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5 Responses to “Otherwise known as the Ryan Reynolds boy-crush hour : Episode 15”

1. 1 Dodge Saxton
   August 28, 2008 at 5:30 pm

   Chuck, Im surprised a real fan of Death Race 2000 would be interested in seeing this new film. My love for the original Roger Corman classic is the sole reason I have no desire to see it. The original is just such a great watch, Ive probably sat through it 20 times and it only gets better with each viewing. Some films were just made with the right amount of camp, in the right era and cant be, and shouldnt be messed with. I feel its a sad day for movies with this release. But I guess this is how it goes these days. I mean they remade The Day The Earth Stood Still, and cast Keanu Reeves to add insult to injury. Now there is a Warriors remake in the works. Some classics should just be left alone in my opinion. Anyway, a couple small facts that were inacurate.
   - The race wasnt called the “Death Race” in the movie, it was called, I believe, The Trans Continental Road Race.
   - Frankenstien wasnt mostly machine, he didnt necesarily survive all the crashes. He was driving for the government and wasnt the same driver in every race. Once one Frank died, he was replaced by another driver the next year. The new guy would don the costume and the public would have no clue. Gov. was selling him as a national hero. The legend lived, the men died. Kinda like a dread pirate roberts.
   Anyway, one of my all time favs. In fact, back in high school, when I went through a phase were I though I would just make an easy living writing a movie column, I wrote a review of Deathrace, and I still have it. Its pretty funny.
   Let me know if you like it, I dont see myself going. Been burned too many times going to see remakes of some of my favs. Planet of the Apes, Amityville horror, they are never good. Well Texas Chainsaw wasnt horrible. Who knows, in a few years they may even try a remake of Escape from New York. Imagine the crap that will be. My suggestion to anyone going to see DeathRace, save 40 bucks, rent the original, grab some jiffypop and enjoy the ride.

   Favorite line from the original was from Machinegun Joe when his navigator is giving him a hard time for listening to Franks navigator who sent him down to a deadend.
   ” Myra, some people might think your cute, but your just one big baked potato.”
   At least 20 viewings in my lifetime, and I still have no idea what that means, but I laugh every time I hear it.

   Cheers

2. 2 Chuck
   August 29, 2008 at 9:07 am

   Doug, Please post that review!

   Thanks for the insight, I do agree that sometimes remakes don’t work out, but what about “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Ring”, “Cape Fear”, “The Fly,” and especially “The Thing” (which I feel is probably the best remake of the list). All of these remakes surpassed the originals – so It’s possible to have a remake be better.

   In defense of Death Race, you have Joan Allen (taking on the de facto Powers Booth-type role) who lends some real thespianic weight to the film. Statham and Tyrese should push it up a notch in action, no doubt, so I am intrigued. That being said, I thought Doomsday looked awesome, and well…you can read my thoughts on that here.

   I think they are going for something a little different here – more along the lines of “The Longest Yard” – not sure why (unless the original’s premise just doesn’t make sense today). So let’s cross our collective fingers and hope that Death Race delivers more “Thing” than “Apes.”

   Oh yeah, and Ryan Reynolds was in the Amityville remake, so by default it was awesome.

   

3. 3 Dodge Saxton
   August 29, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   You make some good points here, although I personaly wouldnt put ” The Magnificent Seven” or ” The Ring” in the same catagory as the others as they were not remakes of American films. I dont know too many people who have seen “Seven Sarurai” to this day, let alone before the remake. But I get what you are saying, and you are dead on about “The Thing” . I have copies of both it and the original “Thing from another planet” and as they are both very good, the Russell film is better.
   I guess this movie remake just stuck me because Im such a fan of the original.
   As far as “Cape fear” goes, this movie was just far more conducive to being a remake. I think its the wackyness of some of the characters and situations in movies like Deathrace 2000 and the Warriors that made them so good. I mean Frankenstein in that costume driving a car called the Monster, or Joes car with the giant knife on the hood were cool as shit, and if it were trying to be sold to audiences today it would just be stupid. A gang like the Baseball Fury was the best in the seventies, so what now, are the Warriors gonna be chased across L.A. by the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings? And why set in L.A.? NYC and the subway system was a big a character in the original as the gangs were.
   I hope I am wrong about all this, only time will tell. I will go on your word Chuck. If you say Death Race is worth going to the movies to see, Ill go. No preasure though.

   And not even your man crush Reynolds could save Amityville. Sorry. Im a big fan of his as well, and that movie just blew. I will say that I dont think the guy gets enough credit for the range he has as an actor. We all know hes funny, as he was Van Wilder and the star of one of the most underated comedies in years, “Just Friends”. One of the funniest movies of 2005, and it gets funnier every time I see it. But when I saw him in “Smokin Aces” I was surprised with his overall acting ability.

   Lastly, I saw “Tropic Thunder” last night and it was great. Cruise and Downey stole the show, but I enjoyed everything about it. Fun Movie.

   Cheers

4. 4 Dodge Saxton
   August 29, 2008 at 3:09 pm

   Heres the review, and when you guys get ready to bust on me for my writing abilities, keep in mind, I was a high school senior when I wrote it. There were a dozen times while typing this right now that I want to make changes, but I fought the urge and wrote exactly as it was written in 1989.

   DEATHRACE 2000
   DIRECTOR: PAUL BARTEL
   GEMSTONE ENTERTAINMENT
   80 MINUTES

   Have you ever experienced the misfortune of running over a small animal such as a rabbit or squirrel? Perhaps your’e the type of person whoenjoys such an act, maybe even swerving a bit to ensure the innocent creatures demise? Does it bring a smile to your face as you here the THUMP-THUMP of your tires crushing its now lifeless body? Some people may consider these acts a source of entertainment, possibly even a game, or sport.
   If the above questions have peeked your interest then you would surely enjoy ‘Death Race 2000′, a deliciosly grotesque film focusing on the desensitization of the American publicand the increased role of vilence in sports.
   The Death Race, or most commonly known to “new” Americans as the ‘Trans Continental Road Race’ has long replaced baseball as Americas favorite pasttime, and has single handedly transformed vehicular manslaughter into an art form. As the title suggests the Death Race is quite an impetuous form of entertainment. You’ll be sure to enjoy each contestants hit and run style.
   David Carradine is our star, bringing to life the character of Frankenstein, the races only two-time champion. Frankenstein is nothing shy of a legend in the eyes of the public. You’ll also notice a young and not so ripped Sylvester Stallone as the Malevolent Machine Gun Joe, Frankensteins arched rival. One would never know it by the way Frankenstein racks up points with clever hit and runs, but he actually feels a strong ambivalence towards the races moral standards. Frankensteins ultimate attempt to put and end to this deranged road race culminates in a boisterous clash of twisted car matal and human entrails.
   This film has the kind of ‘edge of your seat’ violence that would put any ‘B’ movie on my ‘A’ list.

   Wow, as I wrote that I realized just haw bad it is. lol.
   I never even explane the point of the race or how they get points. This thing is funny. I remember I was gonna get rich doing reviews of B movies. Somewhere I have a review of “The Dark Backward” that I wrote arround the same time, but I cant find it. Im sure that one is just as bad.

   Cheers

5. 5 Dodge Saxton
   December 12, 2008 at 6:25 pm

   OK, I still have not seen Death Race, but I just got back from The Day the Earth Stood Still. I want to preface these coments by saying that I only saw it because it was starting when I got there, and the Punisher was not starting for another forty minutes.
   I went into it with an open mind. I havnt been shy about how I feel about remakes or Keanus acting disabilities, but I really wanted to give it a chance. It started out great, some really nice shots when the orb is landing on Earth. One I really liked was when it come up over a church like a sunrise. visualy it was great. Gort looked great. Real nice retro futuristic look to him. Even Keanus performance wasnt a turn off because he is suposed to be stiff and speak in monotones. (They probably could have told him to act the part as a normal human and it would have come out exactly the same.) Then there was Jennifer Connelly. Fell in love with her in Carreer Oportunities, and I think she gets better looking with age. Like a box of fine wine. At this point Im thinking wow, I was really wrong about this, this is pretty good. I didnt mind them making it about the environment instead of war, and Will Smiths kid is pretty damn good. Then all my fears came to fruition. I would have to say that the last 30 minutes or so just blew. I will say no more at this point because I dont want to post any spoilers, but it was a huge disapointment. I almost would rather it had just sucked from the start, instead of being a tease.
   Anyway, if anyone else has seen it, please let me know what you thought.

   And the “Klaatu barada nikto!” never came. sad.