Rob Reviews Movies: Tron: Legacy

Been a while since I reviewed a movie, but I feel the need here to try to get back in the mode.

Since I retired from the DJ\Karaoke business, I have been spending a lot of Saturday night with some good friends watching movies I missed out on in theaters due to time constraints.  It has also been a time for us to start whittling down on the "Sharla List".

Sharla Parker is a good friend of mine who is the youngest of the circle of friends that I spend the most time with, and has missed seeing a lot of good movies.  Therefore, we have created a list of movies she has to see.  Yes, the list is long and distinguished, but we ARE getting there. So, do not expect a TON of new release reviews.  Some may be twenty years old, but it's about what I have watched recently.  In some cases, the review will come down to the question of "Does the flick still hold up?"

This week, though, I went off of that not-so beaten path, and watched a flick that I was TOTALLY bummed to miss in IMAX at the theater with "Tron: Legacy".

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) leaves his son for work in 1989 and disappears.  His son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) follows a strange lead that ends up with him in The Grid, a "world" his father discovered 25 years earlier (If you didn't see "Tron" you don't have to in order to keep up.  Plus, it TOTALLY doesn't hold up.), now controlled by a new villain.  Sam must fight to not only get back to our world, but save the one he's in.

Going into this film, I was worried about a watered-down, all eye candy, version of the original.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a good story with great visuals, and even the IMAX sequences were included in the correct aspect ratio on the Blu-Ray.  There was never a time in this film where I felt the story dragged, and even the subplot (won't ruin it here) helped enhance the story that was already there.  Daft Punk did a GREAT job with the score (they even cameo in the film), and even has tempted me to purchase it.

So, on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the best), I will give this a 7.  Would have ranked it higher, but not a lot of people want to embrace their "inner geek".  Mine lives on the outside.

Hopefully, I will have at least one of these for you each week.  So, until then...

BB

New Releases For The Week Of April 3rd, 2011

Three posts in one week? What is this, some kind of shenanigans?


New Movie Releases We Didn't Get To On The Show:
- Born To Be Wild: Animals and stuff.

- American: The Bill Hicks Story: If you know ANYTHING about stand-up comedy, you know this name. A guy who was taken too soon, a talent that was completely different than anything anybody else was doing at the time, and a guy who was highly respected in the community. I am highly interested in this.


DVD/Blu-Ray Releases We Didn't Get To On The Show:
- Taxi Driver (Blu-Ray): Travis Bickle. One of the great all-time film characters. If you haven't seen this film, do yourself a solid.

- Sarah Palin's Alaska: Because you can see Russia from there.

- Life Unexpected: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons: Interesting concept of a girl who shows up on the doorstep of two people who haven't been together for a LONG time and lets them know she is their daughter. Problem is that it's on The CW. Is that network still a thing?

- Degeneration X: One Last Stand: I might check this out, but I want a definitive anthology here.

Hope you all enjoyed last night's episode. If you misssed it, you can still get to it on the archive. Just go to the show's website, click our logo and you are on your way!

BB

Grading WrestleMania XXVII

I will try to make this a regular feature on my blog, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.  Now, if you want the full skimmy, make sure you listen to The Clubhouse With Rob & Cody each and every Tuesday night on Ustream!

What we are going to do here is give a grade to each match on the card, in the order they actually happened last night.  Original?  No.  Do I care?  Also, no.

U.S. Title Match: Sheamus (c) vs. Daniel Bryan

Since this didn't happen (it was a dark match that wasn't for the title, but it was still a lumberjack match that turned into a battle royal for the lumberjacks won by The Great Khali), I still wanted to put it here anyway.  Because that's how I roll.

Grade: Incomplete

World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge(c) (With Christian) vs. Alberto Del Rio (With Brodus Clay)

Wow, Vince.  Way to make sure that this is a belt you didn't invent by burying it at the bottom of the card.  Especially since this match was a LOT better than it had to be.  A lot of finisher attempts and reversals, and what I feel was the exact right amount of outside interference.  But I don't believe Christian could Tornado DDT Brodus Clay.  Phsyics just don't work out here.

Grade: B+

8 Man Tag Match: The Corre (Tag Champs Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel, Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett, and Ezekiel Jackson vs. Santino Marella, The Big Show, Kane, and Vladimir Kozlov)

Kozlov was attacked by The Corre at Axxess, so he was replaced by Kofi Kingston.  Well, that's ONE way to get him on the card.  (The rematch for the IC title would have been another, along with a Tag Title defense, but that would make too much sense).  The time it took me to type this is longer than the match itself.  This could have been done on "Superstars," for the love of the Almighty.

Grade: F- (That's right.  An F-.)

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes

A few high spots here that I didn't expect to see out of this match.  Rey coming out in his "El Capitan de Mexico" outfit gives this bonus points.  Did like Cody blocking the 619 halfway in.  Also good to see Cody get the win

Grade: B-

Randy Orton vs. C.M. Punk

I never thought I would say this, and I did last night: Punk should NEVER WORK FACE AGAIN.  His heel character has really come a long way, and both of these guys worked well last night.  Only one groan (all of a sudden, Randy has to sell the knee before he kicks Punk), but a GREAT finish in a match that had some great moments, and was a LOT better than it should have been.

Grade: A-

Jerry  "The King" Lawler vs. Michael Cole (With Jack Swagger, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the special guest referee)

We lost the feed during this match, so I just have to go with the ending, when we got the feed back.  Without Austin, this fails miserably, especially with Lawler not being able to use the piledriver.  I now have to concede that Cole is the GM, which makes this even lamer.

Grade: D+ (only because of Austin does this not go worse)

Triple H vs. The Undertaker (No Holds Barred)

Still don't understand why this was where it was on the card.  I had such majorly high expectations for this match, and it started out REALLY strong.  However, it seemed like the longer it went, the more it just kind of waned.  A FOREVER finish, and we never got to see the sledgehammer used.  Granted, HHH using the Tombstone and not letting "Old School" happen were great spots (and a LOT of false finishes), but the ending still bugs me.  And no HBK shenanigans?  I'm kind of torn on that.

Grade: B-

6 Person Mixed Tag Match (Trish Stratus, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, & John Morrison vs. Lay Cool & Dolph Ziggler)

I'll give this match a little props here: Congratulations to Snooki for showing a little athletic prowess here.  Made me wonder if she trained with Kelly Kelly.  Quick match, and the guys never got involved.  Not even Vickie really had a reason to be there.  And THIS ranked above HHH/Taker on the card?

Grade: B

WWE Title Match (The Miz (c) vs. John Cena)

The entrances were AWESOME, although it seems like Vince is doing everything he can to keep Cena face in the fans' eyes (the choir, the red, white, and blue, the "all about the kids").  The crowd was DEAD by this point, and I think it affected the match itself.  Riley has pretty much become a non-factor to The Miz, who has really become over as a MONSTER heel.  It was also good to see The Miz retain.  I think we all anticipated The Rock's shenanigans, but him Rock Bottoming Cena kind of took a bit of the heel heat away from last Monday night.  Kind of ended the Showcase of the Immortals on a whimper, but still not a bad match.

Grade: B-

That's it!  Remember to tune in tomorrow night to interact with Cody and myself LIVE!

BB

New Releases For The Week of March 27th, 2011

Caution!  There may be multiple entriest today!

Movies In Theaters This Week We Didn't Get To On The Show:

- In A Better World: The Golden Globe and Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film (which I called) as a father deals with both problems in a war torn country and a son that is being terrorized by a bully.

- Cat Run: Two childhood friends start a detective agency.  It's like Encyclopedia Brown, but grown-up and with hot women.  Kinda.

- The Elephant In The Living Room: A documentary about people who have exotic pets.  If none of them are a miniature giraffe, I'm out.

DVD/Blu-Ray Releases We Didn't Get To On The Show:

- All Good Things: Kirsten Dunst falls in love with Ryan Gosling, who may or may not be a killer.  And not in a "Valley Girl" kind of way.

- In Plain Sight: Season 3: Mary McCormack is a good lookin' lady.  And she was on "The West Wing".

- Made In Dagenham: It's like "Norma Ray" in Britain.  And something tells me that it was pitched that way.  Also based on a true story.

- The Secret of NIMH (Blu-Ray): Part of me wants to re-watch this, but another part of me fears that it won't hold up.

- Big Time Rush: Your kids know about this.  It's OK that you don't.

- UFC: Best of 2010: Or, "SPIKE TV about 19 hours a day".

Music Releases We Didn't Get To On The Show:

- Sum 41, "Screaming Bloody Murder": These guys are still kicking.  And for you trivia kids: The name of the band comes from the fact that they formed on the 41st day of summer.

- Unwritten Law, "Swan": The guys that brought you "Seeing Red" release new material.  That's all I've got.

- Wiz Khalifa, "Rolling Papers": When the only song you have will be played on "Dr. Demento" in five years, that's what you've got.  Just sayin'.

Stay tuned!  May have something else for you kids later today.

BB