Tron Ares

Personally I don't think you can call it Tron without showing Tron, but hey I'm a mark for this stuff!

Aside from that woeful misstep along with some heinous marketing on the red carpet the sequel I never eveeeerrrrrr thought would come around is finally here, so what does a mega nerd for the Tron series think of it? Well I think honestly this whole series has followed in the same vein as the original Star Wars trilogy, first movie groundbreaking in special effects with a basic story that admittedly took a cult status, second film improved on every single aspect and can easily be considered one of the best sequels ever made and a masterpiece that only ages like the finest venetian wine, and the third retreads some familiar ground while still putting new elements into it. If you saw the trailer it admittedly isn't as epic as a full scale invasion from the Grid into our world, but rather a discovery of personality for the titular program and a battle of attrition between Encom and Dillinger enterprises and while far from great is an overall solid movie! Now am I biased? Well duh, I was going on a tangent in my mind about the continuity of the Grid for Christ's sakes, I think I'm in too deep here! It's not airtight in terms of writing and some of the performances have jank to it, but the cinematography is very solid with still unique visuals that you can tell the director put thought into, coming off the heels of a juggernaut like Daft Punk's score for Legacy you would think Nine Inch Nails just couldn't compete but they do damn good work and I think it stands on par with that phenomenal soundtrack, the fanwank was to the brim and while I strongly appreciate it I can also see the modern trappings of it I mean this is a legacy sequel in every way Tron Legacy wasn't. Is that inherently bad? No, but they do lean hard on it which could be distracting for others. I know a lot of people hopped on the fence when Jared Leto was announced to star and I don't really know jack shit about him personally so all I can do is just give an opinion on the performance alone, it's a notch uneven but I levy that more towards the script than the actor with a more robotic program suddenly switching to a very opinionated and passionate individual, but I kinda love the idea of a program reading the mother of science fiction Mary Shelley's Frankenstein who also is a fan of Depeche Mode so hey take from it what you will. Greta Lee is a decent human lead and her story is anything but paper thin though I felt it just needed either more time to breathe or better instances, however I will give the movie points for showing and not telling much so overall it's a solid performance. Evan Peters doesn't exactly convey the gravitas of his Dillinger grandfather but room is always there for improvement especially with some heavy ass sequel baiting, so I'm willing to bide time and see if it goes anywhere. We get my man back, our Dude and savior Jeff Bridges and even though it's really just a single solitary scene my jaw dropped. I won't lie to you, the man is my idol and I aspire to be like His Dudeness, so to see force ghost Flynn was a high highpoint for me unequivocally! Also shout out to Jodie, you got the moves, you got the energy, and I still got a soft spot for villains. The look of the film is top notch, feeling like a logical evolution from Legacy and as a Dude myself of darker nature, seeing so much predominant red and black was such a fantastic sight with finely crafted costumes, sets, and visual effects. It wouldn't surprise me if it got some big time award nominations! And just as a little bonus let's lightning round some thoughts: Apparently any artificial lifeform gets all existential when in contact with rain so the memory of Roy Batty continues decades after Blade Runner, seeing several Grids and how each command issued by a user is a full blown scene is not only logical but really damn cool pushing the envelope for the Tron series surprisingly, we get some biiiig namedrops for heavy fans such as myself that makes my mind race with the possibilities should Disney be a buddy and continue on, and despite the lack of "Bio-digital jazz man." I'm fairly proud of myself I called a few quotes including the mid-credits teaser by the by! Overall it's a solid movie, to a 15 year fan I'm quite happy with it and I know it ain't gonna hit the same for everybody else but I'll look forward to adding this to the DVD shelf along with the other two movies. 3 stars, 7.5/10! End of line man.

Morbius

Guys it really isn't as bad as people make it out.

Coming from an individual who isn't a big Marvel fan, knows nothing about Michael Morbius, and walked in with nothing but an open mind, I thought it was decent. I thought it would be more supernatural how he gained his vampiric powers with him going to some tropical forest and finding something that was best left alone, typical silver age origin story, but I like the scientific reasoning behind it even if it does still lead to superhuman abilities. It gets a little disjointed with the flashbacks but after that it works fairly well. Just telling this story of how a dying man gains these abilities and is trying to make sense of it all while trying not to take human lives to sustain his own is a good story and it's handled well. I thought Jared Leto did fine work, he has a leading man prescence, can be funny, nails the dilemma aspect of his character, and fits dead center in a morally gray superhero light. Of course I have to love Matt Smith, even though I don't like seeing him in an antagonistic role, and it is very basically written but the friendship dynamic clicked for me and it was believable. And yes I did catch that Doctor Who reference you cheeky bastards. Adria Arjona was bugging me the hell out cause I was like, I know you! But where?? She was my witch crush in Good Omens, and the romance aspect felt very sudden and so was her ending yet I still thought she gave a good performance. Also props to making two investigating agents not be blithering morons and mostly useless, thank you for that writers. I very much digged the hell out of the visuals and makeup, properly making Jared and Matt look deathly ill and when the vampiric stuff kicked in I was like, wow that's such an interesting effect. With the flight having trails of colors, the echolocation having a sort of vibrating water effect, and I like they didn't chicken out and show some blood. It isn't gory as hell, but you do see it. Apparently this takes place in the same world as both Venom movies, and I'm not even attempting to connect all the Marvel movies. Sure, fine, whatever, go for it. Why not have them all mix and meld so you can see Michael Keaton as Vulture? It's neat. So it was a decent okay movie, nowhere near a 4.8 on IMDB. I give it 2.5 stars, 7/10.

In Retrospect: Blade Runner 2049

This is a great movie, I'm very excited to see it with several Academy Award nominations!

I'm telling you man, it all fits together when you understand better the original Blade Runner. Blade Runner 2049 is a extremely well done sequel, visuals are almost too good to be true, with outstanding use of color and it further imprints the fact that not only is this a parallel Earth where history went a tiny bit different, but that the technology jump in 30 years time makes logical sense. The film is gorgeous to look at, and it proves the fact that film is a visual medium. That is the point of movies, to show artistic and grand scale visuals while telling a story. This is a prime example if I ever saw one, but not just in environment. Harrison Ford returns, albeit briefly in this film and quite possibly the two best scenes is where he hardly speaks. You can tell everything he is feeling through just facial expressions, he is that good an actor, his body language says what words cannot for his character. Speaking of which, all the characters are fantastic and wonderful. By far my favorite characters besides Decker is Joi, and Ana for one simple reason: although their characters are extremely isolated from the world they show great humanity. Joi is such a loving, wonderful person and to know the story of Ana and how it all ends....I couldn't dare ask for anything better. Joe is a really dang good protagonist, and while I'm at it he makes this almost 3 hour movie very engaging. I never lost interest once, the story and world is just so engaging to the point where it doesn't feel like almost 3 hours. And really, I only had two issues, one of which I got over relatively quick. First, is Joi. Now there is nothing wrong with her character, but more the tech of her. Since she's a hologram she can't interact with physical matter. Except when she can. It's so bizarre, I can't figure out why she can touch and feel one minute then be a hologram once again. But I love her character so much I can look past it. What I can't look past is this whole revolution subplot that's really missing the whole "Chosen One" aspect to make it completely stupid, it doesn't go anywhere after that scene so why is it in the movie? I would rather have that introduction scene they had to Sapper which they used in that weird variety of preludes to build up to this movie. Remember that? They had all these directors do scenes both live action and animated to build up to this movie. Throw that scene in, it gave a lot of character and respect and sympathy to his character, I loved it. But no, we get a flaccid at best revolution subplot that dies as quickly as it began. Yet even through all that, the appeal this film holds for me cannot be fully explained, cause well film is something greater and better than words, it's a gorgeous movie, with great characters, and a compelling mystery. What more could anyone ask? You know what, screw it I'm watching it again! I'll see you guys next week. Great movie, see it, buy it, love it. I'm going in!

Blade Runner 2049

Alright, that was a pretty good movie!

So the follow up to the strange and yet enticing Blade Runner just hit theaters, and I have to say it really did not disappoint. So it's been about 30 years since the last movie and we follow a detective replicant who soon is put on a case to find a living miracle, a child birthed by a replicant. And through this we meet old friends, new enemies, and a damn impressive looking film. Now this is what a good sequel should do, take the elements of the original film and expand upon them to tell a good story and this movies does it very, very well. I almost would say this could be a standalone film, it doesn't even need to be a sequel to Blade Runner but there are important plot lines and elements from the first movie which are adressed here, but it does feel a touch self contained. Ryan Gosling, who I haven't seen in much was a competent lead, I really liked his potrayal of a replicant who just tries to live a normal life but also happens to kill his own kind. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying Harrison Ford is in this movie, but you might be surprised to know he doesn't show up until the last 45 minutes, or maybe even an hour before the credits roll, but for the time he is on screen he still does a great job, they don't bring up the whole is he a replicant thing so I still want to say he is human but regardless it was great seeing him in another reprising role. Also, thank you for not killing him off. I already saw that crap once, which is enough for a lifetime. And all the other elemnts of the film are excellent, the music is still very synth heavy like the first and I still love it, the film is rich in visual appeal but I have to say I'm of course more impressed by the original since it was all real but still the movie looks excellent, I like how it's more plot oriented so you don't get confused as to what is going on, and the ending was actually perfect for me! The ending was just what I wanted, it didn't give me more or less, it was just right, and I was very happy to see the movie. I thought it was a very good continuation of the original Blade Runner, it probably won't be looked back on with such high regard as the original but it's still a really good movie and if you feel up to having a double feature in the Blade Runner universe, I say go for it!

Alright, first week of October down. We need to snap to on this horror movie stuff, so be patient we'll have a lot to come very soon so until next time....

Suicide Squad

Damn...good...movie.

Not the most awesome, badass comic book movie ever but damn good. I saw the movie for free and I feel bad about it, I have to see this movie again and pay for it. Suicide Squad is a really good comic book movie following Task Force X or the Suicide Squad being assembled and put to their first mission. Really good story I must say with lots to keep your attention and entertain you but once again, the characters seal this film. Every single last one of them is perfect in their roles, but major love goes to Margot Robbie and Jared Leto. Terrific Harley Quinn and an unpredictable Joker! I have to say their relationship is super loving in this movie and I am in full force behind it, I always enjoy the notion that Harley and her puddin' have a lovely relationship so major points to that. Christ if I talked about all the characters in turn we would be here all night, there is so much to say about each of these individuals and all of it is good. And a surprising element and to me the best scene in the entire movie is the bar scene, where all of these people get real, hard character development and rises an almost philosophical point that I applaud the film for. This movie does not screw around, the action is good, the humor while most of it was in the trailers is still very funny, the soundtrack is...stellar to the point where I must own them all, the acting is great, the characters are fun and interesting, I do recommend this movie. Quite a bit. I cannot wait to see this movie again, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Just a good time to be had while watching this, so let the good times roll!