How Much Tron Is Too Much Tron?

I haven't figured out the answer to that question yet. We still have about a month and a half until Tron: Legacy comes out and I don't know if I have reached my "overexposure limit" yet. I am all for nostalgia and "re-imagining" old properties when done tastefully and respectfully, but I am also desperately hungry for originality.

Disney is doing their best to promote the heck out of this movie and turn it into another franchise (sorry Prince of Persia and Sorcerer's Apprentice), which I applaud (I own stock). I loved the first movie and still remember seeing it with my dad at the Gold Circle Cinemas in Canton, Ohio when it came out in 1982 (I don't know if he liked it). I even had an "Art of Tron" book with all the great concept sketches by Moebius and other artists (wish I still had it). I didn't have the glow-in-the-dark action figures though.

Let's review some Tron-y stuff that has come out recently and been posted on every other website on the Internet. First up, the movie poster...great homage to the original (haven't reached Tron saturation yet).

But wait, the poster gets bigger and looks even cooler (Tron frustration levels still low)...

Then there are the toys. I promised I wouldn't get roped into another line, and I haven't...except for this cool identity disc with lights and sound! How can you pass that up (well you might be able to)?

Then there was recent news of an animated series coming on Disney XD in 2012 called Tron: Uprising. OK, this has the potential to put me over the top, but wait...the voice case is rumored to include Elijah Wood, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens, and Lance Henriksen, with Bruce Boxleitner reprising his role as Tron! Great googily-moogily that's impressive (I am a sucker for anything with Frank Black/Bishop in it). Disney, you may continue your marketing blitz...

Next up, Disney owns Marvel, Marvel owns Iron Man, Disney owns Tron...hmmm maybe a Tron-inspired Iron Man? OK, this is getting close to pushing me over the top, but I will concede to corporate synergy.

Will I reach my limit before the movie comes out? Will I be happy if loads of people go see it, love it, yet not know anything about the original? Will I force my poor daughter to see the original? We shall see...

End of line.

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

First post! I don't get out to the movies much any more, but my wife is kind enough to encourage me to go out at night and see one now and again. So, given the opportunity, I had to go and finally see Iron Man 2 (thank you Island Cinemas for comfortable seats).

I have always been a HUGE Iron Man fan (as it was one of the first comics that I regularly collected as a kid) and I loved the first movie. The sequel is comparable, but definitely not as well executed. I won't go into a plot recap, but I wanted to mention that a large segment of the beginning of the movie was Tony Stark exhibiting self-destructive behavior and being a general snarky @$$. Pretty amusing, but it started to wear thin after a while. The whole "I'm dying, so I'll go out in flames bit" works at first, but it doesn't have the same impact as the gradual decent in alcholism from the comics. Loved the "futurist" tone of the movie and the issues it brought up such as the use of drones by the military, the techno-utopian Stark Expo, and privatized security. I loved the interaction between Tony, Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. Black Widow) in the donut shop. It really felt like a Marvel comic book come to life. The fight scenes were great. War Machine was awesome. Howard Stark as Howard Huges/Walt Disney/Wernher von Braun was classic. I was also quite happy that Agent Coulson returned (spinoff!).

The whole movie just seemed a bit frenetic and disjointed, it lingered too long on unimportant scenes and rushed through scenes that should have built dramatic tension. It just didn't hang together as well as the first. Still enjoyed it. Still can't wait for more exploits from Tony Stark/Iron Man in future movies whether it is the Avengers or Iron Man 3. I'll just count my blessings that I got two great films about one of my all-time favorite super heroes.