"Ford v. Ferrari"

This is a very fine film ... perhaps the best when it comes to racing, and, oh yes, the sounds - I'm a racing buff, and if there's anything that thrills me to the core of my being, it's the sound of fine engine at high RPM ... or just sitting somewhere on the tarmac, rumbling away, waiting, waiting, for someone to get behind the wheel and make it perform.

And, a story - it's a terrific story - superb acting, full of suspense and tension. Bale and Damon are terrific together, and display all the wonder and craziness of two guys who love one another, but see the world often in very different ways, and often caught up in the craziness of the industry - Bale the driver, Shelby the manager, but also a real car-man.

Ford Motor Company is portrayed as I know it from 16 years in Detroit - all the companies were bogged down with layers of administration and engineering, with everyone looking out for their own well-being, never daring to step out of line with an idea. Mediocrity became the safest route to follow, and that's exactly what they did, and that really comes through in the story.

There are so many wonderful, powerful, moments in this film, I'd be guilty of giving away too much if I were to note any of them. I laughed and I cried.

As a long-time racing buff, it was pure pleasure for me hear the names of Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Lance Reventlow, Walt Hangsen ... as a kid, I saw them all race at famed Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

If you love racing, as I do, you'll love this one ... and if you love a good story, as I do, you'll love it for that reason, as well.

Cinematography, music, sound, all terrific.

This gets a 20 from me, the top of the heap - vroom vroom and zoom.

The Informant

Steven Soderberg has pulled off a remarkable feat – telling a serious story from a comedic point of view, using Marvin Hamlisch music as a comedic device overlay for a sad and pathetic story – greed run amok in ADM and the tangled, fanciful dreams of a schizophrenic executive who wants to bring ADM down while scamming the company of millions.

Based upon the incredible book by the New York Times writer, Kurt Eichenwald, the story unfolds as if it were a novel. It’s hard to believe that the goons at the top could be so craven, so greedy, so far removed from real life, ensconced in their Midwest empire, cheating every American, 5 cents at a pop, for every bottle of Coke and every Chicken McNugget … as suppliers of fructose (corn-based sweetener) and Lysine, a growth hormone essential to meat production.

Getting back to the Hamlisch music, which is brilliant, reminded me of “The Sting.” The folks who saw it with me felt as if the music were an artificial overlay. One said, “I think they finished the film and weren’t satisfied – so they pasted the music on top of it.”

For me, it fit Soderberg’s experimental style. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film where music played such an important role – more than supporting the story, but actually telling a counterpoint story – as we watch bunch of buffoons parade around as if they were important, when, in fact, they’re only clowns, albeit a bloodthirsty crew.

I thought it a brilliant casting coup to have Tom Smothers portray Dwayne Andreas, head of ADM. Though but a cameo roll, it captured much of the story for me – the whole ADM world – full of small self-important, entitled, men clowning around; the tragedy of it all - they had neither the moral nor intellectual stature to see themselves for what they were.

Profits and profits alone motivated them. And together with their worldwide competitors, they set about fixing prices, artificially allotting production quotas and setting price to boost their profits on the backs of working men and women around the world.

By the way, the ADM story is perfectly counterpointed in Michael Moore’s latest, “Capitalism.”

Matt Damon captures the insane mindset of Mark Whitacre who wanted to expose ADM for some weird amalgam of moral sensitivity, greed and an ambitious dream to be the heroic savior, and eventual head, of ADM.

Lucas McHugh Carroll brilliantly captures the naiveté of Whitacre’s Midwest wife – a decent sort of woman, but unable to push her way through the tangled web of wealth and comfort. She defends her husband to the end.

One of the saddest pieces of the story (both the book and the film) is how the ADM sharks (attorneys) set out to destroy the case by going after the FBI agents driving the investigation – one of whom is played by Scott Bakula who carefully captures this earnest young agent with a keen sense of justice and doing it right. But in a world of sharks, even the good are eaten alive.

As part of the shifting landscape in America, as we discover how evil the world created by Reagan and deregulation, how the big boys have looted the economy and pillaged the public good, “The Informant” tells one critical piece of the story. That all of this stuff could happen in America boggles the mind, but the America we know today is a far cry from the America envisioned by the Founding Mothers and Fathers, and a million miles away from the social victories won by FDR for The People, yes, the People.

Worth seeing?

For sure! But if you want to wait for Netflix, go ahead.

Che

A two-part film by director, Steven Soderbergh, detailing the revolutionary life and death of Ernesto Che Guevara ... brilliantly filmed by Soderbergh (as Peter Andrews).

Part One, the Cuban revolution ... at 1:00 PM

Part Two, Che's effort to export the Revolution to Bolivia ... 4:00 PM ... both at the Landmark on Pico. It was a full day, to say the least.

The whole enterprise flirts with boredom - endless slogging through the jungle - moving at a snail's pace - punctuated by a few moments of military action, but this is not about the fighting, it's about the man, his incredible energy and vision and his slow-motion plunge into death in the Bolivian jungles.

This is a bio-pic ... though I nodded off a few times, I found myself entranced - the story is told, and told well. I wanted to see what was going to happen next!

This is not an actor-driven film, though Benicio Del Toro portrays Che with convincing style. All of the acting is well-done, but the tone is "documentary" - unsteady camera work, the interspersing of black and white "news real" footage - some actual from the Cuban Revolution, but the New York City appearance of Che at the UN, had the grainy quality of archive footage. I really liked this element.

The only moment that seemed a bit strange to me - mega-star Matt Damon (Fr. Schwartz) has a brief role - fine as it goes, but I wish Soderbergh had stayed with lesser lights. This cameo didn't seem to fit.

It was fun to see Lou Diamond Phillips ... haven't seen enough of him lately. He brings a quiet intensity to his role - that of a Bolivian Communist, Mario Monje, who's caught between the party and the Revolution, initially helping Che, then, perhaps, betraying him.

Dialog is spare, utilitarian - the impression is clear: this isn't about words; it's about commitment, a willingness to give everything for the sake of the poor. Though a philosopher, Che is a revolutionary - it's action, not words, that count. But often with a few well-chosen words, Che inspires and disciplines his fighters, giving them some primordial - vision for what could be, and the willingness to pay the requisite price.

The slow pace also is the message: Che's effort in the Bolivian jungles was a slow march to death. The mystery explored is why the Revolution succeeded in Cuba but failed in Bolivia. A different time, a unique set of conditions, a United States ready to assist Bolivia when the US did so much less in Cuba? Who knows for sure.

The other mystery, I suppose, is Che himself. Why did he leave Cuba? Apparently the settled life was not for him. His was the life of the jungle, the armed struggle against oppressive regimes. Married and with children - no jungle liaisons with beautiful women, Che is all business, or shall I say, all Revolution. I wonder how his family felt. How have they fared since? What's up with his children?

Makeup does a fine job here - as we watch Che grow older, weak with hunger and beset with a nagging asthma that often leaves him gasping for breath. Controlled with medication, but in the last months of the Bolivian effort, having quickly fled the advance of government troops, his medication was left behind. Like everything else in those final months, it all went wrong.

Will a film like this enjoy commercial success?

Hard to say, but it's surely a contribution exploring the life of a world-recognized icon.