Criticker Newsletter - 30 Jun 2025
Published 30 Jun 2025

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Movie News

This weekend's biggest release puts Brad Pitt in the driver's seat, in F1: The Movie. Formula 1 is experiencing something of a cultural moment, with Netflix's popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive now in its seventh season, and the sport's exotic locales attracting an entirely new fanbase.


Behind the Scenes on Set of F1: The Movie - Image Credit: Warner Bros.

A big part of the reason for F1's burgeoning popularity is its charismatic young stars, from Max Verstappen to Lando Norris. The average age of an F1 driver is 27 to 28, with some even being under twenty. The oldest driver to ever compete was Luigi Fagioli, who was 53 when he won 1951's French Gran Prix. So, the decision to cast 61-year-old Brad Pitt as the star of a sport that's currently revelling in youth is curious, to say the least. But it's not as though Hollywood has any problem with casting older actors in roles that don't make a lot of sense...

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick
At 59, Cruise returned as a Navy pilot, a role that in real life typically maxes out in the late 30s to early 40s.
Stockard Channing in Grease
Famously played high schooler Rizzo at 33 years old, though we have to admit it's hard to imagine an 18-year-old ingénue capturing the complexities of the role so perfectly.
Sylvester Stallone in Rambo: Last Blood
At 73 years of age, it strains credulity that ole' Boomer Stallone could single-handedly wipe out a Mexican cartel. Then again, we wouldn't mess with him.
Still cracking whips and throwing punches at 80 years of age, Ford's turn as a globe-trotting adventurer well past retirement age was painful to watch, despite the de-aging technology the film employed.

Why does Hollywood do this? Is it because, despite their age, these well-known stars are more bankable than younger actors? Or is it because producers and older audiences enjoy projecting themselves onto aging stars, imagining themselves still swinging into action at 70 years of age? Or is it just because franchises themselves are aging, and we can't let go of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, or Harrsion Ford as Indiana Jones? Most likely, it's a mix of all of the above.

Collections You Might Want to Check Out

i never drink wine🍷♱🧛🏻‍♀️
Created on 13 Jun 2025 by hermitriget
Includes Howl's Moving Castle, Charlotte's Web, Elf, and A Little Princess
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Includes The American Astronaut, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Vast of Night
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Includes Syndromes and a Century, Certified Copy, Ratatouille, and Holy Motors
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Philosophical films that deal with human existence and speak to the human condition, films where characters face an existential crisis,... ultimately making you reflect upon your own life.
Created on 10 Jul 2009 by frederic_g54

Recent Mini-Reviews Getting Love

2 Stars for BeeDub's review of Brahms: The Boy II
Starts with an awful retcon and only gets worse from there. This is probably what some coked-up studio executive wanted the first movie to be.
2 Stars for Scholar69420's review of Materialists
This film has a single message: simp long and hard enough after the breakup and she’ll eventually realise what a great guy you’ve always been.
2 Stars for brell's review of Reservoir Dogs
this movie is at least as gay as everyone says top gun is, a subtextual gayness which forms a surprisingly solid emotional core to a bunch of awful people violently fucking things up
WAIT wes anderson made this film???
2 Stars for JakeAesthete's review of Vulcanizadora
Beavis and Butthead meets Beckett meets Bresson. Godsmack needledrop had me lol'ing.

Trending Titles at Criticker

Here are the top 10 films at Criticker this month, in order of number of new ratings:

1.
Sinners Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
2.
The Phoenician Scheme The story of a family and a family business.
3.
28 Years Later A group of survivors of the rage virus lives on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.
4.
Final Destination: Bloodlines Plagued by a recurring violent nightmare, a college student returns home to find the one person who can break the cycle and save her family from the horrific fate that inevitably awaits them.
5.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt’s past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever. (Letterboxd)
6.
Mickey 17 Set in the year 2054, 'Mickey 17' follows a man who joins a space colony as an "Expendable", a disposable worker who gets cloned every time he dies. (wikipedia.org)
7.
Predator: Killer of Killers Three of the fiercest warriors in human history become prey to the ultimate killer of killers.
8.
The Accountant 2 When her former boss is killed by unknown assassins, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is forced to contact Christian Wolff (Affleck) to solve the murder. With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax (Jon Bernthal), Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle. As they get closer to the truth, the trio draw the attention of some of the most ruthless killers alive — all intent on putting a stop to their investigation.
9.
Ballerina A young female assassin seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.
10.
Mountainhead Four friends reunite during worldwide economic turmoil.

Check out even more trending titles at Criticker!