Tron Legacy facts: 3-D

Tron Legacy fact #3

Almost all of the 3-D in the movie will take place within the game, not in the real-life portions.  Those scenes will be shot with a special camera that was made by the team who made the cameras for Avatar.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *

Upcoming Release: Tron Legacy

I recently watched the original Tron. Honestly, I really can’t remember whether I saw it when I was younger or not. It seems like something I would have seen, but it didn’t really seem familiar as I watched it. Anyway, it was released in 1982 and here’s a brief synopsis:

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a video game programmer who works for ENCOM. Rival programmer Dillinger plagiarizes Flynn’s games then locks Flynn out of the system. When Flynn tries to hack the system, he is sucked into it. He is able to redeem himself by participating successfully in digital games as gladiator Clu, with help from Tron/Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner).

I can see how this movie would have been considered cool in 1982, with it’s vivid colors and video game look. Of course, watching it now, it’s looks pretty hokey but I thought it was a clever idea.

Enter Tron Legacy, which picks up some 30 years later. Bridges and Boxleitner are back as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley. Kevin Flynn’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) tries to find his long-lost father (who has been in the game this whole time) and ends up being sucked into the game himself. Together, Sam and his father team up to fight their way through the digital world.

Tron Legacy is set for release on December 17, 2010. Prepare for some great special effects, 3-D, and sound! I will be posting much more information about the movie between now and release so stay tuned.

* Tron Legacy * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde,  Bruce Boxleitner * 2010 * Not Yet Rated * Soundtrack * Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Movie Review: The Last Airbender

If you felt a disturbance in the Force this week, it was The Last Airbender being unleashed onto an unsuspecting, hopeful world.  Somewhere, the ladies of Sex and the City 2 are pointing at M. Night Shyamalan and the cast of Airbender and laughing their Manolo Blahnik- wearin’ asses off. Airbender has managed to outdo SATC2 and win my vote for worst movie of the year (so far).

M. Night Shyamalan better be thankful The Last Airbender, which he wrote and directed, was released the same week as Twilight Eclipse, because now he can blame the poor box office showing on the fact that no movie can compete with Eclipse. Actually, Airbender will probably do well this first week, but once word-of-mouth starts spreading, it’s going to sink like an airbended rock. Imagine if you gave a $150M budget to a bunch of 12-year-olds and told them to make the movie. Let’s assume those kids could work the cameras and run the special effects software and everything; however, when they wrote the script, they used language that 12-year olds would use. The dialogue in this movie was astonishingly bad, simplistic and hokey, actually laughable at many (too many) points. I can’t believe this movie was released as-is.  How in the world did it get past the producers?  I digress…

I’ve never seen Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, so I can’t tell you if the storyline of the movie stays true to the TV show. Apparently, this movie is based on the first season of the show. Aang (Noah Ringer) is the young Avatar who is the only master of all four elements.  He has been called upon to help restore harmony between the Four Nations: Earth Kingdom, Air Nomads, Fire Nation, and Water Tribe. That’s a lot of responsibility for a 12-year-old and Aang can’t take the pressure, so he runs away.  He gets caught in a massive storm and is frozen for 100 years inside a giant ice ball with his flying bison, Appa.

Certain members of each of the tribes have the power to “bend” their element and use it in various ways, including as weapons, but Aang is the only one capable of bending air.  Katara (Nicola Peltz) is the last waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe (don’t worry: there are plenty of waterbenders in other tribes). Katara and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) stumble upon the giant ice ball holding Aang and free him. Being frozen and all, he is still only 12 years old, and he doesn’t have one drop of water or ice on him even though a giant ice ball just exploded around him. There I go digressing again…

Anyway, the Fire Nation is not playing nice and has already wiped out or enslaved many of the other tribes in its quest to rule the world. Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) has been exiled from the Fire Nation for dishonoring himself and his family. Aang is Zuko’s ticket back into the family – all the prince has to do is capture Aang alive and take him back to the Fire Nation so they can, you know, kill him.  Then they will truly rule the world. Mwahaahaaha!

The martial arts moves are good in some spots, particularly one scene about midway through featuring Aang and a mysterious blue character. I saw the regular version and I know the visuals would have been much better in 3-D. The battles are sort of rock-paper-scissors games featuring the elements: earth walls blocking fire balls, floating water splashing fire out, air pushing water back. There is the classic showdown between good and evil at the end, but do not expect an amazing Lord of the Rings type battle. It ain’t happening.

I had to keep reminding myself who the target audience is. It’s billed as an Action/Adventure/Family/Fantasy. Key word: Family.  At the end of the movie, younger kids were doing karate moves in the theatre aisles, but the group of teenaged boys sitting behind us must have spewed out the word “stupid” about five times in three seconds. Ultimately, I think kids under twelve might enjoy it, but their parents would be ready to purposely hurl themselves in front of a fireball just to make this ridiculousness end.

It was so bad, it became very entertaining after awhile, but not in the way Shyamalan meant. I’m feeling a cult following coming. Or a drinking game of some kind: take a sip every time someone onscreen says something stupid, or says something not-so-stupid but says it in a stupid way.  You would be toasted by the end of the second scene.

I give this movie one Slurpee out of five, just to leave room in case a group of eight-year-olds are given a $150M budget and a camera and I need to give their movie half a Slurpee.

*BEGIN SPOILER ALERT {insert alarm sounds here}* The movie ended in such a way that makes it clear that there will be a second movie, so The Last Airbender is apparently not going to be the last. In fact, there is a $250M budget for a planned trilogy of movies. A trilogy! I wonder if they’ll still make the other two movies if this first one does as horribly as I think it will. Is it possible to release the second and third movies of a trilogy directly to DVD? Can we start a petition to block them from ever happening? *END SPOILER ALERT*

* The Last Airbender * Director: M. Night Shyamalan * Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz * Time: 102 minutes * Rated PG-13 * Trailers* Soundtrack *

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Spider Man director, Sam Raimi, is in early negotiations to direct “Oz: The Great and Powerful” starring Robert Downey, Jr (as long as his schedule allows it).  Raimi has apparently signed on, but he is set to meet with Downey and also must work out schedule and financial details.  Other directors who were considered are Sam Mendes, Timur Bekmambetov, Adam Shankman, and even Guillermo del Toro, who recently dropped out as director of  “The Hobbit.”

Some call it a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, some say it’s not.  Basically, the story follows the wizard’s journey to Oz, from the wizard’s point-of-view. Downey will play a fast-talking, womanizing con artist whose balloon gets caught in a tornado (hmm, sounds familiar).  The balloon ends up in Oz, whose residents think he is the Wizard they have been awaiting.

Production may begin as early as next spring and, of course, it will be in 3-D.

I hope the deal happens. I mean, how many more Tim Burton/Johnny Depp match-ups do we really need to see?

Stay tuned…

Upcoming Movie: Gulliver’s Travels

I admit it: I love me some Jack Black. I really do.  I can’t explain it. There’s just something about his delivery and his zany, childlike behavior that just does it for me. Oh, and the strange, almost demonic facial expressions.  I recently saw a preview for Gulliver’s Travels starring Mr. Black and I had to find out more about it.

The movie is set for a December 2010 release and it will be available in digital 3-D. Jack Black plays Lemuel Gulliver and the movie also stars Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, and Amanda Peet. Here’s the trailer I saw.

Here is the plot, according to IMDb:

Travel writer Lemuel Gulliver takes an assignment in Bermuda, but ends up on the island of Liliput, where he towers over its tiny citizens.

More to come.  Stay tuned…