Tron: Legacy in 3D

Sunday, January 2, 2011 04:16:17 PM

I walked out of Tron:Legacy 3D with my head a whirl. My first 3D movie experience since 1982's Friday the 13 ^th in 3D , although my friend Todd insists that it was Jaws 3D we walked out of, the effects were breathtaking, but subtle, played down for the long run instead of relying on the obvious, quick thrill,  3D cliches. Those were reserved for the trailers and helped me acclimatize to the upcoming special effects spectacle. The most striking 3D effect was Olivia Wilde's eyes(“Thirteen” from House ), which sometimes appeared to exist outside her head like a tree frog's.

For Jeff Bridges fans, Tron: Legacy features twice as much as the first Tron.  He reprises his role as an aging Kevin Flynn, trapped in his own cyber creation, called The Grid, and his nemesis, the program Clu, whose search for perfection threatens the real world. Bridges plays Flynn as a cross between The Dude and Obi- Tron Kenobi, favoring dharmic garb and dropping  Buddhist kōans such as “remove yourself from the equation,” and “You're messing with my Zen.” As Clu, a computer program, which doesn't age,  he appears as the Jeff Bridges from the 1982 original film.

The film's explosive climax revolves around the struggle between the creator and his creation.  Kevin Flynn is the creator of the virtual world that most of the film occupies.  His creation, Clu, is attempting to usurp his creator. When Clu exhorts his digital minions to topple their god, he appears like a digital Lucifer, attempting to set his throne higher than his God's.   

If Kevin Flynn is God and Clu is Lucifer/Satan, then Flynn's son Sam and the mysterious Quorra are Adam and Eve, played with youthful abandon and reckless impulsivity by Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde.

Sam is the major share holder of his father's own company which appears to have morphed into a giant, heartless software company that forces its customers to buy endless, meaningless software upgrades, named Encom (Income, get it?). This is against the older Flynn's philosophy that information should be free (as in beer), much like the Open Source software philosiphy.  I am an enthusiastic open source user (I am writing this using OpenOffice.org Writer word processor under the Ubuntu 10.10 operating system). The direct influence of open source can be seen in this article at the OMG Ubuntu! website.  Check out the uber-dork comments at the bottom.  

Despite some story line incongruities,  Tron:  Legacy 3D was a great way to spend a cold Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati.  Visually, the film was a treat to watch and the story hummed along at a nice pace, although it did get a little slow during the middle section.  It was a much better sequel than the smoldering crapfest that The Matrix Reloaded was.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 08:08:34 PM

Insomniac theater presents: Triangle

Wednesday, January 5, 9:52 AM

Triangle  was completely unknown to me until I read about it on Cortez the Killer's year-end review at the Bloodsprayer.com  (read the article here).  I don't want to rehash what he has already said, but I do  want to add my "Yeah, wow!"

In terms of "jumping out of your skin" moments, Triangle  had the most of any movie I'd watched in quite a while.  Poor Olivia, I would grab her anytime something scary happened.  And there were plenty of scary moments to be had.

Triangle doesn't waste any time getting started.  As soon as the main characters are introduced to the viewer, crazy things begin to happen. And it doesn't stop until the end, leaving me somewhat breathless. There were some inconsistencies along the way, but I quickly forgot them as soon as the blood started to flow.

And like many good horror movies,Triangle doesn't reveal all its secrets until the very end.  There were times when it reminded me of 2007's Los Cronoscrimenes,  but in the end,  it is its own movie.

Insomniac theater double feature: It's Alive and Bad Biology

Friday, December 10, 2010 01:28 AM

Once again, the rest of the house is slumbering, even Olivia, my late night movie buddy, is asleep. Instead of watching movies I already own, it is time check out my Netflix streaming queue. The big deal about that is Netflix streaming only works with Windows or Apple operating systems. The reason why that is problematic for me could be its own post; let me say that every time I boot my laptop into Vista, I feel a part of my soul die.

Subconsciously, I devoted the evening's viewing to themes of sex and reproduction. In my queue I saw It's Alive (1974), written and directed by cinema maverick, Larry Cohen. A quick look at his IMDB profile revealed that he was responsible for one of the strangest films I have ever seen, 1976' s God Told Me To, part police procedural, part sci-fi story, and part trans gender sex in the armpit with your brother who is really a homicidal Jesus alien type movie. I really need to watch that one again.

Also in my queue was Frank Henenlotter 's Bad Biology (2008). Henenlotter is known for the Basket Case trilogy and his work rescuing and releasing classic exploitation (is that an oxymoron?) films for Something Weird Video.

It's Alive was one of those movies I wasn't allowed to see as a child, so I did what I usually did when blocked by my parents refusal to grant access to the mysteries of cinematic terror, I read the novelization. Since the film originally was released when I was ten, I probably read the book when it was released in 1977 at age 13. I remember very little except the cover. I had forgotten about it until I read  “Who Needs Birth Control: Terrifying Births in Horror History” at The Horror Digest . Both a scary fable about parenthood and parable about the dangers of big pharma, there wasn't much of interest to me except for two scenes; the carnage in the delivery room and the scene where Frank Davis, the father, explains the difference between Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster.

It's Alive begins on the eve of the birth of the second child for the Davis's,  a middle class couple. In the days before sonograms, no-one is aware of the hideously deformed, monster child that is about to enter the world. Just like the rest of us, this baby wants to be loved and is fully prepared to kill in order to be with his mother. Including killing everyone in the delivery room. Way more deadly than the new born in Alien .

Besides being effectively scary, the massacre in the delivery room also raised questions about birthing procedures in the 1970s; did mothers really get tied to the tables with leather restraints? Also, how come no one thought to cover the poor mother's obviously exposed vagina while running in and out of the room?

The movie ends with Frank accepting the child as his own, proving that love may conquer many things, but bullets and greed have the final say. 

Next I watched Frank Henenlotter 's Bad Biology , a movie I had heard about from the excellent Mondo Movie podcast. They had a special episode devoted to Frank Henenlotter last year. Although there is a birthing scene at the end (and a couple through out), Bad Biology is about sex. And there is lots of it. Usually with a good-sized dose of violence to boot, or whatever else is handy.

Anthony Snead and Charlee Danielson play two hyper sexualized beings in search of each other and relief. Despite the obvious low budget and unknown actors, it was a very enjoyable film. Ms. Danielson really put herself out there. She was both horrifying and funny, often wearing only fake blood. The rest of the cast displayed similar dedication to what must have been some uncomfortable scenes involving a monster sized, well, why spoil it?  

Sunday, January 2, 2011 08:27 PM

Separated at birth: Black Swan

Friday, December 24, 2010 05:37 PM

 

One look at the poster art for Black Swan  and my 1981 class picture made me realize  what I had long suspected was true;  I do have a twin out there that I was torn from at birth by some bizarre flux in both time and space wherein I was sent backward through time and across space to the middle of Not Quite Nowhere, Ohio. Replace "ballerina" with "couch potato defaulting on his student loans" and the parallels are inescapable.  Even down to a hypothetical romantic interlude with Mila Kunis.

Black Swan was an amazing film to watch; great performances, breathtaking visual effects, and an abundance of cringe worthy creep. All these impressive elements fail to come together to make a whole that is greater than its sum.  

Much of Black Swan details the artist's conflict between the Apollonian and Dionysian aspects of creative expression.  The medium for this discussion is the White and Black Swan roles from the ballet Swan Lake.  Both these roles are traditionally danced by the same ballerina, in this case, perfection obsessed, Nina Auschenbach.   She has the technical (Apollonian) skills to dance the White Swan, but is told repeatedly that she needs to develope the passion and sensuality required for the Black Swan.  Her muse for the Dionysian Black Swan is the untamed, wild beauty of passionate co ballerina, Tadzio (Mila Kunis).

Nina's struggle to encompass both ends of the dichotomy has a dire effect on her and her art. As the Silenus  (the Dionysian "teacher figure," traditionally red headed) like Thomas, played by a very subdued Vincent Cassell, tells her, “the only person standing in your way is you.” This turns out to be true in many ways.

Casell was much more fun to watch as the wildeyed, manically grinning Joseph from Sheitan, (which I first read about here) to this very restrained but just as manipulative figure.

Black Swan also explores psychological thriller terrritory as Nina struggles to cope with her rapidly decaying world and the line between reality and fantasy becomes increasingly blurred.

In the final scene, Black Swan makes its last, and weakest, revelation; once again, the artist who gives so much of themselves to appease the cfritical masses suffers great personal injury at the expense of appeaseing the masses.

Saturday, December 25, 2010 06:33 PM

Insomniac Theater Presents: Love is strange

Wednesday, December 22, 3:22 am

Another night with out sleep.