Notizie

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Nothing quite beats the euphoria of welcoming a new big name to your football club. The excitement of the unveiling is only matched by a successful debut, where the new hero scores the winner, picks the decisive pass or saves a penalty. The buzz around any new arrival is mainly, though not exclusively, related to the price. Like anything, the more you pay, the better you get. Usually, anyway…

Newcastle United is a club with a rich history big name signings. Not all have worked, and some people should remember the Luque’s, Boumsong’s and Marcelino’s of this world before demanding money be spent. That said, Newcastle’s recent transfer activity has been incredibly frustrating, with the days of big money arrivals merely a distant memory. However. from 1992 until 2007, under the guidance ofd Freddy Shepherd (yes, pun intended), Freddie Fletcher and Sir John Hall,...

Forty-two years on, Ken Loach's social-realist tragedy about a boy who trains a kestrel is still transcendentally powerful

Ken Loach's social-realist tragedy from 1969 looks more luminous, more impassioned than ever, a rich film of flesh and blood. Perhaps, 42 years on, now is the time to restore the co-authorial status of Barry Hines, who adapted his own novel and gave Loach such a great story to work with. Non-professional David Bradley plays Billy Casper, the lad with the unforgettably pinched, shrewd, hungry face at the Barnsley comp where brutal teachers cane kids for things they haven't done. The poster famously shows Billy flicking a V-sign, but that's something he never does in the film, his defiance being more complex. Billy discovers a wild kestrel and realises he can train it: like a Tudor emblem of underdog ambition and power. The scene where Colin Welland's kindly teacher coaxes him...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

African Cats – Samuel L. Jackson (Narration)

Deep Gold – Bebe Pham, Jaymee Ong, Michael Gleissner

Madea’s Big Happy Family – Tyler Perry, Loretta Devine, Bow Wow

Water for Elephants – Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

Movie of the Week

Water for Elephants

The Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

The Plot: A veterinary student (Pattinson) abandons his studies after his parents are killed and joins a traveling circus as their vet.

The Buzz: This period piece looks to be a well put together romantic drama. I enjoyed Pattinson’s general vibe in the trailer; thankfully a far cry from his brooding ham-bake of the Twilight films. Witherspoon is winsome, I typically love her in her more dramatic pieces — aside from the laborious Vanity Fair. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of on-screen magic this pair can conjure up. Happy to see Christolph Waltz again,...

Kes Quick Thoughts:

Just who is Ken Loach? What are his films about? Why is he so highly regarded? Honestly, I can't answer these questions without any great amount of knowledge, but after watching Criterion's treatment of Loach's second feature film, Kes, I'm beginning to have a greater understanding of the man and why Loach has remained a director appreciated by many since the mid-1960s.

Last year at the Cannes Film Festival I saw my first Ken Loach film, Route Irish. Kes was my second, and considering the British Film Institute named it the seventh best British film of the century my expectations were quite high.

To begin with, you are most likely going to want to turn on the subtitles for this one. The Yorkshire accents are so strong in the opening scene I couldn't understand a word. Things improve as you go along, but the dialect adds to the difficulty.