THE official film of the Formula One World Championship revs into theatres this week with F1, starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem.
Produced in collaboration with Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile – the governing body for Formula 1 racing – and Hollywood legend Jerry Bruckheimer, this boasts some of the most thrilling and energetic racing sequences ever committed to film, and feature appearances from the actual driver of the 10 real-life Formula 1 teams.
Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a “washed-up” former star racer who was forced into retirement following a crash in the 90s.
When the owner of the fictional APXGP team and old friend Ruben Cervantes (Bardem) approaches him with an offer to mentor the up-and-coming Noah Pearce, Hayes has to battle his poor reputation and prejudice against his age to prove that he still has what it takes.
Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) has proven a deft hand at balancing human drama with incredibly ambitious and fast-paced action, always ensuring the audience knows exactly what’s going on.
This is cinema made for the cinema,
M3GAN 2.0 is the sequel to the surprise sci-fi/horror sensation from 2022, reuniting all the (surviving) members of that cast with NZ director Gerard Johnstone.
Though the original was a fairly straightforward “robot turns evil” thriller, a massive part of its success was due to the over-the-top performance of the titular figure which made the film a “camp classic”.
For the sequel, all pretence at seriousness is out the window as everyone involved is embracing the comedic aspects that worked so (unintentionally) well last time.
Though roboticist Gemma destroyed the M3GAN robot and ended her research, she has retained the program in a harmless home appliance.
When Gemma learns that her work has been stolen and used by an unscrupulous organisation to develop a military robot that goes rogue, she makes an agreement with M3GAN to build her a new body if she will combat the new threat.
Still on the horror/comedy front, select cinemas will be showing Y2K, a film that premiered in the US last December but, possibly, was made 25 years too late.
The directorial debut of comedic actor Kyle Mooney, the film lampoons the panic surrounding the “Y2K Bug” that was so widely publicised in 1999 by exploring a scenario in which at the tick of midnight, January 1 2000, all machines gain sentience and attempt to kill humans.
A group of teenagers at a New Years Eve party – notably led by Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler and Julian Dennison – battle the machines for survival.
Mooney comes from the Saturday Night Live comedy school, so expect a lot of slacker/stoner humor if you give this a watch.
Miley Cyrus makes an attempt to break into the same spaces as Taylor Swift with the release of her “visual album”, Something Beautiful.
The film purportedly is structured in three acts, with performances and songs interspersed with spoken-word pieces or conversations.
While certainly visually striking in many places, it is essentially a collection of music videos strung together.
French romantic comedy Riviera Revenge also comes to select screens this week.
Military man François has been an authoritative force in his family his whole life, but seeks to make a pleasant retirement with his wife Annie.
While tidying, he comes across a letter revealing that Annie had an affair 40 years ago, and he sets off to the French Riviera to confront this scoundrel in the name of honour.
André Dussollier and Sabine Azéma have brilliant chemistry in this witty and heartwarming script from writer/director Ivan Calbérac.
By Lindsay HALL
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
