{"id":8520,"date":"2014-04-19T14:13:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-19T18:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8520"},"modified":"2014-04-19T14:17:06","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T18:17:06","slug":"the-car-in-motion-racing-films-part-iii-rush-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8520","title":{"rendered":"The Car in Motion: Racing Films, Part III \u2013 Rush (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Rush2013_Br.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8209 alignleft\" alt=\"Rush2013_Br\" src=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Rush2013_Br.jpg\" width=\"120\" height=\"156\" \/><\/a>Perhaps the biggest surprise of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8208\">Rush<\/a><\/strong> (2013) is how well it works as a beautifully crafted drama. Sometimes Ron Howard\u2019s face-smacking directorial approach works \u2013 without the music and close-ups, <strong>Apollo 13<\/strong> (1995) is still powerful for its intense story of stranded astronauts \u2013 but there\u2019s an old fashioned sentimentality which permeates Howard&#8217;s canon (yes, he really has a canon), including the Oscar-winning <strong>A Beautiful Mind<\/strong> (2001) and the pompous soap opera <strong>Backdraft<\/strong> (1991), which is frankly grating.<\/p>\n<p>Howard is adept in balancing expressive action and drama, and perhaps due to his emphasis on using characters to grab audiences, <strong>Rush<\/strong> never becomes an attention-deficit thrill-ride that fades from memory after leaving the cinema (or snapping off he TV). It\u2019s also a major asset to have a story about two rival Formula 1 drivers whose contempt and nastiness eventually matures to respect. The edginess between Niki Lauda and James Hunt never subsides, but the horrific crash that almost kills Lauda changes their dynamics, and Lauda\u2019s recovery and return to racing is perhaps the film\u2019s most emotionally grueling material.<\/p>\n<p>Universal\u2019s Blu-ray is loaded with extras, but I\u2019ll cover them in a revised review that&#8217;ll be tied to Paul Crowder\u2019s lauded documentary <strong>1<\/strong> (2013), also available on Blu.<\/p>\n<p><em>Coming next<\/em>: a podcast with composer Jeff Toyne (<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6775\">Rogue<\/a><\/strong>, <strong>The Privileged<\/strong>), and soundtrack reviews.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor<br \/>\n<strong>KQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part 3 of the sporadic series The Car In Motion focuses on Ron Howard&#8217;s surprisingly solid racing drama Rush (Universal), documenting the intense rivalry between Formula 1 racers Niki Lauda and James Hunt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[1824,2562,2563,2616,2661,514,2618],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/JamesHunt_NikkiLauda.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2dq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8520"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}