greatandimproving

In Joe Kosinski's F1, Brad Pitt plays journeyman race car driver and former New York cabbie Sonny Hayes (no word yet on what he did with his medallion). Sonny is coaxed out of retirement by old pal Ruben (Javier Bardem) to help the latter build respectability for his struggling Formula 1 team, which includes talented young Joshua (Damson Idris). You can imagine the plotlines that emerge from there: the old versus the new, legacy and redemption, David and Goliath, conflicts, romances and front office disputes, alongside a plethora of highlights behind the wheel.

Pitt remains one of our true legends. The master of very-good-maybe-not-great flicks (though he's had his share of great ones too!). F1 fits neatly in his canon. Better yet, he seems like he's enjoying himself and making the most of the moment. As with his only previous sports film Moneyball, the writing is forced to balance technical gobbledygook for insiders with oversimplified explanations for the rest of us. There's no easy way to serve both groups- and hardcore F1 enthusiasts are bound to resent the liberties taken with their sport- but Pitt and his castmates bridge the gap as well as one could expect.

The performances overall are perhaps not great. Scenes veer between hits and misses, often one after the other. Thankfully Pitt holds his own throughout. In a few rocky exchanges with Joshua's mother Bernadette (Sarah Niles), he doesn't pour gas on the fire when it's not working. He stays in his proverbial lane and keeps the car moving for the both of them. Bardem has more trouble- owing to his banal character having absolutely nowhere to go, which leads Ruben into an array of cul de sacs. But again, Brad's steady hand makes him more tolerable as well. It's an impressive display of a Hollywood titan gently pulling his co-stars out of the flames of a somewhat combustible script.

A greater weakness is that the editing is not always sharp, with continuity gaffes aplenty (e.g., half-full glasses that appear at a different level in the next shot; facial expressions and hand gestures that reset when the camera shifts; etc.). But if you're not a stickler for detail, that shouldn't bug you either since there's so much other flash to draw your focus.

And there really is: F1 is a BIG production, which occasionally demands we suspend our disbelief. Thankfully we have that skill! When Bernadette swoons over her first sighting of Sonny - "Mmm, that's a handsome man, Joshua" - we don't jump out of our seat to remind her, "Yes honey, because it's Brad Pitt!" So it's clear we know we're at the movies, right? Ok perfect lol. It helps to keep that in mind so as to not get trapped in the implausibility of certain plot devices, events and visuals. To be sure, the on-track photography is sublime and the action heart-stopping (if not realistic). Kosinski and DP Claudio Miranda are in their element here and frame Grand Prix racing in a way that is explosive and uniquely theirs. And while I'm sure it would look beautiful on a tablet/laptop too, the theater is a must if you're a film junkie aiming to appreciate the craft. I personally saw it in Standard, but figure the IMAX experience would be the ultimate.

F1 is a classic summer blockbuster. Which is to say it's not meant to be taken too seriously. You'll have some laughs, shed some tears and even take some inspiration from the story. You'll see old friends, meet new ones, and have a generally good time at the movies. As long as we remember in the end it's all F1 & games, this one's well worth the ride.

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong directs this timely feature about how unchecked AI and deep fakes could lead real people in real countries to start real turmoil. The world reaches its breaking point just as four tech bros embark on a "no deals (= no business), no meals (= no staff) and no high heels (= no women)" retreat to Mountainhead, one of their luxury abodes in Utah, where they gaslight themselves into insouciance for having society's blood on their hands.

All four narcissists arrive with personal demons. Ven (Cory Michael Smith) wants to go "post-human" to relieve the stress that plagues him as the richest man alive. Randall (Steve Carell) is terminally ill and wants to live forever. Soups (Jason Schwartzman) is an insecure centi-millionaire desperate to crack the billionaires' club. And Jeff (Ramy Youssef) is the young upstart whose conscience weighs him down, though it's unclear whether that's a pre-existing force in his life or just the result of the technology he sells (i.e., guardrails for AI). Regardless, Jeff is the voice of reason and the audience participates through his journey. Whatever happens to Jeff can be seen as happening to all of us.

The Succession vibe is felt on every frame, surely by design. Armstrong brings back Nicholas Britell to provide the score, along with many of Succession's producers and crew in their respective roles. Since there's no way for a 100-minute film to replicate the nuances that made the show so popular over four full seasons, Mountainhead's cast attempts to re-create the same magic from scratch.

On that front, the actors hold their own. Carell and Schwartzman are reliable as ever, but Smith and Youssef are the real standouts. They somehow land their lines without getting in each other's way. This is particularly important given the tech-speak that permeates the script: boss cock; surpasso; emotionally incontinent; AI dooming; hyper-scale data centers; deceleration alarmism; doom-looping; de minimis; 8K photo-real; the antidote to bad tech is good tech... I mean it's an endless stream of rapid-fire gobbledygook--- but you never feel trapped or disoriented as a viewer. I credit that to their preparation as individuals and chemistry as a unit.

In terms of the point of the movie, I feel it could have been tightened up somewhat. In one hilarious sequence, a character is pressured by the others to acquiesce to *their plan for *his future: "Smile... show your teeth!" It's a brilliant, meaningful line that gets reiterated a few times, albeit too subtly for my taste. I think it could have been uttered at least once more to emphasize the idea of smiling for the camera while being forced against one's will, and thereby summarizing life under an oligarchy: we're merely pawns in somebody else's game.

Another exchange I enjoyed which reflects the dialogue in the film:

"I just feel if I could get us off this rock it would solve so much!" - Ven

"Well you know, it's a solid starter planet but we've outgrown it, no doubt..." - Randall

"I just want to get us transhuman! Life up on grid, Tron biking around, digital milkshakes-" - V

"To actually be in Plato's Academy *with Plato!" - R

"I just feel like the universe is taking a grip and tearing me apart. Like my torso's getting pulled apart with tremendous force and the emptiness of the galaxy is just rushing in." - V

"Mmm, not good." - R

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Whether Elon-Zuck-Bezos actually talk like this is besides the point. The film is fair in marking their priorities, in the same way that insiders believe the satire of Dr Strangelove could have easily happened in real life. To me, we can pursue life "up on grid" when we're dead- I'm sure there's plenty to discover out there lol! But to push into new galaxies at the expense of the world we've been blessed with is self-defeating. Mountainhead is clear about this, as well as the absurdity of rich people having the power to impose their will on the rest of us, plunder the earth and promote chaos in order to bankroll their next project, especially when none of the fruits will even be seen in our lifetimes-

I think this is where they want me to show my teeth.

The late great David Lynch's Mulholland Drive starts with a car crash on- wait for it- Mulholland Drive. With picturesque views of LA at night, the sole survivor Rita (Laura Harring) trundles down the valley into the city. Police soon learn that a witness might have fled from the crash and a search begins. It's not the search that's important, per se, but more the fact that it's happening at all. It's a plot device to set mood; the mood itself is the goal.

Next, Naomi Watts' character Betty arrives at LA International Airport on the arm of an older couple whom she'd met on the flight. She mutters no words beyond, "Oh, I can't believe it" as she's welcomed by the "Welcome to Los Angeles!" banner at the foot of the escalator. We don't know much about where she's headed or why- but we totally do: starlet lands in Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Lynch appreciates how there's scarce need for dialogue. This story's been told enough times that we can fill in the holes ourselves. He lets the movie breathe.

Rita and Betty eventually cross paths and the narrative takes shape from there, alongside a passel of other characters and storylines. Everyone's either being chased/watched, feels like they are, or is just generally discomfited by their predicament. There's an active force in the background that we can't see despite our eyes being glued to the screen. It takes some time before we make sense of the many abstractions. True to form, Lynch moves artfully between what's real, what's vivid dream, and what's pure fantasy- it's Hollywood, remember- but we remain confident in the story based on clues provided by a director who's long earned our trust as moviegoers.

Opulent orchestral music (City of Prague Philharmonic) animates the monster of the city. The gently pulsating score gives texture to the mood, depth to the drama, and ultimately heart to the film. Periodic shots of the Hollywood sign serve as a visual reminder of where we are. Bird's eye views of the heliports downtown reinforce the same. Only later do we realize the story has not much to do with LA- yet it does. It's a movie about making movies, after all. If Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood was a love letter to Los Angeles in general, Lynch's Mulholland Drive is a hostile rebuke of Hollywood in particular (which might be a good way to approach this ambitious film if you're seeing it for the first time).

On balance, Mulholland Drive means different things to different people- maybe even different things to the same people! We come to Hollywood to realize our dreams, and its winding road leads some to success and others over the edge. It may lead to a crash from which we can escape- literally or figuratively- but our ultimate fate is decided by strangers, some of whom lie in our own heads. We may start by looking outwardly for answers but by the end we're transfixed on what's happening within. So while Mulholland Drive does exist on a map, it's the Mulholland Drive in our minds that may dictate actual outcomes. As one character declares to another halfway through the film, "Man's attitude will determine to a large extent how his life will be."

Well if that's true, Lynch must have had a wonderful attitude because he led an exemplary life, and this film was surely among the peaks of his career. Essential viewing.

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"In work and in life, we're all supposed to get along. We're supposed to have fun, like puppy dogs with our tails wagging. It's supposed to be great living; it's supposed to be fantastic." - David Lynch.