Movie Reviews

Tron: Legacy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Tron: Legacy
  • IMDB: link

I should have have loved Tron: Legacy. The original remains one of my favorite films of my childhood. It’s unique look and style (which has never even been attempted to be recaptured over years) was the type of eye candy and simple yet heartfelt and far-reaching message of a near future digital frontier blew my seven year-old mind.

Although Legacy has a distinctly different visual style, it still creates a beautiful world you want to get lost in for a couple of hours. The new version also throws in lightcylces, a modern take on the effects, and plenty of action. It also lifts story elements from several movies than I enjoy (which come off much better than its original ideas) some of which feel like courteous nods and homages and some of which feel like not-so-subtle rip-offs. So what went wrong?

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Black Swan

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  • Title: Black Swan
  • IMDB: link

Darren Aronofsky is a weird dude. Talented, but weird. The latest from the director who has given us The Fountain, Pi, and Reqiuem for a Dream is a journey into madness. Black Swan, his companion piece to The Wrestler, examines the the insular world of ballet through the tormented mind of a rising star.

Nina (Natalie Portman), a sheltered but talented ballet dancer, is on the cusp of stardom after being chosen by a demanding director (Vincent Cassel) for the lead role in his new interpretation of Swan Lake. The pressure of the role added to the smothering affection of an over-attentive mother (Barbara Hershey), and the arrival of a talented new dancer (Mila Kunis) begin to fracture Nina’s world as she starts to have experiences that cannot be rationally explained. These include, but are not limited to, hallucinations of strange bird-like creatures, seeing herself on the street, a growing paranoia, and an odd rash on her back as well as fingers which bleed without cause. No one else notices what is happening to her.

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The Tourist

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Tourist
  • IMDB: link

I haven’t seen Jérôme Salle’s Anthony Zimmer, the original French film on which this American version is loosely based. What I can tell is The Tourist is the kind of enjoyable summer flick you don’t usually find in the midst of family holiday flicks and more dramatic Oscar fare.

Johnny Depp stars as American tourist Frank Tupelo who just happens to be in the wrong place at the right time when the lovely Elise (Angelina Jolie) sits down next to him on the way to Venice.

Unfortunately for the math teacher, this mysterious woman isn’t so much caught up by his charms as she is using him as a stand-in for the man she loves. On instructions from the mysterious Alexander Pearce, Elise chooses a man on the train the same height and build of her former lover in order to throw suspicion away from the thief who is evading both police (Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Alessio Boni, Giovanni Guidelli) and the mobster (Steven Berkoff) from who he’s stolen millions.

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Tangled

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  • Title: Tangled
  • IMDB: link

During it’s heyday, Disney made a name for itself by turning out classic tales about princes and princesses, true love, and triumph over evil (usually with a few songs and cute creatures thrown in). With the studio’s 50th animated film, Disney goes back to the well with Tangled, based on the fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.

To save the life of their unborn daughter, the King and Queen steal a magical flower from the evil witch Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy). As revenge, the witch kidnaps the young baby whose hair had captured the healing powers of the flower which has kept Gothel alive for years. Her hair holds the power as long as it allowed to grow.

As the story opens, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) who has grown up in a secluded tower her whole life believing the old witch to be her mother, convinces a young thief, Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi), who breaks into her tower while fleeing the palace guards, to help her sneak out and see the world on her birthday.

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Faster

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Faster
  • IMDB: link

After spending 10 years in prison for his part in an armed robbery a man who is only ever referred to as “Driver” or “Ghost” (Dwayne “Stop Calling Me The Rock” Johnson) walks out of the big house and immediately begins to hunt down the men (including Courtney Gains, John Cirigliano, Lester Speight) who robbed his crew and killed his brother (Matt Gerald).

 

If you’ve seen the trailer for Faster you might assume that’s the entire story. It’s not. Not satisfied with simply delivering a good ol’ revenge tale filled with an ever increasing body count, screenwriters Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton give us not one but two more stories.

The first involves a burned-out detective (Billy Bob Thornton) who is days away from retirement, has a nasty drug habit and an estranged wife (Moon Bloodgood) and son (Aedin Mincks), and who is assigned to the case – much the dismay of the lead detective Carla Gugino. Most of this plotline deals with chasing down “Driver,” but we also get several unrelated scenes of the cop’s screwed-up life.

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