Speed Racer, the latest movie from the Wachowski brothers, is either going to suck beyond belief or be pretty cool. There will be no in-between. Recent trailers have divided Speed Racer geeks right down the middle, with half thinking the look of the movie is all wrong while the other half finds it suitable. Will four new posters add more fuel to fire? What's your hunch, is Speed Racer destined for box-office gold or a quick checkmark on your Netflix queue?
Japan is up to more crazy shenanigans. In an attempt to promote Japanese anime, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed a popular cartoon robot cat named Doramon as "anime ambassador." Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon and is supposedly popular around the world. The robotic cat travels back in time from the 22nd century and uses crazy futuristic gadgets. Because the real Doraman was too busy being a cartoon, the official certificate was handed to a human-sized doll with an unknown person inside.
"Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people's understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan," Komura told the blue-and-white cat.
DiCaprio has signed up to help produce a live action adaptation of Akira, probably the most popular anime movie of all time. Yahoo reports that DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way Productions, will have a major hand in getting the film off of the ground.
Set to be directed by first time filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, the movie is planned to be the first of a two part series of films which follows the character of Tetsuo as he becomes part of a government operation which embues him with strong psychic powers and strange hallucinations. Since this is the movie which got me and a million others into anime in the first place, it would be wise of DiCaprio and Robinson to take extra care with this project. I've rounded up some clips from the 1988 epic, check them out after the break.