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F1’s Big-Screen Thrills Slicked by a Boneheaded Script

Apple’s high-speed Formula One blockbuster bid to break into large-format moviemaking – complete with Hollywood stars, slick, expensive production details, a deluge of product placement, and a who’s who of behind-the-scenes legends (Jerry Bruckheimer! Hans Zimmer!) – doesn’t crash out in flames, but it hardly mounts the podium the way this $300M movie hopes to. What we get is a largely cliché-ridden sports drama about grizzled veteran driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) and his cocky rookie partner Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who have to overcome their differences to get their new team, APX GP, helmed by Javier Bardem’s unconventional Ruben Cervantes, out of first gear and actually winning races. Read More

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‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ Offers Peak Blockbuster Thrills, Exceeding Original On Every Front

Cruise. Control. 

A legacy sequel that could have easily been nothing more than unnecessary nostalgia bait, Top Gun: Maverick is instead a tour de force blockbuster that reminds us of the joys of watching movies at the theater. After two years of wondering what the future of in-person cinema would look like in a post-Covid era, the high-flying feature from director Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion, Only the Brave) recalls the aspirational magic of the theatrical experience by looking back at what came before while also graciously paving the path forward. Read More