glorious victory against the barbarian hordes threatening Rome, politicians try to use Coriolanus for their own selfish means (not much has changed since ancient Rome apparently) the result of which leaves him banished from the home that he fought so hard to protect and out for revenge against Rome and her people.

Coriolanus actually does a lot of things well; the acting in this film is of a very high standard and even if the dialogue can get a little confusing( it keeps the original text from the play) it does not require a PhD in English Literature to comprehend what is being said by the characters on screen. Ralph Fiennes(Harry Potter, In Bruges) brings his usual intensity to the lead role and does a good job in holding your attention while Gerard Butler (P.S. I Love You) is on show doing his best 300 impression as Coriolanus’s mortal enemy whose only goal in life is to see him dead.

The supporting cast is made up of so many actors whose faces you will know but whose names will elude you it seems almost intentional, that guy from Cold Feet even shows up at one stage, and they all do their roles justice. Special mention must be made for Lubna Azabal, a name it is doubtless nobody has ever heard of but who may in fact be the most annoying actress ever to grace a screen, so great is her annoyance that during a scene where Coriolanus is actually being a bit out of order to Rome’s good people she instantly dissolves any pity you had for the common folk with one line of dialogue. If this was done intentionally to show that Fiennes’s character is actually correct in all his assumptions of Rome’s people it is an inspired piece of casting, however I feel this lady simply has a face the draws instant dislike from anybody who sees it.

In the end though it is Coriolanus’s modern day setting which ruins it the most, unlike in Luhrmann’s film where the director attempted to make the casts unfamiliar way of talking seem like an extreme form of youth slang here it is just two worlds separated by hundreds of years squashed awkwardly together. Yes the action scenes are on par with many full blown Hollywood ventures but more often than not its modern day setting detracts from what you are seeing. In one particular scene Coriolanus is confronted by his family for his vendetta against Rome and for the entire scene Fiennes is sitting in a barber chair spray painted gold! I have no idea what this supposed to be in the original play and found myself wondering that for the duration rather than paying attention to the film itself.

Coriolanus did its job in many ways too though, I am now more inclined to see this play should I ever happen across it, it really is a fascinating story, but the film as it is will not please Shakespeare fanatics nor will it entice people unfamiliar with it to part with their hard earned money. Fiennes somewhat foolishly tried to please everyone and ended pleasing nobody at all.

5/10