Talent will Out

The Damned United centers around Brian Clough (Martin Sheen), the irrepressible coach of Derby Country and fierce vocal critic of Leeds United and their playing tactics under Don Revie (Colin Meaney), and in a twist of fate, asked to take over Leeds as coach. Cut to the past and Derby United, where Brian, against all odds and far in excess of expectations, takes the club from the bottom of the third division to champions of the League Championship and the European Cup semi-finals. The same brings Brian the opportunity to run Leeds United – an effort that is a disaster from the word go – fierce loyalists of Don and brute football, the team never gets round to Brian’s philosophy, and after a series of disasters, Brian is sacked and takes over at relative newcomer Nottingham Forest, where he again metamorphoses a marginal team to a barely believable two European Club wins. The film is memorable for the roles of Brian and his assistant Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), and their differences and eventual realization that they are indeed the perfect complememts for each other. An interesting movie, that showcases Martin Sheen well in a highly successful yet barely likeable character’s role, and a must-watch for football fans in particular

13/20

Echelons of the Inquisitive State

What is the Echelon Conspiracy? Max Peterson (Shane West) can hardly believe his luck as he receives phone messages from an unknown source – the first saves his life from a plane crash, the second makes him a lot of money in a casino. The gravy train abruptly ends and Max finds himself in the custody of the FBI trying to help track down the “sender” of the messages. Nothing is quite what it seems, and the messages are discovered to come from a wholly unexpected source on the lookout for an “upgrade” denied to it by Congress. A fast-paced movie with a somewhat lame ending. Shane West would have a future in thrillers, though

14/20

Cop or Criminal?

One of the best gangster movies ever, The Departed is a Martin Scorcese triumph of 2006 that finally got the great director his just desserts at the awards sweepstakes. DiCaprio and Matt Damon square off superbly in a cat-and-mouse game in the ganglands of Boston. The former is an insider spying on the redoutable Nicholson, while the latter uses every trick in the book to keep the police off his foster father. The thrill of the movie lies in the continual deception, the characters in shades of gray, the fact that virtually every second sentence in the movie - especially the colourful utterances of Mark Wahlberg and Nicholson - are eminently quotable, and the amorality of it all - especially towards the last fifteen minutes and the breakneck pace of events in the same. The Departed refines the gangland genre, and the study of characters, especially that of DiCaprio and Matt Damon, is unforgettable.