Baldywood: "F1": "F No" or "F Yeah"? // "What Should I Stream Tonight?" // "Reddit? Did It!" // Actor Redundancy of the Week // Reader feedback

"Remember, his taste sucks..."

Jun 27, 2025

Hello! And welcome to the Baldywood Newsletter. As I mentioned in the last edition of the newsletter, I saw both new releases last week: the zombie horror sequel 28 Years Later and Pixar’s Elio. I’m happy to report that both are good! “Elio” is a mid-tier Pixar movie, which is still pretty good, and “28 Years Later” is a bloody good time, with a surprising amount of heart. If you’re not super-motivated to sun out and see them in the theater, you can wait to stream them - both are solid watch-at-home watches.

On to this week’s newsletter…

In this edition:

A review of “F1”
“What should I stream tonight?”
“Reddit? Did it!”
Actor Redundancy of the Week
Reader feedback

Let’s get started!

“F1”: F Yeah!

I’ll admit, I know very little about Formula One racing. Thankfully, “F1” is made for people with my level of knowledge. That’s not to say it’s inauthentic; to my uneducated eye, it seemed totally convincing, from a racing aspect anyway. I’m sure there are more than a few Easter eggs, in-jokes and knowing references for racing fans, but for the purposes of this review, it’s coming from a F1 n00b.

The film, starring Brad Pitt, is a real crowd-pleaser; sort of a sports version of “Top Gun: Maverick” (same director, too). The plot ironically offers very few twists and turns. Pitt plays a grizzled racing veteran who ends up on a struggling Formula One team with a young, brash driver. You’re not going to believe this, but the two don’t get along at first. Even more shocking: the pair eventually [SPOILER] forge a grudging yet hard-earned respect.

But let’s be honest: No sane person is showing up here for the story. You’re there for thrilling racing footage, and the movie knows it. And boy, does it deliver. Close to half the 2:25 runtime is spent on the track or behind a steering wheel, and many of the shots are impressive. The year is only half over, but I’d be shocked if “F1” wasn’t nominated for a number of Oscars, including Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound.

“F1” isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s fun, loud and crowd-pleasing. If it ends up being the kind of movie that gets people - people who don’t often go the theater - out to see it on the big screen, I’m all for it.

“What should I stream tonight?”

I’m glad you asked!

I want a wild and fun British thrill ride: “Attack the Block”

“Attack the Block” is a movie that shouldn’t work, but it does. The story: One night, a group of troublemaking British teens is out making trouble when an asteroid lands nearby. Inside the asteroid is a ferocious alien creature that they manage to kill. They bring the dead body back to their “block” (what we in America might call “the projects”) when more meteorites start to fall, bringing more ferocious alien creatures. An alien invasion ensues, and the teens must do battle with the creatures.

It sounds silly, but “Attack the Block” is the best kind of silly: fun, irreverent and brisk (just 88 minutes!). Starring a young John Boyega (Finn from “Star Wars”), it’s a solid mix of old-school horror and modern tongue-in-cheek humor. The creatures are ridiculous, but that’s part of the movie’s charm. “Attack the Block” is rated R, but it’s a fun R. Mature teens should love it.

“Attack the Block” is streaming on Hulu. Not a subscriber? Rent it here on Amazon Prime.

I want an inventive, fun take on zombie movies: “One Cut of the Dead”

In honor of “28 Days Later,” we listed our “Top 5 Zombie Movies” on this week’s episode of my movie show, The Film Vault. Topping my list was 2017’s “One Cut of the Dead,” a Japanese film that took me completely by surprise - in the best way. I normally summarize the plot of the movies I recommend, but “One Cut of the Dead” really benefits from the viewer knowing nothing going into it, so I’ll simply say it involves Zombies, and it’s very, very fun.

“One Cut of the Dead” is a prime example of nagamawashi, a genre of typically-low-budget single-shot Japanese films. “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” recommended here just a few weeks ago, is another example that I also highly recommend. It’s unrated, but my recollection puts it at about a PG-13. There’s buckets of blood, but it’s comically over-the-top and intentionally cheap-looking, so enjoy digging into this one.

“One Cut of the Dead” is streaming on AMC+ and Shudder. Not a subscriber? Rent it here on Amazon Prime.

I want a movie for my partner (who likes true crime) and me (who likes weird stories): “Tickled”

“Tickled” is weird. And funny. And creepy. But mostly weird. It follows New Zealand journalist David Farrier as he investigates the bizarre and seedy underground world of competitive endurance tickling. Yes, you read that right. Farrier happens upon an online video of a young, shirtless man being tied up and, yes, tickled, and he decides to dig a little deeper.

I won’t spoil what happens next, but let’s just say things get… well, weird. Weirder, anyway. There’s someone behind these videos who really doesn’t want to be exposed, and it turns out this person is very vindictive, too. It’s rated R, probably for language and some quasi-sexual material. I wouldn’t recommend it for (most) date nights, but it’s a compelling watch, and it won’t be easily forgotten.

“Tickled” is streaming on Netflix until July 9. After that, you can rent it here on Amazon Prime.

“Reddit? Did it!”

I love to browse movie forums on Reddit. Recently, a topic was posted to r/Movies that asked, “What non-dance movies have the most memorable dance scenes?” What a bizarrely specific question! What show would bother covering such a niche topic? Well, we did on my podcast The Film Vault in 2022, in an episode titled “Top 5 Dance Scenes from Non-Musicals.” My list:

"Get Down Saturday Night" (Oliver Cheatham) - Ex Machina
"You're Makin' My Dreams Come True" (Hall and Oates) - 500 Days of Summer
"All These Things That I've Done" (The Killers) - Southland Tales
"Low" (Flo-Rida) - Tropic Thunder
"Rock n' Roll (Pt 2)" (Gary Glitter) - Joker

Honorable mentions:

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (“Tequilla”)
The Full Monty ("Rock n' Roll (Pt 2)")
The Silence of the Lambs (“Goodbye Horses”)
Airplane ("Stayin' Alive")
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion ("Time After Time")
Transformers ("Dare to be Stupid")

What’s YOUR favorite dance scene in a non-musical?

Actor Redundancy of the Week:

Actor redundancies were first brought to my attention by my former co-worker and all-around swell fella Dave Dameshek, who delighted whenever an actor does the same oddly-specific thing in two separate, non-related movies. Such as…

Clancy Brown plays a prison guard in two movies where the lead character is wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder: “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Hurricane”

“The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Hurricane”

Reader feedback

Did you know that “feedback” is the only (normal) word in the English language that contains the first six letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d, e and f)? Now that you know, let’s see what the readers have to say!

Reader Florence writes in with this doozy of an Actor Redundancy:

I was watching 28 Weeks Later to prepare for 28 Years Later, and I stumbled upon the best actor redundancy of all time.

Jeremy Renner as a Sniper

1. The Hurt Locker. His character is a bomb disposal expert, but he is also depicted as a skilled marksman and engaged in sniper battles.
2. 28 Weeks Later. He is a sniper on the roof of a building in the government’s ‘safe area’.
3. SWAT (2003). He is a SWAT team member.
4. The Bourne Legacy. He plays an operative who uses a sniper rifle.
5. Avengers/Marvel Universe. He is Hawkeye-sniper with a bow and arrow.
6. Wind River. He plays a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service agent who is also a tracker and hunter. There are scenes where he uses a rifle with a telescopic sight, suggesting sniper skills.

Can you believe that? I was floored when it hit me.

WOW. Now THAT is some deep digging, I LOVE when you guys send me the actor redundancies that you’ve noticed.

Hooray for Baldywood!

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