Tron Legacy
Having never seen the original Tron, I was surprised that I was able to keep up in this movie. I didn't know was that Tron was a character (I had always thought Tron was the computer world). That doesn't really matter because he was such a pointless character here and his sudden change of computer-heart came out of no where and with the worst line of the movie to boot ("I fight for the users!" /facepalm). I appreciated the movie for what it was. CG Jeff Bridges looked fine except when he spoke. A friend of mine considered Quorra in the real world a plot-twist. I didn't. I was more surprised that she made it out of the room and outside without Alan asking any questions.
I liked Tron legacy as well despite its many,
many writing problems and the slight creepiness of CG Bridges. As for the line you find so awful, it's awful for a reason: it's a callback to the original awful Tron movie, where I believe it was something Tron said.
I've been watching some movies as well:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - This was the first time I'd seen the movie since its original theatrical release. I remember really coming away from the movie back then pretty indifferent, largely because of the incredibly obnoxious and unnecessary gargoyle characters. Watching it now, knowing what I was in for, I actually really liked the movie. Tony Jay gave one of his best performances in his long career as Judge Claude Frollo, and he really is the one piece that makes that movie work. He's easily one of the best Disney Villains. The animation is just great as well (it's really a shame how much thunder live action films have stolen from animated films through the use of CG, because the camera work in this film is
fantastic and couldn't have been done in live action films of its time). Finally, I loved this epic soundtrack when I was a kid and I still really like it now. It's one of the few Disney musicals that actually feels
natural in that format, with the only song that felt forced being...yes...the one that has the ****ing
gargoyles singing, and even that song's not that bad. It just doesn't belong in this movie.
As for the gargoyles, they didn't bother me as much this time around, but I still feel they really only have one good moment in the
entire movie (that being the reference to the Wizard of Oz during the big battle sequence). They feel like something forced on the movie by Michael Eisner because Quasimodo wouldn't be marketable as a Happy Meal toy. Overall, though, I loved this movie and it's probably up in my top 5 Disney animated films (along with The Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, The Great Mouse Detective, and The Rescuers Down Under). It's a pity this movie underperformed as badly as it did, because I'd love to have this movie on Blu-Ray, but that'll probably never happen. It didn't even get a good DVD release.
I also watched the Direct to Video "sequel" as well, and...yeah, the less said about it, the better. It's not
horrible IMO, but just spectacularly lazy and cheesy. It looks like a long-lost episode of Gummi Bears, except nowhere near as good.
Somewhat under protest (I
wanted to see
The Adventures of Tintin, but the show times weren't cooperating with our schedule), I also saw
Sherlock Holmes 2: Game of Shadows and it's...ok. Most of what I found good about the first movie is still good in the sequel (Watson, Mrs. Watson, the action sequences, Holmes when he's
not stoned, etc.), and everything I found bad about the first movie is still bad in the sequel (the frequent homosexual jokes, despite the fact that Holmes and Watson clearly
aren't in any incarnation of the franchise. Why can't Hollywood just let a good friendship
be a good friendship? It's the reaction to Frodo and Sam all over again...). I thought the writing was significantly weaker, but I'll
gladly take this movie's Moriarty over the one in the recent Sherlock Holmes TV series . Not a great movie and weaker than the first, but still enjoyable IMO.