FORD VS FERRARI

A Fine Bromance "Keep your eyes on the prize" The simplistic title Ford vs Ferrarri nails it and let's you know all you need to know. 2 low key sensitive testy ace car jockeys just trying to get thru life 2 power ceos just trying to prove who's to the bigger heavy. Circa 1965-1968. You can't buy a win but you can buy the one who will give you a shot a it. Hmph? Do you fight back, fight on, weather it out, take your lumps? What makes you a failure or a success, a hero, a coward, or a loser or a winner? Context and Attitude. Decisions and Politics. The Bloodiest nasty battles that scar with no physical marks. Like Scratching and Itching, Unsinkable Friends who eat each other up, a scrapy scruffy brittle book-ends bromance -- Who unquestionably trust each other's self satisfying full moon face jack-o'-lantern grins implicitly. And that's 100% adrenaline brotherhood. All that makes a 60's super soupy soap opera. Last time I seen besties spat like that was Turning Point with Anne Bancroft and Shirley McLain slugging it out with pocketbooks by the Lincoln Center's fountain. Yuck yuck. There is no jukebox driven moody distractions either. Just the lone twang of guitar, the sky like blue burnished torch flame and the engine's roaring rumble. Director Mangold directs a begining- middle - ending chronological narrative. Building all the storyline elements slowly that make ordinary people and lives extraordinary on film. The Undressed "60's" is the backdrop. No fish nets, no mini skirts, No minorities. No psychedelics no hippies No hip twerking Elvis this is the doggier side of Viva Las Vegas. No James Bond no mothballed James Dean. Is this really the "60's"? Yes it is. There are enough 1960 films about the "60's". This is not that film. This plain blue jean 60's It's all long skinny black ties Navy blue suits pencil silhouette slacks crewcuts white collar world vs blue collar jumpsuit grease monkey factory Both types of men who's construction is really A man who's got to do something and walks with a broomstick up the wazzooly very fast like it's important so we pay attention... But in the end It's just a car race But like sports to males It's everything. The Action is set among expanding and confirmed cramped spaces. Claustrophobic sports cars Miles and miles of dessert Glass window offices Car repair shops and race tracks The screen play and dialogue is like drinking ice tea in real glass tumblers for 2 hours, add ice, add tea, add sugar, repeat. This is the calm 60'ers. It wasn't complicated with technology. Actor Christian Bale portrays a cantankerous cranky crusty know it all to Matt Damon iron pants hold my line what I got to do Maverick In a fraternal Siamese twins' tryst. If you step back they're one another's "other". One baby changing another baby's diaper, I mean this with the highest respect. They're in this together. Champions can only understand Champions. Final thoughts. The film, the lives and the great racing it covers Is like: Frothing ice cold milk for a giant cappuccino From high pitch squealing violin to a nuanced low cello rumble to silently bubbling boil. All phases are passed through. Experience informs an expert telepathically what's going on. Everything is unfolded expertly. "...at 7000 rpms everything fades and the machine becomes transcendent and the body weightless in space..." the teaching moment Only an expert could relay this distilled Zen Event It took lives, a film maker, a crew to replay and relay it. This is why film making is the finest exemplary. In 2 hours, full whole life experiences are spoon-fed for a pittance fee. Lucky us. Thanks Mangold et Al

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

"Believing what you have read costs dearly..." Funny creepy stories, nosey-kids, and a misguided revenge on bogeyman. All the elements needed for a horror flick to sail or sink. This films delivers the goods and steams on. Everything is done well. Colors pop, heads pop, soda pop. Oh and popcorn. Don't let the unknown b-list actors cause you pass on this and miss it. An excellent script relys on story, setting, and acting to propel it to 5 stars. And once again proves you need either or both: a good actor to make a bad script good, a good script no one can mess up, and/or good acting and good script. This has the third plus great direction, cgi, and cinematography. Since Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, Friday 13th, et all...most of the Horrorescapades in Horrorland have been filmed...so pretty much there are no new shocking horrorology. What is left is what always has been there. The re-telling. Similarly we have fashion every year with the same look. It's still pants, suit, dresses and gowns. Right. Nope! Similarly, It's how you film/tell a scarey story. This one is an enjoyable bump in the night Gem.