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Speed Racer (2008, Wachowskis) - GO WATCH THIS NOW
- Thread starter Korey
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Yep...the set designers deserve more love. Just awesome visionaries
The 'supervising art director' (upped to production designer on Cloud Atlas) gave me a little model car from the art department and some Speed Racer crew stuff.
Great guy (not just because he gave me things).
That bit with the zebra stills running along with the car is awesome. Very meta.
jadedm17
Member
I'm gonna preface this by saying I watched Aliens last night and was dissapointed. Maybe its because I feel TV techonology has ruined anything before 2000 or so thats set in the future that isn't Back to the Future or Star Trek TNG. A lot of fun (man I need to finish The Thing still) but not the epicness I was promised. Maybe because being overhyped ruins a lot of things. This thread is huge overhype.
That said, I'm 45 minutes in and all I can think is :
- Holy shit so much fun! Thanks neogaf for opening my eyes to such awesome things!
- I should be watching this in HD.
Mainly the latter, but a lot of the former still.
And back to the movie.
That said, I'm 45 minutes in and all I can think is :
- Holy shit so much fun! Thanks neogaf for opening my eyes to such awesome things!
- I should be watching this in HD.
Mainly the latter, but a lot of the former still.
And back to the movie.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Hold up. Walk out of the thread, take a deep breath and come back in a minute and try again.
Aliens sucks and Speed Racer is awesome?! I don't think I've ever seen this much fail condensed into one post in my entire life.
wut
jadedm17
Member
Dissapointed. A lot of fun, but not as great as I was lead to believe, I was overhyped.
jadedm17
Member
Thanks for coming to take the heat off me.
Why don't you people ever explain WHY it sucks?
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Same here. This should have been 3-D.
Anyone who's seen the movie will know why people would think that.
This is not an explanation. Whenever it's mentioned people just mention that 'it sucks!' and 'Speed Racer is lame!' and 'Wachowski Bros messed up good'. Why? What makes this movie sucks? I don't get it. Everything about it doesn't sucks.
- Terrible acting
- Annoying characters
- Cliche-ridden script
- Shallow
- Ridiculous premise
- Occasionally jarring effects
- Running time too long
- Is it a kid's film? Is it a family film? Is it an action film? No identity
- Not made by Pixar or Dreamworks
It's easy to hate I think.
To me, it was a porno movie which others can agree on.
Problem?
It doesn't know what it wants to be, or what audience to go for. It doesn't know if it should treat its source material with reverence, or just as a base. It's a mess of styles and ideas.
Clearly there is an audience for it, though. Look at all the love in this thread.
It might not have a target audience that you can sort into a neat little box as much as the studios might want, but so what?
It's an incredibly unique and strong vision. It has more of an identity than any other studio 'tentpole' of its decade.
Genre definitions play a huge part on who sees a certain film, and how well that film is received by the public and critics. Obviously they shouldn't, but people are fickle and easily influenced when it comes to taste. Speed Racer is a mash-up of genres, a live-action cartoon, and it deserves cult recognition for not conforming to movie marketing rules. Unfortunately this non-comformity was its downfall at the box office too.
I am, however, playing devil's advocate, as you'll see my name mentioned in the 'recommended by' in the OP. I'm glad that there is such an outstanding audience for this. I'm a card-carrying member.
I am, however, playing devil's advocate, as you'll see my name mentioned in the 'recommended by' in the OP. I'm glad that there is such an outstanding audience for this. I'm a card-carrying member.
Rocket Punch
Member
I still have it new in wrapping when I bought it for $5 boxing day 2 years ago.
It's sad. WB didn't really know how to market it. Their marketing was 'here's a trailer for kids, here's a trailer for action movie fans', etc. For the most part, they were afraid to clal it what it is.
The thing about your list is, I think the 'terrible acting' and cliches in the script are actually wonderful. I don't understand why a movie like this should bomb while the masses lap up something like the recent Alice in Wonderland movie.
Watched this yet again. Still an absolute blast, the final lap always chokes me up. This movie shits all over The Matrix. Come at me bros.
Personally, the acting in SR fits the movie perfectly, and the scenes between Speed and his parents are genuinely heartfelt. And obviously Royalton couldn't be better as a disgustingly evil scenery-chewing villain.
Speaking of the movie's identity, it has a very clear one and it maintains a coherent vision throughout the entire picture. Speed Racer is unique. It's the marketing that it's at fault, it has nothing to do with the film.
Personally, the acting in SR fits the movie perfectly, and the scenes between Speed and his parents are genuinely heartfelt. And obviously Royalton couldn't be better as a disgustingly evil scenery-chewing villain.
Speaking of the movie's identity, it has a very clear one and it maintains a coherent vision throughout the entire picture. Speed Racer is unique. It's the marketing that it's at fault, it has nothing to do with the film.
The premise was fairly clear. The movie was entirely about family staying together good triumphing over corruption. That didn't change at all from the start of the movie. That's one of the things I loved about it
Angry Fork
Member
Speed Racer is great but you dun crossed the line with this.
Whoa that sucks, are you still able to watch it on blu ray?
freenudemacusers
Member
nuke the post from orbit
"Are you ready to grow up?! Are you ready to become a real race car driver?!"
The guy played the prick, but acting nice perfectly. You knew he was scum hiding behind his farce and then he just lets Speed have it. Crushes his past memories and future races all in one go, showing how powerful he is.
Only makes the ending sweeter.
It's a valid and true complaint.
It has extremely childish kid parts for kids that will alienate adults, and violent and graphic scenes that adults will think twice about letting their kids see it.
Great Great film. I am so disappointed in myself that I did not see this on IMAX or the theater at all. I first saw it on the plane, after which I immediately bought it on DVD and watched again a few days later. Then, when I got my PS3, I bought the Blu Ray version and had to watch it again. I've probably watched it at least 10 times by now.
Someone posted the video of the last lap of the last race earlier in this thread. I just watched that with no sound, and it still gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. This film has so much emotion in it, and that's what makes it so special for me. The race scenes are obviously amazing, but coupled with all of the emotion and the build up, it's just a truly great feel-good movie.
Someone posted the video of the last lap of the last race earlier in this thread. I just watched that with no sound, and it still gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. This film has so much emotion in it, and that's what makes it so special for me. The race scenes are obviously amazing, but coupled with all of the emotion and the build up, it's just a truly great feel-good movie.
The only thing i did not like was the middle finger
Anton Sugar
Member
Last scene/race is fucking GOLD.
It felt out of place. Would have been funnier if the monkey did it.
dr_octagon
Banned
way better than i expected, definitely worth a watch
Yup, feel like maybe it's a running joke.
Thanks for watching!
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
The movie's one of the most immensely entertaining movies that I've ever seen, and the characters/writing are better than people give them credit for. Pops' speech to Speed near the end of the movie, for example, is quite well-written, and Speed has a depth and cynicism to him that make him a lot more interesting than your average kids' movie protagonist.
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