Tag: car racing films

Speed Racer is the Wachowski siblings’ perhaps underrated, largely unsuccessful adaptation of an anime/manga story about a boy named Speed Racer who dreams of being a professional race car driver like his disgraced, deceased older brother Rex. The racing world eats dreamers for breakfast, though, so Speed’s success requires every ounce of determination he has, as well as help from his mom, his dad, his girlfriend Trixie, his best friend Sparky, his little brother Spritle, a chimpanzee—and a mysterious ally known as Racer X.

For me, this movie is a fantastic dramatization of the passion of the expert and the pursuit and achievement of justice in the face of staggering odds. I love it. I love it for reasons that are more like feelings than they are like reasons. I don’t think I can properly explain.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/speed-racer-2008/id285221033

Beware spoilers below.

Continue reading Speed Racer (2008)

This street-racing movie was set in Germany and had a European flavor.

There are four main characters:

• the female owner of a family garage,
• her boyfriend, who’s a street racer and in law enforcement,
• an American pizza delivery boy who wants to race,
• the wife of a rich German who wants him to teach her to race.

The primary source of tension (there are several) comes from the struggle to keep the nearly bankrupt family garage open.

What sticks in my mind most is a negative. After some kid loses a street race, one of the henchmen of the crime boss cuts his hand off. Yuck!