Movie: The Raven (2012)

Rating: C+

I really wonder if Hollywood is afraid of making anything provocative, shocking, and daring. The Raven had so much potential, and a wealth of back material to draw from. And while it was clever, it wasn't particularly smart. Where there were plot twists, they weren't particularly mind-bending. Yet another movie in this year's indulgence of mediocrity.



It's been said that John Cusack is probably the most natural actor of our time. And I quite agree with that. It's a shame that most of the other cast members in this film was not so natural. And while I feel that Cusack is miscast in this role, I think he did an admirable job as Edgar Allan Poe, I feel that the role would have been better served being played by someone a little darker, say perhaps, Johnny Depp.

The biggest problem of the movie was its lack of direction. There really would have been no difference if they completed this movie with 1 murder, or with a dozen. The clues of the murder led you to the next clue and not to who the killer was. So really, The mystery and chase was really rather pointless. And while ONE of the murders was decidedly graphic and macabre, none of the other ones had the same level fear, torture, nor blood.

Perhaps one would be more involved in the movie if they were more familiar with Poe's work, but I doubt very many know more than a handful of his life and work well enough to find the correlation intriguing. This movie could have had so much more depth. It could have been significantly more gripping. Or they could have opted to make it totally tragic. Instead, they opted for mediocrity.

~Cheers.

Movie: Tron Legacy

Rating: C

That's right. Let's give it a solid C. Without giving too much away; Tron Legacy is a visually brilliant, mind-numbingly vapid, aesthetically droolworthy, brainless exhiliration that combines the best of Daft Punk's genius with an unhealthy portion of Disney infused saccharine induced cliched script.



(SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading right now if you're worried I'm going to give too much away.)


28 years ago, Disney came out with a movie that pushed the boundaries of computer graphics and delved fairly deeply into the possibility of a digital civilisation. Mixing in bits and bytes into the script along with other geeky jargon, the movie was a disastrous flop at the box office. That being said, over the years, Tron has become a huge cult classic due to its growing relevance in the maturation of this digital age. Unfortunately, its sequel, will not likely experience the same longevity.

The production team did several things that made this movie aesthetically sensational.
1. They were able to get Jeff Bridges to reprise his role
2. They were able to get a great CGI / 3D team to get 1982 Jeff Bridges to reprise his role.
3. They hired Daft Punk to do the soundtrack.
4. They hired Olivia Wilde (Thirteen from the TV series "House")

The movie COULD have been and WOULD have been much better if they had just stuck with those 4 items of brilliance. But then they wanted to get cerebral. They start talking about socio-digital politics. They start talking about bio-technological breakthroughs that will change humanity. They start talking about destiny. They start talking about the undying love of family. When in actuality, all they needed to do to make this movie amazing, was to simply just STOP talking!

Highlights of the movie?
- Seeing Jeff Bridges young again was just spooky. It was awesome. But spooky. Especially in the beginning when you don't really realise it's all CG just yet.
- The visuals were simply stunning.
- I hope Daft Punk wins the Oscar for Best Original Score. Yes, it's THAT good.

Lowlights of the movie?
- Anytime anyone talks.

Just to give you a taste of HOW good the score is? Check it out:



~Cheers.