futbol and movies

What a weekend of soccer.

Saturday morning was Arsenal v Manchester United. 1 v 2, the biggest game of the year so far. The first half was dreck. Hleb was the best player for the first fifteen minutes, but then Anderson shut him down. Adebayor was left 20 yards from goal and was ineffective. Ronaldo was, how shall we say, muted. The goal from Rooney, or Gallas, came from good build up and wing play. It wasn’t the cleanest of finishes and I’m not sure that United even deserved it. Fabregas’ equalizer right after halftime was sweet. Great effort from Arsenal. The second half was much more open. Arsenal’s best opportunities came from outside the penalty area, and United was dangerous with the few chances they created. The game changed with the introduction of Saha. His past to create the second goal was exquisite. Truly a magical moment and a glimpse into yet another level United could hit if he stays healthy. Arsenal pushed forward and drew level at the death. They deserved it and both teams earned a share of the points. What a season it could be. It could ’99 all over again with United and Arsenal fighting for the domestic prizes.

Sunday afternoon was the big Italian clash between Juventus and Inter Milan. Without going into an extensive record of Italian soccer, let’s just say there’s not a lot of good will between the two teams. Inter is in first and has not lost this season. Juventus came in a couple of points below, and this same served as another measuring stick for their return to Serie A. The game started and stayed at a frenetic pace. Rarely do you see an Italian game where the game is played end to end of the entire 90 minutes. It was what I expected from the English game, with the Italian game expected to be cautious. The roles were reversed and both teams threw everything forward in the search for 3 points. Figo had a nice game for Inter and Javier Zanetti worked really hard. As for Juventus, Cheilleni owned Ibrahamovic in a match up that drew the attention of the match. Del Piero had an OK game, but Nedved was diabolical. Not a very good performance. The substitution of these two players changed the game for Juve, as they were able to finally cancel out Julio Cruz’s clinical finish at the end of the first half. Camronasi came right on and took the game to Inter and Iaquinta threw his body around as only he can. 1-1 was the final and a share of the points was fair.

So two games in two different leagues between the two biggest teams. It was awesome and it’s on to the Champions League in midweek.

That euphoria was tempered by two movies that I saw recently.

Lonesome Jim. Directed by Steve Buschemi and starring Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler. If you ever need to get depressed, watch this movie. If you need to compare your life against some loser's to increase your self esteem, watch this movie. Ugh.

Taxi Driver. Supposedly a classic, but I have to say that I wasn't that impressed. The pace of the movie was unbearable. Robert DeNiro did a great job of playing an unhinged, desperate Vietnam vet, and the interplay between Shepard and Brooks was good, sort of a sitcom vibe, but that was about it. Reading several reviews, it looks like I missed out several key aspects of the film. That is entirely possible. Maybe I need to see it again to catch the nightmarish isolation of Bickle as he wades through a hellish urban existence. Or maybe I can just say the world is full of evil and that some people snap because it.