JOZFLOW @jozflow - Tumblr Blog

My good friend Zac has recently written about some of his favourite photos in football.

It inspired me to write a similar piece. 5 photos, 5 images that I loved from football.

And here it is.

5. Andrei Arshavin scores 4 against Liverpool.

Russia were perhaps the surprise package of Euro 2008; knocking out Holland on their way to the Semi Finals. Their exhilarating attacking displays were spearheaded by Arshavin. Performances which would attract the attention of some of Europe's biggest names. Arsenal signed him in January 2009, but he never really lived up to his promise. He was responsible for some memorable moments however; the winning goals against Liverpool and Barcelona spring to mind. But his finest hour came late in the 08/09 season where Arsenal scuppered Liverpool's chances of a long awaited Premier League title.

One of the most amazing games that season; his face mirror's the sheer ecstacy and amazement that the away fans felt when they witnessed his man of the match performance. Arshavin had arrived.

4. Lionel Messi - Priceless

He was too small, he had a funny run, he could never be as great as Diego Maradona. He has gone on to break record after record after record. He hasn't just broken them, he's destroyed them. The subject of 100s of hours of YouTube compilations. The weight of a nation on his shoulders at every International competition. Barcelona's all time leading goal scorer. 91 goals in a single calendar year.... 91.

91? Come again?

Yes, 91.

34 Trophies won at the Nou Camp, 6 European Golden Shoes. A record 6 Balon d'Or. The greatest footballer in the world. The greatest footballer that ever lived. Priceless.

3. Thierry Henry says goodbye to Highbury

The greatest player to grace the marble halls of Highbury? Most Arsenal fans would say so and as one of them, I would agree. He was a one in a million type of player, who could've played anywhere in the world. But it was at Arsenal where he fell in love.

Of his 174 Premier League goals, 114 were scored at Highbury. He often spoke of his love for that stadium; his home. His successes began here and would carry on for several years, defining the player he would become. Under the management of his mentor, Arsene Wenger, he would win 2 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups and 4 PL Golden Boots.

The last game at Highbury and a place in the Champions League was in the balance. Spurs would lose away at West Ham which meant Arsenal needed to win at home to Wigan. Cue a 4-2 victory and Henry scores a hat trick. The perfect farewell to a wonderful venue.

2. Milan derby

Rivalries in football are what make the drama so emphatic. Across the world, fans from opposition teams are filled with such passion and desire to see their team win against their rivals; and you could argue that it doesn't get any greater than The Derby della Madonnina.

Italian fans are some of the most passionate in the world. Well, Italians in general are. Throughout the 90s and early 00s, Italian football was at the peak of its powers. The biggest and best names in football were there. The likes of Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio, Parma, Fiorentina, etc would establish themselves in European competitions and their stadiums created some of the greatest atmospheres from that era.

This is an image that defines Italian football for me. The flares are etched in my memory from all those mornings watching Football Italia on Channel 4.

1. Andre Iniesta sits alone inside the Nou Camp

Iniesta came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, after an early migration from his birthplace, and impressed from an early age. He made his first-team debut aged 18 in 2002. He left in 2018, leaving behind one of the greatest careers in football history.

Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, he has won everything. With his fellow countryman, Xavi, he formed the greatest midfield partnership of the last 30 years.

I think this photo is one the most poignant I have ever seen. You only need to look at it to know everything going through his head. Replaying great games, great moments with great friends. Fierce rivalries. Upsetting defeats. Title wins and losses. Managers coming and going. Players too. Lining up with the best and against the best. Played the highest level of football for over 15 years; a dying breed in modern football. A mainstay in the greatest club team in history. A legend.

#arshavin #liverpoolarsenal #anfield #lionelmessi #priceless #mastercard #fcbarcelona #thierryhenry #Highbury #arsenal #rossanieri #acmilan #intermilan #ruicosta #materazzi #seriea #iniesta #noucamp

Chappie (2015)

Dir. Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Die Antwoord

District 9 was such a great film. It had a kind of charm that doesn't exist in hollywood blockbusters. It is the stand out science fiction film of the last 10 years. So you can imagine my excitement to watch Blomkamp's latest piece Chappie, also science fiction, so even more excitement to witness a great director comfortable in this genre.

I hated this film.

Something I noticed almost immediately about Chappie is it lacked any kind of originality, but not in a way where it pays homage to similar work, it kinda blatantly copies. I didn't appreciate how the very first scene is a collection of news reports and interviews to set the narrative. This is more or less a carbon copy of District 9. I'm not sure if it's just a trademark of Blomkamp, this is only the second film of his I have seen. The world of “overwhelming gang warfare” and “police that don't know how to control the gangs” and “let's make a robot do the police work” is virtually the same as Robocop. The robot's even have the Robocop voice, the exact same Peter Weller voice!Plus there's the bigger, badder robot that the company, called Tetravaal, don't want to commission because it's too much of a risk.....so ED-209 then.

Anyway, the film happens. A young and nerdy scientist called Deon, played with virtually zero motivation by Dev Patel, has designed the robots that the police and Tetravaal like. They are an amazing success, making Deon's ego over inflate. He goes home, spends all night typing (this is literally all his experiment consists of) and invents an AI that is sentient, that has the ability to have a conscience. There is a massive lack of scientific explanation in this film, but he steals from his own company to finish his experiment. Something that apparently everyone can do. All the way throughout people just walk in and out of what I can only assume is a highly guarded, multi-million dollar company to steal things and do other illegal things. A company that designs weapons and robots for the police.

Chappie (Copley) is born and is awesome. A truly brilliant character. It is apparent that he/it has been heavily invested in during the writing process. His rise from new born into adult in the span of a few days is highly believable. They make it known that he is programmed to learn things at an accelerated rate. Chappie is the comic relief amongst a group of serious idiots doing idiot things. He is the emotional relation to an audience he has more in common with than anyone else in the film. He is gifted with all the beauty of the human race, without any of the horrible corrupted past to make him an ass.

The supporting characters are woeful and I'm classing everyone that isn't Chappie as supporting cast because he seriously steals the show. Dev Patel, as mentioned earlier, is simply awful as the spoiled brat Deon who lacks any kind of personality. Hugh Jackman plays Vincent Moor. He's ex army, he's pissed off at everything and he is apparently immune to getting sacking even though everything he does is either a massive fail or illegal. Chappie's “Mummy” and “Daddy”, otherwise known as Yolandi and Ninja were ridiculous. I started to think the film was making fun of itself.

Amazing CGI, awesome hero played with stunning flair by Copley. Everything else was borderline trash and I am so disappointed to feel this way, I really thought I was going to like this.

Also, Sigourney Weaver plays a strong, independent woman because sci-fi film.

3/10

#chappie #district 9 #hugh jackman #dev patel #sharlto copley #sigourney weaver #die antwoord #neill blomkamp #robocop #shit film

FIGHT

#mortal kombat #fight

Terminator Genisys (2015)

Dir. Alan Taylor

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney

What is going on in the Terminator franchise?! I went to see this with my Dad, the man who introduced me to the Terminator series. I grew up on the first two, both of which were sci-fi masterpieces. I remember him taking me to see Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines when I was 12 years old and at the time I kinda loved it. Just to see another Terminator film was exciting. However, time has taught me well and I have seen everything that has been churned out by what should have been the greatest sci-fi dynasty in cinematic history.

When I watch James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day, it still has the ability to completely floor me emotionally. You invest so much in the struggles of Sarah and John Connor, by the end of it you feel just as beaten and bruised as they are. The first two films work because they educate the viewer on the future war between man and machine, giving strict detail to what the world is like. The chase and fear induced by them always being chased by something stronger, smarter and more ruthless than they are make them such intense rides.

So much has happened in the time between T2 and Genisys that I can't care about John Connor or anyone else anymore. This is the FIFTH actor to play mankind's last hope in the same amount of films. By this time, he has had so many different makeovers and so many actors have portrayed him in so many different ways its not the same person. And in this spectacular fail they decide to make him the bad guy!

Regurgitating Arnold Schwarzenegger yet again for a role that he is simply too old to play hurts the franchise so greatly. They have relied on his name so many times to sell their films that is becoming so incredibly pathetic. His relationship with Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) in this film is forced beyond belief in a way to try and create a similar emotional response from the relationship between John and the machine in T2 . Kyle Reese is supposed to be a normal human being, he isn't a spectacular physical specimen, he is deliberately crafted to completely contradict the image of a terminator. Courtney, who for credit where it's due puts in a fair performance, is bigger than Arnie, which is simply ludicrous.

The timing was right for The Terminator. Sci-fi was only just becoming scary and gritty. It was truly a golden age of sci-fi in cinema, with the like of Alien, Aliens, The Thing, Blade Runner and Robocop all released within a 10 year period. This film is a complete betrayal to the original films. Everything that is great about them has been taken and raped and thrown away. To make matters worse, I have read that this film, which completely alters the terminator timeline, is a reboot. The first of a new trilogy that nobody has asked for.

2.5/10

#terminator 2 #the terminator #judgement day #arnold schwarzenegger #terminator genisys #james cameron #scifi #film review #jozflow

Nightcrawler (2014)

Dir. Dan Gilroy

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton

This film is a very well crafted piece of cinema that really makes you feel uncomfortable. The film's focal character, Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal), is a frightful man determined and desperate to succeed in life, willing to utilise demons from the depths of his very self. We're given a foreshadowing taste of what he is capable of when we first meet him. While clipping the edges of a perimeter fence that he plans to see to a scrap dealer, he is met by a security guard. His attempts to charm fail and so he beats the guard up. Just hits him, so he can make probably $5 on a fence. Shocking behaviour, but you ain't seen nothing yet.

Bloom finds his calling when he stumbles upon a burning car wreckage. Joe Loder (Paxton) is the first “Stringer” on the scene. A freelance video journalist looking to sell the big scoop to the highest bidder. Bloom is inspired by the simplicity in making a few hundred dollars one night and acquires a camera and police scanner (he traded for a bike he's stolen) and goes about “nightcrawling”.

Bloom is influenced by Nina Romina, played by the seemingly ageless Rene Russo. Her introduction tells you all you need to know about this ball-busting lady. She wants the worst thing's that can happen in life to appear on her show. And she's just found the perfect bastard to do the dirty work for her. “Think of our newscast as a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.” I think it's in this moment Bloom decides he loves her. And why not? They're as perfect for each other as two people can be.

It is very hard to feel for any character in this film. No one has any redeeming qualities; everyone wants someone to die a horrible, bloody death so they can capture it on film. Everyone is driven by money and beating the competition. The only character that has any redeeming quality is Rick (Ahmed), Bloom's assistant that he hires virtually off the streets. A desperate young man himself, he still understands there is a line that you shouldn't cross. Rick struggles to fight against Bloom's extreme measures, the poor soul needs the money and he gets to sit in a warm car all night.

A strong debut by Dan Gilroy. With no intention of making the audience happy or satisfied. This film achieves it's goal, you will hate Louis Bloom. Gyllenhaal is just brilliant. He lost 20 pounds for the role, his own idea and he rarely blinks... WELL I WAS TROUBLED BY THIS! This is another example of his range and one has to think that Southpaw, due for release this year will be another heavyweight performance.

It's gritty, it’s dark, it has some spectacular chase sequences. Frightfully tense and uncompromising in its reveal. I am confused with how to feel. I hate the characters. They're all miserable bastards. But the film sells to you exactly what it wants to. I have to look at that as an achievement.

7/10

#nightcrawler #jake gyllenhaal #rene russo #dan gilroy #film review #jozflow