BuzzSugar

Speed Racer: One Long Hangover

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:31:25 PDT

My eyeballs hurt. My head hurts. I feel tired. Watching Speed Racer has me feeling all the nastiness of a hangover but without any of the hard-partying fun. I tried coming up with other analogies for the experience of seeing this nauseating, candy-colored whirlpool of a movie, with most of my attempts having to do with sugar, dizziness and a resultant sad, empty feeling, but it appears that most other reviews have already done the legwork in this regard.

Some of the descriptions with which I most heartily agree include the following:

From MSNBC's Alonso Duralde:
"Imagine someone pouring hot, melted Starburst candies into your corneas, and you just begin to approximate the experience of Speed Racer, an ice-cream headache of a movie."
From The New Yorker's Anthony Lane:
"The entire movie, indeed, is what Tom Wolfe would call a Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, complete with achingly blue skies, customized deserts, fantastical mountains, and everything from Goodman’s shirt to Ricci’s fingernails daubed in lollipop hues; it makes the world of Pee-wee Herman look like Anselm Kiefer. So how did this rainbow of velocity end up bleached of fun?"
From Film Journal International's Frank Lovece:
"It's all a bombastic mishmash that makes you feel like you've been stuffed inside a kaleidoscope and shaken for two hours."
From The New York Observer's Rex Reed:
"I can sit through just about anything, but I draw the line at two hours and 15 minutes of fuchsia vomit. To suffer through this kind of hell, movie critics deserve combat pay."
And my very favorite, from New York Magazine's David Edelstein:
"The film is like a nightmare in which you’re trapped in an arcade with screens on all sides and no eyelids."

So, you're probably getting the picture, but still,

read more. Speed Racer tells a fairly convoluted story of greed, the evils of capitalism, family and car racing. Speed is a boy (played by Emile Hirsch) whose sole interest is driving a race car. He idolized his brother Rex until Rex apparently brought shame to the sport and died in a fiery crash. Now Speed loyally races for his father's motor company and he ignites the rage of crazy corporate tycoon Royalton (Roger Allam) when he refuses to race for the Royalton company. Royalton is a shady organization that forces its racers to cheat and demolishes anyone who threatens to beat one of their own, since a Royalton loss would bring down Royalton stock value. See? There is a whole subplot about stocks! I'm not even a kid and I was so bored by so much of this film. The performances are more or less fine (I think?) given the situation, though the actors often appear to be cracking under the immense strain to breathe real life into a world that literally doesn't exist around them. Clocking in at two hours and 15 minutes, this assault on the senses is way too long to hold the brief attention span of a child, and it's frankly just not enjoyable for adults. So, aside from the visuals (which are cool for about twenty minutes, but what to do with the last 115?), I frankly can't recommend seeing this movie. There's just no point. To see the trailer and more videos from Speed Racer, check out movies.ivillage.com. Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Trippy New Trailer For Speed Racer

BuzzSugar — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:30:00 PST

I have to say, Emile Hirsch was totally right when he told me during our interview that the Wachowski siblings' high-octane family action movie Speed Racer would be "pretty kooky. Pretty groovy. Very psychedelic." Indeed, the new trailer for the film, in theaters May 9, looks like a candy-colored trip. I got a little dizzy watching it, but it's also pretty darn cool looking.

To make things more interesting, the cast is awesome, from Susan Sarandon to Matthew Fox to John Goodman. I'm not too precious about the old Speed Racer cartoon series, so I'll be curious to find out how the Wachowski siblings have updated it for modern moviegoers. To check out the crazy trailer for Speed Racer,

Tom Hanks to Set Adrift on Cloud Atlas

BuzzSugar — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:55:18 PDT

Tom Hanks is taking on one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the past 10 years: the actor has signed on to star in Cloud Atlas. The film is an adaptation of the David Mitchell book, which follows six nested stories ranging from the distant past to the postapocalyptic future. Each tale is abruptly cut off, and the following one starts with a reference to the one prior.

For example, the book begins in the 19th century South Pacific and is written from the perspective of a captain's log, and the second segment starts when a character finds the log, and so on. When it gets to the central piece, the sections start going backward to finish up each story. There's no confirmation on which character Hanks will play yet, though he's rumored for Dr. Henry Goose, which is part of the opening segment.

If that book description sounds unusual, the directing news is just as interesting. Three people are set to share directing and screenwriting duties: Andy and Lana Wachowski (of the Matrix films) are collaborating with Tom Tykwer, best known for Run Lola Run.

Natalie Shops With Adorable Aleph and Mulls a New Sci-Fi Role

Allie Merriam — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 PST

Natalie Portman and her fiancé Benjamin Millepied took their son Aleph out to browse an LA farmers market on Friday. The family of three picked up fresh veggies as well as a truck full of gardening supplies! Natalie, Benjamin, and Aleph are hanging out together on the West Coast and enjoying a low-key few months together. At this time last year, Natalie's life was quite different. In 2011, she was just beginning a whirlwind award season that culminated in her Academy Award win for Black Swan.

She's taken the last year off to focus on Aleph, but rumors suggest Natalie might be eyeing her first post-Oscars movie. V For Vendetta producers Lana and Andy Wachowski want Natalie to star in Jupiter Ascending, a sci-fi picture. They have yet to sign a deal on that, but Natalie can still be seen in other mediums. Both Black Swan stars Natalie and Mila Kunis are in Dior ads! Mila models the Miss Dior handbag, while Natalie's the face of their Cherie fragrance.