Oh, won't you do this for me, son
If you can?"
I'd like to believe I'm a simple man. I'm polite, well-mannered and most of the time, aside from the odd night out, I keep to myself.
After a hectic day at work, it's also very simple for me to relax. I go to the cinema, grab a couple of beers and lean back in one of those cosy multiplex seats to watch a dumb movie. The train of my thoughts then comes to a screeching halt - I love it.
And let there be no doubt about it: 'Tron: Legacy' is one of those dumb-a$$ Hollywood movies which cost a mint and suck a lot - though you shouldn't let that fact get into the way of enjoying every damn second of it.
It's flashy, fast and well-produced. In other words: it's everything the original 'Tron' (1982) is not. I watched that movie a couple of years ago and I can't recall anything from that experience apart from the fact that we rrrreally enjoyed the old-school special effects used in the film.
In short, 'Tron' was born after animator Steven Lisberger saw the arcade game 'Pong' for the first time (that was 1976), and the visual effects don't really encompass that play of lines against a black background, with people acting in front of that background. In fact, most of the 'effects' in 'Tron' were achieved through 'backlit animation', a common technique back in the seventies, with disco and neon and that being all the rage back then.
(Weird fun facts: 1. There's only fifteen minutes of computer-generated action in 'Tron', which was made with a computer housing a 2 MB working memory and a 330 MB storage space; 2. 'Tron' cost 17 million dollars to make and 'grossed' 33 million dollars worldwide as the game accompanying the film outgrossed the movie; 3. Most of the live action was filmed in black and white and was later colored in by a team of 500 animators. Thank you, Wikipedia.)
'Tron' was a revolutionary in more than one way - along with the original 'Star Wars' movies it paved the way for the 3D-extravaganzas we get in our multiplexes today.
Which means it's also responsible for 'Tron: Legacy'. Should we really be happy about that? Depends on what you're expecting when you buy a ticket to see the film. If you're out for two hours of unparrallelled 3D-action, the breathtaking Olivia Wilde and some brooding, futuristic Daft Punk tunes; you'll have a ball.
On the other hand: if you expect to be entertained by ways of such things as 'a plot' and 'dialogue', it's safe to say you'll probably start wincing in your seat after half an hour.
I'm a simple man who got out of it what he wanted, so I'll give it two stars.
ANOTHER SUBJECT I'D LIKE TO TOUCH ON TODAY
The second 'low-tech broadcast' by the Ageing Alternative Icon who goes by the name of Henry Rollins: it's good, though listening to tunes by The Buzzcocks, Misfits, Black Flag and the Damned got me more riled up than I should've been after a looooong day at work.
Nonetheless: I enjoyed songs such as 'Casper The Homosexual-Friendly Ghost' by The Wesley Willis Fiasco and 'Loner With A Boner' by Black Randy & The Metrosquad (incidentally, that title would be a good name for this blog).
Anyway, as Rollins aka the Chief Fanatic points out, it's a show "in which we explore and indeed peel back the layers". If you don't like what you hear, you'll find that the music will stop once you press that button which says 'STOP'. The Low-Tech Broadcasts are there to take you on a journey through Underground Alternative Music.
I find the recurring Bill Hicks fragments quite amusing as well (on the Americans providing Iran with WMD's, then fighting them because they accuse them of possessing WMD's: (imitating George Bush's voice:) "We know they've got those weapons... We just looked at the receipt! Just waiting for that check to clear and we're ready to go in there!"), and the fact Rollins played 'Break 'Em Off Some' by Cypress Hill was a nice coincidence as I had just downloaded the entire CH back catalogue.
BEFORE I GO
I'd like to welcome another blog to my Links section: Storm. Storm and me go way back to the 'ancient' Molbardinho Chatblogs - so here's to a good ole cybertastic reunion.
Happy trails,
DM
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