Bourne Again...

So the Bourne Legacy is making it's way out to the physical and digital media as we speak.
I never really touched on it when it first showed up, I don't remember why I was distracted at the time, but I do recall that I was.  I think it was mostly because it was out at the same time as The Avengers, which stole quite a few hours of my time in the theater, and more at home on my media player.

The Bourne Series is a series of growing mysteries about the loss of identity and how the 'agent's' that get it stripped away and rebuilt from are still MORE than the training that they have.  It's got great Spy craft moments and drama, terrific characters.  Restarting all of that with new characters in Legacy is a huge challenge.  The loss of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass seemed to interrupt the flow of the series, but Tony Gilroy really tries to pick up the baton and run with it as well as the previous team did.

Jeremy Renner has the new 'Legacy' role to step into, and that's really what the movie is all about.  The fallout from Bourne's quest for identity.  The exposure of the two programs, Treadstone and Blackbriar, leads to somebody from his former organization liquidating every program that could be exposed.  This brings us to our new protagonist Aaron Cross (Renner). As one of the 'assets' in this program he is on borrowed time.  But to make things worse, all of these assets are, to a certain extent chemically enhanced.  These enhancements make the assets faster, stronger, and more resilient than normal, but they also have a mental component.

One of the criticism's I heard about this picture when the film initially came out was that the movie felt like a 'fetch' quest in a video game.  I can understand that comparison, and there's even some truth to it, but what got me about it was there's an aspect of 'Flowers for Algernon' to this film that would be terrifying, especially considering that the ability to think clearly is only one of the things keeping Cross alive.

[Spoilers (Highlight to view)]


Cross was barely able to pass his entrance exam to join the Army before getting into the program.  Now he's capable of advance tactical thinking, and mentally very sharp.  The idea of your mind slipping away leading to you losing the only chance you have to stay alive?  That's some serious motivation.  

[/end Spoilers]

All in all, the movie falls short of the standards set by the drama and characters of the previous Bourne films, but that doesn't take away that the movie itself is really solid.  If viewed independently?  It'll stand up well.  If you're comparing it to the previous Bourne films, it's not going to be as strong.
Ed Norton makes a strong showing as the villan in this piece, and Renner's Cross is a solid protagonist... their motivations are never really in question, Cross wants to live and everything is based on that, Norton needs to eliminate the last piece of exposure his superiors could be exposed to.

In the end, all I can really say is that I really enjoyed the film, not as much as the previous ones, but it was entirely worth the time to explore where they decided to go with Ludlum's original series.

Looming Legacy

Tron: Legacy has been out for a while now,  I'm finally comfortable in my thoughts about it to put them up online.  The movie has received the massive power of the Disney Hype machine to get people behind it and talking about it and from MY perspective... It deserves it.  The film is gorgeous in oh so many ways.  The design aesthetic feels right and just different enough from Syd Mead's original for the 'System' to feel like a slightly different evolution of the computer universe the original TRON introduced us to. If you've been looking around online for any kind of cohesive statement about this film... the single greatest one you'll find (even in the harshest reviews) is of the quality of the design.  And while that aspect of the film is important... The score at times manages to overshadow it... and not in a bad way.  Daft Punk's orchestral/digital fusion gives the 'System' a heartbeat and soul.. creating incredible moments that took my breath away to experience in the theater.   

I'm not going to talk about the plot much cause I'm sure most folks have, A. seen it or B. read a review... and most of those are giving away major plot pieces left and right.  The story is really a great little allegory on order and chaos, planning and intuition, and not just a standard Good vs. Evil trope.  Kevin Flynn sells the greatest of these points when he tells his son of the remarkable evolution he encounters within this system.  A thing that one would think static and unchanging, suddenly encounters something remarkable and new which forever alters it's Architects worldview.  

For my part... I loved the layered story.  The son's search for his father and finding an entirely new world to build, in combination with the fun action sequences, exceptional performances, and beautiful design work, along with the subtext of the allegory; created a great piece that I will enjoy for years to come.  

This isn't to say that the film doesn't have flaws.  While I applaud the use of the tech behind de-aging Jeff Bridges to play his own nemesis is fantastic and cool, and necessary for this film... It still hasn't reached the point where the face don't feel unreal in comparison too the others on screen.  The primary example of this that I can recall is in an opening scene where Flynn tells his young son of his adventures in the 'System' controlled by the MCP. The younger Jeff Bridges face doesn't quit reflect the light of the room right giving his features a slightly unreal cast (though considering they are... that's not too bad).

I'm sure that I went into the movie better informed than most... partly because I'm a more than a bit obsessive about the things in media that capture my attention, so I look for additional bits of story.  Which is how I found Tron: Betrayal... a great little 2 book comic series built to tell the story of Kevin Flynn world and the days of it's creation and it's subjugation.  It served as a tool to tell of how Flynn found an entire world, but couldn't find enough time to live in them both... and how he eventually got lost in one.  Yeah.... tell me that doesn't sound familiar all you folks who just shelled out cash for more World of Warcraft.  

So... while the "critical viewing" community seems to be easily split down the center line on this one.. I happily remain optimistic about more Tron productions and hopeful to see more creative work to come.  My thoughts to those who haven't had a chance to see it... I suggest you give it a try.  You might be surprised.

A for amusing...

So, it may seem like a bit off my beaten track to say that I was HIGHLY entertained by Easy A.  It's a light comedy with a ton to recommend it, not the least being the slew of highly favorable reviews... all of which I can get behind.  Emma Stone has fantastic screen presence and a sense of dry wit that infuses her character in all the best ways.  And while I thought that she was exceptional, many of my favorite scene were stolen by the "Parents" of the feature.  Stanley Tucci, Thomas Hayden Church, and Patricia Clarkson are all hysterical and had me in stitches while sharing the screen with their youthful counterparts.  The thing that struck me most about them was how genuine all their interactions were.  They felt like a genuine family playing and having fun with each other, and it carried off the screen to the audience.  I'm not sure how much of those reactions were scripted and how much were improvised, but congratulations need to go to Will Gluck, and Bert V. Royal the director and writer respectively for getting such excellent performances from the cast.  For anyone who appreciates good genuine comedy, this film is very much recommended. 

Classic sci-fi comic stuff...

Ah Netflix, how you spoil me... always finding something interesting and new/old to watch.  Here I'm back to write a bit about a bit of Comic book history from the 1982 film Swamp Thing....a great little Wes Craven pic.  While the story is the stuff of classic comic book origins, and may not be some of the best written material ever, the performances are great...and it's one of the classic pieces of F/X work.  F/X specialists should make films like this one an essential for study, with fantastic practical effects and prosthetic work... showing that while computer generated effects may be what everyone looks for, there's a lot more to special effects than what can be done on machines.  Not necessarily a classic piece of film, but there are a lot of redeeming features worth examination.

Robert Rodriguez and the cinematic time machine....

Watching Machete today I was amazed at Robert Rodriguez' sense of cinematic history.  The movie feels very much like it was just opened up at a theater from a old roll from about 30 years ago.  The movie is ridiculous and strange and very entertaining...every bit what one would expect from the trailer included with Planet Terror and Death Proof.  A word of warning though folks... this is just as much a Grindhouse flick as the previous films... Intense and over the top violence, scantily clad women, fast cars and chases... all the classics... yet this movie had me wondering... why wasn't the Expendables more like this?  I mean it was cool enough for me (the Expendables), but still I didn't figure on it beating out the fantastic Scott Pilgrim vs. The World?  If the all star action cast had a bit more direction and feeling behind it like this fun Grindhouse film, I'd have been less put off by the idea.  Now all that being said, Machete...  while being a lot more fun than it's most recent Action Film predecessor, suffers from standard action flaws... There's very little in the way of actual plot and the characters are Caricatures of people.  There is some nice development of character with a couple of the female leads that I enjoyed, but most of the males...including the title character never really have anything similar.  Yet I had a far more enjoyable time watching this movie than I did with the Expendables several weeks ago.  Setting this movie with Planet Terror for a double feature would be a highly entertaining experience, one that I'll likely look to try once it's out on DVD, or Streaming media.

Equilibrium

This is one of those cult movies that folks either know about and love, or haven't really heard about.  Released in the shadow of "The Matrix", it has as deep a story and at least as many awesome fight scenes.  Christian Bale and Taye Diggs turn in some fantastic performances in this film, as well as a tragically short one by Sean Bean.  The film focuses on a futuristic dystopian society where human emotion and feeling has become the great boogie-man of society.  Being blamed as the cause of wars and injustice it is suppressed by most people by a drug regimen and enforced by a societal arm called the Tetragrammeton.  These are the basics... but the film has so much more than just a great sci-fi story and action.  This movie was my introduction to Kurt Wimmer, a film writer and director with a huge sense of visual style.  He also helped pen Street Kings, an incredibly violent cop actioner, that's still one of my guilty pleasures and Law Abiding Citizen, a movie I really enjoyed until the last 4 minutes just seemed to fall apart...
Equilibrium has all the best parts of story throughout it, which is why I often find myself recommending it to friends.  There's hope, tragedy, familial drama, espionage, sacrifice... and brilliant use of imagery.  It's one of my favorite films of the past decade... and I highly suggest you check it out.  But do yourself a favor and stay away from Ultraviolet (Wimmer's next directorial piece)... the story is too uneven and not nearly so solid as his last outing, though the visuals of it are intense and inventive.

Resident 4vil...(3D)

So, I'm having a hard time deciding where to start with this small treatise, so I suppose I can just jump in anywhere.  First off... if you are not a fan of bullet time and it's flagrant abuse in films... do not see this movie.  Seriously.  In my guesstimation that if the bullet time sequences were left at regular speed you'd drop between 15 and 20 minutes of film time.  It really just feels like one more thing to try and take advantage of the 3d effects, which fails utterly.  In Avatar (to date the only 3d movie that's actually used the tech relatively well, IMO) 3d was used to add fullness and depth to the environment... and I hope that such is the case in the next 3d film I'm looking forward to (Tron: Legacy). Whereas many of the weaker 3d films just use them for standard "shock" effects.  The only 3d effect in the entire film I enjoyed was in the opening credits where raindrops bounced off names in the title sequence.  Secondly, I have a hard time reconciling the films with their titles...since aside from a couple names, very little of the series to date is in any way related to the thrilling horror series that originated it.  There's not a lot that can be said about any of the acting in the film... there's just not much for the actors to work with... which is a shame, since the cast is pretty decent.  The movie feels uneven to me... the Alice assault that has been in all the trailers is in many ways a high point, and the films final act is pretty unfulfilling since it's a standard "cliffhanger" like the previous two.   Thus I'd say the film, while likely to succeed as an action flick, isn't worth most folks time unless you've really gotten into the movies (don't laugh... such people are out there).

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (The media phenomenon)

Okay folks, here it is, since this is my inaugural post within the blogosphere I figured I'd make it about something near and dear to many of my obsessions.  Bryan Lee O'Malley's brillant little treatise on nerd culture has grown fantastically from it's comic roots.  With the help of Edgar Wright, it's become one of the most fantastic yet underviewed films of the summer.  I can't imagine why... A stunning feature with a tremendous soundtrack and visuals that take the breath away, and some seriously fantastic performances from some really gifted actors.  Am I gushing a little much?  If so I don't apologize... since the only thing that Hollywood seems to acknowledge these days is the amount of money a film makes at the box office and a estimated gross [to date] of 26.2 million dollars, brillance seems to me to be a bit snubbed by those who could really use it.  Still...I imagine if you're reading this you've likely seen it already... so, let's move on shall we?

Now don't get me wrong... I am very much a comic guy... but while I adore Mr. O'Malley's graphic novels, the licensing out of his characters and titles to the video game industry was nothing short of fantastic.  Many thanks to the wonderful folks at Ubisoft who brought us this great little nostaligia fest and bit of fantastic multiplayer mayhem.  Only one gripe really occurs to me... while the same console multiplayer is great, ONLINE multiplayer is the name of the game.  Social gaming on any and all systems with friends over long distances is often much easier than getting them all in the same place... so why was this aspect denied to us.  I may never know, but I will hope for it as I play when I can.  I really love the old school design and and feel of the controls, leveling, and even the enemies and I am confident that when I can actually get multiple people to sit down at one console to play together, the experience will be truly EPIC...  but for now I will while away the hours finding old things in my library to rant about and pull people into...

In short...  Thanks Bryan for the great times at the movies, the fun comics, and the great game.  I dub Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in all it's forms:  Incendiary.  Doesn't mean much from a gamer I suppose... but we're your demographic.  Thanks for the good work.