I was worried during the first act as it was full of lengthy exposition. I thought “Shouldn’t there be some racing?” But after that, it was a fun ride.

This is definitely a kid’s film. The humor and wacky action is definitely aimed for 10 or 12 year olds. So there’s that. The style is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s a crazy twisting neon kaleidoscope of races and fight scenes witnessed previously only in anime. Everything about the races is over the top. Cars don’t spend more than two seconds going straight ahead. The rest of the time they are drifting into impossible spaghetti curves or flipping through the air or cartwheeling along mountainsides.

The editing and visual style definitely overwhelm everything else. Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and Christina Ricci hold their own like pros. Emil Hirsch does a fair job competing against the visual effects to be a likable Speed. The kid playing Spritle is the Jar-Jar of the film, though he has some genuinely funny moments. And there’s a monkey. Who doesn’t love monkeys?

My favorite character was Racer X. I kind of wish the movie was called “Racer X’ instead of “Speed Racer”, but that’s me.

The second act is the most fun, with all kinds of crazy racing, Dragonball Z fight sequences and ninjas. You already know how the third act is going to go down about halfway through the film, but it was still fun to watch.

If you can get past the groan-worthy first part of the movie, there’s a lot to enjoy. Whoever cut this film is a true artist. The mind that could think in the same way that this film moves brushes against the alien.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Batman Begins
3. Ghostbusters
4. Barton Fink
5. Old Boy
6. Iron Man
7. My Left Foot
8. Ratatouille
9. Speed Racer
10. Gone Baby Gone

Exceeded all expectations. Awesome. Remember to stay until the after credits for maximum geek impact.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Batman Begins
3. Ghostbusters
4. Barton Fink
5. Old Boy
6. Iron Man
7. My Left Foot
8. Ratatouille
9. Gone Baby Gone
10. Cloverfield

“Can ten years of imaginary training be put to use? Apparently, it can.”

“Let’s show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown.”

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Batman Begins
3. Ghostbusters
4. Barton Fink
5. Old Boy
6. My Left Foot
7. Ratatouille
8. Cloverfield
9. Juno
10. 9 Lives

I had forgotten how amazing Batman Begins was. I hadn’t seen it since the theater. The cast is just saturated with talent, a who’s who of amazing non-genre actors bringing their A game to a genre film. As far as I know, this is the only superhero film to have pulled that off.

Since Nukes is sadly behind in his watching of the Coen Brother’s filmography,  we watched Barton Fink last night. This was the first Coen Brothers film I had ever seen. It had been part of a class in college. I don’t think I appreciated it nearly as much as I did last night. It is definitely up there as one of the top Coen Brothers films.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Batman Begins
3. Barton Fink
4. My Left Foot
5. Ratatouille
6. Cloverfield
7. Juno
8. 9 Lives
9. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
10. Charlie Bartlett

One of the Day-Lewis Entity’s earlier appearances in human guise. Superb.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. My Left Foot
3. Ratatouille
4. Cloverfield
5. Juno
6. 9 Lives
7. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
8. Charlie Bartlett
9. The Big Lebowski
10. Jumper

If you’ve seen the trailer for Jumper, you have pretty much seen the entire movie. It is a fun special effects film populated with unlikeable characters that all act like dicks to each other.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Ratatouille
3. Cloverfield
4. Juno
5. 9 Lives
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
7. Charlie Bartlett
8. The Big Lebowski
9. Jumper
10. Voices of a Distant Star

Would I have gone to see this had it not been a free advance screening at the Alamo? Probably not. Our “tickets’ were spent shell casings from an automatic weapon, which was kind of cool.

There’s not a whole lot of movie here. It does contain the longest sequence of horrific violence I’ve seen in a movie. The last act was just the sound of a heavy artillery gun and people exploding.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Ratatouille
3. Cloverfield
4. 9 Lives
5. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
6. The Big Lebowski
7. Voices of a Distant Star
8. Rambo
9.
10.