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I hope a lot of Walthamstow residents are on their way to FIFA today. I think there's going to be a lot of people under buses before the week is out
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Writer`s Release
Quote:
FIFA's United Passions:
Critics dub film "cinematic excrement"
Fraud. Corruption. Bribery. Money laundering. Racketeering. These are just a few of the accusations being levelled at FIFA as the FBI investigates football's governing body.
The arrests and accusations are stacking up, and with president Sepp Blatter resigning just days after his re-election, now seems like curious timing to release a feature film painting FIFA as squeaky-clean saints of football.
United Passions, starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, Gérard Depardieu as Jules Rimet and Sam Neill as João Havelange, has opened in US cinemas today (June 5) to the kind of critical drubbing that makes Adam Sandler look like Martin Scorsese. What did FIFA expect from a film they funded 90% themselves?
We round up five of the most scathing critical appraisals below:
The Guardian (Jordan Hoffman) "Even without the current headlines, United Passions is a disgrace. It's less a movie than preposterous self-hagiography, more appropriate for Scientology or the Rev Sun Myung Moon. As cinema it is excrement. As proof of corporate insanity it is a valuable case study."
New York Times (Daniel M Gold) "United Passions is one of the most unwatchable films in recent memory, a dishonest bit of corporate-suite sanitising that's no good even for laughs... there is barely a nod to the corruption scandals that have plagued FIFA for decades.
"Instead, what passes for drama comes when Mr Blatter assumes command in 1998. He is shocked, shocked, to find affairs in disarray and tells his executive committee there's a new sheriff in town: 'Some of you feel this is an opportunity to close lucrative deals. Think again.' And, 'The slightest breach of ethics will be punished.'"
LA Times (Michael Rechtshaffen) "A contender for most ill-timed movie of 2015 is United Passions, a fictionalised chronicle of the life and times of FIFA, the Zurich-based international soccer alliance reeling from a bribery scandal.
"But irony is the least of the film's issues. Bankrolled by FIFA for an estimated $29 million, the bloated, talky epic starring Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill and Tim Roth comes across as a squirm-inducing heap of propaganda at its most self-congratulatory."
The Playlist (Kevin Jagernauth) "While the intent of United Passions is clear, it's nearly insulting that anybody involved would think this might work either creatively or as a marketing tool given how crudely executed it is on both fronts.
"As a piece of cinema, it's a syrupy (no thanks to Jean-Pascal Beintus' drippy score) non-event that leans heavily on montages and swelling music to try and drum up any pulse, while clearly directed so as not to insult the backers of the movie."
Village Voice (Ashley Clark) "The timing of the American release, then, couldn't be more bitterly ironic: It was intended to commemorate the inevitable re-election of Blatter, a man so confident of securing a fifth successive term that he didn't publish a manifesto. Instead, its shameless propaganda has been made to look even more laughable - a remarkable feat."
Who the hell thought that making this movie was a good idea? Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, Gérard Depardieu as Jules Rimet and Sam Neill as João Havelangend.
Talk about bad timing...... web quote from here.
This item was edited on Friday, 5th June 2015, 17:43
Quote:
pat-w says...
"Who the hell thought that making this movie was a good idea? .................... Sepp Blatter"
Answered your own question there Pat
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Writer`s Release
Surely our American friends have a better grasp of the vernacular than the long winded and drawn out reviews. Rather than a long drawn out resume one simple phrase would suffice. Namely ( foul language filter to stun) " IT`S PHUQEN SCHEITTE "
Choagy FFCUK The SPL 45% 
Sepp Blatter deserves Nobel Prize, says Vladimir Putin
Fifa president Sepp Blatter deserves a Nobel Prize, says Russian president Vladimir Putin.
World football's governing body is engulfed in a corruption crisis, including an investigation into the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia.
"People like Mr Blatter or the heads of big international sporting federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition," said Putin.
"If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize, it's those people."
Blatter announced he would be stepping down on 2 June following the arrest of seven Fifa officials as part of a United States investigation that saw 14 people indicted on corruption charges.
A separate criminal investigation by Swiss authorities into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated is also under way.
Blatter, 79, has said he has a "clear conscience", and is planning to remain in office until Fifa holds an extraordinary congress to elect his successor next February.
"We all know the situation developing around Mr Blatter right now," added Putin in an interview with Swiss television.
"I don't want to go into details but I don't believe a word about him being involved in corruption personally."
From The BBC here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33684831
In a world where Henry Kissinger gets a Nobel peace prize and Tony Blair is appointed Middle East Peace envoy anything is possible.
Snaps
My new Flash Fiction blog. All my own work
500ish
I used to be with it, but then they changed what `it` was.
Now, what I`m with isn`t it, and what`s `it` seems weird and scary