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

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Addams Family (1991)

by A.J.

Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween!

“We danced the mamushka while Nero fiddled. We danced the mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the mamushka for Jack the Ripper. And now Fester Addams, this mamushka is for you.”

The Addams Family (1991)

Around Halloween time at Vulcan Video, I and the rest of the staff typically spent a lot of our time recommending scary movies and helping customers track down horror movies (part of why I started this blog). However, it was a bit more difficult to help parents find something they could watch with their children. Kids, especially around 12 and under, want to feel like they are watching something spooky without actually being scared. One of our favorite movies to cover this problem: The Addams Family.

Of course this is not a horror movie; it is a spooky themed comedy with a macabre but fun sense of humor. I remember when I was a kid and the reruns of the 1960’s The Addams Family and The Munsters TV series would come on Nick At Night. I admit that I didn’t like The Munsters because they were monsters, but The Addams Family were just a bunch of fun weirdos. The 1991 big screen version is a big ball of kooky, spooky fun even now in 2025. It’s actually probably more fun to watch now that I’m 40 and notice jokes like when Morticia tells the unemployment agent that her major was “spells and hexes” and the unemployment agent shrugs and puts down “liberal arts.”

The performances are really what make the whole movie work. Anjelica Huston and the late great Raul Julia are perfectly cast as Morticia and Gomez Addams. Huston is great at playing Morticia as a lowkey character. She is the opposite of Raul Julia’s high energy Gomez, yet they are a perfect match. They have great chemistry and it’s nice to see how absolutely in love their characters they are. Raul Julia really stands out as Gomez. His enthusiasm is infectious for other characters and the audience. Julia had an incredible career on film and on the stage and Gomez Addams ranks among his best work. Of course Christina Ricci also stands out as the deadpan Wednesday Addams, who more than any other character has become a fixture of Halloween. 

For this movie, Gomez’s long suffering lawyer, Tully (Dan Hedaya), concocts a scheme with a conwoman for her strange adopted son, “Gordon” (Christopher Lloyd) to impersonate the long lost Fester Addams and gain access to the Addams Family vault. Of course, the odd, macabre charm of the Addams family, especially Gomez, wins Gordon over. Christopher Lloyd, forever Doc Brown of Back to the Future, does a great job portraying another distinct memorable character.

The humor is dark and macabre but it is never grim, inappropriate, or mean spirited. Nothing about the Addams family is mean spirited; they do things their own way and have no problem with others being different. The only time when they come close to being judgmental is when the family goes to Wednesday and Pugsley’s school program. Gomez is bored out of his mind watching a class perform a showtune. Wednesday’s teacher talks to Morticia  about the class “heroes” assignment and expresses concern that Wednesday picked an ancestor who was burned at the stake. Other children picked people like President George H.W. Bush and Jane Pauley. Morticia replies with, “Have you spoken to her parents?” The humor follows the simple formula of it’s-funny-because-they-do-the-opposite-of-what-you-expect. It might take a bit for young kids to catch on. I told my 6-year-olds that the Addams family are like cartoon characters that live in the real world; which makes sense because The Addams Family began as a cartoon strip by Charles Addams, which I admit I only learned about after I started working at Vulcan Video.

It feels strange to call a movie from the 1990’s a classic, especially when it’s one you watched as a kid, even more so when it is such a silly movie, but the 1991 version of The Addams Family is a classic. I am happy to report that it holds up (unlike many movies I saw as a kid in the late 80’s and early 90’s). It’s fun for grownups and a great way to introduce kids to spooky sensibilities. In short, it’s a perfect Shocktober movie. Happy Halloween!

The Addams Family is available to stream on Paramount+ and free on Kanopy. It is also probably on DVD/Blu-ray at your local library.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Cuckoo

by A.J.

Night 12: Hotel Horror Night

"If I were you, I wouldn't want to get hurt even more."

Cuckoo

Part monster movie, part mystery, part suspense picture, all of the seemingly disparate elements of director Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo come together for a strange and very entertaining horror movie that delivers everything the audience might want while also being something that stands out because it feels so different. Though this is a strange movie, it is not hard to follow. Director Singer plays fair and clues are here and there but this is not so much about solving the mystery or what it all means. This is also the rare movie that remains intriguing and interesting even after the big secret has been revealed. Singer’s direction and screenplay expertly build tension and mystery, increasing the strangeness of events so that by the time we reach the climax anything feels possible.

Teenage Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) moves with her family (father, stepmother, and younger half-sister) to the Bavarian Alps for her father to take an architecture job at a secluded mountain resort. The owner, Herr König (Dan Stevens), is very helpful. He remembers that Gretchen’s father and stepmother stayed there on their honeymoon. He insists that the family live at the resort and even gives Gretchen a job working at reception desk, but he insists that she not work at night or have an escort at night. From the mysterious prologue we know that Herr König is up to something secretive and sinister. 

Schafer is great at playing a believable and relatable teen and the script allows her to do dumb teen things like steal from the cash register and blow off work to make out with a girl she just met. She ignores the warning about going out at night alone and this is when the creepiness and horror really kick into gear. In a brilliant moment, all the creepier because it is underplayed, Gretchen rides her bike at night and in the woods a figure runs alongside her. Then she is attacked by a woman with glowing red eyes. She gets knocked around and that her injuries don’t just go away is a subtle but effective touch of realism. By the time the climax plays out Gretchen has an arm in a sling and bandage around her head. 

Other bizarre occurrences include Gretchen’s half sister Alma’s trance-like seizures that may, or may not, be linked with, or cause, time jumps. There is also Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a distraught former detective lurking around the resort grounds, who is set on some kind of revenge though he does not fully understand what happened in the past or what is happening now. 

Dan Stevens practically walks away with the whole movie, showing off not only his mastery of the German language but also a dark and villainous side. He is believably benevolent and dangerous. Unlike the detective, König never comes across as mad, though he is essentially a mad scientist. The most disturbing thing about his character is how cool and in control he comes across at all times. 

We eventually do find out what Herr König is up to and it may, or may not, be a surprise. Once the secret is revealed everything we’ve seen before makes sense and what follows is entertaining, even riveting, though it relies more on suspense and action than horror. This one of the very few times when a shootout in a horror movie is not a disappointment or used to make up for a lack of creativity. Herr König , Henry, and Gretchen stalking around, each with their own goal and agenda, is a very tense sequence. There is humor sprinkled throughout so neither dark plot points or themes become overwhelming. Gretchen is still mourning the death of her mother, but this used to build her character and explain her outlook and behavior, rather than as a shortcut for substance and subtext. Whether it is using horror or mystery techniques or even indulging in action, Cuckoo is well executed. Nothing happens randomly or for the sake of shock. It is weird, wild stuff.  

Cuckoo is available to stream on Hulu/Disney+.

13 Nights of Shocktober: House of Wax (1953)

by A.J.

Night 11: Vincent Price Night

“To you they are wax, but to me, their creator, they live and breath”

House of Wax (1953)

Here’s a Vincent Price classic for your Shocktober viewing: the horror remake House of Wax, not the 2005 remake, but the 1953 version which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum, itself a horror classic. House of Wax (1953) is significant for two reasons: 1) Though it was not Vincent Price’s first appearance in a horror movie—he had previously voiced the Invisible Man in some of the Universal Studios sequels—it marked the significant shift in his career to the horror genre and solidified his standing as a horror star; 2) Though it was not the first 3-D movie, it is one of the more significant and famous examples of the short lived 3-D fad of the 1950’s. This will explain the completely unnecessary scene of a carnival barker hitting a paddle ball at the camera, the close ups of high kicking can-can dancers, and why so many characters and objects fall towards the camera. This is also why the 88 minute movie has an intermission since the 3D would cause headaches if people watched for too long without a break. Of course the real reason House of Wax has endured and become a horror classic has everything to do with the movie’s willingness to have fun and the performance of Vincent Price.

The plot is little changed from Mystery of the Wax Museum, aside from removing a reporter character and moving the setting from contemporary times to the late 1890’s. Vincent Price plays Professor Henry Jerrod, a master wax sculptor who prefers recreating historical scenes and figures instead of the macabre but lucrative “chamber of horrors” exhibits. His business partner sets fire to the museum to collect insurance money and Jarrod is presumed dead in the fire. Years later the business partner is murdered by a mysterious figure dressed in black and Jarrod returns with a new wax museum, this time with a chamber of horrors and wax figures that seem just a bit too realistic. 

Not a lot makes sense in House of Wax, but it is fun nonetheless so it’s easy to overlook the plot holes. Jarrod is in a wheelchair and his hands are disfigured and useless, so he has his henchmen–one of whom is a young Charles Buchinsky, later to be Charles Bronson–presumably following his verbal instructions, but he is plenty capable of working the giant wax vat at the end of the movie. The reveal of a character wearing a wax mask is a great horror moment, but the implied realism of the mask is a bit of a stretch.

Vincent Price’s role has all the hallmarks that would become part of his horror movie persona. He begins as a sympathetic character; then he is wronged, driven mad, and becomes a villain sometimes bent on revenge, sometimes bent on mayhem, sometimes both. Still, he is so charismatic you almost want him to succeed (except for when he played the real-life monster Mathew Hopkins who executed hundreds of people during one of England’s witch panics in Witchfinder General). As Price wheels his way through the wax museum leading a tour he is utterly delightful in his wry delivery of gallows humor and bad puns. When he is in disguise, Price does a great job sneaking around (he really knows how to twirl a cape). Not only is he great as a mad villain but he is also believable in the scenes where Jarrod talks about his love of art and sculpting.

The highlights are the epic fight between Price and his business partner as the original wax museum burns down around them. The other is the climax which has Jarrod’s intended victim strapped to a table under a giant vat of boiling wax as the police race to find her. The secret workroom resembles a classic mad scientist's lab. The 3-D gimmick scenes, even without the actual 3-D effect, stick out like sore thumbs but still contribute to the overall entertainment value. This is not exactly a campy movie, even with its dated effects and acting styles. It is less concerned with creating chilling scares than making sure you have a horror-themed fun time. It worked then and it works now. 

House of Wax airs on TCM on Halloween at 9AM CT and is available to stream on HBOmax.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Mr. Harrigan's Phone

by A.J. 

Night 10: Stephen King Night

“All of us need to be very frightened by this gizmo.”

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

Earlier this year The Life of Chuck was released in theaters to either deeply affected or puzzled audiences. It reminded me of another recent curious adaptation of a Stephen King story, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. Both stories were published in the collection If It Bleeds and they share similar themes (both deal with the supernatural to some extent and are unconventional coming of age stories) even though they are quite different in subject matter. They would make an interesting double feature. Call it The Boy and the Beyond double feature. 

Somewhere in the rows of chaotic mayhem that is Netflix, you can find Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. It is not a horror movie, not really. In the tradition of gothic literature, it is not a ghost story but a story with a ghost. The film begins in 2003 when young Craig is offered a job reading books aloud to old Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland), a wealthy and reclusive retired businessman who enjoyed Craig’s readings at the local church. Years pass and teenaged Craig (Jaeden Martell) receives an iPhone for Christmas; he loves it. After one of the scratch off lottery tickets Mr. Harrigan gives to Craig for Christmas pays off big, Craig uses part of the winnings to buy an iPhone for Mr. Harrigan. Harrigan is thankful but has no interest in the phone until Craig shows him the stocks app that updates in real time and the free access to the most current edition of the Wall Street Journal. 

Being a shrewd businessman, Mr. Harrigan foresees all of the possibilities and consequences of smart phones. Companies giving away their product for free can’t last forever and eventually people will have to pay. But will people pay, or go looking for other free news and entertainment sources, even if the source is questionable? King’s story heavily ponders the consequences and effects of smartphones and addictive technologies. This is present in the movie too but blends into the story and characters well so the movie never feels like it is preaching or trying to be prescient. 

When Mr. Harrigan passes away, as a final gesture Craig puts Mr. Harrigan’s phone in his suit pocket. Feeling lonely one night, Craig calls Harrigan’s phone and leaves a message. Then he receives a reply, a garbled text from Mr. Harrigan’s phone. Later, Craig calls Mr. Harrigan’s phone and leaves a message about a violent bully. The next morning he finds out the bully died suddenly. 

There are not really any scares but there is a sense of unease that pervades throughout the movie, especially after that iPhone makes its first appearance. Craig’s investigation about the mysterious deaths provides some answers but also more questions. Further text messages from Mr. Harrigan from beyond the grave only bring with more unease and more death. 

There is something gentle to this story of a teenage boy whose best friend is an old reclusive billionaire. Some scenes and music choices play with heartstrings, but there is also a pall over every scene. The decision Craig makes about his phone in the final scene may not be satisfying because it is likely the same decision we would make.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone is available to stream on Netflix.