Speaker 1: And now on Overnight's Entertainment with Alex. First time to
Speaker 1: entertain you with Alex Versta, Film theater and entertainment reviewer
Speaker 1: and editor of I Tell You What I Think dot Com.
Speaker 1: Good morning, How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm well, Thank you, Mike and your good self.
Speaker 1: Mustn't grumble as they say. You've been to see F
Speaker 1: one with Brad Pitt.
Speaker 2: Very exciting, This is well, I can't think of any
Speaker 2: movie that's had more publicity leading up to its launch
Speaker 2: than this one in twenty twenty five. And I suppose
Speaker 2: I'll start with a question because we spoke a few
Speaker 2: weeks ago about Tom Cruise and we said there's no
Speaker 2: actor on the planet that seems to generate more publicity
Speaker 2: and has done such a good job in terms of
Speaker 2: getting bumbs on seats. Well, I suppose there is a rival,
Speaker 2: and if there is one, it's the star of F one,
Speaker 2: Brad Pitt. Two of them are very similar in age.
Speaker 1: How old are they?
Speaker 2: Well? Pitt would be sixty one.
Speaker 1: And I ah, really that old? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And he looks damn fine, as does Tom. Cruise is
Speaker 2: sixty two.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 2: Both made a lot of movies. They've been very successful,
Speaker 2: and you can bank them, which is why studios love
Speaker 2: having them in their court. And look, f one, I
Speaker 2: suppose you somebody who follows Formula one motor racing or
Speaker 2: do you like speed full stop?
Speaker 1: The second would be yes, that can be a bit
Speaker 1: of fun. But the answer to the first, I don't
Speaker 1: follow it religiously, as they say, but if it happens
Speaker 1: to be on TV, I'll quite often watch it. I
Speaker 1: think it's exciting just to go back to this movie, though.
Speaker 1: Is Havier Bardem the bad guy?
Speaker 2: Not the bad guy is a guy who plays a
Speaker 2: prominent role because he is the head of a team,
Speaker 2: which is a team that's been manufactured for this particular movie.
Speaker 2: But I suppose, look, there'd be a lot of people
Speaker 2: out there who would have seen the docos about Formula
Speaker 2: one got involved in it in that way, and others
Speaker 2: who are just petrol heads. Now, there have been some
Speaker 2: really good movies made about motor racing. Probably Ford versus
Speaker 2: Ferrari is the one.
Speaker 1: Great movie stands out. Really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was fabulous.
Speaker 2: And they've spent a lot of time and a lot
Speaker 2: of money on this particular film, not just in marketing,
Speaker 2: but in terms of making it, and one of the
Speaker 2: things that apparently happened is they shot a lot of
Speaker 2: it in practice sessions and basically they intertwine the actors
Speaker 2: with the real life f one stars, which is just
Speaker 2: a great way to make a movie because you've got.
Speaker 1: As time as you can't tell as long as you
Speaker 1: can't spot the intertwining.
Speaker 2: No, and you can't. It's so natural. Look, it looks brilliant.
Speaker 2: It is a superb looking movie. It's also two hours
Speaker 2: thirty five minutes long, so we'll get to that in
Speaker 2: a few minutes. But it's the old and the new
Speaker 2: butting heads. That's the contention here, and it's tense, it's exciting.
Speaker 2: It's really a motor racing thrill ride, which is great.
Speaker 2: That's exactly what you go to the cinema forore with some.
Speaker 1: Human drama thrown in. I guess, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: A lot of that, Mike, And basically you've got an
Speaker 2: almost Formula One champion from more than thirty years ago,
Speaker 2: prevailed upon the return to the sport that almost killed him.
Speaker 1: There you go, you try to get out, and they
Speaker 1: drag you back in again.
Speaker 2: Correct, Well, I suppose when you're thinking about it, I
Speaker 2: suppose you'd say that Brad pitt would be a fifty
Speaker 2: something year old in this movie. They don't specify, but
Speaker 2: that's my best guesstimate. Now, I can't imagine anybody driving
Speaker 2: a Formula one motor racing car at that age, right, Paul.
Speaker 1: Human picked up motor racing in an advanced stage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Formula one.
Speaker 1: I don't think he was quite that.
Speaker 2: But no, I'm not doubting that you can in certain divisions.
Speaker 2: But I suppose by that age of reflexes would be
Speaker 2: slowing down somewhat. That's the only thing I'm thinking of.
Speaker 2: So look as a contention, no worries. As a movie,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure that it could be replicated in real life,
Speaker 2: not that that matters. The guy, obviously who's the older
Speaker 2: head is Brad Pitts carry to Sonny Hayes, and he
Speaker 2: had talent and smarts to burn, and then there was
Speaker 2: a tragic accident that cut his career short way back
Speaker 2: when so with so much promise. Unfortunately, thereafter it all
Speaker 2: fell apart for him. He gambled away his money at
Speaker 2: a series of failed relationships, a couple of marriages and
Speaker 2: another relationship, and he carries with him the mental and
Speaker 2: physical scars.
Speaker 1: But we do love a comeback, don't we, Alex Oh
Speaker 1: do we?
Speaker 2: What right? It makes good move fodder overall. And fortunately
Speaker 2: he wasn't lost to the motorsport industry entirely because he
Speaker 2: now lives hand to mouth in a van, thank you
Speaker 2: very much, and he picks up course, he does, and
Speaker 2: he picks up paychecks at lower levels. He just claim
Speaker 2: the Daytona twenty four hour race.
Speaker 1: I'm not really laughing about people who are living rough.
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking for the idea of Brad Pitt doing,
Speaker 1: got to separate the actor from the role he is.
Speaker 2: You do absolutely well basically what happens to the character.
Speaker 2: Sonny Hayes is his former teammate, and obviously if you're
Speaker 2: a teammate or arrival in F one, his name is Reuben.
Speaker 2: That's the Javier Bardam character. He comes knocking and he's
Speaker 2: now owner of a struggling Formula One team which has
Speaker 2: not has not been in the top ten of finishes
Speaker 2: in any of the races in the three years that
Speaker 2: he's been at the Helm. Well, it's at least two
Speaker 2: and a half years, because there's nine races left in
Speaker 2: the current season.
Speaker 1: So we've got our Samson versus Goliath, yes, correct.
Speaker 2: And the boards plotting to remove the Javier Bardam character's
Speaker 2: name is Ruben unless he can break through in those
Speaker 2: final nine races. The odd odds are stacked really voluntruly
Speaker 2: against him and against the cocky rookie League driver that
Speaker 2: he has, a guy called Joshua Pears played by Danson Idris.
Speaker 1: With this little classic storytelling, isn't it Because you've got
Speaker 1: to have a deadline apart from anything else, Yes, one hundred.
Speaker 2: It's like the countdown clock very much so like Mission Impossible,
Speaker 2: the same thing. You've got a finite amount of time.
Speaker 2: You don't get there, you basically die. Well, in this case,
Speaker 2: you'll lose your team apparently is three hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars in the red. That's a bit of a us.
Speaker 2: That's a bit of a problem anyway. In desperation, he
Speaker 2: turns to the tactically clever Sonny Hayes, the Brad Pitt character,
Speaker 2: and we find out that he's the ninth choice. Is
Speaker 2: knocked on a lot of doors so far. Oh and
Speaker 2: it looks really it's tackling the seemingly impossible and pit
Speaker 2: character becomes the team's second driver and will help educate
Speaker 2: Joshua Pierce, the young guy. Right, So, look, it's a
Speaker 2: decidedly unconventional approach that Sonny Hayes has to Formula one
Speaker 2: motor racing, and basically that's going to lead to all
Speaker 2: sorts of clashes within his team and between drivers and
Speaker 2: so on. And the questions then, does Sonny Hayes still
Speaker 2: have what it takes and are they the team prepared
Speaker 2: to listen to him?
Speaker 1: Well, we don't want smooth sailing, do we, Alex, Because
Speaker 1: you know, the more that our protagonist has to face
Speaker 1: by way of obstacles and unforeseen grama, the better we
Speaker 1: like it.
Speaker 2: Well that's the reason it runs for two hours thirty
Speaker 2: five minutes, right, I mean, let's be honest, and it
Speaker 2: is visually arresting, no question about it. Claudio Miranda, who
Speaker 2: did Top Gun Maverick, he was the cinematographer. He's done it.
Speaker 2: He's done it again. He's just superb in terms of
Speaker 2: what he the takes and he's just absorbed by it,
Speaker 2: which is great. And the production designed by Ben Monroe
Speaker 2: as well outstanding. So they capture the excitement, they really
Speaker 2: do of the Formula one racing circuit. And the costuming
Speaker 2: is great too. I've got to say Jullian Days responsible
Speaker 2: a lot of style, a lot of elegance. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you've seen the shorts for this, or you know
Speaker 2: the trailer, you can see that there's spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time getting authenticity.
Speaker 1: And I think that's great, sounds pretty good. What do
Speaker 1: you give it?
Speaker 2: Well, look, the characterizations are really good. And also Hans
Speaker 2: Zimmer who you might have heard of, it's his score.
Speaker 2: Music is terrific, ratchets up the tension and a lot
Speaker 2: of push pull in between many parties. Looks I would
Speaker 2: put it right up there with Ford versus Ferrari. Substantive,
Speaker 2: top tier motor racing movie. Perhaps a little bit it
Speaker 2: could have been pared back a little bit without losing
Speaker 2: an eating of substance, but still commended seven and a
Speaker 2: half to eight out of ten, M rated F one.
Speaker 2: It is called, it.
Speaker 1: Sounds to me like I'd like to go see it.
Speaker 1: What about Riviera Revenge, Well.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is a fascinating story because it's based on
Speaker 2: a contention that the director read and it was in
Speaker 2: a newspaper, and it concerns and he's both The writer
Speaker 2: and the director's name is Yvonne or Ivan I'm not
Speaker 2: sure which one, albarak. And it's a movie about well,
Speaker 2: it's based on a ninety two year old This is
Speaker 2: in Italy. It happened a few years ago. A ninety
Speaker 2: two year old Sicilian discovered love letters addressed to his
Speaker 2: wife dating back more than seventy years. Now, that in itself, okay, well,
Speaker 2: that's great. The problem is that at the time he
Speaker 2: was already married to.
Speaker 1: Her, and so the love letters are from him, and
Speaker 1: she's married to him. The time is correct.
Speaker 2: So now what actually happened in real life is that
Speaker 2: even though he's ninety two, and even though this happened
Speaker 2: more than seventy years ago, he could not forgive his
Speaker 2: wife for the adultery, so he filed for divorce. And
Speaker 2: obviously the writer and director read this and said, oh
Speaker 2: my golly, what a great contention for a movie.
Speaker 1: And the judge said why now after all this time,
Speaker 1: and he said enough already, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Well that The fascinating part is that the director has
Speaker 2: still said, well, hang on, am I going to have
Speaker 2: a ninety two year old protagonist, and he's made him
Speaker 2: a useful seventy five.
Speaker 1: Really cheated on his age exactly.
Speaker 2: Francois is the guy's name, played by Andre de Solier,
Speaker 2: and he's a former military man and he lives life
Speaker 2: on his terms and he's married to any and that
Speaker 2: marriage has been going for ages. She was nineteen when
Speaker 2: they were first to wed, and they've got three grown
Speaker 2: up children. Now. The eldest of them has followed his
Speaker 2: dad into the armed forces. And there's a family gathering
Speaker 2: to mark his mum's birthday, and that's when the eldest
Speaker 2: child his wife reveal they're expecting their fifth child. The
Speaker 2: other four girls, so the dad, Francois, makes it clear
Speaker 2: to be nice to break the pattern. And the other kids,
Speaker 2: they've all got a few dad favors the eldest and
Speaker 2: let's say the other two kids aren't too happy about that.
Speaker 2: Middle child has been keeping a secret from a straight
Speaker 2: life dad, namely the fact that she's a lesbian. And
Speaker 2: then the youngest of them is artistic and he's actually
Speaker 2: a professional marianettist, so Papa Tier, but his dad has
Speaker 2: never been to one of his shows because he doesn't
Speaker 2: sort of really, he's not into the arts. He's not
Speaker 2: interested in even vaguely despite the fact that he has
Speaker 2: has son. So he've got all sorts of problems in
Speaker 2: terms of the family dynamic. France Waba. Dad was clearing
Speaker 2: boxes in the attic and he discovers a pile of
Speaker 2: old love letters written to any ten years into their marriage.
Speaker 2: Because it's immediately clear to him that his wife has
Speaker 2: been having an affair or was, he goes apoplectics, doesn't
Speaker 2: he go totally betrayed, and to make matters worse, and
Speaker 2: he had it off with one of their friends.
Speaker 1: Oh dear, oh dear, So he's been doubly let down
Speaker 1: my wife and the friend.
Speaker 2: Exactly, And of course he has to confront the friend,
Speaker 2: and the wife decides to go along for the ride.
Speaker 2: And you can imagine what goes on as a result
Speaker 2: of all that. Extreme measures are taken and so on.
Speaker 2: So look, the revelations just keep on coming. It's a
Speaker 2: feel good They've done it as a rom com right,
Speaker 2: which has been inspired by fact, but I think they've
Speaker 2: liberally diverged from what the true story was. Nevertheless, the
Speaker 2: concept is a very very good one. I did enjoy it.
Speaker 2: And having said that, the film maintains a light touch
Speaker 2: throughout It uses jealousy and intransigence as rather powerful tools,
Speaker 2: and also of contrasting characters, because there's the husband and wife.
Speaker 2: They're very different to one another, the husband and the
Speaker 2: two youngest of his children, and then the wife and
Speaker 2: her laid back former lover.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, so Alex, to paraphrase the Russell Crowe character,
Speaker 1: were we entertained?
Speaker 2: We were entertained. I just thought the Andre de Solier,
Speaker 2: the lead character, full of bombast and indignity as Frans
Speaker 2: who are exactly what you would want. And then you've
Speaker 2: got the sort of softly, softly wife, and then she
Speaker 2: starts to push back, good on her for doings though,
Speaker 2: and of course you've got that lover, the former lover,
Speaker 2: who is as relaxed as you can possibly get. And
Speaker 2: the children will each showcase they're rather sensitive personas. So look,
Speaker 2: the production design on the film shot by the way
Speaker 2: in the south of France, so it ain't half bad
Speaker 2: to look at. It is one of the features the
Speaker 2: production design. Some stunning settings inside and out, and it's
Speaker 2: exuberant Rivera revengers, it's mad capped, it's enjoyable, it's an
Speaker 2: easy watcher, it's a good excuse to sort of sit
Speaker 2: down and have a bit of fun. And it only
Speaker 2: runs for ninety four minutes and it's rated M, so
Speaker 2: well worth a look. You're gonna have a bit of
Speaker 2: fun with it. Seven and a half out of ten
Speaker 2: for rivera A Revenge the.
Speaker 1: Dubble R Alex, thank you for that. That's Alex first,
Speaker 1: and Alex is a film and theater and entertainment reviewer
Speaker 1: and editor of I Tell You What I Think dot com.