Senna Movie trailer released.

[E.B]

I think it also recently won another Film Award when it took out an award at the Australian Film Awards.

I was hoping that, like other regions, the film would be released to tie in with the local Grand Prix. Sadly despite having had the AGP there is no release date yet for Australia other than a clue it will be as the UK.

[Martin Bull]

Originally Posted by strider

Here's the trailer for the UK version of the film, courtesy of James Allen.

Thanks for re-posting this. It certainly looks impressive & I'm looking forward to seeing the film...........

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by E.B

I think it also recently won another Film Award when it took out an award at the Australian Film Awards.

I was hoping that, like other regions, the film would be released to tie in with the local Grand Prix. Sadly despite having had the AGP there is no release date yet for Australia other than a clue it will be as the UK.

No release date for Australia ? That's strange... maybe we can work it out.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Bononi

No release date for Australia ? That's strange... maybe we can work it out.

I'm pretty sure that i read somewhere over the weekend that it's not in July, which is crazy.

Universal Pictures have all the distribution rights, so the decisions are theirs and nothing to do with the family, which I don't think is completely happy with the way it has been dealt with.

[Dani Filth]

saw the film .. some interesting footage(aka Balestre) but overall boring as heaven ..

[mac]

Originally Posted by E.B

I was hoping that, like other regions, the film would be released to tie in with the local Grand Prix. Sadly despite having had the AGP there is no release date yet for Australia other than a clue it will be as the UK.

Think mid-year...

I've seen it - and it is a fascinating watch. It could have gone into a few parts a little deeper, but I think it has been made so that people that don't know much about F1 will still enjoy the story...

Really worth seeing.

[cmotd]

The Blu Ray of it is already out in some parts of the world but with no English subtitles for the portugese or italian bits. There are english fan subs available though, and if you know how to rip a BD and remux susbtitles you can make a .ts file with the english subs imbedded easily enough. and if you don't know google it and find out

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Bononi

No release date for Australia ? That's strange... maybe we can work it out.

On RPM, our Aussie weekly motorsport show on ONE HD (our F1 broadcaster) it was announced in last night's show that the Senna movie is being launched in Australia on the 21st July 2011.

That makes it the Thursday before the German GP weekend.

[Knowlesy]

Will this be shown in Imax?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Will this be shown in Imax?

Must be way out in the suburbs.... never heard of the place.


Seriously for a second, I dont know the answer to your question. Presumably to be in Imax it would need special cameras etc to produce, whereas much of the footage in the movie is archive stuff with some onboard stuff and interviews, much of which will be up to 30 years old. So my suspicion would be it isn't.

Gulp, was it really pretty well 30 years ago when Brundle and Senna had their F3 ding dong year. Senna would have been 51 years old last week.....

[Félix]

Found it online and just finished watching it. I hesitated between the normal res and HD versions and frankly there is NOTHING to be gained from HD or cinema format for this "movie". It's a collage - a rather good one - of archive footage, and as such it is not very different from the VHS-rip of another Senna hommage I already have. The pictures are well restored but still shot using TV equipment from the 80s and early 90s, and the story can't be re-invented and is thus very similar and not especially better because of big omissions such as the F3 duels. The most positive aspect of this "movie" for me is its multilingual nature: it's fun to switch from French to English and to realize I can understand a lot of what's being said in Portuguese and Spanish without looking at the subtitles. Apart from that, there's an interesting number of quotes about god, a somewhat exaggerated and one-sided focus on the Prost (and Balestre) rivalry and a well made climax where the goal is clearly, and rather tackily, to make the spectator cry.

Still, in the end I'm left wondering why no one criticizes the movie's low value as a movie. I wouldn't expect that from the F1 press, but film critics must see it's like a TV documentary. I find it sad that an entertainment company can release such a "product" worldwide when it's just a mash-up of old footage with some marketing on top to sell it. It's good, interesting and well made for what it is, but there is no way it's worth being hyped as an amazing movie by people like Clarkson. And there's no way it has to be seen in a cinema by F1 fans - or anyone! - with the price they charge and the profit they'll make.

[Bononi]

Thanks, very much appreciated.

[strider]

Fact: The Senna movie is currently #1 in the IMBDb Top Rated Documentaries. You can't get much better than that. If you don't like it you need to check out your soul.

[Félix]

Originally Posted by strider

Fact: The Senna movie is currently #1 in the IMBDb Top Rated Documentaries. You can't get much better than that. If you don't like it you need to check out your soul.

As I told you, I don't understand. Looking at the breakdown of the IMDB vote (hey, I'm trying to understand!), we see that it's 90%+ men voting. It's probably only fanatics who've seen it in festivals and special screenings who have cared to vote thus far, and they vote with a massive number of perfect 10s (almost 60%!!). Normally when one rates movies, 10 is reserved for masterpieces. The other striking thing when you compare the votes to those for what I consider the best documentary I've seen lately is that 3 times more people gave Senna a mediocre 1 or 2 score (14%). Just for the record, I gave it a 5.

Like a few others who commented here, I'm not impressed and I think it's important to give an opinion that counters the bia$ed universal praise this "film" is getting. There is a good chance (20%+ according to IMDB) that you won't like it. I'd say, wait for the DVD. Or go on YouTube where you'll find most of the footage that's used in the movie, albeit without the 10$ pricetag that Universal is charging for putting it together and screening it at your local cinema.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by E.B

Must be way out in the suburbs.... never heard of the place.


Seriously for a second, I dont know the answer to your question. Presumably to be in Imax it would need special cameras etc to produce, whereas much of the footage in the movie is archive stuff with some onboard stuff and interviews, much of which will be up to 30 years old. So my suspicion would be it isn't.

I did think that I must admit. Was clutching at straws somewhat.

Even if it isn't filmed in Imax you do get better sound quality at their cinemas anyways. So I dunno.

[mac]

I think there is sometimes a certain snobbery around some circles of motorsport, whereby some in these circles like to think that they know everything, and anything that doesn't cater to their supreme knowledge and understanding is beneath them...

The fact is that Senna's story is Senna's story. What happened is what happened, and the vast majority of race fans know the story... I sent a text to a friend after I saw the movie saying, "it's a bit sad when you go to see a movie and you already know the ending..."

However, as I said earlier... I think it was largely created for people who aren't so familiar with the story - who don't know much more about Senna other than the fact that he was a legendary racing driver and he died in an accident...

From my own perspective, I was 12 when Senna died... I certainly remember aspects of his career and I know far more than the average punter... But I wasn't even a teenager!

So, with my knowledge gained from being in and around the sport for the last decade or so (professionally and personally), I felt it was an interesting experience to look back on the events as an adult... I felt it enlightened me somewhat.

Do I wish they had gone into more detail about F3, Toleman, Lotus, why he had to leave McLaren, etc.? Of course!!! But maybe that footage didn't exist, maybe it was decided that the general punter doesn't care...

For me, the most stark and confronting experience of the film was the footage of Senna over that fateful weekend at Imola... Some of the behind-the-scenes footage from that (remember, I was 12 when it happened) was tough to watch...

[Bononi]

I have never been a Senna fan. But I followed his career, as a follower of F1, and had the privilege to have access to media that many others here haven't, due to the fact that Senna was rated highly right from the start in Brazil. I have magazines, books and tapes about F1 in general and Senna in particular. I still have 8 VHS tapes with live footage, covering the whole weekend until Senna was buried (IIRC on thursday). Why ? I don't know why even today. I had a very mixed relationship with Senna the idol. My friends all worshipped him (still they do) while I was on the other side, but I learned to respect him in that fateful week, he proved to me that we can't judge anyone, that the human being is much more complex than the media show to us, even if all that they show looks positive. It was a lesson for lifetime and I'm grateful for that.
To watch this movie was going back to all the emotions and memories I had back then. Every feeling is the same but with a different meaning now and I guess it keeps changing. Like mac said, we all know the story so well, there's nothing new there in the movie. But the most important isn't about new information or footage, is about how everyone feel about the man, the driver and how he was capable to move us in every situation. To watch this movie looking only at the quality of the footage and considering if the information has been released somewhere else is a complete waste of time, you won't be pleased. The point is to learn or to re-live all that happened when there was a man - like any other after him in F1 - among us who made his presence unforgettable.
This is just an opinion from someone who has never been a fan of the idol, but always saw the man, with many failures like any other, but yet an extraordinary man.

[E.B]

Re UK movie release date

I saw a tweet earlier today, now backed up in news articles, saying that a confirmation of the UK release date for the movie has been announced.
<BBC confirms UK release date for Senna movie is June 3rd>.

Hmmmm over a month ahead of us in the antipodes.

[racer69]

Admittedly its months away for us Australians, but what cinema's would be carrying this? Would my local Hoyts in Penrith be showing it for example?

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by mac

I sent a text to a friend after I saw the movie saying, "it's a bit sad when you go to see a movie and you already know the ending..."

I always think the same when i watch United 93

[mac]

Originally Posted by racer69

Admittedly its months away for us Australians, but what cinema's would be carrying this? Would my local Hoyts in Penrith be showing it for example?

You might have to head up the M4 to The Palace on Norton Street for an Italian feed and a viewing... Think it will be more "arthouse" places like Dendys and the like...

[pug205]

Originally Posted by racer69

Admittedly its months away for us Australians, but what cinema's would be carrying this? Would my local Hoyts in Penrith be showing it for example?

There is a chance it might play the big chains here in Aust. Universal are getting really behind the film and want it to play as widely as possible as they are seeing its a film that will play well with a wider audience. It is playing the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals over the next few months before its general release (no released date yet)

[Massa_number1]

I just finished watching the movie ...incredible...i loved it.

I was also 12 when Senna died and remember the day clearly I was lucky enough to watch Senna racing for real at Silverstone 92 (although it was always mansell's car I cared about seeing that day)

I thought the choice of scenes was brilliant throughout the movie and Prost gets a special mention from me, I thought he came across really well in his interview.
What got my attention the most was Sennas funeral where it showed a family member and then a flash back of them in the earlier days of Sennas life, and as a parent myself Senna's Fathers flash back of him kissing his son after he won the Brazilian GP for the first time and then back to him in 1994 touching his coffin really gave me a sad feeling but also the thought that his father must have been so proud of his sons life.

great film if you watch it for an emotional experience and not for finding out things you never knew

[Knowlesy]

I got halfway through the movie last night. So far I am very much enjoying it. There is some stuff I had obviously never seen before, as well as the stuff that has been seen a million times and you never tire of, such as that intense interview with Sir Jackie Stewart.

However, it is ridiculous how Prost is painted as some kind of super villain and Senna's excesses are looked on almost sympathetically. I found that a bit unpalatable. It does not paint Ayrton as perfection, but neither does it cast a critical light either.

But it is, nevertheless, compelling viewing so far and I shall still be going to the cinema to watch it again.

[strider]

With official release date being June 3rd, here is a review by Mark Kermode. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/

It was his review of TT3D that made me go out and see that film made immediately and it was amazing in more ways than one.

I shall be getting a DVD or Blu-Ray copy when they are available, but I'd like the first time I see it to be in a cinema, partly because I'm curious to see how other people react.