accies1874

Why not?

He could still be called up to the senior squad

39. Dumb Money - Cinema Perhaps the most 'Good' film released this year. I'm not sure if it has found or will find an audience, but I reckon that most who do give it a shot will, at the very least, quite like it. I won't go over the plot as that's already been done above, but I will say that it was strange seeing a trailer for an event that seemed so recent, and that's exactly why I wanted to watch it. There were a couple of films last year that had COVID as a central crux of the story (Kimi and Glass Onion are the two that stick out in my mind), but I think that this is the best encapsulation I've seen of that period - not just in relation to lockdown life, but also of the internet age. I expected the class warfare stuff, which is there and it's fine, however what I liked most about this was the exploration of internet forums/communities/cults, and the pandemic is the perfect setting to explore them. Despite some disregard for social distancing etc., there is a feeling of isolation for all the characters. A lot of that isolation is borne out of lockdowns, obviously, but also due to status and politics such as the debt-ridden student, the overworked single mum nurse or the subjugated GameStop employee who sticks out in my mind more than the rest due to encapsulating a lot of the themes at play. There are a bunch of different stories to be balanced, all connected by just one thing: their glorious leader, Paul Dano's character. The loneliness of both the pandemic and an increasingly online world can manifest itself in positive and negative change. This film is, imo, an example of the positive and an example of the negative was taking place at the same time, albeit not reference here (the January 6th shenanigans). They both demonstrate the power of the internet for individuals who feel oppressed, as it allows them to come together with like-minded, disillusioned people and plot to rally against their 'oppressors' led by the words of their saviour. This focuses on the positive effects of the concept of the internet democratising discussions - although it does show how traditional powers are able to influence even that - but I always have the counter-argument lingering in the back of my mind when I see this kind of story, just like it was with Belle last year. That's obviously not a mark against Dumb Money by any stretch of the imagination and it's actually a good discussion prompt to come from such a crowd-pleaser. The film is a great success when it comes to providing an insight into its characters' erratic behaviours; it's not necessarily about money, it's about escaping a certain status. I sometimes felt that this exploration into a larger group of characters resulted in less of a spotlight on Paul Dano as the lead which ultimately negated some of the grander emotional moments. A lot of the smaller scenes are great when it's just him and his family, or even just him on his own, and I'd argue that they're all the heart you need, but I did occasionally yearn for greater time spent on the cliched scenes of a normal, everyday guy going about his daily business before the plot kicks into gear. The opening that we did get is reminiscent of The Social Network as it lays out the protagonist's character through a conversation in a bar before jumping into the main bulk of the story, although I think The Social Network had a more gradual and understandable buildup of its plot device (Facebook in that, GameStop stocks in Dumb Money). Despite what I liked about the depiction of the internet in relation to character, the story elements linking to that did become a wee bit repetitive. It's not a story-centric film, though, and it actually does a really good job of raising the tension as the stock rises which is testament to how it makes you care about the cast of characters. 40. R.M.N. - Cinema Strange one. There's some absolutely excellent stuff in here but I'm not gonna be shouting from the rooftops telling folk to see it. It starts with one of its alternating leads, Matthias, leaving his job in a slaughterhouse after being racially abused by his co-worker, travelling back to his home village in Transylvania (no vampires, sadly; all very much grounded in reality). That opening is played out similarly to something like Blue Ruin as it's very light on dialogue and very paranoid, which sets the tone for the rest of the film as a lot of things are implied rather than explicit - this works well early on but I sometimes struggled to keep up towards the end. Meanwhile, the other lead, Csilla, is working at a large-scale bakery struggling to recruit, so they decide to get three Sri Lankans in to work for them. This seemed like a pretty incidental interaction, and I thought it was trying to establish the bakery rather than the story, however that incidental interaction was the catalyst for the plot which descends into sheer misery. Essentially, the locals don't take too kindly to the Sri Lankans "infiltrating" their village and it all goes to shit, but I felt like this inverted what Dumb Money did and the told story of a wider village through the eyes of just one person (Matthias) and the counter-argument was conveyed through Csilla. What was quite interesting about that was that neither of them were at the very heart of the story; they weren't one of the immigrants and they weren't the most vocal opponents, however their values made them gravitate towards either end of the spectrum and away from one another, fuelling more hatred. Despite the film not leaving any doubt that 'yes, racism is bad,' it does try and delve deeper into the motivations of the dissenters. Matthias is a man full of anger who tries to project his hypermasculinity onto his son and Csilla (his one-time shagging partner), and when there's pushback against his behaviour, he pushes back against the immigrants. And when he pushes back against the immigrants, Csilla separates herself from him which results in more anger. He encapsulates a lot of the emotional response to their arrival, and also the hypocrisy which is one of the ideas that the film is most interested in. There are multiple languages spoken throughout which are depicted by using different colours for each of the subtitles, a simple technique but one that allows you to see the different backgrounds and cultures which have arrived into the village across generations - yet they're still vehemently racist. I was more interested in how it conveyed those ideas as I wasn't massively engaged in what it was saying, although its depiction of the effects of progressiveness as a commodity was fresh to me. For a film that can be quite bombastic, such as the 15/20-minute static one-shot, it still retains a lot of ambiguity and grey areas which is why I'm a bit unsure about the whole thing.

I would expect to see Cooper come back in and Anderson drop out, and there's a chance that Tierney and Jack will be called up despite their injuries. Shankland the other one most likely to drop out. I also wouldn't be massively shocked to see Doak get called up for this camp, or Jacob Brown might get a recall.

I watched his 65 minutes this morning and thought it was an improvement from LASK. As mentioned by @No_Problemo, he linked up well with Elliott and Jones down the right and pressed well often as part of a front two with Gakpo. Elliott and Jones rotated a lot so Doak had to adjust his position accordingly, but he looked at his best when isolated against Justin. He's gonna need to develop more than a couple of step-overs in those situations though.

Seems like John McGinn should be added to this conversation...

38. Past Lives - Cinema I've seen this a couple of times and thought it was good the first time but absolutely brilliant the second. The first 5/10 minutes sets up everything: the characteristics and motivations of the two leads, and the ideas of fate and diverging paths. It also sets up the tone of the film with a lot of weighted subtext and visual metaphors, the main one being the admittedly on-the-nose image of Nora going up the steep steps to a higher point with Hae Sung setting off on a rising path with an undetermined endpoint. Their respective journeys - both what we see in the film and what is alluded to - are really interesting and could well be the driving force behind the relationship. It is such a visual film. The performances are obviously given a lot of the spotlight. It's a shame that the subtitles can distract from them, which is by no means anyone's fault, but I reckon an English speaker could have as clear an understanding of Nora and Hae Sung's motivations without the subtitles simply due to how much the two leads are able to convey in their interactions. However it was the visual storytelling that stood out to me, particularly how it boxes characters in the frame, often giving one, two or three of them a tiny amount of space within a third and telling its story through who or what is in that space. There are mirrors, screens, lighting and other environmental means of making this work which both looks great and provides information. One scene that stands out to me is when Nora is brushing her teeth with her husband elsewhere in the bathroom, but the way it's shot has two different stories going on within the one frame. I found it fascinating and it visually articulates a lot of things that I'm struggling to convey here. It's the kind of film that taps into emotions through indescribable ways, which I most found to be true through the Hae Sung character - how he interacts with Nora and his stilted conversations with Arthur touched me in ways I don't really understand. There's a sort of touching despondency to the whole film. At first it felt like a slow mover that hits you in retrospect once the credits roll, but on rewatch, with a clearer understanding of what was going on, there is so much packed into the dialogue, performances and cinematography about these two characters and the attraction between them - the uncertain futures, the unspoken present and the unreliable pasts. It's actually really similar to Everything Everywhere All at Once, only if that film didn't have the multiverse. Both have similar ideas about a life unlived, however due to Past Lives being grounded in reality, that idea becomes much bleaker for the characters as the only way they can explore their alternative lives is through their own imagination based on the only life they've got. Characters being defined by their choices is a pretty common idea, but this explicitly draws attention to every choice made and how one different decision could result in an entirely different life for Nora and Hae Sung - and, subsequently, an entirely different film for us. There are also pretty bleak thoughts about relationships for people who value control of their own lives (again relating to fate) and whether control and loneliness go hand-in-hand. When I first watched Arthur and Nora's introduction as a married couple, I initially thought it was setting him up as a controlling dickhead due to the fact he's doing the talking for her to the border force dude, but the rewatch made me reconsider it from the point of view that what could've been a happy ending in a different is here just another blow to Nora's struggles with identity. It's really just a natural compromise of marriage, but everything we'd learned about her up to that point suggested that she wouldn't be happy with that. South Korean filmmakers just keep producing must-see cinema these past few years. Burning was my favourite of 2019 and one of my favourites of the decade, Parasite was an insta-classic, Decision to Leave was excellent in pretty much every way even if it didn't completely click with me, and now Past Lives is loved by all. There will be others that I've other forgotten about or didn't see too. My second showing was made even better by, for the second time this year, being treated to an empty screening. It was fucking freezing due to being the first showing of the day, and it wasn't even open when I turned up, but it was very much worth it for a great experience.

I was wondering today where he'd ended up. I'd have guessed half the countries in Europe before a Premier League side. They're supposedly willing to bring back the man who got angry at "lefties" in a press conference so that should sort this lot out.

Ben Doak

Has anyone clipped up a Twitter video yet?

Comparing Tierney and Zinchenko because they're both left-backs is like comparing Pirlo and Makelele because they were both holding midfielders.

Think there's been an issue before with people adding on lower points adding a ticket to their basket until it drops down to their point.

Good physical attributes - big, quick and strong - and composed when bringing the ball out, but not actually the best technically and makes the kinds of mistakes you'd expect of an inexperienced centre-back. I think he could be pretty good and hopefully that starts now with a consistent run of games.

It was just a joke my man

I'm sure I'll get it eventually but will definitely wait for it to drop below £63. It's getting to the point where spending £50 on a game seems like a bargain.

Doig was doing pretty well on the ball but picked up a bad looking injury midway through the first half. Ferguson wasn't up to much this week.

There should be laws against humans mauling children imo

Freaky is just tremendous fun. It does pretty much everything right for a film of its ilk. I'm not sure if I've liked either of Branagh's Agatha Christie films (I definitely didn't like Death on the Nile, and that was before this week's news!) but I'm gonna keep coming back for them.

Was back at Goodison today for the first time in a few years. Hopefully not my last ever time there as it was all a damp squib.

I signed him on loan from Burnley on FM a few years ago and he was class.

That's strange about Serbia given that they've World Cup mainstays for as long as I've been watching football. ETA: Other than the time they were in our qualifying group

This must have seriously injured Doak as he's not in the squad today. Robertson should never play for Scotland again.

More than the minimum, at least. I'm not sure what kind of crowds Spain get, but you'd imagine the number of Scotland fans will be double the initial allocation.

Like every team and country, there have always been arseholes in the support, but the fact we're doing so well and selling out pretty much every home and away game means that there will naturally be a higher number of them, especially when you factor in that we've played both England and Ireland in the past year which will bring out the worst in people (or just the worst people). The crowds are getting younger, but tbh that's just in addition to the older fellas who've always used Scotland trips to "git away fae the missus." There's also the cringeworthy footy lad bants that you see and hear across Britain - the Brains Trust's attempts to come up with edgy songs to sing in the hope of making it onto a post with tons of "" emojis.

I was thinking the exact same about Jack. He might be on the decline as a player but there really aren't many natural defensive midfielders out there. Connor Barron? He's supposedly not been on it at club level for about 18 months now. Is Bailey Rice that kind of player? Even if he is, he's obviously not close to getting into the squad atm. Funnily enough, I thought Leon King looked relatively comfortable in midfield on Monday night, but I can definitely remember thinking he got bypassed easily at least once.