Will 'Tron: Legacy' bomb? - Seattle Post Intelligencer

Monday, November 29, 2010
Last updated December 1, 2010 10:01 a.m. PT

The first Tron film wasn't a huge box-office success. With a budget of $17 million, the movie took in around $33 million during its theatrical run. That was back in 1982 so it was a sizable chunk of change, but now we're looking at a much more expensive sequel. Even though Disney hasn't fully disclosed the production budget for Tron: Legacy I think it's safe to assume that it reaches into the hundreds of millions.

So, that begs the question: Is there a chance that the new Tron sequel will -- gasp! -- flop? Is there a chance that it won't make back its budget at the theater?

I think there actually is a chance, albeit a very slim one. Tron is a cult film. It never gained cult status until it hit home video and everyone started watching it over and over. It was one of those films that came to represent its decade, but never made a ton of money to show for it. However, the marketing and PR machine of Disney has kept Tron in the forefront of our minds. Over the years they've created so much Tron merchandise it's hard to forget the movie.

It's safe to say that fans of the original film are going to flock to the theaters to see this one. The question is, are people who have never seen the original going to want to see Legacy? The way Disney has marketed this movie works on so many levels. The trailer has a few hidden gems for the die-hard fans, while the overall idea excites most everyone who watches it, even those who have no clue about the first film. It looks action-packed, exciting, and fun. Those three things will draw crowds that have never seen the first one, and I'm sure the movie will be simple enough that audiences won't have to know about the first movie to enjoy the second.

If the movie was being marketed and handled by a different studio I might have more apprehension. However, Disney has shown time after time that they are able to market products and movies so well that people will come and watch. The only real reason I see Legacy failing is if the movie dives too deep into the Tron mythology and ends up confusing those who have not seen the original: the word of mouth after those people see the movie could turn other Tron newbies away. My prediction? Tron fans and non-fans alike will fill the theaters come December.

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Review: Skyline -- Don't Bother Looking - Seattle Post Intelligencer

Saturday, November 13, 2010
Last updated 9:34 a.m. PT

At this point we've seen just about every kind of alien invasion movie there could be: giant monster aliens, flying saucers, bright lights, tentacles -- you name it, we've seen it. So for an alien invasion movie to set itself apart from the crowd it had better do something different, otherwise it's just another invasion flick that is as forgettable as the one before it. The makers of Skyline attempted to make a different kind of invasion movie, one that's both epic and low key, with a unique take on the reasons behind the invasion (and the human abductions that follow). At least, on the surface ... but when you sit down to actually consider it, Skyline is just a mash-up of your typical alien invasion movie wrapped into one big cheese-filled morsel.

Eric Balfour and his girlfriend (Scottie Thompson) are in L.A. to visit Donald Faison for his birthday. Faison is a big shot who lives in the penthouse suite of a sky rise condo downtown with his spiteful girlfriend. Early the next morning strange lights shoot down from the sky, taking over the willpower of anyone who looks at them. However, these are no ordinary lights, they're alien lights, and they report back to giant space ships that have surrounded the greater Los Angeles area. Trapped inside Faison's penthouse, the group of "friends" try to survive the alien invasion long enough to figure out what they're going to do and how they're going to escape.

Skyline is essentially a compilation of previous alien invasion films. They must have figured a movie that had a little bit of everything would fool people into believing they were watching something original. From the post-birthday party set-up (Cloverfield), to the look and design of the aliens (a cross between 2005's War of the Worlds and Starship Troopers), to that glowing white/blue light (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Fourth Kind), to the image of a giant mothership hovering over a metropolitan city (District 9 and Independence Day), Skyline is an end-all be-all string of never-ending invasion clichés from start to finish, and if that's what you're looking for then rejoice! Because that's exactly what you get.

But sitting through aliens invading and destroying cities is tolerable and even fun regardless of whether we've seen it a hundred times or not. What makes Skyline tough to sit through isn't the alien stuff or even the invading stuff, but rather all the people stuff that's suppose to make us care who lives and who dies. The five main characters we're forced to follow aren't likable, they're not relatable, they lack reason and logical thinking. For the life of me I'm not exactly sure what Faison does that makes him so rich, or why he's with his mean-spirited girlfriend. If their personalities don't make them intolerable for you, the string of bad decisions they make certainly will.

As grand a scale as the film appears on the surface (with the giant spaceships and the scenic landscape views of the city), the film is actually quite small, with 95 percent of it set in the confines of the penthouse and surround building, including the roof, the stairwell, the poolside, and the garage. The problem is, as with any film, for the setting to be the same throughout it has to be somewhat interesting, and the apartment in question was not. It was rather boring, actually. Most rooms were so sterile that after awhile I wanted everyone to make a run for it, not so they could escape, but so we could have some different scenery.

Alien invasion movies are a dime a dozen and Skyline manages to take a little bit from each of them (in one form or another), playing out like one long cliché after another. That didn't have to be a bad thing, as many of the alien action sequences were fun and rather entertaining. But the characters were lame and the final act features dialogue that gets extremely cheesy, coming off like some hilarious spoof that was aiming for laughs. Still, if all you care about is seeing giant aliens crushing cars and blowing up helicopters, and you have an hour and a half to kill, you could do worse than Skyline. Of course, you could do a lot better, too.

Grade: C-

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Review: Life as We Know It is Love as We Know It - Seattle Post Intelligencer

Friday, October 8, 2010
Last updated 9:43 a.m. PT

Holly and Eric (Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel) zip a Smart Car from zero to, well zero, in a blind date so terrible you know they're destined to be together -- at least in Life as We Know It. That is, life as we know it in the romantic comedy date-o-sphere and the latest spawn of the genre, the film Life as We Know It.

If the Academy created a category for Best, or Most Frequent, Use of Musical Montages (which of course they should), Life as We Know It would certainly be a contender. It relies on the first of its extended montages to sum up Holly and Eric's post-first-date and pre-parenthood history. Their BFFs Alison and Peter are a model of married bliss, living in a perfect house in a perfect neighborhood with a perfectly adorable baby Sophie (Eric and Holly's goddaughter). Despite Holly insisting that she never wants to set eyes on Eric again after Alison set them up on their disastrous date, all five seem to do everything together. Though it's clear, when Eric pinches Holly's rear during a wedding photo-shoot, or points out the mistletoe when she obviously doesn't want to kiss her Christmas party date, that they hate each other.

Then Alison and Peter die in a car crash, and Holly and Eric learn from their lawyer that they've been chosen in their will to take care of Sophie. "TOGETHER?" is their response since of course they detest each other. The lawyer suggests (which I'm sure is standard legal practice), that they move into Sophie's house (for her sake) until they've decided if they accept the responsibility or prefer other guardian options (like Sophie's oxygen-tank-dependent grandpa). Eric points out the ludicrousness of their friends forgetting to mention they're Sophie's guardians. Yet when movies admit something doesn't make sense, you know the movie makers aren't really sorry and will just do it again.

So the singletons are thrust into a life of poo, vomit and sleepless nights. It's a rather realistic (for a while) portrait of sudden parenthood. Holly's gourmet bakery biz and Eric's sportscast director dreams all take a backseat to Sophie. On top of that, a quirky social worker drops by at all the wrong moments to evaluate whether they're even capable of raising Sophie. But then, they're both beautiful people, Eric especially as their kooky neighbors keep reminding us. (You'd think Heigl would demand the writers flatter her looks instead of spotlighting, as in most of her roles, her character's stick-up-her-skirt personality.) Nevertheless, they're attractive and Heigl and Duhamel's high-strung gal meets carefree playboy chemistry works unexpectedly well. When the life-with-Sophie montage of diaper changes and first steps starts, you suspect everything will work out regardless of whatever bickering ensues, or Holly's crush on her blue-eyed bakery customer Sam (Josh Lucas).

So if you can swallow the following pills of romcom wisdom:
1. Loathing is a mask true love wears, or as Sam puts it after Holly and Eric squawk at each other during a Thanksgiving tiff, "if my wife and I fought like that, we'd still be married."
2. Backwards is the new forwards. First comes baby, then comes man (or woman), then comes love.

Then Life as We Know It is a heartwarming romantic comedy of peppy pop montages that hits all the right notes and will be music to your ears. Or, it may only remind you that romcoms are a lot like Jackass, potentially entertaining, but not an example of something you should try at home, especially in your love life.

Grade: C+

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