I usually don't have any problems with the sports movie formula. Quite the contrary, it actually almost always provides a certain qualitative floor that guarantees I can enjoy the film. However, I really haven't seen a flick as formulaic as "Gran Turismo" in a long time. And even that wouldn't be the biggest problem if at least a few of the elements hit the spot. But nothing really convinced me here.
The script, which contains every cliché imaginable, is undoubtedly the film's weakest link. Whether it's the grumpy mentor, the one-dimensional rival, the unnecessary love interest, or the disapproving father, everything is totally predictable. The actors aren't even the problem, for the most part—except for Orlando Bloom, who really is abysmally bad here. Furthermore, you have to look for humor in "Gran Turismo" with a magnifying glass. The film takes itself far too seriously, while the characters are all uninteresting. And the whole "gamer" versus "real" driver nonsense seems completely out of date.
Only the racing sequences could have saved the film for me, but they also failed to click. Although they are nicely shot in places, they are also regularly intercut with some kind of effect. There is never any suspense, and for a film that advertises so aggressively that it is based on a "true story," the individual race situations seem incredibly contrived. Even in a boring Formula 1 season like this year, I've seen much more suspense than in this film. In the end, this movie is nothing more than a PlayStation and Nissan commercial. If you want to see some cool Le Mans action, watch "Ford v Ferrari" instead.
Brawn - The Impossible Formula 1 Story is beautiful! A very well produced 2009 Drive to Survive full of heart and emotion! A must watch to anyone that likes F1 :heart:
Great to take a trip into the past.. I'd forgotten how well they did in the one and only season in F1. Definitely worth watching.
8/10
I wish they included more technical explanation about the car with 3D visuals but I understand that it's for casual audience.
"Life is addition up until age 40, and after that it's subtraction."
Never knew Sly was so good at polo. Never knew about his dad knocking him off a horse. Wish he talked about his adventures in the porn industry. Wish we saw more people talking about Sly. Wish they had a whole section about Cobra and Demolition Man. Man, this could've been so much more now that I think about it!
Still it makes me want to watch Rocky again. Anyway Sly is a decent watch but not as fun as the 4 part Schwarzenegger one. He defeated you again Stallone!
The meanest thing I could say about this movie is ‘Has extreme Don’t Worry Darling energy’.
I have never seen a movie more desperate to justify itself. It’s trapped in this endless neurosis over what it is- a blockbuster Barbie movie in 2023 by an acclaimed art house director that is fun but also deep but also earnest but also self aware but also but also but also. Every point it raises it brings up a counterpoint to before the audience can, every frame is trying to prove it’s not just product but art. It’s never just Barbie. It’s never confident or even comfortable in its skin. You cannot for a second be immersed in Barbie because it’s not a story so much as a visual dissertation without a central thesis, it’s a student film riffing on the big dogs hoping it’s underdog audacity will carry it but given a budget in the millions. It so desperately wants you to like it, to know it’s in on the joke too.
Everythng is an ouroboros here: an endless loop of argument and counterarguement feeding itself. Isn’t it shitty how the Mattel boardroom is full of men? Ah, but isn’t it cool how Mattel’s acknowledged it with this niche? And it’ll mythologize Barbie’s creator but uh don’t worry she did tax evasion we know that, now let her impart into Barbie the experience of all women. Barbie helps women, Barbie hurts women, Barbie is told to be everything so isn’t she just like women, but it is better to be a creator than the idea, and in the end, hasn’t Barbie helped all these women? Oh uh why is this blonde white Barbie the centerpiece of it all and helping not only her diverse Barbie friends but a Hispanic woman and her daughter? Don’t worry we’ll have the daughter call her a white savior! But don’t worry we’ll have the mom say she’s not! It’s fascinating to watch, honestly. It’s a film that wants to prove to you so so bad that it works but it doesn’t and it knows it doesn’t and it knows you knows. It’s Gerta Gerwig wrestling with taking this job for an hour and a half.
The cast is more than game and able. Margot Robbie is doing her damndest to find the heart and soul in this role, and there’s one scene with an old lady near the end of the first act/beginning of the second that actually works, for just a moment, more than any of the big third act soliloquies or montages with emotional ballads. And as someone who’s seen Blade Runner 2049 and Drive, this is the best Ryan Gosling performance I’ve seen. The man commits and delivers a surprisingly compelling and entertaining antagonist. The movie can’t quite reconcile what he’s done with his ending, or tie it into the themes- is Ken letting go of Barbie and the need to define himself for or against her symbolizing the need for men to do the same, and if so, why play it so lightly and sympathetically?- but that’s not his fault. And the supporting cast are entertaining, but you just can’t have big laughs with a movie that feels like it’s constantly checking in the corner of its eye after every joke to see if you’re laughing, grin stuck in place. It’s not as funny or as smart as it wants to be, and the sad thing is, it feels like it knows that too.
There is some great set design, cinematography, dazzling choreography, popping colors, and some fun high points. But I can’t imagine many kids liking it. And we’ve seen how conservatives have taken this movie. And anyone’s who’s progressed beyond the politics of. Well. A feminist blockbuster Barbie movie will find it cloying or condescending or just incredibly basic. It’s aimed at a very specific crowd who will buy what it’s saying, the liberals who see corporate feminism as progress, who agree that it’s just about a little change sometimes, who are ready for something just a little more complex than a SNL sketch. I don’t regret seeing it, because I was deeply engaged the whole time seeing it struggle at war with itself, in pain for its whole existence. It’s not a boring movie by any means. It wants to say everything before the audience can say it first. It’s the endpoint of The Lego Movie and Enchanted- the corporations interrogating and justifying themselves, and the cracks in this formula are too large to ignore. It wants to be so much, and the attempt is as darkly mesmerizing as a fly thinking it can somehow and someway metamorphize into a butterfly and suffocating and struggling in its makeshift cocoon, but this is one Barbie that fundamentally just cannot break out of its box.
"Running people over is not a selling point." Never been so disappointed in you, Willa.
This whole episode and particularly the balcony scene were a masterclass in directing, acting, writing and editing. Every action and every word spoken convey so much meaning, and yet they feel so organic. I feel thankful to be able to witness such brilliance.
I'll be repetitive but I'll say it again, there is no series in history with dialogue as well written and logically staged as Succession.
While Sweden was a predictable winner, I don’t get why people think a meme song is more deserving to win. It was goofy and fun, but on artistry alone, Loreen’s vocals left everyone in the dust. Sorry Finland, I just don’t see it.
2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023-12-31T23:59:59Z