Why it's the world's game.

By this time if you're not into soccer, your probably sick of my articles. Sorry. Just ignore this one and we'll have something for you tomorrow.

Soccer is the world's game because all it requires to play is a ball and a field. These is one of the reasons basketball wins out over baseball in inter-cities. Basketball requires less equipment and a smaller field, granted soccer requires a pretty large field, but the fundamentals can be practiced almost anywhere When I was in the army I saw kids playing on a rocky uneven cow pasture. And they were brilliant. It's one of the reasons Africa's teams compete so competently in the World Cup despite the fact they do not have the training, equipment, or facilities of the powerful soccer nations.

So what will it take for America to join the ranks of the powerful nations. Well in my opinion the big soccer nations have passion, money, training and a large population. A country need not have all of these things, Uruguay and the Netherlands have both had a history of success at the World Cup without a huge population. Brazil has won 5 titles and they were not the richest country in the early days, in fact their success helped their country and teams get richer. America has a large population, but in soccer we are still improving in the other 3 categories.

The establishment of youth programs and a major league for soccer have been moves in the right direction. The real reason soccer's popularity waned (once again in my opinion) is first America's 40 year hiatus from the World Cup. From the end of the 1950 tournament, until the 1990 tournament America did not qualify for the World Cup. Mostly because Mexico was better at the sport and our region did not get many spots due to not being a powerful soccer region. 2nd Soccer is not the cash cow that the big four are (Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey). Say what you will but a sport which wouldn't stop for commercials and doesn't have billboards all over the playing field is going to be avoided by advertisers. Sadly it does seem like money drives most modern day sports.

America has made great advances in the game, but we still have a lot to improve upon. The guys playing now would have been the first ones influenced by the start of MLS, the youth leagues, and our return to the World Cup. The kids that are coming up will hopefully continue the improvement. Hopefully someday soon, we will see America get into the final four or beyond.

Children in Need

So every odd numbered year Britain has a charity event called Children in Need (aka Red Nose Day). Usually the cast of Dr. Who get involved. After the episode you are encouraged to donate to charities. Being an American I've only seen this on youtube, so sorry for the lack of info. These episode also happen about a month before the new season, two of the Dr. Who episodes happened this week. So here they are.

Link to site who was nice enough to post them for those of us outside the UK.

In this two part episode Amy Pond's skirt almost ruins the universe. Seriously, I can't explain Dr. Who you either get it or you don't. But here are some of the other specials through the years.

Flicks Picks 11: City of Rott

Walk away...While you still can.

Hello again, Streakers! Boog here, with the eleventh Flick Pick article. I know I mentioned at the end of my last review, that I was thinking of doing a sports film. Well, while that is true, I'm still getting my thought together on which sport to do, and, I'll admit, I got distracted. You see, I had heard some rumors of animated zombie film released a few years back(Imdb says 2006, the production team site says 2005, none of the critic reviews agree), that was supposedly really good. I do my research, and find out that not only does this film exist, it is the sole effort of one man, doing everything, the animation, sound editing, even all the character voices, over the course of a single year, to make this film. While I must say I am impressed to find such single minded determination and drive out there, this film wasn't worth it. I really want to be supportive of independent effort like this, because just the fact that it got made, let alone found by a studio to be put onto a DVD, is a testament to the man behind it. But facts are facts, and Frank Sudol's one man animation debut City of Rott just does not stand up, or really stand out, anywhere. SPOILERS, yo. He has since done two other films animated in the same fashion, one called Dead Fury, and another called Shock Invasion. With each new effort, I will give him this, he seems to actually listen to the criticism he receives, and change and grow with each new project. That said, there was a lot of room to grow from this starting point. First, let me talk a bit about what I liked about this film, and that was some bits in the visual style. Sudol's animation style here is clunky, using stop motion over paper dolls, like South Park. Only Sudol's paper dolls look much nicer. Don't get me wrong, I love South Park. But the construction paper puppets just get to me sometimes. Here we get something more like the paper dolls from the movies of the 50s and 60s like your parents or grandparents used to play with. He also gives them independent limbs movement, jaw movement, and overall does a decent job with character animations. But that's about it. The stop motion feels incredibly slow and chunky, with some shots even focusing on feet to compensate for the fact that he obviously didn't want to animate all the bodies he had placed to screen. Then there's the zombies, and there counterparts, blood an gore. There are maybe 12 different zombies in this movie, all of the blood, if it isn't on a character or floor, is drawn in what I can only describe as caviar like balls, and the guts are just squiggles. They just move a little. Before you get all over me about it being one guy and how dare insult him by saying he's lazy or something: His production site states his original cut of the film was only 54 minutes long (I'll get into THAT in a bit), but when the studio group Unearthed Films started looking at it, and decided to put it on a DVD, they wanted it as a feature, and so got him to pad the film out with another 22 Minutes of gore and violence. I'll let that sink in for a minute.

Look nice, don't I? Screen time alive: Maybe 2 minutes.

The director/producer/writer/star found out that the only way people were going to see his labour of love was to pad it with the equivalent of a Saturday Morning Cartoon's length in blood and guts. And he agreed. Does anybody else see a problem here? I can get the fact that Sudol made this as an homage to classic zombie franchises like Romero's Dead films, but 22 minutes? Given that almost 75% of that extra length are small bits of zombies 'chewing' on victims, even as hardcore fan of zombie films, I find that excessive, and boringly repetitive. And there's the main problem in a nutshell. Sudol even made the music for the film, and even it's repetitive and boring by the end. Every track is some kind of industrial-esque techno that tries rather desperately to seem exciting. The plot, what little there is, at first tries to be funny by focusing the story on a crazy old man who decides to go into a zombie infested city to find a new pair of shoes. Sadly, the plot we are given to replace this about 40 minutes in, isn't any better. There's some rather blatant subtext shoved at you about consumerism, but it comes off as very trite and pretentious, rather than deep or meaningful. His acting, since his is the only voice you will hear in the film, is pretty damn terrible as well. But the main performance problem, the fact that the main character hears voice and talks to them, is due to poor editing, and one very easily fixed mistake. You see, the main character keeps finding objects to apply the voice in his head too, usually his walker, and the character's mouth doesn't move when it's supposed to be the voice in his head. But that makes sense, you say, why is that a problem?

See, the art's not that bad. Just everything else is...

Because Mr. Sudol DOESN'T ALTER THE VOICE AT ALL TO MAKE YOU REALIZE IT'S A DIFFERENT CHARACTER. This makes a lot of the scenes appear amateur, as it seems like either Sudol forgot to animate the character's mouth, or forgot to edit out dialogue. It makes it even worse when their are other characters who speak onscreen, especially when they have to react to fact that only half the lines being spoken in their presence are ones they can hear. This makes the film sound, writing and dialogue wise, like a low rent high school play, except they can curse because they signed a permission slip. Then we get really bogged down in the pretension. You see, about 45 minutes in, the film even gets tired of our main character and kills him off. Why? So we can pad out this crap with another three pointless deaths, bringing our body count of actual humans to... five, if I remember correctly, and so we can have a character who was in one scene before this, literally stand above our main character and berate him for being a 'zombie'. Yeah, the subtext I mentioned before? Well, appropriately enough, as the scene is in an alley, the subtext finds a pipe and proceeds to beat you to death. And then rummage through your pocket for change. It's supposed to give us closure on behalf of the main character, who we've followed throughout this entire movie(the last 20 minutes as a zombie no less), as he 'fights off' the effects of the zombie parasite, and finds a way to remove them, basically killing himself as his last human act. There's something else I forgot to mention. The zombie cause in this film is a fluid-borne parasite worm, one that destroys your brain, and then forces you to eat to feed itself. Basically it serves as a metaphorical parallel to mankind, one more way to shove that message down your throat.

Yep, just a zombie, and a zombie hooker. No joke here. Got nothin.

So, Overall, what did I think of this movie? As a first solo effort, (Sudol's Imdb page lists him as part of the animation crew on the South Park movie) it show that Sudol is a decent animator, one that should be given a larger shot at project with a budget. As an animator. Get him away from the mixers, and the microphones, and for god sakes get him away from the script. But let him animate and draw. It's the only part of this film that showed any promise whatsoever, and it was good enough that, with time, and proper training, I think Mr. Sudol could do some great things. But two things have to happen. First, his production company would have to go under. Not to seem overly antagonistic, but let me explain. You see, from the looks of things, after this got picked up, he got help in the acting department. So it stands to reason he could have also gotten producers, writers, and so on, to help out, and at least make the process of film making shorter, if not better. But he didn't. On purpose. Because, like toddler that hasn't yet grasped the true consequences of the second crib in the house, he doesn't want to share his toys. He wants full creative control, and I respect that. I really do. The problem for me, is, if he's the only one in control, the end product is one thing I film should never be: BORING. Therefore, he needs to dissolve the company, or at least hire some people to work for him. But he won't do that, until he's forced to. The problem now, ironically enough, is that public perception is now that 'indie' means 'deep, insightful, and definitely always better than Hollywood', and unfortunately, that is not always the case, as this film very painfully illustrates. Like I said at the beginning, I respect the man's drive, and ambition. I respect the potential he shows as an animator. However, I can't sit back and say that just because this is an independent production, that it deserves to seen. In my humble opinion, the visuals alone aren't enough to save this film, and you should probably avoid it. Now, what sport to do....

Oh and sorry for the lack of pictures, I just couldn't find that many that didn't focus on the blood and gore, and were therefore kind of blurry.

Why they're my teams.

The Reds: Hannover 96

The Buccaneers: Sankt Pauli 

Today, or rather yesterday, since it's after midnight; Stranger was having trouble with blogger when writing his article. Anacronus has said he's had problems with it too, so we'll work on getting this figured out soon. In the mean time an article from me, to you.

First up is a site called Bundesliga Fanatic, an American website which gives news on the German soccer leagues. Of course I approve.

2nd, a while ago I posted an article about St. Pauli one of my two teams in the Bundesliga, later I rounded out an article with a video of St. Pauli's entrance music (AC/DC's Hells Bells). It's time to even the tables and tell you why Hannover 96 (my other team) deserve some love too. Here's an article about Hannover 96 that sums up why they are so awesome and why the fact that they are in third place this season is so miraculous.

3rd. Here are the current standings for the Bundesliga. If the season ended today St. Pauli would have to play the 3rd place team in the 2nd Bundesliga. The loser of this playoff would go back to 2nd Bundesliga. They are 8 games left on the season, so if  your a fan of a team that takes no shit, charges the field to AC/DC, and generally relishes in being the underdog, then it is time for you to cheer for them. They could use the good intentions, as a team trying to avoid going back to 2nd Bundesliga after only a year in their current run at the top league.

Kaiju Rampage: The Eras of Tokusatsu

(I wish to dedicate this post to the recent victims of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan.   This disaster dealt a mighty blow to the nation and I hope they are able to make a swift recovery.  If you are interested in donating to any relief efforts for Japan, please do so.  You can search on Google for any charities that are sending aid.  Make sure you do your homework, though, and know where your donations are going.)

For over half a century, giant monsters, aliens, and multicolored superheroes have entertained Japanese audiences in television and movies.  With such a storied history, the tokusatsu genre has gone through changes.  There have been times when a franchise, such as Toho's Godzilla, went on hiatus, only to resurface again.  This caused a general consensus amongst tokusatsu creators and fans to categorize the whole of the genre into eras.  While each franchise has their own specific timeline for these eras, they do tend to coincide with each other.

When tokusatsu films and TV were first created, it ushered in what would be called the Showa era, named after the historical era in Japan that occurred at the time.  Showa jidai (meaning "period of enlightened peace") corresponded with the reign of Emperor Hirohito, who ascended to the throne in 1926.  In daikaiju terms, Showa referred to the time between the mid-1950s to about 1980.  For Toho, their last Showa film was Terror of Mechagodzilla in 1975 while Daiei, the creators of Gamera, ended the period with Super Monster Gamera in 1980.

When Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, the Showa era ended with him.  His son, Akihito, assumed the throne the next day and ushered in a new era with a new name: Heisei (a word that was taken from Chinese historical and philosophical texts and has come to mean "peace everywhere").  However, the daikaiju Heisei era began before the death of Hirohito.  Toho brought daikaiju back with The Return of Godzilla, also known as Godzilla 1985 in the US five years before the Showa era ended (its Japanese release was in 1984).  Daiei, however, waited six years after Hirohito's death before they resurrected Gamera in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe in 1995.

For these two franchises, the Heisei era characterized the 1980s and '90s.  Despite not being as long as the Showa era, the Heisei era gave us great movies from both franchises.  Gamera, whose movies got stale toward the end of the Showa era, found a new lease on life during the '90s.  Granted, they only made three Gamera movies, but the general consensus is that each of them were of superior quality to many of Gamera's Showa era movies.

While there have been great Godzilla movies from all three eras,

the Heisei era did give us some of the best movie poster art ever.

These two eras did not just pertain to daikaiju eiga, though.  Many tokusatsu TV shows, such as Ultraman and Kamen Rider, had their own Showa and Heisei eras.  For Ultraman, the Showa era began with Ultra Q, a predecessor to Ultraman, and ended with Ultraman 80.  For a few years after that, Tsuburaya Productions allowed Ultraman to be made by foreign countries, such as Australia and the US.  When that didn't pan out, they ushered in their Heisei era with Ultraman Tiga and continued the series ever since.  Kamen Rider had a similar run, but the hiatus between eras was divided by a time when the franchise only did stage shows.  The enduring Super Sentai series, however, seemed to have been going on since its inception, making it a bit harder to determine where Showa ends and Heisei begins.

The only good thing about this movie is that

it inspired Toho to make more Godzilla movies

One era that you will only Find amongst daikaiju eiga is the Millenium era, which was heralded, of course, by the new millennium.  When Toho bid farewell to the Heisei era with Godzilla's sad death in Godzilla vs. Destroyah, Tri Star Pictures decided to try and "Americanize" the franchise with their own take on Godzilla.  Needless to say, the movie sucked so much ass, that Toho decided they needed to make more Godzilla movies just to get the bad taste out of everyone's mouths.  They kicked off the Millennium era with Godzilla 2000 Millennium, which, while not as good as some of the Heisei era movies, did herald the return of a proper daikaiju eiga.  The remainder of the Millennium era movies were mostly better, though.  While Daiei did, officially, bring Gamera into the Millennium era, there has only been one movie to show for it: Gamera the Brave, before the franchise slipped back into hiatus.

The Millenium era Gamera the Brave

has the most adorable design of Gamera, so far.

Right now, neither company seems to be working on any new movies.  However, as I write this, there is talk that Legendary Pictures, the guys who make the DC Comics movies (as well as that horrible Clash of the Titans remake - why would you ruin a cult classic like that?!), are working on a new reimagining of Godzilla.  My opinion?  It's probably gonna suck, because Hollywood can't seem to understand the soul of daikaiju eiga.  That's why the 1998 Godzilla movie is garbage, it wasn't about an unstoppable force of nature, but a dumb, giant lizard.  My only hope is that Toho will be offended by this new Godzilla and be inspired to make new movies and give us another era to enjoy.

Ginger, on WASP

WASP Cadets

If you were around for my post last week you already know that I read a book set during WWII but instead of being about 'all war all the time' it was a story about our home front. Written by Sherri Smith, the title is Flygirl - you can read my review of it here. The focus is on the life of a very brave young woman, Ida Mae Jones, who becomes a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). I honestly didn't know anything about the WASP Program, or that they even existed, and I find that I'm disappointed in myself because of it. And our public education system - WWII wasn't that long ago in terms of history! How is it that these women are never mentioned?! They're like the fore-mothers of equal rights!! Sorry, let me get off my soapbox. Needless to say I was intrigued, so I looked them up myself. They have some really neat sites, but I found Wings Across America (aka Wasp On The Web) to be the most informative. You should check it out if you get the chance.

Vultee BT-13B "Valiant" Basic Trainer *

As far as research, what I found about the WASP Program was fascinating - for the US Army to (grudgingly) found even a small group of female pilots amazes me. This was a time when women were expected to settle down and be homemakers and doting wives/mothers - while working women weren't unheard of, after a certain age (and especially after marriage) it was frowned upon for a women to work outside of the house. The idea that women could be factory workers and pilots - with government consent no less - in 1940s America is astounding. But even as revolutionary as that situation sounds, the reality was still very archaic: These women had to pay their own way to training, which could be several states away - male trainees travel expenses were paid for them. The 756 women who didn't make the final cut in the program paid their own way home - male cadets who 'washed out' of pilot training would be resigned other military duties. Room and board for male cadets was included with training while WASP trainees were either charged for it though the academy or had to provide their own - often at exorbitant amounts. Male cadets were provided a $10,000 insurance policy upon enlisting - WASP received nothing and often had their personal policies canceled by their insurance company as well. All the trainees at each location paid into an emergency fund they shared. Uniforms were also included with male cadet training - the WASP paid over $100 each for theirs. The only section women exceed their male counterparts was monthly pay: $75 for a male cadets and $150 for WASP trainees - which sounds like a big difference, but most of these women left behind families, sometimes even children, that they had to help support so most of the money was sent home. The icing on the cake? Death benefits for male cadets was automatic and included an escort home, a military funeral and their family was authorized to display a Gold Star, which states you had a family member die in combat. WASP received only $200 towards expenses and a plain pine box. The woman's family and friends had to pay to have the remains shipped home and then had to pay the remaining funeral expenses themselves. The family was not entitled to use a flag on the coffin or display an Gold Star. (Fact: 38 women died while serving their country. See a list of names and pictures here.)

B-29 "Superfortress" *

During the 3 years the WASP Program ran, these young women proved themselves hundreds of times over. After receiving their official military orders, these women reported to bases all over America. They performed every type of mission the military had, excluding combat. (One such duty was 'Target Towing': the WASP would fly trainers that had targets attached to the tail like a flag, so the military boys could practice shooting moving planes. With live ammunition.) They flew every type of plane the military owned - trainers, fighters, bombers, you name it - and even some planes male pilots refused to fly. (Translation: were scared to fly.) On December 7, 1944 (3 years after Pearl Harbor), the last class of WASP graduated and were celebrated with a dress parade. General Arnold, the commanding general of the US Air Force, gave a wonderful speech about how valued the WASP Program was and how the military would never forget their service. 11 days later, the WASP Program was disbanded, and the military did essentially forget these brave women - heck, so did America! These women, after giving three years of their lives to there country, packed their bags and paid their own way home. There was no GI benefits, no dress parades. These women, with dignity and grace, quietly went back to their former lives with only their personal satisfaction, knowing they competed their mission.

66 years later: On March 10th 2010, in the largest ceremony ever held inside the capitol, the WASP of WWII were awarded the Congressional Gold Metal, the highest civilian award Congress can bestow. America finally gave these women the 'Thank You' they deserved.

* Actual planes the WASP flew. A letter from an actual B-29 Pilot thanking a WASP for for showing him that the B-29 was "flyable" can be found here.

One Game Can Change Everything

Let me set the stage. It was the summer of 2002, there was a World Cup going on in South Korea and Japan. I was stationed in Wurzburg, Germany (with the U.S. Army), and I was apathetic to the tournament.

In fact I remember hearing that America would play South Korea, and if America won all the posts in Korea would be "locked down" to avoid incident. (Basically all the Americans would have to stay on base so we wouldn't get drunk and say something stupid.) We were coming back from a range day where we had been qualifying with our rifles. We were riding in the back of a 5-ton (one of our large vehicles) when a German pulled up behind us at a stop light and held up a piece of paper saying Korea 1-USA 1.

I can remember remarking "Thanks, but we don't really care." Some of the people around me laughed. Later one of my Sergeants asked me if I was going to watch the USA vs Mexico match. (We had made it out of the group stage and were going to take on our biggest divisional rival.) I asked him if we even had a shot. And he told me we had beaten Mexico for the 1st time in a long while earlier that year. I didn't watch that game, but America did win, and our team was rewarded by facing Germany in the Quarterfinals.

There are a surprising amount of soccer fans in the Army, this game was shown in our office on the day of the game. I sat and watched my first soccer game from start to finish. (I wish I could find a full video of this game.) The one I have up there is just the highlights, and it's a little biased. But it's good for today's example.

Before this game played we were told that if America won, the base would be locked down. So I went into the game almost cheering for Germany, (I didn't want anything to cut into my weekend freedom/drinking time.) In this game I saw the U.S. National Team scare the Germans and the Teutonic Titans were glad to get a win, in a game that some had predicted would end 3-0 or 4-0.

It ended 1-0, but it was evident at the end that Germany had got lucky. If America would have won they would have gone on to play South Korea in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Korea eventually got 4th place overall. So it's not impossible that America could have played Brazil in the final.

During the game (at about the 89th minute of the game or the 5:20 mark on the video). The phone in our office rang. Because of the angle on the shot we all thought America had scored and we cheered loudly, right as someone answered the phone. The General on the other end was not pleased I was told later.

Germany went on to beat South Korea, and faced Brazil in the finals. Germany lost but I saw Germans celebrating in the streets when their team lost, German fans had not expected a 2nd place finish and were happy with it, even if winning their 4th title would have been better.

These events made me a fan of soccer. Seeing an underdog play on equal terms with one of the game's greats. And seeing a loosing team's fans still celebrate. These are the reason I cheer for soccer to keep gaining popularity in America. That...and the fact that I'd like to see America win the World Cup in my lifetime.

It's a hell of a game, and I swear to you if you give it a fair shot you will not be disappointed.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ludacris!

Man, there are so many things I love. Here are a few: Videogames, Scott Pilgrim, and mashups! Here's a recent mashup by generally awesome mashup dude Mike Relm. The 8-Bit remix of "Threshold" from Scott Pilgrim Vs. the world mixed with Ludacris' "How Low."

A Math Nerds' Guide to the EUFA 5 Year Coefficent

Today we focus on part of soccer that would drive most American sports fans nuts, and should be something for the stat counters and math nerds everywhere.

The EUFA 5 Year Coefficient. Seriously if this was in American football I believe most fans would through up their hands and ignore it. There are actually 3 UEFA coefficients but we're going to be focusing on the Association or League Coefficient. This is a mathematical formula that determines what countries get how many spots in the international club tournaments every year. (The top two tournaments in this article, in case you don't remember.)

Flick Picks 10: Restraint

These 3 are pretty damn good.

Hello there, Streakers! Boog here, with the tenth edition of Flick Picks. To continue Last week's trend, I went with a thriller called
Restraint. That trailer is Redband, so a SFW youtube trailer can be found here. First, this film is Austrailian, so there are accents. Second, I watched this film for the first time for this review. I am quite happily surprised to tell you that I enjoyed it. A lot. Low budget, but that's to be expected from anywhere that can't regularly shell out $100 million for a film, but definitely a good film, in some areas almost hitting great. And now for the obligitory SPOILERS! First, let go into the visual style of the film, as that's what really got me first. I love the color palette of this film, very dark, very noir. Lots of great shots involving lightplay(yes, I think I just invented a word for a review) with dust and trees, and extremely well shot. All of the shots involving the house most of the film is set in really adds a sense of closeness and isolation.

That's a dead woman in the center picture. Yeah.

The house itself is great as well, creepy on Art Deco. The few other locations this film has are only really touched upon, and none of it stands up to the house anyway. Overall, the visual atmosphere of the film is very much like an old 40s noir flick, with a current sensibility. On the visual effect side, there is no CG, and very little blood, really only two scenes with it. Oh, there is a rather good edit effect of a cockatiel being shot with a shotgun close range. The camera angles are close shots, so we don't see any blood, but the end effect comes off very realistically anyway. The Music is this film is great as well, as, for the most part, it isn't there. Now, I'm not saying the music is bad. Far from it, when it's there, it amps the action scenes very well, and then it slinks off, letting you bask in the visuals until it's called for again, with one great exception involving a record of New Orleans style Jazz, which again harkens to some of the great noir classics of the 30s and 40s, so no arguments from me.

People this pretty shouldn't be allowed to play criminals.

Now I should go into the plot and dialogue. Well, the dialogue in some places seems a little off, none of it seems wrong. I guess it would be better to say that some of it may sound weird being spoken, but none of it sounds like it was written. Two of the character are low-class criminal types, so there are a few f-bombs and such to throw around, but it isn't peppered with them. The third character is a high class kind of guy, so less of an accent, and better diction, so yeah, the dialogue seems natural. The plot of the film is, at it's core, a traditional small-cast thriller set-up. Two criminals on the run find themselves in a house they think is abandoned. When they find the homeowner, he becomes a hostage while they wait for the authorities to dial down their search for them. The hostage gives them a proposition for $40,000, or, enough for them to flee to a foreign country, as per their plan. Then it starts going into its own twists on the story. The homeowner, Andy, is VERY agoraphobic, so he has shut himself inside his house, alone, except for a housekeeper who only comes once a week. He had a fiance at some point, but we get one than one explanation of why she disappeared, but, the point of all that is that he lives alone with no one to check on him, basically. The two criminals, Ron and Dale, are running away because Ron was in debt to a club owner that Dale stripped for. Ron decided he loved Dale, Dale decided she loved Ron, so Ron killed the club owner, and a bouncer, grabbed Dale, and ran off. Along the way Ron kills a gas station attendant for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then they find Andy's house, and the plot really gets going. You see, Andy's a nice guy, Dale's a little misguided, but generally innocent, as she has yet to actually commit a crime other than run off with Ron, and Ron, well, he's an assh*le. A Huge One.

Umm... yeah, there's a reason he's sitting that way.

The dude's so dickish he verbally abuses Andy at every opportunity, and won't do anything with out his shotgun. I hated his character from the get go, which was the point of the character, so well acted, well written. I generally liked Andy as a character, I felt bad for him throughout the film, he came off as genuinely caring about Dale's welfare, he fought well verbally and physically with Ron when the time came to do so, so again, well written, well acted. Dale as a character I loved. The noir archetype of the 'Hooker with a Heart of Gold' was perfect for this character, the modern sensibility shining through with her initial harsh view of herself and the world, that does change through the caring that Andy show her. The plot gets it's first turn into fun territory when Andy reveals he has a special trust fund set up from his now deceased mother. A special bank account, topped off at $20K, and refilled overnight when empty. This gives the criminals a chance to make $40K for the two days they want to wait for the search to cool off. Problem is, of course, Andy can't do it, due to his condition. However, he believes Dale can, with a blond dye job, pose as his fiance, who, as she's been gone for six months now, and was only in the bank maybe three times, Dale wouldn't be suspicious walking in there claiming to be her. Wrinkles ensue as Dale discovers she likes the feeling that even pretending to be rich gives her, and Ron starts to slip into total madness. And that's all I'm gonna give you, you have to go see it yourself. Nyah.

You tell anyone you saw me in my skivees, I end you.

She really is the high point of the movie.

The principal actors here are all very good in their roles. Ron is played by Travis Fimmel, who is generally known to the outside world as a former Calvin Klein and underwear model, although some of you might have seen him in 2010's The Experiment, with Adrien Brody and Forrest Whittaker. Dale is played by Teresa Palmer, who has had quite a bit of screen time in the States, appearing in Wolf Creek, Grudge 2, Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, I Am Number Four, Take Me Home Tonight, and the yet to be released Mad Max: Fury Road.
Seeing this film, I can see why. She gives a nuanced turn here, playing at parts naive, maybe even dumb, to innocent and conflicted. Her portrayal is even mostly sad, as you definitely get a sense that her world experience has equated sex, and sex acts, as just being part of everyday life, and that any attention shown her, especially attention tied to the use of power, is a kind of love. It really is heartbreaking. I can't wait to see more from her. Andy, is played by Stephen Moyer, whom every female reader definitely knows as Bill Compton from HBO's True Blood TV series. I haven't seen the show myself, but I generally get a vibe that Moyer gets to play the right kind of sexy vampire that Twilight vamps could only hope to be. I'm just happy he has regular work, because other than the HBO series, his credits include SIX FAILED TV series (13 episodes, at the most), a few low budget film never released here that I find, and a 1999 version of Prince Valiant, where he played the title character. He's great in this movie, and if I ever watch True Blood, I'm sure I will be in line to say he's great in that. But it sure took him a while to get there. Overall, I really liked this movie, I would recommend this to fans of thrillers, noir films, generally anybody who likes a good tension flick. Now, I think I'll change genres again, next time do a sport movie...