FROM COLLIDER VIDEO - DIRECTOR JOSEPH KOSINSKI TALKS 'TRON: LEGACY', DAFT PUNK...AND 'TRON 3'..?

CELEBRATING TRON:LEGACY ON IMAX

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Below: Tron: Legacy's supporting cast featured Revlon model Beau Garrett as Gem.

ARTICLE: COULD IT BE THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR THE TRON UNIVERSE? by Alexi K

Below: The Japanese poster for 1982's TRON.

When DISNEY announced that their 80s cult sci-fi movie TRON was getting a lavish Noughties sequel ( yes - sequel - not a remake ), anticipation was high that this would be a breakthrough release, ushering in a new franchise with trendy retro-roots that refreshingly wasn't anything to do with Marvel or DC.

The trouble with the previous statement is the word 'cult'. Disney does not do 'cult'. They either do 'BIG', or not at all. And so the film Tron: Legacy ironically has a similar afterlife to the first film: An enthusiastic army of admirers that for reasons known only to box office alchemists ( or maybe Disney execs ), yet again failed to yield the monster hit Disney was hoping for.  [ Cont'd ].

Below: One of the many posters for Disney's Tron: Legacy ( 2010 ).

In a way, the surprise was that Disney were attempting the sequel in the first place. A small but vocal pool of fanboy supporters does not guarantee a hit movie, even more-so if the sequel deviates from the source material, annoying those same purists. Instead of a brighter, refreshed take on the work of original designers Moebius and Syd Mead, we got a largely monochromatic CGI environment, all charcoal-and-neon. Against the expectations of the intervening years, it looked dull, in other words.

As Marvel have proved to a stunning degree, sequels only really work when the original is cleverly established and built upon. With veteran actor Jeff Bridges' reprisal of Flynn chewing the scenery, Tron himself - uber-cool Bruce Boxleitner - was left with a mere cameo, while the original's heroine Cindy Morgan ( who played Yori ), and villain ( David Warner's Sark ), were notably absent altogether. So the net result of the new version, was one of deflation, rather than elation.  [ Cont'd ].

Below: Beau Garrett on a Hungarian poster for Tron: Legacy.

Sadly, it may take more than a handful of fans or an enthusiastic Disney insider to lobby for a further sequel. The reason for that is because Disney now owns box-office juggernauts Marvel Studios, Star Wars, and Pixar. With that unassailable monopoly, the studio simply does not need to make another Tron, or risk further expensive in-house flops ( to compound matters, two years after Legacy, their excellent live-action fantasy-adventure, John Carter, was a box-office disaster - although there are rumours the Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation was deliberately squashed, in favour of the looming Star Wars acquisition ).  [ Cont'd ].

Below: The composers of the soundtrack, the already Tron-like Daft Punk.

And yet, in the seven years since its release, Tron: Legacy persistently entertains the possibility of a sequel. Its chilly palette and glassy environments do indeed become increasingly seductive with each viewing, while scenes including Michael Sheen's brilliant turn as a cyber-Ziggy Stardust, are always entertaining. Above all, it's the epic soundtrack by French techno-legends Daft Punk, that definitely rewards repeated visits. ( See clip, below ). And despite it's own rather flat plot progression, Legacy's final scene offers the tantalising possibility of Tron's electronically-generated characters entering the human world.

The director, Joseph Kosinski, definitely has what we call in the visual arts, 'the eye'. A trained architect, he also directed the starkly beautiful Tom Cruise slow-burner Oblivion. So his sensibilities are tailor-made for spectacle, and the new era of expanded universes.

In this age of enhanced reality, mass-participation video games and virtual environments, a blockbuster movie franchise populated with electronic superheroes, must surely, next time round, score big?

NEWS THIS WEEK: Jared Leto ( Suicide Squad, Dallas Buyers Club ), is apparently in talks to star in Tron 3 ( according to Variety, March 3rd 2017 ). It's unclear as yet whether this will be a reboot or a sequel to Tron: Legacy. There is no confirmation if Joseph Kosinski is attached to direct, and there is still no writer.

FUTURE-ROCKER's opinion is that Tron: 3, could be both a sequel to Tron: Legacy, as well as its own reboot. The worst case scenario would be rebooting the whole concept from scratch - effectively deleting the first two films - as audiences tend to be less enthused when they feel they've only recently seen the previous version ( see Amazing Spiderman and Fantastic Four reboots ). The studio will also run the risk of alienating the small fanbase that has grown up from the first two films, and who would be more interested to see how the characters transition into the 'real' world, rather than go through repeats of the scenarios already rendered previously.

////////////////////

Below: The END OF LINE CLUB scene, featuring Garrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen, Beau Garrett and DAFT PUNK. ( - Could Tron even be a musical? ).

FINALLY, CLICK HERE FOR THE BRILLIANT 'TRON: DESTINY' FAN VIDEO!

ALIEN: COVENANT - RED BAND TRAILER AND PROLOGUE SCENE

And to get more in the mood, here is a 'taster' - not included in the movie - 'conceived by Ridley Scott and directed by Luke Scott'.

'PHOENIX FORGOTTEN' - NEW MOVIE

THE FOUND FOOTAGE CONCEPT RISES AGAIN...

Having watched the clip and seen Ridley Scott's production company on the credits, we did think...is this linked to the 'ALIEN' franchise?

PETER ZIMMERMAN: LUV LIKE FIRE

Check out this brilliant vision of lo-fi Sci-Fi whimsy, featuring supermodel Mariacarla Boscono.

...and also his album of Euro disco remixes ( below ). 

NEW TRAILER FOR INDIE SCI-FI ADVENTURE 'BOKEH'

In photography, bokeh (originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively. - Wikipedia

'In life, we choose what we focus on and what we blur. We wanted to tell a story of two people who continue to change their priorities, their ideals, their focus based on an altered world. They are defined not just by what they focus on, but what they choose to blur.'

'Bokeh' ( pr. Beau-ka ) is a film fable where, alongside the two leads - Maika Monroe and Matt O'Leary - the landscape of Iceland itself is the third character, according to filmmakers Geoffrey Orthwein and Andrew Sullivan of Zealous Pictures.

If you're going to do an end-of-days thriller about the last people on Earth, what more convenient place to set it than Iceland, where summer daylight lasts for twenty-four hours, and you can film your protagonists wandering the empty streets uninterrupted while everyone sleeps?

With sixty locations, many showcasing the imposing local geology ( Iceland was also the location for the Engineer's alien base in Ridley Scott's Prometheus ), Bokeh looks to be an intriguing addition to contemporary indie sci-fi.

And check out the filmmakers' original Kickstarter pitch from 2015:

JMC ft. SCORCHER - SNAPCHAT / GRM DAILY

DJ SHADOW: BERGSCHRUND [ feat. NILS FRAHM ] / DIR: MATT DEVINE

AND DON'T FORGET TO CLICK ON MIXTAPE FOR MORE EDM, GRIME AND INDUSTRIAL / ELECTRO-METAL

KLAYTON LIVE IN THE STUDIO / CELLDWELLER FACEBOOK EVENT

If you want to see how Klayton turns all that amazing noise into a track, check it out:

For a great overview of his 2016 output [ Celldweller, Scandroid, Circle of Dust, games soundtracks, etc. ], watch this clip:

MUSIC PROMO FOR TRANSMISSIONS: PULSE INJECTOR

ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS (2016)

Well, this is weird. Hip Polish films seems to be like buses right now: You wait ages for one and two come at once. This time it's Michal Marczak's All These Sleepless Nights. With a clear nod to famous coming of age movies that preceded it, and swapping classic rock for cool electronica, could this even be Poland's answer to Richard Linklater's Dazed And Confused? See trailer, below:

NEW TRAILER: THE LURE

Director Agnieszka Smoczyńska's debut was originally released in Poland in 2015, making a splash ( ! ) at Sundance in 2016, where it won the Special Jury Prize, and is now getting it's international release. The director has apparently used the mermaid / siren allegory as a way of depicting her own teenage years, without having to include anything too directly personal. A mash-up of camp retro-bubblegum horror musicals..? No idea, but by all accounts, well worth checking out.

BRAND NEW ON FIXT: RAIZER [ ALBUM SAMPLER ]