Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: A very roundabout review of 'Tron Legacy'

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:00:26 +1300

a wry tangle...
I, for one, never thought
there would be so many
stairways in The Grid...

nzlemming

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:13:00 +1300

[edit] wrong thread

BenWilson

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:59:00 +1300

well, there's no excuse for Eddings, really. Except that people like to hear the same stories over, and he perfected that. And made a lot of money doing it.

The way he tells it, he also found it quite enjoyable, as did millions of his fans. That's plenty enough excuse.

Lucy Stewart

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:59:48 +1300

This doesn't negate the fact that the vast majority of SFF movies are retrograde and simplistic, although I suppose a lot of SFF novels are too ( Eragon and the Belgariad saga, anyone?)

The vast majority of any type of creative work is kind of meh, period, although SFF does…

TracyMac

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:39:07 +1300

I definitely agree that the genre of "virtual worlds"/cyberpunk was definitely coming along from the late 70s with Sterling, Dick et al. Can't quite place Orwell on that spectrum though.

But I do think some movies can kick things along – yes, the literature is bubbling along under the surface,…

Lucy Stewart

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:06:37 +1300

Humans are an onward-going ever-flowing evolving meme-pool…I was truly horrified when people picked up on ‘blue’ as a colour for hominids(because I’d invented this blue peaceloving elsewhere tribe way back in 1987) – but hey, I knew about Krishna, *and* the “Blue Men of the Minch.”

Ken Catran had blue…

Islander

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:40:09 +1300

“…of the making of books there is no end. There is nothing new under the sun.”

Scott A

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:33:12 +1300

Proto-cyberpunks like Burce Sterling and John Shirley were also picking up on something in the air before Tron came along.

P.K. Dick and Harlan Ellison to be specific. Speculative fiction like this is always a continuum, not a revolution; but films can sometimes appear to be due to the lengthy…

Sacha

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:26:39 +1300

Useful bureaucratese... "issues" are static, requiring no immediate action

Fits perfectly, then

nzlemming

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:33:10 +1300

True revolutions are syntheses.

Well said, that Kracklite!

Kracklite

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:51:17 +1300

I cannot live in cities because of the noise

I'm fortunate myself in finding a corner of Aro Valley that has nothing louder than Kaka and Tui in the morning.

pathetic eh?

On the contrary, it sounds like you've crafted the life to suit your soul.

disability ‘issues’ rather than…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:54:41 +1300

meanwhile under Las Vegas, Gibson's visions of the future are coming along nicely...

Cecelia

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:46:54 +1300

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4486422/TVNZ6-axed-for-youth-channel

Congratulations in order Russell? TVNZ7 all good for next year? Am I behind the times or on the right thread? Whatever, I think the news is rather good!

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:29:49 +1300

Ha! I was discussing Tron with Mr Telfar last night, after our daughter had said she wanted to see Legacy. He said Legacy couldn't be any worse than the original. I said Tron was cool. He said it was [lame], that it was a cult movie, and that movies achieve…

Joe Wylie

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:58:26 +1300

Nothing remotely punky about Tron
That suit that Jeff Bridges gets to wear at the end, symbolising the restoration of his rightful status and the due bag o' fruit of his genius. Worst happy ending ever.

BenWilson

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:49:39 +1300

I'm very glad Leo has shown more interest in the NotSchool's syllabus, and I'm not at all surprised he's scored highly in literacy. Working with him was a great experience, and I'm still amazed at how tolerant he was of my amateur efforts, considering that we were both learning Java…

Sacha

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:04:29 +1300

Nothing remotely punky about Tron

Kumara Republic

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:45:43 +1300

Some say William Gibson merely perfected cyberpunk, and that its real pioneer was George Orwell's 1984. At the very least, Orwell laid the groundwork for the genre.

Craig Ranapia

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:29:13 +1300

...oh, and to throw a cat in amongst the pigeons of so-serious sci-fi fandom, would Neuromancer have been so popular without Tron preparing the way in a visual sense? I wonder.

I think it would have been — 'cyberpunk' didn't spring full formed from the Muse's womb with the publication…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:58:40 +1300

Waiting for Goffman...

would Neuromancer have been so popular without Tron preparing the way in a visual sense?

R U Sirius and odd space ditties from David Bowie and Hawkwind, 2001,
Burroughs (both Bill & Edgar), comic books and drugs,
all helped kick start the zeitgeist...
P K Dick had been…

Sacha

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:22:06 +1300

I reckon it would have. Possibly not without BladeRunner though.

TracyMac

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:44:31 +1300

...oh, and to throw a cat in amongst the pigeons of so-serious sci-fi fandom, would Neuromancer have been so popular without Tron preparing the way in a visual sense? I wonder.

TracyMac

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:42:19 +1300

To be honest, I didn't think the script in the first Tron movie was that great, although there were a few decent one-liners. Also, never been a Jeff Bridges fan.

What blew me away when I was 13 was the music – awesome Wendy Carlos – and the effects.

Also,…

nzlemming

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:53:51 +1300

For some reason in official circles we get disability ‘issues’ rather than the more exciting ‘affairs’ enjoyed by women or Pacific populations for instance. Doesn’t help the sales pitch, I tells you.

Actually, I think it speaks more to who has the issues. We can carry on with our affairs…

Sacha

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:24:24 +1300

I think I hate the term “issues” as much as I hate “going forward.”
For some reason in official circles we get disability 'issues' rather than the more exciting 'affairs' enjoyed by women or Pacific populations for instance. Doesn't help the sales pitch, I tells you.

Islander

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:55:28 +1300

Kracklite, I cannot live in cities because of the noise: I hear abnormally well (which means I hear all those over-tones and under-drones & 'other' noises.)
Lights I can control very well (in my own home, and houses wherein I sleep.)
I cant stand random people being here (or in any…

Matthew Littlewood

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:54:22 +1300

Which begs the most interesting question about Avatar — did anyone in the largest media corporation on Earth actually read the parts of the script where the entire human race has become a genocidal military-industrial complex? (Or Titanic come to that — where a rapacious corporation racks up a pretty…

Kracklite

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:08:22 +1300

OTOH, the neurotypical spectrum seems to me to run from this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgXObaM9i2Q

through this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeaSJ3FNJX4&feature=fvst

to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TiS3HaNhPU

Agree on the smells, plus noises, plus lights, people randomly entering my space… most of the day is like living inside a pinball machine, so I’m rarely out of doors without sunglasses…

Steve Parks

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:43:56 +1300

A “memorable” quote from Tron Legacy:

Clu: Your move, Flynn. Come on!

Share this quote!

Islander

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:50:03 +1300

Just wave a bottle of bleach near me – I gag.

nzlemming

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:46:34 +1300

Leo experiences sound, smell and light differently. The fact that he might have to leave the kitchen if there’s a curry cooking doesn’t mean his response to the overwhelming smell is wrong, just different.

I've never had a diagnosis but I can really relate to the different reaction to smells.…

Russell Brown

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:18:22 +1300

Not wanting to be at all critical Russell, nor pedantic, but I’m interested that you said

Not at all. I don't mind explaining it.

Russell Brown

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:07:13 +1300

Russell may well have a different take on this, but I’d say that something like Asperger’s, which helps shape one’s worldview and way of thinking – even if the behaviours aren’t obvious, the way of perceiving the world is still there – is something people are, far more than something…

Lucy Stewart

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:16:49 +1300

It reads as if Asperger Sydrome is a defining feature, in the same way that you would say he is male and 15 years old. As opposed to Asperger Sydrome being something he has, as you would say if he had diabetes.

Russell may well have a different take on…

Matthew Reid

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:27:17 +1300

Though neither Tron, nor Tron Legacy is memorably quote-worthy, within the broad genre, as Bladerunner
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:42:17 +1300

Of course not. Unless they're utter turkeys, movies have some resonance outside of the world that spawned them. Subtext, not.

Lucy Stewart

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:15:54 +1300

A far more likely possibility than those who habitually use such shoptalk walking the walk and producing a half-way watchable movie themselves.

...is that seriously a "If you don't write movies you're not allowed to complain about them?"

Jean Hughes

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:06:53 +1300

Hi Russell
thanks for the acknowledgment but really it was all a big group effort with your family also helping with Notschool. Leo's qualifications are standard UK quals and equivalent to 1/2 a GCSE each – so it was a truly fantastic effort from him.
Anyone wanting to learn about…

Russell Brown

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:04:51 +1300

Hi Russell – can you point me to any more NotSchool information or theri site – I looked but google has failed me (other than a couple of blgos about it).

Email me by clicking that little envelope icon and I'll put you in touch with Jean.

Kumara Republic

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:03:18 +1300

Thanks for sharing and bringing your readers up to date with your sons progress at 'integrating' into our hard-with-difference society. We've learnt to be tolerant of race etc but are not yet tolerant of those who are different like my friend and your sons. All the best.

Ironically, we took…

Whoops

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:46:32 +1300

Hi Russell – can you point me to any more NotSchool information or theri site – I looked but google has failed me (other than a couple of blgos about it).

Grant McDougall

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:31:34 +1300

I liked the headline on Stuff yesterday about Tron: "A new Tron bomb" – very witty.

Bart Janssen

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:26:27 +1300

But we still don’t really know what’s going to happen to them.

Does any parent? You guys have that mystery laid wide open in front of you and obvious but I don't think many parents can truly know what will happen for their children.

At least you have the awareness…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:24:47 +1300

Re Craig's comment on Avatar; the frequent claims that this film has a radical, anti-corporate and pro-environment message ignores the fact that it effectively inflated the annual profits of its parent company Newscorp (through 20th Century Fox)--arguably the exemplar of greedy, rapacious corporate power.

I'd say far from ignoring it,…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:45:59 +1300

Thank you, Russell, for such a candid and interesting story. So much for us to learn.

Joe Wylie

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:16:10 +1300

. . . if they acknowledged the existence of subtext, they’d have to listen when people complained about it. Much easier to pretend it doesn’t exist.
A far more likely possibility than those who habitually use such shoptalk walking the walk and producing a half-way watchable movie themselves.

Lucy Stewart

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:13:16 +1300

Which begs the most interesting question about Avatar — did anyone in the largest media corporation on Earth actually read the parts of the script where the entire human race has become a genocidal military-industrial complex?

That would require them to understand the notion of "subtext". And if they acknowledged…

Steve Ballantyne

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 06:45:30 +1300

As a moderate Jeff Bridges fan, I'll be waiting until February 3 for my next dose. That's when the Coen brothers' True Grit is scheduled to open here.

Stephanie Chilcott

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 06:09:12 +1300

I have an ASD friend, 19 going on 20 and with no hope of employment. She struggles daily with trying to find a job so I applaud your children and their support system which has identified strengths they will be able to turn into paid work. Just getting an interview…

Jackie Clark

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:40:26 +1300

I won't go and see the new Tron, just because I love Jeff Bridges. And. let's face it, I'm not the demographic for this sort of movie. What I did want to say is that you and Fiona have done, and are doing, an extraordinary job with your boys. I…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:42:48 +1300

Disney made an anti-corporate film in 1982. There's not a chance it's going to make one in 2010.

Which begs the most interesting question about Avatar — did anyone in the largest media corporation on Earth actually read the parts of the script where the entire human race has become…

nzlemming

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:33:04 +1300

Eye sex
Waits for me
Like a mongrel waits
Downwind on a tight rope leash

(just for Leo ;-)

Public Address

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:33:04 +1300

Discussion from blog post.