Two True Freaks TRON: LEGACY Review

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Joe Anthrax]

[Joe Anthrax]

Another good review on the new Tron movie, Freaks. I had a feeling that Scott would have had the problems he mentioned in the podcast with the movie. And many of them are justified, espcially the costuming, the needless insertion of Tron into the movie, and some of the obvious homages to the original film. I felt that the first and last third of the film (where it was primarily action sequences) worked really well. The middle part where Sam meets up with Kevin and we get the expository moments was where I thought the film bogged down. I also didn't like the use of the "Against All Odds" version of Jeff Bridges being used in the opening "real" world sequences. The digital capture was the best we've seen so far in film, but it still didn't look quite real enough. When you saw young Flynn/Clu in the computer world, you could overlook the digitized image of his face, because he specifically WAS a computer program. All in all, I agree with Chris that it was an enjoyable movie with some flaws in it, but well worth a viewing in the non 3-D, non IMAX version.

Joe -- And did you catch/what did you think about The Black Hole poster and V.I.N.Cent model in Sam's room in the opening scene? -- Anthrax

[ljacone]

[Joe Anthrax]

[Arthur Ratnik]

[Joe Anthrax]

[NewFun#6]

Leave Del Torro alone. He's working on the new Haunted Mansion film, so do not disturb!

Chris, I'm REALLY curious what you feel is "seriously flawed" in the original Black Hole?

I'm not near as close or as passionate about "The Black Hole" as other things, like say TRON, but I dunno that I wanna see it "modern Hollywood-ized" either. I think it still stands as a pretty good sci-fi flick of its era. I still see it as 20,000 Leagues in space.

[Arthur Ratnik]

[ljacone]

First off, I wanted to say your "Podcast... Vacation!" tag makes me think of the classic Tiny Toons movie, How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

Now then. I was very much looking forward to hearing you guys comments on this one, especially after the Tron special a few months back. I like the original a good bit but I did not grow up with like you guys did. I got into the film on video (and later DVD) when I was in middle school and so forth. It's a very 80s movie, but as I have talked about before on this forum, that's a good thing from my perspective. It's not perfect -- it could use some real tightening up -- but its definitely a classic piece of Disneyana and 80s science fiction. The idea of a sequel to Tron is fantastic, since it is such a wide world to tell stories in. So I want a real story, not something to hang setpieces on. And it seems that is what we got, unfortunately.

Tron: Legacy seems to strike me more as a cash grab more than a true continuation of the original. Maybe my opinion will change when I see it. But I look at the massive amounts of merchandise and advertising, coupled with the flashy graphics and colors, it's like Tron Meets Vegas. Of course that is part and parcel with modern tentpole movie making, but on Tron it seems forced. If the remake of The Black Hole happens, I know it will be the same way, with the robots plastered everywhere and whatnot. So I don't know. Awareness is good. But too much awareness breeds nerd contempt, right?

Your comments about the 3D jives with everything else I have heard from others who have seen it. Not memorable enough and not well utilized. I would not see the film in 3D anyway, I do not like the premium they are charging for these sorts of pictures. The only one I wanted to see in 3D was Saw VII and there was no way I could talk my wife into letting me have that one!

In any event, this is one I knw my wife will want to see so this one will be on top of the queue shortly after it's released on DVD. Thanks for your thoughts guys!

EDIT: You guys talked about digital representation of the real world, such as pixelated clouds. Have you seen Daft Punk's video for ? There's a great shot in that video of "digital lightning," where the lightning is pixelated, and it is AWESOME.

[ljacone]

[NewFun#6]

I was so afraid that this would be Dark Knight all over again, but it sounds like you guys see where I'm coming from on this one. Cool!

[Arthur Ratnik]

[ljacone]

[NewFun#6]

[NewFun#6]

BTW, the wiki makes for some fascinating reading -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Hole

[ljacone]

[NewFun#6]

Waiting...

[Joe Anthrax]