Fisherman's Friends is darling. A group of Cornish fisherman, completely unorthodox by the standards of the music industry, are signed by Universal Records and have a smashing debut album of old-timey sea shanties. It should go without saying, but I won't let it -- the music is great! What a fun story.
6 Days recreates the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London. It was a better-told story than I expected it to be, switching between perspectives of the hostage-takers, the negotiators, the press, and the SAS forces poised to break into the embassy. The story moves well between all the positions, not getting too stuck on any of them. It's not a surprising story, but one I didn't know much about. Plus, any movie giving me shots of London gets bonus points from me!
Have you ever known someone who is mean and awful and seems to always get away with it?
Dunsmore is that story. The town bully gets away with stealing, arson, domestic assault, child molestation, even murder. Until, one day, he turns up dead. The movie appears to be based on the real-life story of
Ken McElroy of Skidmore, Missouri (link contains spoilers).
How much do you know about the development of functional radar in the run-up to WWII? I knew nothing, until I saw
Castles in the Sky. The lead character, played by
Eddie Izzard, is Robert Watson Watt. He's a weird but brilliant meteorologist who assembles a team of equally weird, brilliant, and devoted people to help him on what seems like a doomed project. Despite setback after setback, they build a functional radar system just in time for the Battle of Britain.
I find it hard to believe that I have made it this long without seeing
Elizabeth: The Golden Age. And even harder to believe that I have seen
The Golden Age but not the original
Elizabeth. Regardless, though they are a two-parter, it's not necessary to see the first in order to understand the second. As it is the second of the two movies, it covers the latter portion of her reign, from about 1585 to her death in 1603, with the primary conflict being between Elizabeth's Protestant England and the Catholic crown in Spain.
Cate Blanchett is spectacular in this movie (and in fact won a Best Actress Oscar for the role). The character of Elizabeth struck me as being very similar to another of her roles: as Galadriel in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy -- alternating between demands of strict obedience and moments of tenderness. This was a big, sweeping drama that you don't see much anymore in the world of Netflix and Amazon productions.
Other than
Matt Damon's presence in the film, I wouldn't have had much interest in
Ford v. Ferrari before I started watching F1. I just wasn't that into auto racing. After I learned what the
24 Hours of Le Mans was, I was more interested in watching the film. (In case you don't know, it's a French endurance race wherein car manufacturers and drivers fight to balance vehicle speed with continued performance over the very long race.) Back in the 1960s, Ford was rebuffed in their attempt to purchase Ferrari. Upset about the slight, Ford executives decided to build a car that could win the endurance race which was dominated in prior years by Ferrari. Matt Damon plays the conman-cum-car-designer Carroll Shelby. The bromance is balanced by
Christian Bale as the Ken Miles, the British driver hired to race the new Ford. It was suspenseful, despite knowing the outcome, which is always a feat.
The Professor and the Madman is one of those that seems to crazy to be a true story, but it is. The professor was James Murray, played in the film by
Mel Gibson; the madman was Dr. William Chester Minor, played by
Sean Penn. Together, they undertake the greatest lexicographical project in history -- the creation of the first Oxford English Dictionary. If you're into language, words, and the like, this is the movie for you!
Our Friend was moving and sad, and yet, a celebration. The couple in the film (Matthew played by
Casey Affleck and Nicole played
Dakota Johnson) are shattered when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Matthew struggles with the burdens of caring for both his ailing wife and his kids; the couple's friend Dane (
Jason Segel) moves into their house to help with ... everything. Whatever needed doing, he was there, his own life grinding to a halt in the meantime. It is an appreciation for the yeoman's work that goes into caregiving and a fitting tribute to great friend. This one is a tear-jerking must-see, with Jason Segel at his finest. Great music too. (
Here is the
Esquire piece, written by the real-life Matthew, on which the movie is based.)
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