Month: April 2009

Domo Arigato, Mr. Bartowski

Posted on by filmscore80

So Chuckdid it once again Monday night.  The writers, music production team, everyone, showed just how brilliantly the show melds music into its aural landscape, along with gunshots, knife fights, and its trademark witty banter.  This time pulling out all the stops for for the season – hopefully not series – finale.  For a climatic shootout at Chuck’s sister’s wedding, we have the dulcet tones of “Jeffster” (a band consisting of two of Chuck’s co-workers) singing Styx’s 1983 hit, Mr. Roboto, from the album Kilroy Was Here.  styx_-_kilroy_was_here

But the brilliance of the segment is not simply limited to the kitsch of having such a wonderfully geeky song in the episode.  The way the song is arranged within the segment shows a keen ear in how to set the music with the image.  The song actually comes in three versions for the sequence (a fact already stated in the song’s Wikipedia article!).  First we have the intro section plus first verse played entirely by Jeffsterand set against the players of the show moving into place: the groom, who is in the know about Chuck’s double life, finding out that something more is going on, the bride freaking out, and Sarah getting ready to confront the bad guys.

For one who doesn’t know the lyrics, the song may just seems to fit the aesthetic of the show (Chuck’s love for 80s geek culture as epitomized by his Tron poster), but a quick look at the lyrics reveals the brilliance of the song choice.  The lyrics up to this point are:

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Mata ah-oo hima de
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiri tai

(Translation: Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto / Until we meet again / Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto / I want to know your secret)

You’re wondering who I am-machine or mannequin
With parts made in Japan, I am the modern man

I’ve got a secret I’ve been hiding under my skin
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM
So if you see me acting strangely, don’t be surprised
I’m just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide
To keep me alive – just keep me alive

A man with a secret?  Brian IBM?  Wanting to stay alive, needing someplace to hide?  Paging Mr. Chuck Bartowski.  From here the music moves into a vamp of the main backing part, played mainly by Jeffster, but slowly adding in more orchestral sounds, namely timpani, and also filling out the sound with more guitars.  The arrangement, though, kicks into a higher gear as Super Spy extraordinaire Bryce Larkin walks in, and we hear the vocal line for “You’re wondering who I am,” etc. played in the low brass, an arrangement used for much of Chuck‘s score.  By going back to this line, though, it essentially moves the song back to its starting point.  As the tension in the room builds, the manipulated vocals of “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto” comes back.  The fight finally starts and the song starts to break down as the backing track continues, but vocals, instruments, and other elements drop in and out, mirroring the overall chaos.  We also get to see what else is going on in the church: a stunned crowd, the bride trying to hold it together.  Finally, the orchestral elements come back as Sarah, Bryce, and Chuck are captured.

The Pre-Chorus for the third verse starts to come back (simply, “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto…Domo” repeated), first in a new version for the show, but then the actual Styx version starts to come in as we hear a plane overhead and see shadows…and paratroopers.  And as Casey and his commandos drop in through the convenient glass ceiling, the final verse comes in:

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you-thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you
to hide to keep me alive

Essentially describing the on-screen action.  For those keeping score at home, that’s two fits of lyric to story.  This music segment, and its transition back to a recap of the intro, plays under the gunfight and Casey’s rescue of our spies, while also cutting back to the wedding and Jeffster’s performance, though we are clearly hearing Styx’s vocalist Dennis DeYoung.  From here, though, the arrangement goes back to Jeffster’s performance, and we skip ahead to the last three lines, as the live performance reaches its climax:

So everyone can see
My true identity…
I’m Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy!

And in doing so, they set of some flares or something, the fire alarms go off and the wedding is ruined.  In all, the sequence takes right around 5 minutes, actually coming in about 30 seconds UNDER the album length of the song.  In doing so, they cut out the second verse, and vamped mainly on the material of the third verse, which itself is a vamp the material from the Introduction.  But they also cut out a line that could have been very fitting for the show:  “The problem’s plain to see: too much technology / Machines to save our lives.  Machines dehumanize.”  It could very well be a motto for Chuck’s life as all the advanced spy technology has ruined his life.  To the CIA and NSA the information in his head (the Brian IBM) make him an “asset” instead of a real person, he has been dehumanized.  But maybe that’s a little heady for a show that derives most of its charm by not taking itself too seriously.  A shootout at a wedding set against Mr. Roboto?  I don’t think they have a problem of taking themselves seriously.

Another great moment happens right before the song starts as the Jeff of Jeffster turns to the string quartet playing the wedding and echoes Michael J. Fox and his instructions to the dance band in Back to the Future as he says, “This is in 4/4 time.  It’s in D, watch me for the changes.”  Classic.  And of course, later on in our many cuts to the performance, we actually see the string quartet playing.

In all, this is another example of just how musically astute this show is, something that probably starts with the show’s creators and producers, and extends to the writing staff, music producers, composers, and editors.  Everything about the sequence was carefully controlled to achieve maximum sync of music and image, proof positive that everyone involved cared not just about the on-screen performance, but also the musical performance.
  !

Film Score Friday Top 5: ‘Star Trek’ Title Themes

Posted on by filmscore80

In honor of the new Star Trek film coming out in two weeks, the next few Film Score Friday Top 5’s will be about all things musical having to do with Roddenberry’s vision of the future.  In the first of three, I postulate the question of best title themes, coming from ether film or TV.  But if anybody says the title song to Enterprise, your commenting privileges are revoked!  (Okay, not really, but damn if I don’t hate that song!)

#1) Main Title to The Motion Picture/Star Trek: The Next Generation – Jerry Goldsmith:  As iconic as the The Original Series theme is, I gotta give it up to Jerry here.  I don’t know where my childhood would have been without this theme.

#2) Theme to Star Trek – Alexander Courage:  You knew I couldn’t put this any further down the list, right?  From the 60s fabulous singers on “Ah” to the classic ascending minor seventh that is “Space…the final frontier,” and is subsequently part of almost every theme up until Deep Space Nine, this theme got so much right.

#3) Main Title from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – James Horner:  Horner’s Khan score is yet another reason I fell in love with film music as a kid.  His title starts with the minor seventh motive (played over those wonderful string harmonics), but quickly goes into his unique score that sets the aural tone for Khan and Search for Spock.  And while the more I hear Horner’s music, the more I hear just how much he recycles himself (more than I think is really acceptable, even with time constraints), nothing can even diminish the Khan score in my mind.

#4) Overture from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country– Cliff Eidelman:  I don’t really know why I really like this one so much, but perhaps it is just how dark it is, starting with low strings, then trombone, English horn, low voices…it is all so ominous.  When it really gets going, it almost sounds like ‘Mars’ from The Planets.  I just really enjoy it.  It also helps that, in my humble opinion, VI is one of the stronger Trek films.

#5) Title theme from Star Trek: Voyager – Jerry Goldsmith:  I was torn between putting either the DS9 or Voyager theme here, and while the DS9 theme really signaled a drastic shift in musical tone for the series, ultimately I went with Voyager because it retains much of that shift (more somber, less adventure), while also conveying the exploration aspect of the show and the longing of the stranded crew.

Next Week: Top 5 musical cues and charcter themes (You bet the Klingons make the cut! Qapla’!)

Is this the real life?

Posted on by filmscore80

There are some things that stick with you from a young age.

 

Growing up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, there are episodes and ideas and concepts that have lingered on in my memory and thoughts which have helped to form my conception of the world.  One of those episodes is “Tapestry” in which Captain Picard relives a pivotal time in his life that he still had regrets about and sees how things would have proceeded had he done things differently.  Another episode is “Frame of Mind,” an episode that I remembered parts of, but I had forgotten much of the actual plot, but the over arching question of the fragileness of our perception of reality and how our own memories is something that has stuck with me.  And is also something that is very present in my mind given my recent research into Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

 

I just reviewed this episode tonight for what might be the first time since its airing back in 1993 when I was thirteen.

 

In this episode Commander Riker is experiencing hallucinations and going back and forth between a mental hospital and the Enterprise.  The entire experience, though, is transitioned through a play he is performing on ship, ‘Frame of Mind,’ in which he plays a patient in a mental hospital.  So he begins to question which is actually real, the hospital or the ship.  There is a sort of sub plot with Riker about to go on an undercover mission to a planet in order to locate a missing Federation research team, but that is really secondary (though it turns out to be part of the key to the mystery) to the real questions, if both realities seem equally real while you are there, how is one to tell the difference?

 

This is really a question with which we all must struggle with at some point – that is if we actually think deeply about our lives and existence.

 

Descartes famously stated, “Cogito ergo sum” as the simple answer to our existence.  I think therefore I am, but really…isn’t that just proof of your immediate existence?  What of the world around you?

 

In this episode, Riker’s existence is never at stake, it is his reality.  And that is the more chilling question.  Because if your reality is illusory, what of your personality, your identity?  And if that is truly called into question, what does that say about who you are? 

 

If the foundation of our existence is “Cogito ergo sum” then the next step is “Gnōthi seauton,” know thyself.  And if we cannot trust our reality, then how are we to know ourselves?

 

Now imagine a 13-year-old self seeing this episode and trying to come to terms with the basic question of reality.  Maybe I was unique as a child growing up to be wondering about the basic tenants of our existence and reality, but part of me thinks not – though it definitely doesn’t seem like a normal thing to do.

 

Back to the episode, Riker eventually breaks through the layers of illusion via various destructive means, each time, making the connection of the common links, until he arrives at reality.  He had been kidnapped and drugged in an attempt to extract information from him.  Interesting to note here is that one of the cues that really sets off the fact that we have arrived at reality is an aural one.  As soon as the last mental barrier is shattered (in a cool effect that is what I had remembered most of the episode), we hear a sound familiar to the Trek universe:  the deep hum of energy or power or something (what I usually took as the sound of the Enterprise engines).  This sound aurally sets apart this reality because once we hear it we realize that it wasn’t there just a moment ago.  In this way, it is very much like Kurosawa’s use of sound to indicate reality in Rashomon.  For more on that, check out my Temp Track blog, I’ll be posting my paper on this in the next few days.

 

This is not a unique question to be posed in science fiction, and actually it is one that I think has been explored to more chilling effect by others: namely in the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer episode “Normal Again,” the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes “Far Beyond the Stars” and  “Shadows and Symbols,” and the Lost episode “Dave.”  What I really like about these is that they really do leave the question of reality open in the end – did our heroes really find their way back to reality, or did they accept the more exciting or comfortable or reassuring “reality” as opposed to their life in the asylum.  And while it is a bit much to go as far as to say that these episodes indicate that the shows themselves are actually the insane constructs of mental patients, it is at least an interesting question to pose.  But they are just TV shows in the end.

 

But, while “Frame of Mind” seems to pretty securely establish that Riker is back in reality, there is a moment at the end where the door does seemed to be cracked open to the possibility that he is actually still a mental patient.  As Riker is being debriefed by the Captain, Picard says to Riker, “Go to bed, get some rest, we’ll talk more in the morning.”  This line echoes much of the advice given to Riker in both the false Enterprise and the false hospital, and even in the play.  Doctors and Counselors telling him to get some sleep, or that “we’ll talk more in our next session.”  Had the director, editors, writers, whoever, had merely taken an extra beat, have Riker give Picard an askew look, the door would have been solidly jammed open.  The fact that the line is there seems to indicate that it was on the mind of at least someone in the writer’s room.

 

And knowing that Ronald D. Moore – of Battlestar Galactica fame – was in that writers room, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out some day that that was the original intention behind the line and that the ending was changed in editing to give us a more conclusive wrap up.

 

So I ask, “Is this the real life?  Is this just fantasy?”

Film Score Friday Top 5: Superhero Scores

Posted on by filmscore80

So I’m going to start a hopefully weekly segment here at The Temp Track.  Based  on the Film Score Monthly website’s weekly “Film Score Friday,” I will select some “theme” and pick my favorite five scores to fit it.  The idea here is to actually spur some dialogue with you, the readers, as you comment with your favorites.  I also hope that I will learn of some scores to listen to, as I am still learning and listening, trying to educate myself.

First, some rules: it does not have to just film scores, I plan on including as much tv and video game music as possible (this is unless, of course, I stipulate the medium, i.e. TV Themes).  Second:  I’m not saying that these are “the best,” but rather just my favorites.  Lastly, if a composer does multiple films in a series within the theme, I’ll choose only one of the scores, and a tv series counts as only one entry.

With today’s theme of superhero scores, I have defined the genre as one in which a character has extraordinary ability (either natural or aided by tech), and uses it for the betterment of society.  The characters need not be ones that first appeared in comics (i.e. The Incredibles), but also, a film that is an adaptation of a comic/graphic novel necessarily a superhero film, etc (i.e. 300).

So without further adieu, my Top 5 Superhero Scores:

1. Superman: The Movie – John Williams: What can be said that hasn’t already?  The Superman March is so iconic that Bryan Singer instructed John Ottman to use it in Superman Returns.  If anything, the score itself has actually outdone the films, as the franchise has had exactly 2 good films (with 3/4 of it coming from the Richard Donner material of Superman II and the other quarter coming from the plane rescue in Returns).  For me, the best cue is actually is “The Planet Krypton,” with its slow addition of instruments, building from a solo trumpet to full ensemble.  It reminds me of a Strauss-ian sunrise.  Part of reason I actually went to see Returns was because of this cue’s use in one of the trailers.

2. The Incredibles – Michael Giacchino: What do you get when you cross the music of James Bond with superheroes?  You get the score for The Incredibles.  Using spy-tinged guitars with Giacchino’s signature jazz/rock infused orchestral style, the score captures the spirit of the film perfectly.  I particularly like the cue when Mr. Incredible discovers what “Kronos” is and the scene cuts back and forth between him and his wife discovering that he has been sneaking out and using his powers.  It was at that moment that I became a Giacchino fan.

3. Batman Returns – Danny Elfman: I could have easily selected the first film’s score, but I really prefer the dark, cold tone of Returns, especially the Penguin’s theme – creepy and sad all at once.  Also the addition of Elfman’s signature untexted children’s chorus really makes this score stand-out in my mind.

4. The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard: I could of filled out this list with all Batman scores.  Between Elfman, Goldenthal, Zimmer/Howard, and the scores for Batman: The Animated Series, Batman is the comic character who has translated best into film/tv and music (with the exception of the Joel Schumacher films, great scores, terrible films).  With Dark Knight the stand out elements are the new themes for Joker and Harvey Dent/Two-Face, with the cue “Watch the World Burn” on the album being a favorite (and at one point reminding me of the ‘Allegretto’ of Beethoven’s Seventh).

5. Spider-Man – Danny Elfman:  I really struggled with this slot, becuase I couldn’t really think of another stand-out score in my mind.  I like Elfman’s work here, but since I’m not a huge fan of the film, and since I have yet to really listen to the score on its own, it is hard to separate the two.  But after watching the film again the other night, I feel confident in placing the score in the fifth spot.

So there you have it, my top 5.  Please comment, tell me yours, give me suggestions of scores to list to.  I want to encourage discussion in the comments section.

Next week: TBD

Mr. Williams, meet Mr. Potter

Posted on by filmscore80

So it’s official, Border’s wants to bankrupt me.  I wandered into another Border’s store, and they had all the Harry Potter scores marked with the magical red sticker.  At 40% off, I couldn’t help but pick up the five CDs, especially with movie 6 coming out this summer.

So far I’ve only gotten through the John Williams scores for films 1-3, so that is what I shall discuss right now.  Originally, I had a much different post planned for this weekend, but I need to do some more viewing/research before I write it.  C’est la vie.

John Williams is a composer who, as an academic, I have some problems with.  Mainly because, even though I wholly believe in the worth of popular culture, John Williams is so damn popular.  If anything, Williams is part of the reason I love music and film music so much.  I loved the Star Wars scores, I even used to imagine conducting the ‘Imperial March’ when I was in Sixth Grade.  I could hear the music so clearly in my head that I wouldn’t even need to listen to the CD while doing it!

But as a scholar, I feel the need to find more obscure things, more profound revelations, etc.  The curse of the Ivory Tower.

But screw it, I love Star Wars and Superman and Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark and I won’t frakkin’ apologize for it!

Anyway, on to Harry Potter.  As many know, Williams only fully scored films 1 and 3, and even though he substantially scored 2, parts of it were left to William Ross to adapt and orchestra for the film due to time concerns, and it really does show in many way, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

First I want to contrast briefly Sorcerer’s Stone and Prisoner of Azkaban, because they really aurally depict that vast differences in the directorial styles of the film (Chris Columbus vs. Alfonso Cuaron).  Film 1 is pure children’s John Williams, same type of music you might have heard from his Home Alone score (also directed by Columbus).  It has some “creepy/scary” elements to it, but on the whole it is a children’s adventure score.  The creepiest part, I feel, is ‘Hedwig’s Theme,’ but that is due to the celesta, which just sounds creepy to me.  (Which is caused by the end of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, first movement…he uses the celesta in such a way…creepiest moment ever!)  But that is what the film is, a children’s adventure movie, and that is how Columbus directs it and its follow up.

But When Cuaron comes on board for Prisoner, he changes the visual style to one that is more realistic.  The kids dress how kids might when they are forced into uniforms, the film itself has more grit to it, and on the whole, the film looks darker and busier.  Williams, showing just how versatile he can be when he wants to, changes up his own style to match.  Most noticeably he introduces medieval/renaissance musical timbres into the ensemble.  In some ways, it feels like they should of been there the entire time, it fits the magical tone of the seriesso well.  The wood flutes, period reeds and brass instruments, fit in seamlessly (for a good example, go to track 11 on your CDs, “Hagrid the Proffesor”).  And of course, this cue is based on the song that introduced us to this new musical sound, Williams’ setting of the classic Shakespeare quote “Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble,” plus other lyrics that all come from MacBeth.  This one song, performed in the movie by Hogwarts students, signals a shift in musical timbre, plus solidifying the darker turn of this and the subsequent films (the ominous lyrics “Something wicked this way comes,” which comes from Act IV of MacBeth).

In many ways, this score as a whole might be one of Williams best of recent years.

This is in complete contrast to Chamber of Secrets, which reflects, in a bad way, just how rushed Mr. Williams was when writing it.  I won’t harp too much on the Chamber score except to point out what might just be one of the saddest moments of musical borrowing from yourself that I’ve come across.

One of the “new” themes for the film was for Gilderoy Lockhart, the unfortunate new teacher for the students.  Lockhart is a fraud, a phony, and a vain man.  He is a caricature for so many celebrities that the fact that Williams, or Ross, I’m not sure who, blatantly stole from an earlier score is either cheap or a brilliant piece of meta-criticism.  Listening to the score, I immediately recognized the tune as something from an earlier score…I could see Nazis running around, so I was pretty sure it was from an Indiana Jones films…just listen…in this scene, it starts when Snape ascends the stairs…

I was fairly sure that it was from a Jones movie, but it took Wikipedia to point me in the direction of the correct scene…the classic “No Ticket!”

Different keys, but the resemblance is uncanny.

It’s unfortunate that such a great performance by Kenneth Branagh is undercut by this recycling of music.  But as I asked earlie, is it cheap re-using or meta-criticism?  I’ll let you decide.

In the end, though, it’s strange that of the three scores, Chamber “sounds” the most like a John Williams score.  Perhaps because it borrows so freely from other material he had done in the 15 or so years prior.  Look at the Wikipedia page for the score for even more examples. 

I don’t have much else to say.  I’ll post a bit more on the next two scores when I’ve had a chance to listen to them.

Apologies and Announcement

Posted on by filmscore80

Sorry all you loyal readers (I use the plural out of hope!) for not posting a more substantial entry since the Monday before last, but after my spring break things have gotten busy around here.  I just past the outer marker, though, and am heading towards home, only a few more hurdles left in the semester.  To use another Empire Strikes Back reference, you could also say that “the first transport is away.”

One of those hurdles, though, is my upcoming presentation at the Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting of the American Musicological Society.  I’ll be giving my paper Saturday, April 18, on a session starting at 10:45 AM.  I don’t know the rules about outside observers, but I doubt many reader actually live in Boulder, CO, where I’ll be presenting.  But do not fret, faithful viewers, after I present, I’ll be posting my paper (in it’s complete form, not the edited down version I’m giving to due to time restrictions), for all to read.

Also, at the end of May I will be attending the fourth Music and the Moving Image conference in NYC at NYU.  I’m hoping that the friend I’m staying with has Wi-Fi so that I can post daily updates on the papers I hear at the three day conference.

Again, sorry for the lack of substance lately.  I’m going to try and get a new post up this weekend.  Stay tuned.

-Management

P.S. – That Borders sale is now 40% (!!!) off.  At least where I am it is.  I picked up Hans Zimmer’s The Simpsons Movie (mainly for “Spider-Pig,” Zimmer’s take on it cracks me up) and Marco Beltrami’s Oscar-nominated 3:10 to Yuma.  Reviews to follow soon.

Seizure Inducing or Avant-Garde? The case of ‘Speed Racer’

Posted on by filmscore80

I recently picked up Michael Giacchino’s score to the Wachowski’s Brothers feature film Speed Racer (yes, based on the 60s Japanese Anime).  This film had the misfortune of opening the week after Iron Man and, along with having to compete with the Robert Downey, Jr. superhero pic, was also, with few exceptions, panned in the critical press.  Listening to the score made me want to see the film and that is exactly what I did last night.

 

As I see it, there is really only one thing wrong with the film, and it’s not actually the film’s fault…well maybe it is, but…well, let me explain.  The problem is that the film is not what the studios (probably) wanted, and it is not what they marketed it as.  Yes, the bright colors, cartoon stylized CGI, and fast cars all make it seem like it should be a children/family movie, but it isn’t.  One of the few positive reviews came from Glenn Kenny from Premiere Magazine, who calls it either, “the most headache inducing kid’s movie of them all [or]…the most expensive avant-garde film ever made.”  The main source of this avant-garde track is how the story is told in multiple layers of flashbacks that, if unprepared, can make the plot nigh un-followable.  The opening race/flashbacks tell the story of how obsessed with racing a young Speed is, and his relationship with his older brother Rex, while also revealing, in the so-called present, a young adult Speed literally racing the ghost of Rex and almost breaking his record at the local track.  But on a third level, we also have Rex’s race, and using slick transitions, we move back and forth in between the two races…and also back to Speed’s childhood.

 

And on top of this time-bending storytelling (which smoothes out for the most part after the opening) is some of the slickest CGI I’ve ever seen.  Forget Gollum and the Ring or the “hyper-reality” of 300, what the artists for Speed Racer achieved can only be described as pop art for the big screen.  The colors burst off the screen as the cars hurtle around tracks that not only laugh at and spit on, but also break in submission the laws of physics.  And the racing set pieces?  Exhilarating.  One reviewer said how there was never any true sense of danger in the races, but for me, that didn’t make them any less exciting.

 

The CGI and colors of the film are what made it transcend from simple remake of an old anime cartoon into a film that…well…I’m not truly sure what it is yet.  But it’s not a kids film, even if that is where I found it in Best Buy.  It’s a film that revels in the camp of the old anime, but also has an emotional heart to it, as it is the tale of the Racer family (brilliantly played by John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, and annoying, yet endearing, younger brother Spritle played by Paulie Litt, while Speed is played by an understated Emile Hirsch).  The two fight sequences (the first, of course, with ninjas, and the second with a gaggle of Mafioso rejects) also heighten the anime camp, taking cues from Tarentino and Kill Bill it seems like – but without the gushing blood.

 

It is a pastiche of anime on the one side, but on the other a brilliantly edited and rendered work.  And on the other hand, it is an emotional family tale of the little guy against the big-bad corporation.  Many reviews also latched onto the contradiction of a summer kids movie that was obviously meant to have multiple merchandising tie-ins being one with an anti-corporate message.  But a simple Wikipedia browsing will point to the fact that the corporate vs. independent as a plot point in the original anime series.  Here, though, it takes on the added layer of race fixing conspiracies and corporate takeovers.  In our cynical world where point shaving schemes, charges of the NBA being rigged, and the New York Yankees are everyday, the idea of the corporations who sponsor the leagues fixing the outcomes don’t seem so farfetched.

 

But to expect kids to understand all of this?  I doubt my young cousins could understand all of this.  Hell, I doubt my older cousins could.  I’m not even sure I understood all of it!

 

A few quick words about the score to wrap things up.  I’ve already done a brief review over at my other blog (Edit 2013: read the review here), but now that I’ve seen the film, I have a few more observations.  As I mention in my review, Giacchino interweaves the classic “Go Speed Racer Go” theme song into the score.  What I can now say is that the moments he chooses to are masterfully chosen.  At the moments of highest tension in the race scenes, just a snippet of the old theme will come in as Speed pulls off some stunt move to slide past his opponents or elude a devilish cheater.  The one non-race moment when theme comes in is during the obligatory montage right before the big race.  In this case, the racer family has to build a new car for the Grand Prix in less than two days, and the building montage has snippets of “Go Speed Racer Go” in it.  What Giacchino also does here is that he has taken the whole hook (you know, “Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer Go-oo!”) and brakes it up into smaller segments and they float in and out of the musical score.  And the only time we really hear that whole hook is at the very end of the film.

 

So seizure inducing kids film or brilliantly subversive avant-garde cinema?  I’m not sure I’m prepared to announce it as more ripe for academic consideration than the Wachowski’s previous efforts (The Matrix and V for Vendetta), but I also know for certain that this is no kids movie.  My recommendation, though, is that you should go out and rent or buy it while you still can.  Even with DVD sales the film STILL has yet to earn back its budget, so who knows when the studio will just give up on it.  Strong 4.5/5.