World Cup, Season 3, Match 1G: England vs Hong Kong vs Bulgaria vs Argentina

[72aicm]

best round so far

I'm getting curious for sebby's ratings.

In every film there's gotta be something to hate.

I believe I saw somewhere in one of the challenge threads that he rated Tou Ze 6/10. In other words, yet another first place ranking for that movie

[filmbantha]

1. Ice Cold in Alex
2. Ritzar bez bronya
3. Tou ze
4. La casa del angel

[klaus78]

1. La casa del angel (Argentina) 8/10
2. Ritzar bez bronya (Bulgaria) 7/10
3. Ice Cold in Alex (England) 6/10
4. Tou ze (Hong Kong) 4/10

[Gershwin]

I haven't been very fond of your picks in World Cups so far, Mario, but I have to say that Ritzar bez bronya is a nice little gem!
I still got to see Tou ze, but so far the Bulgarian entry is in the lead.

[zhangalan]

1. Ice Cold in Alex
2. Tou ze
3. La casa del ángel
4. Ritzar bez bronya

Not a good round. The only film I enjoy is Ice Cold in Alex. At least it has climatic scenes and is entertaining, not as good as Wages of Fear though.

[clemmetarey]

Copy/pasting your comment zhangalan

1. Ice Cold in Alex (1958) 6/10
2. Tou ze (2011) 6/10
3. La casa del ángel (1957) 5/10
4. Ritzar bez bronya (1966) 5/10

[Armoreska]

climatic scenes

So the temperate climate in the other movies is just not good enough?

[Gershwin]

Good round.

1. Ritzar bez bronya
2. Ice Cold in Alex
3. La casa del ángel
4. Tou ze

[joachimt]

Ice Cold in Alex: 2.077 (50-28)
Tou ze: 2.308 (44-34)
Ritzar bez bronya: 2.692 (34-44)
La casa del ángel: 2.923 (28-50)

[hurluberlu]

1. Tou ze 7
2. Ice Cold in Alex 7-
3. La casa del ángel 6+
4. Ritzar bez bronya 6

[sebby]

best round so far

I'm getting curious for sebby's ratings.

Starting my WC watching for this round today. Not at all enamored with the first film I put on

[Lilarcor]

best round so far

I'm getting curious for sebby's ratings.

Starting my WC watching for this round today. Not at all enamored with the first film I put on

[Mario Gaborović]

2.5 days left.

[Mochard]

1. Ice Cold in Alex 8.5/10
2. Ritzar bez bronya 7/10
3. Tou ze 7/10
4. La casa del ángel 6/10

Monty recommended Ice Cold in Alex a while back on a forum post and I loved it. Decent round 2nd and 3rd could have gone either way for me.

[Angel Glez]

1. Knight Without Armour
2. Ice Cold in Alex
3. A Simple Life
4. The House of the Angel

[edward5]

1. Ice Cold in Alex 7/10
2. Tou ze 6/10
3. La casa del ángel 5/10
4. Ritzar bez bronya 5/10

[joachimt]

Ice Cold in Alex: 2 (60-30)
Tou ze: 2.3 (51-39)
Ritzar bez bronya: 2.7 (39-51)
La casa del ángel: 3 (30-60)

[jdidaco]

Fine round, thanks to the managers.

1. La casa del ángel
2. Ritzar bez bronya
3. Ice Cold in Alex
4. Tou ze

[Fergenaprido]

This was a very good match for me; the best of this season (so far, with matches A and B right behind). Very tough to choose a top two, as well, as 3 of the films were all about the same level of goodness.

Mild spoilers ahead.

Ice Cold in Alex - an interesting war journey film across North Africa. Acting was fine (maybe I'm nitpicking?), the scenario was good (I'm really curious to know if this is actually based on a real story, or just on the novel), and the cinematography of the unforgiving landscape was well done.

Tou ze (A Simple Life) - I didn't really know where this was going at first, but then it grabbed me (middle-aged Andy Lau is still fiiiiiiine) and I loved Deanie Ip in this. At times depressing and others cheerful, it chronicled very aptly the later part of one person's simple life.

Ritzar bez bronya (Knight Without Armor) - perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the three, because it was absolutely not what I expected. The father character was irritating, but thankfully he didn't play a big role after the first third. That kid, though... I got so much enjoyment watching how he reacted to everything. A good gem from an underrepresented country; sad that the film's rating has dropped a bit on imdb since the match started.

La casa del ángel (The House of the Angel) - First 20 minutes were blah, but then it got more interesting. Couldn't really grasp my attention, though, as it switched back and forth between coming of age tale and political demithriller. It never managed to do either one particularly well, but it was still competently made.

The top three will probably change order for me every hour, but this is what I'll go with at this time, so that I don't miss the deadline.

1. England - 7.8
2. Bulgaria - 7.8
3. Hong Kong - 7.8
4. Argentina - 6.8

[joachimt]

15 hours left

[Gorro]

1. Ice Cold in Alex
2. Tou ze
3. Ritzar bez bronya
4. La casa del ángel

[RBG]

good thing i don't have to pick another film as i obviously have no clue what you people would like

[joachimt]

good thing i don't have to pick another film as i obviously have no clue what you people would like

We are hard to predict!

On the other hand, I think most people here liked La casa del angel, but it's just a tough group. I think the only thing you could have done better is picking something of which a better quality version survives.

[zuma]

good thing i don't have to pick another film as i obviously have no clue what you people would like

We are hard to predict!

On the other hand, I think most people here liked La casa del angel, but it's just a tough group. I think the only thing you could have done better is picking something of which a better quality version survives.

Yep. Good quality and decent subs are a must, otherwise your film is at a disadvantage before the match even starts.

[Mario Gaborović]

14.5 hours left. This will most likely be a significant attention drop.

[Armoreska]

33 votes so far. Chance for 7 more? Best round so far

[weirdboy]

1. Tou ze (A Simple Life) - 2011 - Ann Hui
2. La casa del angel - 1957 - Leopoldo Torre Nilsson
3. Ice Cold in Alex - 1958 - J. Lee Thompson
4. Ritzar bez bronya (Knight Without Armor) - 1966 - Borislav Sharaliev

[metaller]

I'll make it quick, as i just barely managed to finish all films in time (again). The splendid weather just makes me want to be more outdoors, so my tv time is very limited right now.

1. Ice Cold in Alex (1958) 8/10 - this was intense in parts, and overall just a wonderfully british war tale
2. Tou ze (2011) 7.5/10 liked this simple yet deep film a lot too
3. La casa del ángel (1957) 6.5/10 - a young girl discovers her sexuality in oppressive environments, falling for a pricipled but troubled older guy. a bit too talky perhaps
4. Ritzar bez bronya (1966) 6.5/10 - the leading boy was adorable and i enjoyed the slice of life films, but also the "hidden" social aspects of the film. but despite its short runtime it felt too long, without any goal

[RBG]

i really feel it's the realest rape scene i've ever seen in a film. i could tell immediately it was written by a woman

[Mario Gaborović]

good thing i don't have to pick another film as i obviously have no clue what you people would like

Judging by reactions, it was one of the tougher groups so don't despair.

[wasabi]

1. Tou ze (A Simple Life)
2. La casa del angel
3. Ice Cold in Alex
4. Ritzar bez bronya

[PeacefulAnarchy]

1. Tou ze (A Simple Life)
2. La casa del angel
3. Ice Cold in Alex
4. Ritzar bez bronya

[funkybusiness]

1. Ice Cold in Alex
2. Ritzar bez bronya
3. La casa del ángel
4. Tou ze


NOT LAST YEAAAAHHH

[tommy_leazaq]

1. Ice Cold in Alex - 7.8. Never in doubt about this one. Straight into my favorites list
2. Knight without Armour - 7.4.. Arguably the best juvenile performances I have seen not only from the lead boy, who was really amazing, but from other small kids too.
3. A Simple Life - 6.4.. Pleasant and pleasing. Great performances all around. Lau even in his late 40s looked charming.
4. La casa del angel - 6.3.. Good film but unfortunate to come up against bunch of very good films.

[metaller]

i really feel it's the realest rape scene i've ever seen in a film. i could tell immediately it was written by a woman

Yeah, it was the "best" part of the film. A lot of it was just ok, but that scene war brutal and raw. Way more intense than anything else in the film.

[sebby]

Hoo boy, 2.5 hours left. Let's see if I can squeeze in the last film and keep my peepers open.

[sebby]

1. La casa del ángel
2. Ritzar bez bronya
3. Ice Cold in Alex
4. Tou ze

[mjf314]

1. Tou ze
2. La casa del ángel
3. Ritzar bez bronya
4. Ice Cold in Alex

[Armoreska]

1. La casa del ángel
2. Ritzar bez bronya
3. Ice Cold in Alex
4. Tou ze

but what of the scores?

41 votes

[joachimt]

Deadline over. Final results:

Ice Cold in Alex: 2.049 (80-43)
Tou ze: 2.317 (69-54)
Ritzar bez bronya: 2.756 (51-72)
La casa del ángel: 2.878 (46-77)

England and Hong Kong proceed.

Congratulations to funkybusiness and Smoover. Also thanks to Mario Gaborović and RBG for their picks and to the 41 people voting this match.