'F1 Movie' A Review

 F1 is a sports drama about a struggling Formula One team owned by Ruben(Javier Bardem) who, in a last ditch effort to avoid a forced sale, enlists his former teammate and wandering savant driver Sonny(Brad Pitt). Sonny has to reacquaint himself with F1 and learn to get along with his team- primarily up-and-coming talent Joshua(Damson Idris) and tech director Kate(Kerry Condon).

Pitt brings his patented movie star charm and ease and it works well if not pitch perfect like his turn in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Idris struggles a bit to carve out a full character but he's still compelling and a decent foil for Pitt. Condon is wonderful(if woefully age inappropriate as Pitt's love interest), it's great to see her in a blockbuster as she's mostly been turning in great performances in indie fair the last decade or so. The rest of the supporting cast bolster the leads and fill out the movie well, there's not a lot of nuance or depth but this isn't that kind of movie, it's a spectacle blockbuster.

Visually the movie is thrilling, the multiple races all shot with an evocative POV where you real feel like you're there, it's more transportive and exciting than actually watching Formula One racing. The score is simple and effective, the runtime is a bit overlong but it's easy not to begrudge director Joseph Kosinski given how much action there is and similar to his last summer movie success Top Gun: Maverick it is extremely potent at what it is trying to be- a popcorn movie with broad appeal.

Not particularly complicated, a transparent commercial for Formula One, yet a solid, effective, exciting piece of entertainment.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

'Pavements' A Review

Pavements is an experimental rockdoc about the indie rock band Pavement. Through archival footage, a fake musical biopic, a real off-Broadway jukebox musical, a touring museum exhibit featuring memorabilia from the band, and behind-the-scenes footage of their 2022 reunion a hodge-podge piece of art is presented. More resembling something you'd see at a museum of contemporary art rather than a cogent piece of cinema.

The editing is near incessant and absolutely relentless and Pavement's indie rock droning underscores the entire movie and actual information about the band, some of which is true some of which is not, is scant. This is definitely an artsy vibe film and probably only accessible for people who are or were fans of the band. As someone who knew none of their music and nothing about the band it struck me as incredibly pretentious, off-putting, insular, and grating. With some actual context maybe it's a very accurate and moving celebration of the band, I wouldn't know!

It's very ambitious and there is a lot going on both from a filmmaking perspective and thematically. There's a mile-long streak of post-modern irony but also, seemingly, actual sincerity from famous people talking about how much the band means to them(one of whom is Tim Heidecker so maybe this too is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek). With no prior knowledge of the band it's impossible to tell.

With a lot of fandom going mainstream this seems like a reaction to that, a movie only for the fans of this underground band, made specifically impenetrable and fair enough but it doesn't translate as a film for people to enjoy outside of that and as such a cinematic failure.

For Pavement fans only.

Currently in theaters.

Don't See It.

The Compulsion Of The Creative

Talent
is an itch
big or small
you gotta scratch

'28 Years Later' A Review

28 Years Later is a post-apocalyptic horror movie, the third in the series following 2002'a 28 Days Later and 2007's 28 Weeks Later. The rage virus has been contained to the British Isles which are under indefinite quarantine. A community of survivors live on an island village connected to the mainland by a tidal causeway. Jamie(Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes his 12-year-old son Spike(Alfie Williams) on a coming-of-age hunt while his wife Isla(Jodie Comer) convalesces from an unknown illness.

Taylor-Johnson puts in a decent performance as does Comer but the family drama is the weakest and most convoluted part of the script and they both struggle to push through. Williams is a competent child actor but again the interpersonal issues in the family strain credulity and serve pretty much exclusively to distract from what the movie does well and Williams is too young to be able to juggle it all. Ralph Fiennes shows up half way through and he is so good, so locked in, it throws into contrast the leads short comings. Jack O'Connell pops up at the end to tease the sequel and he's equally excellent.

Visually the film has style, shot mostly on iPhone rigs with snappy, inspired cutting and evocative dream sequences, it recalls the grittiness of the original and raises the stakes artistically. The score is equally effective as is the make-up and zombie work, mostly all practical. There is a level of polish and depth with Danny Boyle back in the director's chair and Alex Garland penning the script. They build out the world both narratively and visually and there are bits of fun and excitement pretty much at every little stop along the journey. But the problem is that core bit of family conflict which is both not particularly believable as well as unnecessary. The idea of the rage virus evolving, a decades long quarantine, and what people would do to survive those two things is plenty. Putting a clichéd overbearing dad and a soap opera-esk mentally deteriorating mom in the mix is overkill and unnecessary.

Wild, ambitious, frequently thrilling but overly plotted.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

The Jumping Off Place

What you learn
from a near

death experience

is that

it was never

that far away

before it

'Fountain Of Youth' A Review

Fountain Of Youth is an action/adventure movie in the mold of Indiana Jones and National Treasure but decidedly not family friendly given the staggering body count. Estranged siblings Luke(John Krasinski) and Charlotte(Natalie Portman) reconnect in the search for the titular FoY for vague and suspect rich guy Owen(Domhnall Gleeson). 

Krasinski, gods love him, has never and will never escape Jim from The Office. Much like Seinfeld he got rich and famous from playing a character close to himself and the reality is, beyond that, he has no real range or ability. Here he is miscast and his attempts at wise-cracking adventurer come across like a walking sexual harassment lawsuit. Portman is the better, more well-rounded actor, but she struggles as well trying to make her paper thin baffling character make any kind of believable sense. The script obviously sucks and reads like an AI was prompted "DaVinci Code with assault weapons" but most of the supporting cast is better able to, at least, have fun and be watchable- Gleeson, Laz Alonso, and Carmen Ejogo are all solid but underused.

The budget was huge so it looks pretty good with some on location shooting and a fair amount of practical stunt work and minimal CGI. The soundtrack is pretty Gen X cringe and the costumes are, across the board, pretty laughable. All-in-all an extremely odd, derivative, catastrophic waste of money and continues director Guy Richie's wildly inconsistent later career.

Perhaps containing some perverse pleasure in the schadenfreude arena but unequivocally a bad movie.

Currently streaming on Apple+.

Don't See It.

'Titan - The OceanGate Disaster' A Review

Titan - The OceanGate Disaster is a documentary about the titular 2023 event. Trust fund petulant narcissist Stockton Rush decided to "democratize" deep sea exploration(at $250k per ride that's pretty laughable) by using a carbon fiber hull, in lieu of steel or titanium, even though it was untested and widely determined to be insufficient. This was confirmed in countless tests and by countless experts and yet he persisted resulting in his(and four other individuals) needless and preventable deaths.

Through talking head interviews, archival news footage, and footage shot during OceanGate's operations this modern day retelling of Icarus is told. Themes of pride, naivete, single-mindedness, inflexibility, wealth, capitalism, abuse of power and position are explored.

What is, in essence, a relatively paint-by-numbers doc hits surprisingly hard as the story, the whys, are unspooled. Similar to the interest in Luigi Mangione the Titan implosion grabbed national and international interest as class inequity rises and class awareness comes further to the front in popular culture. At a two hour runtime there isn't a ton of analysis but there is a ton of information. Because of the sensational nature of the incident we are privy to the garish privations of the rich, their insatiable ego, the stupidity of certainty fostered by privilege. And ultimately there is tragedy but perhaps also justice at least in the case of Rush. The real disaster is that no one could or would stop him.

A fascinating if not particularly complex look at modern day hubris.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

See It.