Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron and the movie ‘The Blind Side’

Remarkable acts of compassion can make all the difference. If that isn’t an overriding message of the movie The Blind Side (2009), then I was watching a different movie with the same name. John Lee Hancock and Michael Lewis take movie writing credit for the film, which in being based on the Lewis’ book The Blind Side. The sport of football is a language of this movie, with compassion being the message.

(From left, Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, Ray McKinnon as Coach Cotton, and Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy in the movie The Blind Side).

The primary compassion of the movie began with Leigh Anne Tuohy, as portrayed by Sandra Bullock, who saw Michael Oher as a teenager walking down the street with nowhere to stay. Touhy convinced her husband, Sean Tuohy as played by Tim McGraw, to bring the young man into their home for a meal and a night of sleep. Oher would become a member of the family, go to school and college, and become a legitimate part of the Tuohy family.

(From left, Kathy Bates as Miss Sue and Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher in the movie The Blind Side).

Roy McKinnon as Coach Cotton needed some convincing to allow Oher, as played by Quinton Aaron, to join the high school football team. Having had a difficult beginning wherein his mother was exposed to crime and his father wasn’t in the picture, Oher could have easily fallen through the cracks of a system that could not provide the safety net that the child and man Oher was and would become could flourish. Kathy Bates as Miss Sue became a tutor. Collins Tuohy as portrayed by Lily Collins and S.J. Tuohy as portrayed by Jae Head became a sister and brother to Michael Oher in real senses of the term over time and through the course of the movie. The friction of acceptance, belief in decency, and an affirmative choice of compassion in the face of stereotypical fear were all forthrightly addressed with an affirmative outlook.

(From left, Lily Collins as Collins Tuohy and Jae Head as S.J. Tuohy in the movie The Blind Side).

Michael Oher grew to become the 23rd pick in the 2009 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens. The movie offered a dramatic and comedic look into the journey of Oher, the Tuohy family, and the journey from homeless teen to more fuller, whole person. I rate The Blind Side at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, July 18, 2020

Matt Damon, Christian Bale and the film ‘Ford v Ferrari’

It was avid car aficionado in the form of Lynn‘s West Virginia uncle who turned me on to the biopic film about the 1966 automobile race 24 Hours of Le Mans. This particular film, and the facts underpinning it, tells the story about the stranglehold that the Ferrari brand had on the race at the time as well as the battle Ford had in becoming relevant there for a four year stretch beginning in 1966. The film that addresses this contest is Ford v Ferrari (2019).

(From left, Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The crux of the film starts around the time that the Ford Mustang as a vehicle was introduced, with Ford owner Henry Ford II (as played by Tracy Letts) making an overture to Ferrari owner Enzo Ferrari (as played by Remo Girone) to acquire the motor company owned by Ferrari, and being soundly rebuffed in a move to increase the sales price to Fiat. This led to a courting by Ford of Carroll Shelby (as played by Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (as played by Christian Bale).

(From left, Stefania Spampinato as Enzo Ferrari‘s English Translator and Remo Girone as Enzo Ferrari in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The means of being rebuffed by Enzo Ferrari opened, or perhaps revealed, an emotional rivalry between he and Henry Ford II that revealed some interesting dynamics in the way Ford was operated as a company. Lee Iacocca, as portrayed by Jon Bernthal, brought Carroll Shelby into the Ford company when Henry Ford II demanded engineers and money into the company to have the wherewithal to compete with Ferrari at Le Mans.

(From left, Jon Bernthal as Lee Iacocca and Corrado Invernizzi as Franco Gozzi in the film Ford v Ferrari).

The compelling notion of what worked in the movie Ford V Ferrari was first the racing story with the fortunes of two automobile companies at the center of it. Also there were the personalities within Ford, with Shelby and Miles as clearly outsiders to the corporate culture of the larger company. Iacocca was a bit of a middleman between that culture and the work getting done by Shelby and Miles.

(Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe in the film Ford v Ferrari).

Josh Lucas as Leo Beebe was the face of that corporate culture, and in many ways vilified for his role in how the 24 Hours of Le Mans came to a resolution in 1966. There was natural tension in his trusted role in Ford and the natural conflict that arose in holding the Shelby / Miles team to an account that also reflected on the public face of what Ford wished to project. Said another way, a story of Ford v Ferrari was the means for how mean with well-defined senses of self worth worked together. This came into play as well between Shelby and Miles, the both of them and Beebe, and the full lot of them and Henry Ford II with Iacocca in the middle. Ken Miles and his wife, Mollie Miles as portrayed by Caitriona Balfe, had their own form of intrigue as shown in Ford v Ferrari.

(From left, Caitriona Balfe as Mollie Miles and Christian Bale as Ken Miles in the film Ford v Ferrari).

I found the movie Ford v Ferrari both entertaining and interesting. There’s history in the telling, despite some clear fictionalized dramatization included for the sake of the telling. The fiction offered something that worked for me in this case, though there are some muscle car folks that might not agree. I rate Ford v Ferrari at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Tom Hanks, Ed Harris and the Ron Howard film ‘Apollo 13’

It was 50-years ago this week that the first humans to walk on the moon occurred with the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission. Less than a year after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first walked on the moon, the intended Apollo 13 Lunar Landing Mission became a triumph of human ingenuity and tragedy averted when an explosion in space aborted that mission. Child actor and film director Ron Howard brought us the film of that latter mission in the blockbuster film that is our subject today, Apollo 13 (1995).

(Former actor turned acclaimed film director Ron Howard directed the film Apollo 13).

Three astronauts flew the mission depicted in Apollo 13, including Jim Lovell (as portrayed by Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (as portrayed by Bill Paxton), and the bachelor Jack Swigert (as portrayed by Kevin Bacon). Bachelor Ken Mattingly (as portrayed by Gary Sinise) was due to fly the mission, but owing the concern by medical flight controllers over the possibility of Mattingly getting measles while in space, Swigert was a middle-of-training replacement for the space flight. The movie offers a compelling introduction to each of these men, their pre-flight familial situations, and a foretelling of the relationships the men would have once adversity comes both pre-flight and in-mission.

(From left to right – Bill Paxton as astronaut Fred Haise, Tom Hanks as astronaut Jim Lovell, Gary Sinise as astronaut Ken Mattingly, and Kevin Bacon as astronaut Jack Swigert in the film Apollo 13).

Four NASA leaders important to the Apollo Missions overall and the Apollo 13 flight in particular were NASA director Christopher C. Kraft Jr. (portrayed as a loose composite in the film by Joe Spano), flight director Gene Kranz (portrayed by Ed Harris), flight controller Seymour ‘Sy’ Liebergot (portrayed by Clint Howard), and flight engineer John W. Aaron (as portrayed by Loren Dean). Kranz, Liebergot, and Aaron take prominent paths in the story, which dramatized the emotional stakes in the movie Apollo 13 so as to demonstrate effectively in movie presentation the dramatic story of what happened.

(From top to bottom – Joe Spano as a NASA director loosely based on Christopher C. Kraft Jr., Ed Harris as flight director Gene Kranz, Clint Howard as flight controller Seymour ‘Sy’ Liebergot, and Loren Dean as flight controller John W. Aaron in the film Apollo 13).

Heartstrings and emotional impact were shared back on earth during many critical junctures of the film. We met in loving detail an emotional depth for Jim Lovell‘s family and the growing quality of Fred Haise‘s family through the movie.

(From left to right, Mary Kate Schellhardt as Barbara Lovell, Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell, Miko Hughes as Jeffrey Lovell, and Max Elliott Slade as Jay Lovell in the film Apollo 13).

Beyond the compelling drama for whether the crew would make it home within the film, seeing the families of the crew, along with the extended NASA family of engineers pull together to bring about just that outcome, was quite dynamic.

(Tracy Reiner as Mary Haise, left, and Jean Speegle Howard as Blanch Lovell in the film Apollo 13).

The film Apollo 13 was a blockbuster movie with the budget and effects to go with it. The film won Academy Awards for sound and film editing. The film earned high marks among critics and moviegoers alike, per Rotten Tomatoes. As I continue to enjoy watching this film again and again, my overall rating for Apollo 13 is 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Season One of ‘Justified’

The FX television series Justified (2010-2015) recently entered our viewing rotation at Matt Lynn Digital. If you haven’t yet done so, we strongly encourage you check into this series. Season one gets into the first 13-episode season, which is the focus of this review. The season itself credits the Elmore Leonard short story Fire in the Hole as an influence. Elmore James novels Pronto and Riding the Rap are additionally credited for the series, which was developed for television by Graham Yost.

(Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, left, and Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder in the FX series Justified).

The central character of this series is U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens, the central law enforcement officer forced back to his childhood home in the hill country of eastern Kentucky, specifically in Harlan. The opening scenes of the series, set in Miami, Florida, offer the audience a glimpse into a seemingly cavalier attitude that sets a tone for the series. We are introduced fairly quickly into the checkered history of the Givens and Crowder families as well as the many varieties of interpersonal relationships with lawfulness, lawlessness, and guns this involves.

(Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, left, and Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins in the FX series Justified).

Timothy Olyphant plays the fast and loose lawman Raylan Givens while Walton Goggins plays the masquerading as white supremacist criminal seeking spirituality Boyd Crowder. Raylan and Boyd dug coal together in the past. Joelle Carter plays Ava Crowder, the physically abused wife of Boyd Crowder’s brother. Ava’s husband ends up dead, breeding tension between Ava and the Crowders as her romantic inclination towards Raylan gains expression as Raylan aims to protect her. Boundaries are blurred. Meanwhile, blurry boundaries between Raylan Givens and his remarried ex-wife, Winona Hawkins as played by Natalie Zea, come into play often through the first season.

(Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, left, and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks in the FX series Justified).

Nick Searcy as Art Mullen and Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks serve the Deputy Marshals service in roles that are played fairly straight when it comes to the dramatic flair of other characters in this season. Mullen plays Raylan Givens’ boss while Brooks plays the occasional partner to Raylan. Boyd’s father Bo Crowder, as played by M.C. Gainey, and Raylan’s father Arlo, as played by Raymond J. Barry, are equal parts cantankerous, corrupt, and confounding in their own ways to their respective sons. The nature of their self-interest was priceless, entertaining for being incorrigible, and worth the effort to see.

(M.C. Gainey as Bo Crowder, left, and Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens in the FX series Justified).

My aim here has been to offer you a sense for what the opening season of the series Justified has to give you in terms of criminal, hillbilly behavior. The story builds from episode to episode in a way that is engaging. It is easy to see relationships between characters that are interesting for being a train wreck of entertaining in that it kept me wanting to watch. My feeling is that many of you will feel the same. My overall grade for season one of Justified is 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, July 10, 2019