Our tour of 2008 continues (nearing its end!) with the masterpiece "Speed Racer" (2008)

We know it's a perfect movie, but is it an *earful* movie?

Follow us on the hashtag #earspeed08

A note: this is the strangest blu-ray in memory: not only is it auto-play, but *the menu* is also auto-play... the movie plays in the background when you manually fire up the Top Menu

#earspeed08

We are accompanying our screening with the classic cocktail, the "Speed Racer", feel free to join us

https://x.com/AlanJoyce/status/752369816825044992

Hi, I'm Alan, inventor of The Speed Racer, and I'll be commenting on this film. #earspeed08

Hi, Hervey Okkles here; I consulted on the "Speed Racer" cocktail, and I'll also be commenting tonight #earspeed08

The field of colors start early #earspeed08

Absolutely gorgeous multi-colored @RoadshowFilms logo to start us off. Let's do this. #earspeed08

We're absolutely going to need to do a 40-hour podcast about this film. I can already tell. #earspeed08

The movie excels on every metric, with the possible exception of "does it capture the 2008 experience" #earspeed08

This is the most 2008 film I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of 2008 films. #earspeed08 #ItHasToBeSpeed #NothingButSpeed #GetSpeedOnEarful

The movie excels in both the fakey racetracks (which have a real gravity) and the strange suburbs (which do not) #earspeed08

This is one lucky kid to have a racecar-driving older brother. #earspeed08

Bubble pod ejectors could really open up a whole new, much more thrilling frontier in motor racing. #earspeed08

I'm worried about the "Babe 2: Big in the City problem": this is too perfect #earspeed08

Very cool to have a racetrack where the track goes over the spectators' heads. #earspeed08

I love this fantastical world where half the people are American and half of them are Australian (just like "Cocktail") #earspeed08

This movie *moves*. #earspeed08

John Goodman is perfect casting in this. #earspeed08 #PerfectGoodman

Did Rex's crash scandals occur before they developed the bubble-enveloping technology that has apparently made aggressive racing kosher? #earspeed08

I assume bubble-enveloping technology is constantly advancing, yes. #earspeed08

I'm having trouble tweeting because every time I look away to type something I miss 4 scenes #earspeed08

I'm having the same problem. This movie *moves*. #earspeed08

I like the fact that this anime adaptation features something resembling an anime in-film, but somehow it looks *nothing* like anime, this rules #earspeed08

I love how every CG shot in this film leans so hard into the fact it's CG. It's glorious. #earspeed08

Real good Palm Graffiti action on the PDA there. #earspeed08

This is the best PDA of the 2008 offerings by far #earspeed08

I trust this Royalton guy, he's so down-to-earth #earspeed08

This is such a wonderfully appealing world. Much like the hope- and color-filled world of 2008. This is the perfect 2008 film. #earspeed08

Seas of people riding segways animated in the Tim-and-Eric style, this is perfect #earspeed08

This company has SO MANY DRIVERS. #earspeed08

This movie posits what *could* have happened if the 1990s continued #earspeed08

This is a powerful message film about the evils of transponder monopoly #earspeed08

Korean superstar Rain is getting beaten up in a very green room #earspeed08

These piranhas could really be bad news for Korean superstar Rain. #earspeed08

It was all happening in a truck all along! #earspeed08

We are revealed to be in the back of a tractor-trailer; the cockney driver has a poster of Edward G Robinson behind her #earspeed08

It's Batman. #earspeed08

Don't know or care who that is, this hero is Racer X, the greatest hero of all #earspeed08

His teeth are 80% whiter than hers. #earspeed08

SPRIDLE! #earspeed08

Spritle is clearly a de-aged 80-year-old, it's the reason these scenes all work so well #earspeed08

Shot of rye! #DrinkOfTheEp #earspeed08

There are not enough beverages in this film

BTW, really good new transponder intrigue #earspeed08

Mr. Royalton's office has switched into funeral slideshow mode. #earspeed08

Why doesn't every movie look like this now? The Wachowskis invented a whole new language for film editing, and every part of it works #earspeed08

Glad that @Moto exists in this world. #earspeed08

We get a whole Hudsucker Proxy plot that takes place in the background in the course of 15 seconds between two "sugar-high" scenes #earspeed08

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This movie *moves*. #earspeed08

I'm starting to think this Royalton guy is not really so down-to-earth #earspeed08

Love a good race in Fuji Helixon. #earspeed08

I'm not seeing bubbles; *so* many people are dying in this race #earspeed08

I do love how capable these cars are at regaining forward momentum after being in a tailspin. #earspeed08

SPRITLE! #earspeed08

#earspeed08

[Originally embedded a GIF of the famous Pokemon Squirtle. -ed.]

Sparky really needs to stop reading the news. #earspeed08

I enjoy the time frame in the film's history: at the "turn of the century", people were sideburnned with top hats; but by "'43" a Black guy was able to win, and he's still in his 60s in contemporary times (at once the 1960s, and also the distant future) #earspeed08

Racing is art. #RacingIsArt #earspeed08

This movie does succeed in slowing down for some extremely slow conversation scenes; perhaps it's wise that it wasn't just 100 MPH start-to-finish, but maybe it should have been #earspeed08

I was just about to complain that the movie slowed down too much, although it is picking back up again now. #earspeed08

"Rally racing is a back-alley sport filled with rascals, jackals, and thugs." PREACH. #earspeed08

We are now in Mecca #earspeed08

A race across *two* continents and *three* climate changes! #earspeed08

TRIPLE WIPE. #earspeed08

It is impossible to overstate just how bravura the filmmaking is here #earspeed08

Batman to the rescue. #earspeed08

I'll be honest, I do not remember why we're in this rally race. #earspeed08

This rally sequence is clearly the finest sequence in film history #earspeed08

Good for snake guy #GoodForSnakeGuy #earspeed08

Bubble thing is known as a "Quick Save". #earspeed08

Wanted to note that a Kameleon universal remote (which my family used to use) made an appearance on screen earlier. #earspeed08 https://amazon.com/Radioshack-Kameleon-15-2133-Remote-Control/dp/B008STFKTG

Wow, impressive remote #earspeed08

"Cool beans" should really be part of our everyday vocabulary by now. What happened? #earspeed08

Aruko has bad news #aruko #earspeed08

That was an incredible action scene, much more compelling than any fighting scene in the new Matrix, Wachowskis clearly need a sequel to this #earspeed08

I have purchased a Kameleon 8-in-one universal remote control. #earspeed08

This is the second part of a rally race, and is now occuring in the Alps instead of the Maghreb? #earspeed08

The environments look like pre-rendered PlayStation backgrounds. I love it. #earspeed08

This intricate kung-fu/gun battle has lost them some field position #earspeed08

The race has entered The Matterhorn. #earspeed08

I love how reserved the movie is about using the Speed Racer theme. When you hear it, you know something great is happening. #earspeed08

Race is over, stocks are happening #earspeed08

Speed is angry racing #earspeed08

It's Batman! I knew it. #earspeed08

Clearly, by looking at his face, he can see that mysterious Racer X is not deceased brother Rex #earspeed08

Haruko has snuck out of the opera. But the question is: which opera? #earspeed08

Aruko has so much more integrity than her father and her brother (Korean superstar Rain) #Aruko #earspeed08

SPEED RACER IS IN. #SpeedIsIn #earspeed08

Verifiable invitation #earspeed08

Just a sea of heads passing through each other as the race begins. No other film has ever done this. #earspeed08

Love a racetrack full of pointy spikes. Good obstacle. #earspeed08

A SPEARHOOK! #earspeed08

Fifth gear! It was the answer all along! #earspeed08

Speed has shredded the very material of reality itself to win this race (sorry for not tweeting for the last twenty minutes, I've just been transfixed) #earspeed08

"It's a whole new world, baby. It's a whole new world." #earspeed08

Ben Burns rules, I don't care if he did work with corrupt corporate interests to win the Prix back in '42 #earspeed08

I'm starting to think Racer X may actually be Rex Racer #earspeed08

Racing Inspector Man is the real hero of this film. #earspeed08

Inspector Detector #earspeed08

Chim-Chim is now wearing a tux, great ending #earspeed08

We learn that one good race and the integrity of the judicial system can immediately overturn the power of the corporatist state, reassuring coda #earspeed08

Chim-Chim absolutely dominating these credits #earspeed08

Incredible film. Clear Earful movie. I think we have a lock. #earspeed08

CONCLUSIONS: I'm now more convinced than ever that this is one of the greatest movies ever made

I'm still on the fence as for whether it's an "Earful" movie, though I am reassured that there's always a lot of bullshit happening at all times (no lulls)

Also, it *does* speak to 2008 #earspeed08

Yes it does. #earspeed08