Top 5 Tim Burton Films – coregeek retrospective

Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows opened on Friday. Given the mixed reviews, tepid box office take and general reactions such as this, I’m re-posting this article which I wrote before the release of Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 2010.

Beetle Juice

Macabre madness in a comedy where the phenomenal Michael Keaton (as Beetlejuice) steals the show from a very talented cast including: Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. Beetle Juice is delicious mix of weirdness and laughs. A true cult classic.

Batman

Face it, comic based movies were a joke before 1989′s Batman. Burton ushered in a whole new wave of what comic based films could aspire to. Keaton proved to the world he was worthy of the cape. Nicholson turned in the performance of his career. Bassinger was gorgeous.

Ed Wood

Probably Burton’s most zany, yet a compelling drama at the same time. Depp and Landau were wonderful together. Is it the truth? Who knows, who cares? It’s a truly a celebration of what made Wood so captivating as the “worst director of all time.”

Edward Scissorhands

Sublimely eccentric fable about a boy with scissors for hands who falls for a girl. Laughs and tears ensue with a heartfelt bittersweet ending. Really? Could anyone else but Burton have made this film?

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Okay, okay, yes technically it isn’t a Burton film but he created the characters, wrote the story and served as executive producer. Nevertheless TNBC it quintessential Burton. Filled with quirky, funny and lovable characters (who aren’t always what they seem on the outside), great music and wonderfully designed sets in a world full of scares, charm and even life lessons to be learned. What’s not to love?

Agree? Disagree? Hit me back in the comments.

Tron Legacy IMAX 3D – Review

Tron Legacy has been out for over 2 weeks and it has only done okay at the box office and critical response has been mixed. The original Tron is now a cult classic but it’s a film that was released 28 years ago and for the most part Disney has not done much with it. Tron’s last DVD release was in 2002 and it has fallen off the market since. You cannot buy a new copy of it on DVD, you cannot rent it from Netflix, the only choices are to buy it off eBay for around $100 or resort to illegal download copies. Alas, all major film companies are looking for preexisting properties they can leverage and turn into franchises so now, to much surprise, we have Tron Legacy.

Disney has been hyping Tron Legacy for over 2 years and has mostly pointed all of their marketing to the Gen-X geek market which they hoped would build a swell of excitement for a property almost 30 years old. I’m the ideal viewer for Tron Legacy a Gen-X’er (who remembers the original fondly) with kids (Disney hopes I’ll bring them along and create new fans). For the most part it has worked. I’ve been reading about Tron Legacy for the better part of two years everywhere from blogs to cover story features in high profile magazines such as Popular Mechanics and Wired. Everything I’ve read and seen makes me want to see it. This can also be problematic for two reasons:

1. Although loving remembered by geeks Tron really wasn’t that great of a film. I know blasphemy… I re-watched it recently a few weeks ago (yes I have a copy) and although enjoyable it was really more of an experiment than a great film. It was one of, if not the first film to use live actors in virtual environments and given the time is was made the visual effects worked quite well. I can see why a modem filmmaker would like to give Tron another shot with todays digital technology and really, who wouldn’t want to see light-cycles redone by Digital Domian?

2. 28 years in the making including the past two years of heavily hyping a film can only lead to unrealistic expectations.

So even given all the above and knowing that critical response was mostly lack-luster I still found it important to see Tron Legacy in IMAX 3D (at a real 6 story tall IMAX). Oh and I brought along the family too. I’m glad I did. I found it to be a very exciting experience full of gorgeously designed and animated images. From the opening “gladiator” battles to the brilliantly reworked light-cycles to the Blade Runner-esque city and a finale that involves light-jet (yes jets) I was in awe. Mixed with a pulsing and rousing soundtrack by electronic music duo Daft Punk, Tron Legacy is more than a worthy sequel.

Okay it’s a sequel in name but in many ways it is almost a remake of the original where the basic premiss is essentially the same: User (original: Flynn, new: Flynn’s son) gets digitized into the system and has to take down the system’s seemingly evil overlord (original: Master Controller, new: Clu) in order to escape back to the real world via a guarded uplink. User meets a hot girl and gets involved in some cool games along the way. Yup that’s all there is to it. It’s a basic story which could have explored many heavier themes about the human condition vs. the digital realm and how the two are becoming one in the same. It however doesn’t go this route and pretty much adheres to the action spectacle formula.

Oh, and what a spectacle it is. In IMAX 3D I found Tron Legacy to be visual and aural nirvana abounding in a dazzling clash of neon light and sound. Could the story be better? Sure. Is it at least on par with the original? I’d say yes. In fact I can’t understand how so many critics who gave a pass on Avatar’s heavily recycled story haven’t also done the same for Tron Leagcy. Sure, it does slow down a bit in the middle but I never found myself bored or looking at my watch and I experienced the wow factor over and over again.

Bottom line: The experience is what a film like Tron Legacy is about and it delivers.

Rated PG-13: In theaters now.

District B13 Ultimatum – Netflix Find – Review

Back in March I gave a favorable review to the original District B13. I was happy to learn that a sequel District B13 Ultimatum was released on Blu-ray/DVD earlier this year. The film picks up 3 years later. David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli reprise their original roles of Leito and Damien.

Plot Synopsis from Wikipedia:
“Three years after the events of the original film, the authorities are attempting to return law and order to ravaged District 13. The death of gang overlord Taha Bemamud has left a power vacuum, and total control of the area is now being fought over by five rival territorial gang lords who want to step into Taha’s position. Damien and Leito return to District 13 on a mission to bring peace to the troubled sector before the secret services of Paris take drastic measures to solve the problem.”

This type of action film relies on two things: charismatic lead actors and exciting fights. Fortunately, both of those ingredients carry over from the first installment. Belle and Raffeelli are in top form here and continue to amaze with their physical agility. The plot is decent enough for all of the action to be strung together in a coherent manner although I will say it’s a bit unbelievable. You could probably say the same for the first film too. A highlight for me was Raffeelli’s fight inside the night club where he both wields and protects a van Gogh painting.

Bottom Line: It’s all about the fights. Not as much Parkour this time around although things were exiting enough to hold my attention for the full running time.

Rated R available on: Blu-ray, DVD.

Note: District B13 Ultimatum is a French production so the film is subtitled. There is an English dub track for those interested. I personally find dubs to be distracting and prefer subtitles.

Brick – Netflix Find

Netflix synopsis:
“When a secret crush turns up dead and the murderer is anyone’s guess, teenage loner Brendan Fry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is forced to navigate his school’s social network through intense interactions with thespians, band geeks and druggies (including a grown-up Lukas Haas). This unconventional film noir marked a promising debut for writer-director Rian Johnson, picking up a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.”

Brick was one of my top 10 films from 2006. There are several things I really enjoyed about it:

- The story shouldn’t have worked but it does. If the above synopsis makes you think “uggghhh” don’t let it, this is a true crime drama that just happens to be set in high school.

- Joseph Gordon-Levitt is superb. He turns in an extremely raw performance that is pitch perfect and really grounds the subject matter.

- This is a true indy film (labor of love) that writer/director Rian Johnson spent 7 year to get made.

- Several funny off-beat moments.

Bottom Line: If you find yourself complaining that fresh, original movies are not made anymore you really need to see this.

Rated R available on: DVD and Netflix Watch Instantly.

Cameron: Avatar 2 Going into Ocean

From: FirstShowing.net

“As for the sequel and going underwater, we’ll just let Cameron himself explain he wants to do in this one:

“We created a broad canvas for the environment of film. That’s not just on Pandora, but throughout the Alpha Centauri AB system. And we expand out across that system and incorporate more into the story – not necessarily in the second film, but more toward a third film. I’ve already announced this, so I might as well say it: Part of my focus in the second film is in creating a different environment – a different setting within Pandora. And I’m going to be focusing on the ocean on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative, but it just won’t be a rain forest. I’m not saying we won’t see what we’ve already seen; we’ll see more of that as well.”

Avatar will be out tomorrow April 22nd on DVD and Bluray