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If you are a Formula 1 fan, you will absolutely love this movie. If you are a viewer simply looking for a good movie, you will not be disappointed.

The director Joseph Kosinski, who recently succeeded commercially and critically with a top notch sequel in Top Gun Maverick, helms this film. There is much of what made that movie great in the DNA of this one. Mainly, a talented cast delivering a good script in a well paced and engaging story. The cinematography is outstanding and if you have the chance to see this in IMAX please do. The sound design + music coupled with the high speed shots had my hair standing up every time they raced.

For F1 fans, the movie features many high profile cameos from notable figures in the sport. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, etc. And star team principals like Gunther Steiner, Zak Brown, and Toto Wolff.

Lewis Hamilton produced, and features, in this movie so I imagine that had something to do with the push for realism and mass participation.

It really is a good movie, for fans or just people interested in the sport or looking for a fun watch.

Much like Scott's other historical epic Kingdom of Heaven, Napoleon is a movie that is saved by the long cut. After seeing all the negative reviews at release, I decided to put off watching until the Directors Cut was released, and with close to an hour of extra footage added, the film feels expansive and fleshed out. The romance of Napoleon and Josephine plays a central role in the movie, much like it did in the man's life. Vanessa Kirby does a great job playing the empress, capturing a delicate nobility in her character. Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon might be the weakest part of the film unfortunately. He seemed miscast from the beginning, and there were many scenes that I felt could have been performed better. Still, he did do well in any scene where the role demanded he be powerful and angry. There are also beautifully shot battle scenes from many of the major campaigns of the wars (Tolstoy fans take note!). The costumes and set pieces are meticulously designed and make for a rich frame, with the movie at its best when every shot seems like a grand oil painting one would see hanging in a national gallery. Ultimately I think the Directors Cut delivers a better film, one that is as grand and ambitious as the subject matter deserves.

I went into this movie with negative expectations based on all of the reviews about how horrible it is. Oddly enough, that might have made me enjoy it more than I should have. I always go by who the director is on a movie when determining whether it is worth watching. Jim Jarmusch has made some great movies, and the cast is full of talented actors & actresses, so I figured I had to see for myself when it became available on Max. Suffice to say, it is no masterpiece, I wouldn't even rank it amongst the best of its genre (although I did enjoy it a lot more than Double Tap, the awful sequel to the beloved original Zombieland) yet it still had a lot of redeeming qualities. It is self referential in some places, which might irk viewers not open to meta comedy, but overall the cast do a good job bringing out the strengths in a relatively mediocre script. The cinematography is good and the characters all are likeable enough, although a distinct lack of a guiding focus in the story keeps you from being totally invested in their survival. Some of it feels by the numbers which you would expect in genre filmmaking to some extent, but with a cast this star-studded and helmed by a big name director, high expectations might have dampened people's enthusiasm when met with just a slightly above-average zombie movie. Not to mention the effort to inject a bit of social commentary just felt half-baked and kinda falls flat. If you are looking for some dark-humor, mindless fun with a recognisable cast, or just a new zombie movie to watch, this will get the job done.