"Pressure" - What do you know about pressure?

Does anybody actually like talking about the weather? I don't mean extreme weather like tornadoes or blizzards. I mean the kind of weather that dominates almost all small talk, especially after your older relatives run out of personal ailments to describe to you in excruciating detail. I'm sure you've been on a call with someone and they inevitably asked "How's the weather out there?" Ugh. Hearing that question makes me cringe the same way as when someone says "are we having fun yet?" as they walk past me in the hall at work. So...let's talk about Pressure, an entire movie centered on talking about the weather.

Ok, Pressure isn't just one hundred minutes about of a bunch of guys talking about the weather. It's one hundred minutes about a bunch of guys arguing about the weather. I realize that sounds as boring as a graduation ceremony or the movie Fences. But they aren't arguing about just any weather. They are arguing about the weather expected for Operation Overlord, a.k.a. D-Day. That's much better than listening to your uncle describe how the rain makes his knees hurt.

I've said in the past how much I appreciate movies that depict historical events, especially events I know nothing about. Pressure is one such movie - I had never heard that D-Day was postponed by one day, let alone that it was postponed due to weather forecasts. Dr. James Stagg (Andrew Scott) is tasked with leading a team that would gather weather data and provide a weather forecast for the invasion day to General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser). This was no small responsibility, as the invasion included paratroopers, naval landings, and air cover - all of which could be led to catastrophe in bad enough conditions. Conditions like high waves, high wind, dense cloud cover. During a scene depicting a meeting between Stagg, Eisnehower, and several other high ranking military leaders, all will be made clear.

Like any historical drama film, there are a few liberties taken with the story to heighten the suspense. And a film about weather forecasting absolutely needs that thumb on the scale. It's the weather. The primary liberty is that Stagg is brought in to lead the team just seventy-two hours before the invasion. In the real world, he had been working with the team for months. But drama works best with a clock, and there isn't a better way to build drama than to bring in an outsider at the eleventh hour to save the day.

Also on the team is Irving Krick (Chris Messina) and he is the polar opposite of Stagg. Krick is a flashy American with a magnetic personality whom everyone likes. He believes the best way to forecast is to compare current conditions with historical data to predict what will happen. Conversely, Stagg is a brusque, no-nonsense Scotsman whom everyone finds to be disagreeable. He believes the best way to forecast is to collect as much data about current conditions as possible, analyze the data to predict what will happen, and to constantly remind everyone that the weather in Northern Europe doesn't give a crap what happened in the past. At one point, he will literally call Krick's methodology moronic, and Krick's indignation is so palpable you can almost taste it.

That's the beauty of this movie. It pits these two men against each other in a very short window of time, each of them trying to convince Eisenhower they are the smartest guy in the room. The suspense builds really well, particularly every time they show the sun shining as Stagg is adamantly stressing how poor the weather will be when it matters. And to top it off, there are some good supporting performances from Fraser, as well as Kerry Condon as Eisenhower’s aide, and Damian Lewis as British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. And that’s what I know about Pressure.

Rating: Don’t ask for any money back and, like always with these movies, go read more about history.

“F1® The Movie” - Wonderboy.

You’re probably going to see a bunch of reviews describing F1® The Movie as predictable and formulaic. Many will call it predictable, but that’s lazy because sports movies are always predictable. Others will call it formulaic, which is also lazy (all movies are formulaic), but also because they can’t resist bad puns (in case you don’t know, the F in F1 stands for formula). Ironically, F1 is formulaic. I don’t say that because it follows the standard racing movie formula (and it does). I say it because it’s The Natural on wheels.

In F1, young Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was going to be the best there ever was. After showing off a bit, he suffers a near-fatal life-changing injury. For a couple of decades after that, he disappears, occasionally racing in random places, and finally gets another shot at the biggest stage in racing - the F1 circuit with the APX team. Once there, he has to contend with the resident and younger star Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). As the season progresses, Hayes wins over the fans and the racing team, while also having to contend with a meddlesome journalist. In addition, one of the team’s owners wants to force another owner, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to sell his stake (as long as they don’t win a race, the sale will happen). Near the end and riding high, Hayes suffers another injury that looks like his permanent end but grits his teeth and performs in the final race. Sound familiar? Would you be surprised at all if it were revealed Hayes scratched a lightning bolt on the side of his car and named it Wonderboy?

Before you scream SPOILERS!! at me, I did warn you in the first paragraph. And unless you’ve never seen a sports movie, don’t act surprised. Sports movies are always about underdogs. They always feature someone being redeemed. They always feature some form of rival. And they nearly always end with the underdog winning unless it’s Rocky Balboa’s first title fight or the Mystery, Alaska hockey team playing the New York Rangers. And even in those cases, they still won while losing. People generally don’t like that there was no joy in Mudville. So don’t pretend there’s a chance F1 ends with Hayes and/or Pearce dying in a fiery crash and Ruben forced out and bankrupt.

Besides, there are plenty of good things about this movie that provide reason to watch. Obviously, one is Brad Pitt. He’s very easy on the eyes, confirmed by Pearce’s mother (Sarah Niles) when she first lays eyes on a large poster of Hayes and mildly grosses out her son with her comments. But Pitt can also be relied on to always deliver a good, if not great, performance. Some might complain that Pitt always just plays himself, to which I reply - yeah, exactly. Isn’t that like complaining about pizza always being pizza?

You know who else is really easy on the eyes and gives a great performance? Damson Idris. Pearce is cocky, arrogant, entitled, and wildly talented. He’s essentially younger Hayes, which is another staple of sports movies like this, including...wait for it...The Natural. Idris delivers a performance that nails all of those character traits, then nails Pearce’s character growth through Pearce’s very strong story arc. It’s so well done you’ll go from wanting someone on the pit crew to hit him with a wrench to kinda, sorta rooting for him to win the last race. Don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler. Hayes and Pearce both participate in the races and only one of them has to win to save Ruben’s ownership. You’ll be rooting for both of them in the end, I promise.

You know who else is really easy on the eyes and gives a great performance? Kerry Condon. She plays Kate McKenna, a former aerospace engineer and the team’s technical director. McKenna is the brains behind the team and the design of the car. She’s also the love interest, but the screenplay doesn’t turn her into the wide-eyed damsel pining for Hayes. Perhaps the best scene of the film features McKenna expertly handling her two head-butting drivers in a friendly game of poker to determine which driver gets to be the primary driver in an upcoming race. It’s the kind of scene and performance that confirms why she was nominated for an Academy Award (The Banshees of Inisherin).

You know who else is really easy on the eyes and gives a great performance? Just kidding, I’ll stop now. And, yes, Javier Bardem gives a great performance; not sure about the other part. Sorry Javy, you’re no Brad Pitt.

Actually, you know what else is easy on the eyes and performs great? All of the racing stuff and not just the racing scenes themselves (which are really cool). While the story is completely fictional, the filmmakers went to great lengths to showcase much of what goes into an F1 racing team. The technology alone is staggering for what seems like such a simple sport - to drive a car really fast. From wind tunnels, to racing simulators, to an operations room and team that looks like it’s going to launch rockets to the moon, to the various components of the cars, it’s mind-boggling to realize it’s all done to gain a few seconds of time. And for the low, low cost of a $50-$150 million dollars per year.

F1 does all the right things. Not only does it check all the boxes of a good summer blockbuster - good action, beautiful people, excellent visual effects. It checks all the boxes of movies that you’ll watch multiple times - good storytelling, well-developed characters, smart dialogue, and excellent performances. I knew next to nothing about F1 before this film and now I’m far more interested in the entirety of it.

Rating: Ask for the low, low cost of zero dollars back.

“Night Swim” - Swim at your own risk.

In my annual year-in-review piece, I highlighted how many horror movies were released just in 2023 (more than eighty). As if the movie gods were listening, my first screening of 2024 was a horror movie - Night Swim. Marketed as “from the producers of M3GAN,” Night Swim follows in M3GAN’s lazy footsteps, provides a couple of jump scare moments, but mostly disappoints. Much of this has to do with Night Swim’s premise - a haunted swimming pool - and that it is based on a four-minute short of the same name, but much more has to do with the setup of a bunch of story elements that never pay off. Watching Night Swim was like finding your honey-do list weeks later and realizing how much of it remains incomplete.

·         Cast the Waller family. Dad - Ray. Mom - Eve. Teenage daughter - Izzy. Ten-year-old son - Elliot.

o   DONE. We got Wyatt Russell and scored Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon from that movie Banshees of Inception, or whatever (I didn’t see it). Amelie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren to play the kids.

·         Start the movie in 1992 (explicitly print 1992 on the screen) with a little girl (Rebecca) vanishing in the pool one night. Do not forget to explicitly print the year when the Wallers are introduced. The look of some of the scenes can definitely confuse the audience as to what year it is for the Wallers.

o   DONE. Did the opening scene and it’s great. That toy boat of her brother’s is the perfect way to get her into the pool at night.

·         Ray is a former major league baseball player who had to retire because he has multiple sclerosis. The pool is going to slowly heal him after he starts swimming at night and regain his baseball prowess. This is also how he becomes addicted to the pool.

o   DONE. We have a scene with his doctor telling him about different therapy options. He finds a baseball floating in the pool. We show him swimming in the pool. We have a scene at his son’s baseball practice where Ray takes a few swings at pitches thrown by the head coach.

·         When the Wallers are cleaning the pool after moving into the house, include a pool technician who talks about the natural spring in the area and its supposed healing properties. He is the source of information about the history of the pool. Do the initial scene, then a second-act scene where he tells Ray the rest of the legend - that a sacrifice is required to make the healing permanent.

o   DONE. Love how the initial scene with the pool tech worked out. He’s a little funny and definitely comes off as knowing more than he is saying.

·         The pool is going to use Rebecca as bait for the Wallers.

o   DONE. We did a scene where Elliot hears Rebecca’s voice coming from the pool filter (that little rectangle on the side of the pool at water level). This scene is very Pennywise.

·         Do scenes where Eve and Izzy dive to the bottom of the pool and end up seeing the pool surface from really far away.

o   DONE. Both scenes turn out visually great.

·         Bring back the boat at least two more times. Use it to signify the little girl and her brother. It would be creepy if any of the Wallers found it.

·         REALLY IMPORTANT!!! - Nothing sinister can happen during the day. The movie is called Night Swim. (The pool party scene should be an evening barbecue.)

·         Make sure the batting practice scene shows how much Ray has benefited from the pool. If he is healing, it would be counterproductive if he badly missed two pitches, then crushed the third pitch into the lights like he’s Roy Hobbs.

·         REALLY IMPORTANT!!! - Nothing sinister can happen outside of the pool or pool deck. The movie is called Night Swim. (Delete the scenes with the drinking glass magically being pushed off the kitchen counter or the television magically turning on. If that can happen, there is no reason the pool can’t just drag victims into it.)

·         Ray needs to be become obsessed with the pool. (Haha - my wife thought I said possessed.)

·         My wife just asked me what happens if they don’t sacrifice anything. That’s a really good question.

·         REALLY IMPORTANT!!! - Do not make Rebecca a deus ex machina. It would negate pretty much everything we’ve seen and been told about the pool.

·         REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!!! - This is a horror movie. If the audience members are laughing, we’ve failed.

Rating: Your to-do list is just one item - ask for eighteen dollars back.