A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

First Hit: I was deeply touched by this film about how kindness and forgiveness can move internal mountains.

Unlike the recent documentary about Fred Rogers, which gives an insight to the man, this film opens the door on this enigmatic kind soul named Fred Rogers by watching him work with an adult.

The opening scenes with Rogers (Tom Hanks) talking to the camera as he enters the famed neighborhood set, sitting down, taking off his shoes and putting on tennis shoes and a sweater was precious. While watching this scene, I was transported back in time, sitting in the living room with my young daughter watching Mr. Rogers open the door to children’s hearts and minds.

In this story, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), is an investigative reporter who has a reputation of taking cheap shots at people or discovers the darker sides of individuals and writes stories that do not reflect positively on his subjects. He’s not the reporter you want to have to write your story.

Getting an assignment to write a short four-hundred-word piece about Rogers for Esquires Magazine’s hero edition, Lloyd chastises his boss for assigning him to write a fluff piece. When Vogel gets home and tells his wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson) about this horrible assignment, she bemoans, “don’t ruin my childhood.” This is the perfect setup.

As Lloyd and Fred meet for an interview, Vogel is perplexed by the way Rogers approaches the question, sometimes answering it directly, and other times deflects or answers a different question – the one not asked. Slowly, Roger’s magic of compassion and kindness begins to work on Vogel in underlying ways. He begins to question his anger and the way he’s participating in his relationship with his wife and new baby.

During the interviews, Vogel, at times, gets upset at not getting the answers he is looking for and walks away from Rogers. However, once he steps away, he knows there is something there and goes back. Each time he learns more about himself as well as Fred.

It’s through these sporadic interviews, Vogel begins to learn how he needs to change his life by processing his inner anger towards his father, Jerry (Chris Cooper). As the story unfolds, we learn that Lloyd hasn’t seen his father since he was a little kid. His mother also died while he was young, and his father couldn’t deal with it, so he bailed.

The film is a beautiful orchestration of how Fred Rogers operates in the world, how people see him, his version of kindness, and how he reaches out and touches people, young and old with honest and real sincerity.

I loved how the filmmakers interspersed Mr. Rogers's sets, set pieces, and traveling between Pittsburgh and NYC. It was ingenious, to say the least.

Hanks was sublime as Rogers. The ability to make the audience sense and feel the embodiment of Fred Rogers was terrific. Rhys was clearly perfect as the reporter who had the willingness to travel through his anger, sadness, and sorrow to come to grips with how he was going to be in the future. Watson was terrific as Lloyd’s wife. Her compassion for Lloyd’s struggles was wonderfully portrayed. Cooper was powerful as Lloyd’s father, a man who did wrong and was trying the only way he knew to find forgiveness and peace within himself. Maryann Plunkett, as Fred’s wife Joanne was excellent. Her understanding of Fred and how he worked was divine. Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster wrote a fantastic script. Marielle Heller was deft in creating a film that captured this iconic man.

Overall: This story took me on a trip and brought up genuine, deeply felt feelings and emotions.

21 Bridges

First Hit: A solid, yet predictable, thriller about corrupt cops.

The set up for Detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) was robust. We are introduced to Davis attending a funeral. He’s a young boy, and he’s mourning his father’s death. His father was a cop and served with honor and was killed in the line of duty. There is also an early scene when Davis is being questioned by Internal Affairs because Davis has created a reputation for hunting down and killing cop killers.

With this setup, we follow two criminals Ray Jackson and Michael Trujillo (Taylor Kitsch and Stephan James respectively), breaking into an up-scale wine bar to steal thirty kilos of heroin. Finding three hundred kilos instead, they realize this could be trouble or a setup. Just as they begin to leave with fifty of the three hundred kilos, four cops appear at the front door and knock.

Not getting an answer, they break in the front and back because they find Ray and Michael’s getaway car running in the back alley. Michael and Ray are armed with automatic guns and start killing cops and the lone wine bar employee.

More cops come, and Michael and Ray kill them all. Michael is a sharpshooter and is ruthless in his picking off the police. The 85th Precinct Captain McKenna (J.K. Simmons), whose precinct where this crime is taking place, wants Davis on the case along with Drug Investigator Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller). Together, these two believe they’ve only got hours to find these cop killers or they will disappear into the civilian mass.

When the detectives find all the heroin still left in the freezer, Davis and Burns question why the cops were there and why their bosses’ story was that they came to break up a burglary. The crime scene doesn’t add up to a robbery of this type.

The FBI arrives and wants to take over the case, but Deputy Chief Spencer (Keith David) and Captain McKenna argue to let the NYPD handle it for the next few hours. If they don’t solve it in a few hours, the FBI will take over.

Setting up this urgency allows Davis the ability ask that all 21 Bridges to Manhattan Island be shut down, as well as all subway lines and trains. After doing this they start to “flood the island with blue” (cops).

At this point, the movie follows both Ray and Michael trying to evade the chasing cops, Burns and Davis. This cat and mouse game are well presented as the plot adds in new characters, the owner of the three hundred kilos, a money launderer, and the suspicion that something else is up.

Boseman is excellent as a detective that is focused on justice and the law. The final scenes with McKenna and Burns present a predictable conclusion. Miller is outstanding as the Drug Investigator who is really doing a balancing act. Simmons is sublime as a guy who believes he’s helping the department’s force with his actions. Kitsch is outstanding as the highly charged marksman of the criminal duo. James is a revelation in this role. He brings a perfect blend of viciousness and emotional heart to his character. His final few scenes clearly give the audience a man who is trying to find a way while honoring his brother’s impact on his life. Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote an excellent screenplay that encompassed well-choreographed action and intellectual endeavors. Brian Kirk did a fantastic job of bringing this story together and making it all feel believable.

Overall: This was a solid film, even though it was highly predictable.

The Good Liar

First Hit: I loved seeing refined actors Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren parry their way through this story.

McKellen, playing Roy Courtnay, is confidence flim-flam man. He bilks people out of their money with confidence schemes.

In initial scenes, we see him setting up to dupe, what we think are a couple of Russians out of money. As the con unfolds, we learn differently because of the twist in the second meeting. Roy appears trustworthy and it is not lost on the people being conned that this is because he’s old and creates an air of age-old trust and confidence. His leading partner in his schemes is Vincent (James Carter).

Mirren, as Betty McLeish, is introduced to us by showing her entering information on the “Distinctive Dating” site. She lives in a tranquil neighborhood, is a widow, and has a son. Her son Stephen (Russell Tovey) is portrayed as working in Germany as a researcher, visiting his mom often, and being very productive of her

Roy knows that he can find well-to-do women on this dating site and maybe con one of these women out of their money. He sets his sights on Betty.

Betty and Roy email back and forth and then meet at a restaurant. It’s a sweet setting, and the dialogue is disarming, but because we know Roy’s intent, we worry for Betty. They both confess that the names they put on their website profiles are fake, and this confession brings them closer.

Roy tells Vincent that Betty might be worth a couple hundred thousand pounds and they begin their plot to con her. The sticking point is that Roy begins to like Betty. At least, that’s what we are supposed to believe. It was hard to buy Roy’s suddenly becoming attracted to Betty because it has been revealed that he is playing the doddering old man and is really an experienced and sharp-as-a-tack swindler.

As Roy and Vincent begin to run their scam, Stephen speaks out several times, letting Roy and Betty know that he thinks this relationship is going too fast, and when Roy moves into Betty’s spare bedroom, he’s on high alert. Vincent and Roy also learn that she’s worth well over two million pounds, and with this knowledge they salivate at this potentially huge score.

Roy and Betty plan a trip to Germany together to celebrate their relationship. After arriving in Berlin, Stephen surprisingly shows up to be their tour guide. The very surprised and wary Roy is led to a room in a building where Roy’s real past is partially exposed. Stephen has done his research. This set of scenes allowed me to figure out the ending early, though there are numerous other twists after these events.

However, know that nothing is really telegraphed in this film, and the additional twists and turns make this storyline work.

Eventually, Roy and Betty decide to spend their time together in a more permanent way and determine that by combining their bank accounts they can take advantage of some investment opportunities and tax advantages as outlined by Vincent.

When the scheme unfolds in full bloom, just deserts are well served and wonderfully delivered.

McKellen was excellent as Roy. It’s lovely to see him get a juicy role that allows him to be different characters. As Roy he had to slide from one to the other effortlessly and quickly. Mirren always delivers her role in a way that makes it believable. She can be soft and vulnerable and fierce all within a single scene, and it works well here as she is outstanding. Carter was also strong as Roy’s partner. He’s so smooth when presenting his investment scheme knowing just when to back off and let the target finish the selling job for him. Tovey was perfect as the “son” of Betty, who tied all the pieces of the puzzle together and made the story work. Mark Lewis Jones, as Bryn, one of Roy and Vincent’s earlier targets, was solid. Jeffrey Hatcher wrote an excellent screenplay. Bill Condon let these veteran actors come alive.

Overall: It was fun to watch veterans work together to make this story come alive.

Ford v Ferrari

First Hit: I love good car movies, and this one qualifies as one of the best.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a night showing of a film. In picking this evening time and this film, it was both pleasing and irritating to be in a nearly full theater. The fun part is that I often see films where there are less than 15 people in the theater, and seeing an almost full theater gave me hope that others will continue to support going to movie theaters.

The irritation part is the noise that people make during the film presentation. Why someone thinks their remembrances of the period, or what they think about what they’re seeing on the screen is essential to spout out while the film is playing, is beyond me. The gentleman sitting next to me turned around just as I did the same thing and together we asked them to be quiet. It took us doing this twice for them to get that they weren’t at home watching cable TV.

Despite the noise interruptions, this film unfolded in a fun way. Remembrances of the 1960s abounded with cars from the era on the streets. Yes, they were perfectly restored vehicles, but it was easy to gloss over the prettiness to enjoy the beauty of those old cars reflecting their time and place in my life. There were Shelby Cobras, Porsches, Ford Falcons, a Mini, a woody (fake wood) wagon, Ferraris, and Ford GT 40s.

The film is about how Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) turned down Henry Ford II’s (Tracy Letts) offer to buy 90% of Ferrari’s car production company. While turning down Ford’s offer and partnering with Fiat, Enzo made unflattering remarks about Ford and his cars to the Ford negotiation team. Angered by the personal comments, Ford vowed to beat perennial 24 Hours Le Mans race winner, Ferrari.

Chief Ford negotiator, Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal), was then tasked with finding a car builder who will build a Ford-based car to beat Ferrari. Finding Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), the one-time winning driver of the 24 Le Mans, to make the car, Ford believes they found their man. Henry Ford gives Shelby carte blanche to build this car.

Shelby, in turn, hires his friend and race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale), to be his test driver and co-builder. The main reason is that he can trust Miles as he knows cars and feels their abilities and problems as he drives them. Miles is also creative when figuring out how to make cars work better. The downside of Miles is that he’s a maverick in his thinking and hates to conform to rules and being told what to do.

Miles is married Mollie (Caitriona Balfe), who’s amused by her husband’s friendship with Shelby and there are couple scenes that this loving amusement shows up. One such scene is when Shelby and Ken fight near the miles home. Mollie bringing out a folding chair to watch the frecus was hilarious. One thing the film makes clear is that Ken is a loving devoted father who loved showing his son Peter (Noah Jupe) the ins and outs of racing.

The film spends time showing Miles and Shelby developing the GT40 to race in Le Mans, but when it comes time to ship the car off to the race, Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) Senior VP at Ford, chooses another driver to drive the vehicle at the Le Mans race.

Shelby is pissed, Miles is severely disappointed, and of course, the new driver doesn’t feel the car like Miles would have and ends up blowing it apart during the race.

Ford wants to fire Shelby for the failure, but the meeting between Ford and Shelby is fantastic because Shelby convinces Ford that he, Ford, has Ferrari where he wants him, scared. Scared because Shelby’s car, with another driver, was faster than the Ferrari, especially on the straightaway at Le Mans. This was a great scene. It’s reflecting Shelby’s legendary ability to sell anyone on anything.

Ford tells Shelby to fix the car and get it ready for the next Le Mans and that Shelby has control over the driver.

The rest of the movie shows how they develop a stronger, lighter, faster GT40 car. But when Beebe intercedes again about Miles being the driver at Le Mans, Shelby takes Ford out in the GT40 and scares the crap out of him, literally, and at that moment negotiates with Ford to let Miles drive. As part of the deal he offers Ford his Shelby American company if Miles races and loses.

It’s scenes like this that are fun to watch and reminded me of the time that a friend of a friend, gave me a ride in a Lamborghini Miura, and scared the crap out of me while racing around a sizeable empty factory parking lot at a very high speed.

There were sections of this 152-minute film that could have been trimmed, but I was engaged enough to not care about the lulls of uninteresting or engaging material. Other characters added to this story and made better. One such person was Chief Mechanic Phil Remington (Ray McKinnon). His ideas about creating a way to change the brake assembly were brilliant.

Bale was intensely and independently outstanding in this role as race car driver Ken Miles. HIs ability to show tenderness and love towards his family while being aggressively focused on making the car faster was terrific. Damon was wonderful as Carroll Shelby. The scene with Ford after the first loss and his fight with Miles in front of Mile’s home reflected the off-told stories about the legend of Carroll Shelby. Bernthal was good as the famed Iacocca. Balfe was convincing as Ken’s wife. Her support and understanding of her husband were excellently portrayed. My favorite scene shows Balfe driving Ken home while pressing him on his whereabouts. Her focused intensity was sublime. Letts was priceless as Ford II. The bullying way he used around his staff and factory followed by his being humbled by the spin in the GT40 was fun to watch. McKinnon was excellent as devoted Chief Mechanic for Shelby. Beebe was appropriately arrogant, self-serving, and sharp as a foil to Shelby’s vision. Girone was satisfyingly perfect as Enzo Ferrari. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth wrote an expansive script that could have been shortened and made crisper. However, there are some outstanding scenes in the film. James Mangold directed this film. Racing scenes can get old quick, and Mangolds transcends the genre with excellent editing and cinematography, which make the racing scenes in this film come alive.

Overall: I liked seeing this film for multiple reasons, including that the subsequent Ford built Shelby Mustang GT-350 and GT-500 had parts made by my father’s company in the late 1960s.

Midway

First Hit: Besides being too long, I didn’t like and couldn’t engage with the main character Dick Best (Ed Skrein).

As portrayed here, Best was a pilot who liked breaking the rules, thought highly of himself and his flying skills, but eventually, his arrogance, depicted as bravery, helped to win the war over Japan at Midway.

I don’t know what it was, but if another actor played Best, I might have better related with this character. Actors, from another time, who might have made this role work are Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. These guys had a way of being edgy and arrogant but likable.

There are other issues with this film that stood out as well. There were sections that were supposed to provide a depth to the story but seemed needless. Additionally, the strategic planning of the attack on Midway became muddled.

On a positive note, many of the action scenes were well choreographed and very exciting to watch.

This film is about how the battle of Midway became the turning point of the Pacific War between the United States and Japan. Early on, we see Pearl Harbor being bombed. This was particularly effective and was well depicted with the surprise and the panic that set in after the attack.

The US goal was to hit back at Japan in a way that would have them rethink their choice to attack the United States.

The key players in this story are Best, Lieutenant Commander Edwin T. Layton (Patrick Wilson), who was an intelligence officer, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (Woody Harrelson). Layton had developed data, with a team of intelligence analysts, that gave him a hunch that the Pearl Harbor attack was coming. Nimitz had heard about Layton’s ideas and after his assignment to head the Pacific Fleet, he told Layton to bring him information that would allow his decimated fleet to execute a surprise counterattack.

Midway was that surprise attack. In addition to this story, there were side stories. One was about Vice Admiral William “Bull” Halsey (Dennis Quaid), who was the on-boat commander of the aircraft carrier leading the fleet. He had a horrible case of shingles, which eventually put him out of commission. There was also a story about Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart) who first bombed Japan, and because the way the mission worked out, he and his entire squadron had to ditch their planes because they ran out of fuel.

There are also sweet scenes with Best and his wife Anne (Mandy Moore), one of the few who understood and embraced her husband’s erratic intensity. There are also depictions of Japanese ship commanders and Admirals, which are brief and attempt to show the ignorance of and blind devotion to the war effort as commanded by their emperor.

Skrein was not likable as Best. What I don’t know was it Skrein or his character I didn’t like or want to champion. Eckart, in the bombing of Japan side story, was solid as Doolittle. Wilson was excellent as the intelligence officer Layton. The scene where he is pressed for the details on the theory of a Midway attack by the Japanese was powerful. Harrelson gave a strong performance as Nimitz. His belief in his team, especially Layton, was well executed. Quaid was good as Halsey, a “bull” of a man. Moore was excellent as the trusting and understanding wife of the film’s wildcard character. Wes Tooke wrote a meandering script that seemed to take in too many stories. Roland Emmerich had an excellent eye for many of the action scenes, but the story seemed to take too large a bite.

Overall: Because I couldn’t get into the main character, the film fell flat.