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Due to licensing some National Teams don’t have proper players (Germany for example)

To get rid of this go to “C:/Program Files/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2008/data/db/800/lnc/all” once there copy the file entitled “fake.lnc” (You may wish to put it in a safe place as backup if needed) then delete the file “fake.lnc” and when you start a new game the countries effected will have the proper squad.

All this file does it put a “mask” on the national teams effected and once you remove it will get rid of the mask.

A biopic about a drug dealer starring Washington, Crowe, and Scott. It is wonderful seeing two actors with such brilliance and a good director to guide them through their material.

The movie suffers a little from having two such big movie stars in one film. This is mostly Frank Lucas’s story, and I didn’t really get to know him as much as I would have liked. Russel Crowe plays a police officer who seems to have a crummy family life just to give him a fatal flaw. Russel Crowe is the right man to play him, injecting a good deal of street sense intelligence into him and making him gruff enough to counter his role as the purer-than-driven-snow cop.

Without giving too much away, I will say that the most effective scene in the movie is when the two meet for the first time. This scene left me shaking with emotion, not because the scene hasn’t been played out in thousands of gangster/caper movies, or because of the soundtrack which has played in thousands more. Seeing these two characters for the first time is so well shot that there is a potency and mystery in simply these two men just staring at each other.

The movie is not without flaws though. One key part of the story is the corrupt nature of the NYPD Special Narcotics Unit. However, the point-man for this part of the story seems strangely insulated from the rest of the story. He does a lot of generally sleazy things and makes a few hazy threats at Denzel and Crowe, but doesn’t inject himself in enough to make the payoff entirely satisfying. Also, while the courtroom scenes involving the Crowe character’s divorce are brief, my suspicion is they would have been more interesting on the cutting room floor, especially if they had made room for more scenes involving Lucas’s rough edges. My guess is even the most stylish gangster in Harlem wouldn’t be as smooth as Mr. Washington.

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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I’ve invested/wasted several hours of my life coming to terms with Football Manager 2008 (or Worldwide Soccer Manager) and have identified the following players as stars of the future:

The first grouping have the potential to be the best of the best and if you click the link on their name that will take you to a profile of how they are getting on in real life (these are still being created so bare with me) :

• Aaron - Valencia
• Alexandre Pato - AC Milan
• Anderson - Man Utd
• Banega - Boca
• Bojan - Barcelona
• Dos Santos - Barcelona
• Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus
• Guardado - Deportivo
• Lulinha - Corinthians
• Saivet - Bordeaux
• Ustari - Getafe
• Vela - Arsenal

This second grouping of future stars have the potential to be very, very good:

• Babel - Liverpool
• Jourdren - Montpellier
• Edwards - Millwall
• Hazard - Lille
• Bouzanis - Liverpool
• Johnson - Man City
• Camucho - At. Madrid

I’ll keep this list updated as I discover new ones and feel free to add your own in the comments.

Don’t forget to read, rate and comment on some other Football Manager related articles on the site, always good to hear peoples views!

(78 votes, average: 4.19 out of 5)

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Sometimes there is a movie that goes unheard of, ignored by most, sometimes pounded by negative critics and suddenly, some years later, it turns into a classic for some reason. Fantasy movies are usually on top of that list. Think of Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal. Stardust will probably find itself along with those titles in the upcoming years for many reasons.

First of, the movie, overall, is not taken seriously in many different ways. The actors all seem to be having fun and an aura of global simplicity surrounds the movie from beginning to end. There’s a lot of cheezy stuff in Stardust, but just enough so it can’t be considered as a boring parody. It involves old fairy tales with contemporary humor, pretty much like Shrek did with brilliance. Although it is not funny as in laughable, the movie makes us smile not because of some joke or the facial expressions of some actor, but because we find each and every character charmingly naive and totally focused on one single idea. The fact that their personality is so simple makes them likable very soon after we encounter them for the first time.

The most intriguing part is, without a doubt, Robert De Niro’s role as cross dressing pirate. His part is played with great acting and he is seen just enough so his character doesn’t turn into a cliché. He is an enlightenment to the movie and almost makes us forget about some boring scenes. The brothers killing each other for the throne also fill up some good moments. The main actor ( Charlie Cox ) playing the hero is doing his best but the whole scenario was too much of a ” loser turning into a winner “, he is still not experienced enough to play a leading role. He was mostly overshadowed by the other characters ( especially Lamia ( Pfeiffer ), Septimus ( Mark Strong ) and Captain Shakespeare ( De Niro )). Claire Danes was okay. I wished Jason Flemyng would’ve played a bigger part as Primus. I liked his over-the-top prince charming looks and personality compared to the Severus Snape/Aragorn look-a-like in Septimus who was not enough of a villain. Wearing black does not really make you evil. Michelle Pfeiffer was all right but I think her character also was built on “evil looks” and she is not that terrifying although the “inn scene” was great.

These kind of movies must not be expected to be as gigantic and dramatic as The Lord of The Rings which is the prime example. It is not a work of art, just an enjoyable family friendly film. It has to be taken lightly but really is worth a watch.

(4 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

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Kellvin Chavez of LatinoReview.com has just reported some news around The Dark Knight. His anonymous source has leaked a huge plot point for the introduction of The Joker and Batman. This might be considered a spoiler, but here is what his source has to say:

“The Dark Knight begins with the Joker robbing a huge bank (we’ve seen photos of this everywhere). The bank is where the mob and all the gangs in Gotham keep all of their money. The Joker takes this money and holds it “ransom”. The Joker then says to the mob and the gangs of Gotham, “If you help me take down Batman, you’ll get your money back. If not, I’m going to burn it all.” This is how the Joker assembles his army to take down Batman.”

(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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