Gran Turismo: I have to admit that I didn’t have very high expectations for this movie. Most movies or shows based upon video games typically are not very compelling. I had seen a preview for this movie before watching Oppenheimer or Top Gun Maverick or the like and didn’t come away very impressed. But, I had an opportunity to view it and my take away is that it didn’t suck.

The premise is pretty simple: Nissan car company wants to sell more cars and they are pitched by a guy, played by Orlando Bloom in a role reminiscent of his prior role in Elizabethtown, who says that there are millions of gamers out there, and Nissan should offer a “once in a lifetime” shot for the elite players in the popular game Gran Turismo to actually drive a race car. They buy it, much to Bloom’s character’s surprise. Now he needs to seek out the driving veteran who can teach these young drivers, after they compete in an online contest, to teach them how to actually drive at 300 km/h. Enter Stranger Things‘ David Harbour. Think the Robert Duvall character from Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise’s Cole Trickle.

The movie is chock full of every movie cliche that you can imagine, for example the young principal driver named Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe) is a gamer with parents who just want him “to get a real job” and “don’t waste your life away with silly dreams”. The second cliche being grizzled veteran David Harbour who thinks this is a publicity stunt, and that drivers are elite athletes who have world class skills that these gamers just don’t have. He isn’t willing to put his reputation nor his life into their hands. Do they both manage to get over it? Of course they do!

Is there a villian? Naturally a jerk driver from another team, who chock full of money and attitude, is the Captain Ivan Drago from Rocky fame. The cold, aggressive, bullying, cocky established driver that David Harbour can’t stand. Is there a challenge to overcome? Well naturally and it won’t surprise the viewer to see that it comes from Days of Thunder and Top Gun as well.

However with all that said, was I entertained? Yes. Of course much of the racing looks and feels like the video game as you expect with markers showing you the place of the young driver as we go. Often it looks like it comes straight from the video game itself, which is very realistic. But the young man is good. He shows uncertainty and some fear for what he is doing, which is entirely expected. If you haven’t driven in a car going this fast, you quickly see why this is so intimidating. He handles it all very well. There is a love interest which doesn’t really impact the story. I have to admit that the very ending credits were surprising and welcome. So overall I enjoyed this. I didn’t see it on the big screen at a theatre and don’t feel as though I missed much. Funny I felt more compelled to see Ford v Ferrari in the theatre and recommended that to all readers. This not so much. I think that the sound in FvF was much better, as is the acting.

Love is Blind Season 5: I was reading today a news item that addresses one of the elements of this version of Love Is Blind that had puzzled me a little. In previous seasons there had been more couple who get hitched and then head off to the glamourous beach hotel to see if their “physical” connection is the same as their “emotional” connection. Usually there are four or five couples who do this. In this season there were three.

In the news today, we learn that there were two other couples who actually headed down to Mexico in May this past year. One of the females has sued the producer and production company for sexual assault. So all aspects of their appearance has been wiped out. Interesting from a legal perspective, the young woman’s lawyer is claiming that the whole assault on her would have been filmed, and that the producers nor anyone affiliated with the show did anything to stop it. The show made a statement that “she signed up for the experiment, and had a contract, and knew what she was doing”. No one signs up for sexual assault of course. So it will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and if there is any settlement.

In the show itself which has at least one more episode to drop, there is plenty of drama as 30+ yo lawyer Uche is taking it upon himself to man-splain his entire postion to anyone that will listen. He had previously dated another contestant and that whole situation in my mind is one that the producer’s should have never let happen. I don’t think that it would be “an interesting wrinkle” for the contestants to handle because it is simply putting them in a no-win situation. How much of a previous relationship should you share with a bunch of strangers on a TV show, when it may never even come up if they are not heavily involved in the unfolding drama. We do find out and see it, and it’s the train wreck that you would expect. It is shameful on the producers really. These types of shows are for those who are interested in such shows. That goes without saying, but if you like these shows this one just adds to the long list of those available. This season reveals just how heavily edited a season can be, especially when two couples who went to the second stage were completely eliminated from this season, something Nick Lachey and his wife Vanessa don’t acknowledge at all. Watch at your own risk.