What is Movie News After Dark? It has been happening (just about) every weeknight since the beginning of the year. One would hope that you have an idea about what it is by now. For those who still haven’t caught on, it’s about movie news… and it happens after dark.

We begin tonight with the story of the wee hours of yesterday, in which Empire’s latest issue began shipping with two covers from The Dark Knight Rises, including the limited edition Bane cover seen above. Some of the folks around the web with camera have sent pictures in to Coming Soon, but more importantly, they’ve included details from the set visit piece within Empire. Especially notable is the part about The Dark Knight Rises being set 8 years in the future.

The New York Times has a great profile of the new Muppets movie, including the revelation that the new muppet, Walter, is based a little bit on Michael Cera.

Over at Movies.com, Scott Weinberg writes about early career horror flicks and the stars who survived them. Who knew that Leonardo DiCaprio was in Critters 3? Save for all of you die hard Critters 3 fans, of course.

Remember that Expendables 2 poster we featured last week? The one with all the stars of action movies past. Well, Ultra Culture has reinvisioned said poster as if Bruce Willis was playing every role in The Expendables 2:

Moving back to The Muppets for a second (are you guys getting a sense of this week’s theme here on FSR?), io9 has a spectacular gallery devoted to the unmatched trippiness of Jim Henson’s puppetry prior to The Muppet Show. That man was insane. And insanely brilliant.

According to this interview with Empire, Bret McKenzie looks like a hot girl in The Hobbit. He also talks about working in Middle Earth and wrangling music for The Muppets.

The Art of the Title has finally gotten around to putting together an in-depth feature about the title sequence for Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void, one of the most aggressive and memorable title sequences in recent years, if not of all-time. Have you seen it? Did it give you a seizure?

For those who have always wondered where the name Rinzler came from in Tron: Legacy, all three of you now have an answer.

According to the Twitter feed of some dude at Variety, Joel Edgerton has passed on the 300 prequel. He will move on to do movies that are far better ideas. Like a sequel to the prequel of The Thing.

From one of the most talked about films of the year, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, has come a number of great parodies. This latest one, a Funny or Die exclusive called ‘Drive-Thru,’ will easily go down as one of the better ones. We close with it tonight and wish you luck in resisting the urge to head out for a fourth meal:

Tom Shone of Slate has written an insightful piece about a unique presence of that historical mode all over the movies seeking to be this summer’s blockbusters. Citing X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Cowboys & Aliens as examples, Shone argues that this is an unusual movie summer in terms of the prominence of movies set in the past. However, while such a dense cropping of past-set films is unusual for this season, these movies don’t seem to be all that concerned with “the past” at all – at least, not in the way that we think.

The Past is Perpetually Present

Shone argues that this preoccupation with the past is a result of the (literal) dearth in what cinema sees as our future, as evidenced by anything from Wall-E to the most recent installment in The Terminator franchise (and, I would argue, non-summer movies like Book of Eli and The Road): if Hollywood says that all we have to look forward to is Dystopia, where’s the fun in that? The era of saloons and 8mm cameras becomes fodder for popcorn fare instead of the era of hoverboards and…other future stuff.

It’s not like the past is a rarely-tread area for Hollywood. For example, four of last year’s top twenty domestic grossers were films set in one past or another (True Grit, Clash of the Titans, The King’s Speech, and Shutter Island), it’s simply that none of them were released in the summer. Of course, The King’s Speech is the only one amongst these titles that had any direct intent of attempting to portray history itself as narrative. Most of these films were operating in Hollywood’s conventional historical mode, for “the past” in Hollywood cinema works more like a movie star or a genre rather than anything else: it brings forth automatic associations of what type of film it will be based on knowledge of previous films with a similar temporal settings.

When one thinks of films set in the past, a period drama might come to mind (Shone riffs on Merchant/Ivory productions), but that’s because these are the most oppressively obvious of past-set films through their spectacle of history (with the rich and restrictive costumes, the past is present in these films to the point of almost literally suffocating its cast). But the past itself in mainstream productions is hardly unusual. It becomes simply another convention amongst many. This is why I find it interesting, but unsurprising, that Shone doesn’t mention another big past-set film released this summer: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – part of what is perhaps the most lucrative past-set summer franchise in history. The omission is telling because we don’t typically think of the Pirates series as past-set, though it so obviously and undeniably is. But the film’s vague past-ness is part of its convention. The history surrounding the events of the films is irrelevant, as is the exact years in which the franchise takes place.

Left: 1970s Kids, Right: Spielberg's 1970s Kids

The Past Blinded Me…With Science

As Shone points out, even the non-Dystopian futures that summer audiences are given are motivated by nostalgia, as evidenced by Star Trek. This past winter, Tron Legacy gave us a science fiction present enamored with the past. One gets the sense that in recent Hollywood science fiction, especially when taking into account a film titled 2012, the imagined future has indeed caught up with the present. But more importantly, this future is inextricable from the past.

What’s interesting, then, about the four films listed is that one further step has been taken with respect to science fiction convention: formerly future-set science fiction has now been collapsed onto the past (and yes, the two superhero films listed also owe a lot to science fiction). Such is most obviously the case with the way Super 8 is being promoted: as a film that is not set in the 1970s as much as it is set in a specific understanding of that decade informed by its science-fiction cinema like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The setting of Super 8 is only an attempt at history in terms of our existing understanding of that history through cinema. Super 8 is not set in the 1970s as much as it is set in “Spielberg’s 1970s.”

Likewise, Captain America is not a movie set in the 1940s as much as it is a movie set in the 40s we know through WWII adventure movies. X-Men: First Class’s relationship to the early 1960s seems to be made conventionally so through a combination of that era’s espionage thrillers and the sartorial trends of Mad Men. And of course, Cowboys & Aliens is set in the Old West, a mythical setting determined by so much popular fiction to the point that the genre has become a force wholly separate from its temporal setting. Historical settings in such films are, in a sense, already persistent in the very history of mainstream cinema.

This isn’t a strict loyalty to historical authenticity we’re talking about here. If you want that this summer, go to the nearest big city and see Meek’s Cutoff (and you should, it’s great). When we talk about “the past” in blockbuster Hollywood cinema, we’re essentially talking about an perpetually present understanding of the past through cinema, either in movies released at the time of the film’s setting (Super 8) or previous movies that have taken place in that setting (Cowboys & Aliens). Past settings are often genres unto themselves. To put science fiction in such a setting is to only combine genres.

Final Thoughts

Shone argues that these four films represent a temporal mash-up in blockbuster filmmaking in continuation of the likes of other anachronistic fare like Sherlock Holmes. But in films like these, anachronism is hardly unique. Sure, Cowboys & Aliens is a decidedly odd amalgamation of genres, but it still comes with the expectations of each genre, and westerns alone haven’t always been steeped in a loyalty to history. “The past” in cinema can be treated similarly to “the future”: as a vaguely defined place where fantasy can reign and creative freedom can roam. Inglourious Basterds was an unconventional WWII-set summer blockbuster mainly because its overall tone and structure abandoned conventions of the WWII genre, less so because it overtly played with history (many movies play with history, only a few do it self-consciously).  Likewise, the past-set movies of this summer, like any “fresh” genre retooling, are not really evidence of a new anachronistic preoccupation with decades past, but are instead a slight tweak on a past we as filmgoers already know all too well.

Keep exploring the past by reading older Culture Warrior entries

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news round-up that, for the time being, is keeping things brief. Memorial Day weekend is one that Hollywood generally takes off, so news is light. That said, there was plenty of discussion and artful expression happening all weekend that didn’t require us to sift through the virtual pages of The Hollywood Reporter. Read: there’s some cool stuff in tonight’s edition.

The Times has a report that, for some of you, can’t come soon enough. 3D is fizzling and Hollywood is scared. The report focuses on the lopsided box office of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which took in far more dollars in 2D despite a major push in the other direction from Disney. Even Kung Fu Panda 2, an animated 3D family adventure, opened soft in the additional dimension. Perhaps this will prompt some changes to be made. It probably won’t, but a guy can dream.

Slate’s Tom Shone has an interesting piece about how this year’s crop of summer blockbusters have gone retro, from the late-70s authenticity of J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 to the Mad Men-esquesploitation of the 60s in X-Men: First Class.

Speaking of retro blockbusters, artist Dave Williams has released the second poster in his Marvel Series, highlighting X-Men: First Class with a little bit of spy-film cool. I can almost feel a little Saul Bass in there:

And of course, we’ll continue with that theme of retro blockbusters with a newly released clip from Super 8. As part of the setup, a group of late-70s kids in Ohio are shooting a zombie murder mystery. As they shoot late one night at the town’s train stop, they are witness to a horrific crash. This is just the first few seconds of what is about to happen around them:

Matthew Modine’s character in The Dark Knight Rises has been revealed to Showbiz 411 as another of the film’s villains. He will play a “key villain,” a corrupt politician named Nixon. As with any of these reports, the lack of context or detail leave us unaffected. Everyone in Gotham City is pretty villainy these days.

20th Century Fox was marketing X-Men: First Class this Memorial Day weekend with planes drawing large Xs in the sky above Southern California. I wonder how much that cost.

“I love how that ‘Raiders’ family has stayed together for 30 years. We’re all still the closest of friends. ‘Raiders’ was the first movie where I actually shot the movie without thinking. I like to say that the line in ‘Raiders’ that most typifies the production of that movie was when Harrison says, ‘I’m making this up as I go along.’” That’s director Steven Spielberg briefly reflecting on Raiders of the Lost Ark 30-years later.

NYT Music critic Alex Ross discusses the music of Tree of Life, one of the film’s central themes being the father (Brad Pitt’s) interest in classical music and the moments in which he shares it with his sons.

We close tonight with a really cool video I found via /Film. End of the Line presents a look at the creation of a 20m-long aerosol Tron: Legacy mural for an art installation in East London. Say what you will about the film (I liked it), there’s no denying that it had some style. And that all comes to life with this mural.

Studio logos are an iconography all their own, but nothing puts a grin on my face like a spiffy send-up of a traditional company emblem tailored made to gel with the film I’m about to watch. Don’t get me wrong — nothing’s going to top classics like Alfred Newman’s Fox fanfare, Jerry Goldsmith’s Universal tune or the countless other openings ingrained in our cinematic memories. But when someone takes the recognizable logo and makes it their own…well, that’s when I get giddy.

For decades, movie studios have been allowing filmmakers to tinker slightly with the prestigious logos that preface every film they release. Nothing too crazy — maybe a color shift or a throwback to a retired bumper — but nothing that would tarnish their reputations. These days, most movies are free to run wild. Many stick to the time-honored traditions of their studios, but the ones that don’t feel that much more special.

Regardless of a film’s quality, a great logo is like the cherry on top for most movie buffs. Here are fourteen modern variants that bring a little extra magic to the pictures they kick off:

The Flintstones – Universal

After introducing us to the live-action Flintstones with a recreation of the cartoon’s opening, the Universal logo flies in with the first of many terribly hilarious, Stone Age puns: Univershell.

Edward Scissorhands – Fox

There’s a sad innocence to Edward Scissorhands, and Tim Burton captures that from the get-go with the inclement weather of his 20th Century Fox variant. The combination of a gentle snow and Danny Elfman’s soft, soprano score is enough to get the tears flowing — and the movie hasn’t even started yet.

Superbad – Columbia

Greg Motolla took the 1976 Columbia “sunburst” logo and, through the power of funk, made it even more old school. A studio has no right looking “cool,” but then again, neither does a guy calling himself McLovin.

Constantine – Warner Bros.

Director Francis Lawrence wants to assure the audience of Constantine that they don’t have to worry about life after death. Even in Hell, they’ll still be able to enjoy feature films from Warner Bros.

Bedtime Stories – Disney

Disney starts Bedtime Stories off on a high note, turning Cinderella’s castle into part of a pop-up book. The concept plays to a fantastical, whimsical feeling that the movie wishes (upon a star) to evoke.

This week, it’s the horrifying growth of the trend in Hollywood to take old movies and make sequels for them. The fans are too hip to reboots and remakes, but if they can convince an aging actor to retread barren ground, then it’s all aboard the money train.

Of course, that’s not always the case, but how else do you explain Indiana Jones 4? The problem is that these movies either suck or are hollow shells of what a franchise once was.

So if you’re making a decades-later sequel, what are the problems and how do you avoid them?

Cole: ‬ ‪Scream 4 hits theaters today, and beyond just being another entry in a horror franchise, it has the distinction of being part of a growing new genre: the decades-later sequel.

The problems are obvious: old characters we haven’t seen in years, a Where Are They Now feel to the whole thing, a question of relevance, etc.
So what’s the formula for a good decades-later sequel? What has to happen for it to be entertaining on its own and be a worthy addition to a franchise?

‪Landon: ‬ ‪I’d start off by locating the difference, or lack thereof, between decade-later sequels and franchise relaunches. Movies like Scream 4 seem to be a hybrid of those two categories.‬

‪That’s quite different than movies that really do have something new to say after a long time since the last one, like the new stock market crash that motivated Wall Street 2 (interesting idea, not a great movie) or one of the best decades-later sequels (though technically it was only 9 years after), Before Sunset‬.
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪See, I normally think of a relaunch as wiping the slate clean with all new characters, or new actors to play old characters.‬ The new Nightmare on Elm Street was a reboot. Rocky Balboa was a decades-later sequel. Even Predators has, you know, predators in it to keep the continuity of the story in tact.

‪Landon: ‬ ‪Yes, but I think there’s a crossing of the line between decades-later sequel and reboot with movies like Scream 4, Tron Legacy, and especially Predators which is a really good example of the blurring of the line, because while continuity exists it’s not exactly the point of the film. The point is to re-live the old stuff as new.‬

On the other hand, a movie like Before Sunset had a lot more story to tell so many years after the fact
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪So there’s the first problem.‬ A decades-later sequel has to deal with being burdened by old ideas. Or former icons that might have not aged well.
‪

Landon: ‬ ‪Yeah, and in that there’s an inherent problem with all of them: the story of the previous movie never necessitated a sooner sequel‬ So there’s rarely a sense that more of a story needed to be told.
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪Because, in theory, if they had wanted to make another one earlier, they would have invented Facebook.

So their ideas are old when they’re born. Gordon Gekko doesn’t need a sequel because his story is wrapped up, but don’t people want to see him get out of jail? Like that old librarian in Shawshank? Would Money Never Sleeps had been way better if Michael Douglas simply carved his name in a wooden beam and killed himself?
‪

Landon: ‬ ‪It would have been the best short film of Oliver Stone’s career‬

Wouldn’t a Shawshank sequel just be called Redeemed?
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪Or Gone Fishin’‬.
‪

Landon: ‬ ‪But it seems we’re getting to another difference, and that’s the relationship from decades-later sequels to standalone movies and decades-later sequels to previous franchises‬.
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪Definitely.‬ But they still have similar crosses to bear – old characters who maybe didn’t age well (or are simply just not in the cultural conversation anymore) and no immediate need to exist (storywise). Those are huge. I would argue that something like Rocky Balboa works because the character was still iconic when the movie was made. Because Rocky Balboa is in the upper echelon of movie icons. Granted, it still wasn’t a great movie. But it was good, and that’s an achievement.

It turns out, Gordon Gekko is not in that upper echelon…
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Landon: ‬ ‪The selling point of most decades-later sequels then seem to be as curiosity pieces. Knowing how Balboa spent his old age or how Gekko lives in the 21st century are all interesting thoughts, they just don’t make for movies that are “necessary” in any real way‬.

‪And as such, expectations are constantly low. When I found out there was a sequel being made to Before Sunrise, I couldn’t believe what a stupid idea that was. Then I saw the movie and I realized there were other places to go with these characters. It’s a good movie, and I’m not saying it shouldn’t exist if one is inspired, but the original ultimately still stands alone.‬
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Cole: ‬ ‪There’s the big issue.‬

We, as an audience, know more than what’s between the first and last frame. And these decades-later sequels seem part and parcel of the reboot/remake moneygrab that’s currently going on. They all seem like uninspired instances of people going back to the well to scrape out a last few specks of moisture.

Landon: ‬ ‪And many of them fall spectacularly on their face, like Basic Instinct 2‬.

The Sting also had a decades-later sequel I just found out about. It was lost in cultural memory.

So they either arise out of curiosity because of a new context (Wall Street 2 – I don’t think many were seeking to relaunch those Wall Street 1 bux) or a desire to relaunch or get more from a franchise (Tron: Legacy), or both (Rocky Balboa)
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪Let me ask this:‬ Are the results we’ve seen so far confirmation that they’re mostly just cash grabs? Has the poor quality shown that these are stories being told to capitalize on name recognition, or has it shown that making a decades-later sequel is just damned difficult?

‪Landon: ‬ ‪I think most of the time yes, they are cash grabs, but I’m more okay with that than I am most relaunches because these movies at least don’t try to erase the existence of – or pretend we’ve forgotten – the original‬.

But rarely do they make great movies. Before Sunset was the only good example that I could think of. Are there decades-later sequels that you’re really happy that they were made? Ones that maybe add something to the original?

‪Cole: ‬ ‪The first 30 minutes of Predators, Rocky Balboa, and of course The Social Network was a decades-later sequel to Real Genius.‬

‪Landon: ‬ ‪Because they speak to the original in some way. Through Jesse Eisenberg, we really come to understand Val Kilmer.‬

‪‪But even some relaunches and franchises straddle that line as well. Abrams’s Star Trek can be argued  as a decades-later sequel, and I’m not even sure where James Bond would fit into all this.‬

‪Cole: ‬ ‪Or the new Star Wars trilogy.‬

Really, what we’ve proven so far is that. If you have an old, now irrelevant character, you have to prove they he/she is relevant or interesting again. If there wasn’t a need for further story directly after the last movie came out, then you have to work hard to find where the story is before telling it.

Already we’ve exhausted the brains of most studio execs. One of them just fell right off the office treadmill.

I have a third rule: Don’t pander too much to the built-in audience. I feel like that’s what Tron: Legacy did. I have friends who loved it, but they all also loved the original. Everyone else seems indifferent or completely bored by it. A decades-later sequel can’t just be two hours of proof that you know all the inside jokes of the original.

‪Landon: ‬ ‪Very true. When you have a decades-later sequel, you have to realize you’re going to have an audience that’s completely new to the material no matter what, even if it’s a character as iconic as Indiana Jones‬.

That way deacdes-later sequels aren’t only nostalgia-rides
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Cole: ‬ ‪And then you have to treat the character with respect, instead of making your whip-cracking hero a passive old man trying to find a glass alien skull.‬
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Landon: ‬ ‪An element which would have made Basic Instinct 2 a lot better‬.
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Cole: ‬ ‪More glass alien skulls?‬
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Landon: ‬ ‪And elderly people whip-cracking‬.
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Cole: ‬ ‪I think you fixed it.‬
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Landon: ‬ ‪Though I do understand why decades-later sequels are attractive and fresh. I was excited for Tron: Legacy, not because I was a huge fan of the original, but because the idea of something old put into the possibilities of a new context is interesting. It’s the allure of possibilities. But once you get down to the meat of it, those possibilities are restrained by a strange relationship to the original‬

That said, i would never want to live in a world where Return to Oz didn’t exist.
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪I would. I’d have way fewer nightmares about wheelers and old ladies taking their heads off.‬

Are there any properties that you’d like to see a decades-later sequel to?

‪Landon: ‬ ‪At the risk of absolutely ruining a movie I love, a sequel to Easy Rider would have been interesting if you overlook the fact that they got shot at the end‬. A Republican Dennis Hopper hanging out with Peter Fonda’s giant teeth

Yourself?
‪

Cole: ‬ ‪Butch Cassidy comes to mind if you overlook the fact that they got shot at the end.‬

‪Jokes aside, I think I’d like to see a sequel to Spirited Away since it’s a decade old, it would be interesting to see Chihiro slightly grown up, and it would be fantastic to revisit that world.‬

So, yeah, that, The Sting 3 or The Godfather III (since they never, ever, ever made a sequel to The Godfather II (ever)).
‪

Landon: ‬ ‪That would be a great topic on its own: do-overs‬.

‪Cole: ‬ ‪There’s nothing to do-over since The Godfather III doesn’t exist.‬ But you’re right. Maybe next week we can talk do-overs.

As for this week, I think we’ve hit on at least a few rules for this newish phenomenon. Were you paying attention, Ghostbusters 3?
‪

Landon: ‬ Thank God, the studios get all our memos‬.

Join the discussion by leaving your two cents below and check out more Talking Heads every Friday

Suggest a topic for next week by leaving it in the comments

Now that both are available – and on stunning Blu-ray, no less – you can be the final judge. This game works for either flick, so you might just end up like the geriatric Kevin Flynn by the end, but you’ll have fun going for the ride and knocking on the sky.

And now, to cover our butts… This game is only for people over the age of 21. Please drink responsibly, and don’t trust anyone named Dillinger.

TAKE A DRINK WHEN…

• A program is derezzed
• A vehicle starts or stops
• A digital vehicle is damaged or destroyed
• Someone puts on or removes an identity disc

TAKE A DRINK WHEN YOU SEE…

• A rainbow
• A keyboard
• A computer monitor
• The word “ENCOM”

TAKE A DRINK WHEN SOMEONE SAYS…

• “user”
• “program”
• “Flynn”
• “Clu”

CHUG YOUR DRINK WHEN…

• Someone goes into or comes out of the computer world

Click here for more Drinking Games

Like every other week of the year this one features a fairly interesting array of titles that run the gamut from the good to the bad, but we also get two offbeat comedies that I think are worth a purchase for fans of oddball romances and charmingly humorous characters.

Oh. And two shitty Tron movies hit shelves this week too.

Year Of the Carnivore

A young woman named Samantha Smalls (Cristin Milioti) has a terrible sexual experience with her guitarist crush, and he suggests she cut loose, have fun, and gain some more experience in bed. And so she does… and along the way she learns everything you’d expect her to in an oddball, indie comedy from Canada.

Milioti is adorable, endearing, and truth be told pretty damn sexy as the shy tomboy who giggles whenever guys touch her, and the movie features more than a few laugh out loud scenes of highly inappropriate self discovery.

I Love You Phillip Morris

Pitch: Guy love, That’s all it is, Guy love, He’s mine, I’m his, There’s nothing gay about it in our eyes…

Why Buy? The writers of Bad Santa return with the true story of Steven Russell (Jim Carrey), a family man who realizes one day that he’s gay. As Steven discovers it’s expensive being gay, and soon soon he’s behind bars on charges of fraud and theft.

And that’s where he meets and falls in love with Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). The rest of the film, and of Steven’s story, is his quest to hang on to the man he loves. This is a smart and funny film filled with heart, and fans of offbeat romantic comedies and great acting should give it a shot.

Casino Jack

Pitch: Hey, remember Kevin Spacey? Who knew he still acts…

Why Rent? Everyone knows the name Jack Abramoff, but not everyone knows his true story. Will this movie change that? Who knows, but at the very least viewers will have a good time with this sharply written comedy about the ins and outs of D.C. lobbying. Spacey does a solid job in the lead role (except for when he gets lost in multiple impersonations), and Barry Pepper and Jon Lovitz add to the laughs. Just don’t take it all too seriously because it’s likely to depress you.

Friday Night Lights: Season Five

Pitch: It’s the show everybody loved but nobody watched…

Why Rent? The small town of Dillon, TX is just like every other small town in Texas with the same strengths, weaknesses, and desires to remove evolution from the school text books. According to Cole Abaius, the heart of a Texas Friday night is high school football, and this critically acclaimed and much-loved show is filled with heart. I won’t pretend to have been a loyal viewer from the beginning, but the episodes I have seen have always been beautifully acted, well written, and emotionally powerful. Even if they are about high school football in Texas.

Life Unexpected: The Complete First and Second Season

Pitch: It’s a less annoying Gilmore Girls meets a less annoying Dawson’s Creek…

Why Rent? A teenager is reunited with her birth parents in Portland, and even though the two thirty-somethings aren’t currently in a relationship with each other they work to provide two homes for their daughter.

The worst thing about the show is the insistence on ridiculous character names (Lux? Baze? Math?), but it’s a small price to pay for smart writing and honest humor. Sure it’s from the CW, but it’s the exception to the rule in that the characters are actually interesting and feel more real than plastic.

Tron: Legacy

Pitch: Like Avatar or Miss South Carolina, this is pretty to look at but dumber than a toenail…

Why Rent? Twenty some-odd years after the events in Tron, Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) son is zapped into the matrix where he discovers his captive father, hot women in leather, a nightclub run by a David Bowie impersonator, and a new digital frontier.

This is a lame movie. But that doesn’t stop it from also being filled with incredible effects and very cool set designs. Jeff Bridges is playing himself throughout, Garrett Hedlund is proving he wasn’t hired for his acting abilities, and Olivia Wilde is… well, she looks good so we’ll give her a pass.

Behemoth

Pitch: This is why I don’t climb mountains…

Why Avoid? Every thousand decades or so a large beastie erupts from within the bowels of a mountain and lays waste to the surrounding lands, but there’s one thing it didn’t count on this time around… a lumberjack with a bazooka. The SyFy channel formula is pretty straight forward these days. Manly but kind man, brainy but hot woman, some kind of creature(s) brought to life via low-rent CGI.

This one is about typical so if you’re a fan of SyFy’s Saturdat night originals then definitely check this one out, but if you prefer more bite with your monster movies you may want to look elsewhere. Skip this and rent The Host instead.

Little Fockers

Pitch: Johnny Dangerously did the whole not-quite-dirty shtick far better than these fargin iceholes…

Why Avoid? Haven’t seen this one yet, but goddamn do I hate the first two Fockers movies. These movies are the opposite of funny, whatever that may be, and even the knowledge that Jessica Alba (playing the hilariously named Andi Garcia) strips down to her underwear isn’t enough to make me watch. The plot (ie the excuse for vomit gags, jokes about the ‘Focker’ name, and opportunities to put Ben Stiller into frustratingly awkward positions) sees Stiller trying to prove his value (yet again) to his father in law, Jack (Robert “Anything For A Paycheck” De Niro). Skip this and rent Midnight Run instead.

Tron: The Original Classic

Pitch: It’s time to take off the nostalgia-colored glasses people…

Why Avoid? Cutting edge computer graphics bring the world inside your PC to life in this story of a hacker sucked into the digital world and forced to fight for his freedom by David Warner! I recently re-watched this in preparation for the sequel, and it really is a thirty year old version of the new film. Terrible dialogue, silly plot, stretches of boredom, and a strong visual appeal for the time… but it’s three decades later, so a film that was only watchable then for the effects is now officially a waste of your time.

Also out this week, but I haven’t seen the movie/TV show, review material was unavailable, and I have no blind opinion:

Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words
Beauty And the Beast: A Dark Tale
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of the Dawn Treader
The Taqwacores
Zombie Doomsday

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

TRON: Special Edition

It’s time to go back to where it all began. That’s what Disney did with this wonderful release, they went back to a time when TRON was new and incredible and captured it. We often see releases touting a “restored” or “enhanced” version of a pre-DVD era film, but rarely to we see a release with such a noticeable restoration. There is a vibrancy and pulsing energy to the world of TRON on Blu-ray that was never included on any DVD release. The journey of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) inside the computer has never been so life-like, nor has it ever looked so now. As the cherry, the TRON Blu-ray is lined with special features — several hours worth, to say the least. The best of them is “The TRON Phenomenon,” a look at the pop culture impact of Steven Lisberger’s technoventure. If you found yourself wondering why folks were so emotionally invested in TRON: Legacy‘s release, this featurette helps give you the why. The Blu-ray itself is a big slice of the why — it’s dazzling in its presentation of one of the coolest films of all-time, an achievement in the world of restorations and enhancements.

Taxi Driver

It’s not hard to look down a list of releases and see what titles have a chance at being on the “must own” list. Taxi Driver is one of those definitive winners. Scorsese directing De Niro to one of his most powerful performances as Travis Bickle, great questions raised about society, law and order, and a young Jodie Foster are just the base layer of excellence. But you know that — Taxi Driver is one of the greats. The real question is whether its Blu-ray release lives up to the legacy. Luckily for you and I, it absolutely does. There’s a marvelous clarity to the HD transfer, a dynamic sensory experience to be had in the 5.1 surround sound mix (including wonderful fidelity in the Bernard Hermann score), all lending to a sense of timelessness. It feels like a movie made not in 1976, but only a few years ago. Round it all off with a healthy dose of anniversary edition supplements, curated from over three decades of discussion, and we’ve got ourselves a Sony release that could very well be repackaged as a Criterion release and no one would notice. There’s even a neat Blu-ray only feature in which the original shooting script plays alongside the movie, giving us a window into the soul of the creative process — we see what is in the script and what was created in the moment. For a film like Taxi Driver, it’s a very interesting sight to behold. Consider it a must own.

TRON / TRON Legacy Collection

Special recognition is owed to this gem of a set. As you read above in my assessment of TRON and as you are about to read below where I talk about TRON Legacy, both films are impressive on Blu-ray. But seeing as I’ve witnessed the reaction of our own readership to the long-awaited TRON sequel, I didn’t feel it right to tell you upfront that this week’s must own is a $80 set ($50 currently on Amazon) that includes one film of questionable quality. So original TRON got pick of the week and the sequel is down there in the rent section. With that said, I’d strongly suggest the value offered by the 2-movie collection to anyone who has already seen and enjoyed Legacy. It includes both films, as well as the 3D Blu-ray version of Legacy. It also includes TRON Legacy on DVD and Digital Copy. It’s one of the few sets that might actually look rad on that big 3D HDTV you’re thinking about buying, so you might as well grab it while it can be purchased as a value pack. Also, it comes with a fancy lithograph cover. Never underestimate the cool factor of the collectible lithograph.

TRON Legacy

I want to recommend a buy. I want to recommend a buy. I just can’t do it. For all the reasons I enjoyed Joseph Kosinski’s almost 30-year removed sequel, the same reasons caused many a viewer to cringe and perhaps fall asleep. What’s interesting though, is that a rewatch of the original reveals distinct similarities in plot structure, quality of dialogue and performance. The only change is the unarguably more advanced special effects. It’s eerie. But alas, it’s the less impressive based on its inability to move the franchise forward. Enjoyable, but unsatisfying to the throngs of gridhoppers and Flynn worshipers. But I’ll tell you this without batting an eye: it looks glorious on Blu-ray. Every digitized frame of Kosinski’s gaudy gridscape is crisp and sexy. It might even look rad in 3D, should you have the technical specs to pull it off. And with a Daft Punk score that pounds at every opportunity, I’d dare to call this a quality reference disc for anyone trying to show off their home theater system.

I Love You Phillip Morris

Even though it was one of the most talked about films of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, I Love You Philip Morris found nothing but distributor woes in the wake of its debut. The unconventional tale placed well-knowns Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in a frankly-presented homosexual affair, one that took their reality-based characters to some very unexpected and often amusing depths of humanity. It was perhaps a film too engaging and fun for its time. An uninhibited winner for a country looking for repressed losers. Then again, its distributor (Lionsgate) could have simply dropped the ball. And they did. But there’s no reason why that should keep you from renting this movie and witnessing one of the best performances of Jim Carrey’s career. The Blu-ray may not be collection worthy, as it gives a standard performance on extras (commentary track, featurette, deletes scenes, trailers), but the movie is a worthy addition to your viewing menu.

Babe

This week I reviewed a film from 1982 and one from 1976, both of which looked leagues better than the “remastered” presentation of Babe, a delight constructed in 1995. Understandably (to a certain extent) Universal is shooting for the middle on this one. Even though I, and many of my generation, found this little pig’s tale to be one of the more charming films of the mid-90s, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of momentum for this film’s 16th anniversary Blu-ray release, if you can call it that. It’s sad, as this is an Oscar-winning and Best Picture nominated film. A film about a little pig that was nominated for Best Picture! Surely it deserves a more carefully crafted Blu-ray release than this. Right? I suppose it’s not about what the film deserves in the end — which is far more than a pair of featurettes and a decade old commentary track — but what Universal has decided to give it. And in turn, give us. It’s a gift of a film on Blu-ray that should be seen, shared and loved the world over. It’s not a Blu-ray that belongs permanently in your collection. But for now, it’ll have to do, pig.

Little Fockers

There was something about entering into another contract with a group of Fockers that put me in a state of ease. Despite the clearly commercial motivations behind this latest Ben Stiller/Robert DeNiro family comedy, there was something soothing about knowing exactly what to expect. And when it delivered every mediocre moment as promised, I felt satisfied. I even laughed a few times (Dustin Hoffman kills me in these movies). Even so, I can’t see any reason why any of you should run out and spend money, hard-earned or otherwise, on a visit to the Focker household. It’s repetitive, derivative situations create humor, but not by earning it. It earned it in the first film and has been aping its own formula ever since. Even a fully-loaded, feature-packed edition of the Blu-ray can’t get this one out of the avoid section. Interviews with Stiller, DeNiro, Owen Wilson. Fancy features like uHear (Which I believe is a feature that allows you to hear cash register noises to signify the paychecks everyone played for — but I could be wrong) and Pocket Blu (Fockers on your iPhone). None of this can save this movie from itself. But I can save you from this movie. All you have to do is trust.

• Benny and Joon (MGM/UA)
• Casino Jack (20th Century Fox)
• De-Lovely (MGM/UA)
• Fiddler on the Roof (MGM/UA)
• Jawbreaker (Image)
• Lars and the Real Girl (MGM/UA)
• Miss Potter (Vivendi)
• Much Ado About Nothing (MGM/UA)
• Mystic Pizza (MGM/UA)
• The Nanny Diaries (Vivendi)
• The People vs. Larry Flynt (Image)
• Taxi (20th Century Fox)

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box.

It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

Editor’s Note: Neil’s knee deep in the goo of SXSW, so Nathan Adams has dutifully stepped up to deliver the news and insight you demand.

Tonight’s header image is sponsored by The Association for Fighting on Beaches. Zimbio has a rather hefty gallery of photos from the penultimate Steven Soderbergh film Haywire. The photos are of MMA fighter Gina Carano handing Ewan McGregor a beating on the beach. It’s kind of rough that McGregor had to get beat up by a girl, but hey, he got to see Gina Carano in a wetsuit. C’est la sexy.

We’ve already shown you the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides production art for the film’s zombies, and now Entertainment Weekly has some art that shows off the look of the film’s mermaids (that was helpfully scanned by Worst Previews). I remember Ariel as being way hotter than this when I was a kid. Disney is getting scary.

Bloody Disgusting has news of an Arizona filmmaker who has taken his love of Hitchcock a little too far. Yep, that’s right, he was living in his house with his dead mother. Fanboys take note, this is how you show love for Hitchcock, your Geocities site is weak.

EOnline has reported on a strange incident at SXSW where actor Jake Gyllenhaal reportedly accosted a fan for snapping his picture while in the bathroom. FSR would officially like to take this opportunity to apologize to Gyllenhaal for Neil Miller’s actions. He says that he had never peed next to someone so dreamy before and he let his enthusiasm get the better of him. We’re really sorry.

Michelle Rodriguez has said that she is signed on to be in Aaron Morgan’s upcoming horror film The Home. The movie is apparently about a haunted nursing home. All jokes about nursing homes being scary enough aside, where is there going to be a role for a tough, tank top wearing tomboy in a movie about old people? I guess she must be some sort of combat trained scrub nurse. Hmm, doesn’t sound bad.

PopWatch has a first hand account of the goings on at Paleyfest’s Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared reunion. It sounds like a dorktastic event that I would have loved to be a part of. Jason Segel even did an impression of the OMC song “How Bizarre.” Damn, I’ve got to start traveling more.

Variety has an article about how the catastrophic earthquakes in Japan have affected their movie industry. As rolling blackouts take place to compensate for the shut down nuclear power plants the box office receipts will only shrink further. Really, this isn’t so much news, as it is a movie related way to acknowledge that the stuff happening over there right now makes writing movie news seem dumb. Our thoughts are with the survivors. Maybe go here and donate them some money.

College Humor turns its snark towards Wes Anderson by mashing up his Fantastic Mr. Fox characters with those of the video game franchise Star Fox. It’s funny for a minute, but their one note riff on Anderson’s introspective characters loses its sting once you realize The Fantastic Mr. Star Fox would actually be awesome.

Finally tonight, a ten-minute short film called TRON: The Next Day has hit the Internet. It’s a little diddy that bridges the gap between the original TRON and TRON: Legacy. Reportedly it is going to show up as an extra on the TRON: Legacy Blu-Ray, which might not be a good idea because it’s actually a more interesting story than that full length feature:

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

As you can tell from the image and title of tonight’s entry, I’ve got South by Southwest (SXSW) 2011 on the brain. In fact, as a programming not, I’d like to mention that starting tomorrow night Cole Abaius and Nathan Adams will be filling in for me as authors of News After Dark. While I’m off drinking away in downtown Austin, you’ll still get the news. So rest easy, all three of you.

Which brings me to tonight’s entry — an all SXSW, all the time affair that will give you a few need-to-knows for the upcoming week of coverage.

1. The coverage will be brought to you by a fine group of writers, including myself, Rob Hunter, Brian Salisbury, Luke Mullen, Adam Charles and our intrepid interviewer Jack Giroux. We’ll be delivering reviews, interviews, articles, photos, shenanigans and even the occasional video update, chock full of beards (except for Jack).

2. To follow all of our coverage, check out the site’s SXSW Homepage, which also includes coverage from years past.

And now, some fine SXSW-related articles from around the web.

UGO’s Jordan Hoffman has put together a list of the must-see panels for the SXSW film conference. It’s a solid list, save for one glaring problem: it does not include You’re Not a Publicist! Film Criticism vs. Advertising, moderated by yours truly. I’m very disappointed in you, Mr. Hoffman. I thought we were friends.

io9′s Meredith Woerner postulates upon the following question: which film will be the next big indie hit to come out of SXSW? My hope is riding with Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block.

If you’re attending the festival and you still haven’t put together your schedule, the Festival Genius app from Slated is going to be your best friend. You might want to get on that right now though, as the fest starts Friday.

Badass Digest talks with Adrian Garcia Bogliano, who has directed the very interesting — as in, “nubile women covered in explosive nitroglycerin” interesting — SXFantastic title Cold Sweat.

Tyler Stout is getting in the SXSW game with this very cool poster for The FP, yet another SXFantastic title (you’ll be hearing a lot about those around these parts, what with our love of Fantastic Fest and all).

The SXSW Title Design competition nominees have been announced. This is perhaps the only awards show willing to recognize the quality of Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Blue Valentine in the same breath.

If you are attending SXSW and you need an in-depth guide to filmgoing tips for locals and passholders written by some of Austin’s foremost filmgoing experts, then Slackerwood is the place to be. Their yearly guides to the fest and its venues are must-reads.

Movieline lists (in mostly annoying gallery form) the 10 SXSW films with the most to prove. Among them, Source Code. Let me tell you based on my insider information (aka I’ve seen the flick), it will do plenty of proving.

The list parade continues with Cinematical’s list of 10 SXSW ’11 films we’ve seen and highly recommend. Hell yes, 13 Assassins.

The Sweat Leaf Tea van will be roaming around Austin during SXSW, allowing you the opportunity to get some swag and (one can only hope) some of that delicious tea.

There will be a Tron: Legacy lounge at SXSW for badge holders. This wouldn’t normally be news, but they are going to be previewing the Daft Punk remix album Tron: Legacy Reconfigured. I’ll go for that, and the swag.

We close tonight with a series of informational videos from the SXSW team. Stuff like how to line up for films and where the hell all of the theaters are. Enjoy and be informed.

I was kidding. That’s not the end of the article. Here’s another video. This time, it’s a trailer for a movie called Fubar: Balls to the Wall. It’s like Anvil! The Story of Anvil but slightly more ridiculous and clearly more Canadian. I can’t wait.

At the end of the 90s, famous Oscar show writer and Celebrity Fit Club contestant Bruce Vilanch claimed that, “Generally with the Oscars…there isn’t much you can do until the nominations are announced. Then you know what kind of year you’re dealing with – what’s been overlooked, what the issues are.”

He was talking about preparing to write the show, but it applies to everyone from the directors, producers and stars on down to the fans. It’s fun to guess around the water cooler (your office still has a water cooler?), but until now, it’s all been speculation.

Thankfully, almost all that speculation has been spot on, so we can all continue our conversations about whether Black Swan will beat The Social Network for Best Picture. Whether Natalie Portman has any true competition for Best Actress. Whether, most importantly of all, Colleen Atwood will beat Mary Zophres for Best Costume Design.

Here they are. The 2011 Academy Award nominees:

BEST PICTURE

127 HOURS (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
BLACK SWAN (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
INCEPTION (Warner Bros Pictures)
THE FIGHTER (Relativity Media/Paramount Pictures)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Focus Features)
THE KING’S SPEECH (The Weinstein Co)
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Sony Pictures)
TOY STORY 3 (Pixar/Walt Disney Studios)
TRUE GRIT (Paramount Pictures)
WINTER’S BONE Roadside Attractions

BEST ACTOR

JEFF BRIDGES – TRUE GRIT
JAVIER BARDEM – BIUTIFUL
JESSE EISENBERG – THE SOCIAL NETWORK
COLIN FIRTH – THE KING’S SPEECH
JAMES FRANCO – 127 HOURS

BEST ACTRESS

ANNETTE BENING – THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
NICOLE KIDMAN – RABBIT HOLE
JENNIFER LAWRENCE – WINTER’S BONE
NATALIE PORTMAN – BLACK SWAN
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – BLUE VALENTINE

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

CHRISTIAN BALE – THE FIGHTER
JOHN HAWKES – WINTER’S BONE
JEREMY RENNER – THE TOWN
MARK RUFFALO – THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
GEOFFREY RUSH – THE KING’S SPEECH

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

AMY ADAMS – THE FIGHTER
HELENA BONHAM CARTER – THE KING’S SPEECH
MELISSA LEO – THE FIGHTER
HAILEE STEINFELD – TRUE GRIT
JACKIE WEAVER – ANIMAL KINGDOM

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
TOY STORY 3
THE ILLUSIONIST

BEST DIRECTOR

DARREN ARONOFSKY – BLACK SWAN
DAVID FINCHER – THE SOCIAL NETWORK
TOM HOOPER – THE KING’S SPEECH
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN – TRUE GRIT
DAVID O. RUSSELL – THE FIGHTER

Continue on for more nominations…