Tron double post.

Since Dr. Mrs Just Another Movie Geek I and saw Tron Legacy today, we decided to revisit the original again last night. I must say, Disney's pulling of it off the shelves in fear that it would hurt the new films chances are ridiculous. The film holds up amazingly well and still looks great. As I am sure has been discussed before, we found the parallels between Flynn and Jesus (the user/God who walks the earth) and Tron and John the Baptist to be very interesting.

I will let the film speak for itself with some cool shots:

If I ever worked in this Cube Farm, I would be so very sad for my life:



Something I never noticed before, Alan is a "Day the Earth Stood Still" fan (look at yellow banner on left wall of cube):



"Mine is an evil stare"



And some Frame within the Frame shots:







Tron Legacy:

I would like to thank everyone who had a hand in making Tron Legacy. That was truly a great early christmas present for my eyes, ears and brain. A rare occurrence of a sequel that actually felt like a natural evolution from the first. The film (while treading in very similar waters) managed to become its own creation. Homages a plenty were throughout the film and brought many a smile to my face. The amazing soundtrack (provided by the ever wonderful Daft Punk) also did not betray its evolutionary roots from Wendy Carlos' ground breaking original score. This film was clearly a love letter to the original and to the fans. Just Another Movie Geek highly recommends.

-Smallish Spoiler: I can think of no better actor than Cillian Murphy to appear as David "the bad guy in the first one" Warner's son. I was quite surprised by that cameo.

Cyrano...

Of all the versions of Cyrano out there, Roxanne will always be my favorite:

More legally required rap

As we have mentioned before (see here) in the 80s it was required by law for all actors to perform at least 1 rap video/song.

More proof: C3P0 schilling for Star Tours

More Hitchcock

Came across this today. Interesting project. 1000 frames from each Hitchcock film. Makes for an interesting view on his work:

1000 Frames of Hitchcock

genesis

Martin Landau in North By Northwest. The original Creepy Crispin Glover:

Frames Within a Frame 01: Highlander

A new series for this blog, I give you the first "Frames Within the Frame"

Highlander (1986)

today's movie question to ponder...

Misunderstood classic...

or

early signs of Eddie Murphy's inevitable fall from greatness?

Dear Martin Scorsese fans

While the 2006 film The Departed was a good film* with some great performances and won some little awards...it can't hold a candle to the brilliance of it's source material:

The 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs



Mrs. Just Another Movie geek and I gave it a viewing last night (her first, my third) and I was once again floored by its masterful creation. A gripping thriller that really kept you wondering the whole time about the duality of each character. Even Mrs. JAMG who wasn't in the mood for a cop drama when we started was enthralled by the film at the end. If you have never seen either or only seen The Departed, I highly recommend you check out the original.





*Full disclosure: I have actually not seen The Departed. Few reasons why: A. Leo isn't my favorite actor in the world. B. The original was so wonderful, I never understood the need to remake it.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...

who knew a TARDIS could fill all of those at once.

Stephen Moffat's freshman season of Doctor Who just came to a close and I must say I have enjoyed the ride. I have heard a lot of random complaints about this season and I was never quite sure what people were not enjoying. But this ending showed me that Moffat had some big pieces in play all season and they came together beautifully. I can't say much more without spoiling it but I am happy to say that the new Doctor is great and the show couldn't be in better hands. Bring on christmas 2010.

And on a closing note, as a wearer of one of the greatest hats ever...Fezzes are cool.

Action Movie-O-Rama

Can two films actually make an "O-Rama"?

Mrs. Just Another Movie Geek and I recently viewed two action films that we enjoyed greatly.

1. The A-Team (2010)



Who would have thought that a film made from an 80s cheesy tv show could actually entertain me? I will admit I was never a fan of the original show. Came on to late for my 8 year old viewing habits and on the rare chance I could stay up, Dad didn't like it so we didn't watch. I never felt I was missing anything but being a child of the 80s I knew enough of the concept to carry me through. Going into the film I had no expectations other than it needed to be "The A-Team." Team of ex-military guys forced into being mercs by being setup for a crime they didn't commit. The film hit all of the tropes of the original series but made them work. From Hannibal's catch phrase and cigar chomping, Face being the ladies man, Murdock being nuts and BA being afraid of flying (which the film manages to set up perfectly) the characters were all spot on. As well as the most important aspect of The A-Team was also present; their outlandish plans and technical prowess to get things done. As a good friend of mine recently proclaimed "I only watched The A-Team when I was a kid because I loved watching them weld shit together!" the film pulls this off twice and made me smile at the ingenuity involved there in. One liners flew as fast as the bullets did and most managed to make me chuckle if not seriously cackle out loud. A few moments of suspension of dis-belief caused my reality sensor to ping, but they were all handled well enough that they didn't bug me too much. Outside of one moment of a bad guy monologuing I found this to be a quite enjoyable action romp and well worth my attention. I am just sad that the remake of The Karate Kid beat it at the BO this weekend.


2. Banlieue 13: Ultimatium (2009)



6 years ago a little French action film came my way starring the creator of Parkour, David Belle. Quick action and alot of parkour helped shape this films dystopian future of Paris into a great action/fight movie. Last year gave us a sequel to the film that continues the story. Of course we have some great action and some parkour, but something felt off to me. Maybe I have seen and appreciated so much parkour in the last few years since the first film but this sequel didn't seem to focus so much on that aspect. A great early scene shows our hero cop giving a great homage to Jackie Chan by fighting a large group of bad guys while protecting and using an original Van Gogh painting during the fight. Canvas-Fu has never looked better. Even with the less than shiny parkour, it was great to visit this world again. Outside of one moment of the application of the law of inverse ninjas, the film manages to have a great time and keeps the pace well.

All in all if you are hankering for a decent action film with some good fights, great explosions and a fun time...you can't go wrong with either of these films.