F1 : Tuesday 1st July 2025

I saw the M Rated 'F1' this week, and this American sports drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Joseph Kosinski whose prior feature film efforts take in 'Tron : Legacy' in 2010, 'Oblivion' in 2013, 'Only the Brave' in 2017, 'Top Gun : Maverick' in 2022 and 'Spiderhead' also in 2022. This film features the Formula One World Championship, created in collaboration with the FIA, its governing body, and is Co-Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt. The film was released internationally last week, cost somewhere between US$200 and 300M to produce, has so far grossed US$167M and has generated positive critical reviews.

The film opens with American racing driver and former Formula One (F1) prodigy, Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), living nomadically in a camper van and earning a crust as a racer-for-hire in any car and in any discipline. He raced for Lotus in the 1990's, and was destined to become the next big thing, until severe injuries from a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1993 brought his F1 career to an abrupt halt. As a result, he became a gambling addict that cost him three marriages, disappeared from racing for ten years and even did a stint as a New York taxi driver. We see him win the 24 Hours of Daytona - the sports car endurance race for the Chip Hart Racing Team, with team owner Chip Hart (Shea Whigham) urging Sonny to stay on with the team after winning, but Sonny isn't interested and almost immediately exits the circuit in his camper van.

At a diner later that evening his former Lotus teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tracks him down. Ruben is now the owner of the APXGP F1 Team, and offers him a test drive to fill their spare seat. Ruben states that his investors will sell the team unless APXGP, last in the World Constructors' Championship with no points and last in the Drivers Championship also with zero points, wins one of the nine remaining Grand Prix that year. Sonny reluctantly agrees after Ruben tells him victory will make him 'the best in the world', and places a first class airline ticket on the table to their UK HQ.

At the Silverstone test, Sonny meets team principal Kaspar Smolinski (Kim Bodnia), technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), and ambitious British rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who states that seven drivers turned down the opportunity to drive for Apex. Joshua quietly worries the potential sale will result in his replacement, believing he must beat at all costs his teammates to impress the investors. During his test, Sonny struggles with the set up of a modern F1 car, but very quickly after just one lap of the circuit identifies the car's weaknesses. Despite crashing out in his maiden test drive around the circuit, Kaspar recognises his talent behind the wheel and agrees to him being signed up.

Sonny returns at the British Grand Prix, where slow and fumbled pit stops lead the APXGP drivers to last position after a fairly promising start. Sonny ignores team orders to let Joshua by and they collide, both spinning out of control into the sand traps. 

In Hungary, Sonny mends his relationship with Joshua by exploiting F1 rules by colliding with other drivers to force safety cars onto the track on three separate occasions. He helps Joshua catch the midfield and score APXGP's maiden points finish with a ninth placing. Joshua adopts Sonny's old-school training practices, and Sonny emulates his simulator work, and later persuades Kate to redesign the car for 'combat'. 

During the rain-soaked Italian Grand Prix, Sonny encourages Joshua to remain on slick tires, which risks aquaplaning but vaults Joshua up to second place. Joshua ignores Sonny's advice to wait for a straight before attempting to overtake Max Verstappen. He hits a curb and his car becomes airborne flying over a barrier and immediately explodes in a ball of flame upon landing. Sonny pulls him from the fire and Joshua misses three races with his hands badly burnt. Sonny meanwhile claims consistent points over the next few races, and grows in popularity with the fans. Joshua becomes more determined than ever to defeat him upon his return.

In his comeback race at the Belgian Grand Prix, Joshua's aggressive driving results in a collision with Sonny, forcing him out of the race and angering him. Kate arranges a poker game between her, Sonny and Joshua in the bar of their hotel in Las Vegas where the winner gets favourable treatment at the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix. Joshua wins with a pair of fives but, after he leaves, Sonny reveals he intentionally folded with a winning hand of a pair of Kings. 

Impressed, Kate courts Sonny and they spend the night together. Ruben interrupts them early the next morning to reveal that an anonymous tip claimed Kate manufactured the 'combat' upgrades illegally. Kate denies any wrongdoing, but the FIA (the governing body of many international motorsport championships and disciplines, including Formula One) demand the upgrades be removed, or they cannot race. During the race, Sonny gets road rage and crashes out. As Sonny recovers in a hospital bed, Ruben learns his 1993 injuries permanently impaired him, and fires him for his own safety, and to protect the integrity of his team. 

As he is about to leave the circuit and his team behind, he is approached by APXGP Board member Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies) who reveals to Sonny that he orchestrated his signing and the complaint to the FIA so he could fire Ruben and sell APXGP, offering to promote him to team principal if the sale goes through, making him rich beyond his wildest dreams. His gives Sonny three days to consider his offer. 

Before the last race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Joshua commits to being more responsible and disciplined, admitting to his mother Bernadette (Sarah Niles) that his crash in Italy was not Sonny's fault, but his own. Sonny persuades Ruben into letting him race and declines Peter's offer via text message with a simple emoji flipping him the bird. The FIA exonerates Kate, allowing APXGP to restore her upgrades. During the race, Joshua takes the lead by remaining on worn tyres, but is overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. 

A very welcome red flag is shown after a struggling Sonny, in fourth, collides with George Russell, causing all drivers to pit for ten minutes and for Sonny's car to be repaired and for both APXGP drivers to restart on a set of fresh tyres - a luxury the other drivers did not have because all the other teams used up their tyre allocations in practice and qualifying. After the ten minute pause and with just three laps remaining, Sonny passing Charles Leclerc, sacrifices his chance at victory by forcing Lewis to block his overtake instead of Joshua's. However, Lewis and Joshua collide on the final lap, clearing the way for Sonny's and APXGP's maiden victory, therefore preventing the sale of the team and cementing Ruben's position for another three years. 

Sonny and Ruben rejoice on the podium, exclaiming 'we are the best in the world'. Toto Wolff, team principal and co-owner of Mercedes offers Joshua a seat with his team at anytime, but Joshua gratefully declines. Sonny and Kate confirm their relationship, with the pair committing to see each other again 'down the road'. Joshua congratulates Sonny, who returns to his nomadic lifestyle, competing in the Baja 1000 - the annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula, with a course of up to about 850 or more miles. 

As with 'Top Gun : Maverick' here Director and Co-Producer Joseph Kosinski and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer have spared no expense and fine tuned every last detail to put the audience right slap bang in the middle of the action, and where the roar of the engines, the thrill of the race and the emotion of winning and losing is concerned, where else would you want to be? Together with Brad Pitt and seven time World Champion F1 driver Lewis Hamilton who also serve as Co-Producers, this team have crafted an authentic race movie as you'll ever likely to see. The race sequences are thrilling and exhilarating, and the principle cast led by Pitt, Idris, Bardem and Condon all add a sense of realism and believability to the proceedings, ably aided and abetted by numerous cameo appearances from the complete line up of F1 drivers from the 2023 and 2024 seasons plus a number of team principals and owners that serve to cement the authenticity. Whilst the plot is fairly thin on the ground and at the same time predictable, the spectacle of being in the drivers seat with Sonny Hayes and Joshua Pearce and seeing the race track flash past and in front at 200+ MPH is what this film is all about, and on that level it doesn't disappoint, and at a running time of 155 minutes it doesn't leave you wanting either.

'F1' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 26th June 2025

The 42nd Munich International Film Festival this year is held from Friday 27th June through until Sunday 6th July in the German city of Munich. It is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late June or early July, and presents feature films and feature-length documentaries. With the exception of retrospectives, tributes and homages, all of the films screened are German Premieres and many are European and World Premieres. There are a dozen competitions with prizes worth over €250K which are donated by the festival's major sponsors and partners. With over 160 feature films and feature-length documentaries on more than eighteen screens, from fifty-four countries, Filmfest Munchen has an annual attendance of around 80,000. It accredits more than six hundred members of the international press and media as well as over 2,500 film industry professionals. Nearly fifty films will have their World Premieres at this year’s festival in the Bavarian capital, with such international stars as Stellan Skarsgard, Francois Ozon, Jay Duplass and Gillian Anderson, the American Actress, Writer, and activist, who will be honoured with the CineMerit Award for her outstanding contributions to the art of film, all giving personal appearances.

This years Opening Night film presentation is 'The Balled of Wallis Island' and Directed by James Griffiths and starring Tom Basden, Tim Key and Carey Mulligan and tells the story set on a remote island off the Welsh coast where old tensions resurface when former bandmates, who were former lovers, reunite for the first time in nine years for a private show at the island home of an eccentric millionaire. 

The CineMasters Competition includes films from internationally acclaimed Directors (with the exception of Germany). The films are in competition for the ARRI/OSRAM Award for Best Film (non-German), and carries a services award from both of these companies worth €50K). Those feature films therefore competing are as follows :-

* 'Aicha' - from France, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia and Written and Directed by Mehdi M. Barsaoui. 

* 'Hard Truths' - from the UK and Written and Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin and David Webber.

* 'Sound of Falling' - from Germany and Co-Written and Directed by Mascha Schilinski. Winner of the Jury Prize at this years Cannes Film Festival.

* 'Kika' - from Belgium and Co-Written and Directed by Alexe Poukine. 

* 'Magellan' - from France, Philippines, Portugal, Spain and Taiwan and Written, Production Designed, Directed, Co-Photographed and Co-Edited by Lav Diaz, and starring Gael Garcia Bernal.

* 'Militantropos' - from France, Austria and Ukraine and Directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi.

* 'Nouvelle Vague' - from France and Directed by Richard Linklater and starring Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch and Aubry Dullin.

* 'Perla' - from Austria and Slovakia and Written and Directed by Alexandra Makarova.

* 'Promised Sky' - from France, Qatar and Tunisia and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Erige Sehiri. 

* 'Sirat' - from France and Spain and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Oliver Laxe. Winner of the Jury Prize at this years Cannes Film Festival.

* 'The Baltimorons' - from the USA and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Jay Duplass.

* 'The Exposure' - from Switzerland and the UK and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Thomas Imbach.

* 'When Fall is Coming' - from France and Co-Written, Produced and Directed by Francois Ozon.

* 'Yes' - from Germany, France, Israel and Cyprus and Written and Directed by Nadav Lapid.

For the full synopsis of the aforementioned films being showcased within the CineMasters section, plus the other film strands including the CineVision Competition, the CineCoPro Competition, Spotlight, International Independents, New German Cinema and the Kinderfilmfest, plus a whole bunch of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/en/

This week we have four new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, launching with a sports drama film in which a semi-retired Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver. This is followed by a Sci-Fi horror sequel set two years after this child sized humanoid robot's rampage, her creator, resorts to resurrecting her infamous creation in order to take down a military-grade robot who was built by a defence contractor who stole the underlying tech from the original robot. Next up we have the first of two French offerings, with the story of a Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker who has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency; and closing out the week and set on the sunny French Riviera, where a family revelation spirals into a mischievous journey brimming with love, vengeance and surprises.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'F1' (Rated M) - this American sports drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Joseph Kosinski whose prior feature film efforts take in 'Tron : Legacy' in 2010, 'Oblivion' in 2013, 'Only the Brave' in 2017, 'Top Gun : Maverick' in 2022 and 'Spiderhead' also in 2022. This film features the Formula One World Championship, created in collaboration with the FIA, its governing body, and is Co-Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt. The film is released internationally this week and cost US$200M to produce.

Here, dubbed 'the greatest that never was' Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was Formula 1's most promising driver of the 1990's until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, he's a nomadic racer-for-hire driving in other motor sport disciplines, when he's approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling Formula 1 team Apex Grand Prix (APXGP) that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to Formula 1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He'll drive alongside Joshua 'Noah' Pearce (Damson Idris), the team's hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace. But as the engines roar, Sonny's past catches up with him and he finds that in Formula 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition, and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone. Also starring Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Shea Whigham plus all ten Formula One teams and their drivers in the 2023 season will appear as themselves.

'M3GAN 2.0' (Rated M) - is an American Sci-Fi horror film Written and Directed by Gerard Johnstone, and is a sequel to 2022's 'M3GAN' which was also Directed by Gerard Johnstone and grossed US$182M from a production budget of US$12M making this sequel inevitable. Here, set two years after the events of the first film Gemma (Allison Williams, who also Co-Produces here alongside James Wan and Jason Blum) has become an author and an advocate for the regulation of artificial intelligence while trapping a still-active M3GAN (Amie Donald with Jenna Davis providing the voice) in a small, harmless robotic doll. However, M3GAN's technology has been stolen and used by a defence contractor to create a military robot called AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android - Ivanna Sakhno), who becomes self-aware, turns on her creators, and attempts an AI takeover. Facing imminent destruction, Gemma's niece Cady (Violet McGraw) convinces her to rebuild M3GAN with advanced upgrades so she can fight Amelia. Also starring Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jermain Clement. The film is released Stateside this week too.

'SOULEYMANE'S STORY' (Rated M) - this French drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Boris Lojkine, and tells the story of Souleymane (Abou Sangare), a recent Guinean immigrant in Paris, whose every waking second is spent fighting against the clock, working as an e-bike rider for a food delivery service to make his quota, getting back in time to secure a bed at the shelter, filling out paperwork on a deadline as he tries desperately to get asylum in France, and with his interview in two days, he is ill prepared. The film had its World Premiere showcasing at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and the Performance Prize. It was released in its native France in early October last year and only now is it released in Australia having garnered universal critical acclaim.

'RIVIERA REVENGE' (Rated M) - is a French comedy film Written and Directed by Ivan Calberac whose two most recent feature films were 2019's 'Venice Calling' and 2022's 'The Tasting'. Here, he tells the story of Francois Marsault (Andre Dussollier), a war veteran, who makes the most of his retirement alongside his wife Annie (Sabine Azema) with whom he has been married for five decades. Authoritarian and ruthless, Francois rules his family with an iron fist, but when he discovers that his esteemed wife cheated on him forty years ago, he files for divorce and confronts her former lover, who lives on the French Riviera. The film was released in France in late April 2024, and only now does it get a showing in Australia. 

With four new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SENNA : archive from 23rd August 2011.

Saw 'SENNA' last night and I can recommend this documentary movie to all of you if you follow F1 or not. Directed by Asif Kapadia, this is the story of Ayrton Senna - the Brazilian motor racing ace - the man, the Formula 1 three time World Champion, and the Legend whose life ended so tragically & prematurely in mid-1994. Using 15,000 hours of largely previously unseen footage this is a well crafted & fitting montage of the mans life in the fast lane, his determination, his struggles, his beliefs, his faith in God and the ultimate price he paid.


The film quickly propels the viewer into Senna's arrival on the F1 scene in 1984 and his brief racing partnerships with Toleman, then Lotus and then onto McLaren with whom he would drive to world beating form. The drama is as much on track as it is off it, with his arch-rival French racing ace Alain Prost with whom Senna shared an intense battle every race every season and often coming to blows when it mattered the most. Off track there were the arguments with F1's governing body, the struggles about safety, and his reactions to those of his racing colleagues when there were on-track incidents, accidents, near misses, and occasionally death - not the least of these being Roland Ratzenberger who was killed on the same circuit just 24 hours before Senna's own untimely death, and 48 hours after Rubens Barrichello was injured in practice that same weekend.

In what has come to be known as Formula One's darkest weekend, the film takes us up to that fateful moment on lap seven of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix when a freak accident took the life of this racing legend in front of a worldwide audience of 300 million viewers. There are no talking head interviews in this documentary, there is no real commentary throughout - just hours & hours of footage accumulated over ten years in the racing limelight that has been distilled down into moments of intense racing action, on track drama, off track tension, politicking, family life, social interactions and Senna's ever increasing concerns over car safety in the era of rapid change in F1 as computerisation took hold, and technological changes became more & more commonplace throughout the season leaving little time to adjust.

Despite their intense rivalry on & off track during their racing lives together, Prost was a pall bearer at Senna's funeral and their friendship grew in the months leading up to Senna's death. With so much archival footage available surrounding F1 over the years this film plays out as a live action drama of the mans life seen through his eyes and those closest to him, rather than a historical documentary of man who died tragically last century. The film takes us in and around Senna's contemporaries of that era including Alain Prost of course (without whom this story would not be complete), Gerhard Berger, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis and Sid Watkins amongst others.

As a big follower of Formula One Motor Racing since the early 80's and a big fan of Ayrton Senna and then Michael Schumacher subsequently, I still remain lost for words over the tragedy that befell the two greatest racing drivers of my time, and both under very different circumstances. Senna was and will always be a legend in the world of motor sport especially in his own country of Brazil where he is idolised still to this day. This film is a fitting testimony to the great man, compelling viewing, and an insiders view to this particular brand of motor sport that we have not seen before.

The film won two BAFTA Awards and was nominated for another, and all up it garnered seventeen award wins and another sixteen nominations. A must see film on so many levels.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-