Movies of 2008

[droosan]

I loved Speed Racer .. had an absolute blast, from the opening logos (!) through the very end of the credits!

I seriously don't understand the 'bad press' the film has been getting.

As eddievalient says, the storytelling in this film really is different than anything I've ever seen; I don't know if it will be quite as 'influential' on the overall future of film, as he thinks .. but the extremely 'fancy' editing works spectacularly well, in service of this particular story.

Michael Giacchino's score is fantastic, as well .. very much in the vein of his work on The Incredibles; but with plenty of 'nods' to the classic Speed Racer theme.

Best of all, though, is the fact that .. despite the candy-coated gee-whiz ADD presentation .. the true 'spirit' of the original Mach Go-Go-Go series permeates the film. The characters are 'spot-on' in every important way, and there's plenty of action lifted straight out of the show (particularly a couple of fight sequences).

So, go see it! Go-Go-Go!

[GeorgeC]

Iron Man's good... Surprisingly good, and much better than the Iron Man comic book has been in at least 15 years! Robert Downey, Jr. is likeable as Tony Stark unlike today's almost universally despised Marvel comic book counterpart. The current Marvel EIC ought to be tarred and feathered for what he allowed to happen to the printed page counterpart.

Somebody did their research and found a way to make the Iron Man character work again!



Speed Racer, on the other hand, looked CHEESY from the trailer.

The original cartoon was cheesy, too, so again I understand why people are staying away. The cartoon's for little kids and perhaps a bit too dated. If the movie script stayed as simplistic as the old show (and from what I've heard, it did), the movie will never have more than a small cult following.

The Speed Racer trailer seemed a bit too hyperkinetic and if it's anything like half the films out there, it's probably edited like a modern music video and nearly incomprehensible half the time. And gee, that's pretty much what all the reviews I've read from people who HATED the film said!

If any film is guaranteed to put a poor kid into epileptic seizure, it's going to be Speed Racer.

Passing on Speed Racer. I like to play arcade racing games, not watch them...

Prince Caspian looks good, mixed signals are coming in from preview audiences for Indiana Jones IV, however.

[Dacey]

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but the odds of "Speed Racer" changing the face of moviemaking are pretty unlikely when you look at Friday's numbers:

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

[Meg]

Ouch.

[Ben]

Hopefully I'll get to see both this week.

[droosan]

To paraphrase something I once read elsewhere online:

The Godfather would still be an excellent film, even if only one person in the whole world had watched it. And The Last Action Hero would still be a terrible film, even if every person alive on earth paid to see it. Twice.

Box office 'takes' have never been a measurement of my personal enjoyment of a movie .. and it has always amazed me that anyone who is not in the absolute upper-echelons of the movie business even cares what a movie makes in its opening weekend.

That said, I recognize that Speed Racer is not a film everyone would enjoy .. and, as I did say, I doubt its unique storytelling techniques will influence the overall future of film-making.

But that doesn't change the fact that the Wachowski brothers have performed a bold experiment in storytelling with Speed Racer; and that the experiment was largely successful, in terms of making this movie far more entertaining than I'd expected. I hold it up right alongside Iron Man; AFAIC, 2008's summer 'movie season' is off to a great start.

[eddievalient]

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but the odds of "Speed Racer" changing the face of moviemaking are pretty unlikely when you look at Friday's numbers:

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

This is interesting. Right now the projected weekend total is just over $20 million (this doesn't factor in the evening showings today which of course haven't been done yet). However, the user reviews on Yahoo Movies seem to be overwhelmingly positive, with several of the ones I looked at saying the critics are wrong. It could be that Speed gets a slow start, but will find its audience gradually and do respectably well by summer's end (similar to Finding Nemo which, if you'll remember, was initially expected to fail). I suppose we'll have to wait and see. But that doesn't change my opinion one iota.

[Ben]

It may have "legs", as eddie says, or in this case, "wheels"...

...but bigger stuff is coming - and quick - and I just don't see how it's going to sustain the lack of momentum.

Really looking forward to seeing it...I'm a BIG fan of many movies with unique ideas and/or production processes that crashed and burned.



And...I liked what they tried to do with Last Action Hero!

[droosan]

And...I liked what they tried to do with Last Action Hero!

Well, I'd hoped I made it clear that I was quoting someone else (I've never seen The Last Action Hero, myself) .. but I still agree with the point which was made:

Box-office numbers only mean something to the 'business' side of the film business. They do not reflect a film's quality, or entertainment value, in any way. :idea:

[Macaluso]

Iron Man's good... Surprisingly good, and much better than the Iron Man comic book has been in at least 15 years! Robert Downey, Jr. is likeable as Tony Stark unlike today's almost universally despised Marvel comic book counterpart. The current Marvel EIC ought to be tarred and feathered for what he allowed to happen to the printed page counterpart.

Somebody did their research and found a way to make the Iron Man character work again!

if by universally despised you mean universally despised in the world of GeorgeC than I suppose that'd be correct

[Ben]

Box-office numbers only mean something to the 'business' side of the film business. They do not reflect a film's quality, or entertainment value, in any way. :idea:

Nope, I got'cha. The proof is in things like The Rocketeer and Mystery Men.

[Macaluso]

speed racer was awesome

[Dacey]

Wow. "The Happening" just got rated R:

http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=19636

For some reason I'm surprised by this.

[Macaluso]

you'll be even more surprised when you find out the ridiculous plot twist

[Once Upon A Dream]

You know,there's many good film in 2008 but 2009 seems very weak (IMO).