Ford v Ferrari

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The Ford Motor Company hires Carroll Shelby (played by Matt Damon) to build a car that can compete with Ferrari in the racing circuit. To accomplish this goal, Shelby enlists help from hotheaded racer and mechanic Ken Miles (played by Christian Bale). The two men find themselves at odds with Ford executive Leo Beebe (played by Josh Lucas). I love that the relationship between Shelby and Miles is really what drives this film. As good as I genuinely believe that both Bale and Damon are in this film, Bale truly feels like he is the heart and soul. His motivations are the most understandable throughout But, I also have to give credit to the film’s supporting cast. Josh Lucas is so good at playing the weaselly douche bag that he can practically do it in his sleep. Jon Bernthal is an actor that I’ve been a fan of ever since his time on The Walking Dead. Naturally, I was glad to see him in the movie. Director James Mangold handled the racing scenes with some genuine tension. I will also admit that, while I am a fan of sports movies, I don’t really know enough about sports in general to know how accurate this film was, or that I even knew what the actual outcome was going to be. This is a film that was 2 and a half hours long, and never really felt it. 

10 / 10 

Creed II

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Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan) is challenged by Viktor Drago (played by Florian Munteanu). Adonis feels as though he needs to take the match due to the legacy that follows the idea of “Creed vs. Drago.” Throughout all of this, he finds out that his fiancee Bianca (played by Tessa Thompson) is pregnant. As much as Adonis wants to take the fight, Rocky (played by Sylvester Stallone) has reservations. Over the past couple of years, I have felt that Michael B. Jordan has sort of cemented himself as one this decade’s defining actors, and he truly is excellent in this film. I also have to compliment this film’s writing and directing. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I found out that Ryan Cooler wasn’t coming back to direct this film. But, Steven Caple, Jr. did a fantastic job with this movie. The film was co-written by Sylvester Stallone and Juel Taylor. This movie can feel a touch familiar at times, but the more the movie went on, the more I didn’t really care. Part of the reason is that I feel as though this movie does what a good sequel should do. The characters progress, and are actually given new situations. I feel that Tessa Thompson, in particular, feels a little more fleshed out. In this film, she is pregnant with hers and Adonis’s baby. She has her own fear that their child will be born deaf (a fear that is all too real for many people) because she is deaf herself. As a character, Viktor Drago could have easily been a one-note cartoon, something akin to what Ivan (played by Dolph Lundgren) was in Rocky IV. But, you actually get to see a little bit of how similar and how different Adonis and Viktor are. You see that they both have expectations thrust on them, both by themselves and by others. If this movie is about anything, it’s about the relationships between fathers and sons. You see how Adonis is, in his own way, still somewhat in his father’s way. You get a little bit about how Rocky is estranged from his own son. Overall, Creed II may not be quite as good as the first film (it is very hard to capture that lightning in a bottle feeling twice in a row), but it is still a very good sequel that deserves to be seen.  

9 / 10 

Creed

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How do I describe my thoughts on the movie Creed? In a word: fantastic. The movie has a lot of emotional weight to it that you can really feel. There’s a lot of different parts to it that come together to make this one of the best movies of the year. First off, the acting in the movie is phenomenal. Michael B. Jordan owns the role of Adonis Creed. Sylvester Stallone is probably the best he’s been in a very long time from a performance standpoint. Jordan and Stallone share a wonderful student-teacher, and further, a surrogate father-son relationship and chemistry together. The two share a lot of parallels to each other in the story, and they are able to form a bond that way. The movie also has two pretty big, solid fights. I loved the both of them. I, echoing the voices of plenty of other critics, personally love the first major fight the best. I love that it’s filmed to look like one shot. Director Ryan Coogler has made what I think has a shot at becoming a classic film in the years to come. Granted, only time will tell. As someone who really hasn’t seen any of the previous Rocky movies in full, I think I can pretty safely say that you don’t necessarily need to be a Rocky fan to enjoy this movie, but it probably doesn’t hurt either. 

10 / 10