Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 0:05

Hey, I'm Richard Ponder, the Real Critic and this is The Real Critics Network. I am here with my co-host Kathia Woods, and I have so much to ask you about, but first I'll just say Welcome. How you doing?

0:18

Good, good. How are you? A little tired, but good. How are you?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 0:21

I'm doing good. So the first thing is I was in Philadelphia. I. I went to the Nike store. I looked around the Nike store, and I did not see or find anybody that looked like you at the store. So I'm very upset.

0:41

It's okay. She, I think she left before you got there that day.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 0:48

My daughter said, daddy, you are going to go look for a young lady that you have never met before and say hi. I said, yes, I am. I'm gonna go say hi to Katya's daughter. She said, that's so weird that,

Kathia Woods: 1:01

and Ka would've taken great care of you.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 1:03

She said, that's so weird, dad I don't know. I don't know if we should be doing that. So she did not feel a hundred percent comfortable. It was are you really gonna do that? I said yes. If she, if we're in the same building, I'm gonna Yeah,

Kathia Woods: 1:17

you literally go down. You went for the screening, you went for a screening, you go down the escalator and you walk over. Yeah,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 1:23

I was definitely going to go over there and say hi. So anyway, I missed her. Sorry. Sorry that I missed her. My next thing is that based on your recommendation, I had to choose what movie to go see. Okay, it was either 28 days later or Elio, and based on what you told me,'cause you know that I'm a scary cat, I think you got a wound on your leg from the last time we were in a scary movie. After I scratched you and everything, I went to see Lio. That's all I'm gonna say, and we'll talk about that a little later, but I did not go see 28 days later. That's been my I did. I was in New Jersey for my nephew's graduation from high school. William graduated and he actually had a speaking role, so it was so great to go and hang out with family and see him. He is gonna be going to Howard, so. I'm already spending days in dc This is just gonna make me spend more days in DC to go see how he's doing and watch all the Howard people, the real, I guess that's the real u

2:38

Well, and the Hampton people say that they're the real you, so they got that back and forth. You know what, I don't have a dog in a race. I'm like, if you love it, I love it. For you.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 2:49

It's, it is really funny because our goddaughters are front. Hampton, so this whole, which one is the real age? U is a real issue in our family, so

Kathia Woods: 3:01

Oh, wow.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 3:03

That's what we, oh, I know

Kathia Woods: 3:04

it. It's easier to get to Howard than it is to Hampton. It takes a minute to get to Hampton.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 3:09

Yeah. It is easier to get to Howard for sure. Here are the things I want to talk to you about. The first one is someone had a birthday. I need to know what happened. Where was the, where the party at? What'd they say? Where the party at? I need to know what happened on the birthday.

3:29

So I had a birthday. Your girl is double Nichols. I'm 55.

Kathia Woods: 3:34

I was in New York for F1, so I had a day off. I used that day off to go to see Gypsy. Sadly, Audra was not performing in the matinee, but it was okay. A lot of people left, but I stayed. The understudy did a great job. I still came to see Joy Woods, you know, everybody in the cast was fantastic. I got to move up. 81, 80$1 ticket grew into$150 ticket because I said, if you wanna move up, you can move up. And I said, say less. And I had myself a fabulous time, like absolutely fabulous time. The show is great, although there were some people, I guess they've never seen Gypsy that couldn't understand. Why the girl was singing in the way that she was singing The Young Girl June, why she was singing. I'm like, hello? Did you miss the premise of the show? And why she kept having her in that horrible wig and kept telling everybody she was nine when she really was like 13, 14. Also, why June was such a stage mom. And then, later on, when she and. The other daughter fall apart. So, you know, she does that song and she's sounding very anguished, because she just feels like she keeps pouring to everybody and nobody ever appreciates her. You know what I mean? When in reality she, the problem, she's not the victim. And her daughter was like, well, since you used me. To still have your time and show business, I'm gonna do me. You know what I mean? So basically, but it's a great show and I highly recommend people go see it.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 5:25

I had a great time at it as well of, we were fortunate to see Audra and she was phenomenal. Woo. She put in the work and the play was great. I will tell you that my knees were killing me in the. In this theater. The theater is one of those tight kind of theaters, so my knees were killing me. Kevin wouldn't have liked it. He would've been like, oh my goodness, my legs are hurting. I can't even stretch my legs a little bit. But I had, it's an

Kathia Woods: 5:56

intimate theater. It is an intimate theater. But you know what I think my original seat was at the end, like you have all the way on top and then that, and then you have. The top of, I guess what you would call orchestra. I was in that last row in the last seat that was my original seat before I upgraded myself. But, so I still was good. So I was like on the end to, let's say, even if it was packed, I could've went a little bit to let my legs out. But I had good, I'm short than you, but I had a good. I get had good enough space'cause I also didn't have anybody next to me on my one side. So

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 6:34

that's excellent. We, Donna and I had a fantastic time at the play and it was fabulous. We actually saw three plays. We saw lights out, Nat King Cole.

6:48

How was that?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 6:49

That was great. That was Doula Hill and. He was phenomenal singing, dancing, acting. That's

6:58

off Broadway, right?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 6:59

It was off Broadway. It was at the New York Theater Workshop down there on Second and Bowery, and it was fantastic. Very, very good. I totally would recommend it. Then we went to see Gypsy the next day, and then that same day we went to see Purpose.

7:19

Okay. How was purpose?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 7:21

Loved it. Loved it. It started here in Chicago, so we saw it when it was on script and Okay. And many, most of the actors except two were here in Chicago and we saw it in New York and it was really good. I got a chance to interview Glen Davis. Are you there? Or you had to come back? I,

8:18

okay. We had a, alright, so you were saying you saw it here in Chicago. You got a chance to interview?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 8:25

Yes. I got a chance to interview Glen Davis, the co-artistic director for Steppenwolf.

8:31

Nice. And,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 8:32

and he is in the play as well. It was really good. They. It totally worth everything. And it won two Tony's and won a Pulitzer Prize this year. Won the New York critic circle. It swept so many awards and it was worth watching. So we saw three plays while we were in New York, but back to the birthday. So you saw Gypsy, you had a good time, your seat got upgraded. Where did you eat? What you have come on, talk. Tell me something.

Kathia Woods: 9:02

I I. Stayed at the Park Lane Hotel. So I had a nice Bron zini with fingerling potatoes and a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The hotel was kind enough to send carrot cake to my room, so when I got to my room, there was a slice of carrot cake and and a little bubbly to go with it, you know, so. We had a nice time. Now, the following day I went across the street at one hotel where my friend friends Valerie and Romney Day, who are both black women and black journalists. Valerie used to work. At Deadline and around the day is the TV writer at Variety. Both are really amazing writers and journalists, but most importantly fun women. And we had a good Kiki. We had some drinks and some, we're right there for happy hour.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 9:56

Oh, excellent, excellent. So you had a good birthday and then you went to see F1. Let's not talk about the movie per, per se, but let's just talk about the experience. What. Obviously you interviewed some people. You, you got to be probably on, on five red carpets. Tell me something.

Kathia Woods: 10:13

The screening was a lot of fun. The movie's a lot of fun. I anticipated it to be fun. I got to spend some time with Deon Idris, who is just lovely. He just is lovely, lovely. But overall we had a really, really good time.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 10:27

And you saw that film on what day? I.

Kathia Woods: 10:30

I saw it, I got there on Saturday and I saw it on Saturday.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 10:36

Oh, you saw the film on Saturday. Okay.

Kathia Woods: 10:37

Yeah, I saw it on Saturday. I saw Gypsy on Sunday. But yes, I was me and a couple other media people and New York Media, we all saw it on Friday and then, no Saturday and then some people did interviews on Sunday and I did mine on Monday.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 10:58

How wonderful. Well, excellent. We were in New York during that time, as you know.'cause you sent me a text message saying, I am here in New York. And I think that was Saturday. So we. Missed each other on Saturday because you were really working. But we had a good time. Great. I am glad you had a good time for your birthday. That means that you were close to your stomping ground, Philadelphia. I know people don't understand that New York is close. You can get to Philadelphia pretty quickly. So I know you were pretty close, so excellent, excellent. Let's get to the first segment, which is what's on my mind and. The first thing that's on my mind, and I really want you to talk about this, is Ironheart, and the reason I want you to talk about it, I did not know until my daughter told me, Bobby, that there was a lot of backlash with it being a black superhero and the black young lady. I I didn't know too much about this. Have you heard about this? I.

Kathia Woods: 12:07

Oh yeah, there is a, I'll give you specifics'cause we like to speak it. There is a YouTube channel by the name of hold on. What is their name? Neurotic. Daily. They bombed reviewed this before episodes even dropped or before. Screeners were sent out. Screeners were sent out on six 16 for this. And making all types of racist remark that, that they knew it was going to be black'cause it had hip hop music. They knew it was going to be black because Riri had a stepfather. They knew it was going to be black.'cause the south side of Chicago. And the her best friend Natalie, why didn't they just call her Joanna man? And this. Particular YouTube channel has consistently made racist remarks when there's been characters of color that had racist remarks. When it comes to YouTube, excuse me, blue beetle, that is DC that had Nora had racist remarks for Wakanda forever. It is anytime anything is centering women. And people of color do they get on there and it's, I believe in free speech, but I also feel that it's accountability and I hope that Marvel is looking at that u, these YouTubers and never invites them to anything. I hope that Disney looks at that and never invites them. Also, there were reviews, audience reviews on excuse me, rotten Tomatoes. That had it at 32 percent. And I'm like, how can you review something when the episodes didn't drop until 9:00 PM on Disney Plus? So Rotten Tomatoes had to go in there and scrub it. And I've said it before and I'm saying it again. You need to absolutely have your picture posted. I feel like as critics your picture should be up there. Stand on business if you are gonna trash something. And we've had fellow critics that made racist reviews, right? Stand on business. Let everybody see what you look like. Don't hide behind an avatar or behind anonymous. And same thing on the audience. If you are going to say something racist, Josh from Connecticut or whoever, right? Your face needs to be up there. And it ties in also with another situation that I know you heard about the picture for the Diamondbacks. What happened in, at the White Sox game, there is a fine line. We're being passionate and being a fan and crossing it and people like neurotic and people like that. Gentleman that said, and I'm using gentlemen Lucid'cause we're keeping a family on this channel. Talking about the pictures dead mother, like you are free to say anything and I will fight on that to the death. But you are not free of consequences and when media platforms give platforms and when YouTube does not put a disclosure and say that we do not agree. This is not the community we're building here on YouTube. He's free to make these videos and be racist with these other men. There is something about the MCU and DC comic book space that thinks that only belongs to white people and to men, and this is true. We gotta call them out on it. And it's, you don't, okay. It's different if you watch something, Reggie. Again, I say this as black critics. We are not required to like everything that is made by black people, but if we're gonna critique it, let's critique the work of art. Let's critique. Hey, I didn't like this episode. I think the pacing was too slow. I think the story could have been better developed. I didn't totally believe this actor.'cause they're saying they're supposed to play a villain. I don't feel like they've totally committed. So you have all of these conversations that is about the piece of work. I'm not getting into Anthony Ram's personal life, right? That's none of my business. I'm not getting into Dominique Thorne and trying to ascertain whether she's smart in real life. That's none of my business. That has nothing to do with the program at hand. These six episodes, we're getting these people and they wanna rile everything up. And this is why when I say to people, it's, there's no coming together with that. And they take pride in that and they and they will tell you. Well, I'm not racist, it's just jokes. We have a right to feel that as men we're being erased, right? Everything is fun and games, and unfortunately we live in a time where we've got a lot of people that don't know the fine line between sarcasm, humor, critique and taking it one over

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 16:59

And I just would say, I would say this though. I think that there's not a fine line. I think that there is a real demarcation. These people know where that line is and they are intentionally crossing. It's not a fine line. I think that when, if we are talking about maybe a comedian, maybe sometimes comedians ride that line between being funny and maybe being offensive. So I can see that these folks are not doing that. They are. If you are reviewing a piece of work before you're able to review the piece of work, that's not a fine line. You just say, I'm gonna cross the line. I'm gonna jump on over here and just go all in. So I, I can't, I Good conscience. Give these people the benefit of the doubt, because you haven't even seen the word. You heard something. What you heard was, wow, what you just read. Oh, we knew it was gonna be black, that it was on the south side of Chicago. We knew it was gonna bl be black because he had, she had a stepdad. We knew it was gonna be black because there was qua. Wow. That's not a fine line. That's not bordering on anything that's actually putting up the flag and saying, I am. Bias, racist, and I'm not afraid to show it as long as you don't see my face. That's what I, it's

Kathia Woods: 18:35

it's like, and other thing too is and I'm not one to advocate for violence, but we are at this stage bring back, having to force people to say things in person. Ace is my other thing, right? We're both Gen Xers. We're from the generation. If you can't say it. In person. If you can't stand on business with the same type of vitriol in person that you do online, go in a room full of people and say that ish. Go to Comic-Con, have a panel and go up there and be full flesh racist. Go stand all the way. Say it with your chest, as they used to say, right? Yeah. Stand and be that way. So in case you do get punched in the head, and I'm not advocating for anybody to conduct violence. Then maybe if you squabble with somebody.'cause some people need to learn the hard way. And I'm positive them dudes don't know how to fight. That's why they're on the internet live from the basement, right? These guys never have the same type of energy. I'm like staying on business. Be the same person in person that you are on the internet, because if you can't say that in front of a room full of people. That that somebody might bummer rush you and be like, I'm gonna come see you after the situation, then you are a coward. You are a coward. I say, if you're gonna be racist, right? Don't just be cute racist. Be racist in every facet of your life. Let your neighbors know that you're racist. Pump let your kids. Your kids know that you're a racist punk. So when their, your kids wanna play with someone else's kids, they say, no, Timmy can't come to our house'cause his dad is racist. Let you feel all of the brunt of your racism because that's the part I can't respect you. It's easy to be in these squares when we're sitting in our homes, when there's somebody that, that, that will, that's why I'm saying one thing about comedians, at least. They're standing in front of an audience saying these things, and yes, do I like what every comedian says, but at least I respect the audacity and the courage to be like, I'm a stand on business. That's how I feel. These are the type of jokes I'm gonna play. Say, you don't gotta buy a ticket, you don't gotta agree. That's why I didn't think it's hella corny when people hecka people, if you feel like it's going to south, get up and walk out. You don't have to engage the comedian, you don't have to do anything. Walk out. If you feel like you want your money back, then take that up with the people that run the situation. But we are living in a space where we've got a lot of people that have no courage, liking to run at the mouth. And when they do run into somebody that pushes back. They don't, then they wanna play victim. It's only me and he's so much bigger and he's so much stronger. Well, don't write a check with your mouth that your, you know what can cash.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 21:29

I love that. I love that. Talking about the cash, let's talk a little bit about movies. Let's move into. Some films. There is a film out there that I wanted to see that I have not seen, and that first film that we're gonna talk about is Heads of State. There was a movie called Head of State. Hmm. Who was in that? Oh, Chris Rock. But this is not that. This is a different film, so I didn't get to see it. You got to see it. Tell us. I Idris Elvis's in it. John Sinners in it. Who else?

Kathia Woods: 22:04

Hold on. It's Nick Jonas's wife and I wanna say this correctly, right? Hold on. And'cause I always say her name wrong, but I'll tell you the movie is John Sna. Is. It kind of like imitates life, he is a former action star who ran, as like the people's champ and became a became president of the United States, right? Okay. Idris Alba is the Prime Minister, and he is pull yourself up by the bootstrap. He was in the military special services, and he's the Prime Minister of Britain. They're supposed to be going to G seven. And they're working and they're it just thinks that John Seaman's character Will, is a whole clown show because he's a guy that treats the office being president, like being a movie star. And John Cena thinks of Idris SBOs character Sam Clark, privacy, Sam Clark as being too stuffy. And he doesn't, he's not a man of the people. The other person's doing is Priyanka Chopra. That's who Nick Jonas's wife and Kaino. And it's basically it's, I think it's perfect for streaming. It's coming to Prime video on July the second. It's about these two people that have opposing views. They, are on, air Force One and Air Force one gets taken over and they have to work toge. They survive the crash. They have to work together to stop the threat at the G seven meeting. And it's a lot of, you know, it's a buddy movie. It's a lot of back and forth and I think it's a good Kiki over 4th of July weekend, you're paying for your prime video. Might as well hit play.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 23:43

Might as well hit play.

Kathia Woods: 23:45

Yeah. You're paying for it. You might as well get your money's worth. And again, it's a buddy action funny movie. It's not very deep. It's not trying to change the world. It's just a bunch of jokes with two really handsome movie stars.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 23:58

So instead of being the defiant ones, meaning that they're chained together, but they're still kind of chained together.

Kathia Woods: 24:08

Basically,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 24:09

yes.

Kathia Woods: 24:10

Mm-hmm.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 24:12

I know people talk with all that,

Kathia Woods: 24:13

But again, I think, I love, I think John Cena is, we talk about we all have cringed at these former wrestlers of people like Jake Paul, who, thinks he's on the level of boxing skills as Mike Tyson, right? Especially young. Mike Tyson, not current, Mike Tyson. And and they just wanna be taken, like they, I'm such a world class athlete. And you're like, sit down. You're like a total joke. But, john Cena is somebody who has leaned into his wrestling persona. I think he does these type of slaps that comedy's really, really well. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and it's like an inside joke, because a lot of people made fun of him. Oh, he is a wrestling star and he thinks he's gonna be an actor now and everything, right? Whereas we saw that when he presented best costume at the Academy Award, right? He was in the, it looked like he was nude, but he wasn't nude, but he leaned into it and we all laughed, right? So I think I love what he's done with his career and his transitioning and it's also nice to see Idris not be super, super serious. A lot of stuff that we've seen and has been very buttoned up, on a side note, he's not gonna be in the next James Bond'cause Abra is 50 plus and you know what that is. But I do think that it's a fun Kiki at the house.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 25:30

My question is, you said that if you're already a member, you should pay. You don't have to pay. You should just go ahead and watch it. It's great to hit click. Here's my question. Some of these movies make people want to purchase. That particular streaming service. Okay. Is this one of those movies that you would say, yes, purchase the streaming service because you cannot miss this?

Kathia Woods: 26:00

Not for this, because I think there is there, there's a lot of great content on Prime Video. I think Prime Video gets a bad rap. It gets lost between Hulu and Netflix, but there is a lot of good content if it's bundled in with your Amazon Prime. Absolutely. We, I think we are a little bit too addicted to Amazon Prime. We like that next day delivery and all that, but I still think this is a fun movie. Like people I think a lot of men will like it. The women will get the eye candy and Idris and John. In that way there's a lot to to look at here.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 26:33

Okay. All right. I will talk a little bit about the movie, Elio. You said, Reggie, you are a scary cat.

Kathia Woods: 26:44

Yes.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 26:45

So you should not go see 28 years later.

Kathia Woods: 26:51

Yes, because I know you, because you would've been in there and you would've been like, man, I could've gone see Elio instead of being in here and being my nerves being shot and all of this and ugh, I don't need that in my life. So I said, Frank, go see something fun.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 27:06

I followed your advice and I'm not particularly happy that I followed your advice. This was it scary? No.

27:17

Okay.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 27:18

Yes. Yes. It was scary. Let me tell you why it was scary.

27:22

Tell me, friend.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 27:23

It was scary because of the age of kids in this theater. They were running amuck. Oh, and when I say running amuck, they were running amuck. There were kids hanging on the little bars. They're supposed to separate seats from each other. I could not watch the movie for the fact that the kids were disturbing me. They were all, half of them were not even watching the movie, but the movie is made for them. What is this one about? Elio, who is a space fanatic, he is out there believing wholeheartedly that there is extra terrestrial life out. And he's doing things like going to the beach and drawing out in words, please take me aliens. I'm right here. Come get me. And eventually they actually do take him. They take him, he learns about their world. It's very intelligent. They only take the top of the top. And he has presented himself as a head of state. And they think that he's the head of the United States of United States, and they invite him into their cohort. This journey for LEO ends up where. They find out that he lied, but at the same time there's a foe that he can help them defeat and keep their world, and keep the world as it is. The end question is not the end question. The big question for this film for people is, do I belong? Where do I belong? How do I belong? And it's really about belonging, and I think it's a sweet. Film for young people, and if adults are dragged to this film, this is not one of those films where the animators said, and writers said to themselves, okay, what we're gonna do is we're gonna make sure that there's something here for adults. This is not one of those, this is not one of those. This is a young kid's film, and if you are a young, a parent of a young kid, you just gonna have to grin and bear it. It is not like it's a terrible film, but I'm just saying, you know how sometimes there are jokes that the. That they put in there that the kids won't get, but the adults will. And you know that the writers are thinking, okay, parents and adults will be here too, so let's put something in there for them. This is not that film. This is a young, young kids film. And if you don't have to go as an adult, I will say, please don't, because you will not enjoy not the film. You will not enjoy all those kids. It is running rampant with kids in there. I was so glad, I forgot how long this film is. Oh, it's an hour and 38 minutes. It felt like two hours and 40 minutes. I couldn't wait to get outta there. And again, nothing to do with the movie as much as to do with the clientele. It just wasn't my, my, my clientele and no thank you.

Kathia Woods: 30:42

So it's for little people. It's not for big people, and your job as a big person is to bring the little person and provide the snacks

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 30:51

and provide the snacks. One of the things I do like about films that are a hour and a half is that they do take into account that when you're talking about little kids, that the. Time, an hour and a half might save you from going to the bathroom. There were still parents walking past me like, okay, it is time to go to the bathroom, but don't make a two hour movie for these little, little kids.

31:23

No.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 31:24

So yeah, it is it's a little kid movie. It's well done. All of that. Only go if you're a little kid or you got little kids that you have to take.

31:36

So it's okay for

Kathia Woods: 31:37

the younger people. It's hot, it's been very hot outside. All across the country. You need somewhere cool other than the pool to take him. Then this is the movie.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 31:48

This will be the movie and this it is so great that you set that because this is that time of the year, the when you, because I am. Rotten. We are Rotten Tomato certified. When we go to Rotten Tomatoes and we look at what the critics rated this movie, the critics have rated this 83% and the audience has rated it 91%. So I suspect the parents that went and took their kids, they had a good enough time and they knew that their kids had a great time. So this would absolutely be a film to take your kid to over the week, over the weekend. Now moving on to a movie that we both saw and you already started talking about it. I'm going to go first and the reason I'm gonna go first is because you already seen predisposed to loving this film, and I'm gonna give you what I liked and I'm gonna tell you what I didn't like. What is this one about? Sonny is Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt. Is this a former Formula one top prospect? He's a phenom, but he had his career ended in a tragic accident many, many years later. He is coaxed by Formula One Owner Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier by them to come back to the track to save a franchise. Mentor, a young driver, and Joshua Pierce, played by Damson Idris, and possibly repair Sonny's image. But you know, Sonny doesn't really care about all that. He just likes the thrill of the ride, and he likes doing the things the way he does it. We got Brad Pitt, Demson, Idris Carrie Condon, Tobias Menes, Kim Bina, and Harvey Bardi. What did I like about this? I think Brad Pitt did a good job. I think he plays this guy Sonny, who's interesting, but not a likable character. He's cocky, but he's a bit jarring and weirdly appealing. You actually say, okay. All that stuff that he brings here. Yeah. I kinda I'm a little bit into this guy, but this guy who appears to care about not much reveals, he does care about one thing and that's racing and maybe not winning. I don't know how you like that part because you like to win, but you like the fact that he didn't care about winning. You talk about that later, but surely he likes the thrill of being behind the wheel. And this film really takes you the audience behind the wheel. You're behind the wheel, you're beside the wheel. You get to see the pit crews, the. Driving the mistakes, all the stuff that if you are into Formula One, you're gonna love. And if you don't know much about Formula One, you are gonna that as well. You might say yourself, wow I might want to wanna do that. I think the interaction between Sonny and Joshua's combative, so that sets the, a really nice stage. They're supposed to be teammates, but they're not really teammates until they really try to become teammates. That's fun. All that stuff is happening there. There's also a love relationship that happens, which I wish didn't happen in this film, and I'll tell you why in a second. And I also think that they had a number of sub stories. That was the love story. They had a woman pit crew person trying to approve herself. They had Harvey about them trying to save his franchise. So they had a whole lot of other things happening, but they didn't make it. So overwhelming that it took over the story about the Three Men, which is Sonny Joshua, and Reuben Cervantes. So I, overall, I think it works, but there are two things that bother me. The first is that the writers present Sonny as an enigma, and they sell and it, and they celebrate a bravado that is frequently reserved for whom, Hmm, white males. I know that guy. I saw that guy, and maybe this bravado is needed to be in the sport, but in a way, it really did speak to privilege and opportunity because I was asking myself, I like this film, but I was asking myself, how is this guy who is a danger to his teammates and his competitors, how does he keep getting second chances, third chances, fourth chance, fifth chances, sixth chances, seven chances. How at some point his ability to fail up. Wore thin for me at some point. I'm like, man, he keeps doing the wrong thing, but he keeps getting the right outcome. It was something about his recklessness that had me feeling that he should have been kicked off the team. He should have been kicked out the league. He should have been penalized. Something should have happened, and that would've made a lot of sense, but I don't remember seeing that. Then, as I mentioned a little earlier or a preview, I didn't want them to have this love relationship. And the reason is that Kate was the first technical director for one of these big Formula One racing teams, and I didn't want her to be seduced to serve Sonny's ego and kind of tarnish her credibility her. Her job so to speak. I do think that the writers gave her enough agency that she was able to enter and navigate that relationship with respect and dignity. So I appreciate that, but I would've liked her to be able to show that she could do her thing and just kick it with all that. I think you got. Turbocharged characters. You got some high octane relationships and driving that truly hugs the road. I think F1 is fast fun and I'm not gonna say furious and has a formula that is one to watch. That's what I got my friend.

Kathia Woods: 37:33

Oh, you know, I didn't think you, okay. Well, Brad Pitt's ca okay, this story, let's just get that out of the way. It's a little whimsical, especially Brad Pitt's character. He washed out of F1, which is the top racing circuit in the world. And he's just been pretty much a gun for hire. And so they allow him to, his friend is like, sure, come from the Chitlin circuit and now drive F1. Absolutely preposterous. However I don't know who needs to hear this, but we didn't come for any of that. And I agree with you, the love story between Brad's character and Care's character. We didn't need it. This is a racing movie and it just seems super cliche-ish too, however. I loved all the racing stuff. If you've ever watched F1 been to F1 race, it's the most fun. It, I'm sorry. I know that people try to compare it to indie. It's not the same. It just isn't. It's just, it just isn't. You know what I mean? And this is no shade to anybody, but it's not the same. I love the fact that Damson Inre is in this movie as the second biggest name. The movie opens as Brad, it's Damon's name, and I'm like, let's freaking Goop. His name showed up before Javier's name showed up. And Javier is a whole Oscar. I love the fact that he wasn't seen as the party guy. I'm glad they did not give him the Caucasian girlfriend. Yeah, I said, what I said is they had him be all the stereotypes as a guy that likes to drink and party and just be reckless. No, he's a new breed of, and I think he was cloned after Louis Hamilton, who's one of the executive producer, the seven time World champion, who also makes an appearance in this movie. I think that's cool. They got the drivers to appear in the movie. They filmed it at real F1 races here in the United States. They filmed it in Vegas at that F1 race, which is really cool, right? I love the fact that these guys did two years worth of training before, to look like race car drivers. And I also loved the at damsons storyline. You know what I mean? He's a kid that came from a council home. He lost his father. He's very close to his mother. Also, pause. We did. We see who, who played his mom, Sarah Niles.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 39:49

Yay.

Kathia Woods: 39:53

And she. She not Brad. No. Don't play with me. Don't play. She don't play about her son. And I love also the relationship that Dempson had with his manager, right? Because his man, his manager, wanted him to live that life. That's his

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 40:07

cousin. That was his cousin. That's his cousin. Cousin. And I love that fact that they were doing a family business. Yeah. It was cousin, mom and driver. Yeah. I love that. I love that.

Kathia Woods: 40:20

Me Damson talked about that. We all got that friend, that family member we love. But he'd just be doing a little bit too much. And cousin was doing a little bit too much, cousin Cashman and he needs to know when to put it on and when to take it off, right? And the social media. And I said, I love the relationship that the the mother and son have, where he is rooted in that and also him telling Brad Pitt Hey. I'm not some spoiled bra. I had to work 10 times harder to get here. I don't get, did you think that, our tables were reversed. I would be able to come from like the chicken circuit to now drive F1. You don't understand the battles I had to overcome. To be there. And I'm glad that they did have a scene like that.'cause Brad just, Brad's character, sunny, just thought of him as a spoiled brat that just walked in there and he's if this team doesn't work, I don't get another chance to drive for another team. My career is done. This is my only shot to make it, and you are ruining it. So I do think that part of the movie works, but the part that we came to see is the driving the cinematography. Fantastic. The up close, the inner, like you felt like you were in the race car. You were really like, you have to forget that you wanted these people to place, you wanted these people to win because you felt like you became a far a part of the Apex team. Even though the team don't exist, you want a old girl, Carey, like girl, build the car. We got nothing to lose. We are ready in last, like what's the worst thing that could happen? We might actually place and Javier Barden who, who's trying to do it the right way, and he's trying to he's not dropping the kit. The two things, there are two pivotal moments in the film, but I was like, nah, if they, the black guys world gets cut, we gonna have problems. And I'm glad they didn't go that route.'cause I know you were thinking it too. Now. Come on now. No, no doubt your is here. No doubt your friend is here and then play with us. And I do like that in the end, even though the story is a little fluky, Sonny is the problem. And it's the fact that other people had to be like, Hey, like for us, there is no tomorrow. This is our big shot. We, this is it. Like we don't, we can't be cavalier about it because Carrie's character. Damsons character, the mechanics, even Harvey and Ruben. As Ruben, there is no tomorrow. This is their one and only shot because if this doesn't work, they're done with racing. Whereas Sonny can go back and go, drive a push cart for all he cares. So I think there's a lesson to be learned that understanding that when you're a woman. When you're Latino, when you are black, that your point of entry is different and that you need to not be so cavalier about it. You need to respect that. Absolutely. But again, I think the racing, I think the location they caught the glamor. I. Off F1, which is very glamor like they F1 racism, Monaco, that is not like, you know, it's not, but light and dab bobs, it's gowns and, designer and everything. So I do think that they caught that. And again I thought it was shut out to cinematographer. Again, a shout out to the musical director, and again, I'm glad that Louis Hamilton was one of the producers, executive producers to help. Say, like this is not authentic. Like, no, you're gonna get dragged for this. This is part of it. You know, explaining a little bit because I think some of the stuff was like, why are they doing it? Explaining the rules so that the lame person who doesn't watch F1. So I did a lot of, overall, I really enjoyed this film. If you love summer movies, this is a summer blockbuster movie. You've got your big movie stars, you've got your big action sequences, you got a great soundtrack. All of that is working for it. Yeah, the story a little hokey, but if you can sit through Fast and Furious 1000, this is Oscar material compared to that, so again, I, if you love big cinematic movies, you wanna sit there with popcorn and you wanna go on a joyous ride and escape for two hours and some change. Thank God it's less than three hours. This is the movie for you.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 44:32

I will say a couple things. I think that this is. Surely one to watch, I would go and check it out. I do think that when you walk away from it, you might not feel like that you love the characters, so to speak, even though some kind way the writers and producers got you to care about them. And I think that's all you need is to care about the characters.'cause to your point. We were hoping that this team would place, please let them place. And then you speak about l Lewis Hamilton. He was pivotal to making this work for me because the filmmakers seem to be making a strong appeal to marginalized groups who might not support. Formula One, and they do that with a very diverse cast as well as putting them in pivotal roles. So you have owner Jer Bardi, then you have a car driver, Damson Idris. Then you have the women in racing. There was Carrie Conden, and then there was Kaylee Cook, who was the pit crew for the tires. Having all of that. Was very, very important and I can't help but think that Louis Hamilton had a lot to do with that, saying that we need to make sure that we show some representation. This film is a commercial in many ways, a commercial for people who love F1 and an appeal to people who don't know much about F1. And you spoke about this, they told, they, they explained the rules. They put you in the driver's seat, so to speak. I think they did a good job. I gave this one three out of four reels for me, so I, it's one that I would recommend people see. I had a good time. I liked it all that the story does bring it down more than a little bit of a notch, and it's probably because of the bravado and swagger that Brad Pitt. Displays in this, and I think he does a good job doing it, but I'm like, oh, come on, you here's white boy. Once again, failing up. So I liked it. I liked it.

Kathia Woods: 46:55

I did too. I really enjoyed it. I think we all, we were all like cheering at the end and everything that shows you the emotional, how they pulled you in.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 47:05

Well, good. That's it for our movies. We can go into our last segment, which is Rent and Rave, and you know, I always want to talk a little bit, just a bit about the box office. We don't have to be there long, but I was surprised at the number one film at the box office. I thought that it would be. 28 years later. And the reason I did is because it was breaking all kind of pre ticket sales records and I just thought it would be number one at the box office. But not so fast. Reggie, do you know what was number one at the box office last week? What was number

47:47

one?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 47:47

Reggie, how to train your dragon? It was number one at the box office in its second week. I was a little bit surprised. Now it fell almost 57%, so it did 36, 30 7 million, but 28 years later, because it is kind of a niche film, it only did 30 million. So it came in at number two. What came in at number three. Elio, I expected that. I actually thought Elio might do a little bit better. It only did 21 million at the box office. So interesting. And then there were two other things that were interested, interesting to me in with the box office, and that was, I'm looking at Mission Impossible's numbers and it has not cracked 200 million in the United States. This film absolutely made most of its money abroad. Currently it's at 458 million and it's only made 181 million in the U. In the us I'm a little bit surprised, just a little, that it didn't do a somewhat better in the United States. Then the other movie, which you know, we are always tracking, I want to see where and how sin is doing. And it's still out there in, in the market It currently is at 278 million domestically with only 87 million internationally. Again, I'm surprised at that number. I just would feel that with all of the buzz and how other people are talking about this film as an original, that it would probably. Translate a little bit more or better overseas be just because of the discussion and word of mouth. It's currently at 264 million and I mean 364 million, and I thought it had to make at least 300 million for it to make its money back, and it has. So kudos to that movie as well. So those are the movies that, that I talk about. In the box office and I'll say'em again. It was How to Train Your Dragon 28 years later, LEO Mission Impossible and then centers. Any thoughts on box office?

Kathia Woods: 50:20

No, I'm not surprised because kids are outta school right now, including up north, and the temperatures have been insanely hot. And so they want, movies a great way to go. If you don't have access to a pool or anything like that. Yes. So it's a great way to bring kids. And it's also, it's also the most affordable thing that you can go to.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 50:44

A lot of people don't think so. They always are talking about how expensive the movies are, but it's still more affordable than any other option. If you're trying to take a family of four to a baseball game. It is really expensive to go to a baseball game these days. That's why families now are going to. That league that's underneath the underneath major league, I, I forgot. The mi the minor league. The

Kathia Woods: 51:12

minor leagues. The minor leagues,

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 51:13

The minor league teams, they put on a good show and the tickets are cheap, so you can go have some popcorn and have a little fun. But going to these major league games are, it's expensive. So again, movies are one of those less expensive things that you can go and enjoy. We're at the end of our show and at the end of our show I always ask the question, what article you have coming out now? Where can people check? You out overall. I know you have two or three places, so we need to know that. Come on, let's get the people to check you out.

Kathia Woods: 51:51

Well, today's Friday edition at the Philadelphia Tribune, which you can also read online. You can read my interview with Demson interest as well as my review of F1. What about you, Reggie? What can they find you?

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 52:04

Currently my review of F1 is out at Indigo. That's NIN. DIGO, excuse me, dot com. You can also check out next week my interview with Glen Davis of the Play Purpose, and today I just did an interview with RT Thorn for the movie 40 Acres. I'm not sure when that'll come out yet, but I am out there doing it I think I have one other and you can check out my review on the Garfield Lawndale voice. There we go.

52:48

Absolutely. That's it.

Reggie Ponder, The Reel Critic: 52:51

That's our show. We will see you guys next time.

52:55

See you next time.