Bad Movie Guy.com...Where There's No Such Thing As A Bad Movie!

B Movies, Cult Movies and Movies That You Might Not Have Heard Of!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Tron & Tron: Legacy

I'll freely admit that, in the 80s, I wasn't a fan of the movie Tron.  I played the video game for endless hours (and endless quarters, I'd like to have back), but the movie didn't really do much for me.  So, when the sequel came out, I was less than excited about it.  But, after a while, I thought, why not go back and see if I was wrong about the original and then check out the sequel to see if the 'cult' following was somehow warranted.

If you've never seen it, the original Tron is about a computer programmer who's sucked into the game system and forced to play games to get to the 'master' program that will give him escape access. 




By today's standards, Tron is terribly dated.  The special effects were state of the art in the 80s, but they're just 'quaint' now.  It was actually kind of fun to see the 'state of the art' technology in the original, with the giant computers and the 'tech' talk that's used now by everyone and their grandparents!  The real problem is the story, it's just mundane and not that interesting.  Jeff Bridges is sucked into a computer and forced to either compete in 'games' or die.  He must escape from the evil 'programs' in the computer or be stuck in the virtual world for the rest of his life!  The problem with Tron is that the villains are less than villainous, the heroes are less than heroic and the story is just a standard 'get outta here' type of story with obstacles that don't seem to be that big a challenge to the participants.  Tron seemed to be designed by Disney to be eye-candy for kids and a sales-gimmick for a video game...not really a movie that they expected to be a 'Disney classic'.  It's barely worth 1 cigar out of 4, and it really should be put back in the 'Disney vault'...and put it way in the back, we won't be needing to find it again!!

Tron: Legacy is a sequel to the 'cult classic'.  The story here picks up years after the original with Jeff Bridges missing.  Now, his son is going to find out where he is...even though it seems that he's been missing for quite some time, he's just now getting to it....anyway... 





So, he's off to the arcade from the original movie to do some research...but finds himself sucked into the same system that Jeff got sucked into in the original!  Oh No!  What will he do??  Oh yeah, find his dad and find a way to escape...same as the original.  The only real difference here is the advance in technology.  Jeff Bridges appears, both as himself and as his younger self...via some sophisticated Disney technology, although the cgi version of Jeff is a bit obviously cgi...but that's because he's 'in the system', you'll say...well, be that as it may, it was cool but distracting.  If you were a fan of the first, then you'll love the sequel.  If you were bored with the first, prepare to be double bored with the second!!  The second rates just a single cigar out of 4...like the first, barely!

The bottom line of these are two of the worst, most boring movies that Disney has ever released!  Don't think of this as a double-feature, think of it as a video endurance test that you might not pass...I have to admit that I barely got through them both...and did it only after several breaks!  If you can them both in one day, in one sitting....you're a better bad movie guy than I am!

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Super

I'm a big fan of James Gunn...and, if you don't know who he is, then find out...NOW.  Gunn started with Troma, wrote those Scooby Doo movies, wrote the remake of Dawn Of The Dead and directed the terrific horror/comedy Slither.  Well, Gunn takes his genre twisting senses to the superhero genre with Super...and it works very well.



Gunn's basic question here is, 'What if there were super-heroes in the real world?', and it's a question that he answers with real zeal!  Frank (played by Rainn Wilson)  is a normal (dare I say, mild mannered) guy.  He works in a diner, he's not extraordinary in any way.  Which might be one of the reasons that his wife left him for a drug dealer!  This drives Frank to the edge...literally!  Looking for a way to 'rescue' his wife from these nefarious villains.  His solution, become the Crimson Bolt, a hero who weilds a pipe wrench and who's battle cry is 'Shut Up Evil!'...yeah, Frank's not that imaginative.  Through his quest to clean up the city he meets Libby (played by Ellen Page), a girl who works in a comic books shop who worships the Crimson Bolt...and wants to become his side-kick, Boltie.  As the two close in on the drug dealers, they soon realize that super-heroing isn't nearly as cut and dried as in the comic books and that real danger can have real consequences.

What Gunn has done here is take a comedy movie and mix in a ton of horror elements.  The exact opposite of what he did with Slither, where he took a horror movie and mixed in comedy liberally!  And it really works here.  Super starts as a sort of send up of the super hero genre and then suddenly turns dark and foreboding...ending with a bit of hope...which is nice.  If you're a fan of genre switching you're going to love this movie, no one mixes genres better than Gunn, and I really can't wait to see what's up his sleeve next!

I'm giving Super 4 out of 4 cigars, but be warned, if you're looking for a super-hero comedy, then beware, this isn't a comedy by any stretch of the imagination, it's humorous, but not a comedy...like life.  But, if you're looking for something well written, well acted and incredibly original, then you're gonna love Super!