Starring: David Alexander (XVI), Oliver Allison, James Allison, Joel Beckett, Geoff Bell Directed By: Lexi Alexander Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: June 13, 2006 Running Time: 108 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Product Description: A young man moves to London and becomes a soccer hooligan after being wrongfully expelled from Harvard University. No Track Information Available Media Type: DVD Artist: HUNNAM/FORLANI/WOOD Title: GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS Street Release Date: 08/29/2006 Domestic Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE
Amazon.com: After the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Elijah Wood could've opted for further big budget epics, but took a sharp left turn with this better-than-average B-movie. Released just after Everything is Illuminated, another offbeat entry, Wood plays journalism student Matt Buckner. In the prologue, he's expelled from Harvard when his over-privileged roommate sets him up to take the fall for his own misdeeds. With nowhere to go, Matt decides to visit his sister, Shannon (Claire Forlani), in London. He's already got a chip on his shoulder when he falls under the sway of Shannon's brother-in-law, Pete (Charlie Hunnam), head of West Ham's football "firm," the Green Street Elite. Matt soon gets caught up in their thuggish antics—to tragic effect. In her feature debut, German-born Lexi Alexander makes a mostly convincing case for the attractions of violence to the emotionally vulnerable, as opposed to the emotionally numb pugilists of the more satirical Fight Club. Unlike David Fincher (by way of Chuck Palahniuk), she plays it straight, except for the stylized fight sequences. Consequently, humor is in short supply, but the young Brit cast, especially Leo Gregory as the surly Bovver, is charismatic and Wood makes his character as believable as possible, i.e. he may seem miscast, but that's the point. Although there's no (direct) correlation between the two, Green Street makes a fine taster for Bill Buford's Among the Thugs, the ultimate dissection of the hooligan mentality. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
The darker side of football GSH is a well made film that trys to show the darker side of football in the UK. It deals with a group of men who spend most of their days drinking at the pub and trying to find new ways to get into fights with revial football fans. Inserted into this group is a young American fresh from being thown out of college. Inside this "gang" he finds friends and a kind of family that he never had. A story of sticking together when the chips are down, GSH is a mix of Fight Club and The Boondock Saints, and anyone who enjoyed those films will enjoy this. The only things I didnt like was that the movie never really shows or talks about these men in the "real world" of thier daily lifes. We are shown little bits, but I would like to know more about why they choose to fight over football and street cred, instead of living a normal life. Also the "NYPD Blue camera work" really bugs me. Oh and I could never be scared of Frodo, no matter what he learned from these guys.
Green Street This is a great video for Irish Soccer fans. Not only does it show soccer but it shows honor.
Great Idea but fell Short I thought this was a great idea for a movie. I love English football and am familiar with the hooligan issue which made me excited to see it. There are segments in the film that were just great, but, overall, it was too melodramatic for my tastes. Further, the film was a bit clichéd. Elijah Wood plays the classic fatherless son who seeks guidance and affirmation from a gang (which, of course, is precisely what often occurs). The subplot of the privileged politician's son setting him up was again over familiar as was another substrain wherein his sister's husband got married and--yet again!--managed to morph a bad man straight. That was a dubious proposition indeed. As far as the acting goes I thought Charles Hunnam was sensational, but could not buy Wood as (even) a semi-tough firm member. Frodo came off as weak and fragile here. It's hard to suspend belief that he would be anything but dead in a real fight. I was pleased to see though that Tony Adams was given a cameo role.
Good Will Hunting in Reverse. (dvd features below) In Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series), Matt Damon's character, Will, goes from a street tough Boston kid working as a custodian at Harvard to realizing his genius. In Green Street Hooligans Elijah Wood's character Matt Buckner goes from promising undergrad at Harvard with two months left to street tough kid in London. I know what your thinking, Elijah Wood, as a tough guy, give me a break, and although he doesn't exactly pull it off greatly it doesn't distract from the movie. Picture the part in Good Will Hunting towards the beginning when Will and his friends get into a brawl in the park and Gerry Rafferty's song Baker Street is playing, Green Street Hooligans is basically that on and off for the whole movie. Matt takes the fall for something his roommate did, figuring his family being rich and powerful there wouldn't be a point in putting up a fight and gets expelled. He travels to London to visit his sister and her family which he hasn't met yet. Soon Matt gets involved with his sisters husbands brother Pete Dunham played by Charlie Hunnam. Hummam brings a charismatic swagger to his character which makes him a convincing and believable leader in the film. Pete Dunham is a history teacher by profession, but his main priority is leading his soccer firm the GSE (Green Street Elite). Soccer firms are groups of friends kind of like gangs that support their teams, watch their friends backs, drink beer, and build their reputations usually from fighting and humiliating other firms. Think an unconscious version of Fight Club (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) with soccer hoods that have various professional day jobs. The GSE's main rival is Millwall, Matt asks like the Yankees and the Red Sox? Pete replies more like the Israelis and Palestinians. Mainly the movie is trying to say stand your ground but ultimately know when to fight and when to walk away. The movie is pretty unrealistic in a way which anyone that has been in a few fights can attest to. For example these guys pound on each other and break bottles over each others heads yet all of their bruises are in an attractive kind of way via the cut above the eye with blood just trickling down while you look all intense. Also, they drink tons of brew but are all in shape or have chiseled abs. I imagine the real GSE to have missing teeth, disfigured noses, and beer bellies. Still, Green Street Hooligans is a cool and entertaining movie.
DVD Features: -The Making of Hooligans -Terence Jay One Blood Music Video (good song)
I just love it. I wish I could describe things the way many reviewers do, but in all honesty there is one main connection for my recommending this movie. If you love Boondock Saints, you'll love this movie just as much. You don't need to love soccer, or any of the actors listed - it's just a good flick with believable fight scenes and a great story on trying your feet on new soil.
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