Not a bad start for Marvel Films.

2 weeks at number 1 is good.  Speed Racer is a flop.  Iron Man will drop this weekend though with the second Narnia movie coming out.  Don’t know if anything else comes out or not, so Iron Man will probably come in at a decent second and probably the only other one to make more than 10 million.

Speed Racer is fantastic. The critics are panning it, but every single one of them says the same thing. “There are bright colors! And no body count! That means it’s a crappy kiddy movie!”

Anyone who can’t find Speed Racer an enjoyable movie is a moron who can’t take a movie where the hero isn’t wearing a black trenchcoat and scowling as he spouts grim, sociopathic one-liners.

Dude, I saw the 8-minute clip they shopped around...I kind of hated it.  Does it get better after that?

*Added: Also, ouch

Maybe you saw something different than I did, Rann, but to me Speed Racer looked like some kind of insane Matchbox cars movie directed by Joel Schumacher.

I gotta go see Iron Man.

--Toasty

Saw both Iron Man and Speed Racer twice now (I had a few days free) and loved them both.  If you have to choose between the two, Iron Man all the way, but Speed Racer was really cool too.

I’m not doubting the possibility of Speed Racer being a good movie, but I think its ability to generate appeal was over estimated.  Its tanking in the box office shows that.  I

t might and I do mean might end up making back the money it earned in theaters because of its possible family appeal but its not going to be a blockbuster that I think they hoped for.  And its family appeal will take a hit this weekend because of Narnia, which also has the family appeal and its ability generate appeal is established.

I’ve seen Iron Man twice and Speed Racer four times.

Iron Man was awesome the way a superhero origin story is awesome when done well. You know, the fun and excitement of seeing a character come into his role, the role you know him to fill.

Speed Racer was a fun movie all the way. It has a hero you want to win and a badguy thats really easy to loathe. The movie was fun, the story had a lot of heart, and I absolutely adored the transitions and flashbacks.  The opening 8 minutes captured the essence of the major characters in the Racer family, as well as a quick history to show where the family is now. There was only ONE scene in the movie I didn’t really care for how it was done, and the whole “corporations and big money are the devil” got a little old. Other than the minor complaints, I loved it. And despite the multiple viewings, the final race keeps me locked in every time. Did I mention I like how they handled the flashbacks?

The whole time flow thing in Speed Racer was one of those elements that’s done REALLY well. It has a very fluid concept of what’s going on now and what’s a flashback and how it transitions between them, but it’s done so smoothly and handled so well that you’re not left going “Huh?”

Well, apparently critics were left going “Huh?”, but as established, they are morons.

A’ight.  I’ll give it a shot.  Christ knows I have watched some horrible shit.  If I end up being wrong about it, I shall apologize profusely, Mr. Aridorn. :)

*feels left out* ^.~

Just to get some perspective, did either of you find the matrix sequels to be fine works of cinematic genius?  Or were you fans of the Speed Racer cartoon?

On the first question I know I’m being a bit of an ass in the way I’m asking but I think you get my line of questioning.

I see the two matrix sequels as on par with the Star Wars “prequels.” Just a prison-style assraping of the promise of the original source material, made ponderous by the Wachowskis taking themselves so god-damned seriously.

Maybe Speed Racer shrugs off that mountain of crap they carry around with them?

Fucking hell.  Now I have to see it.  :)

Actaully I wasn’t talking to you jim, since you haven’t seen Speed Racer yet.  I wanted to hear the opinion of those saying Speed Racer is good.

And you’re giving the prequels too much credit. :P Lucas should have given the job of storyboarding them to Zahn and Stackpole.

I wouldn’t say they were “cinematic genius”. I found them mildly fun if not something I’d really want to see over and over again. I certainly didn’t feel the need to rend my garments and rip out my eyes while screaming to the heavens that God had betrayed me like a lot of people seemed to.

Look, if you don’t think you’ll like it, don’t go and see it, but I really don’t feel like getting into a movie taste dickwaving contest.

I wouldn’t say they were “cinematic genius”. I found them mildly fun if not something I’d really want to see over and over again.

That’s why I said I know I was being an ass in the way I asked it.  And it was just to get a feel for your taste in movies and if your liking of the movie could be connected to your liking of the Wachowski’s style or of the original cartoon, not an “OMG j00 sux for liking that” critique.

I was originally disappointed with Reloaded, mainly due to seeing some of the Animatrix a week before the release, but appreciated it a bit more when Revolutions was released.  The Animatrix should have been expanded and released as the true sequel/prequel to the Matrix, while Reloaded and Revolutions should have been combined and edited down to a 2.5 hour movie to get rid of the pointless shit. 
As for the Speed Racer cartoon series, I used watched some of them on Cartoon Network late at night, but I usually fell asleep through them.  The movie appealed to me due to some of the similarities to the Spy Kids movies, which I really liked.  The only thing that really irked me during the movie was the constant bashing of corporations, which slowed down the pace established in the introduction. We get it.

It’s hard to get a bead on my tastes by examining what I do like and don’t like. Because some of the stuff I enjoy is right in line with what you’d expect of someone of my age and hobbies and whatnot.

And then there’s the occasional movie that I’m probably one of three beings on the planet that actually enjoys it.

Like… okay, I’ll take flak for this… “Wild Wild West”. I don’t think it’s a GOOD movie, but it was a -fun- movie. Or “The Adventures of Pluto Nash”. I think the thing that doomed that movie the most was the soundtrack… if it had been scored entirely differently, and maybe just one or two other small things changed, it could have been much better. I still think it has some absolutely great lines in it.

On the other hand, I loathed and still do loathe Episode I, and think Episode II is pretty bad as well. Episode III, I find tolerable, even good in places.

Like I said, a lot of the enjoyment in Speed Racer comes from it being bright and exuberant and utterly reveling in what it is. That being, bright and idealistic and cartoonish. The triumph of idealism over cynicism is its central theme, which is a welcome relief from so many movies where the hero’s greatest triumph is a sort of slumped, pained “Well, not everybody died”. It’s got all the action and oomph of “The Matrix” but expanding explicitly on the idea left dangling and ambiguous at the end of that: that by being true to himself and his ideals and those who care about him, the hero changes the world.

I gotta say, though, as wonderful as Speed Racer might be, I won’t ever see it. From everything I’ve seen it looks to be just about the most headache/nausea/motion sickness/seizure inducing film I’ve seen out there in a while. Hell, I feel the need to shield my eyes from the TV spots. It’s could be genius, it could be a pile of crap… but does it have to be SO insanely fast and flashy that I’ll never be able to know?

*grumbles*

I didn’t really like the Speed Racer cartoon. I just couldn’t get into it.

I really liked the first Matrix.  I do not remember much from the second.  If that had the highway chase/fight scene, then that was probably my favorite part of that movie.  The third movie had the dock scene, which I loved.  So ya, the last two Matrix movies (Matrices?  ^>^) had good things in them, but weren’t really that good.

Same thing w/ V for Vendetta.  There were things in the movie that I liked, but not a huge fan of the movie as a whole.

The Starwars Prequels were crap all over.  My buddy likes the first one for the pod racing scene.  I cannot watch them because there was so much wasted potential there.  The best thing Lucas did for the Starwars universe after the Original Trilogy was to step back and let others handle the Extended Universe. Its been pretty much downhill from there, and a sudden drop whenever Lucas gets directly involved. -,-`

In regards to the fast and flashy of Speed Racer, I gotta say that its not so bad.  You may run into some issues if you see it at an Imax, but on a regular movie screen you should be just fine. I hate those stupid “handycam” flicks like Cloverfield because you can’t focus on anything. Two of my friends DID get sick from watching Cloverfield, but have had no issues w/ Speed Racer.  Go see it. Just sit in the back row to be safe.  ^.^`

wonderful! maybe theres hope for video game movies...give it a few years.