The film, written and directed by Galt Niederhoffer, presents a contemporary take on the age-old adage, “first comes love, then comes marriage.” Niederhoffer is the author of four novels, including “The Romantics” and “Poison,” and producer of 12 Sundance Film Festival selections and award-winners. 21, 2020 DVD release to follow on March 24, 2020. (“Vision”) announces the US and Canadian release of 10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up on all major VOD platforms and for a limited theatrical run nationwide on Feb. But compared to their previous work, they’ve downshifted.Vision Films Inc. No one else could’ve made this film this well in 2008. The Wachowskis are too good to throw stuff at the screen and call it a movie, and “Speed Racer” is not one of those. But I suppose it’s important to include all the toon characters. I could’ve done without the antics of younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and his chimpanzee Chim Chim, who add kiddie humor to what often plays as a mature film, or at least a family film. The identity of Racer X (Matthew Fox), who probes the conspiracy, adds mystery. Speed’s thoughts of his late older brother Rex ( “Friday Night Lights’” Scott Porter) add heart. I like the folks around Speed, including a Super Mario-looking John Goodman as Pops and Christina Ricci as girlfriend Trixie, who also serves as a helicopter spotter during races. Racing is not exactly clean as a whistle, but this narrative isn’t a play on an actual conspiracy. A pivotal scene finds villain Royalton (“V for Vendetta’s” Roger Allam) telling Speed all about the corruption of racing, trying to get him to come to his huge corporation rather than be destroyed by it.īut “Speed Racer” feels disconnected whereas the themes of “The Matrix” and “V for Vendetta” feel crucial. To its credit, “Speed Racer” is concerned with substance. It’s kinetic, but not overwhelming.Įvery ‘Harry Potter’/ Wizarding World movie, ranked They and their team create excitement entirely in computer programs, blending race action with cutouts of excited announcers of multiple ethnicities. Still, the Wachowskis are clearly having fun, and it superficially translates. This is a long way of saying that “Speed Racer” didn’t need to be so stylized to tell its story. Admittedly, they haven’t climbed a cliff – although, granted, I haven’t seen “F9” yet. It shows you’re playing fair with the audience, perhaps.īut interestingly, the “Fast & Furious” films have now gone far beyond what cars can actually do they’ve parachuted and jumped between skyscrapers and cliff-dived. The Wachowskis perhaps thought something like a car climbing a sheer mountain – as Speed Racer’s (Emile Hirsch) Mach 6 does at one point – has to be a literal cartoon. “Speed Racer” is an amazing technical achievement for 2008, but a more spectacular (and real-looking) film could be made today for the same price. They might’ve been cooler if they were set more in reality. The Wachowskis don’t try to disguise that the races – tracks, cars, fans, and of course collisions and crashes - are created in computers. Tracks are elevated and they swoop in wild loops, sometimes with gaps to be jumped. The races themselves don’t try to resemble reality. Stars: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski