Movie Review: Street Racer (2008)

Street Racer (2008)

The Asylum, USA, 2008. 

Street racer Johnny Wayne (Clint Browning, who appeared in "The Terminators") spends 5 years in prison after a fatal accident. Naughty Parole Officer Briggs (Michael Crider) gives Johnny a chance to race with profits split 70:30. Well not reallya chance but more like "Or else" type offer. During daytime Johnny works in Red's (Robert Pike Daniel) garage with coworker Steve (Dustin Fitzsimons, who appeared in "Sunday School Musical"). Old and grumpy Red is the funniest character in the movie and he looks a bit like Donald Trump.

Johnny Wayne

Briggs

On evenings Johnny does community service in local clinic and meets crippled kid Danny (Connor Clayton), her sister Kelly (Dorothy Drury) and physiotherapist Teddy (Jennifer Dorogi who played warrior woman Katya in "Dragonquest"). Romance with Kelly gets complicated as Johnny caused the accident where Danny was crippled. Forced to race Johnny borrows Red's BMW and gets fired (You're fired!) when Red finds out. Luckily he already won pimped up minivan, so he does not need Red's car for the next race. Unfortunately the race was good but the car was bad, so soon Johnny is without a car again. So he crawls back to Red for help.

Danny

Kelly

Teddy

After hearing about Johnny's troubles, Red begins to coach Johnny using Go-karts. He also gives Johnny a new car. Nice car for a do it yourself- project. May be in the need of some optional extras such as wheels and engine. Briggs threatens to hurt Kelly if Johnny fails to race. He must win his old rival Mickey (Jason Ellefson) to be the Street Racing Champion.

Weird car choice for racing

Mickey

The Asylum attempts to piggyback "Speed Racer" and "Fast & The Furious" without the fun parts. Painful acting and tedious dialogue are the worst defects of the movie. The budget is extremely low, any of the cars in the final race probably cost more than the film's budget. Most of the dull racing scenes are done on the same road strip somewhere in desert. Luckily there are only few of them. However the drama is slightly better than expected (but not much). With better dialogue, better racing scenes and better acting it could have been better. Now it feels like lost potential as the plot at least attempts to imitate mainstream drama cinema. Hey, at least it's better than 200 M.P.H.!

Rating: Average (for a Asylum film)

Starring: Clint Browning, Dorothy Drury, Robert Pike Daniel, Jason Ellefson, Dustin Fitzsimons, Michael Crider, Connor Clayton, Jack Goldenberg, T.J. Zale Jr., Reggie Jernigan, Sinead McCafferty, Jennifer Dorogi, Nino Zagaroli, Benjamin Brugger, McKenna Dimond, Joel Estridge, Napoleon Calles, Michael Aleksanyan, Cody Benton, Martin D. Alcaraz, Eric Wang, Juan Navarro Jr., Michael Calles, Moso Balyan, Miguel Estrada, Brian Brinkman, Jose Ceaner, Jose Garcia, Carlos Frye, Jonny A., Oscar Elendez, Armando Cerros, Manuel Gonzalez, Sammy Piazza, Rudy Orozco, Rie Nasu, Christopher Manirong, Javier Alvarez, Steve Armas, Jaime Sanchez, Samuel Frausto, Michael Clacy, Arturo Arias, Thuy Pham, Alex Castillo, Luis Ramirez, Gregory Paul Smith 

Director: Teo Konuralp

Movie Review: Rush (2013)

Rush (2013)

Exclusive Media Group, Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Revolution Films, Working Title Films, Double Negative  UK, Germany, USA, 2013.

Based on true events.

In the 1970s racing was a modern gladiator sport with numerous casualties. James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) is a British playboy racer who likes sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) is his complete opposite, a pedantic Austrian who likes to keep things in control. Both of them are rebels and furious behind the wheel. Both of them enter the Formula One class in their own style and they become bitter rivals.

James Hunt

Niki Lauda

Meeting his future wife Marlene (Alexandra Maria Lara) makes Niki a bit more relaxed. Hunt is stressed because he must find new team and sponsors. The 1976 season is bloody battle between the two. Hunt's broken marriage with Suzy Miller (Olivia Wilde) makes him a dangerous opponent to Lauda. Niki suffers severe burns in near fatal accident in notoriously dangerous Nürburgring. Despite his injuries the will to win pulls him back to the racing tracks. Although they are rivals there grows a mutual respect between Lauda and Hunt.

Marlene

Suzy Miller

Niki after the accident

This is an epic and emotional sports drama with rivalry and chivalry. Interestingly the story contrasts the Hunt as a near suicidal risk-taker who lives every day like his last and knows that he may die in a crash while Lauda considers the worth of the risks even more when he has gained something more important than the victory to lose. Both of the main actors make perfect roles, Hemsworth uses his impish charm and Brühl shows some dry humour.

Possibly this is the best film made about Formula One- racing. Watch it even if you are not interested in racing.

Rating: Excellent

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Pierfrancesco Favino, David Calder, Natalie Dormer, Stephen Mangan, Christian McKay, Alistair Petrie, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Colin Stinton, Jamie de Courcey, Augusto Dallara, Ilario Calvo, Patrick Baladi, Vincent Riotta, Martin Savage, Jamie Sives, Simon Taylor, Robert Christopher Austin, Tom Wlaschiha, Cristian Solimeno, James Norton, Joséphine de La Baume, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Julien Vialon, Douglas Reith, Polly Furnival, Brooke Johnston, Hannah Britland, Lisa McAllister, Hans-Eckart Eckhardt, Vanessa Zachos, Xavier Laurent, Val Jobara, Zack Niizato, Akira Koieyama, Klaus D. Mund, Folker Banik, Andreas Engelmann, Jochen Kolenda, Christopher Wolert, Roger Nevares, Vanda Dadras, Raffaello Degruttola, Luca Zizzari, Alastair Caldwell, Alan Bayer, Joe Ferrara, Bob Constanduros, Christian Feist, Marco Canadea, Eiji Mihara, Demetri Goritsas, Jay Simpson, Philippe Spall, Erich Redman, Marcello Walton, Masashi Fujimoto, Rob Cavazos, Paolo Barone, Francesco Fronte, Morris Minelli, Luca Naddeo, Marco Napoli, Christian Stelluti, Scott Hopkins, Matthew Watkinson, Anthony Wolfe, Jeremy Wolfe, Mark Postgate 

Director: Ron Howard

Movie Review: Le Mans

Le Mans
Cinema Center Films, Solar Productions, USA, France, 1971. 

American Porsche-driver Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) returns to 24 Hours of Le Mans race year after the fatal accident that took his friend's life. Michael's worst rival is Ferrari-driver Erich Stahler (Siegfried Rauch). Lisa (Elga Andersen), widow of the dead driver is also watching the race. 

Michael Delaney

Lisa

The race is exhausting and dangerous. Lisa's new boyfriend is injured in a crash. Michael explains to Lisa why it is important for men to drive fast.

Michael drives a Porsche

Presented with minimal plot the movie's enjoyability depends on the visual look and realistic racing. There is no dialogue for the first half hour. The cinematography is great and looks like French art house cinema. Fast cutting enhances the excitement of dramatic racing scenes. With real footage it is also a pseudo-documentary about the famous racing event. Racing car enthusiast Steve McQueen did most of his racing scenes for this film. However the production was troubled and it flopped. Due the realistic view on motorsports it has later gained a cult reputation.

Rating: Very good

Starring: Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Fred Haltiner, Luc Merenda, Christopher Waite, Louise Edlind, Angelo Infanti, Jean-Claude Bercq, Michele Scalera, Gino Cassani, Alfred Bell, Carlo Cecchi, Richard Rüdiger, Hal Hamilton, Jonathan Williams, Peter Parten, Conrad Pringle, Erich Glavitza, Peter Huber, Jocelyne Jeanssen, Karine Lafabrie, Anne Libert, Jacques Mayar, Alan Rossett, Nathalie Vernier
Director: Lee H. Katzin