UPDATE (March 15, 2026, 10:35 p.m. ET): In a crowded field, “One Battle After Another” won best picture of the year, beating out fan-favorite “Sinners” to take home the night’s biggest award. “F1” is a perfectly fine, entertaining, disposable, summer, theatrical spectacle, popcorn flick. The blockbuster film, starring Brad Pitt, is the highest-grossing of the 62-year-old Oscar-winning actor’s career, and he plays a character competing at the highest levels of motorsport, where the average age of professional drivers is somewhere between 27 and 29. It is a silly, breezy and wildly successful movie. The kind of flick that puts bottoms in the seats at a time when fewer people are going to see movies in the theater.It is also an Academy Award nominee for best picture — and that is just ridiculous. The character development is kiddie pool-level deep, the dialogue is as wooden as any “Star Wars” movie and the satisfying conclusion never feels really in doubt. Just as the actual stars of “Top Gun” are fighter jets, racecars do much of the entertainment-lifting of “F1.” It’s standard Hollywood blockbuster fare, executed very well.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a movie geek who appreciates both the high and the lowbrow. I’m as averse to the academy’s historic snobbery against fun as anyone — but come on guys, “F1”? Just as the actual stars of “Top Gun” are fighter jets, racecars do much of the entertainment-lifting of “F1.” For much of the Oscars’ history, best picture nominees have been limited to…

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UPDATE (March 15, 2026, 10:35 p.m. ET): In a crowded field, “One Battle After Another” won best picture of the year, beating out fan-favorite “Sinners” to take home the night’s biggest award. “F1” is a perfectly fine, entertaining, disposable, summer, theatrical spectacle, popcorn flick. The blockbuster film, starring Brad Pitt, is the highest-grossing of the 62-year-old Oscar-winning actor’s career, and he plays a character competing at the highest levels of motorsport, where the average age of professional drivers is somewhere between 27 and 29. It is a silly, breezy and wildly successful movie. The kind of flick that puts bottoms in the seats at a time when fewer people are going to see movies in the theater.It is also an Academy Award nominee for best picture — and that is just ridiculous. The character development is kiddie pool-level deep, the dialogue is as wooden as any “Star Wars” movie and the satisfying conclusion never feels really in doubt. Just as the actual stars of “Top Gun” are fighter jets, racecars do much of the entertainment-lifting of “F1.” It’s standard Hollywood blockbuster fare, executed very well.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a movie geek who appreciates both the high and the lowbrow. I’m as averse to the academy’s historic snobbery against fun as anyone — but come on guys, “F1”? Just as the actual stars of “Top Gun” are fighter jets, racecars do much of the entertainment-lifting of “F1.” For much of the Oscars’ history, best picture nominees have been limited to…

Continue reading →