The Sane Lunatic

Two years after filming began for an untitled Hollywood blockbuster based on modern-day Formula 1, it's finally time to see Brad Pitt play the role of an F1 driver at age 59. I can confirm that 'F1: The Movie' was well worth the wait.   This is a challenging review for a long-time F1 fan like myself to stay focussed on the movie aspects and not much of the technical BTS about the cars and filming that involved the crew's presence at various Grand Prix in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. But I shall give it my best shot.   Story and key characters Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver who's always looking for the next big race to win. The movie starts with him as he takes over for a night stint in the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R and you are immediately thrown into the high-paced action of motorsports. It is quite the cinematic experience, enough to forgive the over-dramatisation of overtakes.     He is then approached by his former teammate an...

All good things end, and this movie marks the final curtain of Tom Hardy playing Venom, the iconic anti-hero character from the Spider-Man comic universe. The final instalment of this trilogy is titled "Venom: The Last Dance", and that's pretty much what it is — one last song to end a fun night. Despite the ongoing struggles with interconnecting storylines between different intellectual properties across Sony and Marvel (aka Disney), the Venom saga finds itself infected with the same virus of lazy storywriting with another lame attempt at recreating the kind of synergy achieved in the core Avengers films. As the finale to a rather well-received trilogy that debuted in 2018, this one needed a strong story but all the elements feel discordant. There is little to tie it all together and the only saving grace for the movie is the performance of Tom Hardy as both Eddie Brock and Venom (yes, he delivers the voice of the bombastic symbiote himself which gets punched up for that ...

The Merc with the Mouth is finally back! And he's got his best friend (from the comics) with him, one he's mentioned with thinly veiled envy since the first one premiered in cinemas in 2016. Just like that first one was released on Valentine's Day as a love story,  "Deadpool & Wolverine" arrived just in time for Friendship Day as perhaps a buddy movie of the ages. Ever since the first news dropped about Hugh Jackman reprising the role of Wolverine in a team-up for the next Deadpool movie, the anticipation from fans across bases was tense, and the build-up was worth it as this movie delivers everything needed for the full climax. The third instalment of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool movies comes on the back of Disney acquiring Fox Studios and thus allowing previously IP-locked characters from the MARVEL comics to finally appear side-by-side, and Ryan aka Wade makes sure the viewers know about that too. There's one keyword that explains the plot - the Marvel c...

This is it, the final instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise that started all the way back in 2001. To be precise, it's the first part of the tenth and final instalment in the series. There was a lot of build-up around this one with various petrolhead circles making plans for group viewings. But I wanted my Fast X experience to be as unadulterated as possible. I did not even watch a single trailer and did not have any inkling about what to expect in terms of stunts and new characters. I did not mention story plot expectations because I knew that there probably wasn't going to be one, not really.   Everything from hereon can be considered a spoiler, so skip to the final para for a rating/assessment. The "Plot" The central storyline, if that's what we can call it, for Fast X gives us a flashback to 'Fast Five' (arguably one of the best movies in the series in terms of heist sequences). We are treated to some tear-jerking flashbacks of Paul Walker as ...

Walking up to the ticket counter of your nearest cineplex to see what's the next available show, irrespective of the genre, is an adventure I haven't taken in some time. But that's how I ended up watching this movie and it was an interesting experience.   This movie is so out of my realm, I had to read the title multiple times to make sure the title was as mushy as it sounds despite having a far more exciting poster design. I recognised the lead actors - Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton - which gave me confidence that the movie would at least pack a good performance. And I was right. The movie is clear to establish its overarching premise early on. It's a story about storytelling with the lead character being a professional academic in the field of narratology, Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton). On one of her adventurous excursions, the English lady somehow ends up with a trinket that houses a Djinn (Idris Elba). While trying to clean the glass bottle, she ends up summonin...

 It's quite common for movies to be made with no plot, a cast of popular actors with loyal fanbases and a big CGI budget. Red Notice is one of those movies. Netflix has been churning out an increasing number of platform-exclusive movies, but it's now harder to find good ones. When they dropped the first trailer for this action-flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson, I knew I was going to watch it as a fan of the Canadian funnyman. They also showed Gal Gadot as a key character to onboard a slew of horny teens as well. The movie plot is a treasure hunt for an Egyptian artefact, a bejewelled golden egg and part of a set of three, known as Cleopatra's eggs. It explains off the bat that the term Red Notice is the highest wanted level in Interpol, which is a sort of global police agency. The movie then introduces us to a generically-sassy boss lady Inspector Das, played by Ritu Arya, who's chasing one of the best art thieves in the world. She enters the scene accompa...

 Horror film sequels are usually a category to avoid. Most movie-goers give them a wide berth, and for a good reason: they're pretty disappointing, if not absolute shit. I'm glad to say that is not the case with 'A Quiet Place Part 2'. When the first one dropped in 2018 , the sensory experience of 'A Quiet Place' was unlike anything else I'd felt while watching a movie in the cinema. For most of the movie, there was little to no dialogue, and the audience was so engaged, they were scared to make any noise either. The sequel picks up where the first one left off: John Krasinski's character is dead, the family have figured out a way to beat/kill the sound-based monsters, and need to find a new haven. Plus, there's a newborn baby, something notorious for making loud noises at the wrong time. Evelyn Abbot played by Emily Blunt now has to lead her remaining family to safety. Her deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) is trying to establish her own ident...

I'd be hard-pressed to name a movie starring Ryan Reynolds as a comical action here that I don't look forward to watching. So, when they teased a movie where this hilarious Canadian heart-throb plays as a self-aware NPC in a GTA-like video game, I was LITERALLY jumping in anticipation. Unfortunately, that first trailer dropped near the end of 2019, right before the pandemic crisis took over. I ended up having to wait 22 months to watch Free Guy, and I can say that the movie did not disappoint. *GAMER LINGO BASICS* Video games where players can explore a large map as they wish are also known as open-world games, like the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series. In these games, you'll encounter well-written AI characters who have preset actions, can react to the environment and have their list of dialogues as well. These characters are called NPCs, i.e., Non-Playable Characters and almost all of them don't have a name if they aren't representing a crucial character in the game...

 Fast and Furious 9 is the latest installment of the most ridiculous action movie franchises of my generation. What started as a movie for lovers of cars and tuners has become a full-fledged action movie franchise that no longer has anything to do with racing. But like me, many fans of the franchise will continue to watch every installment of the FnF series. This was among the list of films that were supposed to be released sooner (early 2020) but eventually hit the screens in the summer of 2021, and I decided it was worth the entry price to experience the film on the big screen. The storylines have become more and more stupid but the stunts have become increasingly fun to watch. It's about the characters, identifying every car that gets driven by them, and just listening to the cacophony of engine revs, explosions and Dominic Toretto saying the word "family". The basic plotline is simple: A tech weapon that poses a global threat in the wrong hands and needs retrieving. S...

This review was supposed to be shared with you all before the launch of the 2021 edition of the official Formula 1 video game. Better late than never I suppose.   To the average person, it's hard to explain why we buy what is essentially the same game every year. For every new season of Formula 1, there is a new game to mirror that season's schedule, cars, driver lineup and tracks. Of course, there are a plethora of improvements and changes to the game with each edition as well. But those are the kind of details you'd only pick up if you played F1 or similar games on the regular. The last F1 video game I played was for the 2014 season. So, stepping into F1 2020 was a big shift in terms of the graphics, the game mechanics and the sheer level of involvement. Platform: PC Input: XBOX 360 Controller Driving aids: Mild traction control, ABS, braking only racing line AI Difficulty Setting: 55 to 69 I played the game almost exclusively in single-player, playing multiple seasons in...

The first time I heard of Cyberpunk 2077 was just before E3 2019. As a casual gamer with no talent for multiplayer (other than racing), I don't follow such events with any serious interest. However, I do love storyline games. So when I saw the trailers and teasers for Cyberpunk 2077 that featured a character that looked a lot like Keanu Reeves, I had to find out more.  A few weeks later, I tuned in to the livestream to witness the moment that went on to become one of the biggest, most breathtaking memes on the internet.  Of course, I was going to buy the game as a Reeves fanboy. At E3 2019, they announced a launch date sometime in April 2020. I was ready to pre-order it months in advance but thought I'd wait it out. In the meantime, I also acquired a decent gaming laptop and decided that I'd rather have the PC experience than play it on PS4. Then COViD struck and the game's launch got pushed to September. Then to November. Finally, the game was available on December 10....