“Speed Kills” Podcast Movie Review

By Daniel Barnes on November 24, 2020

Speed Kills – Dare Daniel Podcast Episode 77

“Examine a man’s faults, you find his virtues.”

Daniel and Corky close the book on Travolt-ember, their annual tribute to the always overacting John Travolta. However, the hosts encounter an unusually sedate Travolta in Speed Kills, an incomprehensibly incompetent pseudo-biopic released straight-to-streaming in 2018. The film is loosely based on the life of speedboat mogul and racer Donald Aronow, reimagined here as Ben Aronoff for some stupid reason. Despite its ambitions as a generation-spanning crime saga, Speed Kills feels more like Gotti Lite. Essentially a filmed Wikipedia page, Speed Kills is borderline parodic in its use of cliches and narrative shortcuts.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Corky discuss repressed memories, cock-blocking lawyers, and Robbie fuckin’ Reemer.

NEW DARES

Shrunken Heads (Matt/Mike)

Things (David Harlan)

SPEED KILLS FACTS AND FIGURES

Critic scores: 0 on Rotten Tomatoes

Daniel’s craft beer: Moksa Brewing’s OK OK Here You Go (5.0% ABV)

Corky’s craft beer: Almanac Beer Company’s Hypernova Volume IV (5.8% ABV)

IMDB synopsis: “Speedboat racing champion and multimillionaire, Ben Aronoff, leads a double life that lands him in trouble with the law and drug lords.”

This week’s referenced movies: Vampire Academy; Forbidden Zone; Pulp Fiction; Gotti; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Lucky Numbers; Bad Boys 2; Sleepaway Camp; My Left Foot; Q: The Winged Serpent; Twilight; Saturday Night Fever; Grease; the Look Who’s Talking films; The Shawshank Redemption; Ultraviolet; The Godfather; Fargo; Rated X; The Fanatic; Love Actually; Captain Phillips