Monday Moments - F1 the Movie - Zoom Zoom

 This movie is probably streaming by now.  But on a warm Saturday July afternoon, Ray and I treated ourselves to a small popcorn, a medium Diet Coke, and over two hours with Brad Pitt in F1: The Movie.   Money and time well spent.   Very fun!

Brad looks great and he's just cool as Sonny Hayes.  He's a broken man with a racing  history, now just moving  from quick gig to gig.   Javier Bardem as Ruben tracks him down and convinces him to join  his Formula Team - it's on its last legs and needs a boost and some wins.  The young gun driver, Joshua, (played well by Damson  Idris), is of course irked at "old  man" Sonny.  There's  competition, issues, and then teamwork.  

Kerry Condon is the  team hot shot designer who listens to Sonny as he gives his opinion on the car.  Is there a love kick?  Well, yeah - it's Brad, Kerry.  Hot stuff for a moment.  But the key to the movie  is the F1 racing in exotic locations.  One of the producers is Lewis Hamilton.... Hello - he's not going to have crap on the screen.  And gee - is he prominent in the racing finale?  

All in all, this is  maybe a tad long.   But it's very entertaining, well  filmed, and a good summer  movie. 

And Brad!!!!!!!!!!!!  'nuff said.    Enjoy.  

Monday Movie Review - The Lost City

 Last Thursday began as a cold blustery day. I decided I needed some sunshine and stupidity in my life, so off to the movies. The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliff, and Brad Pitt filled all of my goals. 

This is old fashioned rom-com fluff with no redeeming  value. But those of us in the theater laughed out loud and enjoyed the ridiculous situations. Sandra B plays a burned out romance novelist. Channing is her cover model, Dash. Daniel Radcliff is the wacko billionaire who kidnaps her from her book tour,  to help translate some ancient parchment.  He's convinced that from her books, his lost city on an obscure island, actually has treasure in a tomb. Are you following this?

Channing/Dash is sure he can save her, but he enlists an old buddy of his, Jack, who's military trained. Jack (Brad Pitt) is a real-life Dash - handsome, daring, and rom-com ready for anything. 

I won't go into more. It's convoluted but all plays well to the casts comedic skills. Sandra Bullock is a treasure and she was awesome in this movie. The cast looked like they had fun with it. The Lost City romp was exactly what I needed. I came out smiling  to a sunny, still blustery day. It was worth my five dollars and worth you streaming when it hits your television. 

Movie Review - Quentin's latest flick

I’m often conflicted on Quentin Tarantino movies. Some can be so good (Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Bastards) and some can stink (Hateful Eight).  Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is a winner. Whew! Quentin captures the 1968 and 1969 vibe with the look, the music, and so many nuances. Leonardo DiCaprio plays an actor on the downhill slide, and Brad Pitt is his stunt double with some issues. Both are excellent. Trust me, there’s a scene with Brad facing off against an actor playing Bruce Lee – it’s priceless.  

Margo Robbie plays Sharon Tate. She’s not in it a lot really, but she does shine and, obviously the Tate figure with the whole Manson ordeal plays a big part of Tarantino’s rewritten history. It’s good to know the backdrop from that time period and understand the references. A younger guy at my workplace thought the flick was boring…but he didn’t “get” it. With Tarantino, you do have to think  a bit (in a good way).

My husband thought it was a tad long and would have edited it down. I can understand his point, but I was okay with the whole flow and mood of the movie. Plenty of laughs and good acting. And I was curious where some of the twists would take us. All in all, I give credit to Quentin for his efforts as a very creative director. He’s unique. Yes, there’s a blast of violence at the end and it works. Plus stay through the credits – some funny touches there with Leo. Plenty of famous faces show up with bit parts – Al Pacino is funny. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood totally entertained me on a rainy Saturday morning – yes, three hours of movie amusement.  Worth the tub of popcorn.

Movie Madness - Allied

Allied is a very old fashioned movie and that’s a good thing.  It’s a war movie/ love story/ mystery/ thriller. The characters are beautiful – hot, smoldering with simmering emotions. The times are fraught with danger. The backdrop is slinky hot and classy. Everything builds slowly and you have to watch and invest your time and emotions.

It’s 1942 North Africa. Who emerges in the desert but Brad Pitt as Max Vatan.  He’s driven into Casablanca with a new identity and a shiny wedding band. Shades of the movie Casablanca, he walks into a bar dressed to the nines and meets his new “wife” Marianne Beausejour (played by the stunning Marion Cottillard) . They are matched for a mission and oh the sparks slowly fly. This is  a movie with repartee, slow burning glances, and hot steamy nights.  They do manage to blow up some Nazis (no I’m not giving away the movie), and then high tail it back to London.

Are they in love?  Do they marry?  Is she a German spy?

Oops – well, are two out of three okay?

This movie kept me guessing until the end and I won’t give it away.   I enjoyed the buildup and anticipation a lot. Despite being a war movie, this is not a big bang ‘em up showy mess. Instead it’s a slow burn and Brad and Marion are a worthy pair.  Give yourself some time in a day and enjoy Allied. 

Movie Review - The Big Short

The Big Short is an excellent movie. Who knew a movie about the housing bubble could be hysterical? This movie is frenetic, serious, comical, fast paced, irreverent, and brilliant in its scathing wit. Michael Lewis wrote the book – it is calm and clearly incisive in explaining how making bets against the housing industry seemed insane, and that banks were too big to fail. The movie throws calm out the window and with a wide range of characters played by Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt, and more – we see math and economics come to life as certain individual investors calculated the folly of the subprime mortgage industry.

This movie explores the folly of humans and the trust they put into the financial system. The hubris of Wall Street and the billion dollar money flow proved explosive. The movie explains some of the more esoteric terms (collateralized debt obligations or synthetic CDOs) with examples by chef Anthony Bourdain creating a new stew from three day old halibut, or Selena Gomez at a Vegas gaming table. The movie is splashy and scary as we hear Melissa Leo (an official at Standard & Poor’s) explain away ratings because she can’t have the customer go down the street to Moody’s. As the Wall Street Journal movie review says, “high dudgeon gives way to heightening disbelief, followed by horrified belief, about rampant deception, self-deception, and the system’s frailty.”

Great acting all around. Clever film making about a darn tricky subject. The Big Short is smart and sharp, and as a movie will not sell you short.  Expect to see a lot of Oscar buzz on this one. And unfortunately do we learn from our mistakes? Alas, money makes the world go round, and up and down, and bubbles burst. 

Movie Review Madness: Fury

“Fury” is the name of the tank. It’s WWII, 1945, and though the crew looks beat down, America is making inroads in Germany. However, “Ideals are peaceful, history is violent” says Sgt. Collier (Brad Pitt) to the new guy, Norman (Logan Lerman). The poor kid was a clerk, and now he’s in the second gunner seat of a tank. The wide-eyed fear and horror is palpable on his face. But as the tank rolls through towns, takes out German battalions, we see him harden in this unflinching portrayal of war. 

The guys have made it through Africa, France, and now Germany. They count on each other and especially on the sergeant.  Pitt brings a quiet nobility to his role. He’s stalwart and commanding, and then he walks away and has his moment of fear/relief/ and utter exhaustion. Then he rallies and keeps his tank on the move. With a tank’s eye viewpoint, the director keeps us in the mud and in the middle of fire. It’s scary and claustrophobic.  

“Fury” does not give us major history lessons, but it does show the endurance of war weary men. I give the film a B for making me care about the guys, for solid filmmaking, and for the tank perspective. The fury does build and unleash in many different ways.  

Movie Review Madness: World War Z

World War Z is Wow! This film is tight, scary, and really good. Brad Pitt (Jerry) and family are driving along in Philly when bam! There are explosions, people crashing into cars, and then folks chomping on each other. What???? A few quick cell calls, and Jerry (a former UN investigator) is able to get airlifted and then on his way to special assignments. He thought he was out, but his skills are too good. (Of course, he's freakin' Brad Pitt).


Has a plague hit? Or worse - is it really zombies taking over the world? Brad has to travel to far flung places, chasing patient zero. Meanwhile, each encounter is more fraught with danger, and his family keeps getting moved from their safe haven to refugee status. World War Z is tense. We worry for Brad and his crew, and we worry for his family and the fate of the world. Plus these are fast moving zombies with clacking chomping teeth. Yikes!

Yes, the film has zombies but that's not the point. It's more about the drastic spread of horror in apocalyptic proportions. The world is so united these days, it can also become a catastrophe very quickly. Fortunately, there's a hidden research facility for disease study. Brad takes a chance to save the world. And he uses nature itself to draw conclusions.

Hold your breath and stay alert. World War Z is an emotional roller coaster ride. Excellent movie, but not for kids.

Moneyball Review: Catch It

Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis' fascinating book, is about the science of baseball and how the anemic Oakland Athletics in 2002/2003 managed to win games with an unlikely team and lousy payroll. Sound boring? Nope. Brad Pitt fills a perfect role. He's Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's.

Beane was a young gun with a full Stanford scholarship, who skipped college to play in the big show for the New York Mets. Unfortunately, he could never get all of his skills to connect. But he became a talent scout, thrived, and moved up the ladder. Now, as a forty-something GM, he was facing the loss of three big players (free agents) and had no money to buy replacements.

However, he did recognize some other talent - a young Yale economist graduate - Peter Brand (unassumingly played by Jonah Hill in a breakout role for him). This kid had statistics to back up player picks, looking at on-base percentages,etc. No picks based on physical looks, girlfriends, or star wattage. Strictly numbers. Billy rolls with the new method, is almost laughed out of the ballpark, until ... the A's start winning, and winning, and winning some more.

Moneyball is a modest, talks a lot film. It watches Pitt ponder and then sweat out his team's games. He battles the coach, played by a gruff Phillip Seymour Hoffman (always fabulous), and he helps Brand understand the glory of baseball, the dream, and that the key is winning that last game. Plenty of chuckles, angst, and baseball in this film. Brad Pitt ambles through it all with grace and all-American heart.

Here's to the start of a home-run hitting fall movie season.

(review published for the Little Paper of San Saba - a town without a theater)