Movie Review: Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold (Five Stars)

Movie Review: Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold

(Five Stars)

“Look out there. Out there is the perfect lap. You see it?” “I think so.” “Most people can’t.”

An amazing movie. I went to be entertained; I was moved to tears. Not about cars or racing—okay, peripherally so—but about people. People who want to excel, and people who want to control. They don’t get along in the movie, nor in real life.

“If you’re going to push a machine to its limit, you have to have sense of where that limit is.”

Amazing performances by Matt Damon and Christian Bale with solid support by half a dozen others, especially Caitriona Balfe. If there’s justice in Hollywood—we know there isn’t—this crew should garner several Academy Award nominations.

“This isn’t the first time Ford Motor’s gone to war. We know how to do more than push paper. Go ahead, Carroll. Go to war.”

While Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca are portrayed sympathetically, the rest of “suits” at Ford corporate come off as a bunch a sleazy power grabbers.

“You can’t make every lap perfect, but I can try.”

Book Review: The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters (Four Stars)

Book Review: The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #18) by Ellis Peters

(Four Stars)

“I do not spoil what I wish to sell,” agreed Otir. “And when I collect what is due me, it will be from the debtor.”

Outside the Main Sequence of Cadael stories, but a rollicking good tale. Whenever Cadfael has leave to get close to his Welsh roots, murder and mayhem are sure to follow. Here Cadfael must solve a crime with international implications or what passes for order in northern Wales may be overturned.

“Wonderful what riches a man can bestow who by choice and vocation possesses nothing!”

Many of the usual suspect—in type, if not in person—inhabit this chapter of the chronicles. If anything, the tale is populated with too many characters too similar. In addition to the usual murder mystery and romance, Pargeter reflects on matters of humility, duty and honor.

“There is no one who cannot be hated, against whatever odds. Nor anyone who cannot be loved, against all reason.”

Though maps are provided, a good map of northern Wales would be a handy supplement for those readers who like to stay grounded in the geography of the tale. The descriptions are such that no ones gets lost, who doesn’t want to.

“But when it comes down to it, as roads go, the road home is as good as any.”