Speed Racer: From Animated Classic To Vivid Animation

Just recently the Blu-Ray version of Speed Racer hit store shelves. Being a fan of the original animated television series I teleported to my nearest chain to pick my copy up. I didn't watch Speed Racer in the theaters. I just wasn't interested in seeing it till I got home, mainly for it's low PG rating. I'll get more in depth with that topic another time. This is the first Blu-Ray movie I have purchased where the movie plays instantly. I didn't get to the main menu and I didn't get any trailers just the movie.

The movie starts off in the present you see speed putting on his gear for a race. Two seconds later you're in the past. What looks to be between third and sixth grade. I say this because he's taking a standardized test with word problems. Speed can't concentrate. All he can think about is racing. So, the movie has a lot of jumps. Ironically the movie gets artistic credit from The Wachowski Brothers, (V For Vendetta and The Matrix Anthology). I say that loosely. If you're a person who isn't about flash backs then you'll probably feel uneasy watching this movie. Moving past that the story revolves around Speed and his family of race enthusiasts. The movie is loosely tied to the classic series. All of the main characters are there. The cars are there. The tracks are roller coasters (The classic series didn't include roller coasters). Speed has made a name for himself and sponsors come looking for him, however he had been trained the only sponsor he need is in his family. This upsets one of the sponsors and makes a big schpeel about how racing is a gimmick and the only winners are the ones the league decides on. Speed is set off to prove the sponsor wrong. That's the premise in a nutshell.

Moving back to a more technical side. The movie is PG which means this could be a family movie. Lets not forget that the Wachowski Brothers took acid with their DP causing a color meltdown. It looks as if the Brothers and their DP took a bag of Skittles and meshed them with the film. In a way I understand why. The series comes from the late 60's to the late 70's era. There were a lot of psychedelic attitudes back then. Speaking of psychedelic, the costumes were very psychedelic. All very retro. The only three characters that looked as if a carbon copy of the original show were Speed, Pops, and Racer-X. The movie had fast cuts and even faster cuts. So anyone out there who suffers from epileptic seizures you might want to stay away from this film.

Overall, the film was very entertaining. The content left something to be desired, and it's sad, normally a family movie has something for all ages. Lots of pretty colors for toddlers, poop flinging for, adolescence, teen romance for teens, but nothing much for adults. Racing? Maybe you can consider that something, but I can't consider that content. If you're looking for a movie to make you feel something more than entertained then look else where. If you're looking for a film that will give you some entertaining moments to spend alone or with a family, especially toddlers, then give this movie a try.

"This Must Be The Place" My Childhood and Talking Heads

I like to think that I have an interesting palette of taste in music. I want to get a little more intimate Talking Heads, New Wave band from the late 70's to the late 80's. Frankly, my entire childhood memories revolve around Talking Heads, or TH for short.

So, lets start with my childhood. My mother and father divorced in 1988, (Ironically so did the band). My father moved to Baton Rouge. He had a small one bed room apartment next to a power grid. The apartment had the look of an old shotgun home. You'd walk in to the apartment to find the living area and kitchen. You'd walk to the back and find a bedroom and bathroom. Nothing glamorous. He had only one movie I can recall. True Stories consider it the TH movie.

So, what is this movie about? Well, David Byrne, lead singer, from TH said in a promo interview he had with himself, I'm not joking, that the idea for True Stories came from tabloids found in a supermarket. The movie also spawned an album with the same title. This became the first album I had heard from TH. Aside: The band Radiohead took their name from the title of track number six, (Radio Head). I can recall listening to "Wild Wild Life" and picturing the open road between La Place, La and Baton Rouge, La. So, back to my childhood. As I got a little older I started hearing more and more TH. My father remarried and moved into a larger home. Shawn liked TH like we did. So, my father picked up my sister and me and brought us to their new home in Spanish Town, BR. Aside: If you've never been to Spanish Town all you need to know is it's 90% Homosexual, and the safest neighborhood from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. My father had my sister and me walk to a little convenience store down the road, and we were only about seven or eight years old. So, with a new home and a partially new life came new TH music. This time Stop Making Sense. This is a live album from a TH tour. Aside: It also became a concert movie similar to The Last Waltz. Directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs). Byrne said in his self interview that he wanted Demme to direct the show, because he enjoyed his movies. If you have never heard of the name of the group Talking Heads, but claim to know of Popular music. Then, you've heard a song that had been performed live for this tour. "Burning Down The House" and "Once In A Lifetime" are all I think about when driving to Spanish Town. Aside: Infact, my sister and I took a trip down Spanish town in 2002, and we pumped out our Talking Heads to relive our past.

TH has quite an eclectic range of musical styles. In the beginning TH seemed to sound more like rock. Towards the end of the bands run there were more exotic sounds. I think tribal when I heard some of the songs. TH music is the one positive thing I can say about my father. Beacuse of him I get to enjoy this music. While Talking Heads are not together anymore there are plenty of Albums to hear with all sorts of interesting sounds. I guess that's why they were called Talking Heads, because to them the music is more than just a head talking. There is actual music with feeling put behind it. If you are a person looking into music that stands out with a message then I recommend you check them out.