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Another Tribeca Roundup: A BadDad Kicks LASSIE To Make A GOAL!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
BadDad sent in two more reviews from Tribeca: LASSIE (a period piece set in Scotland – with no Timmy!?!?) and GOAL! (a title I think is seriously cheesy - but a soccer film directed by the guy who helmed JUDGE DREDD and produces CSI is just trippy enough to be interesting).
Here’s BadDad…
I took my 5 and 7 year old boys to Tribeca this weekend. We saw the new LASSIE, a soccer movie called GOAL, and OVER THE HEDGE. I'll leave OTH to others (quick review: Kids roared, I smiled), but I haven't seen any reviews of the other two on AICN, so here goes:
LASSIE
It's not Timmy on the ranch.
It starts out in a coal mining town in Yorkshire in the early 1940s. The local aristocrats hunt fox through the grim town while the locals worry about getting food on the table the next day.
Naturally, Lassie is owned by a poor kid in the town. And just as naturally, the mine closes, and Lassie and said kid get separated.
I don't think that spoils too much for anyone who's ever seen a movie before, nor would anything else I could say about the plot. So let me focus on two other things: First, the actors, starting with Peter O'Toole as the aristocrat. O'Toole inhabits the character completely. Ever mannerism, including just standing still, brings this character to life. I've seen Peter O'Toole in so many movies, it was fun to see him in something that didn't make me think "Peter O'Toole walks into the room," but rather, "Lord so-and-so walks into the room."
And the kids, who really need to be good for the movie to work, do their parts well. They stick to saying things that kids would say, and not saying things that kids wouldn't say – which is death to a kids' movie. Second, the setting. It's gorgeous. It's gorgeous in a dark and windswept way, set and filmed (according to what the director told us after the movie) in England and Scotland.
Lassie standing on a mountain in the highlands of Scotland with the wind rippling through her fur might raise a smirk from the most cold-hearted and cynical movie-goer, but it's cliché because it is stirring, and my kids, not yet ready to snark, were left breathless. It's coming out in September. Look for it.
GOAL!
Not as even of a movie, but it's exciting.
It's about a Mexican kid named Santiago from L.A. who, by one of those chances that happen in public parks all the time, gets spotted by an ex-scout for Newcastle United and gets invited to try-out for the Premiereship team in England.
My two boys were cheering throughout. It might be a bit much for most under 7, though; there's some rough soccer violence (elbows to the face, knees being taken out, a lot of faces slamming into the ground), some emotional stuff with Santiago's father who wants Santiago to stay home, mention of drunkenness and whoring around by the team's stars ( e.g., players with a hangover, players in a bar but not drunk yet, a player waking up late with an unseen woman under the sheets next to him, etc.)
As I said, it's a bit uneven – Santiago gets more second chances in a month than most of us get in a lifetime – but I'll still recommend it.
Why?
It's fun, kids will love it, and it makes soccer look cool (hot cars, nightclubs, hard-hits on the field) without trying to 'protest too much,' taking it as a given that soccer is cool (To Talkbackers: what? Some of you don't like soccer? I'm shocked).
The best twist in the narrative, though, is that the team's playboy/superstar is a really nice guy. Standard movie-logic argues that he and Santiago should be rivals, with Santiago only earning his grudging respect by saving the game in the final scene.
A nod of approval as they carry the young pretender off the field kind of thing. "Hey kid, [tosses him the trophy] Nice game. [smiles, music swells, exeunt]" No. In Goal, the team superstar is a pretty good guy who helps out Santiago when he can. It made the movie a lot more watchable. Take your kids – assuming they're okay with a little PG sex and violence.
Thanks, BadDad!
LASSIE's release date is, evidently, to be determined. GOAL! hits this Friday (May 12)...
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Based on the original novel, set in Scotland.
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Peter O Tooler Must be spinning in his grave....not wait a minute
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It can't be worse than Victory.
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.....taking a Marjorie Rawlings story (author of "The Yearling"), and plopping "star" Lassie in it, set in the South. They did the same for the next few years, with unrelated animal stories, substituting Lassie. Finally, we got the '54 series, which bizarrely evolved for twenty years (with Timmy in only six, or so). Glad to see they went back to the original source for this one.
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The Mexican boy finds Lassie badly hurt, clinging to life in an East LA alleyway. Boy nurses Lassie back to health, and teaches Lassie soccer. Lassie becomes a worldwide phenmomenon by helping the USA win the World Cup, then he pisses on Air Bud and fucks Victoria Beckham in the middle of Wimbley Stadium as David Beckham looks on.
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...and that's before you include the awful attempt by David Beckham to deliver 2 lines of dialogue. As the reviewer states, the lead character gets far too many strokes of luck to really get into his story...the only good thing about the film is Alessandro Nivola as said nice guy playboy superstar - he barely figures in the first hour of the film but once he finally gets some focus in the 'second half', he's the only character you really end up liking.
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...THAT would be a good movie. The first slasher movie for kids.
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Hollywood's stuck in the well? Serves them right for going back so many times.
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remakes, sequels, etc. are as old as film itself - NOTHING NEW. Silent film had its share, and a majority of 50s TV dramas were remakes of classic films. Most of the majors remade scripts two or more times through the 50s. Nature of the beast.
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Im from ENGLAND and was wondering how popular it is over there these days
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...but still manages to be somewhat entertaining.
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i'm very depressed we came 5th, wenger poisened us, oh yeah, and er... Goal sucks, i think we're just never gonna have a good football film
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USA will own this year. Probably not win the cup, but we will still kick some ass
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Wow Hollywood..you don't waste anytime do you
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Because you can't set a Lassie movie in contemporary America without the plot being "Lassie leaves home to perform a heroic deed, and BAM - hit by a Hummer in the first five minutes". The pastoral environment Lassie takes place in no longer exists even in our most "rural" areas. If you try to set a Lassie movie in contemporary America you end up with "Because of Winn-Dixie".
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But only children can take pictures with her at the street fair... they told me and my friend this after we waited on the line for 45 minutes and an adult 2 people in front of us got there picture taken with her... Both points which we argued, along with "um... and the sign ONLY CHILDREN is where exactly?" So my friend snuck behind the sign, and in between official pictures jumped from behind and I got a picture with my camera phone. Thats such B.S. 45 MINUTES ON LINE! I woudlnt be so pissed if they told the 45 year old woman in front of us that it as kids only.. but they didnt... and she got her picture... and we were told she was the one and only adult they would allow because they want to get all the kids... hmm... my friend thinks it might be cause she had a little cleavage (and like, tasteful a little that you would wear to work) I wondered if it had something to do with her being Latina... but it probably had to do with 2 adults really close in line wanted pictures... adn behind us there seemed to be more and more... and they probably figured if they kept letting adults in then they would run out of time. Still. 45 MINUTES. Every other kid activity had a sign for kids only.. this didnt... and you know how many adult females wanted to take the picture!
Oh... great movie lol. Much better then that Experimental woman bashing god bashing and then loving and then bashing again piece of crap HCE. -
I meant to click another TB. At any rate, I love animal, especially dogs, but FUCK Lassie! I know it isn't about this bitch but I felt I had to take advantage of this TB. Man, one/two Hienies to many...
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although the trailer did make me nearly piss my pants when i went to see narnia. dont believe me? then watch it. all that fuss for a DOG! hahahahaha!
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They used to a double shot of that and Dennis The Menace. Good stuff. If only they had Leave it to Beaver in that block, I would have been in retro tv heaven.
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says who? says the country that invented the game - us, the English. And football is the greatest sport the world has ever known. No-one outside of the US likes or plays your sports. The world plays football, and it loves it. The film Goal however is pure unadulterated cack.
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There were a few good laughs in Lassie and i loved the Loch Ness part of the film...Goal! was fun im not a huge football fan but i really enjoyed it...i suspect a lot of other Brits will be very negative simply because of the Newcastle connection though
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Come here boy!Just testing some bullshit.>gotta try
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trying to learnnot going well
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what's a poor boy to dobut try again?
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maybe once more wont hurtcause fuckitno one will read it
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that dont work eitherhmmmstumped
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u+2126
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Getting there slowly&Omega
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abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz12&Omega
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