{"id":10410,"date":"2015-01-04T21:07:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T02:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10410"},"modified":"2015-01-04T21:10:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T02:10:52","slug":"br-fever-pitch-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10410","title":{"rendered":"BR: Fever Pitch (1997)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/FeverPitch1997_BR.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10411\" alt=\"FeverPitch1997_BR\" src=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/FeverPitch1997_BR.jpg\" width=\"120\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a>Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extras<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n<p><strong>Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Twilight Time<\/p>\n<p><strong>Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n<p><strong>Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 March 11, 2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Comedy \/ Drama<\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Opposites attract and quarrel in Nich Hornby&#8217;s own adaptation of his best-selling novel in which a rabid sports fan falls for a fellow teacher.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\"><strong>Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Audio Commentary with producer Nick Redman and film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Isolated stereo music track \/ 4-page colour booklet with liner notes by Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from <a href=\"http:\/\/www1.screenarchives.com\/title_detail.cfm\/ID\/26732\/FEVER-PITCH-1997\/\" target=\"_blank\">Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most North Americans are likely familiar with the 2005 American remake of <strong>Fever Pitch <\/strong>which substituted baseball for soccer, but the original British version of Nick Hornby\u2019s autobiographical novel (adapted by the author) is a unique animal that doesn\u2019t really make a huge effort to smoothen or tone down the sports fanaticism of Paul (wavy, curly haired Colin Firth) nor the whys of his improbably union with fellow teacher Sarah (Ruth Gemmell).<\/p>\n<p>Soccer fans may revel at the devotion paid to the beautiful game, but non-soccer and less obsessive sports fans in general may find <strong>Fever Pitch <\/strong>to be a little one-sided. Hornby\u2019s script jumps between Paul\u2019s childhood and youth when the boy discovers soccer one afternoon as an alternative activity to share with his divorced father, and once hooked, Paul becomes a loyal fan of the Arsenal Football Club, teaching the game in the daytime, listening to reports on radio in the car, watching the game on TV at home, and wearing his colours above and below the belt 24-7.<\/p>\n<p>Why fellow teacher Sarah falls for him isn\u2019t really clarified \u2013 it\u2019s simply a case of opposites attracting \u2013 but they\u2019re so ill-suited and have so little in common, the implausibility of their relationship becomes an issue early into their union. Paul can be charming, but he\u2019s also a bit of a bulldog, and it\u2019s sometimes baffling what specific aspects of Paul\u2019s personality Sarah can and does enjoy; even with their shared animal attraction, there\u2019s a sense their romance can and will run out of steam.<\/p>\n<p>Like Hornby\u2019s other filmed novel, <strong>High Fidelity <\/strong>(2000), Paul is another man-child, an adult who obsesses on something tied deeply to his youth and the moments that make him feel alive, if not energized, but there\u2019s one great explosive scene that at least has the two lovers letting their mutual confusion loose and loud, challenging the plausibility of these attracted opposites, and sending them running in opposite directions.<\/p>\n<p>Hornby\u2019s plotting also follows a series of historic events in Arsenal\u2019s history, grounding the story to a series of transformative eras, and using Paul as a mirror to that first moment when a sports fan feels all warm &amp; fuzzy inside upon entering a stadium, and realizing this particular game was for them, and for life. Also woven into Paul\u2019s story arc (or sorts) are tragic deaths in a stadium stampede, and the pivotal game where Arsenal wins the 1988-1989 season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fever Pitch<\/strong> is a beautifully produced film with great production design, locations, and d\u00e9cor &amp; wardrobe evocative of a more tasteful 1980s, and it\u2019s the first of Hornby\u2019s novels to be adapted to film, after which came <strong>About a Boy<\/strong> (2002), and <strong>A Long Way Down<\/strong> (2014).<\/p>\n<p>Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray features a sparkling transfer and a really robust 5.1 sound mix (the period songs sound <em>very<\/em> warm), and among the extras are Julie Kirgo\u2019s liner notes, and a commentary track with Kirgo and Nick Redman \u2013 both of whom share a particular affection for the film and the politics of the era. Redman helps us navigate through the complexities of British soccer clubs and Arsenal\u2019s history, and the disc also includes an isolated stereo music track of Boo Hewerdine and Neil MacColl\u2019s score.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>External References:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10407\">Editor&#8217;s Blog<\/a> &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0119114\/combined\">IMDB \u00a0<\/a>&#8212; \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.soundtrackcollector.com\/catalog\/soundtrackdetail.php?movieid=38193\">Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0&#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soundtrackcollector.com\/composer\/3368\/Neill+MacColl\">Composer Filmography<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Vendor Search Links:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=917972&amp;tag=kqco-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=15121&amp;creative=330641\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.ca<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.ca\/e\/ir?t=kqco-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=15\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.ca\/e\/ir?t=kqco-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=15\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <span class=\"style8\">&#8212;\u00a0<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=130&amp;tag=kqco06-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.com<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=kqco06-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=kqco06-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> <span class=\"style8\">&#8212;\u00a0<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/b?_encoding=UTF8&amp;site-redirect=&amp;node=283926&amp;tag=kqco-21&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=6738\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most North Americans are likely familiar with the 2005 American remake of Fever Pitch which substituted baseball for soccer, but the original British version of Nick Hornby\u2019s autobiographical novel (adapted by the author) is a unique animal that doesn\u2019t really make a huge effort to smoothen or tone down the sports fanaticism of Paul nor the whys of his improbably union with fellow teacher Sarah&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3261,3262,3258,3260,3263,3257,3259],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2HU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10422,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10410\/revisions\/10422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}