I’m a big fan of the original Tron film.  I love it, warts and all.  I have since I was a little kid.

I think it’s important to get that out of the way before I attempt in any meaningful fashion to review the film.  And I don’t think that using nostalgia to prop up your enjoyment of this film is a bad thing.

Tron: Legacy is a film that takes place years past the events of the original film.  Kevin Flynn, Jeff Bridges who reprises his role from the original, has vanished from the face of the Earth, leaving his corporate empire in the hands of his essentially orphaned son, Sam (Garret Hedlund).  Circumstances lead Sam back to his father’s old arcade and he gets sucked into the grid, the world of Tron.

A war has been brewing on the grid between Kevin Flynn and his younger doppleganger Clu and Sam has been brought into the grid to turn the scales of the war.

There’s a whole bunch more added to the mythos of Tron that made varying degrees of sense.  Like the new ISO life forms that were created spontaneously inside the grid.  So what if it doesn’t make sense?  It’s called a Macguffin.

There are a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-you’s revolving around the plot in the film, and it makes a kind of sense, but that’s really not why we’re here to watch this movie.  We’re here for fun performances, beautiful women in Tron gear, kick-ass action, and a 3D landscape to blow our mind.  Sure, this film is some form of masturbation.  But masturbation is fun, so what’s wrong with that?

There is far more to like about this movie than to worry too much about it’s problems, though I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t have some measure of nostalgia for the original enjoying this film.

I have to address one thing, though.  I heard some people leaving the theatre complaining that Jeff Bridges was just playing “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski, but obviously they hadn’t watched the original Tron film.  He was very much playing Kevin Flynn.  And that’s what I loved most about the movie.  It’s a lot of the same reasons I loved Superman Returns.  Both of those films were love letters to the originals and gave the fans something they wanted.  Sure, there are bigger fans out there than I am, but I enjoyed this immensely.

I’d also like to point out that the women in this film are all incredibly attractive and fun.  Olivia Wilde is worth the price of admission alone.

My biggest complaint?  I wanted to see Tron.  They did a young doppleganger of Tron (Bruce Boxleitner’s character in the grid in the first film) and he was the main enforcer of Clu’s.  There were a couple of great scenes he was in, but it simply wasn’t enough.  One could get the idea that they just didn’t want to take his mask off because it would be as expensive to render him as it would be the film’s villain, but it would have made for a much better and more complete experience.

Bottom line: This film has its faults, many of them, but if you can overlook them with equal parts nostalgia and suspension of disbelief, then you’re going to have one hell of a great time.

Fans of the Iron Man movies, get ready for a ride.

It’s being reported that Jon Favreau, Director of the first two Iron Man movies will not be returning to direct the third – a decision he informed Marvel Studios of this week. It’s unclear if the decision was financial or creative. Unnamed sources are saying that Favreau was frustrated with Marvel wanting to cram so many different characters from the Marvel U into his Iron Man movies, but nothing about this being the reason has been confirmed. But Vulture did offer up this tidbit supporting it:

In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “This whole world … I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”

Eric Goldman over at IGN notes:

However, Vulture says Favreau may have simply been too expensive for Marvel at this point, as they and their parent company, Disney, look to find ways to cut costs – noting that Favreau is said to have made $10 million for Iron Man 2 and would almost certainly get another sizable raise for Iron Man 3 to as much as $15 million, along with receiving 15 percent of the film’s gross after it recouped costs.

Honestly, either reason could be the case, but whatever the reasoning may be, Marvel is on the hunt to find a new director for Iron Man 3.

So, readers, what do you guys think of this news? Do you think Marvel was maybe trying to micromanage the project too much? Could they just not afford Favreau? Who would you like to see replace him? Sound off in the comments below!

Interesting Side-Note: Robert Downey, Jr.’s contract with the Iron Man movies gives him director approval rights.

I really was pretty ambivalent to the first Pirates of the Caribbean and absolutely hated the next two. Two of my biggest problems were Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. Since they’re not in this new film, I might be more easily persuaded to be dragged to see this by the kids. But not much more.

Johnny Depp looks pretty entertaining, so I guess there’s that. But we’ve seen him play this character at least a dozen times before… So… There’s that.

What do you guys think of the trailer? I was kind of bored and didn’t actually finish watching it.

Should I bother?

It’s time once again for another installment of The Big Movie Mouth Off, starring Jeff Vice from MSN and Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine (and both are regular panelists on The Geek Show Podcast)

You can friend the show on Facebook here.

These are available exclusively on Comcast On Demand in Utah.  They are produced and directed by Bryan Young (myself) and Elias Pate both from Big Shiny Robot! and ShineBox Media Productions.

Starting next week, we’ll also be launching a joint Big Shiny Robot! and Big Movie Mouth-Off mini-podcast that will appear weekly featuring the boys, myself and Elias Pate.

Without further delay, let’s get to the reviews:

First we have the Naomi Watts/Sean Penn film ‘Fair Game’:

Then we have the Danny Boyle directed film ‘127 Hours’, starring James Franco:

Then we have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1:

Inside Job:

Love and Other Drugs:

Monsters:

Morning Glory:

Skyline:

Tamara Drewe:

Disney’s Tangled!

And finally: Unstoppable:

Um…. Wow. There’s not much I can say about this (other than my desire to NOT see this in 3D).

This is the Thor trailer I’ve been waiting for. For as much as I’m excited about Captain America and the Avengers and more Iron Man, my God’s name is Thor. He’s my favorite of the big three and always has been. Add to that the fact that Kenneth Branagh has always had my respect and admiration (seriously, you all need to see Dead Again), and you have my excitement circuits on overload.

Throw Natalie Portman into the mix and I might just lose my mind waiting for this movie.

This is Star Wars level excitement here if you can believe it.

Come on Branagh, old buddy, don’t let me down.

Where do you guys come in on this one?

Our good friend Jerk-Bot passed this along this morning.

He’s seen the Thor trailer and there’s some things in there that have me salivating in a way I can’t even begin to describe.

Without further ado:

Hey guys, I just happened to wander into a theater that was showing both the new Transformers and Thor trailers. I wasn’t nearly as hot as some have been on the Transformers teaser. Maybe I’ve just seen too many Robots-in-Disguise already. But the Thor trailer (which is showing up with the new drama The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale) should get everyone’s tongues wagging. It re-uses some of the same footage we saw earlier in the Comic-Con teaser. The include the war of words between the “vain, greedy, cruel boy” title character (Chris Hemsworth) and his seemingly all-powerful father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), shortly before the latter strips Thor of his powers and his hammer, Mjolnir, a longer version of a scene in which Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg’s character from the Iron Man movies) tells Thor that “You made my men — some of the most highly trained professionals in the world — look like a bunch of minimum-wage mall cops,” and a moment of vulnerability between Thor and human love interest Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman. (Yep, there’s even a smooch between the two.)

But this first, real trailer also shows teases of things that should really have fans of the comics … and fantasy-action fans … excited. Things that many of us were hoping would be in the movie. That includes more, clearer footage of the menacing Destroyer armor, going all “Gort” on his Earthly surroundings, the all-seeing Heimdall (Idris Elba, with glowy eyes), and what appears to be part of the climactic battle between Thor and his evil half-brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). And best of all is a brief sequence in which Thor strikes down a pack of dark elves by throwing Mjolnir at them. And then his mystical Uru hammer returns to his hand (a power also seen when Odin reclaims the weapon).

If anyone had any doubts about whether director Kenneth Branagh had any flair for big-scale action, this should allay them. As always, it’s hard to say whether a trailer can fully reflect a film’s overall quality. This one, however, makes a strong case that the Marvel Comics/Norse mythology action film deserves its early Summer 2011 slot. I’m even more amped about the movie now, which is really saying something.

Also … The Fighter opens Dec. 10 in New York and Los Angeles. And everywhere Dec. 17.

And I just would like to make a quick plug. For all of your movie news, be sure to check out The Big Movie Mouth-Off. And be sure to check out the Big Shiny Robot!/Big Movie Mouth-Off movie industry podcast starting in the next couple of weeks.

UPDATE: Marvel Studios released a new image of Thor on a Poster:

Pretty badass.

So, we’ve seen Emma Stone as a blonde in preperation for her role as Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot, but now we have pictures of her actually as Gwen Stacy from the set! . . . There’s not much of a difference.

Either way, the new Spider-Man flick got to filming yesterday, and it looks like it could possibly be a pretty important scene from the movie: the death of Gwen’s father, Police Captain Stacy (played by Dennis Leary). Of course, it could also not be this, but those of us familiar with Spider-Man stories, it would make sense that this obvious funeral scene could be this crucial part of the film.

Now the big question: Will they also kill off Gwen in this film?

You can check out more pictures over at Just Jared.

Personally, I’ve never thought the Transformers movies were incredible feats of cinematic story telling – but – they delivered exactly what I wanted in a Transformers movie: Giant awesome CG robots beating the living shit out of each other. So, that said, I wouldn’t say I’m “looking forward to” the third installment of Michael Bay’s Transformers films, but I will go see it when it hits theaters on July 1 next year – in 2D.

The teaser trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon has hit the interwebs and you can check it out below.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon features Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) taking his first tenuous steps into adulthood while remaining a reluctant human ally of Optimus Prime. The film centers around the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, suggesting there was a hidden Transformers role in it all that remains one of the planet’s most dangerous secrets.

Source: SHH!

Machete don’t text.  And it appears he don’t get lucrative tax incentives promised by the state of Texas to film here. Politics is at play.

The Texas Film Commission announced today it would be revoking the incentives given to the production of Machete, which could have been valued at as much as $1.75 million according to the Austin-American Statesman.

And why?

According to the letter from the Commission released by Governor Rick Perry, according to the statute that established Texas’ incentives for film production, they can be revoked “because of inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion.”

I live in Texas. I saw Machete and reviewed it.

And in no way does Machete portray Texas in a negative fashion.  In fact, it makes it look kind of bad-ass. As I stated in my review, the film really showcases Austin and what a great city it is.

As for the offensive part of it, I’m sure you could argue that there are portions people may find offensive. But the offense here seems to be more political rather than content-based.  I didn’t hear conservative critics harrumphing about the abundance of boobies, using intestines to rappel out a hospital window, cutting numerous limbs off, or the general pervasive sex and violence of the film.

But because there was a political undercurrent- one which discussed issues surrounding illegal immigration, made a mockery of bigoted politicians and vigalantes, and proudly declared (from the top of a taco truck) “We didn’t cross the border- the border crossed us!!”  I can see how that would be threatening to the small minds which inhabit many areas of our state government.  Alex Jones went so far as to say this film was going to cause a race war. (Boy was he wrong!)

But this is ridiculous.

You give film incentives to shoot locally because you want to support a local film industry, create local jobs, and compete with other states’ incentives. Aside from the most egregious violations, should you care about content that much?  No. If you do, that’s something we like to call “Censorship.” And if Texas wants to dictate content or rating, I can think of several films to take incentives from before Machete.  First?  Predators, also a Rodriguez produced picture.  And why take away their incentives? Because compared to Machete, it kinda sucked.

Watch this trailer:

They promised the incentives.  They knew what the content was going to be. The trailer even gives a proposed rating of X.To pull them now is to bow to bigoted political pressure.  Thought police anyone?

Robert Rodriguez is off finishing up Spy Kids 4 and so was unavailable for comment.  But I hope he goes on the warpath here.

As for the Texas Film Commission, I think they just f#$%ed with the wrong Mexican.

To the Texas Film Commission’s credit, they often do fine work.  You can see their subsidies at work next in The Coen Brothers’ True Grit, which filmed primarily in the Austin and Granger, just northeast of Austin.  As a taxpayer in Texas, I can proudly say to all of you: You’re welcome.

MTV spoke with Jon Favreau about the current and future plans of the Iron Man films in relation to the rest of the Marvel films.

“In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Avengers.”

With different timlines separating the films Favreau is waiting for Thor, Captain America, and the Avengers movies to be finished before planning Iron Man 3. The big question is will Iron Man 3 wrap up the current movie continuity or leave the door open for more films? It’d be nice to see Spider-Man and the X-men make future apperances, but we’ve already seen so many good Superhero movies, maybe we’re a bit spoiled.