Screen_O_Genic

Vrooooom!!! All speed, flash and brazen attitude, "F1" is another race car flick destined to get your motor running in the flashing blaze of wind sprinting acceleration and incendiary fatal crashes. Led by the all star duo of Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, the movie hurtles at breakneck motion to the finish line.

Pitt is Sonny Hayes, a forcibly retired Formula One star who saw his racing dreams dashed into fames following a career-ending accident. Further challenges reduces the once promising light to working class purgatory until one day a former racing associate and by then racing mogul Ruben Cervantes (Bardem) invites him out of retirement to coach a rising hotshot in the auto racing scene and participate himself. Hesitant and reluctant at first Hayes agrees and what follows is a trope-ridden feel good extravaganza undiluted in Hollywood popcorn and soda style. Snarky dialogues, cool cars, an erratic soundtrack (this film quite painfully and awkwardly shows how Led Zeppelin, Queen and auto racing don't mix) and the customary whirlwind cinematography of angles, shots and breathtaking panoramas of the auto racing world where sleek and nimble speed-fuelled machines careen, jostle, maneuver and explode all in service and worship at the altar of that one strip line at the end of those long and winding roads.

Of course, you can't have a big budget flick without Mr. Pc selling his wares throughout (Oh, the boxes ticked!). Running at a two and a half hour length this blazing behemoth is far too epic for a F1 soap and my number of nods and snores as the finish line was in the horizon attests to this. And as much as I love seeing the charming Kerry Condon onscreen she fit into this macho testosterone-driven fest like a 400 pound unfortunate in a Red Bull RB19.

One of the highest-grossing films of the year and deservedly so, "F1" satisfies a universal need for the adrenaline rush and high of speed and the liberation and freedom it brings. Throw in the driving lure of competition and the energy swell of a stadium packed with screaming and adoring thousands primal human needs are heightened and satisfied. So ready the snacks as you hop into the driver's seat and enter a world of fast cars and cool cats as that accelerator pedal pushes further into blazing glory!

An intimate and revealing memorial/tribute to the well-known American film critic Roger Ebert, "Life Itself" is a candid and unflinching gaze on a striking tale of triumph and tragedy. Based on his memoir of the same name, "Life Itself" is a documentary on Ebert's rise from humble beginnings in Midwest America to the top of the ranks in the newspaper business in Chicago onto international fame as one of the most popular movie scribes in the world. Featuring interviews of the man himself, his family and associates in film and media including Martin Scorsese the doc includes images and footage of Ebert and the times, aiming the spotlight on the key moments of the critic's life: his forward-thinking review of the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde" which first gained him national notice as a critic; his popular and contentious collaboration with fellow film critic Gene Siskel which further popularized the medium in the mainstream and his final years as an invalid crippled by cancer.

The film is compromised by the same flaw that seems to plague many filmmakers when it comes to documentaries - they fail to focus on the most important topic at hand and the main reason why the documentary came to be. And in this case it's Ebert's criticism itself. Aside from a short section on the praised "Bonnie and Clyde" review the work Ebert's reputation and legacy consists of is barely touched focusing instead on the man's life dramas which is unfortunate since while not a great critic Ebert wrote in fine and clear substantial prose which made the medium accessible to the public. On a personal level this was an interesting view as I never liked the subject at hand and it was interesting to find out and see my impressions on the man confirmed that Ebert was an unpleasant and unlikable personality who ruffled a considerable number of feathers along the way. His final years as a physical wreck is a scene of horror in living grotesquerie and only an act of narcissism would make one hurl oneself at the public in such a ghastly condition.

A candid glimpse at a man and the world of film and the words attached to it that he played a huge part of, "Life Itself" is an honest portrayal of the kind of individual held in contempt by society who fate usually trumps up to the recipient's glory and misfortune. A story of popularity and pathology, this truly is an all-too familiar saga of "Life Itself".

An elegant and drama-driven television series on the lives of fashion icons Christian Dior and Coco Chanel during the 2nd World War and its aftermath, "The New Look" illustrates the turbulent lives of these complex personalities and the talent that saved them. Filmed in a faint luminiscent glow that complements wartime Paris' contrast of genteel exterior and brute occupation the 10 episodes steadily unfold revealing a tangled web of lies, deception, sacrifice, family and art. Chanel's ties with the Nazis and its hounding of her since and Dior's sexuality and professional challenges are sketched in an air of sophisticated reality reflecting the upper class world fashion and its practitioners revolve in. The veteran cast deliver with Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche ably leading the helm the former as the empathic and indecisive Dior and the latter as an assertive and vulnerable Chanel. John Malkovich and Glenn Close give strong and welcome portrayals and the representational script augments the tragedy and triumph of the times and the lives they profoundly affected. While fashion comes across as an afterthought with all the personal dramas highlighted and the ubiquitous pc makes its odious attendance here and there (sure, demonize the politically incorrect Chanel and beatify the gay Dior) not to mention authenticity and the series as a whole would have been better served if the languages used were accurate with the personages involved the series despite its flaws consistently delivers from start to finish.

A stylish and classy look into the world of fashion during its mid-20th Century Renaissance and its luminaries who lived in interesting times deeply affecting their personal and artistic paths, this is the best depiction of fashion in contemporary television and is one for cultured viewers and fans of "haute couture".