LE MANS ’66
(12A)
★★★★★ AUTOMOTIVE designer Carroll Shelby and daredevil driver Ken Miles turbo-charged the racing division of Ford Motor Company to take on Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.
The battle royale between the two brands on the Circuit de la Sarthe is recreated in muscular fashion by director James Mangold, working from a script by Jason Keller and London-born brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth.
Le Mans ‘66 is a crowd-pleasing drama of triumph on four wheels, anchored by terrific lead performances from Matt
Damon and Christian Bale.
The Welsh actor achieves another extreme body transformation, dropping 70lb in weight after his turn as Dick Cheney in Vice to portray a scowling, anti-authoritarian maverick.
Initially, the film focuses on marketing executive Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal), who persuades hard-nosed boss Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) that the key to revitalising the ailing brand is to make Ford sexy.
“James Bond does not drive a Ford,” says Lee.
“That’s because he’s a degenerate!” growls Ford.
Eventually, the chief executive dispatches Lee to Italy to court Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone) and sign a commercial deal to draw on Ferrari’s expertise.
Discussions break down and Ferrari insults the Americans by telling them to “go back to your big, ugly factory making big, ugly cars”.
In response, Ford orders his company’s racing division to build a car capable of humiliating Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans.
Stetson-wearing Carroll Shelby (Damon) accepts the seemingly impossible challenge and he approaches Ken Miles (Bale) to sit behind the wheel of the Ford GT40.
Lee’s boardroom rival, fellow executive Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas), denounces the appointment – “Ford means reliability. Ken’s not a Ford man!” – but Carroll is adamant Miles is the driver for the job.
Le Mans ‘66 excels during breathlessly staged racing sequences in an era when the need for speed heightened the dangers of the sport.
Damon and Bale jump-start a winning on-screen partnership while Mangold shifts sweetly through the gears, before he hits thrilling top speed with the final showdown.
IF THERE’S one time of year when the milk of human kindness can be aggressively sweetened with saccharine sentimentality, it’s Christmas. Dame Emma Thompson and co-writer Bryony Kimmings merrily spoon in the sugar to their seasonal romantic comedy while Bridemaids director Paul Feig unwraps cliches to a soundtrack of George Michael’s hits.
His music is timeless and beautiful, providing gentle emotional crescendos on screen including a romantic ice skate to Praying For Time and a moment of selfpreservation that echoes the lyrics of Heal The Pain.
Alas, the narrative twist on which the film precariously hangs is glaringly obvious and – in retrospect – illogical.
One intimate scene strains plausibility while another is a blatant cheat, presumably to throw us off the scent, and couldn’t unfold as depicted.
The film’s emotionally scarred heroine, played with an elfish grin by Emilia Clarke, is thoroughly unlikeable and unsympathetic for the opening hour a la Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
Thompson and Kimmings set themselves the impossible task of redeeming her in time for a tinsel-bedazzled redemption set to the bouncy title track.
“My God, I thought you were someone to rely on,” laments George Michael in one of the verses.
Regrettably, we could sing that back to the scriptwriters.
Thirtysomething hot mess Kate (Clarke) ricochets between auditions for West End stage roles while fitfully holding down a job as a sales elf at the Yuletide Wonderful shop in Covent
Garden.
Her boss Santa (Michelle Yeoh) implores her to take pride in her work but Kate is blinkered to the destruction she leaves in her wake.
Staring out of the shop’s window one morning, she is irresistibly drawn to handsome stranger Tom (Henry Golding), who volunteers at a homeless shelter.
He is selfless, sensitive and socially conscious – everything ★★★★★
NEAR the beginning of Ron Howard’s documentary, which incorporates footage from concerts and interviews to recount Luciano Pavarotti’s journey in his own words, the ebullient Italian tenor is asked to imagine his legacy. “I’d like to be remembered as a man who took opera to the people,” he replies modestly, flashing the camera a pensive smile. There are plenty of reasons to grin at Howard’s affectionate portrait of the flawed musical genius, which loudly celebrate the qualities that elevated a baker’s son from Modena to superstardom and worldwide record sales in excess of 100 million. ■ Available to stream/download from November 15 and from November 25 on DVD/Blu-ray.
Kate is not – and shepherds her on a tour of historic back alleys to prove she spends too much time looking down or engrossed in a touchscreen.
“Has anyone ever told you there’s something slightly serial killery about you?” she awkwardly jests.
Tom’s wholesome, positive influence compels Kate to think of others.
She engineers romance between Santa and a smitten Dutch customer (Peter Mygind) and slowly repairs fractured relationships with her browbeating Croatian mother (Thompson) and older sister (Lydia Leonard).
Last Christmas cloys and contrives when it should charm and serenade with that gorgeous soundtrack, including an upbeat new George Michael track over the end credits.
Clarke and Golding are an exceedingly attractive pairing and Yeoh is hysterical in a rare comic role, which she plays to the pantomime hilt.
Feig’s film, though, is a bauble – beautifully decorated and easy on the eye but hollow. Humbugs, anyone? ★★★★★
BASED on the children’s book series, Rotten Romans gallops through 1st-century betrayal and bloodshed with vim and a mischievous schoolboy grin. In 54 AD, Roman teenager Atti (Sebastian Croft) earns gold coins by passing off a vial of horse urine as precious gladiators’ perspiration. When Nero (Craig Roberts) receives the bottle as a gift, he sends Atti to Britain as punishment. Far from home, the lad meets feisty Celt teenager Orla (Emilia Jones), whose tribe are part of a rebellion against the Roman Empire. Atti and Orla work together in a bid to send the Romans back home.
■ Available to stream/download from November 18 and from November 25 on DVD/Blu-ray.