Speed Racer is the young, hotshot kid that’s going to shake up the world of racing. With the help of his loving family and hot girlfriend (?), he’ll be able to stop the stock scheme of some villain and change the face of race car driving forever. Will Speed find the will to defeat some evil corporate schmuck? Since this is intended to be a kid’s movie, yes, you bet he will! Why We Love It: Dick Tracy + Sin City + The Matrix + The Wizard of Oz + Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory + Wall Street (yes, that Wall Street) + whatever visually eye-titillating movie you can think of = Speed Racer. This film is totally “cool beans,” and that, while featuring flavors of those movies listed, is its own colorfully bombastic beast.

Jay and Mark Duplass were two of the biggest names at the forefront of the Mumblecore movement in filmmaking that sprung up a half-decade or so ago. What is Mumblecore? Many critics of cinema would lead us to believe that it’s a new genre, one in which realism takes precedence over everything else. It utilizes unknown actors, it shoots in real locations, and the scripts are largely improvised. Personally, I just think young filmmakers like the Duplass brothers were too broke to make movies in any sort of traditional way, so they just started making them in their houses and with their friends. Any sort of genre labels or rumblings of an artistic movement came later when writers were trying to digest what they’d seen in movies like The Puffy Chair or Baghead. And that’s bound to happen. Critics, bloggers, and essay writers need to find things to talk about, so they come up with labels, they put things in categories. Is it a coincidence, then, that the new project being developed by two filmmakers whose careers were launched largely due to online and word of mouth buzz would be about the same writers who created their monster? Maybe, I don’t know.

If you’ve been keeping track of Adam Sandler’s career (and in 2011, who hasn’t?), then you have probably already heard that he’s going to be playing Andy Samberg’s dad in the upcoming film I Hate You, Dad. This is an interesting proposition because Samberg is a young comedian who has utilized digital media to skyrocket his career into the stratosphere and Sandler is an aging funnyman who hasn’t done anything good in over a decade, yet still keeps making billions of dollars on name value alone. What will happen when the irresistible force meets the immovable object, funny or no funny?

The Wachowskis made news when they signed one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, Tom Hanks, for their next feature Cloud Atlas. Hanks is kind of a brand name in the moviemaking business, and has been for quite a number of years now; so he’s not really known for taking chances. The Wachowskis, on the other hand, are pretty much known exclusively for taking chances. Everything they have done so far has been weird, experimental, and up in its own head. The other name involved in the development of this project, Tom Tykwer, is pretty off the wall as well. He’s the guy who made Run Lola Run. And the source material for this new film, a David Mitchell novel also named “Cloud Atlas,” is no exception. It tells six different stories, each taking place in different times and places, but involving characters who are recognized as being the same people, or reincarnations of each other, or something. Basically what I’m driving at is that everyone signing on to this film will have to take on multiple roles, so if the Wachowskis want to pull this off, they’re going to have to get some great actors. Thankfully, so far they have. In addition to having Hanks in the lead role, Cloud Atlas continues to add an impressive list of accomplished actors in supporting positions. Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, and Ben Whishaw had already been announced for key roles, and now when presenting the film to potential buyers and

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. Haunting. Mysterious. Sensual. Strange. Perverse. Riveting. These are all words that might describe the 1983 vampire movie featuring David Bowie and the “open sensuality” of Susan Sarandon. Fortunately, the trailer is only slightly ridiculous and refuses to say what the movie’s about. The best kind! Plus, zero of the vampires do any sparkling. Think you know what it is? Check the trailer out for yourself:

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

It’s the 35th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Fox is celebrating this occasion with a brand new Blu-ray of the film. Being only a few days from Halloween, it makes sense to pop in the disk, pull on your fishnets and enjoy the classic rock musical one more time.

Our second piece of remake news today concerns my least favorite movie monster… vampires. But it’s also about one of my favorite vampire movies, Fright Night. Which means that I should probably be pretty upset, right?

Robert Levin reviews a Sundance 2009 title that stars Aaron Johnson from Kick-Ass and Carey Mulligan, that painfully adorable actress who got nominated for an Oscar for An Education. Interested?

We all know Edward Norton is talented, but probably the truest and scariest test for an actor’s talent is playing opposite himself, thus having to encounter the insecurities and limitations of one’s skill in both action and reaction. Few actors have done a great job acting opposite themselves, and it’s something that could potentially be fatal even with a strong actor giving two performances at the center, but with Leaves of Grass Edward Norton can be added to that short list of great double-performances in a single film.

We are back from the weekend and ready to get re-focused on what is important, the major Austin-based film festival that seems to be steamrolling toward us. Today we take a look at another highly anticipated premiere, Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass.

Kevin Carr sits his chubbiness down and sees if The Book of Eli, The Spy Next Door and The Lovely Bones can make the grade.

You don’t hear from Dr. Jack Kevorkian as much since he’s been paroled from prison in 2007. But with Al Pacino along for the ride, it’s likely that you’ll hear a bit more about him this year.

Kevin Carr sits his chubbiness down and sees if The Princess and the Frog, Invictus and The Lovely Bones can make the grade.

It seems oddly appropriate that the trailer for Tim Blake Nelson’s currently unsold comedy Leaves of Grass would drop a day before the release of Fight Club on Blu-ray, as it once again gives us the opportunity to see Edward Norton kick his own ass.

It turns out that Al Pacino has some new company for the biopic of Dr. Death chronicling his battle to legalize euthanasia.

A few new shots from The Lovely Bones gives us a taste for our eyeballs of the look that Peter Jackson is going for.

This weekend’s release of Quarantine will see Dexter hottie Jennifer Carpenter continue her cinematic career. But while she might not yet be screaming her way to the top, here’s a list of ten actresses who already have.

Moviehole is reporting on a story in the Durham Herald-Sun that claims a sequel to Bull Durham has been green-lit and will begin shooting next spring.

eave it to one of my favorite “that guys” of all-time, actor/director Tim Blake Nelson, to combine two things that are always welcome in my house: Edward Norton and marijuana.