Tron: Legacy

Reviews seem to be fairly mixed about this one so far, but here is my take on it. If you are awesome enough to have already seen the first Tron then you already know the basics. If not here is a quick rundown. Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a computer programmer who gets digitized and sucked into a computer mainframe. The mainframe is being run by an evil program bent on full control. Flynn must then team up with a security program named... Tron! Thats where the name is from ZOMG revalations. They destroy the program and save the system and Flynn makes it out alive and takes over the company.

Now TRON: Legacy picks up.

It begins with a quick rundown of all the awesome things Flynn has been doing in the years since his experience in the mainframe. He made a windows-like OS and gave it away for free. He advanced computer technologies and was being an all around awesome CEO. One day after telling his son Sam about his latest adventures in the mainframe he left to work and disapeared for 10 years. Flash forward to present day. Sam is twenty years old and as with any movie lack of a father figure in his life has made him a bad-ass daredevil with a death wish. He drives a fast motocycle, out runs cops, hacks his companies servers and base jumps just because he can. He is content being a reckless youth living off of trust funds... wouldn't we all. One night his dad's old partner comes and tells him that his father had paged him. (Thats right, on a pager!) So Sam goes to his dad's old lab and gets sucked into the mainframe himself. Once there Sam, like his father before him gets thrown into the games and must compete for his life. The mainframe has now changed and is becoming a fascist state run by a tyrannical renegade program, Que, that looks exactly like Flynn... only younger. Sam now has to save himself, find his father and free the mainframe all in eight hours because movies are just better with a timelock.

I think it should go without saying that the movie looks amazing. The special effects are really great looking and I believe worth the ticket to see it on the big screen in 3D. The movie has a great cyber-punk feel to it from the way the characters act to the clothes. The clothes! Why can't we dress like that in real life? Instead of new looks we are recylcling old trends in an infinite loop, I will cite myself here. Seriously, I am not necessarily talking about the ladies in skin tight body suits (Even though that is a plus) Look at the cloak that Flynn wears for most of the movie. I would wear that... That awesome glowing Obi-Wan cloak. I'm just saying we are living in the future... We might as well dress like it. Anyway, seriously, the design of the movie is great.

The story itself is possibly a bit lacking but the movie was billed as an action type effects driven movie and that is what it delivers. The acting is fine and Jeff Bridges is awesome throwing in his old slang here and there. Overall if you want something that is not too cerebral and want to watch light cycles shatter into plasma at rediculuos speeds with the whole family then I would recommend Tron to you.

My Weird Star Rating System:

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6/10
Rating Breakdown:
2 Stars: Great Visual Effects
2 Stars: Awesome Set Design
1 Star: Hot Chick Oggling
1 Star: Jeff Bridges Awesomeness

Black Swan

So I was fortunate enough this weekend to see Black Swan with some friends. Unfortunately the film is not getting a good release so we trekked an hour down to Silver Spring, MD to check it out. I am so happy we did. Black Swan is an awesome film that knows where it is both from a storyteller’s perspective and from an artistic aspect. Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem For A Dream, The Wrestler) helms the film with a style that is all his own.  The movie is shot very fast paced and contains some great visual imagery as well as superb acting.

Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers, an up and coming ballerina who gets offered the role of a lifetime as lead in the new reimagining of Swan Lake.  As the movie progresses you find that underneath her perfect exterior Nina has a lot of issues, anorexia, self mutilation, and poor self esteem to name a few. Most of these seem to be a by-product of her overbearing mother who seems to constantly judge her and treats her like she is fifteen. Problems begin to arise when Nina must channel the metamorphoses of both the black and white swans for the ballet. Mila Kunis co-stars as Lily, a new face to the troop that excels in the areas where Nina lacks. Naturally, this instills fear in Nina that her spot in the play is going to be taken. Nina starts down a slippery slope of paranoia and delusion that leads to terrible consequences.

Now that that is out of the way I can talk about the fun stuff. Natalie Portman kills in this movie! Her acting is some of her best to date. Fun fact: She lost 20 pounds and dislocated a rib for this film. Her portrayal is down right method and she really sells the duality of her role in the film. (If you would like to know more check out the spoilers area) The film itself is also a little deceiving but I do not believe it was intentional. Due to it’s small release there weren’t many trailers for it, thus people are going in to this movie believing it will be primarily focusing on the ballet itself, whereas the ballet itself serves more as a backdrop to the main story. 

I would just like to take a minute to note that at the time of one of the changeups the projectionist forgot to changeover our reels (This is what they were talking about in Fight Club during the ‘cigarette burns’ scene) and there was a spin out. It was awesome! That is one of those things I love that happens at a real theater. Most people would find it annoying or downright aggravating and it would be if it happened every time, but the truth is it is soo rare that most people have never even seen it once. I am happy to report that this was my third time that I can remember. (The other two being Spiderman 2 and Total recall) I believe there is at least one other instance that I have encountered this but I cannot make a specific connection. Anyway, I totally nerded out in the theater over that.

The only thing I disliked about the movie, and this isn’t a huge thing but it was jarring none the less, in the beginning when Nina is walking to the theater the camera work is super shaky, you have to feel every step of the damn cameraman. I know people like the shaky camera style but this seemed to be overkill. Luckily it only lasted for a little bit (seemingly abandoned after they looked at the dailies maybe?) and it turns up for a scene toward the middle of the movie. That aside the movie was shot really well. During the final scene of the movie the black swan’s dance was freaking awesome. I am not a ballet fan but I was thinking “Damn, that was cool.”

My Weird Rating System

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 9/10
3 Stars: Superb Acting
2 Stars: Great Story
2 Stars: Amazing Production Design
2 Star: Great Visuals

SPOILER AREA!

The genius of Black Swan is pure elegance in its simplicity. When the director of the ballet, Thomas Leroy (played by Vincent Cassel) proposes his plan to reinvent Swan Lake, by having the white and black swan played by the same person he is not only talking about the ballet. He is also foreshadowing the movie as a whole. Nina starts out as an allegory for the white swan, virginal, proper, and a perfectionist, but as the movie progresses and Nina’s descent into madness takes a more drastic turn we see how the black swan’s, charismatic, enigmatic, and sensual personality comes forth and begins dictating her actions more and more until finally she is able to fully grasp both roles but by that point there is no chance for redemption.  Watching Natalie go back and forth between her two roles was great and she really did an awesome job.  

The Walking Dead

This is a great show. AMC has been delivering lately with their shows. First Mad Men, Then Breaking Bad, and now the Walking Dead. I have been a BIG fan of the series for a few years now and I have personally made fans of 5 of my friends. The comic series is undeniable in its awesomeness. So it goes without saying that I was more than a little nervous when I heard that there was going to be a series coming out. Once I heard that Frank Darabont was at the helm I was put a little at ease. Then I saw some of the production stills for the make up effects and assured myself that at least the zombies would look cool. But I still had some reservations about how hardcore a zombie show could really be on regular cable TV.

My fears were soon put to rest… If you count waiting 3 months soon.

The first scene of the first episode has the main character Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln) walking into an abandoned gas station with a gas can. He soon finds the station is empty and turns to leave. Suddenly he hears some shuffling, which in any zombie apocalypse situation is never a good thing. He investigates it and finds a little girl. After he calls out to her she turns to reveal that (surprise) she IS a zombie. He stares for a second as she starts for him. Then he raises his gun and blows her brains out. ON TV!!! This is cool for two reasons. First: For a long time any violence against children was an extreme taboo. In the original Assault on Precinct 13 they almost got an X rating for shooting a girl in the head. Is this a good or a bad thing? I do not really care. Second: This sets a tone for the rest of the series. It says ‘Hey zombie fans, we are not fucking around’ It also is a warning to all the people watching saying ‘Hey squares! Guess what, we just shot this girl in the head. Don’t be offended. K? Thx, bai.’ I realize those are almost the same things but it is important to make the distinction.

The show on the whole is extremely well done. The special effects are cutting edge. The show is really well shot. The acting is great. And it is extremely well written. The first episode is extremely well written. Now if you have not read the comics THEN BURN IN HELL! No, just kidding. But you definitely should get on that. They are very good. Anyway, the first episode is pretty much page for page the comics. The rest of the season deviates from the comics a good deal; however, I am fine with that. Some of the best adaptations vary a lot from the original material (i.e. Jurassic Park, Fight Club) they add a good deal of characters but all that means is a better body count.

The first season is only six episodes long as they were not sure if they would be able to get away with it. Good news though. After the second episode the ratings were good enough to be granted a second season with thirteen episodes. Recently, Frank Darabont fired all the writers for the show. He felt that since he wrote four of the six episodes that he would just write the second season solo and bring in freelancers from time to time. Hilarious! Crazy, but hilarious.  

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9/10

2 Stars: Ballsy Zombie Gorey Awesomeness
2 Stars: A Great Comic Adaptation
1 Stars: Acting Prowess
1 Star: For Holy Crap They Just Did That On T.V.!
1 Star: For The Guy From Boondock Saints
1 Star: Production Design
1 Star: Top Class Make Up

Parks and Recreation

I am finishing up Parks and Recreation season 2. When the season 1 originally began airing I watched the first two episodes and stopped. Partially because I had other things to DVR at the time, but also the first season had a drastically different tone that the second. All the main characters are constantly mean to the main character, Leslie Knope. If you have already seen the show then you know Amy Poehler's character is rediculously adamant about her job, everyone else in the show is really horrible to her the 6 episodes. It was quite a turnoff to the whole project. The whole time I was watching season 1 I thought some moments were funny but it would never get LOL funny. But if you get through those first 6 episodes there is a golden nugget of awesomeness that happens called the second season.

I think the writers may have listened to the people or perhaps they just let the characters ad lib more (Amy Poehler is a great at improv) but immediately after the second season began the tone for the whole show is different. It seems as if Leslie Knope enthusiasm for her job has started to rub off on the other characters. Not to say that they are any happier about where they work but they do not try to counter everything Leslie says anymore. One thing I like to see in shows is growing friendships. This seasonm does that really well as you see the entire department become more like a disfunctional family. 

So, it you are a fan of the Office style mockumentary then I would highly recommend Parks and Recreation.

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8/10

Let the Right One In

There are certain things in movies that I always crack up to. One of those things is random, irrational, horrific animal attacks. My favorites include: The raccoon scene in Harold & Kumar, R.O.U.S. scene in The Princess Bride, and the monkey scene in RocketMan. Let the Right One In has another such scene. Be on the lookout for it.

Let the Right One In is a Swedish vampire film. In the movie the main character, Oskar (played by Kåre Hedebrant) gets terrorized by bullies (Beatings, whippings,  At one point they stole his pants and he had to walk home without them) to the point where he is stabbing a tree while saying: ‘Die pigs’ … kids got issues. One night while giving that poor tree a good working over he meets the new neighbor, Eli (played by Lina Leandersson) a twelve year old girl who seems to be just as jaded about life as he is. In the beginning they get into pseudo arguments mostly because Oskar is too busy being a tool to notice that a girl is talking to him. Eventually they become friends, he learns to have a backbone, the bullies get what is coming to them, and they ride off into the sunset; But not before everything goes to hell. It is revealed the Eli is in fact a vampire and her handler drains people of their blood to bring back for her to drink. It is not long before the towns people become paranoid as people go missing and bodies start to pile up.

The thing I like about this movie is its spin on the vampire genre. The vampire part of the story only serves as a secondary plot to the overall storyline of friendship. Eli helps Oskar gain more self confidence which in turn helps him stand up to the bullies. It doesn’t go over so well though and Eli has to step in and save him in a most grisly fashion. The movie also does not take itself too seriously. Many parts of the movie were shot in a way that makes them hilarious in an un-ironic way. Do not get me wrong though, this is a rather dark movie but it does have its levity. It was remade this year for American audiences under the title “Let Me In”. Maybe one day I will write a review on it but from what I hear it pretty much butchers the original. All in all I would recommend this to those who like a good monster movie (I specifically chose 'monster' over 'vampire')

My Weird Rating System
*******/**********   

7/10

Breathless

Man, I started this blog off on the wrong night. It does take some of the pressure off, but man, I would love to have talked about Beathless as my first commentary/review/whatever this is going to turn out to be. Jean-Luc Godard is one of my favorite directors and Breathless is one of his best films.

I love how it moves at a different pace compared to other movies of its time. The fast cuts throw you from one sentence to the next with little remorse as to if you are keeping up. It has an heir of 'fuck you' that only a Frenchman can compose. Even in the opening lines Michel Poiccard (Played by Jean-Paul Belmondo) basically says: 'If you don't like France then you can go to hell' blatantly looking into the camera and breaking the fourth wall for the first of many times. He then proceeds to blatantly objectify women, point a loaded gun at passing cars and fire the gun at the sun, then kill a cop. The whole time you watch the edit pace of the movie is at a rapid fire, essentially switching shots after every sentence. He flees to Paris to meet up with an American girl, Patricia (Played by Jean Seberg) apprenticing to be a journalist. I do not really feel like describing the whole movie to you so I am speeding up.

 A statement is made in the movie akin to “American women totally own men and French women have not quite figured out how to whip a man yet.” This is shown throughout the movie as Michel constantly dominates the women around him – yet he is completely wrapped around Patricia’s finger. I always get the feeling that Michel strongly believes he is in a movie but wrongly believes he is a hero. So he goes about his doing what he believes is what Bogart or Sinatra would do. But he is a pretty despicable when it comes down to it. But through his hijinks he is nonetheless endearing. He knows the police are after him yet he hangs around for a girl that only half-heartedly flirts with him. She does sleep with him – But this is France so there you go. Patricia does know exactly what she is doing the whole time as she reveals in the final lines of the film and stared intently into the audience. No, I meant to word it like that.

Like with any Godard film you get a great atmosphere. He plays with camera angles and always is mindful of the whole frame. The characters are stereotypical but fresh always mysterious, I believe that has something to do with the copious amount of cigarette smoke constantly being thrown into the air by Michele and Patricia. As I mentioned before the editing for this movie is rapid fire fast. While he throws jump cuts around like a pedophile throws candy at a park Godard also takes his time over various scenes and does entire scenes in one shot.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves film. And if you liked this movie and would like to know more about Godard I also will suggest “Band of Outsiders”.

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10/10

The Futurama X-Mas Episode

Yes! I am so happy after their triumphant return to television Futurama gives us a [hopefully] good Christmas special. So far the episode has had Nixon, Tiny Timbot and Dick Cheney definitely off to a good start. Awesome! 

Seriously, I love Christmas specials. There is something that is so cheesy about them but it's a staple in shows that started to feel like it was dying out there for a little while. Lately though, it feels like there is a revival of shows that are still trying to make a holiday episode... But make it good. Good examples of this are Community and American Dad. Throughout this month I will probably be making more posts for various Christmas episodes I watch. I digress. 

 Ok, so now it is over. I liked it. It is set up much like a Tree House of Horrors episode where it is broken up into three separate non-storyline episodes. One for X-Mas, one for Robonukkah, and one for Kwanzaa. Yeah, Kwanzaa! I always like it when shows take an extra initiative and throw some love to the other holidays. But it is extremely rare to see a Kwanzaa episode anywhere. The only one I actually have ever seen is the Rugrats one; which is also one of the only shows to make a Hanukkah episode. Another series that had great holiday episodes was South Park. I say 'was' because they have not had a holiday episode in years. American Dad also deserves a mention as their Christmas episodes are more action packed than a Michael Bay circle jerk.

So... now that I completely diverged off topic... I guess I will end this. This blog is off to a great start.

...yeah...

My Weird Star System

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8/10