Personal Blogs

F1 REAL AND IMAGINED

I took myself off to see F1 the Movie last week, starring Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a former racer, and Damson Idris, as the talented young upstart. It got off to a great start, you can never go wrong when the heavy riffs of Led Zeppelin open the show and get the adrenaline pumping which set the scene for a rollercoaster ride of highs, lows and everything in between. The old footage of actual F1 races was well merged within the movie adding an interesting, if at times disturbing, dimension to the show. They also used footage of present day races and again it was well done but I knew they were never going to be able to pass Max Verstappen!!

As a fan, I was well versed in the technicalities of tyre types and DRS which you never get on the first lap by the way, and parallels with real F1 characters.

Kate McKenna who played the role of first female technical director was surely a nod to our very own Bernie Collins (born in Fermanagh) who began her F1 career as a strategy engineer for Aston Martin, and is to be seen now providing expert opinion and analysis for Sky TV.

Overall, a solid movie without any obvious ‘woke’ politics being shoved down our throats, (someone has learned a lesson from Top Gun: Maverick) and a relief to be able to just sit and enjoy the thrills while spotting present day F1 talent and showing off your knowledge. The plot is as obvious as expected (grizzly oldster gives young upstart a few life lessons and gets some in return) with no real surprises but the strength of the movie is that it does it well. So overall, very enjoyable and highly recommended even if you’re not a fan.

So how did it compare with an actual F1 race? Well, I had the absolute pleasure of being at the Monaco Grand Prix in May. It was everything I hoped it would be, and more, it was such a privilege to be where so many greats had raced before. I was in the straight just after the chicane, coming down around the harbour in Area Z which is really close to the track. It was incomparably one of the most thrilling experiences of my life and one which I intend to repeat in the future. Monaco was pumping, between the sound of the cars, the atmosphere and a crowd that was in party mode, it really was something everyone should try and experience at least once in life! We were also lucky with the weather and enjoyed sunshine and blue skies not just for the race, but for the entire week of our sojourn to France.

On the journey to Monaco, at the changeover for the train in Nice, we met Brian and his son, who had driven over from Yorkshire. They had been to the race last year and although they did not have tickets for this year’s race, they came to enjoy the atmosphere. They told us that there is a fanzone in the centre of town, which is free, and were hoping that there would be screens up for them to watch the race which I’m sure there were.

Prices were as expected but €65 for a team cap was a bit too much I thought.

Monaco itself is precipitous, clinging to the side of a cliff and the speed of the cars and the ability of the drivers isn’t fully appreciated until you see it up close. It is a miracle that anyone can drive at even half those speeds through the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, and gave me a new found respect for every driver that does so. Sadly, Max Verstappen who led for most of the race was pulled in on the penultimate lap for a tyre change and finished 4^th overall. I still can’t figure out why they didn’t chance one more lap when it is so difficult to pass!! (and don’t even mention Barcelona!!)

There have been a few dodgy decisions recently in the Red Bull team which I’m sure didn’t do anything to help Christian’s position but I have to say I was sorry to see him go. The team rivalries with Toto and others were all part of the fun. But, c’est la vie, nothing stays the same forever,  so good luck to Christian and his replacement Laurent Mekies, and, hopefully, a Red Bull resurgence after the summer break.

For my sins, I ventured out to see Quentin Tarantino's, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.  I had intended to go and see It - Chapter 2, but my friends messaged to say they were going to the Tarantino movie so I thought I'd go with them and see It next week.  

I'm not really a fan of Tarantino, I remember going to see Reservoir Dogs, the film that catapulted him to fame and fortune and where he made his name as an innovative director.  I have to say I was blown away by it, it was very different from anything I’d ever seen and I have loved Steve Buschemi ever since. I did however, find some of the violence too much but within the context of the film it was realistic.  The next film of his I watched was Pulp fiction, hailed by the critics; it didn’t really do anything for me. I thought the violence and language gratuitous, designed to shock rather than be realistic and I don’t really find anything deep and meaningful or entertaining in the lives of thugs, druggies and scumbags.

Maybe living through the ‘Troubles’ when thugs and scumbags were 10 a penny around here has somewhat tainted my perspective but Tarantino obviously, never had to deal with people like this because if he had, he certainly wouldn't be making them the anti-heroes of his movies.  

Then, I watched From Dusk to Dawn which was one of the worst films I ever saw and the last Tarantino I ever watched.  From then, I have religiously avoided his work, I don’t have much of a stomach for violence and it seems to be that every film of his follows the same formula, foul-mouthed tirades and high levels of gratuitous violence and the uniqueness and innovation of Reservoir Dogs has been lost amid the tirades, the swearing, the thuggery and the gore.

So, back to ‘Hollywood’ I had heard it was good and the story didn’t seem to lend itself to thuggery and violence.  The little I had heard about it was that it was about stuntmen who were coming to the end of their careers and whose style of work had fallen out of fashion.  From that, I had the expectation of an homage to the TV series and movies of the early sixties with a bit of comedy thrown in, as our heroes battled to find a life/career in a very different and changing world.  (Which actually, would have made, a better movie)

On the detail of the times, I couldn’t find fault, he definitely captured the look and feel of the era. The story is that Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is the stunt double for actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo Di Caprio), whose career as the star of an old TV series Bounty Law, is winding down and his acting future is looking bleak.  Cliff is a thug, he has a thug of a dog, lives in squalor, has the manners of a pig and is altogether, repulsive and I say that as someone who is a fan of a lot of his work, especially 12 Monkey’s.

Di Caprio is good as always, there is a scene where he loses the plot and goes on a foul-mouthed tirade (of course) which was over the top and gratuitous. 

At 2 hours and 40 minutes, it is also very long and the first hour really starts to drag.  I almost left and if I had been on my own, I would have but I thought, well, I’m here now, I may as well see it through to the end.  And so my penance endured. 

There is a scene with ‘Bruce Lee’ which was heavily criticised by his daughter and I can understand why.  It has Cliff the thug almost putting Bruce through the door of a car.  Why this scene is in this movie, I have no idea, other than to scoff and taint the memory of a man loved by many, myself included. 

What happens then, is that it drags on for another hour while building up to an ending which had to be narrated as he pissed about so much with the early part of the movie that if events had continued to unfold at the same pace, I would still be there waiting for something to happen. And considering what did then happen, that might have been the better option.

The premise of the movie finally boils down to some twisted fantasy on the part of Tarantino where Cliff the thug, inadvertently, saves the life of Sharon Tate and her house guests.  The violence in this scene was nothing short of horrific and maybe, it is me, but I don’t find someone being brutally savaged by a dog or a woman having her face repeatedly slammed into a fireplace funny on any level, and in the context of the real life event that did actually happen, the horrific murder of five people, I was sickened and appalled that Quentin Tarantino could take that event and play it for laughs.  Quentin Tarantino really needs a good psychiatrist, he is a sick, sick man and that will most definitely be the last movie of his I will ever watch.

Not recommended viewing for anyone, not even psychopaths, they really don’t need any encouraging.