Ford v Ferrari

As I write this, my dad is at Daytona for their 24 hour race. He is an avid race fan and thanks go him I grew up around racing and still enjoy the sport and spectacle today. Living in Indianapolis, the racing capital of the world, I find comfort and excitement in the sight and sound of a race car. On a good day, I could tell you the difference between an F1, Indycar, Nascar or dragster just on sound. Sitting in the theater watching Ford V Ferrari was great just for the noise. I have a feeling that the people around me enjoyed hearing the sounds of engines roaring in January and cannot wait until May. It could only sound more authentic if the theater could handle how truly loud these cars can be. 

But enough of my nostalgia. Ford v Ferrari focuses on two men as they strive to create a perfect racing machine. There’s the former driver and car designer, Carrol Shelby (Matt Damon), who continually butts heads as he tries to work with Mr. Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and his corporate suits. Then there’s his pick to be their lead driver, Ken Miles (Christian Bale). He’s an English wildcard with a wife (Caitriona Balfe, the only woman with actual lines in the film), a son who looks up to him and a failing business fixing foreign sports cars. He knows these sorts of cars inside and out and how to push them to their limits. Together Shelby and Miles work to make history in the world of racing and make Ford a contender. 

Even without the story elevating the drama, the racing scenes are stunning, exciting and visually spectacular. Whether you’re a racing fan, car nut or neither, this film makes you appreciate just how much ingenuity goes into these high performance machines and the cinematography makes us appreciate their beautiful designs. Often, the soundtrack during the racing sequences is a perfect rhythmic background, pushing us along with the cars, giving us a beat that keeps our hearts pumping and feeling Miles’ adrenaline in each turn. 

Ford v Ferrari is only nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, sound editing, sound mixing and film editing. Compared to the ten and eleven nominations other films have, you may discount this film. I certainly did, but after seeing it, this film feels right at home among the other Best Picture nominees. It’s enjoyable, engaging, smart, often funny and packs a punch with the intense wow factor in the racing scenes. 

“Look out there. Out there is the perfect lap. You see it?”

The Martian

The other day, I overheard a family talking about how NASA is looking for the next generation of astronauts.  I live in Huntsville, Alabama, birthplace of the Saturn V and home to lots of rocket scientists, so this conversation didn’t surprise me.  The father asked his tweens, “Do you think you could figure out how to live on Mars?”  I didn’t catch his kids’ replies.  The night before I had watched The Martian and wondered if the next generation of astronauts would look to characters like Mark Watney to see if they had the right stuff.

In Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left behind on Mars when his crew makes an emergency evacuation.  The crew, NASA and the whole world believes he is dead.  Realizing how stacked the odds are against him, Watney moves forward trying make enough food to survive on and find a way to contact NASA.  When NASA realizes that Watney is still alive, they get to work trying to make contact and the whole world unites trying to bring him home.  

Damon’s performance as the stranded Watney is entertaining, thrilling and educational.  He leads the film well, doing his lonely time surviving on the red planet.  While I imagine being alone on a planet to be a form of quiet meditation and crushing loneliness, Mark keeps it light, especially when the various cameras recording his every move for data.  He informs us what he is doing and why, which helps the story progress, usually with notes of light sarcasm.  I wonder if NASA rejects astronauts if they are too serious or melancholy for their own good and selects those that can cope through making jokes.  

When things go wrong for Watney, they are devastating blows, and Damon portrays those well too.  His first scene back at the habitat alone is an impromptu surgery to remove shrapnel from his abdomen.  It can be painful to watch.  When an accident takes out the crops his life was depending on, and makes the habitat dangerously unstable, the psychological blow to Watney is plain to see.  It’s a wonder this man doesn’t crack under the pressure and constant set backs.  

Back on Earth, we see the team at NASA working to help Watney.  Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) is the director of NASA, who seems to cast this aura of doom and gloom with his authority.  Around him are notable underlings played by Kristin Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean who try to remain optimistic and make great strides in rescuing Watney.  I enjoyed Donald Glover’s small role as an eccentric astrophysicist who comes up with a brilliant Hail Mary sort of plan.   

Including Damon’s nomination for best actor, The Martian is nominated for seven Academy Awards.  The other awards include best adapted screenplay, production design, sound mixing, sound editing, visual effects and best picture.  I feel that Damon is simply too lighthearted in this role to win over juggernauts like DiCaprio or Redmayne, but I doubt The Martian will leave Oscar night empty handed.  

Overall, I believe that The Martian is a wonderful film worthy of its Oscar nominations.  It reminds me of Apollo 13 with a lighter approach.  If anyone out there really wants to part of the next generation of astronauts, I would highly recommend they see The Martian (and Apollo 13, The Right Stuff and Gravity just to name a few).  It’s mind boggling to think about all the intense life or death problems real astronauts need to be able to solve quickly and with very little to work with.  Well done astronauts of the past, future and fiction.  

“Mars will come to fear my botany powers.”

Saving Private Ryan

There are two main things that I am reminded of whenever I see Saving Private Ryan.  First off, like the rest of my family, I remember that my grandfather was part of the invasion of Normandy.  To imagine my own grandfather among the bullets, blood, death and gore shown in this gritty take on the reality of war here is a bit disturbing.  Then I am reminded of the men who did not make it off the beach, the family trees that had an entire branch severed off on the battlefield.  Papa may not have realized it that day, but it was not only his life he fought for, but that of his entire future family. Saving Private Ryan is a rare kind of war movie that not only thanks our greatest generation for the sacrifices they made for us, but remembers their hardships and those who fell.

The film begins with an old war veteran and his family visiting the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  With his children and grandchildren relaxed and taking pictures, he walks ahead, trying to hide a mix of determination and anxiety on his face, but in front of cross bearing a familiar name, he falls to his knees.  Then we’re taken back to the war.

It is the second scene in the film, the landing on Omaha beach scene, that everyone remembers best about Saving Private Ryan.  Unlike the old war films that inspired men to go off to war, Spielberg does not spare us any of the horrors of war.  The first time I saw this, I was honestly shocked and sickened.  I was only a teenager, and there were young men, just like my grandfather once was, not much older than myself, preparing for battle one moment and blown to pieces the next.  Everything is so intensely gory and realistic the ideas of war being glorious were completely shattered for me.

The camera’s point of view, at times, puts the audience in the soldier’s perspective.  We are brought along as they move out of the boats, under the water, muffling the sound, and towards the beach.  Now and then a quick splatter of gore hits the camera lens.  When finally on the beach, there are a few shots where Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes a moment and just looks around at everything happening.  The sound is replaced with a white noise so that we focus on the terrible things we see.  A man’s pack explodes, setting the men around him on fire.  A man picks up his own arm, another cowers trying to shield himself.  Men run out of a boat in flames.  As bombs explode in the water, Miller is showered in bloody water.  The invasion scene alone could have been an Oscar worthy short, it’s an amazing film experience, where the volume must be cranked up for the best effect.

The meat of the film takes place after the invasion, where Miller is given the mission to find a young Private, James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), and send him home.  Miller and a seven other men risk their own lives trekking through France, pretty much looking for a needle in a haystack.

But why would eight men risk their lives for one private?  When a woman in The War Department offices realizes that a mother is about to receive three separate letters informing her that three of her sons have been killed in action, she takes notice.  She realizes that there is a fourth son who parachuted in somewhere in northern France.  It’s a wonderful thing to think about people caring enough to take notice and act quickly to save the young Ryan before his family tree is completely chopped down by this war.  But we soon see that saving Ryan’s life comes with the price of others.

Saving Private Ryan is not for any squeamish viewers, nor would I say it’s a perfect fit for your ultra patriotic ‘ooh-rah’ crowd.  This is not a war film where we celebrate victory or enjoy watching Germans get kicked down a peg.  By watching Saving Private Ryan, we are supposed to find new understanding of the hardships that our greatest generation faced, especially the fallen we never knew.

“He better be worth it.  He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.”

True Grit

When Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) loses her father to a senseless gunfight, she steps up to take care of the arrangements for his body and to take vengeance on his murderer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).  This girl is only fourteen, but with her father gone, she assumes the role as man of the house, and with damn true grit.  She can handle herself, sleeping in the same room as the corpses at the undertaker, and she can handle the men who underestimate her, bargaining like a pro until she gets what she deserves.  To track down Chaney, Mattie hires one-eyed Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), who is reputed to be the toughest U.S. Marshall around.  With his drinking and unruly behavior, Rooster wants to do the job alone, but stubborn Mattie insists on going with him out to the wild Indian territory.  Along the way, Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) joins the hunt for Chaney and the three are tested to the edge of their grit.

Something I really noticed was the use of proper dialogue throughout the film.  It can be jarring at first, but feels like a Coen trademark.  Many times they have different dialects or speech patterns in their films (the strong Minnesota accent in Fargo, southern dialects in Oh Brother Where Art Thou?).  As I sat in the theater, I contemplated this idea of speech patterns, but realized that this proper speech was just making me listen more intently to the dialogue.  Perhaps that’s the purpose behind the types of speech, to perk our ears up.  That is so clever and simple.

I have yet to see the original True Grit, but according to my husband’s grandfather, this 2.0 version is much better.  He left the theater just beaming about the film, saying it was the best movie he had seen all year.  I’ve also heard from him and other sources that Bridges’ Rooster and Steinfeld’s Mattie are not taken at all from John Wayne or Kim Darby, but made their own darker characters closer to the book.  I seriously doubt Bridges would be competing for Best Actor right now if he had let a Wayne impression slip in occasionally.

The western has felt like a by-gone genera that was made for us to watch as little kids with our grandparents, but this seems to be the first great western for the twenty-first century.  The Coen brothers have resurrected the western from its old cowboys and Indians days into a darker, meatier film that can stand among today’s topics.  With some Coen deadpan laughs, classic western cinematography, a little blood and make little Mattie the toughest of the grit trio, you have got an amazing film.  Besides, who would have imagined sticking bad-ass Rooster Cogburn next to geeky Zuckerberg?

“If you would like to sleep in a coffin, it would be all right.”

If The Academy is looking to award the best resurrection of a by-gone genera, the Oscar for Best Picture will go to True Grit.

Good Will Hunting

Will (Matt Damon) is a young man with hidden genius, but no motivation or direction in life.  He grew up as an orphan in southern Boston, works as a janitor at MIT and hangs around with a gang of punk Boston boys (including Ben Affleck) who beat up their old kindergarten bullies.  Their most intelligent conversation contains about five profanities within it over a few pints.  It’s easy to see where he’s held back.

One day at work, moping the hallway, Will spies an equation on a chalkboard and nonchalantly solves it.  Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) displayed it hoping that one of his students would be able to solve it by the end of the term.  Lambeau tracks down Will and takes it upon himself to help him reach his genius potential.

But there’s more to Will than hidden genius, he’s got some deep psychological issues that keep him in a dead end job and getting into trouble with his friends.  He finds holding a blue collar job honorable, even romantic, and who’s to say that’s wrong?  After a few fun scenes messing with some therapists, Lambeau sends Will to Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), his close friend and great therapist.  Right away, Sean realizes Will is a tough egg to crack and nearly loses his cool at first.

Their second encounter is where we find the meat of the story.  Sean elegantly rips Will apart alongside a lake watching swans, “You’re just a kid, you’ve never even been out of Boston.”  It’s the first time Will realizes that he’s just book smart with no experience.  And it’s not practical experience Sean brings up, but experiencing culture, beauty, love and life in general.  Will has never taken a chance to do something positive with his life, but in which direction is it?

Trying to help Will is like that thing about a horse and water, you can’t make him drink.  The harder Lambeau pushes, the more Will resists and Sean knows that Will might be seeking more than Lambeau’s definition of success.  It nearly feels like Will has closed his ears to the world until his buddy Chuckie tells him, “You’re sitting on the winning lottery ticket and too much of a pussy to cash it in.”

Is there a right and wrong path for Will?  Is it his duty to use his gift of intelligence or does he simply need to find meaning in life?  Director Guss Van Sant has a way to be preachy while lacking general opinion.  The film can argue and preach the opposing view points over and over, but a strong conclusion is never fully revieled.  For some viewers, that’s a good thing, keeps everything subjective.  Others may get confused or angry wanting a clear answer with no conflict with Will’s end decision.
Good Will Hunting went to the Oscars nominated for nine awards and came back with the best original screenplay (written by Damon and Affleck) and Robin Williams winning best supporting actor.  Not bad against the unsinkable, but I’ve never cared for Matt Damon’s acting anyway.

I would say that Good Will Hunting is inspired in an uninspiring way.  It’s roots are smart and dwell deep under every characters exposed skin, yet leaves me wanting more.  There seems to be an extra mile that lies beneith I can only imagine, yet I have no idea where it could lead.  I guess the unanswered questions nagging me at the end are just a matter of unresolved philosophy and an elegant way of keeping their amazing Will an enigma.  Everyone is more interesting when they’re an enigma.

The Departed

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson star in this tale of two men undercover.  The first we meet Colin Sullivan (Damon) who’s been a criminal learning under the wing of Frank Costello (Nicholson), leader of the Irish mob, since he was a boy.  He’s now working in the Massachusetts State Police keeping Costello one step ahead of the cops.  The second is Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), who seems too smart for his shady family history.  He’s seen as the perfect candidate for an undercover cop to infiltrate Costello’s inner circle.  Two men undercover on opposite sides.  When word gets out that there’s a mole, both Sullivan and Costigan must conceal their true identities while looking for the other.

To put it simply, Scorsese has created another masterpiece.  What sets this film apart from most of his others is the amount of plot.  We don’t just watch the mighty fall or one man suddenly blow everything to pieces.  There’s a lot going on at once and if you zone out for a while you’re going to miss some game changers.  The best thing is The Departed blows your mind repeatedly until the very end (no pun intended).

One of my favorite things about The Departed is what Scorsese is best at: violence.  It’s more than just shocking or dark red-blooded entertainment.  This is the kind of violence you stand behind and cheer on in the theater.  I know that makes me sound like a psychopath, but when DiCaprio smashes his glass of cranberry juice into some guy’s bald head, I cheered.  When Nicholson beats DiCaprio’s already broken arm on a pool table, oh, it brings out that fucked up little sadist in all of us.

The Departed went to the Oscars and won best picture, director, editing and adapted screenplay.  The only nomination it didn’t win was for best supporting actor, for Mark Wahlberg.  He plays Sgt. Dignam, who is second in command for the police officers going undercover.  His foul mouthed slander rolls off the tongue with Boston eloquence.  He’s hardened and never misses a beat to call someone a fuckin’ this or piece of that.  Dignam is also one of the only friends Costigan can have, being that he’s one of the few who knows he’s really a cop.  Though I was disappointed to see Wahlberg in the role of title videogame character Max Payne, I think his nominated performance is just a hint of what he can bring to the screen in the future.  I look forward to it.

I cannot recommend The Departed enough.  The acting and actors are wonderful, story is compelling every minute.  Even if you are a little turned off by violence, I think it’s worth the effort.  Not many films these days can compare to the high standards set here.

“We have a question: Do you want to be a cop, or do you want to appear to be a cop? It’s an honest question. A lot of guys just want to appear to be cops. Gun, badge, pretend they’re on TV.”