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F1

Posted on June 26, 2025 at 12:00 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for strong language and action
Profanity: Some strong language
Nudity/ Sex: Non-explicit sexual situation
Alcohol/ Drugs: Alcohol
Violence/ Scariness: Intense driving sequences with some serious accidents
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters: June 27, 2025
Brad Pitt poster for F1 movie
Copyright 2025 Warner Bros.

“F1” is exactly what summer blockbusters are supposed to be, exciting, romantic, funny, glamorous, and purely entertaining.

It has a classic set-up, and if it seems reminiscent of “Top Gun: Maverick,” it is because it has the same producer and director. It’s pretty close to the same movie with cares instead of airplanes plus a touch of “Ted Lasso.” Also, it’s a classic set-up, guys with exceptional skills and cocky attitudes showing off, having conflicts, taking risks, and overcoming obstacles, all looking very, very cool.

Formula One is ” the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars.” We’ve seen Formula One racing in films like “Rush” and “Ford vs. Ferrari,” based on true stories, and the documentary “Senna,” and Netflix series based on the life and death of Brazilian champion Artyn Senna.

Brad Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a race car driver who is “not a has-been but a never-was.” Once considered, with his long-time friend Reuben (Javier Bardem) to be the most promising up-and-coming young racers in Formula One, his career, like his car, went off the track. Now he takes any chance he can to race. He’d drive in a soapbox derby if that was all he could find.

Here’s how cool he is. He wins a low-stakes race with dash and skill, then waves off the trophy. He is “a guy who makes teams better.” He stops to do his laundry at a coin-op, when an old friend walks in. It is Reuben (Javier Bardem). Once they were young up-and-coming hot shots on the cover of a racing magazine. Now Reuben has an F1 team and a talented but undisciplined driver, and he needs Sonny’s help. At first, Sonny turns him down. But if he doesn’t agree to join Reuben’s team he’ll never know if he could have been the best of the best and we wouldn’t have a movie.

Reuben’s hot shot is Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who is both threatened by and contemptuous of Sonny. He asks, ‘When was the last time you won a race.” “Sunday.” “I mean a F1 race.” “Same as you.” This is full of tough talk, like “Who said anything about safe?” Game on!

And do I need to even mention that the team’s head of car mechanics is a beautiful Irish woman named Kate (the terrific Kerry Condon of “The Banshees of Inisherin”)? Wait for the scene where they play Texas Hold ‘Em.

Fi is a place where people have many different ways of expressing emotion by the way they take off their headphones and they get excited over finding a way to cut their time by half a second.

Copyright 2025 Warner Brothers

The film mostly avoids making Pitt a sage elder. He’s not Crash Davis in “Bull Durham,” one final season as he passes the baton and some life lessons to a talented but undisciplined newcomer. (If the young competitors were talented AND disciplined there would not be much of a movie unless they had time to put in some huge setback or make him the Iceman in contrast to the Maverick.) Pitt, like Sonny, in every sense of the term is running his own race. Pitt is an actor of exceptional range but this role is smack dab in the middle of his sweet spot. He appears effortless, but it is the kind of effortlessness that requires superb understanding and control.

Like the plane scenes in “Top Gun: Maverick,” the race scenes in this film set a new standard, placing us inside the 200 mph action. For me, the pit stop scenes were some of the best, and I also liked seeing how many people it took, rows of people with headphones staring into screens almost like a rocket launch. The dialogue is sharp and smart, and if the plot twists are low in surprise they are high in satisfaction. So is this very entertaining film.

Parents should know that this movie includes intense racing scenes with some serious accidents. There are sexual references and a non-explicit situation and characters drink and use strong language.

Family discussion: How are Sonny and JP different and how are they similar? How does Sonny make teams better?

If you like this, try: “Rush,” “Grand Prix,” “Winning,” “Gran Turismo,” and “Ford vs. Ferrari”

Elio

Posted on June 19, 2025 at 2:35 pm

A
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for thematic elements and some action/peril
Profanity: Mild schoolyard language
Nudity/ Sex: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Some peril and references to violence and sad deaths of parents
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters and lessons about appreciating differences
Date Released to Theaters: June 20, 2025

Pixar’s latest has everything we love about Pixar, a heartwarming story with endless imagination, charm, and wisdom, about an endearing character and the fears and joys of being human. And yes, you will cry.

The title character is a young boy whose parents were killed in an accident, so he now lives with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña). She once dreamed of being an astronaut, but because of her responsibilities as Elio’s guardian she stays in her job tracking space debris for the military.

Characters from the Pixar movie Elio
Copyright 2025 Disney Pixar

We first see Elio (Yonas Kibreab) hiding under the table in a restaurant, traumatized by the loss of his parents, with a worried Olga trying to adjust to a child she refers to as her “new roommate.” A few years later, he is in middle school, awkward and lonely. He does not pay much attention to his classmates because he feels unwanted by anyone. Elio is convinced that he can do better somewhere else, so he wants to get as far from Earth as possible. So, he offers himself up to be abducted by aliens, first “communicating” by writing a message on the beach, but then taking a classmate’s ham radio, which leads to a scuffle. Elio’s eye is damaged and he has to wear a patch for a few weeks while it heals.

Olga sends him to camp, where the kids he got into trouble try to scare him. Trying to escape them, he ends up getting transported to space, a sort of floating intergalactic UN, with the leaders of many galaxies meeting in a heavenly “Communi-verse,” with translation disks and temperature and gravity adjustments for every possible kind of living being, a liquid version of Alexa/Siri to provide support, and a computer containing all of the knowledge of the universe that looks like a constant Anaconda card shuffle.

Elio, who has always felt out of place, instantly feels at home, even though the group is not seeing him for who he really is; they think he is the leader of Earth.

This is where the fabulous imaginations of the Pixar artists really get to have fun, with a dazzling array of creatures from a sort of floating cross between an undersea ray and a butterfly and the elegant but warm-hearted voice of Jemeela Jalil, to something apparently made out of stone to a professorial-looking insect to an entity with a screen for a face and shifting blobs to express its feelings. They are a kind and loving group, committed to open-mindedness and tolerance. Tolerance does not mean tolerating the intolerant, however.

Keeping out the intolerant has its risks. The angry Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett, just scary enough) is a warlord who attacks other civilizations. He is so angry at not being made a member of the Communi-verse that he plans to attack them and their planets.

Elio befriends Lord Grigon’s larvae/tardigrade looking son, another young creature who feels different. His names is Glordon (Remy Edgerly, with one of the best kid voices ever, up there with Flower in “Bambi” and Linus in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”). They agree to pretend that Glordon has been taken hostage to get Lord Grigon to back down. And then they send clones of themselves back “home” so they can stay together with the Communi-verse.

The clone versions of the two friends (voiced by the same two actors) give the film a chance to show that it is not easy to fool the people who know us well, and that even those who get frustrated trying to understand us and may push us to be different prefer us to be ourselves.

Elio and Glordon, like, I suspect, many of Pixar’s fabulously creative people, do not fit into the world easily. While Elio devotes himself to getting abducted, he never considers making friends on Earth. He is thoughtless in grabbing the ham radio from the boy who wants to join a club that Elio just made up to get the equipment. He lies to the Communi-verse. He develops a conlang (constructed language) instead of trying to communicate with his aunt.

The film shows us that fitting in with and feeling appreciated by the Communi-verse helps Elio think about who and what he overlooked at home, including his own feelings. Unique can sometimes feel lonely until we understand that everyone, even those who seem to have boundless confidence and fit in easily, experiences moments of loneliness, imposter syndrome, and despair. But like Elio and Glordon, we can find those who appreciate us for who we are as we learn to appreciate the vast array of difference around us.

Parents should know that this film includes a child whose parents were killed and feels their loss very deeply. There is peril and there are references to violence and some mild schoolyard language.

Family discussion: How do Olga and Lord Grigon know that the clones are not Elio and Glordon? Why is it easier for Elio to make friends in space than on Earth? How is the ending of this film like the recent “Lilo & Stitch?” Maybe try communicating by ham radio.

If you like this, try: “Inside Out” and “Turning Red”

Bride Hard

Posted on June 18, 2025 at 5:51 pm

B-
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated R for sexual references and some violence
Profanity: Some strong language
Nudity/ Sex: Raunchy sexual references, male exotic dancers
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness: Extended peril and violence, assault weapons, grenades, knives, explosives, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: June 20, 2025

The concept almost sells itself: “Die Hard” but if Bruce Willis was a bridesmaid. The problem with a concept that almost sells itself is executing a film that fully delivers on it. “Bride Hard” is more concept than delivery, but it is still silly fun.

Copyright 2025 Magenta Light

“Pitch Perfect” series co-stars Rebel Wilson and Anna Camp star as childhood best friends Sam and Betsy. 30 years after Sam moved away (to Australia, apparently, given her accent), and they have remained close, though not been in touch as often as Betsy would like. Now Betsy is engaged, and Sam is her Maid of Honor and in charge of her bachelorette party, which has been moved at the last minute to Paris. Sam has to leave in the middle of the celebration due to her job, which is not, as she tells everyone, a cat show entrepreneur, but a spy.

While Betsy and her other bridesmaids are drinking with the male strippers, Sam has gone rogue. Instead of spying on the bad guy who is receiving a bio-weapon, she goes after him to retrieve it, showing us that she is impulsive, dedicated, fearless, and extremely good at improvising tactics based on what is available. Next stop, the wedding, at a private island off the coast of Georgia. Betsy’s fiancé Ryan (Sam Huntington) is from a very wealthy family and the island is where they have the whisky distillery that has been in the family for hundreds of years. Betsy, disappointed in Sam’s disappearance in Paris, has now made Ryan’s sour sister Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) her Maid of Honor. The other bridesmaids are pregnant Zoe (Gigi Zumbado), here-to-get-laid-and-drunk Lydia (Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, the highlight of the movie).

And then the guys with guns arrive, and if this is sounding a bit like Jennifer Lopez’s “Shotgun Wedding” (which, coincidentally, was directed by “Pitch Perfect’s” Jason Moore), you have the right idea.

Kurt (Stephen Dorff) takes everyone hostage, and this gives Sam the chance to save the day. There are moments where the concept comes together, as when Sam uses plugged-in curling irons as nunchucks, and when the bridesmaids join together to give Sam backup. Stephen Dorff gives one of his best performances as the menacing leader of the bad guys. The process for getting what the bad guys came for is dragged out to allow more time for shooting and stunts. That may be a plus for action fans, but I found it slowed the pace of the film. Wilson is game, but her signature understated delivery does not work as effectively in the scenes focusing on the friendship with Betsy, both under strain and still vibrant. What works best is the interaction of the bride and bridesmaids, whether they are getting snockered, annoying each other (Chlumsky is on point as the competitive rich girl), or just engaging. in BFF-iness. As silly as it is, seeing them all come together to support the bride and go after the killers, beats watching the gift opening at a bridal shower.

Parents should know that this film includes extended action-style peril and violence with assault weapons, grenades, explosives, knives, and other weapons. Many supporting characters are killed and a main character is wounded. Characters drink and get tipsy and use strong language. There are crude sexual references, mostly humorous.

Family discussion: What profession would you pick as your cover if you could not tell people what your job was?

If you like this, try: “Shotgun Wedding” and the “Pitch Perfect” movies

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

Posted on June 15, 2025 at 9:32 pm

B
Lowest Recommended Age: 4th - 6th Grade
Date Released to Theaters: June 13, 2025

It may be completely unnecessary but this live action version of the terrific 2010 animated “How to Train Your Dragon” is still a great story. The story is heartwarming, the visuals are exciting, and the themes of courage used for a deeper understanding are still worthy. 

Copyright 2025 Universal

I object to the idea that an animated film is just a lesser version until technology develops to create a “live action” remake (the dragons are CGI). Animation has its own artistry, vibrance, and expressiveness. This version is almost a shot-for-shot remake, emphasizing the original’s unsurpassability, yet somehow it is nearly half an hour longer. The original – and its sequels and spin-offs – are so memorable that this remake is like enjoying a cover band version of a classic song more for the memories it evokes of the original than for its own merits. 

Our young hero is Hiccup (Mason Thames), the son of single dad and chief Stoick (Gerard Butler, who voiced the same character in the original). They live in Berk, a craggy, stark, unforgiving, and remote Scandinavian community beset by dragons who steal their food. Status is based on killing dragons and many people in the community proudly sport scars and prosthetics to demonstrate their courage in these battles. Stoick, disappointed by his son’s lack of warrior spirit, reminds Hiccup that his mother was killed by a dragon (though those of us who have seen the animated sequels know that she is still alive). Hiccup is apprenticed to Stoick’s best friend Gobber (Nick Frost), whose prosthetic hand and foot are the result of fighting dragons, and who now provides weapons and teaches those teenagers who, unlike Hiccup, are going to be trained to be dragonslayers.

As in the original, the dragons here are wonderfully imagined, with many fascinating species. Each looks different and poses different kinds of threats. While Stoick has taken all of the warriors in search of the dragons’ nest, Hiccup finds and befriends a wounded Night Fury he names Toothless, hiding their relationship from everyone else until they are discovered by Astrid (Nico Parker), the best young warrior trainee. He takes her for a ride on Toothless and she is convinced that dragons are worthy of respect and affection. 

Very little has changed in the storyline, as noted. But perhaps 15 years distance has brought some changes in our atmosphere and understanding. For me at least, Stoick’s harsh judgment of Hiccup as weak and fearful because he does not want to cut the heads off of dragons felt like a slightly broader statement about masculinity, hierarchies based on community standards, and fear of the unknown than a father’s distorted but genuine wish to protect his son from creatures that were responsible for so much loss. Perhaps that was just because I know the story so well and thought the padding dragged a little.

Thames portrayal of Hiccup is sincere and he allows us to see the teenager sort through his feelings as he allows curiosity to triumph over tradition. Parker, the daughter of Thandiwe Newton and Ol Parker, is excellent, showing us Astrid’s fierceness and, like Hiccup, the curiosity that leads her to question her community’s assumptions, even though by the standards she was raised with, she is at the top. 

Production designer Dominic Watkins skillfully translates the animated world with intricate, textured, settings filled with intriguing details. The ships, the landscape, the workshop, even the doors in the arena that open up to allow dragons to enter for the training sessions area are all gorgeously imagined to bring us into the world. Lindsay Pugh’s costumes and the hair designs by a talented group of artists help define the characters, who dress for battle but show a lot of personality and intention in the way they present themselves. The flying scenes are dynamic, fun to watch, and I’m sure a glimpse at what the new ride at Universal Studios will be like.

Parents should know that this movie has extended peril and violence, though human and dragon deaths are off-screen. We hear about injuries and deaths, including the death of Hiccup’s mother. It also includes a very positive portrayal of people (and a dragon) with disabilities.

Family discussion: Why was Hiccup the first to see that the dragons could be friendly? Why was it hard for his father to accept that?

If you like this try: the animated moviesthe books, and the television series

Materialists

Posted on June 15, 2025 at 12:42 pm

B-
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated R for brief sexual material and language
Profanity: Some strong language
Nudity/ Sex: Sexual references and situations including reference to sexual assault
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness: None
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to Theaters: June 13, 2025

Writer/director Celine Song has followed up her auspicious debut film, “Past Lives,” with another story about a woman torn between two men, with one who represents her past. In “Past Lives,” the other was her present; in “Materialists” the other represents a future she imagines for herself.

This film is less successful because it never fully integrates the ideas and the characters. Even three of the world’s most charismatic and talented performers cannot manage to make the characters come to life. There are some well-chosen songs on the soundtrack and some provocative ideas. But the tone is inconsistent and the treatment superficial. The themes are worth exploring but are always just out of reach.

Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a matchmaker to wealthy New Yorkers who are used to buying bespoke and think they can give her a list of “must haves” covering everything from education and bank account to height, hairline, and regular churchgoing. They give her a checklist but she almost always responds by promising them love.

Lucy herself is resolutely single, five years after breaking up with her aspiring actor boyfriend John (Chris Evans), she is working at a company called ADORE, doing what she says is the only job she has ever been good at. Early in the film, she is being celebrated for the wedding of two people she brought together, her ninth successful match. 

At that wedding, the bride is having a meltdown over whether to go through with it. Lucy calms her down with a very pragmatic discussion of what she needs from the relationship. We will see that Lucy is more than pragmatic; she is, per the title, a materialist. After the wedding goes off successfully, Lucy meets the groom’s brother at the singles’ table. He is Harry (Pedro Pascal), deemed in the lexicon of the matchmaker world, a “unicorn,” because he “checks all the boxes,” handsome, tall, charming, interested in marriage, and very, very rich. He is instantly drawn to Lucy, even after she tells him that her only criterion for a husband is mind-blowing wealth, and that she will only date someone if she is certain it will lead to marriage.

Also at the wedding, though, is John, who is working as a cater-waiter. They have a cordial, even borderline affectionate, conversation and he drives her home in the same beater car he had when they were together. 

So the central conflict here is not just between two men, but between two lives, two versions of herself. And around her are people making choices and experiencing the consequences that affect the way Lucy thinks about her own choices. 

This is where the film runs into difficulties. We are told (not shown) about the characters’ feelings. Harry and Lucy have a series of dinner dates in beautiful, luxurious settings, but all they ever talk about is whether Lucy wants or should want to date him. There’s never even the most basic movie shorthand for falling in love, some kind of connection through their pasts or their interests. A crucial conversation and turning point in their relationship is too superficial, even for a seemingly superficial subject. While we get a flashback showing us how strains of not having enough money and the more significant strains of different ideas led Lucy and John to break up, there is nothing in their interactions to demonstrate a shared understanding.

More than once in the film, characters talk about feeling valued or worthless. What makes people feel valued by themselves or others, is tantalizingly raised, but frustratingly sketched. 

The movie begins with a couple apparently from the bronze age as a (very fictionalized) symbol of the origins of romance. We see several of ADORE’s clients explaining their unrealistic and, in some cases, selfish expectations in a match. These scenes end up more distracting than pointed. A tragic match leads to the film’s strongest performance (Zoe Winters as Lucy’s client) but it is off-kilter with the rest of the story. Lucy actually does very little for her clients, Neve suggesting, for example, that they might want to focus less on how they want to be loved than on how they want to love.

The issues Song wants to address are deep; the way they are addressed is thin. But the actors are very charismatic and appealing and the settings are (mostly) enticingly luxurious.

Parents should know that this film includes drinking, smoking, and strong language. There are sexual references and non-explicit situations. 

Family discussion: Was Lucy helping her clients? She says it is the only thing she is good at. How does she define “good?” Will that change? What similarities do you observe in the relationships between people who value each other? 

If you like this, try: “How to Marry a Millionaire,” “Hitch,” and “Past Lives”