A Look Back at Happy Gilmore (1996)

 

With the sequel arriving very soon on Netflix, it's yet again that time where I continue the tradition of reviewing what came before.

Happy Gilmore is a sports comedy movie that was produced by Brillstein-Grey Entertainment and Robert Simonds Productions with Universal Pictures distributing. Adam Sandler not only starred but also wrote the story alongside Tim Herlihy, with Dennis Dugan directing.

The story is, Happy Gilmore is a failed short-tempered aspiring hockey player. When Happy learns that his grandmother's house is gonna be foreclosed and he seeks to gather enough money to pay the IRS. During this adventure, Happy learns his powerful slapshots can be used in golf and soon joins in to paid tournaments. Despite some not approving of Happy's attitude his skills and boorish behavior gathers him a following.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Now let's get to the story. Yes, we've got the whole sports underdog tropes. Happy's the underestimated hero, Shooter is rival, we've got a love interest whose skeptical about him but falls in love, and we got to the big climatic event. It's all here. But while I was aware of those things, I still to this day have a blast watching this. Which I've said many times before. If your story is predictable make getting from point A to point B entertaining, and Happy Gilmore is one of many best examples.

• Positives

First there's the pacing. The movie is 92 minutes long and doesn't waste anytime. Through a mix of sports and comedy, you'll be kept engaged throughout the brisk runtime.

Then the performance. Because this was during a better time during Adam Sandler's career, Happy is a very entertaining character with his over the top energy. Meanwhile we have Christopher McDonald playing Shooter and he nails it as Happy's smug foil. And maybe it's just me, but he looked like he was having some fun in the role too. Lastly there's the late Carl Weathers as Chubbs Peterson. Despite his character having a more over the top disability, he does add a more grounded warmth to Happy's manic characteristics.

The last thing I'll praise is the humor. I would like to go into more details, but when it comes to comedy movies, or at least the good ones, I don't want to give them away because giving too much will in my mind ruin the experience provided you haven't seen this already. But what I will say is yes, the movie's very funny. Everybody mentions the Bob Barker brawl, and rightfully so it's a great moment. But there's also some great bits of dialogue. My personal favorite is during one of Happy's games and he of course gets angry when things aren't going his way where he proceeds to say this, "You little son of a bitch ball! Why don't you want to go *home*? That's your *home*! Are you too good for your *home*? Answer me! Suck my white ass, ball!" 🤣. Oh how I love that line. See if golf had more outburst like that, I'd watch it more.

I am without a doubt a fan of this movie. I love it from beginning to middle to end.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now, I'm hoping the sequel is decent but for now come back on Thursday, Jul 17th, for part two of Looking Back at the Films of 2024. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Superman (2025) Review

 

Superman is a comic book movie that's not only based on the DC Comics' hero, but it's also the second reboot to the character and the first film in the DC Universe. Production was handled by DC Studios, Troll Court Entertainment, and The Safran Company with Warner Bros. Pictures doing distribution. The movie is written and directed by James Gunn.

The story is, after getting involved in a war between two neighboring countries, Superman maybe a inspiration but that action has also made him a controversial figure. And nobody has taken advantage of this fear then Lex Luthor. Lex plans to not only kill the Man of Steel, but but break his spirit first. Now, Superman must not only defeat Lex but show the public he is a hero.

Initial Reaction

Now since the day I heard James Gunn was gonna be involved, I've been very wary of him and his style of filmmaking. Something I wrote about not too long ago. Then when waiting for the movie to arrive I reviewed the previous movies, gave my thoughts on the newest suit, and the comics that influenced it. And now, here we are.

Cons

There's the humor. Jeez, I can't remember the last time I've been in a theater and surrounded by so much silence. Nobody was having a fun time with these jokes and stuff, myself included. And what really infuriated me especially was how James said on Threads (remember this site? The supposed thing that was gonna kill X/fka Twitter?) one of his many influences for his movie were Superman stories like Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Superman for All Seasons, and the criminally underrated Superman: The Animated Series. Well were those influences James? Guess all of the comedic bullshit I saw are saying otherwise. Then there's the pacing to this. This is a supposedly 2hrs and 9min, but it didn't feel like that. Now some of you are probably wondering why should that be a complaint? Shouldn't that be a good thing? And you'd be right, but the reason I'm seeing it as a negative is because we barely get a moment to breath. Going by memory I think there was one, maybe there were two scenes where we slow down. But the other parts just go by a breakneck speed.

Middle Ground

Firstly there the tone. I found this movie to be a very similar situation to a previous James Gunn film, that being Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. Both have a stories with some very serious elements to them and those are the best parts. But sadly there overshadowed by all of the stupid goofy crap. But even if you can ignore that, the world building isn't all that great. Having not doing an origin story and having an established Superman is a good idea. That what was the same route Matt Reeves took with his Batman film not too long ago. But with characters like Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific just being thrusted in here and some Superman mythos also thrown in, unless you've read quite a lot of comics like I have, you're gonna be left wanting more context. Then there was the CGI. Now the CGI on Krypto, that was pretty good. A lot of time was put into him. Even the kaiju looked good as well. But there was CGI that just wasn't good, one example being Superman holding a baby while trying to fit his way out of pocket dimension. Then lastly there's the action. Now I did enjoy some scenes. There was some action that was pretty good, like Superman fighting both Ultraman and The Engineer that was fun. But some action scenes are brought down because of Gunn's directing choices and a lot of frenetic editing.

Pros

So is there any positive thing to this? Yes, the cast. They did put in a lot of good effort in their performances despite the material not understanding if it wants to be serious or over the top.

Superman (2025) truly was James Gunn's time to not only challenge himself as a director, not only give the DCU a big spectacular beginning, but also had the chance to shut a lot of his critics up. But sadly he just continues to stay in the same rut he's been in. Having said that, do I hate this movie? No, there's just somethings I don't like. Am I gonna be a shill for this? Ha! Not in this lifetime. I think the movie's just okay. It's not gonna be something I'll watch back to back like previous Superman movies, it's just something I'll occasionally watch.

My final rating is, Okay.

So yeah, if you are planning to see this, just take your time. You really don't have to get to the nearest theater asap. That's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Jul 14th, for A Look Back at review of Happy Gilmore. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Why I'm Highly Skeptical About James Gunn's DCU

 

So originally I was gonna do this way back when James Gunn first announced his slate back in Jan of 2023. But I decided to save it for later when we were closer to Superman. Well, Superman is coming out tomorrow so now's the time.

Disclaimer

Now let's get this out of the way before I start giving my thoughts. As you guys know I'm a fan of Zack Snyder's DCEU movies and I've even shown support for fan movements related to the SnyderVerse on X, or at least I did before they wrongfully suspended me, but that's besides the point. But regardless of my love for Snyder's work in my reviews I still pointed out somethings I thought we decent or didn't like in his DCEU films. So what am I getting at here? My point is while I am a fan of Snyder's DCEU films, everything I'll be writing about for James Gunn's DCU doesn't come from a strictly Snyder fan perspective. I was a DC Comics fan long before I was a Zack Snyder fan! Now let's get into my thoughts on why I'm skeptical.

Let's start off with...

James Gunn Isn't A Master Class Filmmaker

Firstly let me explain something. This point is gonna more of a rant on people rather than Gunn himself, because James has made some good things, yes there's Guardians of the Galaxy and what I find to be more of his underrated works that being Slither. But what's driving me crazy is his fans. Now don't get it twisted, there's plenty of Snyder fans out there that take it too far. But every since I want to say somewhere around the time him and Peter Safran were announced as the co-CEOs of DC Studios, people have been praising Gunn like he's the second coming of Steven freakin' Spielberg.

All of sudden James Gunn belongs up on the mount Rushmore of directors alongside Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and whoever else you want to put up there. But prior to Guardians, nobody knew nor cared who he was. When I think a filmmaking legend I think of guys who everybody knows and has had more box office hits than flops, and James Gunn isn't one of them. Way before the MCU, his highest-grossing movie was...the live-action Scooby-Doo movie back in 2002. Now I like that movie in a so bad, it's good way, but come on. That movie being one of your first smash hits isn't something any filmmaker should brag about. I know Gunn hasn't actually bragged I'm just saying in general. So after Scooby-Doo, James made other movies like the previously mentioned Slither among others, but guess what? They bombed. I'm well aware not every box office bomb is a sign of quality but that should speak to people.

Now that was before the MCU, what about outside the MCU? Did James Gunn write and direct anything else? Yes, he did, 2021's The Suicide Squad. And it bombed. NOW I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE ALL GONNA SAY! "But Michael, there was COVID!" "It was released the same day on HBO Max"! NO! I am so feed up with those arguements! They don't work! Why? Well what about all the other movies that were released during that time? F9, Sing 2, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and then there's actually movies that Warner Bros. made that didn't bomb despite being in the same situation as The Suicide Squad. Those being Godzilla vs. Kong and Dune. Now you could make the argument Dune got released later in 2021 (October 22nd to be exact) and restrictions weren't as bad compared to earlier in that year. But that still doesn't change the fact it was in a very similar situation to Gunn's film especially also being released on HBO Max. There's also Godzilla vs. Kong, I saw that one in theaters when we still had social distancing and masks. And guess what? That move was a hit in spite of everything.

The point I'm getting at is, James Gunn maybe a good director/writer, but he's not the box office draw people on social media, especially on X, are making him out to be.

The Slate is Lackluster

I mean it, I'm not a big fan of this slate of projects. This is a lackluster slate. I mean let's look at. You only got two big names of out this, that being Superman (2025). That'll get some eyes because it's Superman. The other being The Brave and The Bold. That'll get attention because it's a Batman film and as long as that don't repeat Batman & Robin, people will go see that in droves.

Then we got some...not so big names. Clayface, if that's anything like the first Joker movie especially with a GOOD word of mouth maybe that'll do well? Maybe? Supergirl could also maybe possibly be a hit because of the connections to Superman. The we have The Authority, I don't see it doing all that well because nobody expect hardcore comic book fans of heard of them, and they're not gonna be enough to get a good box office performance. As for Swamp Thing, I don't see that doing well because much The Authority, Swamp Thing isn't all that known despite his long history in comics and having a short-lived show on the CW.

That's just the movie side of things, the TV series aren't really all that better. Like who in there right mind wanted a tv show about Amanda Waller? There's also Paradise Lost, and maybe that'll get some attention because of the show's connection to Wonder Woman. But that show won't have Wonder Woman in it so a lot of people probably aren't gonna tune in. We saw that same method with SyFy's Krypton and it only got two seasons. There's also other shows scheduled to come out but I think you get the picture.

So yeah, this slate isn't all that exciting. There's only two heavy hitters involved in this one, and one [Superman (2025)] is right around the corner but the other [The Brave and The Bold] doesn't even an estimate of when it's gonna be released.

What is This Universe's Canon?

What do I mean by this? Isn't the canon what's on the slate? Isn't this a brand new universe starting from the beginning so we don't have to worry about previous projects? Well you would think, but James Gunn went and made this confusing!

Back in June 13th of 2023, James Gunn revealed that Blue Beetle (the character from his self-titled 2023 movie) is the first character in the DCU while Superman is the first full DCU movie. What?!? Blue Beetle is in the DCEU continuity so how is he the first DCU character? Shouldn't the first DCU character be I don't know, Superman!

And if you thought that was confusing, here's a statement he made not too long ago. On Jan 21st of this year, James Gunn took to Bluesky and answered a question from a fan regrading canon to his previous DC projects those being the first season of Peacemaker & The Suicide Squad. In that post he said,

"Short answer: Only Creature Commandos forward is pure canon. For instance, Rick Flag Jr. was killed because we heard Rick Flag Sr. talking about it in Creature Commandos, not because we saw it in The Suicide Squad".

He would continue with, "Long answer: Only CC forward is pure canon; Peacemaker is almost entirely consistent with that canon other than the Justice League; The Suicide Squad has a lot of consistencies but I think of it as an imperfect memory".

This is a mess. Because this whole pick and choose situation just makes things confusing. Because in the first episode of Creature Commandos, yes, Rick Sr. did hear of his sons death. But, during that conversation he had with Amanda Waller she mentioned Rick Jr's death happened during Project: Starfish. A mission that only happened in The Suicide Squad! Casual audiences,  if they start doing research are gonna be confused by this weird decision of taking events that happened in the DCEU they putting them in the DCU and then saying to the extent of "Yeah that happened but,".

This could've been solved had James & Peter just made this franchise a full blown reboot, but apparently James just wanted his stuff not to be erase.

Not Helping The One Trick Pony Claims

For the longest time I've heard people repeatedly say James Gunn is a one trick pony. The common complaints is his bag of tricks of needle drops, animal character, multiple usage of cursing dialogue trying to be Quentin Tarantino, overuse of comedy, and shouting.

At first I just ignored this. I thought it was just people finding stuff to complain about. But over the best couple of years I'm understand the complaints, especially now because it truly does feel like it. The Suicide Squad had needle drops, an animal character [King Shark], overused comedy, and who can forget Bloodsport & his daughter arguing? That moment had both cursing and shouting. Then there was season one of Peacemaker. There were needle drops, animal character [Eagly], swearing dialogue, overuse of comedy, and instances of shouting. And then there's his newest DC show, Creature Commandos. Where you guessed it. Needle drops, animal character [Weasel], cursing, and overuse of comedy!! I forgot if there was shouting but I wouldn't be surprised if there was.

Which now brings me to Superman (2025). Now I don't like to judge movies by their marketing because sometimes the marketing won't do a movie any justice, Transformers One anybody? When the first teaser dropped I was surprised. I thought to myself, "Wow, this feels different. This feels like James Gunn isn't gonna do his usual stuff". But then as the marketing continued more of James Gunn's usual signatures starting popping up. Some could argue the sneak peek had an overuse of comedy what with Krypto jumping on Superman as he's hurt, the trailer released a month ago has Superman shouting at Lois, and lastly we had that newest tickets on sale trailer where near the end we have a comedy moment of Superman laying on the ground saying "I'm not messing around I'm doing important stuff". And if we count Krypto, so far Superman (2025) has three of the five things people criticize James Gunn for.

And there you have it. My reasons for being skeptical about this new DC cinematic universe. Before signing off I want to reiterate something. I was a DC Comics fan long before I was a Zack Snyder fan! Why did I repeat this? Because I want you to know I viewed this situation strictly as a fan of DC. Now do I want this universe to fail? No. Me wanting this to fail would not be a good look. Also that would be real nice wouldn't it? I want the GunnVerse to fail despite some people actually wanting it, yet here I am wanting the SnyderVerse restored and the Joel Schumacher cut of Batman Forever released. Like I said before, not the best look for me if I truly wanted this new cinematic universe to fail.

So that's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Jul 12th, for my review of James Gunn's Superman. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to The Naked Gun (2025) - The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult Review

 

Wow, first I finished the road to Captain America: Brave New World, then I finished the road to Karate Kid: Legends, then I finished the road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, then there was the road to Superman (2025) that I finished not too long ago, and now I finished this road to. That's five Roads folks.

The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult is a crime comedy film and the third film in the series. This time around Paramount Pictures both produced and distributed. The screenplay was written by Pat Proft, David Fucker, and Robert LoCash and was directed by Peter Segal in what was his directorial debut.

The story is, Lt. Frank Drebin is retired and spending time with his wife. This retirement is soon cut short when Frank is called back into action when he's told about a terrorist plot to bomb the Academy Awards. Frank goes undercover to try and stop this insidious act of terror...now if only he can stop causing trouble as much as he's trying to prevent.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

There's two mix bags. One being the villain Rocco Dillon. Much like Quentin Napsburg in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear before him, he's not bad he's just okay with a few good humorous moments. 

Then there's the humor. Sometimes they do recycle material which will give you a feeling of seen it before. But there are still plenty of new ones too. There's two I remember. One is a funny bit of Frank's inner narration saying, "Like a blind man at an orgy, I was gonna have to feel things out". Then the other joke involves a transsexual. Remember when you could make those kind of jokes before everybody got a stick up the ass? Those were good times. 😌

• Positives

Now I'm gonna make these next two very brief because they're just repeats from what I said in my review for The Naked Gun 2½. Firstly the pacing. Regardless of quality the third movie continues what the others did, which is not over staying it's welcome. Just like it's predecessors The Naked Gun 33⅓ is quick and to the point.

Then there's the cast and their performances. Leslie Nelson continued his winning streak of bring his comedic talents to the role of Frank Drebin, along with a strong supporting cast including George Kennedy having his great chemistry with Nelson. And a big surprisingly enough the late Anna Nicole Smith playing Tanya Peters, where she provides a hilarious parody of the femme fatale trope.

While there's flaws as far as third movies in a trilogy go, The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult isn't a bad way to go out. If anything it was pretty good in the grand scheme of things.

My final rating is, Okay.

Okay that's a wrap. Due come back on Thursday, Jul 10th, where I'll give my opinions on James Gunn's upcoming DC Universe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Jurassic World: Rebirth Review

 

Alright, let's see what the Jurassic franchise has in store this time.

Jurassic World: Rebirth is a sci-fi thriller and acts as a standalone sequel to Jurassic World: Dominion. Rebirth is the fourth film in the Jurassic World series but it's the seventh installment of the franchise. Production was handed by Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures, the latter of which also distributed. David Koepp, who previously co-wrote the original Jurassic Park and wrote the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, returns to write the story to Rebirth, with Gareth Edwards serving as the director.

The story is, a team of operatives are sent to the island of the original Jurassic Park and must go to the research facility to secure genetic dinosaur DNA that can provide life-saving benefits to mankind. But the deeper the teams goes they'll discover secrets that have been hidden from the world for decades.

Initial Reaction

I'll keep it simple, I wanted to see this because I'm a Jurassic Park fan. Now do I think the Jurassic World movies are perfect masterpieces? No, but I do believe people are way too hyperbolic when it comes to their quality.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

Now the first mix bag comes from the characters. Some were clearly there just to fill the body count, others at least have some sort of personalities like Scarlett Johansson's Zora and Jonathan Bailey's Dr. Henry Loomis. But then we have the Delagdo family and Xavier. I'll give the actors and actresses credit they are trying despite their weak material, but that family and boyfriend were just as generic as the body count characters. I mean it, the only description I would be able to give these characters are the dad, the oldest daughter, youngest daughter, and the boyfriend. Again, no disrespect to the actors and actresses, but those characters just weren't written well. Then there's the story. Now I'll give David Koepp credit for going back to basics. It was fun seeing a more survival story. But I do wish we went deeper with the mutant dinosaurs. We start off with them in the beginning and the lab they were in, but for the longest period we don't spend much time with them. I get the filmmakers didn't want to overuse them, but when they're your main hype in marketing, people are gonna expect to see a lot of them.

Pros

One credit to the movie I want to give is the action. Gareth Edwards did a great job with the thrills. There's a really good scene where the team is getting DNA from an egg and the mother Pterosaur comes and their cliff climbing becomes a life and death situation. I liked that scene, that had some awesome suspense in it. I also want to give my last credit to the cast. Despite the story's just okay material, the cast still gave us some good performances. They were able to bring some sort of depth and charm to some otherwise serviceable characters.

While Jurassic World: Rebirth isn't gonna set the world on fire like the first Jurassic Park movie, I can't bring myself to say it's bad. If you want to see by all means go right ahead. But if you're gonna wait some other time to go to theaters that's fine too.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Jul 7th, for the last part of my Road to The Naked Gun (2025), with my review of The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Superman (2025) - Superman: The Warworld Saga Review

 

Wow, I can't believe it. We're now at the final stop to Superman (2025). It feels like only yesterday that I started this.

Superman: The Warworld Saga was a 2021 comic book story arc that was published by DC Comics and can be found in Action Comics #1030-1046, Superman and The Authority, Batman/Superman: Authority Special and Superman: Warworld Apocalypse (I'll provide a reading order after the review). The story was written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and was drawn by numerous artists. Daniel Sampere drew issues #1030-1033 & 1035-1036, Christian Duce drew issue #1034, Miguel Mendonça drew issues #1037-1038, Riccardo Federici drew issues #1039-1040 & 1042, then Dale Eaglesham & Will Conard were the artists for issue #1041, then Will Conard collaborated with Riccardo Federici for issues #1043-1944, Will Conard solely drew for issue #1045, Fico Ossio did issue #1046, and finally Warworld Apocalypse was a collaborative effort by Brandon Peterson, Will Conard, Max Raynor, and Miguel Mendonça.

The story is, Superman has discovered a group of enslaved people on Warworld have a connection to Krypton. After assembling a team to help him, they travel to Warworld but are captured and Superman is forced to fight in Mongul's gladiatorial arena. But he won't back down and builds an army of rebels to fight back.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Let's start off with something that'll be sort of a warning. Now the overall story is really good, but this is an issue for the new readers. If you're planning on reading this you're not gonna get a lot of the references. Ya gonna be familiar with things like Future State and prior Superman stories such as The Golden Age. So if you do plan on reading this you gotta do some research first.

Then there's the pacing. While the writing quality is great the pacing sometimes varies. One moment it's nicely fast then it's pretty slow. The best example of this is the first part of the story Warworld Rising. It's a prologue just before Superman has to go to space to Warworld. I was hooked but the pacing did bounce around between fast and slow.

• Positives

My first praise goes to the world building. Phillip Kennedy Johnson impressed with the world building, at first I figured it was gonna be a fun action story, which it still was but Johnson added on to it. We dive into a mysterious race of people, a fragment that nearly brings Atlantians and humans to a war, and Johnson expands on Warworld by telling us just how much of a dystopian hellspace it is. Johnson added more to Superman's mythos in the best way.

Then we have the artwork. Particularly from Daniel Sampere and Riccardo Federici. No disrespect to any of the other artists they were good in their own rights but these two are the standouts. With Daniel Sampere we get strong action, expressive character designs, and a great bit of cinematic flair. With his action art he captures intensity with his layouts providing both motion and impact. Then there's Riccardo Federico. With Riccardo he's darker and has more of a painters style when compared to Sampere. And when I said painter I mean it, his artwork looks like paintings. His style brings a very epic fantasy style to the storyline, which is perfect because Superman looks more like a gladiator during this and looking less like his usual superhero self.

My last praise goes to the story. Phillip Kennedy Johnson wrote an amazing Superman story. So let's start off with the Man of Steel himself. Now a huge portion of this arc Superman has none of his powers. Despite that he still fights on. He's refusing to give up despite being enslaved and being mocked as the "Unblooded Sword". We see his unbreakable spirit shine through and because of this spirit he's inspiring others. But even with this badassery, we still get to see his emotional depth by his longing to return to his wife Lois Lane and his son. We also got a great story of the dangers of hero worship. Johnson spectacularly writes Mongul manipulating his followers to maintain his control, while Superman is inspiring through his actions/leadership. It's a great way to show example vs. coercion. But the biggest theme highlighted throughout the whole story is hope. Now I feel as though people have overused that word when talking about Superman cause often times it feels they use hope for every little itty bitty act Superman does. Like "Oh look he rescued a cat from a tree! He brought hope!" Here however Johnson actually has Superman bring hope. Not saying other writers didn't! The Warworld slaves hate Superman. They think his ways are weak compared to the status quo they're use to, because of that Clark is having to prove himself against an entire race of people who hate him. By showing his refusal to abandon his mission Superman shows Mongul's slaves they don't have to live this way and there is something brighter for them to strive for.

While not something for new readers to jump right into and having some pacing issues, The Warworld Saga is still some DC and/or Superman fans should check out.

My final rating is, Good.

Reading Order

NOTE!: The story is broken into separate parts and I'll tell which issues belong to those parts.

Part One - Warworld Rising

-Action Comics #1030-1035

-Superman and The Authority (NOTE!: This four issue miniseries is written by Grant Morrison, but it tells the story of how Superman convinced them to join his mission to Warworld.)

-Batman/Superman: Authority Special

Part Two - Warworld Saga aka The Arena

-Action Comics #1036-1042

Part Three - Warworld Revolution

-Action Comics #1043-1046

-Superman: Warworld Apocalypse

Well that was a great way to this Road to. And to think, the next thing I review that's Superman related is the newest movie. But that's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Jul 5th, my review of Jurassic World: Rebirth. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

F1 Review

 

F1, or as it's been marketed F1: The Movie, is a sports drama that's produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Apple Studios, Plan B Entertainment, Monolith Pictures, and Dawn Apollo Films with Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple Original Films both distributing. Joseph Kosinski directed while Ehren Kruger wrote the screenplay. Making it the second time these two collaborated with the first being the hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick.

The story is, in the 90's Sonny Hayes was a promising Formula 1 until serve injuries in the 1993 Spanish Grand Prix ended all of that. Thirty years later, the owner of a struggling F1 team convinces Sonny to come back to racing and become the best in the world. With all of the hotshot rookies just as determined to reach that spot, Sonny quickly learns this road towards redemption isn't gonna be an easy one.

Initial Reaction

At first I was excited because it seems as of late racing movies are becoming a winning formula for Hollywood. First there was the incredible Ford v Ferrari back in 2019 and then back in 2023 there was the surprisingly good Gran Turismo. So I had fingers crossed that this one would be no different. Then when I found out it was being directed and written by the guys that made the AWESOME Top Gun: Maverick I got even more excited. So I was going into this movie with some very high expectations.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

Now this movie and Gran Turismo share one similarly. That being pacing. Racing scenes are fast pace and exciting, with character dynamics also maintaining momentum. But we got moments where some fat could've been cut. One example being the blossoming romance between Sonny and Kate. Yeah it's a fine subplot but it didn't need to be has lengthy as it was.

Pros

Let's start off with the story. Yes, it's familiar to the sports genre, we're seen the veteran butt heads with the hotshot rookie before, yada yada yada. But like I said with Gran Turismo (wow that's twice now I've made a comparison between these two.) it's about execution. And F1 has good execution. I actually invested in Sonny's story. I actually wanted to watch his redemption from beginning to end. I was also invested in the company Sonny's working for that being APXGP and how they're struggling. The reasons why these stories despite familiar beats worked is because Ehren Kruger brought heart amidst all of the racing drama. Speaking of racing let's dive into what's probably the real reason why people went to see this that being well the racing. Let me start off with Joseph Kosinski did an amazing job with the flying in Top Gun: Maverick and despite being a different vehicle and being on the ground, he did a fantastic job with the racing. The racing is a blast! Because of Joseph's usage of an iPhone-based on board system we also feel like we're in the driver's seat, which in return brings up the intensity. It was a visceral experience and I loved every moment. And combined with Hans Zimmer's score brought up the adrenaline even more. The last bit of praise goes to Brad Pitt and Damson Idris' performance. Brad was great. He brought his usual charisma to Sonny and in doing so made the character an enjoyable focal point. Then there was Damson. I'll be honest this is the first time I've seen him in anything. I know he had a main role in FX's Snowfall, but I never watched that show. So I went in with him totally blind, and what I witnessed from him didn't disappoint. His character can be as charismatic as Sonny albeit a lot more cocky. But Damson was amazing with hidden the character's vulnerability. Then there's moments where these two share the screen and are really good. Their chemistry together helped push the rivalry between Sonny and Joshua (that's Damson's character by the way) and also kept the narrative grounded.

F1 isn't perfect but it is worth checking out. Whether you're an Formula 1 fan or not this is a fun one to see in theaters.

My final rating is, Good.

Well that's gonna close out the month of June. Due come back on Thursday, Jul 3rd for the final part of my Road to Superman (2025) with my review of the comic book storyline, Superman: The Warworld Saga. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.