Hello Again, Start of a New Series

Well, it has been quite a while, hasn't it?
The year is 2013 and so on, don't want to sound like a Star Trek episode.
First of all, welcome back. I hope to be posting quite regularly from now on and I will add something new to the blog: Music reviews and other sports.
Since I'm a sucker for everything involving ratings in reviews, I will happily include a lot of them in each of my upcoming posts. The outcome of each review will become a lot more transparent as to how I came up with this and that score in the end.

The NBA season has come to an end (damn Spurs, you should have won) , the Bundesliga will return in August (Pep in Bayern) and so on, I won't be posting much about sports in general for quite a while. Expect for some looking back at the last season or maybe even an introduction for my new found love Baseball, particularly MLB, Chicago Cubs. More on this in the near future. By the way: Wimbledon and the Track and Field World Championships in Moscow will take place in July with Bolt vs. Gay. So not much to complain there.
Until then, I hope you enjoy my posts and leave a message if you like.

Tyrannosaur (2011, UK)

Paddy Considine's debut shows raw emotion like no other. (9/10)

Colman and Mullan deliver some of the best performances of 2011.

Tyrannosaur tells the story of Joseph, an unemployed widower in northern England, whose frustration and violence leads to self-destruction. After he knocked down a rude youth in a local pub, he enters a charity shop in which Hannah is working. She acts sympatheticly from the very first moment she encounters him which Joseph first cannot cope with. But they get to know each other and begin a kind of relationship. Hannah herself has to deal with her abusive husband which ends in a big, almost Greek, tragedy.

Very grim stuff all around and some might avoid it, as this film definitely does not make for a cosy evening on the coach. But boy, would those persons miss out on greatness. The two leads, anti-heroes in fact, show such raw emotions, it sometimes becomes unbearable to watch. Just the very first scene in which Joseph departs a Pakastani bookie's, leads to destruction and leaves the viewer in shock. Mullan gives such a nuanced and believable portrayal of an average Englishman gone mad, it's incredible how few awards he won for this film. The same can be said about Colman whose character understandibly is frustrated with her biggest wish of being a mommy staying unfulfilled and therefore leads to her charity job, her strong believe in God and ultimately her husband's abusive behaviour (Eddie Marson's great performance as the troubled antagonist has to be mentioned as well). The bleack environment also plays a significant role as it represents the protagonists' hopelessness and is very well chosen by first time director Considine. 

Check out the trailer to get a first impression of the film, highly recommended: 

Neuer and Hummels save the day!

Germany wins ugly and intense opening match against Portugal.

Defense stands out, attack not so much.

Wow, this was intense. Germany just pulled through thanks to a Mario Gomez header in the 72nd minute. Germany operated with 64% ball possession in the first half but didn't create one meaningful chance on offense. Not much the same could be said about Portugal, who nearly stole a goal with their very first chance, a strike by Pepe after a corner kick which just landed underneath the crossbar and the ball clearly on the line. 

Despite one return that became a little too short and almost resulted in a Neuer injury, BVB's very own Mats Hummels had an outstanding game. The same can be said about Jerome Boateng, who kept Ronaldo out of the match for most of the time, two or three shots on target exluded. Manuel Neuer did everything which could be asked of a goalkeeper and proved himself to be in the conversation of the best keeper worldwide by saving Varela's shot outstandingly. The attack didn't click as well as expected especially Podolski couldn't impress. Özil and Khedira also need some more match practice before they perform on a reasonable level again, but it has to be said Portugal was very good on defense themselves. A deflected Schweinsteiger crossing finally ended in Gomez' header and this was enough, Grit and Grind as Tony Allen would call it. 

An improved German team, especially on offense, has to step up on Wednesday against the Netherlands. With a win Holland's out and Die Mannschaft will advance to the quarter-finals. How awesome would that be?? 

Best Players: Hummels, Neuer, Boateng.

Goals: 1:0, Gomez 72.

Preview: Germany - Portugal

And so it begins

 Germany's first match of EURO 2012 - New fodder for critics or will Die Mannschaft start successfully?

Germany's first match at the 2012's Euros is happening tonight in Lwiw against Christiano Ronaldo's Portugal and much is at stake for Joachim Löw's team. After their two international friendlies - a 5:2 defeat against Switzerland and a 2:0 victory against Israel - which left much to be desired we will we if the team can cope with all the praise they received beforehand, declaring them as one of the favorites for the title, next to Spain and Holland.

Twitter's @dan_bu just posted, that Löw is leaning towards Gomez and BVB's Hummels (yay!!) in the starting eleven over birthday boy Klose and Arsenal's Mertesacker. The starting eleven might look like this: 

Neuer - Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm - Schweinsteiger, Khedira - Müller, Özil, Podolski - Gomez. 

A fairly conventional starting unit, the biggest matchup is clearly Bayern's Jerome Boateng vs. Christiano Ronaldo. Although I can't stand him, he is one of the five best players in the world right now who crumbled under the great pressure being Portugal's savior for the last couple of tournaments. I'm really looking forward to the way Ronaldo's Real teammates Özil and Khedira will perform, Özil as the creative mastermind and passing genius and Khedira as the calm ballhog creating spaces for the German forwards; he might even have a bigger impact than Schweinsteiger who isn't at 100% after his shoulder injury last year. I also guess that Klose is not at  full strengh after he sat out most of Lazio's matches at the end of the season and so Gomez is the obvious choice up front, after he scored 26 goals for Vize-Bayern (sorry, couldn't help it).

As for Portugal, I can't say very much about them, to be honest. Of course the main focus will be on Christiano Ronaldo, who had an outstanding season for Real scoring-wise, just after Messi's epic year. But next to him, it's really hard to get a pitcture of this team. Nani seems to be in shape to start the match, who always is a threat on the offensive side, as is Porto's Joao Moutinho. You should also pay attention to Real's Fabio Coentrao, one of the up and coming stars for his side, who played a crucial rule in Madrid's title run this season. Portugal lost their last friendly 3:1 against Turkey heading into the tournament, so there are doubts on their side as well.

Germany is the favorite for this match but I would not underestimate Portugal for thy have one of the tournaments best midfield and according to ESPN the Euro's most important player in their lines. 

Germany is going to win 2-1.

Update (16:38): Kroos to replace Schweinsteiger in the starting XI. (Sky Sport News)

Update (20:12): Screw you, Sky Sport News, Schweinsteiger will start!!

First Post

Here we go. First post on my very first blog! 

Just a regular guy talking about stuff he likes, especially films, sports and music.

Don't know yet what to talk about today, but it will probably be about Euro 2012 as I'm German and already wearing my 2008 Torsten Frings shirt and SO looking forward to tonight's match against Portugal. This one will obviously be crucial for the whole campaign of Die Mannschaft - a nick name which hasn't caught on in Germany yet, but is prominently featured in international Bundesliga blogs such as Bundesliga Fanatic. We'll see how this one turns out, so tune in later for my preview.