That said, if you really think Speed Racer is a more attractive option, then at least experience it properly. Grab yourself a huge bag of Skittles, dose up on Red Bull and enjoy the rush. Knock yourself out, kid...

Popeye? For fuck's sake, lad! It'll be Condorman next...

I haven't seen Speed Racer but i fear David Edelstein's review online at New York Magazine is a more accurate take on this film. I don't think Edelstein's a "too-cool-for-the-room douchebag", do you Mori?

I understand that you Americans have this huge love for Speed Racer that we Brits simply don't (it never aired over here, or if it did, it never flew), but I wonder how much of this appreciation is mired in childhood nostalgia and how much applies to this film, right here, right now?

And if the aim was truly to make what you percieve to be a gorgeous, crazy cartoon, then they seem to have spent an awful lot of money doing so. Why not simply make a gorgeous, crazy cartoon?

As it is, my brain is now stuck with a mental image of B+W Popeye smacking Iron Man's arse to a Bee Gees soundtrack! Thanks for that!

joeelliott - opinions are like noses. i saw it twice this weekend. RD Jr. rules in this one. I actually liked it better than the first Spiderman. Or Richard Donner's Superman.

I was starting to feel outgunned here...

Not a massive fan of in your face FX for FX sake and no idea what the original cartoon/TV show was and Harrys little animation is piss frightnin! but i will test drive the Speedracer now. Still gotta get my eyes on IronMan goddamn!which i missed yesterday in favour of the 'family friendly' hunk of shit called Nim(rod)s Island! Holy twat! what a sack of Sheeiite that was! even my kid said ''I no like that!'' this might pop his brainsack!!!

i will go to see this in cinemas because, after the Matrix, the Wachowskis get a lifetime free-pass (Matrix Revolutions notwithstanding). I also have no problem with big, fun cartoons and bringing my inner child to enjoy films.

But having read Edelstein's review and Quint and Moriarty soft-selling the movie, i'm going in with my expectations distinctly lowered...

Thanks, man.

This summer is just making me realize what an opinionated group of cumbuckets we nerds are. All I'm looking for in films like Speed Racer is that they take the material seriously enough to cast good actors (something NOT done with AvP2) and use a script that feels like it wasn't lifted off the bathroom stall wall of an I-95 truck stop.

Unfortunately, Revolutions took all the interesting questions raised by Reloaded and pretty much threw them out the window in favour of a couple of big whizz-bang fight sequences. With Revolutions, i finally understood the hate that everyone else had for Reloaded. I still like Reloaded, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to think how all the cool stuff it was pointing towards never eventuated, and the stinkburger that Revolutions delivered instead.

So, yes, you really are the only person who liked Revolutions.

As a cohesive whole, I think the Matrix trilogy works better than [gasp!] the original SW trilogy.

The whole series suffers from the problem that the first one never gets over, and which they spell out in the restaurant scene- Is it better to live in the Matrix or Reality, and on all available evidence I have to say that living in the matrix is by far the better option.

However, the second was an exposition laced borefest, and as stupid as Harry's Werewolf comment was, I can see where he was going with it. They did open pandora's box and what they found was...... Lots and lots of Agent Smiths. How shit, and how unimaginitive.

And as for when Neo became superpowered in the real world. What a load of bollocks.

The whole series is heavily flawed, but don't try to pretend its mixture of cod-philosphy and psuedo intellectualisation was intelligent. It was thicker than a brick sandwich

Dirtyjokes has just reminded me of Morpheus' nauseatingly awful speech just before that Rave. It was supposed to be such a great call to arms and came off worse than "CAN YOU DIG IT"

at the end of Robocop (or maybe robocop2)he fights a bigger mech/robot thing. thats the comparison. its a lame one which i, too, don't understand.

And I never saw the movies through all that philosophical mumbo jumbo that others did. They were basically just popcorn flicks to me.

1. - RAVE SEQUENCE: To me, this was a scene of pure audio-visual sensation. Kind of like the extended docking sequences in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. I personally thought it had a great ethereal quality about it that really communicated the 'spirit of Zion' in a very provocative way.

2. - BURLY BRAWL: The whole point of this battle is we expect Neo - the One - will be able to own Smith. But he can't. It's a dramatic reversal that states "Smith is back, and he's an enemy to be reckoned with".

3. - ARCHITECT: As far as I'm concerned, this is on a par with Vader's "Luke, I am your father" in 'The Empire Strikes Back'. It totally takes the rug out from under Neo's (and the audience's) feet. It forces us to re-examine everything we think we know about the story. It's frickin' awesome is what it is.

In preparation for Rambo IV, I watched First Blood for the first time in 20 years this past weekend and I couldn't believe how much I loved this thing as a kid. I watched it every single time it was on HBO. It hasn't aged well at all. Not at all and that point is not open to discussion.

So I just take what guys around here say with a grain of salt. Somebody who thinks that Tron, The Black Hole and Dragonslayer are all classic movies but wouldn't piss on the last remaining reel of I Am Legend if it was on fire is somebody I ain't seeing eye to eye with.

Similarly, the 2nd movie raises the prospect of the Matrix being filled with all manner of strange and outlandish things, yet in the 3rd movie, it's just wall-to-wall Smiths.

Getting back on-topic, has anyone who has seen Speed Racer think the Wachowskis are moving forward? or are they regressing?

Not Harry's finest hour.

I think that was his animal fetish period, as didn't he also mention something about Dead raped deer?

Narnia 1 and 2 are over 2 hours you say, but they have a much broader fan base and appeal, and i bet all those fun loving bible readers saw the previews and thought they could sit through it with their kids (thank allah for the kick ass animal fight at the end or I would've been pissed). But I don't see many parents opting to sit through this for 2 hours, it has that "What's a DVD?" your too old to get it feel about it. And parents will just tune it out. Excpet my mom, but she likes the most random crap and was a Next Generation Fan.

Also all those people saying that they'll wait for DVD, something tells me that if this movie is going to be any good at all, its going to be because its on the big screen (then again I enjoyed the Matrices 2 + 3 better on my computer). Too bad they shut down the local IMAX here, but seriously WTF do you do with an IMAX after its shut down and is in the nice museum part of town? Its not like they can turn it into a gruge concert joint like they did with another movie theater that closed around here. And you can't make it resturante. I wonder what they'll do with it.

Speaking of updating, i don't care if the search engine sucks, if they get a new one it would probably mean a whole site upgrade and I was looking at other movie sites this morning and they are sooo fucking irritating. I like the basic story then picture simple layout then basic TB with no stupid pictures of fucking gay ass quotes with every post. Or like IMDB having to fucking open the thread to flat every time.

Mind you, Harry should also apoogise for "mesa like" Jar Jar Stinks.

Chewyou, don't get me wrong, I'll stick by the original SW trilogy out of morose principal, but if a movie ages poorly, it ages poorly. When you watch a movie like Jaws or Back to the Future or L.A. Confidential, you see how they'll stand the test of time. Every actor was perfect, the scripts were perfect, the pacing and edits were perfect. These movies were made to be perfect. Watching beloved movies from my childhood is something I try to avoid. I've sat through too many turn-your-head-and-wince moments during those unfortunate revisits that I've learned to leave them in the past.

...it was a shock to see him play a villain and a traitor. I really didn't see that coming! VANTAGE POINT was certainly interesting with its seperate takes on the same situation. After a while, it got a little old. However, those did provide a nice set of clues to figure out the ending -- which was still surprisingly different than what I expected.

They could dismiss the original sequel and threequel as a "dream" and then make a new set of movies that better resemble the first one.

No thanks, that just makes them terrible. I don't want to devote weeks of my life to watching a film- it's entertainment not study.

THE MATRIX (part 1) was probably one of the few films from the turn of the century that would register as "iconic." However, now we have to remember the first film without thinking about how dull the sequels were.

Having a movie trashed by talkbackers? That's when you know you've hit the big time!

I watched Jaws for the first time 25 years after it was released and the cheap looking mechanical shark didn't bother me because the movie as a whole was stunning. The disco era haircuts and clothing didn't ruin it either. Same goes with Jurassic Park. In 50 years when even those effects look dated, the T-Rex attack will still have viewers clutching their armrests. So dated effects have little, if anything, to do with a movie aging well. It all comes down to the script and the director. An excellent script in the hands of a gifted director will be here for as long as people are.

I'm an apologist though. I forgive even Jedi for all it's foibles. So I'm willing to look past Mark Hamill's hambone acting, the clunky dialogue that pops up every other scene and the inconsistencies that Lucas glossed over.

Check back with me in other 10 years. Maybe I'll be talking about how poorly Reloaded and Revolutions aged.

I'm stunned at this undercurrent of disdain for Iron Man. People comparing it to Robocop, but not as good. Look, I love Robocop, but come on. Iron Man was about as perfect as a superhero movie can get. I think some of you people complain just because you want to stand out and feel cool, like you aren't just one in the crowd. Grow up. Iron Man is one of the best, if not THE best superhero movie made to date. I realize everybody has their own opinion, but there just were not any holes in the movie. It was so frikken good!

As far as Speed Racer goes, I think I'm in a good spot. I'm not dying to see it, because I have some reservations about it, but I'm intrigued enough that I want to check it out. If the movie is as good as some people are going on about, it should be a welcome surprise for me. I guess we'll see.

Also, I was tremendously impressed with the score. It maintained the theme from the show, had a little tokyo pop to it, but then became suitably epic when it had to be. The final moments of the last race, with it's explosions of color and sweeping score are some of the coolest moments i've seen in a film in a long time. I also feel like this movie will be outrageous in HD when it comes out on blu-ray in a few months.

One thing, though. I realize this film is being marketed towards kids (though some spots seem decidedly adult) but the basic plotline involves alot of race fixing and stock prices that i was sort of surprised by. Ultimately it made sense to me but I'm 23 years old, and I could absolutely see kids not getting why they need to win the races they're involved in. But, then again, they don't have to. The kids will love this movie for the color and the explosions and the sounds and the monkey. And this movie delivers all of that in spades.