Today I saw Ford v Ferrari, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
Caroll Shelby (Damon) is a former race car driver who had to stop racing due to a heart condition. He has been tasked with helping the Ford motor company develop a new race car to beat Ferrari, who insulted them during acquisition negotiations.
Shelby accepts the challenge and brings his friend, British war veteran Ken Miles (Bale), who is an engineer and driver, along with him. The entire film centers around the building of this super-fast vehicle and the race that will determine certain victory for one of the rivals.
Chtristian Bale is predictably superb as a hot-headed, but good-at-heart racer who has a deep passion for his craft. Miles is also a family man who dearly loves his supportive wife Mollie (Catriona Balfe) and adoring son Peter (Noah Jupe).
Damon is predictably solid as Shelby, who wants to do right by his bosses, but usually personally agrees with Miles (though his behavior is sometimes wild).
The story makes the representatives of Ford very unlikeable, especially that of VP Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), who, though based on the real man, is portrayed as a composite of every slimy corporate white-man-of-privilege any of us have had the displeasure of working with or for, and that's a bit much to take.
With few exceptions the order of events is followed faithfully to the climactic race that determines the winner. And the buildup to that is fun to watch, but the best parts of the film are the moments that examine the genuine friendship between Shelby and Miles and the genuine love between Miles and his family.
I enjoyed the film—mostly because of Bale's performance—but thought it could have been about an hour shorter.
~~~
Showing posts with label Christian Bale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Bale. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Vice
Today I saw Vice, starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams.
If you're a staunch republican, you may not like this film, but if you're a liberal (or even perhaps an independent) you may chuckle along with the rest of the audience at this exaggerated—but undoubtedly entertaining—look at the life of Dick Cheney (Bale).
Christian Bale transforms physically and verbally into the former vice president so convincingly, you'd probably forget it was a fictional take were it not for the breaking of the fourth wall, the snappy cutaways and wink-y storytelling approach.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every minute of it.
Then again, I'm the Pacific Northwestern liberal target audience they were probably banking on selling tickets to, so I didn't have a hard time buying what they were selling. What they were selling was of course how miserable of a human being Dick Cheney truly is, save for his one redeeming quality. He really seems to love and advocate for his lesbian daughter (although his other daughter does not). Other than that, it appears that his wife Lynne (Adams) calls the shots, and they aren't always in the best interest of the country.
If you're not of the belief that the story is true, at least see the film for the performances. If you do believe, well, be prepared to laugh (and possibly cry) at what a mess this man made of the world.
~~~
If you're a staunch republican, you may not like this film, but if you're a liberal (or even perhaps an independent) you may chuckle along with the rest of the audience at this exaggerated—but undoubtedly entertaining—look at the life of Dick Cheney (Bale).
Christian Bale transforms physically and verbally into the former vice president so convincingly, you'd probably forget it was a fictional take were it not for the breaking of the fourth wall, the snappy cutaways and wink-y storytelling approach.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every minute of it.
Then again, I'm the Pacific Northwestern liberal target audience they were probably banking on selling tickets to, so I didn't have a hard time buying what they were selling. What they were selling was of course how miserable of a human being Dick Cheney truly is, save for his one redeeming quality. He really seems to love and advocate for his lesbian daughter (although his other daughter does not). Other than that, it appears that his wife Lynne (Adams) calls the shots, and they aren't always in the best interest of the country.
If you're not of the belief that the story is true, at least see the film for the performances. If you do believe, well, be prepared to laugh (and possibly cry) at what a mess this man made of the world.
~~~
Monday, December 28, 2015
The Big Short
Tonight I saw The Big Short, starring Christian Bale and Steve Carell.
The housing bubble was building for years, but no one saw it coming. No one, that is, except for a few industry outliers who found a way to bet on it.
Michael Burry (Bale) was a hedge fund manager who simply did the math. He was someone who looked for cracks in the system and understood numbers on a primal level. He called it years before it happened and he was right.
Mark Baum (Carell) is a money manager furious with the world. He's just lost his brother to suicide and as he works through that tragedy in therapy, he discovers that his job in the financial industry has a lot to do with who he has become. Baum listens to the right person and also believes the bubble will burst. He invests wisely as a result.
Financial stories are not typically compelling, but told here in talking-to-the-camera fashion (which shouldn't work, but for some reason does) it becomes riveting. It's flashy and fast and full of f-bombs, but I promise if you see it, you won't get bored.
Bale is so faithful to the actual man he's portraying, he actually borrowed his clothes for the film. And Carell, a comic genius with the skill to bring heavy drama at a moment's notice, also does not disappoint.
The Oscars may come calling for these actors—perhaps even the movie itself. I wouldn't be surprised or sad if they did.
~~~
The housing bubble was building for years, but no one saw it coming. No one, that is, except for a few industry outliers who found a way to bet on it.
Michael Burry (Bale) was a hedge fund manager who simply did the math. He was someone who looked for cracks in the system and understood numbers on a primal level. He called it years before it happened and he was right.
Mark Baum (Carell) is a money manager furious with the world. He's just lost his brother to suicide and as he works through that tragedy in therapy, he discovers that his job in the financial industry has a lot to do with who he has become. Baum listens to the right person and also believes the bubble will burst. He invests wisely as a result.
Financial stories are not typically compelling, but told here in talking-to-the-camera fashion (which shouldn't work, but for some reason does) it becomes riveting. It's flashy and fast and full of f-bombs, but I promise if you see it, you won't get bored.
Bale is so faithful to the actual man he's portraying, he actually borrowed his clothes for the film. And Carell, a comic genius with the skill to bring heavy drama at a moment's notice, also does not disappoint.
The Oscars may come calling for these actors—perhaps even the movie itself. I wouldn't be surprised or sad if they did.
~~~
Monday, January 03, 2011
The Fighter
Tonight I saw The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.
I won't shy away from any film that promises a shirtless Mark Wahlberg, though I must admit I wasn't excited to hear this film was about boxing. Good thing for me that there's very little boxing involved.
The story is a retelling of the true tale of two brothers who took the boxing world by storm.
Dicky Eklund (Bale) famously knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard (or, er...he slipped) in the late 70s and has been milking that spotlight ever since. He's a hero in the small Massachusetts town where they live.
Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is his only brother (though the two share seven—yes, seven—sisters) and looks up to him for this reason alone. There is not much else about Dicky to look up to. He has developed a crack habit, sleeps with whores and leaves his son with his family to be raised as an afterthought.
The training that he offers his brother would be valuable if he could stay clean long enough to see it through, but he can't, and the results are disastrous.
Lucky for Micky, he soon meets Charlene (Amy Adams) who has dropped out of college and works at the local bar. Yes, she is apparently the classiest broad in town.
Speaking of broads, the boys' mother Alice (Melissa Leo) is a real piece of work. Chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, hairspray-addicted and determined to make some serious cash off her sons, she is the very epitome of white trash. When she's not yelling at her beer-drinking, lounging daughters, she's organizing a fight to try to advance Micky to a Dicky level of spotlight.
It's just not working.
So Charlene convinces Micky to ditch his troubled family and the rest is pretty much as predictable as a Wheel of Fortune puzzle with only one letter missing.
It's not a terrible movie, and I'll admit I was entertained for the duration, but what's really bugging me is all the press that Christian Bale is getting for his performance.
I've always liked Bale, but here he seems to be playing this crack addict as a mentally challenged lunatic instead of a street guy who is high all the time. I grew up in a neighborhood of drug users and never once do I remember the crack users having perpetually popped eyes. They were jittery and nervous and hollow, but not exactly retarded.
On the flip side, Wahlberg's never been more understated and that was a welcome change from his usual too-angry portrayals.
And the women, well, they were fantastic.
Melissa Leo is a bit much as the annoying Alice, but I'm guessing the real woman was probably just as obnoxious; Amy Adams and her boobs aren't anything like the innocent Junebug and Enchanted characters we've seen her inhabit before, and it's hard to take your eyes off the screen when she's there. The seven sisters? Hilarious.
I had more fun with this movie than I expected to, but that's perhaps because my expectations were low.
~~~
I won't shy away from any film that promises a shirtless Mark Wahlberg, though I must admit I wasn't excited to hear this film was about boxing. Good thing for me that there's very little boxing involved.
The story is a retelling of the true tale of two brothers who took the boxing world by storm.
Dicky Eklund (Bale) famously knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard (or, er...he slipped) in the late 70s and has been milking that spotlight ever since. He's a hero in the small Massachusetts town where they live.
Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is his only brother (though the two share seven—yes, seven—sisters) and looks up to him for this reason alone. There is not much else about Dicky to look up to. He has developed a crack habit, sleeps with whores and leaves his son with his family to be raised as an afterthought.
The training that he offers his brother would be valuable if he could stay clean long enough to see it through, but he can't, and the results are disastrous.
Lucky for Micky, he soon meets Charlene (Amy Adams) who has dropped out of college and works at the local bar. Yes, she is apparently the classiest broad in town.
Speaking of broads, the boys' mother Alice (Melissa Leo) is a real piece of work. Chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, hairspray-addicted and determined to make some serious cash off her sons, she is the very epitome of white trash. When she's not yelling at her beer-drinking, lounging daughters, she's organizing a fight to try to advance Micky to a Dicky level of spotlight.
It's just not working.
So Charlene convinces Micky to ditch his troubled family and the rest is pretty much as predictable as a Wheel of Fortune puzzle with only one letter missing.
It's not a terrible movie, and I'll admit I was entertained for the duration, but what's really bugging me is all the press that Christian Bale is getting for his performance.
I've always liked Bale, but here he seems to be playing this crack addict as a mentally challenged lunatic instead of a street guy who is high all the time. I grew up in a neighborhood of drug users and never once do I remember the crack users having perpetually popped eyes. They were jittery and nervous and hollow, but not exactly retarded.
On the flip side, Wahlberg's never been more understated and that was a welcome change from his usual too-angry portrayals.
And the women, well, they were fantastic.
Melissa Leo is a bit much as the annoying Alice, but I'm guessing the real woman was probably just as obnoxious; Amy Adams and her boobs aren't anything like the innocent Junebug and Enchanted characters we've seen her inhabit before, and it's hard to take your eyes off the screen when she's there. The seven sisters? Hilarious.
I had more fun with this movie than I expected to, but that's perhaps because my expectations were low.
~~~
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Dark Knight
This morning I saw The Dark Knight, starring Heath Ledger and Christian Bale.
Listen for my and Michael's review of this on Cinebanter #55, which is available here.
Listen for my and Michael's review of this on Cinebanter #55, which is available here.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
I'm Not There
This morning I saw I'm Not There, starring Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger.
It's an avant garde approach to Bob Dylan's life, told through a series of sequences that feature a number of different actors portraying the folk legend. Really, it's over two hours of hits and misses.
The hits come in the performances, first and foremost. Blanchett is clearly the standout, brilliantly adapting the mannerisms, sound and look of the star while placing her own charismatic stamp on the story. The more we see from her, the more we can't help but wish the entire movie was only her. She could've easily pulled off all of the complexities the filmmakers were trying to convey. Particularly hilarious is a scene of her frolicking with "The Beatles."
Also great is the late Heath Ledger. He plays Dylan with a combination of sexiness and swagger that goes way beyond the charm of the real man. While vastly different from Dylan in both physique and spirit, Ledger manages to convince us in his first few moments on screen, just "which" Bob we're watching.
In addition to the major players, there are also a sprinkling of supporting characters that infuse great amounts of life into the narrative. Namely, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
The beauty of the way the film is shot also contributes to its successes—the Dylans, etc. move freely between grainy black-and-white 'footage' and gorgeous, full-color frames. At no point does this become distracting or confusing, in fact, it actually helps move the story along.
And that's where the misses come in. As someone who is not much of a Dylan fan, I went into the film hoping to learn more about why he rose to fame (and stayed there). Unfortunately, this doesn't tell me much. I already knew he was a philosopher, a liar, a poet, a rebel, etc. but what I didn't know was why?
Although elements of his character are exhibited by the various actors (some miscast, by the way: Christian Bale), the movie seems so caught up in its artsyness that it can't quite connect to its purpose.
And the more I think about it, maybe that's why I'm not much of a Dylan fan.
It's an avant garde approach to Bob Dylan's life, told through a series of sequences that feature a number of different actors portraying the folk legend. Really, it's over two hours of hits and misses.
The hits come in the performances, first and foremost. Blanchett is clearly the standout, brilliantly adapting the mannerisms, sound and look of the star while placing her own charismatic stamp on the story. The more we see from her, the more we can't help but wish the entire movie was only her. She could've easily pulled off all of the complexities the filmmakers were trying to convey. Particularly hilarious is a scene of her frolicking with "The Beatles."
Also great is the late Heath Ledger. He plays Dylan with a combination of sexiness and swagger that goes way beyond the charm of the real man. While vastly different from Dylan in both physique and spirit, Ledger manages to convince us in his first few moments on screen, just "which" Bob we're watching.
In addition to the major players, there are also a sprinkling of supporting characters that infuse great amounts of life into the narrative. Namely, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
The beauty of the way the film is shot also contributes to its successes—the Dylans, etc. move freely between grainy black-and-white 'footage' and gorgeous, full-color frames. At no point does this become distracting or confusing, in fact, it actually helps move the story along.
And that's where the misses come in. As someone who is not much of a Dylan fan, I went into the film hoping to learn more about why he rose to fame (and stayed there). Unfortunately, this doesn't tell me much. I already knew he was a philosopher, a liar, a poet, a rebel, etc. but what I didn't know was why?
Although elements of his character are exhibited by the various actors (some miscast, by the way: Christian Bale), the movie seems so caught up in its artsyness that it can't quite connect to its purpose.
And the more I think about it, maybe that's why I'm not much of a Dylan fan.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Rescue Dawn
Today I saw Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn.
I hate to say it, but I'm so immune to war movies these days, this one barely meant more than the last handful I saw.
And I'm not implying it was a bad movie—it wasn't—but I'm so tired of the story and the torture and the horror and the injustice that I don't feel like watching it anymore.
This particular film tells the tale of Deiter (Bale), an American pilot who goes down in Laos and becomes imprisoned with others who have been there for years by the time he arrives (and he gets there 'before' the war starts). He concocts a successful escape plan, executes it (along with some prison guards) and finds himself wandering the jungle with one of his fellow prisoners, Duane (Zahn).
The best part of this movie is the friendship that develops between these two.
Of course we expect that Deiter will survive, and when he does, his rescue is nothing short of inspiring, but we're still left with flashbacks of the carnage left behind, on both sides of the conflict.
Herzog made a good, solid movie—I just wish he'd have chosen a less-popular topic.
I hate to say it, but I'm so immune to war movies these days, this one barely meant more than the last handful I saw.
And I'm not implying it was a bad movie—it wasn't—but I'm so tired of the story and the torture and the horror and the injustice that I don't feel like watching it anymore.
This particular film tells the tale of Deiter (Bale), an American pilot who goes down in Laos and becomes imprisoned with others who have been there for years by the time he arrives (and he gets there 'before' the war starts). He concocts a successful escape plan, executes it (along with some prison guards) and finds himself wandering the jungle with one of his fellow prisoners, Duane (Zahn).
The best part of this movie is the friendship that develops between these two.
Of course we expect that Deiter will survive, and when he does, his rescue is nothing short of inspiring, but we're still left with flashbacks of the carnage left behind, on both sides of the conflict.
Herzog made a good, solid movie—I just wish he'd have chosen a less-popular topic.
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