Saints 3 Carlisle United 2

The dream has gone!

This was a much better Saints performance than Tuesday night - once we got going. Carlisle were a different side from the one we beat at Wembley. They defended strongly, showed imagination and guile going forward and were up for it. Full credit to them in a game that largely meant nothing in terms of league position - but meant everything in terms of pride. Well done to the away fans - all 411 of them. A long way to come.

Our first goal came a minute or so before half-time. It was odd as the cross went in was headed on and then out of nowhere was lashed into the back of the net. I hadn't seen Antonio, he was obscured behind a clump of players. Literally a minute later we gave away a needless free kick. When you have someone of the calibre of Ian Harte in your team, it is always risky to give away free-kicks on the edge of the area. He struck it brilliantly and at half time it was 1-1.

In the 46th minute, Rickie Lambert slotted home from a narrow angle and 10 minutes later Antonio got his second. There followed a series of substitutions that saw McNish make his league début. Then the comedy five minutes.  Fonte, under pressure, flipped a looping back-pass to Davis who had to struggle to reach it. It was going to go in so he had to catch it high off the ground. An instant free-kick on the six yard line for Carlisle. Only Davis wisely sought to delay the taking of the free-kick and fell on the gathered ball. The Carlisle striker Price, tried to wrestle Davis and kneed him in the ribs. A general scuffle ensued. Davis was booked and Price - sporting a trendy birds nest of hair, got off scot-free! The resulting free kick was a farce with 11 Saints players on the line and the entire Carlisle team more or less over the ball. The ball eventually cannoned into the wall and all was well. Carlisle scored a consolation goal three minutes into injury time. Final result 3-2.

On a day when we needed Huddersfield to lose they won 0-6 away at Stockport. End of the dream. Colchester drew and that enabled Saints to rise to 7th place. A tremendous effort given where we were in September. If the last 75% of the season determined the table, this is what it would like - bear in mind Saints had a -10 points starting position:

Norwich 79
Saints 71
Millwall 71
Swindon 64
Huddersfield 62
Leeds 57
Charlton 55
Colchester 51

Well done Alan Pardew and the whole management team - and especially the players. Let the pre-season preparations begin here and now. Let's win this league next season!

COYR

Saints 0 Oldham Athletic 0

The dream has gone. A frustrating evening game which saw a battling and committed Saints denied victory by a dogged Oldham side who played for the draw from the outset and a Referee who was several leagues above his competence level.

With Wotton in for Spiderman, the mid-field was never going to set the game on fire - especially with Oldham playing five across the middle. Wotton is a capable enough stopper but his distribution is always suspect and last night particularly so. Puncheon kept him company on this occasion. Barnard, Lambert and Lallana kept running for as long as they were on the park. Lloyd James was introduced at half time but withdrawn 25 minutes later after a wonderful impersonation of a head-less chicken!

The crowd was disappointing (18,366) given the importance of the game, but the fans were deafeningly loud for most of the game - spurred on by the inept and inadequate Referee Mr Wright who proved on the night to be more a Mr Wrong. The stats show what a spoiling game Oldham played:

There are some aspects of the Saints game that need to change:

• Hurried and wasted free kicks
• Short corners that come to nothing
• Corners and crosses that are gently lofted to give the keeper catching practice rather than allow a glancing header on target.

Our defence is looking very good - I was at last impressed with Otsemobor. The mid-field lacked fluidity and class without Spiderman. Well done Saints for the effort - disappointing result. Appalling Referee.

It is now virtually inconceivable that we will make the play-offs. That will allow Pardew to plan a pre-season programme that will set us well for the next season. It will be difficult coping with the clubs coming down from the Championship, but we must battle and be there or there-abouts for the entire season if our dream of promotion is to be realised.

Enjoy the remaining three games. have a well-deserved rest and win the division next season.

COYR

Yeovil Town 0 Saints 1

What a nail-biter this was! A difficult away game with hostile home fans and a poor playing surface meant that the home side were favourites to win. This was a dogged performance and although Saints dominated the first half-an-hour, they were not able to score.

Clearly the tension and high level of expectation were ever-present with the players - a projection from the fans. Mid-way through the second half, Spiderman hit out at a Yeovil player and was given a straight red card. On one level it's good that the youngster has such passion and cares so much, but on another he needs to learn lessons from these occasions as he will be missing for the next three critical games.

In the third minute of injury time Lee Barnard headed home the only goal of the game. What a marvellous result. Well done Saints. With Colchester losing and Saints still having a game in hand over them and Huddersfield, the dream is still alive. It continues tomorrow evening at St Mary's - bring on Oldham Athletic.

COYR

Bristol Rovers 1 Saints 5

Well, it was a tense affair watching the BBC live text - at least for the first half. Having seen the goals on TV since, I can think 'what's the problem?'. Rovers scored first - a soft penalty really, but well put away. Then Rickie Lambert got into his stride and banged in two in quick succession just before the break. The second half saw Spiderman score a contender for goal of the season and this was followed by two more from Lallana and Puncheon. Job done.

It was encouraging to see that nearly 25% of the fans were Saints fans - well done everyone. The victory was brilliant but the edge was taken off the evening by two late goals from Huddersfield Town against Walsall. If Walsall had managed to hang on to their lead, the prospect of the play-offs would be closer to be being realised. Let's hope we can win again on Saturday at Yeovil.

COYR

Kali Mirchi - fine Indian cuisine

A borrowed photo from a review

I have now eaten here 5 times and each time it simply gets better. The menu has a tremendous range from across the sub-continent. The food is never produced quickly and it really does taste like every dish is cooked to order rather than a variation on 3 or 4 stock sauces as is the case in too many Indian restaurants. Here it tastes like they have a range of palettes from which the spices are freshly prepared. All of the spices blend in subtle combinations that excite the taste buds. I am even salivating writing this!

The Naan bread is the best I've tasted this side of Delhi (with the possibly exception of a dodgy back-street cafe in Rawlpindi). I would particularly recommend the Lamb Nihari which presents a marinated and slow cooked Lamb Shank in a mouth-watering tomato and spice gravy. The King Prawn Balchio, a Goan dish, is also excellent and highly recommended. The Combo Starter is excellent value for money and while you wait for that the poppadoms are refreshingly non-greasy and fresh. The pickle accompaniment - especially their home-made apple Chutney is excellent.

I live 20 miles away and drive past dozens of Indian restaurants to get there - but it's worth the effort. The evening a la carte is to be preferred to the lunch-time buffet. The Head waiter is good fun and the service is attentive and pleasing. If you have any special dietary requirements, they will adjust recipes to accommodate you.

I would encourage everyone within striking distance of this restaurant to visit one evening.

Kali Mirchi

98 Shirley High Street

Southampton

SO16 4FB

023 8070 1038

Saints 1 Charlton Athletic 0

It was a lovely warm and sunny spring day in Southampton yesterday where over 23,000 fans watched a tense and entertaining display from a rugged Saints against top-class opposition. Charlton are virtually guaranteed a play-off place, we need to win every game and rely on Huddersfield and Colchester slipping up to allow us into the pay-off's.

Charlton were well disciplined and organised. They had a strong physical presence which a Saints team of old would have been crushed by - but not this current squad. At then end, Charlton were playing with three strikers who were extremely physical and bruising. Overall, Saints had 56% of possession and made it tell. One or two players were still in 'let's pass the ball to the opposition' mode and Puncheon was challenged by playing in a new role playing through the middle up front just behind Rickie Lambert. The two centre backs, Fonte and Seaborne were immense and for the first time seemed to gel as a pair. Harding was his usual 100% reliable and Lallana's endless running gave Charlton plenty of headaches.

For me the enjoyability of the games was spoilt by Mr Hegley the referee. He blew his whistle like at tin-pot dictator for a thousand minor offences whilst allowing much bigger crimes to go completely unpunished. The game was never allowed to flow and when 23,000 with one voice tell the ref "you don't know what you're doing" - well they can't all be mistaken can they? The number of clear handballs was well into double figures - but he gave none of them. We were lucky to escape one mad passage of play when the ball pinged abound like a pin-ball and twice struck a Saints arm - neither were given as penalties for Charlton. It is also clear that League One teams have watched each other and learned how to minimise Rickie Lambert's threat in the air from the long ball. They position one player in front and another behind and they jump towards each other squeezing out Rickie. Time after time, game after game this tactic is employed. At best it's obstruction, at worst sometimes it's violent conduct, but if the whistle blows it's always for the defending side.

Saints scored on 34 minutes - ironically as I was berating the ref for not giving a foul on Rickie Lambert. The ball squirted free to Puncheon who passed sideways to Antonio who dribbled around two players and rifled home his shot. A good goal, well taken.

Charlton caused Saints lots of headaches in the second half, but the defence stayed firm and Kelvin Davis made some excellent saves when it was breached. Charlton would have felt they deserved more from the game, but that's the second time we've beaten them this season and our march upwards continues.

Tuesday night sees a very difficult game against high flying Bristol Rovers - another must win game.

COYR

Roger Waters 2010 The Wall Tour

Apparently, the tour dates for his tour will be announced tomorrow at 2 pm EST on his new website.

There will no doubt to a huge demand for these and they will be costly I'm sure.

I remember buying The Wall 30 years ago and being underwhelmed. As each year has passed, the profound nature of Water's lyrics and the transcendent quality of the music has grown and now it occupies a place very much at the centre of Pink Floyd's canon of creativity.

Saints 2 Leyton Orient 1

It seems that Saints are falling into a pattern of not waking up until about 15 minutes into the game! Again we succumbed to a sucker punch with Orient scoring in the second minute which was possibly their only serious attack of the first half. Today Southampton had 11 players on the pitch - nothing strange in that, except today they were 11 individuals and they did not play as a team. They made extremely hard work of playing a game of football against opposition that didn't look a threat and who struggled to challenge for victory.

Lee Barnard was excellent with his energy, running and willingness to defend from the front. Rickie Lambert looked a bit off colour - but not as off colour as Jon Otsemobor and Morgan Schneiderlin! These two repeatedly gave the ball away to the opposition when they were in possession. Jaidi went off injured in the fourth minute and Seaborne his replacement seemed to unsettle the usually solid Jose Fonte, his partner.

Saints first goal came towards the end of the second half and it was a piece of individual skill from Adam Lallana who ran the ball across the edge of the penalty area from left to right and then shaped his body to curl a shot into the top right-hand corner. Class. His second goal came mid-way through the second half and I'm not sure what happened - too far away in a penalty area filled with bodies, I think it was a header. Orient lost Jonathan Téhoué as he was stretchered off with a hamstring injury.

We are now closing on the pack above. If we our game in hand, we are only 5 points off the play-offs!

COYR

New pictures on flickr

One of the photo magazines I subscribe to had an article sent in by a reader of photos he took at this location. As it's only 5 miles down the road, I decided to check it out this morning. This and some others are on my Flickr photostream - follow the link to the right.

Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Saints 2

It depends on which account of the game you read as to how well Saints played. I guess it's all too easy to lose concentration after the grandeur of Wembley and a Cup Final, but those privileges are only earned if you are able to keep focussed on the day job. The Brighton pitch is not the best and this may have again contributed to a poor Saints performance. Brighton have always a bogey team and it was good that we did not lose.

One point is better than no points, but three would have been ideal - even necessary if we are going to maintain a serious attempt to get into the play-off places. On Monday we entertain Leyton Orient - every game is now a must win game. with more home than away games, it is a tantalising possibility.

COYR

JPT Final Carlisle United 1 Saints 4

Dean Hammond and Kelvin Davis lifting the Johnstone's Paints Trophy earlier this afternoon at Wembley! Well done Southampton - it is great to have won something - it's been a grim 5 years before this season.

Pyrotechnics as the teams were presented

An occasion for all ages to celebrate.

The beautiful game.

Impressive architecture - this was my first visit to the 'new' Wembley.

Everyone was up for it - a true red and white army!

It was a great day out - not just because we won. There were 45,000 Saints fans in the stadium and 30,000 Carlisle fans - we didn't hear much from them.

It was very much a workman-like performance from Saints - nothing flash, they were there to do a job and they did it. Next Saturday and it's back to the grind with an away match at Brighton. If Saints win all remaining games and teams above us slip up, there is a chance we will make it to the play-offs. In which case, it will be back to Wembley.

Well done Southampton Football Club. Grateful thanks to Markus Leibherr, Nicola Cortese and Alan Pardew.

COYR

Saints 3 Hartlepool United 2

It wasn't only the weather that made it hard going for Saints tonight! The inclusion of Papa Waigo for the absent Lallana (injured?) saw Saints in a new formation with Papa 'in the hole' behind Lambert and Barnard. It didn't work. Saints were out of shape and no-one seemed to know what they were meant to do. Once we went back to 4-4-2 it all began to fall into place - except for Hartlepool taking the lead! Jason Puncheon had a terrible game and seemed intent on only passing to people in blue!

In the second half Schneiderlin was taken off - I hope only as a precaution, and replaced by Wotton. At that point Saints lost control of the mid-field and with that the game. We went 3-1 up but Austin scored with a well-placed shot from 30 yards to bring it back to 3-2 - a great goal.

Hartlepool were supported by about 100 travelling fans - well done them.

Everyone was a little pre-occupied with Sunday. See you at Wembley?

COYR

We're on our way to Wembley!

My tickets finally arrived yesterday - a whole 7 days before the game! Amazing.

Looking forward to tonight's warm-up against Hartlepool United and then it's all eyes on Wembley.

COYR

Chris Rea at the The New Theatre Oxford

Firstly an admission that this is a pic I borrowed from a web search.

Secondly, let me begin by mentioning the support act Paul Casey from Derry in Northern Ireland. A singer songwriter of some ability. I particularly enjoyed the way in which he was able to coax a range of sound that was akin to an orchestra in its breadth, from his acoustic steel-stringed guitar. It was only a 25 minute set, but it was a strong performance and he deserves to do well. His self-deprecating patter between songs was an act of entertainment in its own right.

Paul Casey performing in Derry (with another borrowed pic!)

Now, back to the main act.

This is the first time I had seen Chris Rea live. I have owned a couple of his albums for a number of years. I am a natural fan of blues of rock so I guess it's easy to see that I would like this stuff. He didn't disappoint. What was refreshing was that he was accompanied by an additional five musicians that meant the sound-scape was rich and vibrant, full of detail and power - which was restrained more than uncontrolled. With two additional guitars, it was a full-on sound. what is more is the bass was allowed to be way forward in the mix which gave the whole thing  a driving urgency that demanded emotional engagement.

It is a matter of taste whether you prefer the slide guitar that Rea has become an acknowledged master of, or something more 'pure' like David Gilmour's Pink Floyd style (yes I know he plays slide very well too!). What is beyond doubt is Rea's vocal style which is forceful and gravelly.

The set was 1 hour 40 minutes to the second, including encore - extremely energising and enjoyable. A new studio album is due out in June once he has completed this marathon tour. Check it out.

La Belle France

As I'm on holiday this week I made another quick raid on the French with a friend yesterday. After the obligatory quick shop in Calais, we ventured inland to St Omer where we enjoyed a very good lunch in a small cafe called Le Zinc in Place Foch. I would particularly recommend the crab salad entree.

After lunch we made for the Office De Tourisime to seek directions to the 'anciens port' only to be told "there is nothing there - only 'ouses"! Nevertheless we made our way to the 'ouses and enjoyed the old canal waterfront of St Omer.

Just north of the town, on the same canal, we were surprised to see quite large boats and barges plying their trade. From there we followed the canal to the sea and enjoyed a brisk walk along the endless expanse of flat sand - not far from the beaches of Dunkirk.

By chance we made it back on a earlier than booked ferry which meant that we home at a reasonable hour. What added to the value was the fact that there is stiff competition amongst the three ferry operators sailing out of Dover. I was able to book the return day-trip for £20 with P&O. When we checked in I received a voucher for a by-one-get-one-free breakfast offer and also a voucher for a free half-case of Californian wine - no strings attached, simply £18.54 of wine for free! That meant we had in excess of £26 of freebies and so were £6 up even before we reached France. An exhaustive price comparison showed that the ferry prices for spirits were cheaper than Tesco Vins and Auchan, so a good day for P&O. Also, we have decided that Monday's represent the best opportunity to miss the crowds as both he ferry and the shops were almost empty.

A very good day out.

Shutter Island

My review of this film is here.

MK Dons 0 Saints 3

Here we go again - this courtesy of a Rickie Lambert hat-trick. It really demonstrates the only part of our performance that is lacking is consistency. This was a useful win as it cements us in 10th place in the table, 13 points off the play-offs. That is still a very hard ask. With 30 points up for grabs it will be hard - but not impossible.

Next week we play Hartlepool at home on Tuesday which should be an easy victory - but they are the ones that cause us difficulty! Then next Sunday we are off to Wembley to play Carlisle in the final of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy.

COYR

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A review of this film can be found here.

Saints 0 Swindon Town 1

Well done Swindon! They had obviously done their homework, they were energetic, harried us from the start and deserved their win. Saints were lethargic, clueless and for most of the match operated in headless-chicken mode. It will be interesting to see the pass completion stats as most Saints passes went to the opposition.

During the warm up, Swindon looked more like a youth team. During the match Saints looked like a group of jaded geriatrics - perhaps we have played too many games of late. With a crowd of just under 21000, the 2000 away fans certainly made themselves heard.

Well done Swindon Town,

COYR

Mairearad Green - Passing Places

If you want to listen to something different, try this album from Mairearad Green from Wester Ross in Scotland. I was watching BBC Alba - as you do - one evening and they were showing Celtic Connections which was a festival of contemporary Scottish folk music. It was amazing.

As it says on her site, "Written for Celtic Connections 2009, takes the form of a musical and filmic journey through the spectacular scenery and cultural riches of the Coigach peninsula, in Mairearad’s native Wester Ross."

Her composition and accordion playing style is very lyrical and the songs move along with a fair lilt. Every now and again the music lapses into a highland jazz-lounge fusion which is a bit awkward at first but after a few listens begins to settle down!

I would recommend this - well worth a listen.

Saints 1 Leeds United 0

COYR

Yesterday I  had the pleasure of witnessing the most complete Saints performance for some years. It was always going to be a tough game and with Beckford and Becchio up front for Leeds it was always going to be difficult - more so than recent games at Norwich or at home to Huddersfield.

Saints dominated the first half and despite many good attempts, including Puncheon hitting the post, Saints only managed one goal. It was a hard-fought contest with the poorest refereeing performance I think I have ever seen. No wonder he is now in the third tier when he used to be a Premier League regular! Poor.

Southampton defended from the front and Lee Barnard was particularly effective in chasing everything down. The midfield four were resolute in cutting out any advances Leeds attempted to make and on the odd occasion when they did penetrate, the centre-backs were immense with Jose Fonte my man of the match.

In the second half Leeds were more effective but fortunately could not beat Kelvin Davis who probably only had one save to make all game. Not only did Southampton score the only goal, but they defended their lead for 3/4 of the game and never really looked like surrendinering it - unlike the old days, or even earlier this season.

It is a hard ask to imagine Saints will make the play-off places, but if they do, I'm certain it will be Championship football next season with Leeds and Norwich.

The win was so exhilarating that I am still riding on the adrenaline rush it gave me yesterday! A brilliant feeling. These are good times to be a Saints supporter.

COYR

Tranmere Rovers 2 Saints 1

Well, it had to come to an end sometime! After a fine run we lost. Beaten more by the pitch and Referee - and of course our own inability to score more goals than the opposition. It would have been good to have won yesterday as many of the teams above us stumbled. It now seems like it will take a miracle for us to reach the play-off places.

New blog for movies

I am aware that my posts are of subjects that interest me and therefore may be of no interest to others whatsoever! I blog to aid my own personal reflection and engagement with the things I blog about. You will have picked up that movies, football and how to be Christian today are my main areas.

For those who find hacking through the tedium of Southampton's latest match reports hard work, I know you're out there - I have created a movie specific blog here.

I have transferred all my existing movie posts to it and will from now on only post movie stuff on the meaning in movies blog.

I hope that will help - if not, do let me know.

Saints 5 Huddersfield Town 0

Having beaten Walsall 5-1 three days earlier, I was more than a little anxious that we had spent our goal-scoring capital and the coffers would be empty. Huddersfield are going strong and it should have been a hard game. However, Southampton came out the blocks with all guns firing and never took their collective finger off the trigger. Huddersfield were not able to get into their stride and were completely overwhelmed.

Saints looked like a team from a higher division and were completely dominant. The back four were solid and Jose Fonte never looked like letting anything past. The midfield controlled the game breaking up Huddersfield attacks and then creatively distributing the ball to allow a counter-attack to be launched. It was heartening too to see five different scorers which underlines that the whole side is a threat in front of goal.

It was a great atmosphere - if but a little chilly with a freezing breeze flowing in from the sea.

Dare we dream of a place in the play-offs? The goals can be found here for UK viewers.

COYR

Burn After Reading (or viewing?)

I am a great fan of the Coen brothers. I guess therefore that it is good, from time-to-time, to find a piece of work which is so comparatively poor that it simply underlines the creative genius that is poured into their other films.

This was dubbed "The best comedy of the year' - I am sorry, I laughed only once and that was at the characterisation of a private detective working for a law firm. I understand that humour is highly culture-specific. On the whole, North American humour usually translates to the UK - but on this occasion it got stuck in the departure lounge state-side. The film is a pastiche of concepts that pay homage to the American spy genre with a cross-over to films such as Closer and  Love Actually. The sad thing is that it is not an effective spoof of either genre. Neither is it funny. If the story is meant to paint the CIA in new and ironic way, I'm afraid it's way off target as what is presented is close to the view we have of the CIA in reality. I still remain to be convinced that Americans do irony well. The only people to come out of the film with any credit were the Russians - perhaps the irony was so subtle that I missed it!

The sets were good, as were the acting performances - they simply weren't funny, which in my book is a basic requirement of a comedy. Tilda Swinton presented a character that was so domineering that only Attila The Hun might be interested! John Malkovich's character was intensely paranoid - which he does so well. George Clooney was the girl magnet and Brad Pitt was perhaps too convincing as a gym instructor who's turned his brain into muscle. Frances McDormand's performance drove the plot-line and was extremely compelling.

I'll give it 5/10.

Saints 5 Wallsall 1

Following on from a disappointing 0-0 draw away at Wycombe Wanders on Tuesday night, just over 20,000 faithful supporters came to St Mary's to see what we could do against The Saddlers. It took less than 3 minutes for Southampton to go behind! The omens looked back.

Wallsall scored a good free-kick goal from just outside the area. From where I was sitting you could clearly see the intent of the scorer as he rifled the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net. If only Kelvin Davis could have been sitting where I was!

However, that was one of only two attempts on target - the rest of the game saw Saints in control and crusing to victory. What was noticeable was that Southampton didn't let their heads drop and knew the goal came against the run of play. Five minutes lates Jason Puncheon opened his account for Saints since the January move from MK Dons. Lee Barnard scored twice to make it four goals in the last three games before Rickie Lambert extended his tally as the Division's top scorer with Adam Lallana adding the fifth in injury time.

A comprehensive victory. We face Huddersfield Town on Tuesday for our fourth game in 11 days. This will be a much tougher game. We have 2 games in hand over our rivals and if we were to win them both, it would leave us 11 points off the play-offs. A tough ask but not impossible.

Full credit to Alan Pardew and well done Southampton.

A Single Man - a double barnstormer

On Sunday I moved on to Brighton to watch this in what must be one of the dingiest and horrifically converted Odeon multi-screens. Should have stayed in Southampton!

This is a very intense biopic - a day in the life of Christopher Isherwood. I have just bought the novel of the same name and look forward to reading it. The acting from Firth (Falconer) and Moore is top class and forces itself off the screen to deliver three-dimensional characters. I don't know if it's because it was set in my early childhood, but if I believed in reincarnation, I would long to reappear as a WWII baby with liberal parents, self-confidence and the ability to enjoy all that the 60's offered! The sets, the costumes - even the cars all engender a sense of a world which is clean cut, perpendicular, filled with strong colours and things which forcefully invade the senses. The use of differing colour palettes as Falconer lurches in and out of grief-ridden melancholy is done most effectively.

The story moves along, but for me the ending is far too neat: temptation, new life, reconciliation, death. A whole life's story told in the last 10 minutes. Why? Tom Ford's direction is good, but his screenplay ends all too neatly and left me feeling uneasy in that a good film could have been a great film with a different ending. Perhaps the DVD will offer these choices?

I'll give this 7/10

Micmacs is a must see movie

I was lucky to see this on Sunday morning in a member's preview at my local Art House cinema in Southampton - Harbour Lights.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie and Delicatessen) this is a wonderful film full of humour, warmth and healthy redemption. Bazil's father is a Bomb Disposal Officer (very topical) and dies when a mine he is working on detonates. At the wake, young Bazil sees pictures of what was left of the mine and observes the manufacturers logo. In adult life he is the victim of a drive by shooting and is later shown a shell casing from the shooting where he observes a different manufacturers logo. One day whilst driving down the street, he notices he has stopped at place where on one side of the road is the mine manufacturer and on the other side is bullet manufacturer.

Bazil is befriended by a community of oddities who live in a reclamation site under a flyover in Paris. Each member of the community posses abilities that allows Bazil to marshal them into a team to take revenge on the arms manufacturers. What follows is a cross between Mission Impossible and Charlie Chaplin. It is full of suspense and comedy

The palette of colours used by Jeunet throughout the film adds an impact whilst being muted. The soundtrack is great. It embodies visualisation elements that draw on his previous work.
 
Yes it's quirky, yes it's French - but don't let any of that put you off. Go and see it.
 
I'll give it 8.5/10

Norwich City 0 Saints 2

Saints travelled to Norwich to take on the League leaders who had won at home in their last 11 games and beat them 0-2. This was no capitulation by Norwich - rather a demonstration that Southampton are beginning to get into their stride and contiue a league run that sees them unbeaten in 5 matches.

I was watching the 'live text' on the BBC and for a lot of the game Saints had over 70% of the possession. In the end it averaged out at 62% which is an indication of how strong the team has become - a huge encouragement. It was also good to see Pardew field his strongest side after the turbulence of players being cup-tied in either the FA Cup or JPT. Puncheon gave a strong display and it was really good to see Barnard score a couple of goals. Lallana hit the wood work twice too. The defence is looking solid and it was good to see Fonte and Jaidi pairing up well together.

A very encouraging result. Next match Tuesday against Wycombe. "Let's be having you!"

The Cube

Watched this yesterday with my son. Hmmm.

What is it really about? Is it a clever and glorified escape story? Is about sudden-death and awakening in purgatory? Is it a version of hell? Did the script writer dream about what it must be like inside a giant Rubik's Cube when he was taking a trip? Was it about the characters and their personal struggles in the face of extreme adversity? Did it provide a glimpse of a utopian 'everyone working together for the common good' before it sank into predictable dystopia? Well - you tell me!

The conceptualisation is good, but the plot and storyline leave too many unanswered questions. Where did they come from? Why? Were there any more people trapped in the cube? Was escape possible? What happened to Kazan? Who built the cube and what purpose did it serve? Why the gruesome means of killing people? Did the colours of the rooms have any meaning? Why give the clues through numbers? You see what I mean?

Perhaps it is the sign of a good story that it leaves so many unanswered questions. Frankly, I don't really  mind not finding out. So much so, that I've filed the sequel straight into the library and will need to be laid up for a long period of convalescence before I watch it!

The characterisations are good and the suspense is well maintained for most of the story. The methods of elimating people are imaginative and the first murder is particularly neat. For me however, the film never really gets into its stride and it certainly doesn't take me anywhere - except back to where I first began.

I'll give this 5/10