Tag: 20th Century Fox

Review: “Ford v Ferrari”

It’s the Italians vs. the Americans and the Americans (and a Brit) vs. each other in Ford v Ferrari, a fascinating and riveting biopic of how the Ford Motor Company took on Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in 1966.

The true story is the stuff of legend. Ford, after a failed (and humiliating) attempt to buy Ferrari in the mid-1960s, decided to take them down on their own turf by building a race car to compete in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race held annually in Le Mans, France. Ferrari had long dominated the European racing scene, so it was rather audacious that an American car company would come in and try to compete.

The film is mostly focused on the relationship between team manager Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, and driver Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale. The Ford management team hired maverick race car driver and renowned sports car designer Carroll Shelby to lead the racing team. Shelby also had the distinct accomplishment of winning at Le Mans in 1959, driving for British manufacturer Aston Martin.

Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby in FORD V FERRARI. (©️ 20th Century Fox)

For the driving team, Shelby was an advocate for English sports car engineer and driver Ken Miles. Miles, who had a reputation of being “difficult,” also had the skills to get the job done better than anyone, at least in the eyes of Carroll Shelby. Shelby’s and Miles’ rocky relationship gets explored in the film as well as the constant challenges the two of them faced dealing with the brass at the Ford Motor Company who were unconvinced that the brash Miles was a good fit for the team, not to mention the Ford image and brand.

Christian Bale plays Ken Miles in FORD V FERRARI. (©️ 20th Century Fox)

The real highlight of Ford v Ferrari (which takes up most of the film’s third act; although the entire film is terrific) is the dramatization of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race where Ford and Ferrari battle it out for dominance on the race track. It’s also where the Ford management team and Carroll Shelby continue to battle it out in the pits for how to manage the car and its drivers, and where Ken Miles has to make some pretty important decisions while “going like hell” to win the race.

Director James Mangold and his team are to be commended for creating one of the best automobile racing movies ever. The cinematography, editing, and sound are outstanding. And both Matt Damon and Christian Bale turn in Oscar-worthy performances as two friends who have to overcome a serious amount of obstacles to pull off one of the craziest and boldest racing victories ever.

Ford v Ferrari is pure adrenaline from start to finish. I can’t recommend this film highly entertaining film highly enough.

Ford v Ferrari is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “some language and peril.”

My score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

And see this film in IMAX if at all possible. The picture and sound in my screening were tremendous.

(©️ IMAX, 20th Century Fox)

20th Century Fox Tribute and More Coming to the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival

More films were announced today for the 2019 Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Classic Film Festival coming April 11-14, 2019 to Hollywood, California.

©️ 20th Century Fox

Of particular interest to me is the 20th Century Fox tribute now happening at the festival (most likely since 20th Century Fox’s sale to The Walt Disney Company will be finalized in the upcoming weeks). Check out this lineup of Fox films being shown at the festival:

  • The Sound of Music (1965) in 70mm
  • Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) Special Edition (wish we could get the original version, but I’m still stoked)
  • Life Begins at 40 (1935) starring Will Rogers and Richard Cromwell
  • The Little Colonel (1935) starring Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
  • The Robe (1953) starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons

Along with these previously announced Fox titles:

  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 50th anniversary screening
  • Hello, Dolly! (1969) 50th anniversary screening

And here’s a graphic with some additional films announced today, including more screenings in 35mm nitrate.

Of course, we can’t wait!

With the theme of “Follow Your Heart: Love at the Movies,” the lineup for the 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival keeps getting better and better. For the latest information and updates, visit tcm.com/festival. We hope to see you in Hollywood in a few weeks!

Images ©️ TCM

Review: “Bohemian Rhapsody”

The story of the British rock band Queen and their front man Freddie Mercury gets the Hollywood treatment in the new bio pic Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox, 2018).

Named after one of Queen’s iconic songs, Bohemian Rhapsody is told mostly from the point of view of Freddie Mercury, expertly played by actor Rami Malek in the film. Born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946, Mercury and his family (who are of Parsi descent) moved from India to England when he was a teenager. The film picks up where Mercury meets soon-to-be Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon for the first time in the London club scene.

The film then primarily focuses on Mercury’s relationships with the band, with the band’s management and record company, and with his girlfriend Mary Austin. Mercury’s well-known sex-drugs-and rock-and-roll and bi-sexual lifestyle is also clearly addressed, but kept within PG-13 boundaries.

Where the film really soars is with the scenes showing the creative process of the band as they make some of their best loved recordings, including “Bohemian Rhapsody” itself (pictured below).

All images ©️ 20th Century Fox

Where the film really didn’t work for me was in its overly-melodramatic retelling of the events of Mercury’s life, with many of the facts and actual timeline of events being altered and moved for dramatic effect.

For example, the film has the band breaking up and then reuniting right before the 1985 Live Aid concert. In reality, the band never broke up. (Rolling Stone magazine has a great fact checking article about the film here.) To also add drama and gravitas to the Live Aid concert, the film portrays Mercury as receiving his AIDS diagnosis before Live Aid and then revealing the sad news to the band at a rehearsal before the show. This also didn’t happen (Mercury most likely received the diagnosis in 1986 or 1987, long after Live Aid; he died from AIDS-related complications in 1991).

I get it that some kind of artistic license has to be taken in order to condense things into feature film length and format, but the decisions made with the script turned the film into more of a standard bio pic that you might see on TV instead of something more artistic and special that’s worthy of Mercury’s talent, persona, and esteem.

Still, the film’s re-creation of the Live Aid concert which bookends the film is positively electric and is worth the price of admission alone. The filmmakers made a very smart decision by putting one of the band’s all-time great performances as the final thing you see in the film, viewing Mercury and the band at their artistic peak and giving Rami Malek and the rest of the actors and creative team a chance to bring to life again one of the great moments in rock history.

Bohemian Rhapsody is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “thematic elements, suggestive material, drug content and language.”

My score: 3 out of 5

And as an added bonus, here’s a clip of Queen performing “Radio Ga Ga” at the actual Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13, 1985.