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Top Science Fiction Sports movies, no. 30: Speed Racer
One of the key scientific theories of the 21st century is certain to be Masahiro Mori’s Bukimi no Tani Genshō, a.k.a. “The Uncanny Valley” Theory. The supposition suggests that as robots or animated objects more closely and closely approach a human form, the more likely there are to cause revulsion in a human observer until a great degree of realism exists.
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Terry Gilliam’s Hallowdega: *The* Halloween sports highlight
BuckBokai’s not sure from exactly where Terry Gilliam’s apparent recent interest in NASCAR racing came from, but if it means a new Gilliam flick on Halloween, who cares?
Reads press material, in part:
“For decades, legend and lore have swirled around the 2.66 miles of asphalt that make up racing’s fastest track: Talladega Superspeedway. This Halloween, in celebration of the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega on October 31st, the world will learn the truth.
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Death Race 2: Silliest excuse for prequel ever?
Ah, nothing says cinematic success like those three little words “straight to video…”
You’d think that a movie already grounded in a notoriously violent franchise and packed with guns, fast cars, and lots of sweaty dudes in prison would automatically be primed for box office success – but then you consider “Death Race 2,” which may be the final proof that prequel-sequels have simply gone too damn far.
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Only 106 more shopping days until Tron: Legacy
In the 1970s, we got Rollerball. In the 1980s, we got The Running Man. In the 1990s, we got Space Jam. Last decade, the subsubgenre was won by Shaolin Soccer – oh yes, we’ll be calling that sci-fi. To get the science-fiction sports film started right in the 2010s, December sees the apparently simultaneous worldwide (yes!) release of Tron: Legacy.
Though BuckBokai is sure you’ve seen this promo poster (from Hungary, location of the BuckBokai.com home office), featuring the gorgeous Beau Garrett as Frisbee- weapon-supplying program Jem, by way of io9 or Slashfilm, it’s definitely worth another repost.
BuckBokai does fear that Tron 2.0 will be bogged down in a lot of self-referencialism and continuity that only nuts of the first flick will get. Geekspeak, too, is sure to be rife in this thing, so it may be best to hope for mere coherence and nice f/x, although we’re essentially guaranteed the latter.
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Bukimi no Tani Genshō Gō Gō Gō (or, Why the Speed Racer Movie was So Bad)
One of the key scientific theories of the 21st century is certain to be Masahiro Mori’s Bukimi no Tani Genshō, a.k.a. “The Uncanny Valley” Theory. The supposition suggests that as robots or animated objects more closely and closely approach a human form, the more likely there are to cause revulsion in a human observer until a great degree of realism exists.
ESPN.com’s excellent Patrick Hruby applied the Uncanny Valley Theory to video games back in 2005 (How long ago was that? Check out the image from the Madden ’06 he’s reviewing) and, by inference via BuckBokai’s idol Gregg Easterbrook’s “The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse
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Peter Fernandez, of English-language TV’s Speed Racer, dies at 83
An era has passed in science-fiction sports land, as Peter Fernandez, he who voiced Speed Racer for Anglophone audiences, died Thursday night at age 83.
For the 1967-68 series, Fernandez dubbed the voice of Speed Racer himself as well as those of Racer X and some minor characters.
The English-language cast of Mahha Go Go Go also included Corinne Orr, Jack Curtis and Jack Grimes.
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