Living The Dream...

Bring On the Bat...




Every generation has at least one great visionary director whose creative genius transcends their visual craft in a way that defies the conventional norm and is revered by critics and audiences for their originality and brilliance. Christopher Nolan is, without doubt, this generation's Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, or Orson Welles and will long be remembered among that pantheon as one of the greatest film directors of all time.

Inception is the movie that The Matrix wanted to be but wasn't and only dreams that it could have been while it was more preoccupied making itself look cool with science fiction technology and special effects, it merely stood at the precipice of the elaborate canvas of storytelling genius that Nolan presents us here with Inception's intricately complex and labyrinthian narrative as he so masterfully demonstrated in Memento (2000) that relies upon virtually no science fiction technology at all, simply the dreams and imagination of its narrative construct. There is never a dull moment as the viewer's mind is forced to keep up with the expository action racing along like a proverbial freight train. The special effects are relatively seamless and exist only to support the rich, complicated framework of its story rather than distract from it with gratuitous explosions and an overindulgence of CGI that dominate the morose offerings of modern summer movie blockbusters. Nolan's visual scope and canvas are vast and epic but grounded in a believable and conventional reality, an illusion every bit as effective as the slight-of-hand deception of The Prestige that will leave the viewer questioning what reality really is and which level of reality they are watching long after the film has ended.

There are plenty of nods and send-ups to Nolan's favorite films and their influences are evident throughout, the most obvious of which being Blade Runner which Nolan is quoted as his biggest inspiration and also On Her Majesty's Secret Service which he cited as his favorite James Bond film. For my money, they should just hand the keys to the Bond franchise over to Nolan right now and let him re-invigorate it with the same sophistication and panache that he brought to the Batman franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Tom Hardy already proved his theatrical range as a serious performer with his breakout performance as Bronson (2009) and delivers an exceptional supporting performance as Eames mixing sly wit with a focused intensity that would be perfect to see him bringing to the role of future James Bond.

Although I've never really cared much for Leonardo DiCaprio as a leading actor and have always regarded him as that "kid" from Titanic but I was completely taken by his emotionally intense performance as Cobb. Nolan has a knack for casting only the best actors of the highest caliber for his roles and here Leo proves that he is more than a capable leading actor of his generation. Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, and Michael Caine once again bring an heir of class and benediction to their supporting roles as they had done previously in Batman Begins.

Hanz Zimmer's intense score for Inception is extraordinary delivering a lucid electronic ambiance that is both as ethereal as it is urgent, even darker and more melancholy than his score for The Dark Knight. Zimmer composes an auditory dreamscape that compliments the visual experience of the film by implanting its haunting melody in your mind and staying with you long after you've left the theater.

Summer 2010 was looking pretty bleak until Nolan came along and rescued it much like he did in 2008 with The Dark Knight. All my fears and doubts about how he was going to top that with the third Batman film have easily been subdued. I have no doubt in my mind that he will deliver a spectacular finale to his chorus of Batman films with the same sophistication as he has demonstrated in Inception. The Dark Knight is in good hands. Now, just let him have the keys to the Astin Martin and let him write his own ticket. Nolan is the real architect of our dreams.

Jobs' Reception...

The video for Apple, Inc. press conference is now up at their site...

Watch it if you want to see how the Chairman of the Little Fruit Company responds to the media backlash.

Just don't click on it with your left hand or you may have trouble viewing it...

Nerdvana Returns...

The pilgrimage is about to begin again...

Once a year, all geeks, or at least those within driving/flying distance, must make the travel to that temple down in San Diego. It is written. A rule, a law, a holy tenant in the world of pop culture. And yet again, I am sinning this year. For I will not be going. Again.

Forgive me.

But I/we will be reporting on all the news coming out next week. I just happened to have a previous engagement that I made a while back and couldn't break it. Again, forgive me. My good Bothan, Colonel Kurtz will be reporting back to me though and I will be reporting all his rants as he rallies his troops through the jungle of Comic-Con. Why?

Every year the event gets bigger and bigger. It's hard to believe that it's possible. The first year I went, I was amazed at how many people were there. I would literally have to start looking for my friends an hour before I was supposed to meet up with them just so I would have time to find them. This was in an era before I had a cell phone. Much less, my lovely and gorgeous iPhone, which is the only phone I now have.

But big the Con has got.

As many people as were there that first weekend I went, it is far more difficult now. A sea of bodies swarm through the main hall and rooms inside that big building by the shore. I really don't think that the Con will move from San Diego as has been talked about that last few months. Although it would be interesting to see it in Anaheim, but some of the magic that it has would fade away. Somehow the convenience of that trip would be overshadowed by the theme park that's next door. There is something to be said about taking that two hour drive with friends down the 5 freeway with food and drink in hand while watching Adam West in the 60's "Batman" series on our TV, while talking the religion as each mile passes. Fun for us, weird for you. I look forward to it each year. Including this year, which I won't be at.

Why?

Because it's going to be big. Big. BIG. I have talked to several Bothans and would love to be there for those big announcement, those panels and the big surprises that will follow. And not everything will be about Disney. Even though this year's show will/could be remembered as Comic-Tron, there will plenty of news for every stripe of the geek tribe.

The announcements from Warners are especially interesting. Being a DC Guy, I await a lot of footage of next years "Green Lantern" film, but also quite a few surprising events to unfold. Plus, if you've ever attended one of these, then you know that they always have surprise guests and I have a pretty good idea of who might show up. It will be four days filled with a lot of geeky love being thrown out. And it all starts with "Tron Legacy" on Thursday. And then there are those animation panels I want to get a seat in. But I'll have to wait for that FaceTime call from Kurtz. I'll be posting some of his impressions and thoughts as well as my own reaction. I just hope he gets me a couple of those Tron T-Shirts that appear pretty swanky. And I'm going to call him all kinds of names when he tells me how fun it was playing "Tron Evolution." And then all the other things he is going to dangle in front of me. But be prepared for the onslaught next week guys.

It's going to wild, simply wild...

Seeing Green...

The new Entertainment Weekly cover finally reveals what Hal Jordon's alter ego will look like on the silver screen...

What think you?

I kinda like it. It's faithful to the comic without being slavish in its design. And I can't wait to see some of that footage from Comic-Con next week. Of course, I won't be getting into all those swanky parties and behind-the-scenes things that Colonel Kurtz will be attending.

Color me, green with envy...

Mid-Adventure...

Nice start, good end please...



With WOC now playing in DCA for over a month it's time to reflect on where the Resort stands...

Because all the construction going on, California Adventure is now at the half-way mark. For the last couple of years people have been complaining about not seeing enough progress. With the opening of this new night time show there is finally tangible evidence that the Disneyland Resort's Second Gate is becoming a "Disney" park.

And as well as that new show, you can see the visible signs of next years E-Ticket, The Little Mermaid attraction. Or the desert mountains of Cars Land that now are blocking the outside world (something that should have been done a decade ago).

And then there are the Red Car tracks that are slowly working there way through what will soon be known as Hollywoodland. And the walls that are going up over near the restaurant near Mulholland Madness or Madness itself. Then after Christmas you'll see the Maliboomer disappear and the front entrance will be behind walls as well. Walls, walls and more walls. But more progress as well. As Paradise Pier/Paradise Park has become the center of the park, you'll start to notice the transformation of the pier from a cheap, unthemed seaside sideshow, to a detailed and lavishly themed, idealized representation of a Victorian/Edwardian turn-of-the-century seashore. This area will continue to be the gathering place for Disney California Adventure all through next year with Ariel's attraction opening up. Not till late summer when the recreated Radiator Springs will attention turn away from the pier.

As 2012 comes to a close, those that enter the new front entrance and take in a revitalized attempt at presenting a park worthy of the Disney name, will not recognize the park as they walk down Buena Vista Street. Or perhaps they just won't remember it? Kids/Families that stroll down the new areas for the first time, will not realize how much different this park is from the one that opened barely a decade before. Not that there won't be work to still be done. There will be.

It just won't be the extreme measures that had to be taken to save this park and finally create a real resort...

Sophomore Year, Medfield College...

Ahhh, for those good old college days...



On this day, thirty-eight years ago, Walt Disney Productions "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" was released in theaters...

I loved watching these silly, flippant, and just plain fun films as a kid. I mean, really, how cool could a school be that Kurt Russell attended? The film, was the second in the "Dexter Reilly" trilogy of films featuring the wacky antics of some way out college kids, set in Medfield College. I would call it the Medfield Trilogy, but these are not the only films set in the well known, yet fictional college. "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber" as well as the remake, "Flubber" were all set at the school. Bet most of you didn't know that, did ya? Also, the fight song of the school that we hear in the Fred MacMurray film was composed by none other than the Sherman Brothers.

In case you don't remember, here are the three films:

"The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969)

"Now You See Him, Now You Don't" (1972)

"The Strongest Man in the World" (1975)

A while back, there was buzz going around that the Mouse was working on another film or reboot of the series, but alas, that project now resides in development hell. Perhaps someday it'll get a reprieve and wind up making a great, fun film starring the likes of Zac Efron and Corbin Bleu as, errrr, wait. On second thought, I think staying in that state sounds better than what I just said. Of course, if they were to make a well written project starring real actors and not tween heartthrobs I'll reconsider my opinion.

Until then, I'll look forward to attending the Fortieth class reunion...

Insert Coins...

Greetings programs...



Twenty eight years ago I was sucked into another world. It was a world unlike anything anybody had seen before. It was a place that existed on the other side of the computer screen when video games dominated the cultural scene and arcades like Aladdin's Castle existed as places of enchanted amusement. Tron was my second Star Wars. Just five years after being taken away to a galaxy far, far, away, I was transported to an entirely different place not so far away, an electronic Wonderland, that would change my life forever. Star Wars had already changed cinema with its groundbreaking visual effects and set the benchmark by which blockbuster films would be produced but Tron would again alter the course of visual effects in cinema, albeit on a much less successful commercial level. While George Lucas was the undisputed master of the box office Force, lesser known visionary Steven Lisberger was the wizard of an electronic Oz. Tron was a film that was both technically as well as metaphorically ahead of its time by almost two decades as it narratively struggled to define itself in a relatively uncharted technical frontier and convey complicated themes, ideas and modern colloquialisms that hadn't yet existed. I vividly remember watching the film's opening day coverage that weekend on Entertainment Tonight where they interviewed audiences leaving the theater and most were left scratching their heads. Two teenage girls in particular were perplexed by their reactions such as "I just didn't get it," which seemed to sum up the the reasons why Tron had failed to resonate with mainstream audiences at the box office. Coincidentally, science fiction author William Gibson would be the first to coin the phrase "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" which was published that same month in the July issue of Omni magazine while Blade Runner having been released just two weeks before it and whose initial reception was seen as both a critical and commercial failure, would go on to be regarded as one of the most influential films ever made.

Tron has a very unique place in cinematic history in that it is the first and only film of its kind to employ the complex techniques that were used to create its electronic world under the stewardship of Disney special effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, commercial artist Peter Lloyd, and the conceptual designs of artists Jean Giraud a.k.a Moebius and Syd Mead whom had also worked on Blade Runner that same year. To render the film's ambitious computer graphics, several industrial computer animation companies such as Information International, Inc. were approached and a tediously complicated process of marrying the graphics to the film by blowing up the 65mm film negatives into "kodaliths" and matting or "rotoscoping" the elements into each individual frame of celluloid by hand. For this reason, Tron would be the first and last film of its kind to use these cumbersome methods to deliver special effects and as a result gives the film a stylistically unique look and quality that could not quite artificially be replicated per se in the digital filmaking world of today though many such processes have become simplified and streamlined by digital technology to the point that almost anyone can render similar looking visual effects on their home PC with relative ease. Ironically, several Disney animators refused to work on Tron out of fear that computer animation would inevitably replace them and render their jobs obsolete, a prophecy that would come to pass nearly 22 years later when Disney shut down its traditional ink-and-paint animation studios but would eventually be resurrected by Pixar's John Lasseter.

Tron was released on July 9, 1982 grossing $33 million on a $17 million dollar budget. While some might argue that the film was a commercial failure, and certainly not the blockbuster Disney had hoped it would be, it was still marginally profitable. On December 17, Disney will be rolling the dice again on its long-awaited sequel, Tron Legacy, which hopes to set another benchmark for computer visual effects and animation much like its predecessor. Let's all hope this time audiences and critics have caught up to Tron and this time will be much more receptive.

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