Drive

Here's a film that isn't for everyone but stands right out among a lot of the generic Hollywood films that are pumped out every year.
Drive is not your average movie. And Ryan Gosling puts in a performance that you don't see too often either.
What makes Drive so different is that it requires the viewer to do a bit of work, it doesn't lay everything out in front of you.
Gosling's character doesn't have a name, occasionally he's referred to as 'Kid' but that's the only help we get.
He's a part-time stunt driver who gets involved in robberies as the driver, who gives his accomplices five minutes of help before he takes off and evades the authorities.
His simple world becomes complicated when he strikes up an odd friendship with his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and when a heist goes wrong a contract is put out on him placing everyone around him in jeopardy.
There's a pretty solid support cast including Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman but Gosling is the star.
His character, while being the lead, probably has the least amount of dialogue. He speaks only when it is needed but you can almost read his mind when he says nothing. There are awkward moments, sweet moments, brutal moments, but it is all Gosling's film.
There are a few scenes that will shock you and will shatter any impression you have of Gosling's character, showing that he is not the detached outsider that he appears.
In some ways Drive is a masterpiece but it also has an unsettling undertone and that makes it a bit uncomfortable.
Having said that this is my type of film and Gosling puts in a brilliant performance.
An 8 out of 10.

The Cup

Making movies of true stories can't be easy, particularly when the true story happened less than a decade ago.
This was the main problem I had with The Cup which is the story of jockey Damien Oliver (Stephen Curry) and the tragic death of his brother Jason (Daniel Macpherson) just a week before the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
Given I still remember the time pretty clearly when all this happened watching it unfold on screen with people who obviously don't look like the real people was going to be difficult. (Although Curry doesn't look too different).
Another tricky element is the fact that horse racing movies aren't easy either - getting the races looking authentic requires a lot of work. In some respects they get the racing scenes pretty close. The bonus though is at times they do splice in some real footage.
Anyway, the story. Oliver is introduced as the top rider of the moment (and he was) and we see the relationship he has with his brother who is also a jockey.
He is asked to ride for Irish trainer Dermot Weld (Brendan Gleeson), at the time the only Northern Hemisphere trainer to have won the Melbourne Cup. After riding Media Puzzle to win at Geelong and qualify for the Cup Oliver's world is rocked when his brother Jason is killed in a freak accident in a barrier trial in Perth.
Overall the movie is well done, there are some errors that racing enthusiasts like myself will notice quite quickly whereas other won't. Some of the casting was a bit odd but, as mentioned, I feel the movie might have been made a bit soon and that made the actors playing real life people who are still active in the racing industry seem a bit wrong.
There are some great moments in the film and it really does pick up as it goes along. Director Simon Wincer (Phar Lap) probably errs a bit in trying to explain a lot of things that might not have needed to be so explicit but, it was still very enjoyable.
The speeches at the end of the film, with the real footage used, add a nice touch. It isn't the greatest racing movie around - that honour still rests with Phar Lap - but it is well done, if just a bit cheesy. A 7 out of 10.