OWFilm World Cup Quarter Final Preview

By Laurent Kelly /

The biggest news to arise from the OWFilm World Cup Round Two was without doubt New Zealand€™s representative The Return of the King being shown the door. On paper, The Return of the King was one of the major favourites and seemed a shoe-in to reach at-least the Semi-Final stage but instead the film was efficiently beaten by Sweden€™s cult vampire sensation Let the Right One In, in the highest contested match-up of the tournament so far. The reason for the victory is a culmination of factors. For one, Let the Right One In has the advantage of modern momentum and as such is currently more exciting and hyped. Secondly, as Matt has since stated €“ The Return of the King is in an awkward phase where it is too old to be relevant but not yet old enough to have reached that point of nostalgia. Thirdly, however there are people such as myself who do not hold The Lord of the Rings trilogy in such high esteem and believe that the films far from being masterpieces are rather terrifically fun and endlessly rewatchable blockbusters. As luck would have it Let the Right One, having faced the mighty power of the ring now have to take on tournament favourite The Godfather. Here, the Swedish film may run out of luck as Coppola€™s film has both nostalgic appeal on its side and owing to an endless stream of modern parodies and videogames etc is still very relevant in today€™s culture. This match will without doubt be the standout tie within the Quarter Finals. Both England and Scotland are still in with a shout of overall victory but will need all the British support they can muster if they want to progress to the final four. After expectantly taking out Belgium and Russia - England now have the unenviable task of knocking martial arts favourite The Seven Samurai to the ground. Considering the other films they could have faced however this is not such a horrifying draw for Goldfinger and the film may stand a chance owing to the fact that Seven Samurai does not resonate so strongly amongst younger audiences. Scotland (Trainspotting) will also have their hands full as they do battle against Italy€™s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Trainspotting have looked solid so far but Leone€™s classic will take some beating and the film showed no signs of slowing down in the last round as it easily defeated South Africa€™s legend killer, District 9. The first bout of the Quarter-finals should also be very entertaining. Spain (Pan's Labyrinth), recent football world cup winners, are also the form nation currently in this tournament. Having faced quality but obscure competition so far however they may find it a harder task competing against the more outlandish and accessible City of God, representing Brazil. No matter the results, the Quarter Finals promises to offer four terrific match-ups in which your votes will determine the final four: PAN€™S LABYRINTH (Spain) VS CITY OF GOD (Brazil) THE GODFATHER (U.S.A.) VS LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Sweden) THE SEVEN SAMURAI (Japan) VS. GOLDFINGER (England) TRAINSPOTTING (Scotland) VS THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Italy)