Tag: Joseph Balderrama

Cinema Dispatch: F1: The Movie

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

F1 the Movie and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Naming the movie after the sport it’s about is either a supreme show of confidence or a massive oversight, which, given how many moving parts there are to this thing, is not outside the realm of possibility. Maybe they only got nine out of ten teams to Race Buds, and so they had to go with the default title. Needless to say that money surrounding this movie is off the charts and with it comes a certain amount of pomp and circumstance that it hopes to draw audiences in with. Does the spectacle and grandeur of Formula One on full display create a cinematic experience unlike any other, or is it a lot of hot air for an otherwise pedestrian blockbuster? Let’s find out!!

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is the kind of guy who wears clichés on his sleeve, at least when it’s not covered in sponsors. He’s a burnout racer who could have been the best but found a way to screw it all up before dedicating his life to easy pay days and lowered expectations.  It’s not until his old friend Ruben (Javier Bardem) throws him a bone and offers him a spot on his fledgling Formula One team to try and keep them out of the red and maybe get Sonny some redemption in the process.  Of course, you can’t be a veteran returning to your roots without a cocky young prodigy to take under your wing which is a role Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) fits to a tee; at least when he’s not calling Sonny old and posing for magazine ads.  The two racers manage to find some success feeding off of their mutual disdain for the other’s racing style, but it’s a tall order to make it to the number one spot within the small number of races left in the season, and Sonny may not be as up to the task as he had once thought.  Will Sonny find a way to get past his demons and save his friend’s team in the process?  What can Joshua learn from the old-timer he’s stuck on a team with, and can Sonny be trusted to work in their mutual best interest when there’s gold on the line? Most importantly, will anyone in the theater care about any of this when the cars start going really fast!?

“SHAKE AND BAKE, BABY!”
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Cinema Dispatch: The Substance

~ Matt Vetrano ~ Leave a comment

The Substance and all the images you see in this review are owned by Mubi

Directed by Coralie Fargeat

The movie-going public tends to focus on the big releases while letting all the smaller and niche films fly in under the radar, but every once in a while something manages to smash general audiences in the face, and it’s suddenly the only thing we’re talking about. The trailer for this certainly offers an intriguing premise with its criticism of societal beauty standards and hints at some seriously icky body horror, so it’s no surprise that this one broke the surface and generated a lot of buzz. Does the film live up to the hype surrounding it, or will its talking points stay relevant longer than the audience’s interest in the movie itself? Let’s find out!!

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) was once a star of the silver screen but has spent the last few years of her career being a fitness guru with her own long-running daily workout show. Unfortunately for her, and pretty much every woman in Hollywood, the whole town is run by sleazy jerks and there are few sleazier than her producer Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who unceremoniously retires her from her own show for being too old. Let ready to lie down so easily, she jumps on the latest beauty craze which is a mysterious substance called… well, The Substance, that makes wild promises about what can be done to give her back her youthful glow. In a process that would make David Cronenberg proud, Elisabeth becomes two people with the power of The Substance; former starlet Elisabeth and younger up-and-coming star Sue (Margaret Qualley). Both must coexist in an overly complicated and regimented manner, as there’s always a catch with these things, and like most beauty routines or strict diets, it more or less sets her up to fail, and the two halves start to strain under one another’s existence. Just how far will Elisabeth and Sue go to stay relevant in such a beauty obsessed industry, and will the risk be worth the reward? What is the nature of this mysterious goo they are using, and what will happen if they start to chafe against the rules? Will they both realize the monsters that this is turning them into and rebel against the patriarchal system, or is she going to crash and burn, and we’re just along for the ride?

“Despite all my rage, I am still Demi Moore in a cage!”
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