well, recent for the time this was written, look you see, which would be September 2025. if you are reading this quite some time into the future (or just a little bit) i suppose they are not "recent" as such, but then as a good friend once taught me a "new" movie only becomes an "old" one when you've seen it.
yes, i have indeed done my usual "thing" of watching a bunch of films from years ago on video (disc), but that post can wait. no idea who(m) exactly reads all of this, but i thought some of you may appreciate a look at, well, more recent films. and why not.
for a sort of "spoiler free" overlook, F1, or if you will (as the poster suggests) F1 The Movie was surprisingly, unexpectedly really, really good. i so desperately wanted to love the revamped, next generation variation of The Naked Gun but, alas, it's a sad failure.
right, that above will do you if you're in a rush. should you wish to watch either film (or both for that matter) with no "spoiler" information, probably best you skip the rest of this. although goodness knows who(m) would base their watching decisions on my opinion.
this film really, really should not work. at all. it does because of a superb lead cast doing all the heavy lifting, as a popular phrase presently would say. essentially all car / motor sport films have to navigate the fact that, for non-enthusiasts of the sport itself the "racing" bit is quite dull, and so that's countered by superb acting, no matter how flimsy the plot/script is. Javier Bardem and (of course) Brad Pitt are at their eminently watchable best here. so yes, i am aware of the fact that i rated this film quite highly mostly because of the enjoyment of watching them two, but partially as it was well structured and very well made.
i am also aware that what i have watched here in regards of F1 The Movie is a somewhat desperate piece of advertising, a means for the sport to "claw back" some popularity, prominence and, i suppose if we are honest, relevance. things have not been going at all well for it. a general decline in interest commenced when they opted to move it all to "pay tv", which significantly cuts any audience and can be quite fatal for "niche" interest ones, no matter how lucrative the deal may seem. what fanbase remained got impacted somewhat by the bizarre, inexplicable end to the 2021 season where they at the last moment threw out their own rules to "facilitate" one driver winning the whole thing, seemingly making all other races and results of that year moot. the vague interest i had in it all promptly disappeared then, and i think this film is the first time i have actually recalled such a thing as F1 exists since then.
plot? make no mistake, entirely predictable. i am not going to try and relate it here, for to do so gives you the entire film. as pedestrian and colour by numbers as it is, it all surprisingly works. simple, uncomplicated entertainment is what F1 gives. no classic of cinema, but has any motorsport film ever come close to being referred to as such?
oh dear. i really, really wanted to love this new version of The Naked Gun. my intention was to go and see it at the cinema, but such trips now are a life changing financial decision. enough of the trailer said give it a go, yet enough in the trailer screamed "woah there, hang on". sadly the latter was right.
could i at least find some positives in this to start? sure. Pamela Anderson, taking the (for want of a better term) Priscilla Presley role, is excellent. every now and then there's some true comedy gold, like for instance the "romantic getaway" music video montage (do they even do music videos these days and would "modern" audiences understand the parody nature?) and the full "infra red" scene only hinted at in the trailer. beyond that, mostly you have an 80 minute film which shockingly feels like it drags on for much longer. as in F1 was about an hour longer but you didn't notice.
biggest failure is probably the cast. if it is to be based on this alone (and i can think of no other instance of him having a go) Liam Neeson, for his talents, just can't do comedy. the supporting cast, outside of Ms Anderson, are just awful. whoever it is playing Ed seems to have just decided to give acting a whirl. the lad playing Nordberg's son seems to be in it for that "nah" scene alone. perhaps the worst is the villain of the piece. i "get" that "megalomaniac tech billionaires" are about the only "safe" target for comedy these days, but they are inherently, and by default, terribly dull and boring people. so it is here. none of the charisma of Ricardo Montalban from the original.
having a poor cast is only part of the problem. the story is dull, and the ongoing visual gags (in particular the coffee one) aren't funny to start with and get tiresome quickly. also, it's supposed to be silly, slapstick comedy, which generally requires brightness and colour. this has all been filmed with quite dark lighting and set at night, which is a no-no for visual comedy. warning signs are there at the start when they ditch the classic theme music for some "edgy" nonsense that you would expect to be the theme for some straight to video/dvd/streaming d or e grade film.
right, don't think there's much else i can say on either, bar one was an unexpected hit and the other was an unfortunate miss. neither come anywhere close to dislodging Superman as the best film what i have gone seen this year, and i don't think there's all that much chance anything coming along will.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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