In-Review: July 2025
A review of F1 The Movie, your home video releases for July, and more
Before the big three of July launch (Fantastic Four, Jurassic World Rebirth, Superman), there was some room for motorsports to topple the box office. After a run of box office disappointments, Apple’s theatrical team was in dire need of a hit. They’ve gotten that with the Brad Pitt-led F1 The Movie. Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) has traded in airplanes for cars, as his latest is a big-screen achievement. While I’d argue that it’s more about pure adrenaline than a great movie, there’s still plenty here to get up and cheer about.
Brad Pitt is Sonny Hayes, “the greatest that never was,” a driver who enters random competitions just for the thrill of the ride. Having won at Daytona, he’s approached by his long-time friend and former teammate, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), about driving in Formula 1. Not one to turn down an opportunity for money and the thrill of competition, Hayes quickly joins the team. Not only does he have to prove that he’s still a qualified driver, he also has to compete with the rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who doesn’t want to lose his spot on the team. Throw in a romance with Kerry Condon (who looks like Rebecca Ferguson in this movie) and you have the bones of F1 The Movie.
Most of the drama is the window dressing to why audiences are seated for F1 The Movie, the car races.
Now I could sit here and try to explain how visceral they are, but it wouldn’t do me any good. You are in the seat of these Formula 1 cars, with the soundtrack from Hans Zimmer booming out of the speakers, and fireworks going off. It’s incredible stuff. Most of the movie becomes a rock concert with these intense races. It’s really an experience, and honestly, I don’t know if the movie would work as well at home— F1 The Movie has been made with the theatrical experience being the most important.
Is F1 The Movie everything I wanted from a Formula 1 movie? I still contend that the documentary Senna is the best representation of Formula 1on screen, but F1 The Movie is a whole lot of fun when it’s in car racing mode. If you have any interest at all in this movie, I’d implore you to go to the theaters. I can’t imagine it being the same at home. [B-]
F1 The Movie is now playing in theaters.
Here are the movies I caught up with in June:
As always, if you’d like to follow along on Letterboxd, my account can be found here.
Podcast
🎙️If you missed episode 196, Evan Crean and I were joined by Boston Globe Film Critic Odie Henderson to talk about Jaws in honor of its 50th birthday.
Home Video
One of the best-reviewed films of the year, Sinners, is coming to 4K UHD and Blu-ray on July 8th. This is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated releases of 2025 as the 4K disc comes with a Dolby Vision/HDR presentation of the film, and the audio comes in Dolby Atmos. There was some box office concern when launching the R-rated Ryan Coogler vampire film, but that fear was unfounded. Coogler delivered a brilliant movie that not only performed well, but audiences flocked to the theater to see it in multiple formats. Deadline was discussing the movie the other day, declaring it the only sure-fire Best Picture nominee that premiered in the first six months of 2025. If you haven’t seen it, now is your opportunity to see one of the best pictures of the year.
July is usually a huge month for the Criterion Collection. Some of their highest-profile titles release during this time to coincide with the Barnes & Noble 50% off sale. Perhaps none are bigger than Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. This release marks the first time that the title will be available in 4K UHD with Dolby Vision. While I’ve never been as high on Barry Lyndon as some of my contemporaries, there’s no questioning its stunning cinematography— every scene looks exactly like a painting. While there are plenty of arguments about modern film showing off the best of the 4K UHD format, there are some gems in the back catalog. Barry Lyndon might compete with the very best-looking films on the format.
Miscellaneous
The first trailer for The Running Man came out. This is the Edgar Wright-directed film with Glen Powell in the lead. Normally I don’t share trailers, but I was just thrilled by this one and wanted to share it.
The New York Times posted a list of the top 100 movies of the last 25 years. While the list is behind a paywall, Letterboxd users have made lists of the results, and I have them here. I can’t argue too much with a list that has Parasite, Mulholland Drive, There Will Be Blood, In the Mood for Love, and Moonlight in the top 5.
If you missed the news, Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Dune) will be the next director of James Bond. Following his work on the 3rd Dune movie, Dune Messiah, he will start production on the Bond film with Amazon. While there hasn’t been a new Bond selected, there have been some names thrown about. This will be the first Bond movie since Amazon paid off longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson with a $1 billion deal.
Pixar’s latest movie, Elio, is a certified flop for the studio. The biggest problem with the marketing for the movie is that it didn’t seem like a movie about, well, anything. There’s a reason for that! Apparently, Pixar cut significant queer representation from the film and after a series of rewrites and a director change, Elio didn’t have much left.
The Bear season four premiered on Hulu/Disney+ last week. It got better reviews than season three (I’ve seen the first four episodes), and now comes word that it’s been renewed for a fifth season. The third and (final?) season of Squid Game also debuted on Netflix. Again, this season seems to have performed better than the second season, but a late cameo appearance suggests that Squid Game isn’t done yet. This link is to an interview with the Squid Game creator and shouldn’t be read until you’ve finished the season.
I’ve covered the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) a few times, and for their 50th anniversary, they’ve started to share some of their slate. That Shelf has the news that films by Steven Soderbergh, Alejandro Amenábar, Sung-hyun Byun, Nia DaCosta, and Chandler Levack will be shown in the Special Presentations program. There are many more films to come, and I’ll be making a list of Fall Festival anticipated films as we get further into the summer.