Skip to main content

Ferrari (2023)

 


Ferrari is a biopic of the late Enzo Ferrari and his controversial 1957 race of the Mille Miglia.

Directed by Michael Mann, the film has a slow start that grounds you in the scenery, the period, and how everything is in the late 50s Italy. Mann must love Ferrari as this is the second Ferrari movie he's produced in the past 4 years: this and Ford v Ferrari which is more about Ford than it is Ferrari but whatever. Michael Mann of course directed Heat, Ali, and Collateral, these movies are much different than his recent racing fixation.

Adam Driver has a lot of range in the film having to play Enzo in various moods and display stoic, vulnerable, angry, and loving emotions; all in scenes that require them. He'll always be Kylo Ren but compared to Marriage Story and Paterson he's really branching out from his Star Wars days. 

Penélope Cruz plays Laura Ferrari, Enzo's wife who is kept in the dark about Enzo's affair with Lina Lardi played by the oddly good Shailene Woodley. She's that girl from the Divergent series, now she's all grown up. She's had some other recent movies that were 'movies' with Dumb Money and To Catch a Killer. This is easily her best film while I haven't seen a better performance from Cruz. She's a seasoned actress too. 

I enjoyed Ferrari because I'm a sports car enthusiast but if I wasn't there was still enough for people to be enthralled with the drama surrounding this particular race. Result: B+

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

  Joker: Folie à Deux is a comic book musical and sequel to the stand-out hit Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix .   I truly believe that Todd Phillips is trolling the comic book community with this film. It's weird, unwatchable at times, and nowhere near the first film. Even standing on its own without having the film be even considered a sequel it fails. It almost feels like WB was just paying him to make a sequel.  Joaquin Phoneix doesn't phone it in. He just does what he's supposed to do and delivers a performance. He and Lady Gaga are really the only saving grace. While her rendition of Harly Quinn is nowhere near what was expected for a Joker film she still had a memorable but trying performance. Characters you forgot about come back and a few new ones that don't leave any impact other than to just be there and in the film. You see Harvey Dent but there's nothing to his character, partly at fault for hiring a no-name actor in Harry Lawtey  who should stay on TV an

The Wild Robot (2024)

  The Wild Robot is a DreamWorks science function adventure film based on the book series by the same name. Written and directed by Chris Sanders,  the film feels like what Disney used to put out. The writing hits on similar beats like his other work  Lilo & Stitch , The Croods, and How to Train Your Dragon.  There is a definite switch from climax one to climax two and I felt more invested in the later third of the film but not so much at the beginning. There was a tad bit of FurnGully's environmental message in the film but the main message of how to be a mother was front and center. Lipita Nyong'o had to carry the film with help from Pedro Pascal and the best cameo of Bill Nighy . She voiced the robot while Pascal  was the main supporting character of the fox Fink. I've grown tired of Pedro Pascal  but his deliveries were enough for me to ignore my bias'. The worst voice actor was Brightbill's Kit Conner  who must have some connection in Hollywood to land the

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

  Avatar: The Way of Water  is the followup to James Cameron's original box office winner Avatar. Continuing Jake Sully's story, now protecting his family from Colonel Miles Quaritch again. Written and directed by James Cameron . The worst parts of the writing probably came from the writers of Mulan, both Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. In terms of direction, there was the expectation that Cameron would recreate some sort of magic of Avatar, Terminator 2, or even Aliens. I think Cameron gave the skeleton of the story and Jaffa and Silver added their own dialogue and beats. Cameron doesn't really write boring movies and I was bored through parts of the film. 3 hours and 12 minutes is a long time to have amazing dialogue and writing. Sam Worthington is back but you don't recognize him since he was barely in the first film except in his avatar form. Most people don't know Worthington. Maybe if you played the Call of Duty Black Ops games as he played Alex Mason. I most