Best Pictures #119: 2025 (98th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: F1

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #119: 2025 (98th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

F1

“When I said I like straight talk, I meant me. From others, I prefer mostly praise, flattery, idolatry. Sometimes, even gibberish.

Nearly everything about F1 feels familiar. It follows the basic formula of a washed up veteran getting a second chance, being at odds with the younger hot-shot, defying expectations, and wowing everyone. It also follows the basic formula not just of other racing movies, but sports movies in general: the underdogs with no chance think outside the box to overcome the odds. Following a formula isn't necessarily a bad thing; it is relying only on the formula, using it as a crutch, that gets a movie in trouble. The familiarity of the plot, structure, and character types are the chassis upon which the expert direction of Joseph Kosinski and a great Brad Pitt performance have their fun. This movie does not reinvent anything about its genre or subgenres; it does not aim to do that. Like Kosinski’s previous film, the spectacular 2022 Best Picture Oscar nominee Top Gun Maverick, it makes the most of the familiar. 

Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a dedicated racecar driver, who is not so much of a has-been as a never-was. A prologue shows that he is clearly a good driver, with little patience for anyone who isn't as dedicated to his sport as he is, but after winning the 24 Hours of Daytona race, and being offered a permanent spot on the team, he moves on. This is when an old friend, Ruben (Javier Bardem), appears right on cue to ask Sonny to join his failing Formula 1 team and turn things around. Bardem's team is performing so badly that if they cannot win at least one of the remaining races of the season then "the board" will sell the team. Sonny isn't sure about the offer because dramatic structure dictates that the hero must first refuse the call to action, but then he turns up in London to race in F1 for the first time since he crashed and burned 30 years ago.

Charm goes a long way in this movie. Damson Idris as Sonny’s new teammate, Joshua, is quite good at playing the young hot shot seeking fame and fortune. Idris is charming enough even though his character is at times more concerned with building a social media following, as advised by his cousin/manager Cashman, nice comic relief by Samson Kayo. The screenplay by Ehren Kruger gives little more to Joshua than the usual just-trying-to-win-money-to-take-care-of-my-mom motivation, but Idris makes the most of it. Pitt's charm might as well be the industrial strength garment rack on which everything that is not dazzling racing hangs. We've seen his character type before, but the smart, even clever, touch is that Sonny is willing to do whatever it takes to win even if that means playing the supporting role so the team can win. The twist is that he is a team player. He uses his reputation for wrecklessness and being a wild card to draw the attention of the other drivers to him, allowing Joshua to move closer and closer to first position. The frustrating part of the movie, and Sonny, is that he doesn't share this plan with anyone beforehand. His strategy is meant to be a revelation but that is only because he doesn't tell anyone. 

The race announcers have the thankless task of explaining the basics of F1 racing (what is allowed, expected, unexpected) and also being exposition machines. As someone who knows nothing about professional racing, I found this helpful but annoying because I knew I was being spoonfed information. The commentators never talk about the other drivers or teams, so it just comes across as weird that they only talk about Sonny and his backstory and the stakes for his team. 

The weakest part of F1 is its screenplay which does not give the actors much to work with and over emphasizes “the stakes” (that the team will be sold if it doesn't win). The problem is that “stakes” only matter to studio executives who think audiences will only care about a story if something big is on the line. The truth is we just want to see Brad Pitt be charming, play a character who's good at what they do, and see exciting races. On that front F1 delivers. Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda apply some of the same techniques to racing as they did to flight in Top Gun Maverick (cameras are mounted on the F1 cars, POV shots put us in the driver's seat) to great effect. The sound design is magnificent, even on simple TV speakers: the zipping of the cars, the high pitched roar of the F1 engines, the rumble of tires all enhance the experience of the racing scenes.

As for the performances, if anyone is impressive it is because of what they bring to the role, not the role itself. The screenplay includes such clunky lines of dialogue like, "So how does one get to be the first female technical director of an F1 team?" which Pitt does his best to deliver as an almost joke to his love interest Kate (Kerry Condon). She brings depth to her character more with how she plays her than anything in her familiar backstory. Sonny's dialogue varies from simple but effective (“Hope is not a strategy!”) to wry comments to an inarticulate speech about why he loves racing. Nevertheless, through peaks and valleys, Pitt makes the most of it. Like Sonny, he is doing the best with what he was given. 

It is no surprise that F1 got Oscar nominations for sound, editing, and visual effects, (the cinematography went surprisingly unnominated) but its Best Picture nomination came as a big surprise to me. Perhaps I should have seen it coming since the Academy Awards seems to love racing movies, like the 2019 Best Picture nominee Ford v Ferrari. That movie was derisively categorized as a "Dad movie" and many critics and commentators want to lump F1 into that nebulous sub-genre. However, F1 has a slick, polished veneer that skews towards a different and wider audience. I'm sure dads will like this movie, I know I did, and should you come across it, you'll have a good time too.

F1 is available on AppleTV+.

Nominees: Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, producers

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger; story by Joseph Kosinski, Ehren Kruger

Cast: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon

Production Companies: Apple Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Plan B Entertainment, Monolith Pictures, Dawn Apollo Films

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures, Apple Original Films

Release Date: June 27th, 2025

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Editing-Stephen Mirrione; Sound-Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta; Visual Effects-Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, Keith Dawson

Best Pictures #118: 2025 (98th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Marty Supreme

Best Pictures #118: 2025 (98th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Marty Supreme

“I have a purpose. If you think that it's some kind of blessing it's not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through.”

In 2025 the directorial team of the Safdie brothers (Benny and Josh, whose previous films include much lauded and extremely tense Uncut Gems) each released their solo directorial efforts: Benny with the sports biopic The Smashing Machine and Josh with Marty Supreme, inspired by, but not based on, real life table tennis player Marty Reisman. It would be reductive and inaccurate to call Marty Supreme a sports movie, but like all great sports movies it is not really about the sport. This is a character study equally fascinating and frustrating because while Marty Mauser is very talented at table tennis, his real passion is the next win. This, more than any of the misfortunes and misadventures that Marty encounters, is the great conflict of the movie. Yet, no matter what the Oscar nominated original screenplay by Safdie and Ronald Bronstein throws at Marty, somehow he comes up with a plan and, somehow, no matter how absurd or stressful things get, it is all very entertaining.

Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) is on his way to a stable, average life in New York City in the 1950’s. He works in his uncle’s shoe store and is such a good salesman that he is about to be made manager; but the job is only a way for him to make money to pay his way to compete professionally in the emerging sport of table tennis. Perhaps this is a mild spoiler, but he loses that tournament–he’s quick to blame the type of paddle, not the talent of his opponent–and spends the rest of the movie scheming and hustling to come up with enough money to enter the next global tournament and prove that he really is the best in the world. 

If Marty seems frustrating and annoying that’s because he is, but Chalamet's performance and natural charisma go the distance required to make the character and the movie work. There are three things in Marty’s favor. 1) Chalamet’s screen presence: Marty talks fast and big with a mixture of boasts, lies, and bent truths. Chalamet really makes us feel that the next big, epic win is just around the corner; he just needs to get around the corner first. 2) Chalamet’s youthful look: Marty is 23 and each mistake and misadventure feels like a chance for him to learn something. 3) Marty is genuinely, supremely talented at table-tennis/ping-pong and may actually be the best in the world; the only thing standing in the way of a spot in the professional big time is himself. 

Although, to be fair, not all of the obstacles Marty faces are his own doing. Marty catches the attention of a wealthy businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O'Leary, AKA Mr. Wonderful of TV's Shark Tank), who sees the potential for profits in a new field, but wants Marty to take a dive. (Marty’s affair with Rockwell’s wife, Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), a movie star of yesteryear preparing for her stage comeback only sets up more complications and is Marty’s own doing.) A series of random and ridiculous events has Marty looking after and then almost immediately losing a stranger's dog to a deranged farmer who insists the dog is his. Rachel (Odessa A'zion), his now married childhood friend turned lover and mother-to-be of Marty’s child, tries a hustle of her own and gets Marty wrapped up in a dog ransom scheme with violent gangsters. In so many other movies a plotline involving gangsters and a shootout would feel like a contrived way to force action and "raise-the-stakes”–a favorite term of unimaginative studio executives and screenwriting professors. Here, however, it makes eye-rolling sense; of course Marty Mauser would manage to get mixed up with violent gangsters over something like a dog.

Though firmly set in a realistic 1950's, the soundtrack utilizes music from the 1980's and a score evocative of that later time period. This shouldn't work. It should feel like forced retro hipness, but the music choices hit at the core feelings of particular scenes in such a way that it does not matter if the music is period accurate or not; it is emotionally accurate. 

No matter how stressful, frustrating, or absurd the movie gets, it never feels like an assault on the audience or the main character. It feels like we are watching a flawed person deal with their mess instead of watching a fictional character get slapped around for the sake of shock value. Marty Supreme earned an impressive 9 Academy Award nominations, including: Best Picture, Best Actor for Chalamet, Director for Josh Safdie, Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, and the brand new Casting category. It may not be my first choice to win any of these categories but it is a worthy film. Marty Supreme is a rare thing these days: a major studio movie for grown ups. 

Nominees: Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush, Anthony Katagas, Timothée Chalamet, producers

Director: Josh Safdie

Screenplay: Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary

Production Companies: Central Pictures

Distributor: A24

Release Date: December 25th, 2025

Total Nominations: 9, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Timothée Chalamet; Director-Josh Safdie; Original Screenplay-Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein; Cinematography-Darius Khondji; Editing-Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie; Production Design-Jack Fisk (production designer), Adam Willis (set decorator); Costume Design-Miyako Bellizzi; Casting; Jennifer Venditti

Best Pictures #78: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: King Richard

 by A.J. 

Best Pictures #78: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

King Richard 

“No, brother, I got the next two Michael Jordans.”

The great thing about sports movies is that you don’t have to understand or even like the sport to enjoy the movie. It helps that most sports movies, at least the better ones, aren’t really about sports but focus on their characters, fictional or real. King Richard is a biopic not really about tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, but about their father, Richard Williams and how he struggled, hustled, and charmed a path for his daughters into the world of professional tennis. Overall, this is a good story with interesting characters because both are real. Richard’s story is of course a part of Venus and Serena’s origin story, but I was caught off guard by just how little Venus and Serena feature in this movie. 

It helps that Richard is played by Will Smith in his best role giving his best performance in a long time. Richard is a big personality and Smith puts his winning on screen persona to work making Richard confident but not arrogant, determined but not obdurate, charming but not cloying. This is not a warts and all portrayal, but it fits the tone of the movie and is satisfying nonetheless thanks to Smith’s solid performance. Venus and Serena’s mother, Oracene 'Brandy' Williams (Aunjanue Ellis with an Oscar nominated performance), has some substantial and memorable scenes that elevate her role beyond the stock  “wife and mother” archetype and make clear to the audience her contributions to Venus and Serena’s training.

Richard works nights as a security guard and spends nearly every available moment taking his daughters to the local tennis courts in Compton, where they are harassed and Richard receives beatings periodically from gang members. His other available moments are spent trying to find a professional coach for Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton). His pitch is very good, but getting someone to coach two kids for free, and to do it Richard’s way, is a hard sell. The Oscar nominated screenplay by Zach Baylin makes it clear that convincing tennis pros is only part of the challenge. As you might imagine, the Williams’s stand out in the predominantly white and upper class world of tennis. Certain people in the professional circuit seem supportive at first but it becomes clear they see the uniqueness of the Williams sisters’ race, not so much their talent, as a novelty they can exploit. 

King Richard is certainly a step above the typical inspirational sports movie or biopic, true or not, about persevering and overcoming obstacles. It is not formulaic in a paint-by-numbers way, but it follows a familiar pattern. The movie does get repetitive at times with Richard charming then clashing with one trainer, Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) then the next, Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal), and the scenes of training and training. Richard holds back on letting them enter the professional circuit after seeing how kids burn out and break down from the pressure and stress of the tournament cycle. It’s the right decision, but we’ve seen them train and know what they will later accomplish so there is not much tension to the tennis match scenes later in the movie.

If you're like me and know little of the world of professional tennis, you probably, like me, know that Venus and Serena Williams are regarded as two of the greatest and most accomplished athletes in their sport. Richard was right, and that’s not a spoiler. I’ll be honest, King Richard is the film I keep forgetting is nominated for Best Picture. I don’t mean to say that the film itself is forgettable or bad, actually it's pretty good, but unlike its subjects it is not especially outstanding. If King Richard earns Will Smith a Best Actor Oscar that will be the most memorable thing about it. 

Nominees: Tim White, Trevor White, Will Smith, producers

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Screenplay: Zach Baylin

Cast: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal, Tony Goldwyn

Release Date: November 19th, 2021

Production Companies: Westbrook Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment, Keepin' It Reel

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Will Smith; Supporting Actress-Aunjanue Ellis; Original Screenplay-Zach Baylin; Editing-Pamela Martin; Original Song-"Be Alive" music and lyrics by Beyoncé, Dixson

Best Pictures #56: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee Ford v Ferrari

by A.J.

Best Pictures #56 
2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Ford v Ferrari

“There's a point at 7,000 RPM... where everything fades.”

If Ford v Ferrari feels formulaic that’s because it is, but it works. It has all the elements of a traditional major studio sports movie: based on a true story, A-list movie stars, acclaimed journeyman director, fabulous cinematography, a motley crew of characters challenging conventions, an underdog angle. A more generous analogy would be Ford v Ferrari takes a reliable recipe and uses the best ingredients and best kitchen brigade to deliver an entrée so well done it is almost easy to dismiss. That is almost what happened with this movie. After coming and going at the box office just before Thanksgiving, it seems the Academy couldn’t dismiss this film entirely and gave it four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. They were right to not let Ford v Ferrari pass without notice because, though it is working with a familiar recipe, this is an excellently done, engaging entertainment.

Like the title directly states, this movie is about rival car companies. Specifically, it is about the nascent Ford racing program in the mid 1960’s taking on the dominant force in international racing, Ferrari. Like a lot of sports movies, you could argue that this movie isn’t so much about the sport but about the characters and their journey. Ford v Ferrari is certainly about car racing but what is most engaging about it is the friendship between its main characters, racer turned car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and racer Ken Miles (Christian Bale). After a slump in sales, ambitious Ford executive Lee Iacocca hatches a plan to revitalize the car company's image by entering the world of international auto racing and winning the prestigious marathon race 24 Hours at Le Mans. Ford turns to Shelby to head their racing program. Shelby, turns to the best driver he knows, Miles, who is the right driver for the job but does not fit the Ford company image.

At first the accents from the leads are a bit jarring. Damon is using a full Texas drawl and Bale uses a British accent not his own. Accents aside, Damon and Bale settle into the their characters quickly and comfortably. They are A-list stars that give A-list performances with great on-screen chemistry. Damon as the determined no-nonsense Shelby and Bale as the skilled but at times abrasive Miles (he’s described as “not a people person”) are not exactly a mismatched pair; they’re more like yin and yang. Their best scene together is also the funniest in the movie: they fight each other with groceries. Shelby has a canned good in his hand, realizes that it would hurt Miles, so he hits him with a loaf of bread instead. Even when they are trying to hurt each other, they are trying not to hurt each other.

The real rivalry isn’t between Ford and Ferrari but with race crew and the Ford executives who don’t understand racing and are only concerned with corporate image, namely Josh Lucas as Leo Beebee. Lucas is great performer but there’s nothing to his character aside from being petty and obstructing Shelby and Miles. I did not care about the Ford motor company winning a race to gain prestige and sell more cars so rich men could be slightly richer. But I did care about Shelby and Miles succeeding. Watching them and their crew work together to solve the problems of building a state-of-the-art race car, with each member using their individual skills and knowledge, is a total delight. Those scenes reminded me of other film about people working together to solve a problem, The Martian, also starring Matt Damon, and also a Best Picture nominee. So, yes, in a film where the title flat out states conflict and rivalry, the best scenes are of people working together.

Director James Mangold is not a household name, even among cinephiles, but he turns out solid work more often than not. When directing Walk the Line he gave the concert scenes a distinct look by putting the camera backstage and even onstage with the performers instead of just placing it with the audience. He uses the same approach with Ford v Ferrari’s racing scenes. There some shots of the cars zooming by the stands but there are also shots behind and in front of the cars on the track, inside the car with the Miles, POV shots of the racers, or shots where the camera has been attached the door of one of the speeding cars. It is all cut together to thrilling results (editor Andrew Buckland received an Oscar nomination for his work). Ford v Ferrari also picked up Oscar nominations in both Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Those aren’t just throw away nominations. The sound of the roaring engines, zooming cars, and, yes, explosions, are a major part of the immersive experience of the racing scenes. I have never had any interest in car racing of any kind, but the grueling climatic race at 24 Hours at Le Mans, where drivers race in four-hour shifts day and night no matter the weather conditions, had me completely enthralled. That’s good filmmaking. I can see Ford v Ferrari being dismissed as a “Dad Movie”—the kind of movie an adult child would watch with their dad over the holidays. If that is how you happen to see this picture, you and your dad are in luck.

Nominees: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, James Mangold, producers

Director: James Mangold

Screenplay: Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller

Cast: Matt Damon, Christian Bale

Production Companies:

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Release Date: Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, Turnpike Films

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Editing- Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker; Sound Mixing-Paul Massey, David Giammarco, Steven Morrow; Sound Editing-Donald Sylvester