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patentdragonA cold day, but the excursion had a nice cosy motorised chair at the end of it - a chair, a complimentary drink and a movie, namely Tron Legacy!
Film Review: Tron Legacy
Tron was a real Eighties classic, truly ground-breaking, and as effects technology has advanced in the time between then and now, a return to that world was inevitable. With the advent of mass-market 3D, that time has at last come. The result...?
If this film had come out before Avatar, there's a good chance it would have been hailed as just as ground-breaking as Tron. That obviously didn't happen, so what's the score for a post-Avatar offering from the film that, and let's be honest, pretty much started the computer-generated ball rolling?
This movie is good, solid fun, with some first-rate visuals, and a story that expands on the real and virtual worlds of the first movie. The latter, however, appears to have come down with a dose of the "Bladerunners" - that seems to be the rather formulaic answer to the question "how do we make it look like our world has fallen on difficult times?" It doesn't really hurt this movie, as you don't really have time to dwell on it, with things really kicking off pretty swiftly, and avoiding an extended "get your breath back" segment.
A definite highlight is the inevitable descendant of the Light-Cycles sequence, which truly eclipses the original, with the help of a healthy dose of 3D that can get your head spinning at times - which isn't a bad thing. The original movie is also harked back to during the Light-Sailer sequence, but again, there's that 3D to refresh things, in quite subtle fashion as clouds drift by. In general, the 3D isn't as intrusive as it could have been - but maybe this time, more in-your-face 3D could have been a positive thing (unless you don't like 3D, like some reviewers).
Reviewers have also spoken out about Jeff Bridges's younger "clone", and some mouth-synching issues. That wasn't a problem for me - although Clu did look like a CGI character circa Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within at the explosive climax. It was a gutsy move to use CG this way, and on the whole it paid off. In the future, they'll get it spot on - just you watch...
One slight negative is that an excellent concept is floated - spontaneously generating virtual life, in the form of the Isos - but not properly exploited, apart from explaining the origin of a major character. It could just be that the idea will form the backbone for a third movie - or am I thinking too far ahead? (*cough* Sam has to go back to The Grid to save an ailing Quorra? *cough*)
Pity the weather hit the attendances for this - two upstairs, two downstairs that I knew about, and me having the VIP row all to myself. Excuse me, but I'm not a professional film-critic - I paid my money, and I got my enjoyment. Maybe not quite a full tank, but good enough for me, and worth braving the cold for.
The Final Lowdown... Thoroughly entertaining, but not as revolutionary as the original. Some interesting new ideas that could spawn a third movie? 8/10
And so the curtain falls on another movie year, unless I somehow get a chance to squeeze in Monsters before New Year. In any case, it's academic that Scott Pilgrim gets the "gong" for Movie Of The Year...
Film Review: Tron Legacy
Tron was a real Eighties classic, truly ground-breaking, and as effects technology has advanced in the time between then and now, a return to that world was inevitable. With the advent of mass-market 3D, that time has at last come. The result...?
If this film had come out before Avatar, there's a good chance it would have been hailed as just as ground-breaking as Tron. That obviously didn't happen, so what's the score for a post-Avatar offering from the film that, and let's be honest, pretty much started the computer-generated ball rolling?
This movie is good, solid fun, with some first-rate visuals, and a story that expands on the real and virtual worlds of the first movie. The latter, however, appears to have come down with a dose of the "Bladerunners" - that seems to be the rather formulaic answer to the question "how do we make it look like our world has fallen on difficult times?" It doesn't really hurt this movie, as you don't really have time to dwell on it, with things really kicking off pretty swiftly, and avoiding an extended "get your breath back" segment.
A definite highlight is the inevitable descendant of the Light-Cycles sequence, which truly eclipses the original, with the help of a healthy dose of 3D that can get your head spinning at times - which isn't a bad thing. The original movie is also harked back to during the Light-Sailer sequence, but again, there's that 3D to refresh things, in quite subtle fashion as clouds drift by. In general, the 3D isn't as intrusive as it could have been - but maybe this time, more in-your-face 3D could have been a positive thing (unless you don't like 3D, like some reviewers).
Reviewers have also spoken out about Jeff Bridges's younger "clone", and some mouth-synching issues. That wasn't a problem for me - although Clu did look like a CGI character circa Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within at the explosive climax. It was a gutsy move to use CG this way, and on the whole it paid off. In the future, they'll get it spot on - just you watch...
One slight negative is that an excellent concept is floated - spontaneously generating virtual life, in the form of the Isos - but not properly exploited, apart from explaining the origin of a major character. It could just be that the idea will form the backbone for a third movie - or am I thinking too far ahead? (*cough* Sam has to go back to The Grid to save an ailing Quorra? *cough*)
Pity the weather hit the attendances for this - two upstairs, two downstairs that I knew about, and me having the VIP row all to myself. Excuse me, but I'm not a professional film-critic - I paid my money, and I got my enjoyment. Maybe not quite a full tank, but good enough for me, and worth braving the cold for.
The Final Lowdown... Thoroughly entertaining, but not as revolutionary as the original. Some interesting new ideas that could spawn a third movie? 8/10
And so the curtain falls on another movie year, unless I somehow get a chance to squeeze in Monsters before New Year. In any case, it's academic that Scott Pilgrim gets the "gong" for Movie Of The Year...
