McQueen and Hamilton : two legends duel at Le Mans

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of its Monaco watch, TAG Heuer has gone down the fantasy road and imagined who would have won the race between Steve McQueen and Lewis Hamilton. They’ve used footage from McQueen’s Le Mans in which they’ve inserted Hamilton, a technique we remember getting great results in movies like Forrest Gump. It’s not as well done as the latter and the 3D cars could have used more work. Thinking about it, excerpts from Bullitt were used in a Ford ad in 1996 (!) for the Puma and, even though it’s much older, the transition between newer and original sequences seems much more seemless! Same for the 2004 Ford Mustang ad (also starring Steve). What happened TAG Heuer? All the money went to Hamilton and the McQueen family and you couldn’t afford a good producer? Anyway… it’s always nice to see old Steve. Considering he left us years ago, he’s been getting a lot of work in commercials lately.

|Source: Autoblog|

Watch the TAG Heuer, the Ford Puma and Mustang commercials right after the jump!

We’ve been away for a while, so we needed a great video to start fresh again, and this one is just perfect. The author did a great job making a montage of his favorite car chases, highlighting the cliches of the art. As always, enjoy!

I don’t know for you, but for us, despite being an animated movie, Cars ranks among our cult car movies. The quality of the animation, the depth of the details, the quirky ideas, it all comes together beautifully. Personally, I really liked the enormous amount of research behind it and how they manage to show so much about the car culture, and they did it in such a great manner that the movie is enjoyable for the hardcore car freak, as well as for a newbie or a kid.
And what about how perfectly the characters were embodied in their vehicle form? Matter the redneck, Sarge the army vet, Fillmore the hippy… but also Jay Leno, Governor Schwarzenegger and many more. So yes, you go it by now, we’re very excited about the sequel.

Some cues about the story

They’re back, and they’re going international.

On April 10th, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios chief creative officer John Lasseter unveiled the studio’s schedule for the four years to come. While we know that, like all the next Pixar flicks, Cars 2 will be offerd in 3D, not much has leaked about the its story, except that “they’re going international”. Are Lightning McQueen and Sally Carrera going on a honeymoon around the world? How do their kids look like? Maybe track versions of the Porsche, or toned-down NASCAR racers… (sorry, not enough sleep seems to equal poor ideas with me). More international characters should be fun, and they will definitely help the movie outside the States.

Damn! Four years to wait…

Sources: The Deadbolt News, E! News

“Each week we’ll let two silver screen automotive icons face off and let you decide which stays and which one goes home.”

The good guys at Jalopnik started their “Star Car Shootoot” a few weeks ago with Cannonball Lambo or Bond’s Lotus? Which Is Cooler?, which was won by the Lotus Esprit, continued with Bullitt Mustang or Le Mans Porsche?, where the legendary pony snapped the victory, then they took a break and started again last week with Bullitt Charger Or Bluesmobile Monaco?, showing the venerable Police car leading the race.

We hope they keep those shootouts going and we highly encourage you to go ahead and vote on Jalopnik!

This has to be one of the most breathtaking car chase ever filmed. The bumper cameras really ad a high dose of adrenalin to it and there’s almost no music (which reminds of Bullitt), allowing the viewer to hear the engines pushed to the max.
According to the Internet Movie Car Database, the main cars involved in the chase are a 1998 Audi S8 D2, a 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 [W116], a 1990 Citroën XM, 1996 Peugeot 406 and a 1996 Peugeot 605.
Ronin, a John Frankenheimer movie, starring Jean Reno and Robert De Niro, was released in 1998.

We just opened it and you’ll find our main photo galleries there, including some new ones, along with wallpapers. The Bullitt Mustang, the Knight Rider, I Am Legend, The Golden Compass… they’re all there.
Keep an eye on it, new stuff will be added soon. And if you have any requests, leave a comment! You have to leave your email address to do that, but we won’t use it or give it to anyone. Word.

Motive mag is an automotive website with cool articles, fresh news and an excellent graphic design. Actually that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I went there. It’s a nice change compared to some of the most popular car websites… you know which ones I’m talking about.

One of their guys, Jay Lamm, went up to San Francisco with a 2008 Bullitt Mustang to recreate the chase, and tells you all about it, with maps, pictures and witty words.

“In “Bullitt,” every vista showed a traffic-free hairpin or long lonely straight, as if San Francisco was like Spa with a few extra bagel shops. In reality, this city is a muscle-car driver’s Sodom: A rat’s-nest of one-way alleys and narrow streets clogged with tour buses, blind hills, double-parked taxis, kamikaze meter maids, and the stoniest, most confounded, hill-stallin’-est, Beetle-shod locals this side of Missoula.

Worse yet, the movie’s chase route is hardly contiguous — it covers a half-dozen neighborhoods and hundreds of backgrounds, some of which aren’t even there anymore. The old car wash near Army Street where the whole sequence started? That’s a McDonald’s now.”

You know you want to read the whole thing now. It’s right here!

On December 27th 2007, the Library of Congress National Film Registry announced the 25 movies to be added to its collection for the year. Once again, this website didn’t exist at that time, so it’s no prime news, but it’s important enough to tell you all about it. 

Get the press release and watch the trailers after the jump.

Here’s an extract from the press release (source: The Library of Congress):

“LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY SELECTIONS FOR 2007
Back to the Future (1985)
Before “Beowulf” or “The Polar Express,” writer/director Robert Zemeckis explored the possibilities of special effects with the 1985 box-office smash “Back to the Future.” With his writing partner Bob Gale, Zemeckis tells the tale of accidental time-tourist Marty McFly.  Stranded in the year 1955, Marty (Michael J. Fox)—with the help of Dr. Emmett Brown (played masterfully over-the-top by Christopher Lloyd)—must not only find a way home, but also teach his father how to become a man, repair the space/time continuum and save his family from being erased from existence. All this, while fighting off the advances of his then-teenaged mother. It’s “The Twilight Zone” meets Preston Sturges.

Bullitt (1968)

“renowned for its exhilarating 11-minute car chase, arguably the finest in cinema history”

For his first American film, British director Peter Yates made an inspired decision: shoot a crime drama on location in San Francisco, rather than on the usual streets of L.A. or New York City.  The pitched streets and stunning vistas of San Francisco, backed by a superb Lalo Schifrin score, play a central role in this film renowned for its exhilarating 11-minute car chase, arguably the finest in cinema history.  Steve McQueen as the cop in the title role romances Jacqueline Bisset and solves a murder case while fighting off the mob and a sleazy district attorney, played by Robert Vaughn. ”

These movies being two of our all-time favorites, we’re thrilled by the news, and their selection shows how great their importance is in the History of cinema. And because they’re also in the first films which come to mind when talking about ”car movies”, a lot of auto aficionados, gearheads and car geeks are going to be pleased too.

Trailers

A nine-minute scene was all it took.

To Establish the modern movie car chase.

Ford has created a special website for its new Bullitt pony. It’s worth checking it out just to hear the engine roar! As it says in the intro: “A nine-minute scene was all it took to establish the modern movie car chase”. If we don’t agree on everything about the new Bullitt Mustang, we couldn’t agree more on that.
And we’ve put together a gallery for you to see after the jump, with some wallpapers to refresh your desktop.

Gallery

Click on Full Screen to see them big!
[album: http://carsplusmovies.com/CM/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/2008Bullitt/]

Wallpapers

  1600 x 1200

 1600 x 1200

  1600 x 1200

To promote the new special edition pony, Ford put together some nice driving videos, screaming “Here’s what you could do in your Bullitt Mustang”. McQueen can rest peacefully, but they’re still worth watching.

See them after the jump!

A shorter one: