Getting Inside the Grid

Ok, so I finally got around to seeing TRON: Legacy. I know some people on my Twitter account wanted me to post what I thought of it, so here goes nothing.

I think that the movie was pretty awesome. Better than James Cameron's Avatar visually, and we all know it beat it in the plot line realm (Sci-fi Pocahontas doesn't really qualify as a great plot). If you haven't seen the first film, and think this is a sequel, it really isn't. There are some nods to the previous film, some blatant, others subtle, but overall, this is a new style of TRON.

Some complained how the real world was shot in 2D, and the grid was shot in 3D, and how it didn't look good. Well, I've got to disagree here. It may not be the same on a regular screen, but when you watch it on a huge IMAX screen, it's amazingly impressive.

When it comes to visuals, I loved it way over Avatar. The Grid was crisper, brighter (and darker in areas), and it was it's own idea. Avatar seemed (to me) to be something like South America meets Super Mario Smash Brothers (islands in the sky). Also seeing the "younger" Jeff Bridges was REALLY impressive. I can see my friends points on how the younger version, and CLU look too "plastic", but at other points he doesn't. It's REALLY hard to make someone look 30+ years younger than they literally are. But I think that with what they did, it was a great job.

The story was well done too. Now remember, I'm just an average fan of these movies, I'm not a hardcore nerd fan that knows every possible option and story of the Grid. But I thought the characters had a good amount of depth to them, some less shown than others (like Quorra. I really would have liked to see how she survived as the last of the ISO's but who knows, that could be saved for part of a sequel). Seeing Sam grow up and be the rebel rich kid who wants nothing to do with his dad's company was a good setup to show the angst and tension because of a "broken" promise he and his dad made years ago.

SPOILER
(skip this small part if you haven't seen it yet)

I LOVED how TRON became Rinzler. It gave the film a reason to have some sympathy for Kevin, because he lost his best friend and partner in the Grid because of the sacrifice TRON made. Now I wonder how they can twist the rest of what happened into a potential future sequel.

END SPOILER

Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I'd definitely go watch it again. Sometimes with an average film, fans and moviegoers shouldn't really critique it to death, and just sit back, relax, and just watch.


END OF LINE.

Single, Double, nah, let's go with TRIPLE Frontier.

Looks like Johnny Depp's in talks with some big people in Hollywood. As if that's new news. But what's interesting is that he's talking to Katheryn Bigelow, and Tom Hanks. About what you might ask? The Triple Frontier. A movie told in the jungles and wilderness of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Not much is known about the film yet, or even if it's going to become something. But seeing one of my favorite directors, with two of my favorite actors makes me a really happy guy.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Official Trailer

It's HERE. WATCH. THIS. NOW.

Promotional Works

I've recently been thinking about a lot of things. Some related to Disney, some not. And thank God I've got my blog, because if I were to post this on Micechat, I would get torn apart and fed to those trolling websharks. So, I'm going to post my full opinions, and take it for what its worth. Let's get down to business...


- Fans online often complain about how the park is doing too many movie-based attractions lately. From Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, to the new Tangled meet and greet. It is an ok observation. It's true, the rides are based off movies, but here's something people are missing.

You know that iconic symbol of the park? The Castle? Yea. That's Sleeping Beauty's castle. Did you know that when the park was being built, Sleeping Beauty HAD YET to debut in theaters? Walt Didn't use Cinderella's castle in Anaheim, he used SLEEPING BEAUTY. Want to know why? Because he was promoting his new film through the castle.

Now, one can argue that these attractions are coming out after the films debut. True, however if you look at the films the rides are being based off of, then you need to realize that these films are immensely popular. Finding Nemo is the second highest grossing film, behind the recently created Toy Story 3. Look at the two Toy Story (Midway) Mania attractions. Based off of a trilogy that, as a whole, grossed roughly $1,9oo,900,200.

There's also a cry for wanting original based attractions. Attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, or Haunted Mansion. As true as this is, people fail to realize that even though Disneyland itself may not be getting anything "original" at the moment, other parks are. Hong Kong is getting three new lands, two of which are completely original ideas. Personally, I'd love to see something original as well as something movie based. I don't care if it is tied into a movie or not. If the attraction is done well, then I'll enjoy it. I'm a fan of Winnie the Pooh, and I'll probably like the Florida's version, or Tokyo's when I get to riding them, however I cant' stand the one we have over here in California because it's so...cheap looking. That's an example of ride lacking some good lovin' on the creative side.

People love seeing stories come to life, and they love the stories even more when their favorite stories allow them to travel through the story. Look at the line for Peter Pan's Flight, or Alice in Wonderland, and try to prove me wrong on that.

All in all, I think people need to realize that Disney is making the right call with creating attractions that fans can recognize and love already from the film. But there's always going to be those fans that refuse to like it JUST because it's movie based. Here's some wise words of wisdom:

GET. OVER. IT.

Now that we've got this out of the way, let's go camp out in front of CarsLand. I wanna ride Radiator Springs Racers.

Can't Be Tamed?

Sounds of the Grid

Now that we're only nine days away from the global premier of TRON: Legacy, the Disney company has released the soundtrack to the film. If you're any fan of Daft Punk, you've GOT to get this album. The full album is available on iTunes for $9.99, or $1.29 a song. But on Amazon.com, it's available for $3.99 for the full album, or $0.99 a song. But on iTunes, you get two songs that you don't get on Amazon.
"Father and Son" and "Outlands Part II". These two songs are cheaper than the $1.29, and knocked down to $0.99.

On Amazon, you get the exclusive "Sea of Simulation", which on its own, is a killer song. The first 22 songs on both sites are the same, and I'd suggest buying the album on Amazon, and then getting the last two songs ("Father and Son" and "Outlands Part II") on iTunes, and it's still pretty cheap.

Now it's only a matter of days until we get to see this world come alive on the silver screen.

End of Line.

Happy 109 Uncle Walt

Today one of the most creative men in the world was born. Without his passion for animation, and later, places for families to spend time together, who knows what we would have today in the entertainment world.

Walt Disney.


Happy Birthday to the man who pretty much was one of the leaders in kickstarting animation, and continuing to innovate and create new things as time ticked.