Sunday At The Drive-In

Sunday At The Drive-In:

The best movie so far this summer is not really a film. Jaguar just revealed its new platform to promote the new Jaguar F Type. A 13-minute short film called Desire. It’s not original but it’s still better than GI Joe: Retaliation.
Should you see this new film? Hell yeah you should; it’s awesome. As if you were do something important today. HD version here. If you REALLY don’t know what to do today, here are a few more car movies worth watching.

I know right? Better than Oblivion at least, and it was free. Admit it, you want a Jag now don’t you. No? Let’s try the stunning and seductive music video from Lena Del Ray.

But Jaguar isn’t the first to do this. Back in the early part of this century, BMW released a series of brilliant films starring a then unknown Clive Owens as the ubiquitous “Driver”. The films were simply amazing. Yes, they were shameless promotion devices to sell their products but they featured big name stars, most notably Madonna.
As directed by her then husband Guy Ritchie, and it showed all three of them had a sense of humor. At least two of them still do.

Which brings me to the second brilliance behind the BMW “The Hire” films were high powered directors. My favorite of the series being this masterpiece from Kar Wai Wong, not because it’s a great car chase but because it is visually stunning and the story is sensual.

As you have no doubt guessed I am huge fan of the series. Originally it was released on the internet only. After the hype, the BMW Owners circle would send you a free DVD simply by typing in the VIN of your BMW.
Mine was en route the first week it was available and I subjected many a house-guest to the finer points of Clive’s chase scene in “Chosen’ via Dolby 5.1 surround.

The second “season” was centered exclusively on the newly released BMW Z4. I loved this one directed by Joe Carnahan called “Ticker” with Don Cheadle.
Later, Joe would bring us “The A-Team” and “Smokin Aces.”
This second series was produced by Ridley Scott, and he even directed a few. Which wraps this bit into a nice package, because this new short film, Desire, is also a Ridley Scott Associates Film. So original idea? Not at all. Entertaining? Certainly.
“There is always something waiting at the end of the road, if you’re not willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn’t be out there in the first place.”

DIGITAL JUICE