WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH? » Jeff Bridges

‘Tron: Legacy’ – 28 years later, grid glory finally achieved

cftoto — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:59:43 +0000

The 1982 video game film “Tron” was decades ahead of its time. It just wasn’t very good.

So its belated sequel has to do more than entertain us. It must retain the original’s premise while proving the story was worth continuing into the 21st century.

“Tron: Legacy” does both while raising the bar on special effect features – again. “Legacy” serves up a startling new realm unlike any seen on screen before. Add Jeff Bridges – and his computerized doppelganger – and you have a sequel that not only trumps the original but gives a sense of purpose to the franchise.

It’s also sloppy and hell bent on borrowing moments from other sci-fi franchises, but computer programs often have a glitch or two.

“Tron: Legacy” starts in 1989, the year video game guru Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) went missing. His son Sam (played as an adult by Garrett Hedlund) goes on to inherit poppa’s Encom company but takes no pleasure in the gig.

His wanderlust – and a mysterious page – lures him back in Flynn’s Arcade where he’s accidentally zapped into the video game landscape known as the grid. It’s a small alternate universe after all, as Kevin is reunited with his father. Kevin Flynn has been living in the grid for decades, acting as a counterbalance against his evil twin, Clu – voiced by Bridges but brought to life by computer animation.

Father and son now must find a way to go back home without letting Clu follow their trail. His growing army could spell trouble back on Earth.

“Tron: Legacy” delivers the light cycle races and disk battles longtime fans demand, but it’s the strength of the performers that grounds the dizzying visuals. Bridges lapses into Dude-speak far too often, and the script doesn’t really establish his Zen-like bona fides. But he’s a compelling presence all the same, one a film top-heavy with scientific mumbo jumbo needs. Hedlund can be too headstrong at times, but he’s mostly a charismatic upgrade over lookalike Sam Worthington.

And the luminous Olivia Wilde turns a potentially throwaway role, that of the intriguing Quorra, into a character who becomes far more than just a grrl power distraction. Quorra isn’t a love interest, nor a child-like figure to Kevin. She’s her own woman, a fierce warrior who also serves as an all too human element in a film often lacking heart. She’s like Data from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Pinocchio, a creature who longs to be more human and can think of nothing better than seeing a sunrise for the first time.

Like other quality sci-fi tales, “Tron: Legacy” brims with big ideas you’ll mull over long after the theater lights fade. Notions of intellectual property, the free and open exchange of ideas and responsibility weave their way into the narrative in a mostly satisfying way. The meaty themes often get bumped aside by the dialogue, so tin eared it’s as if George Lucas swiped the screenplay and took a Sharpie to it.

“Legacy” even offers up a dose of camp, courtesy of a bar owner named Castor (Michael Sheen) who looks suspiciously like Ziggy Stardust. It’s a throwaway role, but the comic relief proves invaluable. Heady sci-fi can be too serious for its own good.

Perhaps the biggest risk in “Tron: Legacy” involves the computer simulated Clu, which depicts the 30-something version of Bridges film fans knew from projects like “Starman” and the original “Tron.” The visuals aren’t perfect – at times you can feel how inauthentic Clu’s behavior really is. But it’s darn close, and a sign that we’ll be seeing life like digital humans on screen sooner than later.

“Tron: Legacy” isn’t a great science fiction feature. The film’s narrative isn’t clear-eyed, and that dialogue stops the story in its tracks a time or two. But it proves the concepts behind the original “Tron” deserved further fleshing out, and that some mediocre movies can yield satisfying sequels.

(Photo: Garrett Hedlund stars as the son of video game guru Kevin Flynn in “Tron: Legacy,” the belated sequel to the 1982 cult film. Disney)

WWTW Rewind: ‘The Amateurs’

cftoto — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:32:15 +0000

You know a film is bad when the only quote the studio can scare up for the ad campaign comes from Larry King.

And yes, the King serves up a blurb for the new horror misfire “The Fourth Kind.”

But that’s not the lamest quote you can find to sell a movie. Consider the one used on the DVD package of “The Amateurs:”

“It’s as if Frank Capra made a porn film.”

Not bad, right? But guess who said it?

Jeff Bridges. Yes, the same actor who stars in “The Amateurs.”

But “The Amateurs” isn’t as awful as you fear. The story of a tight knit group of misfits who make an adult movie comes equipped with low key charms. They mostly derive from the cast, a who’s who of character types clearly having a blast.

If only the screenplay matched their level of enthusiasm.

Bridges stars as Andy, an aimless sort whose ex-wife married up while his life keeps heading south. He gets the bright idea one day to hire his fellow losers – with names like Moose (Ted Danson) and Some Idiot (Joe Pantoliano) to make a movie. An adult movie, to be precise.

The film project gives the crew of sense of purpose, all the while showing that a little hard work and determination can go a long way.

Wish the same were true of the script, which gives us an intriguing premise but seems too self satisfied to fully commit. We get some wacky characters and some naughty gags, but by now that level of humor has been well trod by everything from Howard Stern to “The Man Show.”

Bridges’ character never coalesces into someone worth cheering on. It’s simply Bridges doing a variation of The Dude, burnished by his still potent screen premise and that perfect mane of hair. The flirtations between Tim Blake Nelson and Glenne Headly, seem too scattershot to be worth our while.

Andy’s sidekicks, from Danson playing a closeted man to the perennially unsung William Fichtner, give “The Amateurs” a giddy sense of discovery, as if even they aren’t sure where the story is headed.

The film, once dubbed “The Moguls,” never got a theatrical boost, and it seems several subplots – like Andy’s romance with Lauren Graham – were left behind to streamline the production.

“The Amateurs” isn’t good, but it is good-spirited and just novel enough to deserve a Larry King rave – at the very least.

(Photo: Patrick Fugit, William Fichtner, Jeff Bridges and Tim Blake Nelson star as small town buds who team up to shoot a porn movie in “The Amateurs.”)

‘How to Lose Friends & Alienate People’ – Pegged for disaster

cftoto — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:12:54 +0000

Suddenly, Simon Pegg has a lot riding on his upcoming trek aboard the USS Enterprise.

Pegg, so endearing in “Sean of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” suffered his second straight box office dud late last year with “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.”

The actor, who fills Scotty’s shoes in the upcoming “Star Trek” reboot, needs to remind audiences what a curious crowd pleaser he can be in the right vehicle.

His latest, out on DVD today, will do nothing of the sort.

Pegg stars as Sidney Young, a journalist who manages to snag a plum gig at a posh magazine. So far, so promising, even if an early bit involving a runaway pig belongs in a second-tier Fox sitcom.

He immediately rubs his new boss (Jeff Bridges playing the Meryl Streep/”Devil Wears Prada” role) the wrong way, but fumbles his way past his boorish behavior. He does the same with his new fetching colleague (played by the winning Kirsten Dunst), but he’s too busy trying to bed a hot young starlet (Megan Fox) to care.

But is Sidney a fame whore, a dedicated scribe or something in between? It all depends on what scene you’re watching. Clearly, the film’s editing process got hijacked along the way.

Blame the film for shoehorning screwball comedy into nearly every dull moment. Sidney wouldn’t last a day at the Weekly World News, let alone this Vanity Fair style mag – the film is based on a memoir by a VF survivor.

“Friends” manages a few snippets of satirical whimsy, and the cast manages to rise above some tepid material. Still, it’s hardly shocking to mock fame, celebrity and hero worshiping magazines at this point.

Pegg needed every ounce of his charm to make “Run Fatboy Run” palatable, but there’s nothing he can do to make “How to Lose Friend” a winning comedy.