As the summer movie season winds down with only Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder left up it’s sleeve, I’ve decided to take this time to reflect on a film that came out this summer you most likely didn’t see. I’ve decided the discussion of this film will be the first in what I hope will be a long line of posts about movies that are truly great, but that you probably hate!……
By the time Speed Racer hits the DVD shelves in September (16th to be exact), I hope to have been able to turn as many people onto this movie as possible. Yeah, there is no doubt that Dark Knight took it for the summer of 08, but right behind that for me was Speed Racer. I really don’t understand why this film was so poorly received because it is just the type of movie I wanted to see this summer. I’ve never been a huge Wachowski fan, sure the first Matrix was good, but what else have they done? When I saw the film opening night I actually believed that the Wachowski’s were the wizards the media always played them up to be. They had not only crafted a fun “popcorn flick”, but had created a film so visually arresting that I doubt I’ll see anything like it anytime soon. It’s unfortunate because I feel as if 5 or 10 years down the line somebody is going to come along and do the same thing the Wachowski’s did with Speed, and receive heaps of praise for it. I hope by the time Speed is available to buy/rent/etc. you will have enough faith in my taste in film that you will check it out. I feel this is a film that will catch on upon it’s DVD release and manage to outlive it’s current reputation as a gigantic flop.
With a bit of film news as well:
I don’t know how many of you have seen the high school film noir flick “Brick” starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, but the fact that the brains behind it has another movie in the pipeline makes me giddy. Rian Johnson’s “Brothers Bloom” looks like a throwback to classic heist films like Riffi and The Killing with a bit of Wes Anderson’s quirky touch. Though I hate that the trailer for the film makes it out to be another Guy Ritchie Brit Gangster flick, there’s enough to assure me Johnson hasn’t gone down that well worn road.
The Next To Last Mohican 