Ford v Ferrari

My View:  Ford v Ferrari (2019) PG-13   Legendary American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) is hired by the Ford Motor Company to create a race car that can take on the seemingly to defeat Ferrari racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Against Ford’s wishes, he hires the brash and outspoken driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to drive the car. Can Shelby manage Mlle’s temper long enough to win the race? One of the best films of the year and maybe the finest racing film of all time. The plot is expertly laid out with the two leads at the top of their game, and the racing sequences are thrilling to watch. At no time does this film feel like a movie that is over two and a half hours in length. I loved the relationship that Miles has with both his wife (played by Caitriona Balfe) and his son (Noah Jupe), making Miles a man that you can root for from the start. Damon, as the brash and bold Shelby, holds his own with Cable on the screen, and their fight scene, while Miles’s wife looks on from a lawn chair in the front yard, is one of the highlights of the movie. Even if you aren’t a racing fan, you will love this film for its deep and complex characters and their ever-evolving relationships.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Ford v Ferrari Website

My View: The Irishman (2019) R   The story of Frank “The Irishman’ Sheeran (Robert De Niro) who went from a truck driving WWII vet to the right-hand man of the Bufalino crime family. Sheeran’s claim in the later years was that he was the hitman that killed his long-time friend Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who mysteriously vanished in 1975. Director Martin Scorsese brings us another gem of a film. This isn’t a film that glamorizes the mob life like The Godfather, Goodfellas or Casino. This is a movie about the dark, bloody life of a man who, through good luck and bravado, makes it to be the right-hand man of a mob boss and a close friend of one of the most powerful men in the country in Teamsters boss Hoffa. Much has been made of the CGI effects used to ‘de-age’ De Niro and Joe Pesci (playing mob boss Russell Bufalino) for a good third of the film, but you very quickly accept it, and it never interferes with the flow of the movie. The performances in this film are just draw-dropping good, and while the film is three and a half hours long, you never notice or feel the length of the movie. I can’t stress how powerful and sometimes moving this film is. Note that while this film is based loosely on real events, don’t believe everything you see actually happened, especially with the death of Hoffa. I think we can allow a master filmmaker like Scorsese to have a little fun with history to create a film that is an instant classic in the making.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again    The Irishman Website

My View: Charlie’s Angels (2019) PG-13   A systems engineer, Elena (Naomi Scott), joins Jane (Ella Balinska) and Sabina (Kristen Stewart) to work for the mysterious Charles Townsend. The Townsend Agency is guided by multiple Bosleys (Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, Djimon Hounsou) to stop the world’s mastermind criminals. Can we please stop making films about crappy TV series from the past? The film is a bloated mess of a movie that has plot twists that you see almost from the start of the movie. Other than Patrick Stewart (who chews up scenery like he hasn’t acted in ten years), Kristen Stewart looks like the only actor in this cast that is having a good time making this film. Djimon Hounsou is absolutely wasted in a small role, and Elizabeth Banks acts like she is in a bad 70s cop show, which is what this film is based on. The film is summed up by a dance sequence near the end of the film that Balinska and Stewart join in on, somehow knowing all the intricate dance moves that contribute nothing to this film but making the running time pad out to almost two hours. If Charlie calls, don’t answer the phone. If you make it to the end, there are bonus scenes during the credits, which a bunch of cameos.   My Rating: Cable    Charlie's Angels Website

My View: The Good Liar (2019) R   Career con artist Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) meets wealthy widow Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) in an online dating service, and he can’t believe his luck. He begins a courtship with the intent of milking her dry, but he never thought for a moment that he would start to have feelings for her. The performances of McKellen and Mirren can’t overcome a weak plot whose major twist is seen almost from the start of the film. I wish that director Bill Condon and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher gave us a much more vibrant and complex plot, but the film finds its self in a corner at the end of the movie that it quite can’t get out of. I hate it when films let down the actors, especially ones of this talent, but The Good Liar can’t overcome its attempt to fool us.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    The Good Liar Movie

Indiefest: The Warrior Queen of Jhansi (2019) R  Rani Lakshmibai (Devika Bhise) must rise up and lead her people to take on the formidable British East India Company when it threatens her family and her country with expansion. I saw the trailer of this film and thought it might be a cool film to check out, a warrior queen who leads a group of women warriors to take on the mighty British empire. Unfortunately, this film feels like a poorly made TV docudrama, with long periods of people discussing how to put down the rebellion. The action sequences are too far, and few between and aren’t very exciting. The left me wanting more of this story, never quite delivering what it promised.  My Rating: Cable    The Warrior Queen of Jhansi Website

Indiefest: Frankie (2019) PG-13   Three generations deal with life-changing experiences during one day on vacation in Sintra, Portugal, a historic town known for its water that heals. I enjoyed the performances in this film, especially Isabelle Huppert, who plays the title role, a world-famous actress and the matriarch of the family, and Marisa Tomei, a friend of Frankie who has come to spend time with Frankie and her family. This is a film that is all about conversations between a lot of miserable people. There are a few really touching moments, especially between Brendan Gleeson, who plays Frankie’s devoted and loving husband, and Huppert, a woman who wants to plan out everything in her life and usually gets her way. Spend the day in the beautiful countryside, getting to know this strange and troubled family.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    Frankie Website

Indiefest:  Light from Light (2019) A single mom and part-time paranormal investigator, Shelia (Marin Ireland), is asked to look into a possible ‘haunting’ at a widower’s (Jim Gaffigan) home. I really enjoyed this small, quiet film about a mother and son, Owen(Josh Wiggins). While the paranormal aspect of the film is part of the story, the heart of the film is how the mother, son, and the widower are dealing with loss. Marin Ireland gives a multi-layered performance of a mom who may have the gift of being able to contact ghosts but is more concerned about how the widower is dealing with the loss of his wife. Josh Wiggins gives a winning performance as the son who is slow to develop his friendship with Lucy (Atheena Frizzell), a fellow student who shows all the signs that she wants to be more than friends with Owen. Jim Gaffigan gives a moving and restrained performance as the grieving widow who wants to know if his wife really is a ghost in his house or is it all in his imagination. This is a film that I savored every moment it was on the screen and loved getting to know the characters in the movie, pleased in the end how everything turned out.   My RatingRating: Full Price    Light from Light Website

Forgotten Film:  Eureka (1983) R   In the 20s, a prospector, Jack McCann (Gene Hackman), finds a gold mine through mysterious ways. He becomes the richest man in the world, but money can’t always buy happiness. Boasting an all-star cast that includes Theresa Russell, Rutger Hauer, Mickey Rourke, and Joe Pesci, this film is a wild ride of a movie that is part reality and part fantasy. Your job as a viewer is to figure out which part is real and which is fantasy. Hackman is fantastic as the role of a man whose life hasn’t turned out the way he wanted it to, and Theresa Russell is brilliant as his troubled daughter who has fallen for the wrong man (Hauer). This isn’t a great film, but man is it fun to watch Hackman just go nuts with the role.    My View: Bargain Matinee    Eureka Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Charlie’s Angels: Chaperon: Turkey

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) PG-13 The gang (Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan) is back, and this time it’s a rescue mission. In order to escape the most dangerous game, they will have to go into an unknown country full of arid deserts and snowy mountains. The first film was an unexpected pleasure, so let's hope two times a charm.    Jumanji: The Next Level Website

Until Next Time!

Countdown

My View: Countdown (2019) PG-13 When a nurse (Elizabeth Lail) downloads an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die, she discovers that she has only three days to live. Now she must figure out a way to save her life before the countdown strikes zero. This is your typical, run of the mill, jump out of the dark movie where our heroine is racing against time to figure out how to defeat an app that counts down when you are going to die. The ‘scary’ moments in the film were very predictable, never creating any tension that the movie sorely needed. P.J. Byrne does a horrible job as the comic relief priest that is sought after to find a solution to defeat the app.   My Rating: Cable   Countdown Website

My View: Black and Blue (2019) R   A rookie police officer, Alice West (Naomie Harris), witnesses dirty cops, including her partner, kill a man. West now is on the run from both her fellow officers and her community that she has sworn to protect and serve. Despite the acting chops of Naomie Harris, this film feels very long with endless chase sequences where our hero, the plucky army vet, Officer West, is able to elude police officers on both foot and in cars, time and time again by just hiding in various spots in the neighborhood. The film tries to add in commentary on the Katrina aftermath, police brutality, and several other issues that it tries to quickly wrap up at the end of the film. I love that Hollywood gave Harris a starring role in a movie, but can we provide her with something more than this full of holes plotline and a supporting cast that feels like it was in a bad 90s cop TV show.   My Rating: Cable   Black and Blue Website

MyView: The Current War: Director’s Cut (2017) PG-13    The story of the race between Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), Nikola Tesla (Nichoas Hoult), and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) to determine whose electrical system will be adopted by the modern world. I would first like to mention the cinematography in this film, which is beautiful and amazing. The film does a great job of making it look like it is in the late 1800s. I love the fact that we see both sides of the story. The film goes back and forth, telling equally the stories of two gigantic figures of the time, Westinghouse, who knew his system was the correct one and Edison, who had the advantage over Westinghouse in the fact that he was already a household name, signing autographs right and left. My favorite character in the film was the eccentric Nikola Telsa, who worked at different times for both men. Hoult gives a multilayered performance of Telsa, a man who knew he was the smartest man in the room and would let you know it. The harnessing of electricity was one of the greatest achievements that man has ever had, and this film lives up to those lofty ideals.   My Rating: Full Price    The Current War Facebook Page

Indiefest: The Lighthouse (2019) R   Two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson) work together, and the isolation takes a toll on the two men’s minds. This film reminded me of the European avant-garde movies that my college professors made me watch in my History of Cinema classes, an experience that I did not enjoy. This is the story of two men: Pattinson’s character, Winslow, is a wet behind the ears teetotaler of a man who is just there to make a buck and Dafoe’s character, Wake, is a hard-drinking former seaman who lost his leg and now takes his job as custodian of the lighthouse as serious as if he was piloting a ship. The two men barely make it to the end of the two weeks' stay when due to weather, their relief does not show up and may not for several months. The film early on hints that both men are troubled. Pattinson’s character has dreams/nightmares about a mermaid based on a small carving he finds hidden in his bed, and Dafoe’s character is ultra-protective of the light in the lighthouse, to the point of threatening violence if Winslow ever goes to the top. The second half of the film delves into how the two men are taking their continued isolation, and many of the remaining scenes of the film are hard to distinguish if they are real or just figments of the men’s minds. This is a film from Robert Eggers, the writer/director of The Witch (2015), another film that never was clear what was an actual event and what was only in the minds of its characters. I am just not a fan of this style of film and did not enjoy the movie, though I thought both actors were brilliant in their roles. This is a film that I will never re-watch and kind of wish that I hadn’t seen it to begin with.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   The Lighthouse Website

Indiefest: Parasite (2019) R A down on their luck family’s fortune changes when their out of work son, Kim Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi), poses as an English tutor for a wealthy teenage daughter of a very affluent family. I loved this film right from the start! A family, who when we first meet them, is more concerned with their free wi-fi going way than their living conditions, slowly but surely weasel their way into the lives of a well-to-do family. This is a masterpiece of filmmaking that moves back and forth from comedy to drama with a heavy hand on the implications of a society that is deeply divided between the haves and have nots. Do not read any detailed reviews of the film until you see the movie due to the incredible plot devices that are used. If this film is not nominated for not just Best Foreign Film but Best Picture at the next Academy Awards, it will be a failure of the highest magnitude. Perfectly shot with an impeccable cast make this film an incredible piece of cinema to watch. This is a film that I will probably go see again during its opening week because I want to experience it in all its glory.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Parasite Website

Forgotten Film: Cop Land (1997) R   Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) comes to realize that though his New Jersey community is populated by New York City police officers, it has become a front for the mob and the police officers he thought he could trust are in on the corruption. Written and directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line (2005), Logan (2017)), the film gives Stallone a chance to against his normal ‘superhero’ type, playing a slow to act Sheriff who learns too late that he may have bitten off more than he can handle. The cast is impressive with Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Annabella Sciorra, Cathy Moriarty, Edie Falco, and Peter Berg, but it’s the performance of Ray Liotta, playing the town’s coke head that becomes the only man that the Sheriff can trust. Liotta jumps off the screen and dominates every scene he is in, which is hard to do with this cast. Saddled with a horrible title and a slumping star, the film didn’t do great at the box office, but it is such a great film to discover.   My Rating: Full Price   Cop Land Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of The Current War: Horse Masters

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Ford v Ferrari (2019) PG-13 Tired of being dominated by the car-maker Ferrari, Ford gives the American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) six months to build a car that takes on the world at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. Shelby believes that only one car driver can man his race car, the hot-headed, brash Ken Miles (Christian Bale). I can’t wait to see this film, it looks like so much fun to watch.     Ford v Ferrari Website 

Until Next Time!