Thursday, March 11, 2010

Champions League Update



As the UEFA Champions League is halfway through with the final round 16 knockout phase I would like to give you a few thoughts on the competition so far.

Best match so far: Fiorentina vs. Bayern Munich.
While Fiorentina lost the first round to Bayern Munich in Germany with the controversial second (2-1) goal that was clearly offside in the late stage of the match, they looked to have a comeback titled "Florence against the machine" in the second leg at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The beginning of the match was dominated by Fiorentina with the opening goal by Juan Vargas and two more by the amazing Montenegrin international Stevan Jovetic, but it seemed like every time Fiorentina was up Bayern somehow came back into the game. In the end the laser from Arjen Robben sunk the anchor and decided Fiorentina's fate which gave Bayern the win by the away goals rule (aggr. 4-4). This was by far the most exciting match of the CL so far with goals raining in on both sides of the pitch. It was a hard fought victory but Fiorentina showed the German giants that they weren't going down without a fight.

Biggest upset: Real Madrid vs. Lyon.
Although Real Madrid president Fiorentino Perez spent over a record 300 million Euros to acquire the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, and Xabi Alonso, he just could not get through to the quarter finals. With their first lackluster loss in Lyon (1-0) Real looked to stage a big comeback at the Bernabeu, even Sergio Ramos predicted a 3-0 defeat. The beginning of the match was an onslaught of attacks by Real ending with a 6th minute goal by Ronaldo that looked as if more were definite to come. Gonzalo Higuain missed a clear chance as he beat the goalkeeper only to see the ball bounce off the goal post and roll off the pitch. Had he made that goal there would have been a different outcome and Real would most likely advance. The rest of the match was hard fought as Lyon's defense proved un-penetrable in the second half and a late quarter shot by Lyon's Miralem Pjanic was the decider of the match as his goal tied the game (1-1) fifteen minutes into the end which led to the Lyon win. Although I am a devoted Barcelona fan, I did feel bad for Real as they looked as if they really wanted this win. The anguish on Iker Casillas' face after Pjanic's goal showed the pain that Real felt as they knew that it was the end of their quest to host the final in their own back yard.

Most anticipated: Chelsea vs. Inter Milan.
This has to be the most hyped about battle of the Champions League as both clubs are hungry for a Champions League trophy. While Inter won the fist leg at the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza (2-1) with an excellent display of attacks by Milito and Cambiasso, Chelsea are looking to take the lead with the second leg being played back at Stamford Bridge and all they need is a 1-0 victory to advance due to their away goal in Milan. Will the "special" one Jose Mourinho be able to defeat his former club and lead Inter into the quarter finals? Who knows, but one thing for sure is that it will be an amazing match to end the last 16 round of the Champions League.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Holy Made Man


So my girlfriend and I decided to go see a movie last week and we both were not interested in seeing any of the huge blockbusters so I did some research and remembered a French film trailer that stuck to my head when I first saw it, and out of curiosity I looked it up and found out that it was already playing at the Lincoln Plaza movie theater.

The movie "Un Prophete" (A prophet) directed by Jacques Audiard is about a young Arab-French man named Malik Djebena (Tahir Rahim) who gets sentenced to six years in a prison that is dominated by the Corsican mob and overrun with Arabs. During his time in prison Malik's status rises in the prison hierarchy due to him completing his missions for the Corsicans which involved drug deals and even murder. As Malik continues to rise in power he is caught between two worlds-being the Corsicans servant while the Arabs continue to remain powerless, or becoming his own boss and regaining his people's trust.

The film never fails to keep you on the edge of your seat and makes you anxious about what is going to happen in the next scene. Although some scenes may be hard to watch due to the brutality the film gets a letter A-grade from me and judging from the applause of my fellow movie goers at the end of the film, I have to say that this movie is definitely Oscar worthy.