Movie Reviews

Today, co-conspirator and co-editor Patricia Bray (pbray) and I went off to see the movie Tron: Legacy, and I realized that we've seen a few movies recently and I haven't reviewed any of them. So let's play catch-up, shall we?

First up, Tron: Legacy: I've been waiting for this movie since I first heard they were making it, months and months ago. I only vaguely recall the first movie from the 80s (and surprisingly, you can't even buy a DVD of it now, which is utter FAIL for the marketing department at Disney), but I remember being wowed by the idea and I can remember certain scenes from the movie rather vividly. And today, all of that came back to me in a warm little glow of nostalgia. *grin* The new movie has all of the same flavor of the original, and contrary to some rumblings I heard beforehand, does indeed have a plot. I think what people are grumbling about is that the plot is more sedate and character-involved than they were perhaps expecting. There are some good moments between father and son, the distance that can grow between them (especially when one is trapped on The Grid, let's say), and a touch of what father's might expect of their sons, etc. There wasn't anything heavy-handed in the character department, and there were certainly some new ideas in the Tron universe. I like how they took some of the elements of the original Tron movie and extended them in new and interesting directions. They didn't push it far enough to capture the new generation though. I do think they left the end of the movie open enough that they can do a much more updated version of "Tron" for the new generation, with this movie being a good bridge between the two generations. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, even though it didn't completely blow me away. I'd recommend it for everyone who might have seen the original movie, and think the new generation should check it out for the kitsch factor, with the hopes that the producers/directors/etc will take the next step and take Tron and its universe to the next level.

Last weekend, we also saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I remember when I read these books way back when that this one was my favorite of the series, although I can't remember why. I don't remember anything of the plot of these books for the most part. I should probably reread them. But based on the three movies so far, I'd say that the reason this was my favorite book was because there was MUCH more action in this one than the previous ones. Basically, the kids are taken to Narnia through a picture of the Dawn Treader on the sea and there discover that "evil" has entered Narnia in the form of a green mist. While the main lands of Narnia are more or less at peace with each other under King Caspian's rule, the islands in the eastern ocean are another matter, and this is where the Evil has taken hold. The ship and its crew hop from island to island, encounter strange new creatures, and are tested by the Evil in various ways. Overall, it was an OK movie. I felt they should have spent more time developing the temptations that Evil gives them, built them up so they were move significant. It felt like most of them were simply thrown in. This would have satisfied the adults in the audience more. They certainly catered to the kids enough with some rather good action and lots of great scenery and strangeness. The battle with evil at the end was particularly good, the monster gruesome enough that I'm certain some kids who watched it are having nightmares. So, much better than the second movie, I'd certainly like to see the fourth movie made, but they need to find a better balance between the action and the more serious aspects of the plot.

At some point before Narnia we also went to see Hereafter. This movie is in a completely different vein than the other two, being a more literary movie. And by literary I mean dull. The best part of the entire movie was the opening sequence with the tsunami, which sets up the main angst of the French woman character, who essentially dies, sees the hereafter (or a version thereof), before being brought back. Her life is now haunted by what she saw and the questions it raises for her. This plotline is woven into two others: the first is Matt Damon's character, who is psychic, can speak to the dead in the hereafter, but doesn't want his power any more because it alienates him from everyone; and a young boy who is having a hard time dealing with the death of his twin brother. Matt Damon's character lives in San Francisco, and the boy lives in London. This movie probably two and a half hours long, and in my opinion could have been covere in a half an hour instead. Far too much angst and woe before solutions are reached. As a writer, I spent most of my time trying to figure out how the hell these three characters were ever going to meet. How they DO end up meeting is interesting (and believable, although there's no way in hell that the book fair is that calm). But the most believable part of the entire movie is when the French woman, who's a writer, is at her computer, supposedly writing, and ends up getting on the internet to do "research." Both Patricia and I burst out laughing at this (probably to the other movie-goers consternation), because of course this never happens to us.

I'm fairly certain there's a movie in there somewhere that I've forgotten we went to, but neither one of us could remember what it was. So instead, I'll talk about the two trailers we saw before the Tron movie today: Transformers 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. For T3, I'm hoping someone slapped some sense and talent into Michael Bay. Please do not let this be the disaster T2 was. The trailer was good and gave me hope. As for P4, I was worried they were going to somehow try to work the Orlando Bloom character and the others into this fourth one. There's no way I'd buy this, since they basically ended their plotlines with P3. But based on the trailer, they didn't try for this at all. Aside from Jack Sparrow and a couple of the pirates, it appears everyone is new. And again, the trailer shows promise.

The rest of the trailers sucked. Both Patricia and I mostly said, "No!" or "My brain hurts."