Goal: the Dream Begins (2005) – Dir: Danny Cannon (Nikita, CSI)
This is a made for TV movie. This at first should be understood. It actually has a lot of heart and it’s not morally superior or patronising.
Goal is a story about soccer/football. Tension between father and son as the Munez family, illegal Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, California, struggle to make ends meet.
Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) his real passion is soccer. His dad thinks it’s a meaningless hobby, trivial. Munez is talented.
He puts savings away for a dream of his own. Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane) is at a game to support the kid of his daughter, he notices Munez – who dazzles him. Glen used to be a player, then a big time scout, now retired from football.
“You dare to dream, you get screwed.”
It’s a simple story with two fascinating characters – the agent who is dazzled by the kid’s talent, and the boy whose distance from his dream is staggering, yet he never gives up hope – which inspires Glen to keep trying to help him.
The boy’s faith, character, determination and raw talent impress everyone he meets. If he can get to England, Glen convinced Newcastle United to give him a tryout. He has to save up for the trip. But everyone knows where he hides his savings. His dad steals his money and spends it on a new truck.
Munez is a passionate and charismatic character – sometimes over the top as emotional drama, but his friendship with Glen and his faith in people is engaging.
His emotions ride the rollercoaster of the plot and bring the viewer along with him. The angst is toxic and eloquent. Juxtaposed with the attitudes of some of the now famous players – those who have achieved the grand dream.
Munez’s situation now seems dire, with no money for the trip, but his Granny gets him the money to go to England. He leaves without saying goodbye to his father, shows up in England and Glen takes him in.
England is another world to him.
“He’s never seen mud, before.” – He screws up his tryout but he’s never played in a wet environment.
He still manages to show a little magic and Glen pushes on his behalf.
There are enough antagonistic forces in the story to test his mettle.
Munez has his dreams ripped from him repeatedly.
This is a story about hope in the face of adversity. Less about football than it is about a man’s character.
And he meets a girl – a nurse. She is cute and clever, perhaps brighter than him. She’s a football fan mainly because she’s a Munez fan. She’s not a groupie.
Glen is a cool, interesting, powerful character.
Munez has a lot to learn, through the course of the film, change is applied to him and his friends. He becomes a more complete and happy person by the end of the film. It’s not epic or grand, but a subtle and enjoyable little sports film.
Tucker: the man and his dream (1988) – Dir: Francis Ford Coppola (Dracula, The Godfather, The Rainmaker)
Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges) sets a tone of vintage style and entrepreneurial optimism. Tucker knows cars and his experiences are not without achievements, but what he wants to do is impossible. He wants to make great cars, cars that are innovative, better than anything that has been done before. He wants to revolutionise the industry.
Tucker is a nice family man with a supportive wife, Mrs Tucker (Joan Allen.) He attracts great minds to his cause, and he is stubborn, half crazy and single-minded to a fault. However, that’s part of what makes him so successful. He always has a plan.
His relationship with his wife is not only vital to the story, but is a source of strength for the character. All of the actors commit completely to their roles. The design department, Alex Tremulis (Elias Koteas) is a shy genius. He cares about cars and he cares about people.
Mr Bennington (Dean Goodman) is the ignorant villain of this film, and he is so easy to hate. Despite the fact that Sen. Homer Ferguson (Lloyd Bridges) is the true antagonist. Bennington is a daft twit who thinks he knows everything.
When Tucker fights back, he eventually starts to succeed in his innovations of car design and construction. But when the government (fuelled by corporations) clamps down on independent entrepreneurs, they usually win.
Abe (Martin Landau) is wonderful as the businessman advisor to Tucker, and a family friend, like a quirky, but kind, old Uncle.
Tucker is obsessed with his work and his drive to change the world for the better. As tyrannical as Tucker can seem at times, it’s impossible to hate the guy, because his heart is in the right place.
Mrs Tucker saves the business at one point in the film, when Bennington has kept Tucker away on a publicity tour – and out of the way so he can take over the business and ruin Tucker’s car. She calls Tucker back. When Tucker returns, he rallies the men and they take over the old barn to start building the cars.
This is a tragic story of injustice. One good man against the American system. He doesn’t fear the wolves at the door; his only concern is corruption, deceit and the unjustified dismantling of everything he’s built. However, when cornered, he fights like a wild animal; with passion.
He will have his day in court, but the bad guys are using the justice system and they have only begun to spin their lies.
“If they can make headlines with lies, we can make bigger headlines with the truth.” It’s sweet, naïve and sad that she believes that. It’s tragic that those lying lawyers, the ignorant judge and evil senator will get away with their crimes.
Jeff Bridges is thunderous in his delivery of such a loveable character, and someone to truly hope for. Surely if the world is a great place and life is fair then hard work, optimism and attention to the craft will win out. The optimistic view-point is that in the end, winning depends on your perspective. The point that needs to be remembered is that in the real world, the powerful people cheat.
Tombstone (1993) – Dir: George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: part 2, Cobra)
Cosmatos has directed some really bad movies. I really don’t want to insult the guy, but it kinda feels like Tombstone is a great movie despite the director. Unless you credit him for the performances, the film isn’t directed particularly well. The story and the performances are just so bloody good that this film is fun to watch every single time, (I’ve seen it probably ten or eleven times.)
Kurt Russell is the star; Wyatt Earp the real life star of the wild west. However, everybody who knows this movie will agree, that the standout performance is Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
The two most famous lines:
“I’m your Huckleberry.”
and
“Alright, Lunger. Let’s do it.”
Both of these quotes are between Kilmer’s Doc Holliday and his nemesis, Johnny Ringo – the devil in black, played by the supremely misunderstood, expert character actor – who looks so much like a leading man that people have been miscasting him for years. A brilliant actor and a star without the ego – Michael Biehn.
The first quote is from a scene where Ringo gets drunk and goes looking for a fight. Only to find no one wants to mess with him. Except Doc Holliday. And when it looks like there could be a death battle, Ringo’s boss, Wild Bill reins him in and takes him inside.
Later in the film, the two have a final showdown. Ringo seems genuinely afraid of our lovable anti-hero Doc, but he won’t show it. A bit of false bravado and he tries to unleash the beast within, as he utters the famous line. And the two have a final one on one up-close and personal quickdraw gunfight. Which is over pretty quickly.
Whether it’s historically accurate isn’t really the point. It’s a powerfully effective, beautifully violent and interesting, not to mention romantic, action film without the silliness, or the massive budget – of most of Arnie’s material.
I think a better director, like say Tony Scott or James Cameron, could have made this a blockbuster movie with real guts and charm. As it is, this is still a hard movie to forget. It has some dynamite scenes and a whole shit load of sentiment.
My favourite scenes are – well yes, you guessed right the showdown between Doc and Ringo. But also when Wyatt takes the gloves off and enjoys one more ride for Wyatt Earp and his immortals.
 “You tell him I’m coming, and Hell’s coming with me!”
That moment is like when shit gets real. Somebody died in a bloody mess. And it was gory, tragic and sad. Wyatt is burned by this and all the mess that things have turned into. And he’s been avoiding the fight this whole time, because he just wants to retire and live happily ever after with his family. But the cowboys pushed too far, and he’s lost his nut. Now he’s going to kill them all. It’s a real balls out moment.
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