LITTLE WOMEN (2019) – My rating: 8/10

Little Women is a coming-of-age period drama written and directed by Greta Gerwig. It is the seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott.  This is a good version of Little Women but not the best version I’ve seen.

It’s 1868, Little Women introduces Josephine “Jo” March (Saoirse Ronan) who is a teacher and a writer living in New York. She meets with an editor, Mr. Dashwood (Tracy Letts) and gets her story published subject to considerable editing. Jo’s sister Amy (Florence Pugh), is in Paris with their Aunt March (Meryl Streep). While in transit Amy runs into her very good childhood friend, Theodore “Laurie” Laurence (Timothée Chalamet) and invites him to a party.  They catch-up right there in the street while Aunt March awaits in their horse-drawn carriage.  Later at the party, Amy grows angry at Laurie’s drunken behavior. Meanwhile back in New York, Jo meets with Friedrich Bhaer (Louis Garrel), a professor who despite being infatuated with her, criticizes her work, which infuriates Jo. Shortly after, a letter arrives at the boarding house where Jo stays informing her that her younger sister Elizabeth “Beth”(Eliza Scanlen) has taken a turn for the worst, so Jo heads home to Massachusetts.

Flashing back to 1861 in Massachusetts, Jo and her older sister Meg (Emma Watson) go to a party where Jo first meets Laurie, the grandson of their neighbor Mr. Laurence (Chris Cooper). On Christmas morning, their mother Marmee (Laura Dern) persuades the girls to give their breakfast to their poverty-stricken neighbor, Mrs. Hummel (Sasha Frolova), who has five children, which includes an infant. Upon returning home, the girls see their table full of food, provided by Mr. Laurence. In addition, a letter from their father (Bob Odenkirk) who is fighting in the Civil War has been delivered.

So the above two paragraphs give you a window into the life of Little Women.  Remaking Little Woman has proven to be a smart move if you want to be represented for a movie award.  Little Woman has been remade more than any other film I can think of.  It is an excellent story of family, love adventure, drama and sadness about a near-perfect family.  Their ups and downs are pretty exciting yet pretty normal.  I didn’t love the flashing back and forward as it interrupted the flow of the story for me.  I actually liked the 1994 version of Little Women better, as it really made me feel like part of the family.  The acting was brilliant and the costume design was fabulous.  Despite some minor issues, I did like Little Women (2019) and highly recommend the film, it’s a nice change of pace.  In the meanwhile, Little Women has grossed $75,008,520 domestically and $108,522,277 worldwide.  It received critical acclaim and was chosen by both the American Film Institute and Time magazine as one of the top ten films of 2019. At the 77th Golden Globe Awards, it received two nominations, including Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Ronan, and it was also nominated for five British Academy Film Awards, including Best Actress (Ronan), Best Supporting Actress (Pugh), and Best Adapted Screenplay.

[LITTLE WOMEN is Oscar-nominated for BEST: Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay —  TOTALING 6 OSCAR NOMINATIONS]

 

FORD VS FERRARI (2019) – My rating: 9/10

Ford v Ferrari (titled Le Mans ’66 in the UK and other territories) is a sports drama directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. The plot follows a determined team of American engineers and designers, led by automotive visionary Carroll Shelby and his British driver, Ken Miles. They are dispatched by Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca with the mission of building the Ford GT40, a new racing car with the potential to finally defeat the perennially dominant Ferrari racing team at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. Despite the great trailers for this movie, I didn’t intend to see it but I kept hearing great reviews from friends so I finally gave in.  Ford vs Ferrari exceeded whatever expectations I had.

In 1963, Ford Motor Company Vice President Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) suggests to Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts)  that he purchase the cash-strapped Ferrari as a means to boost their car sales, participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), however, walks out of the deal because Fiat offered him a more lucrative deal that would allow him to retain his ownership of Scuderia Ferrari. In rejecting the proposed deal with Ford, Ferrari insults the company and its CEO. A furious Henry II orders his racing division to build a car to defeat Ferrari at Le Mans. For this task, Iacocca hires Shelby American, owned by Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), a racing driver who won Le Mans in 1959 but was forced to retire due to an ongoing heart condition. In turn, Shelby enlists the help of Ken Miles (Christen Bale), a hot-tempered British racer and struggling mechanic. The two were best friends and had a long-standing relationship. Shelby and Miles test the Ford GT40 Mk I prototype at Los Angeles International Airport, working out all of its design flaws until it was race-ready. The events that followed were heartfelt and forever carved in history.

From this point in the movie, Ford vs Ferrari tells a compelling true story that is intriguing, to say the least.  Ford vs Ferrari, which is based on actual events, turned out to be a better story than I anticipated.  I expected a run of the mill movie with a lot of meaningless car races.  Not being into car racing, I didn’t know names of the car racing greats so Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles didn’t mean anything to me.  What a story Ford vs Ferrari turned out to be.  I don’t know quite how it was done, but the camera work, while they were racing, was magnificent. I felt like I was in the car with Ken Miles.  The excitement was non-stop.  I’m sure if you go to see Ford vs Ferrari, you’ll like it as much as I did. The film has grossed $172 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who lauded the performances and racing sequences. It was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best films of the year, while Bale was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. FYI: In the early stages of the film’s production, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were cast in the starring roles, but those plans fell through. I believe the right actors were cast.  I found this true story exciting and I highly recommend it to everyone, not just car racing fans.  Check It Out!

[FORD VS FERRARI is Oscar-Nominated for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Editing — Totaling 3 Oscar nominations]

LADY BIRD (2017) – My rating: 6.5/10

Lady Bird is a comedy drama written and directed by Greta Gerwig.   Just by the title alone, I thought this was a movie about the wife of LBJ, whose name was Claudia Alta Johnson but was affectionately nicknamed Lady Bird by her nursemaid because she thought Claudia was as “purty as a ladybird”.  To my surprise, Lady Bird is as far from a story about a president or his wife as a story can get.  Instead it is a story about a typical high-school senior and her turbulent relationship with her mother.

Lady Bird is set in Sacramento, California in 2002-03 and tells the story of Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) who is a senior student at a Catholic high school and is hoping attend an ivy league college in a city with lots of culture.  The problem is, her family is financially strapped and her mother, Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf) constantly reminds the family of their financial woes.

— SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW — 

Trying to make the best of her situation, Lady Bird joins the school theater program along with her best friend Julie Steffano (Beanie Feldstein) and starts intimately dating Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges).  However, her relationship with Danny is short lived when she catches him making out with another boy in the bathroom stall.  Lady Bird moves on at her mother’s request, taking a job at the coffee shop where she meets her next boyfriend, a musician named Kyle (Kyle Scheible). Lady Bird gives Danny’s grandmother’s home as her address to appear wealthy and drops out of the theater program. At the coffee shop, she consoles Danny after he expresses his struggle to come out.  Lady Bird discovers that her father, Larry McPherson (Tracy Letts) has lost his job and has been battling depression for most of his life. Despite all, she begins applying to east-coast colleges and is placed on NY colleges wait lists.  At this point, Lady Bird picks up with some good points and some interesting resolutions that made the movie worth while to those who relate to this type of saga.

Personally, I found Lady Bird slow and somewhat boring.  The answers to their problems were obvious to me so I didn’t really get much from the movie and I definitely didn’t think it was Oscar worthy.  The acting was brilliant and the story was not alien.  I’m sure many would be able to relate to the dysfunction that surrounded this family.  There’s much more to be heard and seen but I didn’t want to spoil it — Check it out, there may be something in it for you!

[Lady Bird is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.]

 

THE POST (2017) – My rating: 9/10

The Post is a political thriller directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. Set in the early 1970s, The Post depicts the true story of the journalists from The Washington Post and their attempts to publish and expose the Pentagon Papers, classified documents regarding undisclosed information about the involvement of the United States government in the Vietnam War. It was a very long war with no real theme which cost us a great many men. We the people have always wanted to know why. Still unsure of the logic behind this senseless war, only one thing is certain…

In 1965 , State Dept. military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) accompanies U.S. troops in combat to document progress of U.S. military activities in the Vietnam region for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood). On the return flight, McNamara expresses to Ellsberg and President Lyndon Johnson his view that the war in Vietnam is hopeless. Years later, now working for a civilian military contractor, Ellsberg surreptitiously photocopies classified reports documenting the progress of the ongoing Vietnam War, dating back to the Truman administration. He leaks these documents, which detail more than 20 years of clandestine U.S. activities and frank admissions that the war has been going poorly, to reporters at The New York Times.

Heiress Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), who succeeded her father as owner of the Washington Post, and whose husband committed suicide, is conflicted over preparations for the newspaper’s IPO, a move she recognizes as important to strengthening the paper, but fears losing family control. She lacks confidence in her ability as a woman to lead the organization, frequently “overruled” by more assertive men who advise or work for her, such as editor in chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) and board member Arthur Parsons (Bradley Whitford).

Bradlee notices Times’ investigative reporter Neil Sheehan’s lack of publication, as of late and concludes he’s on to something big. Bradlee tries to find out what it is but does not. Meanwhile, McNamara, who is Katherine’s long term friend, confides in her that he is about to be the subject of unflattering coverage by the New York Times that will include long term public deception. However, the series is halted by a count injunction.

Washington Post assistant editor Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) tracks down Ellsberg as the source for the leak, who provides Bagdikian with copies of the same material given to the Times. A small team of Post reporters sort through the disorganized papers, trying to piece together parts of the larger story. The Post’s lawyers become aware of the project and advise against publishing the material, lest the Nixon administration bring criminal charges against them.

Graham fields the input and advice of the men around her, including McNamara, Bradlee, and trusted Post chairman Fritz Beebe (Tracy Letts), agonizing over the decision of whether to publish. If the legal fallout goes badly, she could destroy the newspaper she sees as a family legacy, but if they are successful, it could instead establish it as an important journalistic institution. She chooses to run the story.

The results of this story is well known but I decided not to post any more of the story for those who don’t know. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, the film received six nominations: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama for Streep, Best Actor – Drama for Hanks, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. The Post is an intense film and is well acted.

[THE POST received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Best Actress (Meryl Streep)]