The New Year's Eve Movies of 2019

So the first Grandstander of the new year and new decade will be a look back to the final day of the old year and decade, December 31, when The Grandstander and his Better Half  doubled down on our New Year's Eve tradition of attending a movie - this year, we saw two movies and here is a quick look at them:

"Ford v Ferrari" tells the tale of the Ford Motor Company's failed bid to purchase the Ferrari Motor Company in the late 1960's and the subsequent decision to get into the racing game and beat Ferrari on the race track.  Great performances by Matt Damon as driver/designer Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles make this worth seeing.  Also,  a scene with Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II riding as a passenger in the race car that Shelby is driving is  almost worth the price of admission to this one.  It is a well told tale, and the car race scenes are stirring and exciting, but, in my opinion anyway, they go on a bit long, and the movie itself also goes on a bit longer than it should.

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

The second half of our NYE double feature was seen in the comfort of our home via Netflix.  "The Two Popes" tell the story of Pope Benedict XVI's almost unprecedented decision to resign as Pope, and his discussions of that decision with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the man who would become his successor, Pope Francis.

Not sure what it was, maybe I was just tired at the end of the day and a busy holiday season, but I was kind of underwhelmed by this one.  I am guessing that  much of what the screenwriter put before us was speculative and unconfirmed.  As a drama that presented two different philosophical elements of the Church, it made its point, and that can cause one to think, which is what good drama is supposed to do.  Still, this movie just didn't engage me as I had hoped that it would.

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce and Benedict and Francis, give good performances (they even look like the Popes that they are portraying), but it wasn't enough to get this one more than Two Stars from The Grandstander.

Coming later today, I will give my Top Ten favorite movies for 2019.  I know that you are all on the edge of your reclining theater seats waiting for that one!