Category: Rant

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The X-Files? Really?

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People are all a buzz about the X-Files coming back, but I have almost no interest in this whatsoever.  To be fair I was never a big fan of the original show.  It had all sorts of things that I loved, aliens, ghosts, and tons of other sci-fi/horror whatsits.  The problem was that the show could never really elevate itself above its police procedural genre trappings.  In other words it was boring.  Now I know the show has a lot of fans, and they are supper excited, but it is not like the X-Files has not been given second chances.  It has.  There have been two X-Files movies, and while the first one was okay, the second one was terrible.  I am not sure that there are more X-Files stories to tell.

I hear the plan is to do one long serialized story a year with different actors each year, ala HBO’s True Detective, but that sounds even worse.  If the X-Files can’t keep a ninety minute movie interesting, how are they going to fill two hundred and sixty-four minutes (six times forty-four).  Not to mention, will it be the X-Files without Scully and Mulder?  Plus instead of purely being the X-Files, they are now just copying another show (I am pretty sure there is a Simpsons episode about this).  I guess if season one is a success we will find out, but I am not sold.

I know Fox is desperate to try and get some hit shows to bring their advertising revenues up, and the revival of 24 worked, but bringing out and dusting off the X-Files seems like a setup for failure.  I hope for the fans’ sake they got a couple of more good files left in the cabinet.  You guys will have to let me know how it turns out because I have a lot of other good TV to watch.

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What Tron 3 Needs To Do!

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With Tron 3 filming in the fall it is clear Disney really wants Tron to be major franchise, and for the record so do I, but if Disney is going to be successful then the next Tron will not be able to get by on its good looks and cool sound track.  I figure they could use a little help, so here are my thoughts on how to make Tron 3 work.  This will have a few spoilers about Tron and Tron: Legacy, but they are so old at this point if you haven’t watched them you weren’t going to, and you are probably not going to read this post.

1: Keep the story simple

Tron: Legacy’s story was unnecessarily complicated.  There were these weird non-program AI people called ISOs, and they were being wiped out by CLU the program clone of Flynn tasked with making the perfect system.  Then to make matters worse they raised the stakes to ridiculous levels by having CLU plan an invasion of the real world.  I mean they have kind of painted themselves in a corner with the ISOs deal now, but at least we don’t need to go over it again, or dig any deeper in to it.  Also they are also going have to get back on The Grid fast.  I don’t want a Tron movie outside the computer world.  That is just a bad motorcycle movie.

2: Have more Tron

Tron was barely in Tron: Legacy and the movie bears his name.  It was great to get Jeff Bridges back, but Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) is really the man that loves this franchise, so it is time to let him push it forward.  That is not saying I don’t want The Dude in the new movie, but that it just needs more Bruce.  Tron should have Tron in it.

3: Bring back Tron: Uprising

The cartoon was the best thing the Tron franchise ever did.  Story wise anyway.  It didn’t have the best production values, and the animation was a little stiff, but they should bring it back to start the hype train for the new movie.  That way people have an idea of what is going on in the Tron universe, and it starts off the advertising.

4: Speaking of advertising…

Admittedly Tron is a hard movie to advertise for.  It is supper geeky and hard to explain, but if Disney can make Guardians of the Galaxy one of the hottest properties on the planet, they can do a better job with Tron.  It will take some work, but I am pretty sure that they can get people excited to see a special effects spectacle.

5: Keep it up with the light cycles

The biggest thing Tron: Legacy got right was all the cool light cycle races, and light fighter battles, and the light everything else.  Pretty much anything with a light vehicle was awesome, and they need to do more of that.  If they keep the story simple like in my first point there should be more time for cool stuff, and this series should be all about cool stuff.

Well those are my ideas for making a great Tron 3.  I know it is too late for the script since they are going to start filming soon, but maybe this will help them in the editing process.

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Kickstarting A Star Wars Fan Film? Bad Idea.

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So you may have heard of the Star Wars fan film Rise of the Empire on Kickstarter.  It has a lot of great people working on it, and it seems like a fun concept.  The problem is that I can’t see anywhere that mentions that they have Disney’s approval.  Why would you ask for people’s money when you know that you could be shut down at any moment.  I don’t get why people do this.  They think because they are not making a profit that their fan projects will be able to move forward.  They are wrong.  Big companies protect their intellectual property vigorously.  I can’t see Disney allowing someone the opportunity to make a film without properly licensing it first.  Plus Disney has to make sure it will work with their new universe.

If you want to try and make a fan film go ahead, but asking for people’s money to do it is irresponsible.  This goes for any sort of fan project based on a licensed property.  If you are going to do it, you will have to do it completely with your own money, and even then it will still probably be shut down, but at least you are just wasting your own money.  This is just a bad idea.

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Geek Canon Isn’t Sacred!

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For some reason geeks love to trash movies and TV shows that aren’t working for breaking canon.  Like somehow because a character’s origin is different, or they look or act slightly different than the paper version of themselves, that is why the property isn’t connecting with audiences.  It is a load of crap.  If something isn’t good, it isn’t because they didn’t consult the sacred texts.  If it is bad, it is bad due to normal problems like bad writing or poor acting/direction.  It is not just comic books.  Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Anime guys and gals love to rant about it too.

Marvel is doing great, and they aren’t following the canon at all.  The characters’ backgrounds and all sorts of things are totally different than they are in the comic books, and that is fine.  You will notice that the fans are saying DC should be more like Marvel, and follow the comic books more with their movies, but I am scratching my head and trying to figure out which comic books Marvel is following.  Sure they are using the books for inspiration, but the movies are completely different.  I am sure that when the Civil War movie comes out it will look nothing like its comic book counter part.

What matters first and foremost is that product is good.  If it changes things, who cares, as long as talented people created something fun with respect for what they are working with.  Sure it is nice if the people making the films and media don’t treat the canon like a dirty rag, but they surely don’t always have to worry about breaking it.  Lets not worry so much about the past, and maybe we should be hopeful about a very geeky future!

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The Paladin has some thoughts…

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the Fugitive 2: Fugitive Harder at the end when Wesley Snipes is cleared of his tax evasion charges (I may be misremembering the movie) and he’s asked how he feels. “Righteous,” is his response, “I feel righteous.” I’ve always like that because it’s always struck me as profound, from that point on that character is right with the world and their own self. This isn’t just relegated to fictional characters, its universal to us all, in fact Movie Stars are not immune to this. Robert Downey Jr., who also starred in Fugitive 2: Nickel Plated Sissy Pistol, went from superstar to poster child for Betty Ford and then back again – thanks in part to a little role in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (WHAT?).

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Kevin Costner is another movie star whose career seemed destined for greatness and then just went into a Tin Cup (HEYO!). After The Bodyguard or Prince of Thieves most people probably can’t name another Costner movie (If you haven’t seen Open Range you are the reason Westerns are dead…). Waterworld was an obvious misstep that moved Mr. Costner out of sync with the rest of the world… he wasn’t righteous anymore (Event though he totally was in Open Range and the Postman… grumble… grumble).

The wife and I just watched Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and 3 Days to Kill recently and I was struck at how much I enjoyed watching Kevin Costner. In Jack Ryan, he’s the dangerous and mysterious mentor to Chris Pine’s Jack. In 3 Days to Kill he’s the lovable assassin you’ve always wanted… errr, irascible anti-hero you like rooting for. In Jack Ryan he’s in control, in his element, and the needed guide to the hero. In 3 Days he’s in and out of his element, not always in control, and ghoss darnit you just like rooting for him sometimes. You can watch either of these films on Netflix and I recommend that you do – Jack Ryan is a smart spy thriller done with style and smarts (Kenneth Branagh does another excellent job behind the director’s chair) and 3 Day to Kill can be a little uneven at times but the Luc Besson written and McG Directed piece is actually very fun and a little charming (Why don’t you like the bike?).

Maybe Kevin Costner’s career gets a small bit of redemption if somebody reads this and at least give these and future movies with him in it try. Perhaps other actors and actresses, who careers seem irreparably damaged by bad films (cough… Billy Zane… cough) might get a second or third chance, because isn’t that the type of story we like? That moment when they can step out and be asked, how does it feel and the can answer, “Righteous.” Just a thought.