Friday, October 09, 2009

Opening today, the best movie almost no one in America will get to see

If you'll allow me to vent a little bit, easily one of my favorite books of all time, "The Damned Utd," has been made into a movie (with the final word stretched out to United), but I now find it's opening today, but not ANYWHERE near me.

I checked Access Atlanta just in case an hour drive would deliver it to me. Nope. I checked the movie release schedule to see if it's ever slated to play wider than L.A. and N.Y. As far as I can tell, nope. Sheesh.

If you've never heard of this book, I really can't recommend it highly enough, whether you are a soccer fan or not (and don't even get me started on just how we're getting screwed with Saturday's U.S.-Honduras World Cup qualifier.) The piece of historical fiction by David Peace gets inside the mind of football manager Brian Clough for the ill-fated 44 days he led Leeds United, a team he admits he hates even as he takes the helm.

Though the Clough family has taken issue with both the book and movie, Peace's work is a fascinating psychological portrait, and it keeps up a brisk pace as it jumps back and forth between Leeds and Clough's earlier triumph at Derby County. And just in case you're reading this and do happen to live in a place lucky enough to get this flick, here's a little more incentive: It stars Michael Sheen as the manic Mr. Clough and features a screenplay from Peter Morgan, writer of "The Queen" and other works.

For the rest of us, I suppose it's just "Couples Retreat," but I can't imagine there's any chance you'll catch me anywhere near that one. It's more than a little depressing that something that looks so stupid was written by Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, making it, I suppose, their "follow-up"-of-sorts to "Swingers." Oh well. I'm sure they all had fun filming this in Bora Bora or wherever with Ralphie from "A Christmas Story," and as for me, I think I'll take the chance to catch up with Ricky Gervais' "The Invention of Lying" before it surely leaves theaters after this week.

And, since at least my Friday is a little better with a little "Damned United," here's a four-minute-or-so clip from the flick of Brian Clough's first day on the job at Leeds. Enjoy, and catch this if you can. Peace out.

7 comments:

Chalupa said...

I remember seeing trailers for this. It looked interesting. I echo your thoughts on Couples Retreat. It just looks like another film full of good actors that will be crap. I saw Jason Bateman on Conan talking it up.

Reel Fanatic said...

I'm glad that Bateman is getting work in so many prominent films, but he really needs a good one ... "Extract" was almost thoroughly disappointing

Demko said...

Damned Damned United. Hopefully it will play well in nyc and la and get a broader release.

Bob said...

It's coming out in Seattle in two weeks. Just make a trip up here, we'll hang. :)

Reel Fanatic said...

I certainly would if I possibly could, Bob ... And if it's coming to Seattle, mi hermano, I have to hope it just might play Minneapolis then too .. just don't rub it in if you get to see it!

Anonymous said...

Bookmarked this. Thanksgiving owing to you against sharing. Unequivocally worth my time.

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