The Screen Critic: A great racing-car film, more Jurassic dinosaurs, a French romcom for seniors and an eye-opening profile on Joh

Thundering through every cinema on Earth right now is F1: The Movie – also known as F1, just in case you’re in a hurry – a racing car picture designed to please everyone with its thrilling on-track action and familiar off-track melodrama.

And having enjoyed a record-breaking opening weekend ($US144m, plus change) it seems to be doing its job.

Extremely entertaining, beautifully shot for the big screen and best described as a formula film about Formula One, we follow the tale of professional driver and loner Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt).

Once a big shot on the circuit, Sonny is seduced back to the big time by former chum Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) who wants him to help rebuild his flailing racing team and educate a young, hot-headed driver Joshua (Damson Idris).

With Pitt in his trademark super-cool mode, the film serves up an exciting and fun big-scale spectacle as Old School collides with New School as often as the racing cars do in what is essentially a highly polished, old-fashioned underdog story with a neat redemption tale blended in for good measure.

At 156 minutes F1 is certainly a long sit, but rest assured the thing is so sleek and swiftly paced you won’t think to consult your timepiece.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Jurassic World: Rebirth, a passable but far-from-compelling and wholly unnecessary add-on to the 32-year-old dinosaur-movie franchise that began all those aeons ago in 1993 with Jurassic Park.

With the world now done with dinosaurs, a small team head off on an expedition to extract tissue samples from these prehistoric beasts so life-saving, cancer-curing, highly lucrative medicines can be developed.

Headed by a somewhat miscast Scarlett Johansson (why does she look so uncomfortable?), things promptly go haywire with various critters trying to chow down on our heroes, even though one T-Rex looks rather half-hearted. (Perhaps it already ate before shooting the scene.)

There are story holes all over the place, the characters are wafer-thin and the action takes almost an hour to actually get going.

Still, as a big, silly B-grade adventure it’s a good enough time killer sporting with a very nifty array of visual effects.

Those who loved the 2022 surprise smash M3gan about the killer robot doll will adore M3gan 2.0, a proficient, swiftly made sequel that turns down the horror and turns up the humour.

Having killed lots of humans the first time around, M3gan has somehow grown a conscience and is now intent on making up for her misdeeds by helping track down and neutralise Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), another killer robot who’s gone rogue and wants to break things, including human civilisation.

The action is very well-staged and the message about the perils of unfettered AI is well taken. The film’s big draw, though, is its brash levity, bringing real charm to this latest addition to the crazy-doll genre.

Once again, the French have slipped us a lovely little arthouse film amidst all these Hollywood blockbusters.

Riviera Revenge tells of Francois and Annie (Andre Dussollier & Sabine Azema), a long-married couple whose very contented retirement is derailed when one discovers the other had an affair – 40 years earlier.

With a feather-light touch, the film plays with the idea of letting things go and whether old transgressions and passions truly dim with the passage of time.

With a lovely array of comic performances, the film is a mature-aged delight that was huge in France, a country that enviably loves its home cinema.

A very fine documentary, Joh – Last King of Queensland presents a portrait of the legendary, scandal-ridden state premier whose reign oversaw police corruption, gross abuses of power and the notion that Queensland and Australia were two different countries.

Directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog; Danger Close; The Correspondent), we are taken through the milestones of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s stormy public and conservative private life – both bumpy journeys indeed, sporadically illuminated by actor Richard Roxburgh who does a stunning job as Joh, delivering his thoughts and words to an empty theatre.

The film does stumble towards the end as it attempts to draw parallels between Joh and US President Donald Trump. The comparison doesn’t hold up.

For if Joh has a White House counterpart it is surely Richard Nixon.

Both were conviction politicians who believed in the sanctity of their office, the adamantine nature of their power and that they never did anything wrong, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.

Top stuff. Catch it on Stan.

For more visit jimschembri.com with updates on X at @jimschembri