TRON: Legacy Blu-Ray Review (Major Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Arrow, Fringe, Revolution, Once Upon A Time, The Looney Tunes Show, Grimm, Haven, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, Bob's Burgers, American Horror Story: Asylum, and 666 Park Avenue.

Upcoming reviews include Arthur Christmas, The Amazing Spider-Man, Transformers Prime: Season 2, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 2: The War Years, The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones Volume 3: The Years Of Change, and Heathcliff: Season 1- Volume 1.




Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Monkey Brains"

Pretty good, but Donatello is the most boring of the Turtles so I don't enjoy a spotlight for him as much as I do for Mikey or Raph. Cool voice role for Jeffrey Combs though. I like that they didn't spoil the Doctor's evilness by either giving him an obviously evil character design or untrustworthy facial expressions. He could have gone either way and the episode didn't tip its hand ahead of time. I wish they could have done that for Lex Luthor in JLU's Clash.

Loved Splinter getting rattled by April by her mistaking his admiration for her for jealousy. I've NEVER seen Splinter put in that position before and it was amusing.

Decent. ***1/2.





Arrow "Damaged"

Laurel is working my last nerve. Yes, I loved seeing Deathstroke/Slade too (first good flashbacks the show has given us) but Laurel needs to REALLY let it go. I'm beyond past the point where Oliver should tell her he's tired of apologizing to her and that her sister had been old enough to make her own stupid decisions. He's obviously a better person than me.

Oliver getting caught on purpose? Pretty lame, but then most Xanatos Gambits are overrated.

So-so but the show is starting to fall into a rut. **1/2.




Fringe "An Origin Story"

I can't believe nobody figured out how the Observers beat them. It's quite simple: the plan DID work. It set back the future Observers decades. But once they restarted the time wormhole they simply just went back five minutes after the last attempt. I cannot believe neither Peter or Walter understood that's how time travel works. They can't beat the Observer FROM the future unless they travel there themselves. Somebody needs to watch more Star Trek.

I still think time travel IS the key. But they will have to journey back to 2015 to either stop the Observers then and there or create conditions in that timeframe that lead to the Observers either never existing or not being nefarious. That way the timeline Etta dies in will be erased. They'll also need to explain why OUR world never fell to Observageddon in 2015 or the show will be even more dated than Dollhouse will soon be.

Is Peter going to be a Big Bad? I personally doubt it. If this show is an affirmation about the power of love I KNOW Olivia and Walter will pull him back from the brink.

Loved Peter's gambit with the Observer and how it ultimately turned out to be a fake-out. Or was it? I personally think the Observer was messing with Peter because the plan DID work and he was just trying to divert him from that fact. I think Peter DID read him properly but that the Observer was simply a good liar.

Fascinating episode. ****1/2.




Revolution "The Children's Crusade"

Loved that Miles completely confounded Aaron by immediately going along with Charlie's plan. I think Nora's explanation to him made sense but I'm guessing it's not the whole story. I feel that Miles has probably softened a bit because of Charlie and realized that the risk was worth it. But if it helps it make sense to Aaron, I'll go along with it.

I'm really starting to dislike Rachel. I know it's not technically her fault because she is a hostage but she KNOWS how dangerous these people are and is STILL co-operating. Now other people are starting to suffer so she won't. I'm actually kind of GLAD Neville rubbed her and her former colleague's face in it. Maybe that will make her smarten up.

Saw Flynn being Randall coming a mile away. I'm actually disappointed about it, really.

Good episode. ****.




Once Upon A Time "Tallahassee"

LOVED seeing August again, even if it was only in flashback. I want to see an update of him in the present but we got a solid explanation of who Henry's father was, why he left, and why Emma hates him. We also learned he was the mysterious guy in the Season 2 premiere and that it was August who sent him the postcard that the curse was broken although I'm still trying to work out the timeline on that. Wasn't August still a piece of wood right after the curse was broken? How did he manage to get a postcard out?

And Hurley as the giant was genius because once they cast Jorge Garcia you could completely believe the giant was good and wasn't trying to trick Emma. Great stuff.

Not so great stuff? Emma betraying Hook. The last thing she needs is another enemy and the reason she gave for betraying him "I can't take the chance I'm wrong about you" made me scream at my TV "Boy, it SURE would be handy right about now for someone to have a superpower that lets them know for cetrain whenever someone is lying to them. Oh, wait!" Either Emma is an idiot or the writers are. Given Emma's stupid behavior in Fairytaleland I'm not counting out the former but I'm betting it's the latter. Or at least the writers think I am.

Pretty good episode that answered a ton of questions and leave room for Jorge Garcia to return. So, despite it's faults it gets a positive grade. ****.




The Looney Tunes Show "Father Figures"

A Looney Tunes first: this is the very first time we've ever seen Henery Hawk eating chicken. I feel sort of like I did when I saw those couple of historic commercials years ago where the Trix Rabbit finally gets to eat Trix. Wow.

The Walter / Bugs stuff was dumb. Bugs is MUCH better when he's paired up with Lola instead of her father. Daffy and Foghorn Leghorn however struck lightning in a bottle the third time running (including a return for Carol). Loved Bugs impressed reaction to Daffy's enrollment in the Father Figures program turning into a wide smile when Daffy told him he was the kid: "THAT makes sense." HA!

Porky is SUCH a bummer. For reals.

Good episode but not great. Best stuff was with Daffy/Foghorn. ***1/2.




Grimm "The Hour Of Death"

I know Nick likes Bud but would it kill him to SHOW it? He just saved Bud's life! He couldn't return a hug?

The intern being the "Grimm" was WAAAAAYYYY too obvious and I was REALLY disappointed he was actually a Wesen. It would be cool to have an evil Grimm around trying to mess with Nick's inroads with the Wesen. It could have provided some genuine tension.

I'm betting Renard is searching frantically for Adaline right now. He is in truly dangerous waters and I think he creeps Juliet out even more than Nick does. I want to see more of Renard with Monroe. Maybe next week.

Good episode but if the Big Bad HAD been a Grimm it would have been great. ****.





Haven "Magic Hour: Part 1"

Good for the show for showing us a week ahead of time exactly how they are going to save Nathan's life next week. So now it's a race against the clock to find the Troubled sister.

The Colorado Kid being Audrey's son was a bit of a shocker. Seriously.

Tommy Bowen being the Bolt Gun Killer was both surprising and not at the same time. How many African American serial killers have you ever heard of? And yet, we've seen him already commit at least one murder, so yeah, not out of the blue.

Claudia Black! My inner Farscape nerd is happy.

SO glad Audrey put the kibosh on a tryst with Duke. Eric Balfour is just plain icky.

Great episode. ****1/2.




The Simpsons "Adventures In Baby-Getting"

The idea of Barney or Krusty having a bunch of sperm donor babies out there is funny. Homer? Not at all. It's really creepy.

The Homer voting gag for Obama/Romney was nowhere NEAR as funny as the Obama/McCain one four years ago.

Bart following Lisa? Talk about a subplot that literally went nowhere.

I was annoyed with this episode. **.




Family Guy "The Old Man And The Big 'C'"

They couldn't have given us the entire episode about Quagmire's wig? Because once it turned to Carter's cancer plot the episode completely lost my interest.

First half: good. Second Half: Bad. ***.




American Dad "Can I Be Frank With You?"

The episode was really starting to annoy me until they got to that sick, hilarious PSA from John Hamm at the end. I was like "I hope they're going somewhere good with this" the entire episode, and then BAM, they did. ***1/2.




The Cleveland Show "Menace II Secret Society"

You know, for a show with quite a few racist undercurrents against black people, this show manages to always snag some VERY notable African American guest stars. They are either in on the joke (like I suspect Kanye West is) or never actually watch the show (which is what I'm guessing was the case with Phyliica Rashad a few episodes back). Either way, it's impressive if a bit depressing. ***1/2.




Bob's Burgers "Bob Fires The Kids"

From the episode title I was hoping for SO much more but the episode was a disappointment. Loved seeing the guy who took Bob hostage again but the kids at the hippie weed farm really annoyed me. And Bob's "toy" chest wasn't funny. It just depressed me. **.




American Horror Story "I Am Ann Frank: Part 1"

Fabulous episode. Now that we know that SOME flashbacks are merely conjecture and not what actually happened I'm guessing Thredson is Bloodyface. And yeah, Arden's a Nazi and that IS Anne Frank. Loved her shooting him in the last scene. Poor Shelley.

Kit and Grace's story was riveting for me. They didn't go the easy way out by having Grace deny her crime and accuse Kit of not trusting her but they actually mined genuine drama out of it. Impressive.

I'm becoming far more sympathetic to Sister Jude than I ever thought possible.

Thredson's "aversion therapy" with Lana was the sickest thing I've ever seen. And he's supposed to be the "good" doctor. Yikes.

Can't wait for next week. Outstanding episode. ****1/2.




666 Park Avenue "Diabolic"

This show is SO getting canceled soon. And it will totally deserve it. Even worse than Ringer. *.





TRON: Legacy

I would have given this five stars if it weren't for the lukewarm ending. Those two major character deaths were unnecessary (well, it could be argued ONE was necessary) and kind of bummed me out. I really hope there is a sequel and both deaths are retconned. It was NOT a smart idea.

Surprisingly the movie did everything else right. Yeah, the special effects are WAAAAYYY too updated to actually BE special anymore but the sequel was FAR more accessible than the first one, (which was practically incomprehensible), AND managed to pay excellent tribute to the original, with a tapestry of continuity and fanservice. Honestly, the movie hewed SO closely to the canon it almost felt like the movie was made two years later rather than three decades. The writers obviously loved the original movie and it showed.

Olivia Wilde was hot and it was great to see Bruce Boxlietner again. And Jeff Bridges makes a good hero AND villain. Especially since CLU was a good guy in the original TRON. Nice touch.

I would have liked to have seen Cindy Morgan again and I wonder what happened to Dillinger Sr. I think the movie kept so much stuff up in the air to leave the franchise's options open. I'll bet they didn't want to paint themselves into a corner.

So, this was pretty much a great movie until the last fifteen minutes which turned it into merely a good one. Recommended. ****.

The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed:

Pretty slick short, that is a combination of a mockumentary and a straight narrative for the last two minutes. Great to see RAM again. His actor has not aged NEARLY as well as Boxlietner. My only problem is that very little of it actually takes place after the film, as promised. Instead it gives us details for the missing years between the end of the original movie and the sequel (at least in the Users' world). That's cool, but I was hoping for a bit more. Luckily the feature ends with an arcade game where you can type in various codes to find hidden Easter Eggs. I'll admit I cheated and looked them all up online first but as penance I'll type in each cheat code at the beginning of each Easter Egg review. Typing in "ALL" plays all of the Easter Eggs in order. Short Overall: ****1/2.

Flynn Lives Easter Eggs:

DJR: Cryptic remark, presumably from Dillinger Sr. I wish David Warner had actually made an appearance. ****.
CEO: Tape of the phone call Alan Bradley receives when he first learns Flynn's missing. ****.
MKT: Interview between Alan and a female newsanchor. ****.
SAM: Footage of Alan introducing Space Paranoids Online intercut with Sam Flynn doing his stunt.
TAG: Grainy footage of vandal spray-painting "Flynn Lives" on "the big door". *****.
FLV: VHF tape providing info on Flynn Lives. ***1/2.
DFB: 80's Television Ad for Kevin Flynn's Last book. *****.
GAM: Video of the yearly vigil outside Flynn's arcade. I didn't know it was still active. ****.
SPC: 80's TV Commerncial for the original Space Paranoids. *****.

First Look At TRON: Uprising - The Disney XD Animated Series: Great promo. So-so show. *****.

Launching The Legacy: That promotional ComicCon trailer was sweet. No wonder the movie got greenlit. *****.

Visualizing TRON: Featurette about the updated special effects. ****1/2.

Installing The Cast: Best bit was about Micheal Sheen's casting process. Guy's a huge TRON nerd. ****1/2.

Disc Roars: This was so awesome. The idea that they filmed the crowd at ComicCon is for the crowd scene in the movie is totally the nerdiest thing they could have ever done! And they actually DID wind up using it in the movie! *****.

Music Video - "Derezzed" Written, Produced And Performed By Daft Punk: This is a first: a music video for a genre franchise that is literally, probably canon. It tells a story, explains stuff that happened during parts of the missing years, and is animated "Old School TRON" style. Only thing I couldn't figure out is who the guys in the black leather fetish suits playing the arcade game were. Everything else was totally in continuity. *****.

TRON: Evolution - The Video Game Trailer: This looks interesting. ***1/2.

Blu-Ray / DVD Menus: Nice, but it felt more like a regular movie menu rather than as specific to TRON as the original special edition menus were. That's probably because the visual effects in the sequel looked contemporary while the original's were mindblowingly ahead of their time. ****.

Comments

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Arrow "Damaged" - Completely disagree about the show falling into a rut, Ollie seems to have to modify his longterm goal in every episode, which is good. I do think they keep playing the same beat with Laurel, though, and they need to go somewhere fast with her.

Revolution "The Children's Crusade" - I like the effect Charlie is having on Miles, but we'll need some redeeming moments from Rachel.

Once Upon A Time "Tallahassee" - August was good, but by the episode's name, I was starting to worry that Henry's father was actually Anthony Cooper. I can kind of see Emma's reasoning, though. Just because she can see through Hook's lies doesn't mean it's safe to keep him around.

The Looney Tunes Show "Father Figures" - Henery Hawk didn't actually kill a chicken and eat him, did he?

Grimm "The Hour Of Death" - I'm glad they set up the intern in previous episodes so it didn't seem like he came out of nowhere, but it did feel like a waste that he isn't an actual Grimm.

The Simpsons "Adventures In Baby-Getting" - I thought Barney's babies were cute...Homer's creeped me out.

Family Guy "The Old Man And The Big 'C'" - Same reaction.

American Dad "Can I Be Frank With You?" - I thought Francine was pretty funny, but Steve's subplot cracked me up!

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

Arrow: This is something I'm willing to give a chance. But my current disappointment stands.

Revolution: Agreed.

Once Upon A Time: You read my mind regarding Cooper. As for Emma, the episode implied that she had no way of knowing whether she SHOULD trust Hook. Which is balderdash.

The Looney Tunes Show: He had take-out fried chicken. It was WEIRD watching him eat it. It seemed to take away a bit of the humor of the character though. In the old cartoons it was funny that he was always searching for chicken because it was clear he had never tasted it. That's why Foghorn Leghorn was able to constantly fool him.

Grimm: A little TOO obvious in this episode though. And you're right. It was a total waste he wasn't an evil Grimm.

The Simpsons: Agreed.

American Dad: What was Steve's subplot again? I already forgot.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

Once Upon A Time: Pure balderdash!

The Looney Tunes Show: Ah. Yeah, it does take a little away from the character, but at least in the continuity of those old cartoons, he never had chicken.

American Dad: 12-member boy band. I thought it was funny and laughed throughout the whole video.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

The Looney Tunes Show: The old cartoons didn't follow a continuity. The fact that this show does is a first for Looney Tunes (although Duck Dodgers did too, it wasn't as strict about it).

American Dad: Oh, yeah. That WAS funny.

[90scartoonman.livejournal.com]

The Looney Tunes Show: I just meant that this show doesn't claim to have a background that ties it to any of those old cartoons.

[mattzimmer.livejournal.com]

It does a little. But only a little. The example I'm thinking of is the time they showed that Bugs used to live in a hole in the ground. I took that to be a shout-out to the original shorts.