Ford v Ferrari

3 Reasons to See It: 1) This story is fun. A lot of fun. A lot people laughed, especially at the second showing which is really unusual. 2) The acting is really good. I've seen Christian Bale in several movies but in this one, he's just having fun and it shows. 3) The music helps drive the story. I definitely recommend seeing it in theaters.

3 Reasons to Not See It: 1) It's not a traditional movie, so if you're looking for a traditional action movie, you may be disappointed. 2) The subject matter is cars and racing. I'm not a car-fan, but I had no problems following it. However, if you can't stand the track, probably not the movie for you. 3) The movie takes a little while to end so if you get annoyed at that, be prepared. All-in-all, I had a hard time thinking of these reasons.

Going in: This is actually my second time seeing it. I saw it opening night and realized I was two movies behind. The next day, two of my coworkers wanted to see it so we bought the tickets and headed out. I expect it won't be as fresh as the first time, but I honestly don't mind. 

Popcorn: 9/10. Um, expectations surpassed. I ended up going with Abhilash (the other person had to cancel). It was actually more fun the second time. It could be that the audience didn't have any problems laughing, but regardless, it was fun. Definitely a buy and I've recommended it to a few friends and family.

Art: 9/10. Incredible acting, beautiful cinematography, excellent story. On the other side, the music was a little better than meh (common these days though) and the story's theme wasn't as hefty as some of the other films I've reviewed this year.

Acting: 6/6. Incredible acting. I've never seen Christian Bale have this much fun since American Psycho. Matt Damon had some fun as well. Not a fan of the way they used Josh Lucas but the rest was well done.

Music: 3/4. The arrangement was well played and selected. The original music didn't stick out much but the rest was used really well.

Filming: 4/4. There were 2 1/2 weeks between viewings and two movies. I still remembered several shots and they still held up. Good use of lighting. There was some iffy night shots but I didn't notice the first time.

Art Dept: 4/4. Everything at least looked period-specific. There were some CG issues, but it's pretty normal. The set design was really classy though. Little details all over. Good stuff.

Editing: 4/4. Standard editing visually, but the sound was something to fall in love with. The sound mixer made some good use of the Surround Sound and played with it well.

Story: 7/8. This movie follows two friends who are a lot like but different in a lot of ways. The pacing of the story was a little weird but not in a way I noticed the first time. And the second time, they subverted the formula a bit. The themes were pretty consistent and served as a good spine for the story. I'm only marking down because the content wasn't as hefty as some of the other movies this year.

Directing: 6/6. Well put together, everything working well. 

Production: 4/4. I wouldn't have thought that this would have been worth seeing, but man I'm glad it was made.