They call him Wolverine, and he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is shred the box office with berserker rage!  Okay, enough of the Wolverine analogies, but you can’t help but be impressed with the $87 million haul of X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

What a way to start off the summer–with the 2009 box office up over last year, people are still hungry for movies, even in this economy. Fox need not fret any more about the pirated version that leaked out, hurting the box office, because the Hugh Jackman-starrer proved that people love to see movies in the theaters.

But the one thing Wolverine’s healing factor and near-indestructible adamantium-laced skeleton can’t stop, and that’s the critical drubbing it’s receiving. It stands at an awful 37% rating over at RottenTomatoes.com, though Screen Rant’s owner and Editor-in-Chief Vic Holtreman gave it 3 out of 5 stars.  I’ve been reading online that it’s also getting fair-to-poor word-of-mouth ratings from viewers, and that has the potential to hurt the film in the coming weeks.

I’d say a Wolverine 2 is now extremely likely to get green lit (how about Bryan Singer directing?!), and other X-Men movies could see the green light, too, like X-men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto and spinoffs for Deadpool and Gambit.

Add to that another May that’s over-stocked with movies, so something’s going to give and a movie will crash and burn.  Iron Man, which opened the same weekend last year, was able to stay invincible because it was a well-received film by fans and critics, while Speed Racer and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian were both weak films that crashed and burned.

With Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Terminator Salvation, and Disney/Pixar’s Up all coming out in the coming weeks, can Wolverine stay the positive box office course?  We’ll have to keep our eyes on it.  For now, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has started the summer off with a rip-roaring howl!

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The Oscars attempt (emphasis on the word, “attempt”) to recognize cinemas greatest achievements each year. The Razzies, on the other hand,  recognize cinema’s greatest underachievements each year.

After seeing the nominees for this year’s Razzie Awards, I’m beginning to think that the Razzie judges need to be given jobs on the Oscar selection committee. Maybe then the Oscar noms would be a little bit more spot-on.

Here are the 2008 Razzie Award nominees for your viewing displeasure.

WORST PICTURE

• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans (Two bad movies, one tired-ass concept)
• The Happening (Ouch, M. Night that’s gotta hurt!)
• The Hottie and The Nottie
• In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• The Love Guru (Like no one saw that one coming.)

WORST ACTOR

• Larry The Cable Guy, Witless Protection
• Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
• Mike Myers, The Love Guru
• Al Pacino, 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill (double ouch!)
• Mark Wahlberg, The Happening & Max Payne

WORST ACTRESS

• Jessica Alba, The Eye & The Love Guru
• The cast of The Women, (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan)
• Cameron Diaz, What Happens In Vegas
• Paris Hilton, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Kate Hudson, Fools Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Uwe Boll, Uwe Boll’s Postal
• Pierce Brosnan, Mama Mia!
• Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru & The Wackness
• Burt Reynolds, Deal & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Verne Troyer, The Love Guru & Uwe Boll’s Postal
  

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Carmen Electra, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Paris Hilton, Repo: The Genetic Opera
• Kim Kardashian, Disaster Movie
• Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

• Uwe Boll and any actor, camera or screenplay
• Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
• Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Larry The Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
  

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL

• The Day The Earth Blowed Up Real Good
• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans
• Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
• Speed Racer
• Star Wars: Clone Wars

WORST DIRECTOR

• Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats, In The Name of The King & Postal
• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Tom Putnam, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Marco Schnabel, The Love Guru
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
  

WORST SCREENPLAY

• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
• Heidi Ferrer, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Doug Taylor, In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Mike Myers & Graham Gordy, The Love Guru

WORST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT (SPECIAL CATEGORY)

• Uwe Boll (”Germany’s answer to Ed Wood”)

Personally I’m just happy that I didn’t see most of the movies on this list. The Happening caught me off guard, though; if I could get my time and money back for that one, I would. And poor Uwe Boll–The Razzies are really raking him over the coals, creating a special category just to highlight his failures.

On a side note, I’m glad to see that the debacle that was Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull is also getting the recognition it deserves: as a steaming pile of…well, you know.

Do the 2008 Razzie Award Nominations seem about right to you? Let us know.

Source: The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation Official Website

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Short version: Speed Racer is strictly for kids, big time nostalgia-feeling fans of the original series and perhaps video game addicts.

Considering all I’d heard about and seen via trailers and clips about Speed Racer, I was almost concerned about what it would be like to watch it on a gigantic IMAX screen. I thought perhaps it would give me a huge headache or perhaps induce some psychotic state in me, or worse – my daughter.

Ah, but 11 year olds brains are hardwired for this kind of stuff, so not to worry – she’s fine.

the film starts with a tribute to the opening of the original series which if you’re a fan I think you’ll find very cool. It then goes right into showing us a young Speed Racer (yes, for the uninitiated, that is his name) and in a funny opening sequence shows us that he was apparently born to be a race car driver, much to the detriment of his school work.

We meet his brother Rex, who picks him up from school in the iconic Mach 5 car and a few seconds later you get your first clue of the visual look of the movie. I expected as they pulled back to show them pulling away that other cars would look like regular old automobiles, but they all have a futuristic look to them – so much so that the Mach 5 looks like just another car.

Rex indulges Speed by taking him to the race track for a practice run, and we see the bond between them as Speed sits in Rex’s lap, steering the car at what we would call wildly insane speeds. In one rather silly moment, Rex tells Speed to close his eyes so he can hear what the car is telling him – while rocketing down a curve-laden track at speeds over 100mph.

Soon thereafter Rex leaves home on bad terms with his father, “Pops” Racer who tells Rex if he leaves he can never come back. From there Rex seems to “go to the dark side” becoming one of the most notorious drivers on the race circuit., causing crashes and all sorts of mayhem. Eventually it seems that he himself is claimed as a casualty in a fatal car wreck of his own in an ice cave.

Cut to Speed as a young man (21?) and he’s on the rise as one of the hottest race car drivers out there. The “Racer” family are independent racers, with no corporate sponsers (who Pops considers “the devil”). So I guess they only earn income from race winnings?

Anyway, they are approached by the owner of Royalton Industries, a snake-charmer of a guy who wants to bring the Racer family on board in order to “give them a better life.” Of course there’s a catch and it’s eventually revealed to Speed who declines and is then a target on the track of every other driver in any race.

While I really think Speed Racer is a “love it or hate it” kind of movie, I managed to fall somewhere in the middle. Again, remember this is a review of the IMAX version of the film, so that influences my reaction to it. The visuals, on that enormous screen were for lack of a better word: crazy. It truly is an eyeball-shattering intense CGI-carnival assault on the senses. I’m actually not sure if watching this in IMAX may have been a bad idea – this movie may be similar to Cloverfield in that it may be better viewed on a TV screen.

It wasn’t just the psychedelic visuals that bothered me – it was the placing of live action characters into that canvas. Except for the obviously monsterous budget of the movie, it struck me that if it had been only 10 minutes long it could have been considered some indie experimental film. I blame George Lucas for introducing the idea of sticking live actors into 99% CGI environments. I just don’t like it. It seems weird and my mind battles to figure out whether it’s looking at a CGI animated movie or a live action film.

Having said that, I actually think this would have worked much, much better if they had just gone all the way and made it a completely CGI animated film. Having the anchor of real actors in a sea of such extreme, colorful, physics-bending environments just doesn’t work for me. I think they should have either toned down the look of the film for a live action version or just replaced the actors with stylized CGI characters.

What was good about it? The fact that the further you get into the film the better it seems to get. The races get better, the story improves and overall there’s a good, positive message delivered to kids in the audience about family, standing up for what you believe in and courage in the face of adversity.

The final race in particular was pretty action packed, although to me it suffered some of the same issues as similar scenes in Transformers: too much going on, making it difficult to even focus on what you’re looking at.

In particular I thought Emil Hirsche as Speed did an admirable job and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Lost’s Matthew Fox as Racer X just because he seemed to be enjoying himself so much in the role.

One of the highlights was also young Paulie Litt as Spritle, who provided pretty much any of the laughs in the film.

On the other hand, it’s bizarre seeing humans in a pretty much cartoon environment and if I’m going to nitpick, it seemed like the much used word “ass” in the film was stuck in there just to avoid a dreaded G rating.

On a final note, walking out to the parking lot I almost felt like I had stepped into a sensory deprivation tank after that all over-stimulation.

So there you have it. If you have kids but aren’t a fan of the original, I suggest you drop them, off head to the theater next door… and watch Iron Man again.

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Ok, folks… here’s your chance to get a real taste of what Speed Racer will be like before you decide whether to plunk down your hard earned money for a ticket.

I’m not going to tell you what I think until I see a few of your reactions below. BTW, I will be adding my two cents to the list of Speed Racer reviews some time this weekend. I wanted my first viewing of it to be in IMAX so I didn’t catch a pre-screening of the film.

So… fess up: are you a lover or a hater, ‘cuz there ain’t gonna be a middle ground on this one…

For higher res versions head over to Yahoo.

Speed Racer opens May 9th.

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Last week I wrote that I thought it was a ridiculous theory that the release of the Grand Theft Auto IV video game would hurt Iron Man’s box office numbers. Instead I wondered whether the release of Speed Racer during the second weekend of the armored avenger’s run would put a dent in Tony Stark’s armor.

Well it looks like he’ll be holding up pretty well against the race car flick as well.

The word on the street is that the Matrix-creators’ nostalgia slash acid-trip version of Speed Racer will be lucky if it cracks the $30MM mark this weekend. It’s also being estimated that Iron Man will probably bring in about $45MM in it’s second weekend, which would mean about a 55% drop from it’s premiere last weekend.

Generally a drop anywhere below 60% is a sign that a movie is getting great word of mouth and has “legs.” Personally I’m predicting about $50MM this weekend for ol’ Shellhead.

Among the movie blogosphere, the consensus for the past weeks and months has been that Speed Racer would make big bucks on it’s opening weekend (I thought that myself until very recently) but it’s looking like it may not do so well after all. Perhaps the all out psychedelic assault on the audience’s senses will be too much for the average moviegoer?

On the other hand you’ve got to balance this against the fact that parents are desperate for movies they can bring their kids to without worrying about inappropriate content: and Speed Racer is rated an innocuous PG.

It’ll be interesting to see how this weekend pans out for both of these mega-movies.

Source: HollywoodWireTap.com

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Everyone is buzzing about how the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (do people who like that game even know how to interpret Roman numerals? Ok, ok… don’t get all mad) is going to hurt Iron Man box office in it’s second week of release. The word is that GTA 4 is set to bring in $400 million in it’s opening weekend, and that gamers will stay home to play that instead of leaving their darkened bedrooms to go see the awesome Iron Man movie (yes, I’ve seen it).

I don’t buy the logic.

The last time a movie doing poorly was blamed on the launch of a video game the same weekend was when Halo 3 was released on the same weekend as… um… some Ben Stiller movie.

Yeah, right. That’s like blaming cow farts for global warming. Oh, wait…

Anyway, I think that there’s something else that could put a bigger dent in Iron Man’s armor than Grand Theft Auto 4:

Speed Racer

I know a few guys who are heavy into video games, and do you know what they talk about when they’re not talking about games? Iron Man, that’s what.

Face it, Iron Man is a freaking cool movie, aimed squarely at the typical videogame demographic. Does that make for a conflict? Why should it? Are people not going to tear themselves away from a console for a couple of hours to see one of the three biggest hits of the year?

If they won’t, here are two words of advice: Seek help.

What I think may affect Iron Man’s second week box office receipts is Speed Racer. I haven’t seen it yet and won’t catch an early screening because I want my first look at it to be in Glorious IMAX on opening night.

Why the conflict? Because parents are starved for cool movies they can take their kids to. Starved, I tell ya. And where they might opt to go catch Iron Man next week if they missed it on opening weekend (where I’m now thinking it will probably pull in $80MM ), they’ll now have two choices instead of one. And with Speed Racer being PG, for those with littler ones, and the ability to take them safely (no sex, cartoon violence) to see a movie by the folks who made the uber-cool Matrix – I’ll bet the decision will be a no brainer vs the sometimes intense PG-13 Iron Man.

And even the older kids in the say, 11-13 range may think that the Mach 5 and it’s surrounding LSD-like exploding colors is a better bet than a playboy billionare with a cool set of metal jams.

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Strangely, when I first heard about the Speed Racer movie by the Wachowskis, I was reserved in my anticipation. Then, when I heard it was going to be sporting some serious CGI, I got depressed because I didn’t think it would meet my hopes.

However since then I’ve seen the movie trailers and they’re so cool my wife has to bring me down afterwards. It looks like it’s going to be true to my memories of the show.

In the upcoming movie version of Speed Racer, the Mach 5 is built by Speed Racer’s dad, Pops Racer, and it’s got some pretty cool features like the auto jacks and tire belts, just to mention a few.

As far as specs on the Mach 5 go it’s been said to have 5,000 horsepower distributed to all four wheels evenly. Whoa… I was really hoping for a little bit more than that. “-)

So that’s a bit of info on the movie version of the car, but did you know that there have been a few real Mach 5’s built over the years?

Probably the most well known version is the Mach 5 prototype that resides in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. It was built in 1999 and is very true to the cartoon design. It was used in a national automotive safety tour sponsored by the Child Safety Network and is said to contain a ‘mid engine’ and *crickets* (whatever those are). It was then put on Ebay where the Petersen Museum bought it for $125k.

After the safety tour prototype was built, someone got the idea to build 100 street legal production ’signature’ versions and they were made in 2002, also by the Child Safety Network. They plopped it on a 2001 Corvette chassis with a modified body to resemble the Mach 5. It had a 345 hp power plant and cost about $75k. They’re called the signature series because each car was signed by actor Peter Fernandez, the voice of Speed Racer and Racer X in the 1967 version of the franchise. (He’s also the writer of the theme song we all know and love.)

With that being said, I recently came across a Road And Track test drive article on the Mach 5 being used in the new movie coming out May 9th. My eyes lit up and I started reading fervently because they had some awesome images of the test drive.

I like the statement the reviewer made in the beginning of his article saying how we’d sit around the TV set, (I was one of them) watching Speed Racer go wheel to wheel with a gang of racing villains who make Tony Stewart look like Tinkerbell. (Some of my NASCAR blog readers would most definitely take issue with that statement!)

The car they tested, the Racer Motors Mach 5 sports an 8.0-liter quad sequential turbocharged V-12 that pumps out 1700 bhp at 8000 rpm and 1400 lb.-ft. of torque at 5500 and it only weighs just over 2400 lbs. on it’s 245/40ZR-18 tires. I’d love to take a trip to the grocery store in that!

The question was put out there if this power plant wasn’t a little overkill and the response: “The car is supposed to be able to go 300 mph. And this is what’s required to get it there.” Point made.

You’re probably salivating like I was when I was reading this, and the images were just helping my happy state that someone built a car and someone got to drive it. I mean, they’ve built the Batmobile and the Ghost Busters wagon and so on, so I was eating this up and annoying my wife until I got the part of the “road test” where the author started talking about how he tested the different features of the car like the pneumatic jacks and the jump feature, the tire crampons… and then I knew that I had been had.. like you just now… Have you ever thought you had yourself a winning lottery ticket until you noticed it’s the wrong date you’re looking up? Yea, that’s how I felt, and misery loves company… sorry.

There’s a bright side to everything though. While I thought I was getting info on the real Mach 5, in the end, I did get a potentially more complete set of stats for the car from the cartoon just as I had I started out looking for and that’s fine by me. Heck, even the pictures of the road test were more special affects, created by Polyphony Digital Inc. I was so disappointed!

But being ever hopeful as I am, I’d like to see another street version of the car, and if this movie is a a hit (as it’s expected to be), no doubt some savvy entrepreneur will take on the project. I’ve been saving my cash just for this kind of “rainy” day! I just gotta come up with a real good explanation for my wife when it shows up in the driveway besides grocery runs! Yeah, I know… I’ll have to find my 1/18 scale ERTL diecast – it may be all I have!

A quiz for our readers: Do you know what the M on the hood of the Mach 5 stands for?
OK, here’s a clue if you need it. But do you know what the G on Speed’s shirt in the cartoon stands for?

Speed Racer opens on May 9th!

Sources: Wikipedia; Petersen Automotive Museum; Sussex County Online; AutoBlog Hi-Res Image; Road and Track;

Thanks for coming by!

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Another weekend, another Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

Legion starring Dennis Quaid and Paul Bettany, Tom Hanks quits Fahrenheit 451, Nic Cage hunts for more National Treasure, Battlestar Galactica producer plans to make a television adaptation of Children of Men, Surrogates with Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell and news on when we can expect to see a trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

For details on the above items, read on.

1. Dennis Quaid and Paul Bettany have joined the cast of Legion. According to Variety Paul Bettany stars as the archangel Michael:

“The only one standing between mankind and an apocalypse, after God loses faith in humanity. Man’s lone hope rests with a group of strangers who must deliver a baby they realize is Christ in his second coming.”

The film starts shooting soon and it will be directed by former FX guru Scott Stewart. Sounds like it should be good, and with Quaid on-board – I’m there.

2. Tom Hanks has pulled out of Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Darabont cites scheduling conflicts for Hanks’ departure. It’s another blow to the film that has been in development for about 15 years. Originally Mel Gibson planned to direct the project before passing it on to Darabont.

Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite books so I’d like to see this get made. Hanks probably wasn’t the best choice for the film, so it’s no great loss.

3. Nicolas Cage will get to hunt for more National Treasure.

Jon Turteltaub says that we should expect the third film in about three years:

“I’m guessing that we’re a few years away. By the time we come up with a decent idea and develop it into a complicated and intelligent puzzle it’s going to be at least 2009. Then to prep it and cast it… it should be three years away.”

I quite like these films, so National Treasure 3 shouldn’t be all bad.

4. Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman producer David Eick intends to make a television series based on Children of Men – the science fiction novel by P.D. James. The book also inspired the film directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Eick says that:

“It’s really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society’s utter focus.”

5. Radha Mitchell will join Bruce Willis in Jonathan Mostow’s Surrogates.

The film is based on a graphic novel which tells the story of a future where humans live their lives in isolation with surrogate robots interacting with others. Willis plays a cop who must leave the house for the first time in years in order to solve a crime. The film begins shooting on April 28th and it is due to open on November 20, 2009.

Sounds like it could be a pretty good film. Willis is always good value and Mostow knows how to put a good film together.

6. The trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be attached to Speed Racer when it is released on May 9th. The Warner Brothers release is the first Star Wars film not to have the famous Fox Fanfare before it.

The animated film will open on August 15.

That’s the Weekend Movie News Wrap Up for now, have a good week!

Sources: Variety , MTV , Cinemablend , Scifi.com , Comingsoon

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Speed Racer & Racer X in a scene from the upcoming movie

Geez, I’ve heard rumors about trailers that were supposed to be playing in front of the extremely weak 10,000 B.C. before I went to see it and since. Everything from the new Iron Man trailer, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight to this new Speed Racer trailer. I sat through the damned thing and didn’t even have the satisfaction of seeing one single new trailer for anything coming out this year.

On the bright side, at least seeing the Indiana Jones trailer on the big screen finally managed to get me fired up about that one.

In any case, here’s a brand new trailer for Speed Racer, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t actually look good to me! Now we all know that a great trailer does not a great movie make, but it’s a much better omen than a crappy trailer in IMHO.

Check out the new trailer below.

This trailer makes the movie look like it’ll be a bit more than just a giant video game. I especially loved the scene near the beginning of the trailer where the young Speed Racer is at his desk with his eyes closed making the “roaring crowd” sound. That was priceless and a fond memory to anyone who ever did that kind of daydreaming as a kid.

If you want to see the two different international version trailers that came out recently head over to FirstShowing.net.

Between this, Iron Man and Indy 4, May is shaping up to be a heckuva month for movies this year!

Speed Racer opens on May 9th, 2008.

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My buddy Alex over at First Showing shot me an email saying that he’s gotten verification that the Wachowski’s will-it-be-PG-or-won’t-it live action version of Speed Racer will have an IMAX version released along with the regular theatrical version.

If ever there was a movie that looks like it was destined for IMAX, Speed Racer is it.

But based on the trailer, I have one question:

Will IMAX theaters have people available to guide people back to their cars after what will probably be the closest thing they’ll experience to an LSD trip?

From the look of it, combining the visuals and action of Speed Racer with the ultra-high resolution and huge screen size that IMAX provides, anyone who goes to see this version should just have Ritalin handed to them on the way out as they’ll be afflicted instantly with ADD.

Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch, I’m kidding.

Along with The Dark Knight, this is one movie I’ll be driving 45 miles to see on the monster screen.

Speed Racer opens on May 9, 2008.

Source: FirstShowing.net

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So an early review of Speed Racer has popped up on AintItCool.com. Overall despite being very rough regarding completion of visual effects and not having the actual movie music soundtrack, it was fairly positive.

As far as the announcement early on that the Wachowskis intended on making this a G-rated movie – it never really set right with me. I certainly don’t have anything against movies that are rated G, but a live action version of a story involving villains, car crashes AND made by the Wachowskis?

I never really bought it. And the review mentioned above confirms it, unless some cuts are made between this and the released version.

According to the person who sent in the review, the movie includes multiple uses of the word “ass,” at least one “sh*t,” and Speed’s younger brother flipping someone off.

Not exactly G-rated material, folks.

It doesn’t sound strong enough for PG-13, considering how THAT rating pushes the envelope, but it’s for sure a PG if what was described remains.

On another note, here’s the trailer for the Speed Racer video game, which actually doesn’t look that different from the trailer for the actual film.

For more on the video game head on over to Yahoo!.

Speed Racer opens on May 9, 2008.

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I’m not quite sure what I think of this Speed Racer trailer. I don’t think one can really complain because it looks like it will be about the most faithful translation of an old cartoon series to a big screen live action movie. Earlier today we brought you a bunch of Speed Racer images and now the trailer those images are from is online.

It looks rated G. It looks really simplistic in it’s writing. And it looks more like a cartoon come to life than anything I’ve ever seen before with the super bright primary colors and effects. If nothing else it looks like the Wachowskis (who brought us The Matrix, as if you didn’t know) will once again contribute a groundbreaking film to the masses.

Trailer after the jump…

You can see it in HD over at Moviefone.

I think people are going to be split right down the middle on this one. I have fond memories of the old cartoon series and used to draw the Mach 5 all over the place.

On which side does your opinion fall?

Speed Racer opens on May 9, 2008.

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Here are some crazy, but cool, Speed Racer photos. USA Today got the exclusive first look at the Wachowskis return to the big screen. The movie, based on the popular, and in my opinion, a bit trippy, cartoon, is a big budget adaptation, which opens next May 2008. And the movie looks to be equally trippy!

The Wachowskis have said they wanted to do a “kids” movie, so the film will likely be rated G, but maybe PG. The film stars Emile Hirsch as Speed, Matthew Fox (from Lost) as Racer X and Christina Ricci as Trixie.

The movie was shot entirely green screen, with some real props, like the Mach 5. See more photos after the jump! Yes, the kid and chimp are in it, too, and everything looks quite authentic, which is bizarre!

Source: USA Today

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I’m back from being out of town last week. Although I managed to post up a couple of reviews, a lot of news didn’t get covered. Here’s a summary of last week’s highlights:

- Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire) will play Sarek, Spock’s father, in the new and currently in production Star Trek movie. (StarTrek.com) Hey! They added another old guy to the cast!

- David Twohy, director of both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick apparently wants Vin Diesel back to play Riddick again. (ComingSoon.net) I thought the first one was pretty dumb the first time I saw it, but upon repeated viewings it grew on me. I also thought that Chronicles was cool in a “guilty pleasure” sort of way.

- Bruce Willis will star the Disney/Touchstone sci-fi flick: The Surrogates. It’s about a society where people interact using surrogate robots that are more attractive than they are. (Variety) Have you been to a Wal-Mart lately? This might not be such a bad idea…

- Jack Black talks about the Green Lantern movie he was rumored to be starring in three years ago but never happened. MTV Thank GOD!

- In it’s second weekend, Beowulf beat out opening Hitman and only fell 41% at the box office. (BoxOfficeMojo.com) I predicted that Beowulf would not drop the typical 60% in it’s second weekend in the comments section of this post back on November 18th.

- Speed Racer is being shot 100% “green screen.” (SuperHeroHype.com) If that’s the case, then why the talk about special cameras to make both near objects and far simultaneously in focus?

- There’s a short featurette talking about the shooting of some scenes of The Dark Knight in the IMAX format that you can watch here. IMAX rocks. I just wish they were shooting the entire film in that format.

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There’s a new list out (don’t we all just love lists?) of the 20 most anticipated movies coming out in the next 12 months.

Movietickets.com polled 2,000 active moviegoers to determine what movies they were most looking forward to. What’s an “active moviegoer” you ask? It’s someone who’s seen a lot of movies this summer. Over 50% of those polled have seen at least six films this summer, with almost 20% having seen 11 or more! So I would imagine that means that many of those polled were teenagers or in their early 20’s.

Before I get to the big list, here’s the breakdown by gender:

Top Five Films Guys Are Looking Forward To:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
5. American Gangster

Top Five Films The Ladies Are Looking Forward To:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
3. The Dark Knight
4. American Gangster
5. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Come on girls, aren’t you interested in Iron Man, a suave playboy/James Bond-type that wears armor and flies?

Here’s the entire list, with commentary by yours truly:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Um, duh. Money in the bank.

2. The Dark Knight (Batman Begins 2)
Not a surprise at all considering how awesome the last one was.

3. National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Wow… this one is wierd. The first one was just mildly entertaining. Maybe people like the “kidnap the President” aspect…

4. American Gangster
Ok, call me shocked for seeing a drama so high up on this list.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Another interesting one considering there’s been very little news or promotion on this. I hope this one is better than the first Narnia film.

6. Iron Man
I’m very happy to see this one so high on the list, and I’m surprised it’s above some of the films below.

7. I Am Legend
I guess the promos for this don’t make it look compelling or exciting enough.

8. Get Smart
This one’s here based on pure nostalgia.

9. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
I’m not personally a big fan of these, but I’m quite surprised to see this so low in the top 10.

10. Charlie Wilson’s War
Wow. A political drama about the U.S.’s dealings with Afghanistan during their war with Russia in the top 10? Must be a MoveOn.org thing that gets this one so high up on the list.

11. Hancock
Ok, somebody explain this one to me. A superhero movie starring Will Smith that I haven’t even heard of??

12. Beowulf
Coming out very soon and this low on the list? Ouch.

13. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass
Ouch, Part 2.

14. Mamma Mia!
Um, what? “The story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father told using hit songs by the popular ’70s group ABBA.”

15. The Incredible Hulk
People must REALLY be feeling burned by the Ang Lee version if this is below a movie in which the band ABBA plays a significant part.

16. Speed Racer
Memories of the Wachowski’s Matrix Revolutions must be keeping this one down here. You’d think it would be ranking close to Get Smart.

17. Step Brothers
A Will Ferrell romp I haven’t even heard of.

18. Bee Movie
Yikes! This thing opens in about three weeks…

19. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
About a month away from release and way down here. Personally I don’t think I can buy Natalie Portman as a wide-eyed dreamer and Dustin Hoffman just comes across as weird in the trailer.

20. Starship Dave
Eddie Murphy takes yet another crack at comedy to see if people will find him funny again.

Glaring omissions from the list above (I don’t necessarily think these will all be great, I’m just very surprised they’re not on the list):

Saw IV
I thought this series had a following, but maybe folks are done with it.

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
Really, REALLY surprised this one is nowhere to be seen on the list! It opens the same day as Charlie Wilson’s War and I’m sorry but that smells funny to me. I would bet cold hard cash that AVP-R makes more on opening weekend than the political drama.

Cloverfield / 1/18/08
Another really big surprise. But then again, I thought the viral marketing thing was implemented a few months too early plus it’s just too damned cryptic for most folks.

10,000 BC
Heh. “From the director of The Day After Tomorrow.”

Stephen King’s The Mist
I guess the string of weak King movies has dampened people’s desire for the movie version.

Wall-E
What!? Why in the heck is this NOT on the list, but Mamma Mia! is??

Other movies that I think should be on the list include The Signal, John Rambo and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Source: CNN.com

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Is the pendulum finally swinging the other way? For the longest time action movies pushed the PG-13 envelope, doing razor thin trims until they just barely escaped the R-rating and slid in to theaters as PG-13 for those lucrative teen and preteen dollars.

Now I hear from /Film that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer has gotten a PG rating! I did not expect that at all… I had assumed it was a given that it would get a PG-13. Very surprising as far as I’m concerned.

I guess if you remove all foul language and any sexual innuendo, a superhero movie can actually get a PG-13 rating. My guess is that the violence in the film is of such a non-specific and fantasy nature that it was able to qualify for a PG. What was even more striking to me is that in a related story, the Wachowski brothers are planning on the upcoming Speed Racer movie being G-rated!

Do I smell the start of a trend here?

Now personally I don’t think a G-rating will stick for the Wachowski movie, and actually I think they may be shooting a bit low on the rating. I think Speed Racer would actually be better and do better at the box office as a PG than as a G film. But is a PG for FF necessarily a bad thing? I don’t think so. I’ve always considered the Fantastic Four to be one of the “lighter” superhero comics and I think the movie could easily work as a PG. Now that doesn’t mean that it will be a good movie… remember: The same team created this one that created the first very weak film.

However, unlike my pals over at /Film, I’m not horrified at the idea of a PG Fantastic Four movie.

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Man, I realize it’s difficult to come up with things to say on the spot in an interview, but sometimes celebs really crack me up. There’s a video out of a press conference covering the upcoming movie Speed Racer… there’s the unveiling of the Mach 5 car plus a panel discussion with the stars of the film.

When Ricci’s turn to talk comes up she starts out great, but then…

“I’m just really excited because I think there are so many negative images for little girls out there, and she’s [Trixie, her character in the film] a very strong-willed, smart girl…”

Great! Nicely said, right? Well here’s how she concluded her statement…

Wait for it…

“…and who is super cute and has great clothes.”

Because, ya know, it’s really important that strong role models for little girls be super-cute and have great clothes.

Thanks for making me chuckle, Christina.

Source: Reuters

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The Screen Rant Empire continues to expand with yet another exciting podcast!

This week’s action-packed podcast includes news about The Dark Knight and IMAX, Eli (Hostel I & II) Roth’s more sensitive and artistic side, what you may NOT know about the Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer movie, Iron Man related coolness, why movie trilogies are not always trilogies and how that relates to their failure or success.

Also, news on the unveiling of the ultimate Iron Man website for fans.

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In a bit of Speed Racer news, USA Today unveiled an official image of the Mach 5 race car that will be used in the upcoming Wachowski brothers-helmed film. I thought it would be fun to compare the movie version (top image) with the version that’s been around since 1999 as a real-world, driveable car.

I actually saw the 1999 version in person (so to speak) at an Auto Show a few years ago. It’s even cooler when you’re standing next to it than it is in a photograph. It was built on a Corvette chassis with a big block V8 engine for power and if you have between $150-200K you can actually have one built for yourself.

Anyhoo, they did get the car right, not that I doubted they would. Producer Joel Silver has re-iterated that Speed Racer will be a family-friendly movie, much different in tone from the Matrix trilogy and V for Vendetta.

Speed Racer opens on May 8, 2008 and stars Emile Hirsch as “Speed”, Christina Ricci as his girlfriend Trixie and Matthew Fox as Speed’s older brother, Racer X.

Source: USA Today

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Emile Hirsch (pictured at left) is in final negotiations for the role of Speed Racer in the upcoming film to be produced by the Wachowski brothers. I’m not familiar with Hirsch and although that’s where the news is centered in regards to the project, I’m more curious about what a Wachowksi-helmed Speed Racer movie will be like.

They co-wrote V for Vendetta and the last thing they directed was the Matrix trilogy. Although different, these shared a dark tone that I don’t think will lend itself to Speed Racer. Of course they can always go in a completely different direction from the original animated series, but then what would be the point of calling it Speed Racer?

Although I’m usually firmly in the “anti-remake” camp, if done right this could be a pretty cool movie. To really work and to retain the feeling of the original animated series it should probably have kind of a James Bond vibe to it IMHO. It should be bright and open as far as cinematography goes, and so far they haven’t really done a movie with that sort of look.

Of course the original series is one best left in my childhood memories… one of those things that I have fond memories of, but if I saw it now I would cringe. I actually caught a few minutes of it on Boomerang (I think that was the channel) and I couldn’t believe how awful it seemed. That’s why I think this movie could work as a remake or re-imagining of the original show. My favorite thing about the show was of course, the car: The Mach 5 was as cool as (if not cooler than) the Batmobile from the 60’s show.

Of course in this day and age I don’t know if a cool car is enough to carry a movie… then again there is talk of a Knight Rider flick.

Source: IGN.com

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