The Damned United

The Damned United (2009)


Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: Peter Morgan (screenplay) David Peace (novel)
Starring: Michael Sheen, Colm Meaney, Timothy Spall

Synopsis
Brian Clough's rise and fall in football (aka soccer) management in the late sixties-mid seventies.

MOster
This was another just-fine kind of a thing.  It's another great technical outing from our forebears across the pond.  You really got the feel for the settings, and the football itself was filmed interestingly.  Stock footage was mixed well with new film.  But the characters were a little thin, and I think it's more in the writing than in the acting.  This seems strange to me, given that these are such well-known figures in the history of English Football.  I don't know if it's the fault of the author or the screenwriter, though I suppose that if it's the author it still lands on the screenwriter. 

That's a shame because the story is really interesting, and I'd like to have known more about some of the specifics of the matches as well as the families of the key players. 

This lands on a three, but it falls below the "recommended" line for me.


The Woman
this was another one that was good-ish. i liked it, but i didn't love it. just like "the young victoria" i felt like we just watched a tiny piece of what happened, and i wanted to see more. there was an epilogue, but i actually wanted to see the redemption of his career.  well acted, of course. with a cast like that i would be shocked if it wasn't.