Richard Jewell (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

Starring:  Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Kathy Bates

Richard Jewell, a Centennial Park security guard during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, discovered a pipe bomb in an abandoned backpack and saved lives by warning bystanders away from the eventual explosion.    He was rightfully lauded as a hero, and after an interview with Katie Couric, his world was rocked by an FBI investigation targeting him as the bomber.   The reason for the initial investigation, detailed by Agent Tom Shaw (Hamm), is the natural suspicion akin to suspecting the person who discovered a murder victim's body.    What made Jewell a target of intense media scrutiny was Shaw's leak of the investigation to reporter Kathy Scruggs (Wilde), who promised sexual favors as quid pro quo for the tip, at least in the movie.  

Jewell went from hero to perceived monster in a matter of days.   The hefty, socially awkward Jewell and his mother Bobi (Bates) did not anticipate the media would be camped outside their home 24/7.   Because of Jewell's worship of law enforcement, he is entirely too cooperative with the agents looking to build a case against him.    Jewell's lawyer, Watson Bryant (Rockwell), commands Jewell not to talk, but the guy just can't help himself.    It's as if he is giddily picking out just the right size noose for his own hanging.

Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell is a story of an innocent man's life being wrecked by an overly ambitious FBI agent and a reporter looking for a scoop.    Both refuse to even contemplate the possibility that Jewell is innocent.    Despite the mounting lack of evidence and unsubstantiated speculation, Shaw and Scruggs dig in like ticks, mostly because they don't wish to look foolish.   They've painted themselves into a corner and come out swinging, mostly because they must.

Jewell, as played by Hauser (he was one of the dimwitted conspirators in I, Tonya), is not a lovable teddy bear, but someone who doesn't quite understand the situation he's found himself in.    In the early scenes, he is a police officer wannabe who insufferably throws his weight around as a college dormitory security guard.    The dean fires him for doing his job with too much zeal.   Years later, he is in Centennial Park pathetically trying to ingratiate himself with the police officers on duty, who don't see him as an equal.    That changes briefly following the explosion, until Shaw and Scruggs intervened.   We sympathize with Jewell because, how could we not?  

Eastwood moves things along efficiently as he usually does.    Despite the two-hour plus running time, Richard Jewell doesn't drag.    Eastwood, working from a script by Billy Ray, doesn't pound us over the head with a damnation of the media or government who got this whole story wrong.    Sam Rockwell's Bryant is not on a crusade, he simply wants to have his client exonerated and protect him, even from himself if necessary.    Kathy Bates gives the movie's most passionate performance, as a mother who only wants everyone to leave her and her son alone.    She implores in a statement to the press to declare her son innocent so she and her son can go on with their lives.   It is a speech that resonates.

At 89, Clint Eastwood is a marvel.    He has made a copious output of films in recent years tackling misunderstood heroes and older characters who can teach the technologically advanced youngsters a thing or two.    Richard Jewell is an example of the type of movie Eastwood does best:   Lean, efficient storytelling with resonant themes.    He likes the audience to think, not simply react.    His Richard Jewell is human, and not simply a symbol of what happens when professionals with the power to wreck lives recklessly perform their duties.    The aftermath of the Olympic bombing should've been one of professional pride for Jewell.   Instead, he is fighting for his life against allegations which had no substance, and may have eventually hastened his death in 2007. 

Marriage Story (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Noah Baumbach

Starring:  Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, Azhy Robertson, Wallace Shawn

We hear in voiceover narration and witness in montages what Charlie (Driver) and Nicole (Johansson), married for a dozen years or so, love about one another.    They speak so glowingly that we think this is an ideal marriage, but we soon discover they are headed for divorce.    The list of things they write is part of a couples therapy assignment, and Nicole refuses to read hers aloud.    Charlie and Nicole don't want to involve lawyers in their divorce.    They delude themselves into thinking it will be amicable all the way down the line.    Once Nicole moves with their son Henry (Robertson) to L.A. and Charlie stays in New York, the amicability flies out the window.

Noah Bambauch's Marriage Story could've easily been called Divorce Story, since the bulk of the story focuses on Charlie's and Nicole's split.    It is dramedy, to be sure, and some of the material is paced and spoken in ways which would make Woody Allen proud.    At two hours plus, there are superfluous scenes which slow things down, but Marriage Story is grounded with relatable, vulnerable performances by Driver and Johansson.    Each person has strengths, weaknesses, and long-held resentments which took a while to bubble to the surface.   

Nicole was once a teen actress who moved with Charlie to New York to work in his fledgling theater company.    He is meticulous in his direction of a play, how he cooks dinner, and how he keeps his home.    Nicole doesn't mind leaving a bra lying around and leaving the apartment a little messy once in a while.  Through the years, she feels she has allowed herself to lose her own voice in the marriage.  Charlie has a way of getting what he wants, until one day he doesn't.   Despite their deal to divorce without contention, Nicole hires hardball divorce attorney Nora Fanshaw (Dern) after gentle persuasion from her mother (Hagerty).   Charlie responds in kind by hiring the less aggressive Bert Spitz (Alda) and then his own pit bull lawyer (Liotta), who is expensive but willing to go low blow for low blow with Nora.

Besides the leads, there is excellent supporting work from Dern, Alda, Liotta, and Shawn, an actor in Charlie's company who advises him to get laid as much as possible now that he's divorcing.    There is a critical scene, maybe even Marriage Story's best, in which Nicole and Charlie start out with a superficial conversation which disintegrates into shouting, accusations, and crying.   The pent-up anger toward each other comes spewing forth like spitting lava from an erupting volcano, and there's no stopping it.    We now know this marriage can't be saved, and it is sad.

Baumbach made 2005's The Squid and the Whale, which semi-autobiographically depicted his parents' divorce.    They too deluded themselves into thinking they could be friendly with each other and cool about each dating other people.    That didn't work, no more than Nicole's and Charlie's futile attempts at civility.    Now, Marriage Story mirrors his own divorce, and it is told with insight and knowledge he wishes he didn't have to go through such pain to obtain.  

Honey Boy (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Alma Har'el

Starring:  Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, Lucas Hedges, Laura San Giacomo, Clifton Collins, Jr.

Honey Boy works best when Shia Labeouf's James is onscreen.   He is the Little League Dad and Stage Dad rolled into one, which is to say he is resentful, insufferable, and his rage is like a powder keg threatening to explode any second now.    When James isn't around, the movie loses focus and drifts, like it's just marking time until James comes back. 

Shia LaBeouf wrote the screenplay for Honey Boy based on his life as a child actor and his subsequent battles against substance abuse.    When Honey Boy opens, Otis (Hedges) is a working actor who finds it more difficult to keep pace with the Hollywood lifestyle without drugs or alcohol.    He is soon arrested for his third DUI and put in rehab.    Rehab is a bit tougher this time around.   He can leave, yes, but then he will go to prison for four years.    He figures he can b.s. his way past the counselors and be out in a matter of days.   The rehab psychologist (San Giacomo) wants him to dig deep into his past and figure out what fills him with such seething anger towards everyone.   We don't have to wait long to find out.

Circling back to 1995, Otis (Jupe) is a twelve-year child actor on the rise.   James, his father, lives with him in a fleabag motel on the edge of town.    Otis rides on the back of James' motorcycle too and from the studio.    While Otis is performing, James is growing marijuana on the side of the highway.    James is a former rodeo clown, convicted sex offender, recovering user, and takes his resentment at his lot in life out on his son while ostensibly supporting him.    Otis pays his father to be his guardian, otherwise James would probably want nothing to do with him.

When the adult Otis is diagnosed with PTSD, he is stunned.   PTSD is something an Iraq war veteran experiences, not an actor, but as we witness his interactions with his father, we see he had to survive a trauma not unlike a war.   James is a veteran himself, and his sobriety is just one more pressure he endures in his daily life.    James' issues are self-inflicted, but he in turn inflicts them on his son, who experiments with drugs and hangs out with a teen prostitute in order to find some relief.

With The Peanut Butter Falcon and now Honey Boy, LaBeouf has given us his two most powerful and multi-dimensional performances.    We would feel more sorry for James if he didn't take his grudge against the universe out on Otis, who didn't ask to bear James' burdens.   Otis' mother is absent, and a potential Big Brother named Tom (Collins) is soon attacked by a threatened James simply for wanting to help Otis.    Tom is a much more stable force, but James will have none of it because he's his, gulp, father.

Honey Boy has all the parts in place for a searing drama, but only electrifies when LaBeouf is on screen.    The rest meanders and turns a potentially heartfelt conclusion into a dud.   The Jupe and Hedges performances are also spot on.  We see the evidence of James' destructive influence in both, but in the end, we aren't exactly happy or moved for Otis.   We just remember some strong performances in search of a captivating story.

Dark Waters (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Todd Haynes

Starring:  Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman, Bill Camp, Victor Garber

Like 1998's A Civil Action, one of the best movies ever made about the litigation process, Dark Waters names its defendant (DuPont) and takes us through a startling, yet not unexpected series of revelations in which the monster chemical company knowingly poisoned the rivers and streams near its West Virginia plant while manufacturing Teflon.    DuPont had to know, yet do those who are looking to oppose the chemical giant have enough money and fortitude to see through the years of soul-sucking litigation to its end?   We find one in Rob Billott (Ruffalo), a Cincinnati attorney (and former West Virginia resident) who was recently made partner in a law firm which specializes in defending corporations like DuPont.    A farmer named Wilbur, a family friend of Rob's, asks for his help in bringing suit against DuPont for poisoning his animals, and soon himself.   Rob, sensing a conflict of interest, humors Wilbur (Camp), but soon discovers DuPont may indeed be dumping its chemicals into the local water supply endangering people and animals alike.

Rob asks his boss Tom Terp (Robbins) to work the case, and before we know it, years pass and Rob is plowing through boxes and boxes of discovery documents by himself in hopes of finding the smoking gun linking DuPont to the sick and dying people near its plant.    DuPont hopes Rob will simply be overwhelmed and give up, but they underestimate Rob's indefatigable spirit.    He knows DuPont is wrong, and will do everything in his power to bring them to justice.    Not that it will be that easy.   

As per the tradition of such movies, Rob is a married man with three children who spends more time at the office than at home.    At first, his wife Sarah (Hathaway) supports her husband, but soon openly laments that he isn't spending any time at home.    Hathaway's role is the epitome of thankless.  She is there either to chide him about his lack of quality time with his family, and to support him when the screenplay requires her to.   She isn't allowed much of a personality of her own, which is a pity.    Since many movies based on true events play loose with the facts, it wouldn't have been such a bad idea to make Rob a bachelor so we are spared the perfunctory domestic squabbles with the Mrs.    It worked for A Civil Action.

What is refreshing is how Rob's bosses support him in his endeavor (within reason) and aren't there to try and dissuade him from working the case to its bitter end.  Robbins is permitted a convincing speech in which he blasts DuPont for their negligence and their lies, and it doesn't seem forced or redundant.    When you see Robbins and Ruffalo stand next to each other, the stark difference in their respective height makes me wonder if Robbins is that tall, or Ruffalo is that short.    Maybe a bit of both.

Dark Waters isn't a legal thriller in which spunky attorneys crack a big case and reveal their findings in a courtroom finale.    It instead takes us through a legal process which is flawed, painful, and most of all very, very long.    Months drag into years, and Rob clears one hurdle while only to have to jump another.    His clients grow sicker, while others settle for a fraction of what they could receive.   We don't see DuPont executives conspiring behind the scenes to cover anything up or hatch a plot to pollute the world, and we don't need to.    Ruffalo is our guide, and while being stressed and exhausted, still plunges forward because he cares so deeply.   This is a story near and dear to Ruffalo the actor, producer, and environmental activist. 

Knives Out (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Rian Johnson

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Noah Segan

Even at a two-hour, ten-minute running time, Knives Out moves briskly and keeps us guessing, although the resolution suggests many of the suspects were kept around just to be suspects.    Knives Out contains an A-list supporting cast with each given a scene or two to relish and then more or less kept on the sidelines.    The major players are led by Benoit Blanc (Craig), a private investigator anonymously hired to get to the bottom of the apparent suicide of Harlan Thrombrey (Plummer), a wealthy mystery writer whose death is shrouded in a cloud of suspicion.    He seemingly slit his own throat, so the local police think it's an open and shut case.    Blanc suspects foul play, but how was it done?   And by whom?

Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi, Looper), is a whodunit in the Agatha Christie tradition in which each player's guilt or innocence is toyed with.   We can't rule out anyone, yet we know only one or two cast members' involvement will emerge as significant.   The ending doesn't cheat, and it plays fair by not springing another suspect on us in the eleventh hour.   Harlan's family, consisting of daughter Linda (Curtis),a successful business owner, Linda's cheating husband Richard (Johnson), their openly freeloading son Hugh (Evans), hapless Walt (Shannon), who runs Harlan's publishing business, and Harlan's ultra liberal daughter-in-law Joni (Collette), has reasons to want to kill Harlan, and have a particular interest in the will reading with a revelation which stuns the gold-digging Thrombreys. 

The character who takes center stage is Marta (de Armas), Harlan's Paraguayan nurse who is the picture of innocence and may or may not be the prime suspect, or someone who is being framed.    Harlan is not shown as an irascible codger, but a sensible, caring man who is tired of his family sponging off of him.    The free ride is over for many of his kin, and that doesn't sit well.   

As played by Craig, Blanc is a private eye with a Foghorn Leghorn Southern drawl and an eye for detail which would rival Sherlock Holmes.   Or at least Hercule Poirot.    Craig has fun with the role; fun he didn't allow himself when playing James Bond.    There are even political debates between Richard (a clear Trump supporter) and Joni (a clear Trump non-supporter), although these are pigeonholed in without any reason for existing.   This crew has enough to fight over without introducing modern-day politics into the mix.

The Irishman (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Martin Scorsese

Starring:  Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, Anna Paquin

Roger Ebert once wrote, "No good movie is too long,"   Now we have The Irishman, which is good, but entirely too long and bloated.   Yet, there is enough here to recommend, especially the contrasting performances of Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa and Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, the Philadelphia mobster who answers the question once and for all about Hoffa's fate following his 1975 disappearance.

Sheeran, an Irish fella who got in good with the Angelo Bruno crime family in the 1960's and later became Hoffa's trusted confidante, claimed shortly before his death that he indeed shot Hoffa and had his body shipped off to be cremated.    There was once an urban legend that Hoffa's body was buried under underneath one of the end zones in old Giants Stadium in North Jersey.    As if mobsters would risk detection by murdering Hoffa in suburban Detroit and shipping his body to East Rutherford, New Jersey for burial during construction of a football stadium.    The method of disposal depicted in The Irishman is more logical and a whole lot cleaner.    I hope my revelation that Hoffa was indeed murdered isn't a spoiler for you.

Frank Sheeran started his career as a truck driver who stole meat from his own truck and delivered it to the mob instead of Food Fair's customers.   He is fired, and with help from mob boss Russell Bufalino (Pesci), he avoids being sent to jail and becomes a gofer for Bruno and Bufalino.   A World War II combat veteran who killed more than a few Nazis in Italy;  Sheeran is not above putting a bullet in anyone's head who crosses Bruno or Russell.   Frank then is elevated to the position of trusted right-hand man of Jimmy Hoffa, who owes the mob more than a few favors and allows them unfettered access to the Teamsters pension fund worth billions. 

Frank plays things close to the vest.   He sees, he observes, and he tries to steer clear of conflict with his superiors.   He may not like having to be the one to kill Jimmy after years of loyal friendship, but he is one of the few people Jimmy trusts who can get close to him without Jimmy smelling a rat.   Pacino's Hoffa is a bombastic, stubborn politician whose mouth gets him into hot water with the mob one too many times.    We witness how Jimmy Hoffa was able to gain control of the Teamsters and how that same personality caused his downfall.

Frank narrates the story by breaking the fourth wall and telling us his story as he withers away in a wheelchair in a nursing home.   He is old, hardened, and wants to tell us his secrets before death silences him forever.   Scorsese employed a seamless de-aging CGI method which took decades off of De Niro's, Pacino's, and Pesci's faces.   Unlike Goodfellas and Casino, De Niro and Pesci not only don't swear much, but they don't smoke either.    This is rather refreshing to see.

De Niro's Frank is as quiet and cool as Pacino's Hoffa is loud and hotheaded.   They are a study in opposites, and their chemistry is palpable.   Pesci, whose famous role is that of hothead Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, is a man of power who no longer needs to remind others of his status.   His presence can either diffuse a situation or bring it to a swift, violent conclusion.    There is violence, to be sure, but in each instance we understand why it had to be used, and how De Niro feels about it.    He refuses to dime out anyone to the authorities, but he allows us to be his confidantes.    He needs to let us in on what drives him and what is in his soul, because human nature dictates that he can't hold it all inside.

The Irishman contains numerous instances which could've been left on the cutting room floor, including the scenes of back and forth communication between Hoffa and Russell, with Frank as a willing mediator.    The Irishman could've clocked in at two hours, forty-five minutes without losing any power.    The Irishman doesn't have the energy of 1990's Goodfellas or even 1995's Casino, both of which depicted mob influence on various facets of American life, but Scorsese is now 77 and prefers a methodical, reflective approach.   His camera forever moves, as if it is pulling back the curtain to allow us to witness events we shouldn't.    Is The Irishman good Scorsese?   Yes.   But it is not excellent Scorsese, and the fact that Scorsese made The Irishman elevates the material while at the same time fomenting disappointment for not being as strong as his past cinematic gems.  

The Good Liar (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Bill Condon

Starring:  Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter

It is our pleasure to witness Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen onscreen together as a con man and his next mark, an elderly former teacher who isn't quite the pushover he expected.    Mirren and McKellen make The Good Liar much more palatable than the material.    However, the movie trudges towards its inevitable ending, one which doesn't surprise us because it is telegraphed by holding onto shots of certain characters a moment too long.  

Someone in the movie has to be a liar, because the title gives it away.   The Good Liar opens in 2009 with Roy (McKellen) and Betty (Mirren) agreeing to meet in person after connecting on an online dating site.    Both use false names, and each confesses to using pseudonyms, but that is just the beginning of the deceit for Roy, who in his twilight years is a con artist who bilks unsuspecting people out of hundreds of thousands of pounds with fraudulent investment schemes.

Betty has a nice home in the London suburbs, and quietly has stashed away nearly three million pounds in her accounts.   Roy ingratiates himself into staying at her home and plots his next move with his business partner Vincent (Carter), who pretends to be a financial analyst.    Betty and Roy become companions, although hanky panky is off the table per Betty, and they travel to Berlin where part of Roy's shady past comes to light thanks to the research of Betty's ever-suspicious grandson, Steven (Tovey).    Steven smells a rat from the beginning, and his voiced concerns are promptly dismissed by Betty.




We're set up for a thriller with twists, and I won't reveal those twists, except you can see them coming from a mile away.   There is no other way for The Good Liar to end, so it isn't a question of how it ends, but why things play out as they do.    When The Good Liar is over, we see one good liar, one better one, and a movie which isn't satisfying enough for either.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Marielle Heller

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, Susan Kelechi Watson, Maryann Plunkett

Fred Rogers created a soothing, calming persona amidst the madness of the world around us.    He was so kind, gentle, and near saintly that the more cynical would simply count the minutes until the other shoe would drop and dear Mr. Rogers was exposed as a phony.   This was not the case.    As documented so excellently in last year's Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Fred Rogers the children's show host and Fred Rogers the real person were practically one and the same.    He would not have it any other way.   Mr. Rogers believed if you presented anything less than your true self, a child would sniff it out right away.

Who better to play Mr. Rogers than Tom Hanks, the actor who epitomizes the kind everyman?   A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is based on true events, but it is not a Mr. Rogers biopic.    Fred Rogers is the catalyst for the sad, angry reporter interviewing him for an Esquire article to forgive his own father and let go of the anger which has been gnawing at him for years.    This is not a simple thing.    Lloyd Vogel (Rhys) carries that emotional baggage around in his face and his posture.    He looks sad, he is sad, and he takes his anger out on those who love him.    His reputation as a writer is not a good one.    He can write, but he tends to take his frustration with the world out on his interview subjects.  

Lloyd isn't thrilled with being assigned what he thinks is a puff piece, but he soon learns he is being interviewed by Fred Rogers as much as he is interviewing Fred Rogers.    That is because Fred feels Lloyd's pain and tries to ease it.    He cares for Lloyd and wants him to deal with his emotions in a much healthier way.    Mr. Rogers discusses forgiveness and handling negative feelings on his show, and now Lloyd is someone for him to practice on.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood doesn't present Lloyd's troubles in a perfunctory way.    His story is compelling, made more so by his father Jerry (Cooper) who clearly wants to make amends for his past misdeeds.    Lloyd won't let him in, and Jerry is heartbroken by his son's unwillingness to let bygones be bygones.    Jerry wasn't a great guy once upon a time.    He drank, and he left his family as Lloyd's mother was dying from cancer.    At his sister's wedding, Lloyd punches Jerry, and feels no catharsis, just more regret.   Lloyd's scenes aren't just built in to kill time until we see Mr. Rogers again.    Even when Mr. Rogers isn't present, his spirit is all around.

Hanks doesn't give us a Mr. Rogers impression, but instead he dissolves into the uniquely generous man whose presence is missed...especially today.   The role is a natural for Hanks.    However, it would give me equal joy to hear Chris Cooper's name read for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.   Hanks is practically a shoo-in for the nomination in the same category.    Cooper takes what could've been a one-dimensional role and filled it with life.    The fact that Jerry wants so badly to reconcile with his son makes his scenes with Lloyd all the more touching.    Rhys is also perfectly cast.    His face tells the story, and with a countenance like that, the acting takes care of itself.  

Marielle Heller, who directed last year's delightful Can You Ever Forgive Me?, takes potentially sappy and melodramatic material and makes it moving.    You hear the instantly recognizable twinkles which made up Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood's theme music.    Some of the segues between scenes take place with sets built just like Mr. Rogers' land of make believe.    And watch the final scene in which Mr. Rogers takes his own advice and bangs the low keys on the piano when something is troubling him.    We didn't need any other words besides that to empathize with the man who gave joy to so many others.

21 Bridges (2019) * *

Directed by:  Brian Kirk


Starring:  Chadwick Boseman, JK Simmons, Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James

Despite the participation of Joe Russo and Anthony Russo (of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), 21 Bridges is a by-the-numbers police drama with few thrills and, upon reflection, some serious plot holes.    Chadwick Boseman (of Black Panther) provides a sturdy lead as Andre Davis, a cop brought in on a case involving eight cops killed in a shootout with armed drug dealers.   Davis has a Past, which necessitates an internal affairs hearing held hours before the killings.    He has killed nine people in eight years, which must be some kind of record, and internal affairs is concerned he may have an itchy trigger finger.   

Davis is asked to spearhead the tracking of the dealers (Kitsch and James), who expected to steal fifty kilos of cocaine stashed in a restaurant safe.    There are three hundred kilos, not fifty, and the dealers are surprised to see eight cops descend on the place so quickly.    A deadly shootout occurs, the dealers flee the scene, and Davis is soon asked by the precinct captain (Simmons) to find the dealers and swiftly dispatch justice.    Davis suspects the dealers are heading to Manhattan, where they can unload the drugs less conspicuously in the wee hours of the morning, and demands the mayor close the island to make it impossible for the dealers to escape.    Judging by how easily the dealers are found, this is equivalent to using a shotgun to kill a mosquito.   The dealers, especially James, are allowed some depth and a backstory.  

Davis is assigned a partner in Frankie Burns (Miller), who worked in the same precinct as the deceased cops.    There is little suspense as to what will happen, why, and to whom.    The villains may as well be wearing t-shirts stating, "VILLAIN," and one of them makes an amateurish mistake which allows Davis to discover that person's involvement.    I also found it particularly odd that Davis, who as you may recall is under investigation for killing nine people in eight years, is allowed to leave the crime scene shortly after dispatching more people with his gun.    Surely, someone would have questions, or have him at least fill out a report.    He is allowed to leave as if he simply rescued someone's cat from a tree.

If IA didn't like him at the beginning of 21 Bridges, they will like him considerably less at the end. 

Ford v. Ferrari (2019) * * *

Directed by:  James Mangold

Starring:  Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Catriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Noah Jupe, Ray McKinnon

The best scenes in Ford v Ferrari involve the racing of the Ford vehicle challenging Ferrari's supremacy at Le Mans, a harrowing 24-hour race which never had an American-made car win the event.    Ferrari was in the midst of a five-year run of domination when Ford CEO Henry Ford II (Letts) turned an insult from Enzo Ferrari into a mission to dethrone him at Le Mans.   Henry Ford II wasn't exactly a nice guy either, and neither was his right-hand man Leo Beebe (Lucas), a corporate snake who makes it his mission to undermine Carroll Shelby (Damon) and mercurial driver Ken Miles (Bale) at every turn.   Why?   Because Miles doesn't behave like a "Ford Man" and even when Miles finally succeeds in making his way on to the race team, Beebe doesn't sit back and take it.   He's a prick because he can be. 

As if putting the Ford team through a daunting 24-hour hell race isn't enough, Shelby and Miles have to withstand corporate interference and politics just to get their car on the track.   Shelby is a successful racer turned race car designer, while Miles is a stubborn hothead racer who alienates corporate sponsors and is in trouble with the IRS.    But both would love to not only win Le Mans, but give Beebe the symbolic finger in the process.  

Ford v Ferrari is a satisfying film with authentic racing scenes and some great chemistry between Damon and Bale, who play guys with different personalities with a love of race cars at their core.   This is where they find common ground.    That, and telling guys like Beebe and Ford where to go.
Do they win Le Mans?   I won't spoil it for you, but the ending, which one would think is a screenwriter's invention, actually happened.    As does Miles' fate shortly after, which truth be told makes the final fifteen minutes more of a downer than Ford v. Ferrari needs.

If you're a racing enthusiast, you'll love the technical jargon thrown about by the mechanics and techs working on a superior race car.   You'll also love the Le Mans scenes.    Those not as crazy about races will still love the give and take between Shelby and Miles, and the convincing recreation of the period in which Le Mans was the center of the racing universe.