TRON: Ares Opens a New Chapter

 

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on Digital this week from director Joachim Ronning and Walt Disney Pictures and coming to 4K Ultra HD, Bluray and DVD is the return outside the game with TRON: Ares.

There is a battle brewing in the computer world between Eve Kim (Greta Lee), the CEO of ENCOM and Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) who is the CEO of Dillinger Systems. What these two mega-techs want is something Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has hidden, the Permanence Code. While Eve spends her time going through her sisters notes and computer, Dillinger has made a connection inside the digital world creating Ares (Jared Leto). Kim wants to use the code to help the world and Dillinger wants it to creates weapons that can make him millions.

Ares mission is to find the code and bring Kim to Dillinger. Bringing his team, Ares has the help of Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) who takes directives seriously. After a chase, Dillinger manages to send Kim inside the same code as Flynn yet Ares is beginning to understand what is happening and doesn’t agree with the ‘creators’ programming. What he does want is to remain outside and see the world that he’s beginning to understand. Dillinger is furious and does something causing Athena to go after Kim and now Ares. Dillinger is unstoppable, just ask his mother Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson).

Kim team up to put a stop to Dillinger with the help of Ajay (Hasan Minhaj) and Seth (Arturo Castro) to fight against Athena. Ares goes back inside the program and meets the one person who can help get what they all want – Kevin Flynn. The fight is on as both sides become aware that this is not a normal fight!

Leto as Ares begins as a 29-minute killing machine but soon begins to experience something that isn’t part of his programming – curiosity. Taking in everything around him and meeting Kim makes it clear that the ‘creator’ Dillinger is not who he seems to be. I love that Leto’s character discovers a conscious, is awaken by the simplest of feelings (ie Depeche Mode) and has a dry sense of humor that I enjoyed. This is such a cool role for Leto playing the armored silent type who knows the game Dillinger is playing, literally.

Lee as Eve is still dealing with the death of her sister but also knows that looking for the Permanence Code means following the bread crumbs her sister left behind. Instead of freaking out at every turn, Lee takes it all in and adapts quickly to Ares’ world. This a role that has so much happening with Lee’s Eve being smart, quick and creative every step up to the final scene. Turner-Smith as Athena is angry at every turn but more-so when she sees Ares and Kim together, almost a computer jealousy deal. When Ares decides to go rogue, Turner-Smith’s Athena has no issue with taking the lead of destruction. What a fantastically ‘angry’ role that looked like it was a lot of fun to do.

Castro as Seth understands that Eve knows what needs to be done and he is her right-hand shadow. When Ares shows up, Seth’s reaction is hilarious but doesn’t stop him from getting the job done. Minhaj as Ajay has a smaller, chaotic role but he also brings about a sense of humor that is based on the madness happening around him. I loved both these guys!

Mr. Bridges, the Dude abides, returns as Flynn explaining to Ares about his choices. He hasn’t lost his swagger or his pearls of wisdom and I personally am thrilled he returned to role he first played in the summer of 1982.

Other cast include Sarah Desiardins as Erin, Cameron Monaghan as Caius and Selene Yun as Tess Kim.

Walt Disney Studios incorporates Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more. There are exclusive originals with new feature films, shows, short form content, documentaries, and actions films such as the highly anticipated upcoming film THE MANDALORIAN. For more information, please visit www.disney.com.

MOVIES ANYWHERE gives viewers the ability to download the Movies Anywhere App. With that you can view films by downloading or streaming to your favorite device using a Digital Code. For more information on Movies Anywhere please visit www.MoviesAnywhere.com.

Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes (Seth’s Date, Burning Man, Lisberger Cameo), The Journey to Tron, Lightcycles on the Loose, The Artistry of Tron, Cast Conversations, and The Legacy of Tron.

It should be noted that Nine Inch Nails is responsible for the film’s soundtrack. It is punching loud and doesn’t hold back providing perfection for the action scenes. It pulsates so much that your chair is moving and your feet are being musically massaged. I have to say I actually enjoyed every bit of it. Another part of the film I enjoyed was the return of some memorable things but I’m not about to expand on that!

TRON: Ares is visually stunning and there is no doubt about that. The action is intense and it is a 119-minute eye workout. The Light Cycles are still amazing to watch and as cool as ever to watch. What is stunning is that writer Jesse Wigutow stayed true to the original story but adding a twist that the digital world finds itself in the real world. Seeing the film in IMAX is such a bonus and I can’t imagine experiencing it any other way. TRON fans will not be disappointed in the slightest.

In the end – there is no going back!

Disney Revisits TRON: Ares

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to theatres this Friday from director Joachim Ronning and Walt Disney Pictures is the return outside the game with TRON: Ares.

There is a battle brewing in the computer world between Eve Kim (Greta Lee), the CEO of ENCOM and Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) who is the CEO of Dillinger Systems. What these two mega-techs want is something Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has hidden, the Permanence Code. While Eve spends her time going through her sisters notes and computer, Dillinger has made a connection inside the digital world creating Ares (Jared Leto). Kim wants to use the code to help the world and Dillinger wants it to creates weapons that can make him millions.

Ares mission is to find the code and bring Kim to Dillinger. Bringing his team, Ares has the help of Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) who takes directives seriously. After a chase, Dillinger manages to send Kim inside the same code as Flynn yet Ares is beginning to understand what is happening and doesn’t agree with the ‘creators’ programming. What he does want is to remain outside and see the world that he’s beginning to understand. Dillinger is furious and does something causing Athena to go after Kim and now Ares. Dillinger is unstoppable, just ask his mother Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson).

Kim team up to put a stop to Dillinger with the help of Ajay (Hasan Minhaj) and Seth (Arturo Castro) to fight against Athena. Ares goes back inside the program and meets the one person who can help get what they all want – Kevin Flynn. The fight is on as both sides become aware that this is not a normal fight!

Leto as Ares begins as a 29-minute killing machine but soon begins to experience something that isn’t part of his programming – curiosity. Taking in everything around him and meeting Kim makes it clear that the ‘creator’ Dillinger is not who he seems to be. I love that Leto’s character discovers a conscious, is awaken by the simplest of feelings (ie Depeche Mode) and has a dry sense of humor that I enjoyed. This is such a cool role for Leto playing the armored silent type who knows the game Dillinger is playing, literally.

Lee as Eve is still dealing with the death of her sister but also knows that looking for the Permanence Code means following the bread crumbs her sister left behind. Instead of freaking out at every turn, Lee takes it all in and adapts quickly to Ares’ world. This a role that has so much happening with Lee’s Eve being smart, quick and creative every step up to the final scene. Turner-Smith as Athena is angry at every turn but more-so when she sees Ares and Kim together, almost a computer jealousy deal. When Ares decides to go rogue, Turner-Smith’s Athena has no issue with taking the lead of destruction. What a fantastically ‘angry’ role that looked like it was a lot of fun to do.

Castro as Seth understands that Eve knows what needs to be done and he is her right-hand shadow. When Ares shows up, Seth’s reaction is hilarious but doesn’t stop him from getting the job done. Minhaj as Ajay has a smaller, chaotic role but he also brings about a sense of humor that is based on the madness happening around him. I loved both these guys!

Mr. Bridges, the Dude abides, returns as Flynn explaining to Ares about his choices. He hasn’t lost his swagger or his pearls of wisdom and I personally am thrilled he returned to role he first played in the summer of 1982.

Other cast include Sarah Desiardins as Erin, Cameron Monaghan as Caius and Selene Yun as Tess Kim.

Walt Disney Studios incorporates Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more. There are exclusive originals with new feature films, shows, short form content, documentaries, and actions films such as the highly anticipated upcoming film THE MANDALORIAN. For more information, please visit www.disney.com.

It should be noted that Nine Inch Nails is responsible for the film’s soundtrack. It is punching loud and doesn’t hold back providing perfection for the action scenes. It pulsates so much that your chair is moving and your feet are being musically massaged. I have to say I actually enjoyed every bit of it. Another part of the film I enjoyed was the return of some memorable things but I’m not about to expand on that!

TRON: Ares is visually stunning and there is no doubt about that. The action is intense and it is a 119-minute eye workout. The Light Cycles are still amazing to watch and as cool as ever to watch. What is stunning is that writer Jesse Wigutow stayed true to the original story but adding a twist that the digital world finds itself in the real world. Seeing the film in IMAX is such a bonus and I can’t imagine experiencing it any other way. TRON fans will not be disappointed in the slightest.

In the end – there is no going back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Brings Finales, New Shows and Films to Comic Con 2025

 

Jeri Jacquin

Okay OUTLANDER fans, this is going to be a tough one as the series reaches its final season. Hall H and STARZ brings Sam Heughan (stop that!), Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin (I said stop that!) and producer Maril Davis and Matthew B. Roberts to the panel. Knowing the audience is dealing with the heartbreak of saying goodbye to our favorite time travelling couple, Roberts says, “I think the idea for the last season was to not try to top season 7, just do a really good season of OUTLANDER and make it work.”

He also says, “Make sure the stories work and give the characters time to do what they do. To deal with the conflicts in front of them instead of trying to make it something it wasn’t just to do that. I think we accomplished that and hopefully you guys feel the same way.” We might not exactly feel the same way about the show’s ending but we’ll put on a brave face because we have something else to look forward to. Caitriona Balfe couldn’t make the panel due to filming but sent a message to fans, “We have shared many a good time in Hall H together. I seem to recall vaguely some drinking, some dancing, maybe some Irish dancing…so many amazing memories. I’m excited for you to see the final part of this journey.”

Heughan, minus his usual golden locks, had his own take on the final season. “It was a very, very hard season to shoot. I think there were so many emotions going around. I think day to day you’d be like, ‘Oh, this is just another day at work. We’ve been doing this for 11 years. Then other days, ‘This is the last time I’m going to work with this person or put on this costume’. It made the last season very charged that adds to the very dramatic storyline, just a mega XL version.”  He also says, “For Jamie and Claire, their world is about to change very differently”.

Hold on…don’t put away your hearts yet! OUTLANDER: Blood of My Blood is coming to STARZ with a two-episode premiere on August 8^th. The panel, being precluded by bagpipes, includes Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser, Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie, Hermione Corfield as Julia Moriston and Jeremy Irvine as Henry Beauchamp. Fans get a look at clips of Jamie Fraser’s parents Brian and Ellen on a Scottish bridge and Claire’s parents Julia and Henry driving through Scotland in the 20^th century.

Not sharing much else, producers of the show aren’t giving much away about Claire with her parents as a child as Roberts says, “Maybe (as the crowd goes nuts), maybe isn’t a no!” One of my OUTLANDER favorites Graham McTavish drops by to question young Sam Retford who plays Dougal MacKenzie saying, “First of all, congratulations on the wig and beard” but asking about Dougal’s sensitive side. Retford says he fell in love the moment he saw McTavish calling him “dad.” What got everyone teary eyed was Raya Yarbrough getting a hall full of fans to sing the “Skye Boat Song” – okay, I’m broken now.

And I suppose I’ll have to stay that way as AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD: Daryl Dixon’s Norman Reedus says, “Daryl’s journey is far from over” but it is also announced that the series will end with Season 4. Good gawd how much more can we take? A lot apparently! Reedus also says, “We’ve had a very close connection with all of you and a loyal fan base. We started this show way back when, and we would come here, we get all this love, and it just made us work harder and the show has just gotten better and better. I’s been such a big part of my life; it’s something I’ve put so much work into and spent so many hours, weeks, months and years thinking about it obsessively and trying to improve every single year.” Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride’s characters will be taking a global trot through Spain (with stops in Bilbao, Galicia, Andalucia, Segovia, Toledo and Madrid – passport please!). McBride says of her journey through the dead, “It has been the thrill of a lifetime to shoot this part of Daryl and Carol’s adventure together in Europe and I keep coming back for more of these two characters. There is still so much story left to tell and so much for the fans to look forward to.”

Moderated by Chris Hardwick and joined by showrunner David Zabel, Scott M. Gimple as executive producer and chief content officer as well as executive producer Greg Nicotero, prep your televisions for September 7^th when the show premiers. Shudder is getting in on the action as Nicotero is part of a competition show called GUTS & GLORY which will air September 9^th on AMC+. The premise of the show is a horror experience of challenges, horror and survival. Sign me up for that!! Reedus also has another season of RIDE WITH NORMAL REEDUS coming on September 14^th and his ride guests include a few names you might recognize with Robert Patrick, Kim Coates (back in the saddle SOA rider!), Gimple and Nicotero and love when McBride joins in the fun.  

So, after all the emotional morning trauma, lets turn to something more galactic, shall we? FX’s new show ALIEN: Earth makes its debut in Hall H. The series created by Noah Hawley is based on the ALIEN franchise in this prequel set two years before the original 1979 ALIEN film. A craft crashes on Earth as a ragtag band of soldiers with something aboard they should have. Premiering on FX August 12^th (set your intergalactic calendars people), the series will complete a season in eight-episodes. The panel included Sydney Chandler who plays Wendy, Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin and Babou Ceesay who are sitting in a room of almost 7,000 fans who are here to see what the show has to offer in the way of details.

There is family, friendship, greed, corruption and, of course, the kind of horror one would expect when a xenomorph is out to kill everything, no exceptions. Creator Hawley says, “Each hour has to have its horror elements but it has to be a drama. You have to worry that I may kill one of these people, I just might.” He also refers to the creatures as “genetic revulsion.” Right up our alley! Olyphant talks about the storyline as “the thing that wake you up in the middle of the night that you’re thinking about the next day are just scenes between two people and they’re so riveting, in addition to the thrills, scares and drama.” Yes, it is true that the first episode of ALIEN: Earth was shown and no, I’m not giving out any details! Trust me, you’ll be glad I made you wait!

If you haven’t had enough of ALIEN: Earth, head over to the interactive called “The Wreckage” and discover the story, activities and a few cool beverages outside of the Convention Center.

Okay, the cat is out of the bag, I have been a Mark Hamill fan since I fell into a teenage crush for him in 1977 as Luke Skywalker (I think I just aged myself!). So when I heard he was in the film THE LONG WALK, I didn’t need to see or hear anything more to know I would be in the front row at the theatre. Of course, the bonus is that this film is based on the Stephen King novel because that my friends means our emotions are going to be on a roller coaster ride. Getting a chance to see the first twenty-two minutes of the film (that came with a hefty warning from the moderators Eric Vespe and Anthony Breznica), the story is based on a contest where one hundred teen boys walk under the eye of the commander played by Luke Skywalker, oh sorry, Mark Hamill. Who ever makes it to the end – wins. The panel included David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer and Mark Hamill, producer Roy Lee and screenwriter JT Mollner. The latter on the panel said, “We wanted the beauty, love, story of friendships, brutality and hopelessness. If this book got into the wrong hands, the wrong studio, it could have been neutered. We kept the teeth. It definitely has bite, it needs to, it wouldn’t work if we didn’t go all the way. It is an unrelenting and brave film.”

Hamill said of his taking on the role of the Army commander (and his reception was craaaaazy loud) that it was a character he knew a lot about being raised on a military base in Japan recalling of soldiers, “if you vomited, you ate it. I saw it first-hand.” But he also said after reading the script that, “I know this guy”.

With monster’s human and not so human, we are now into PREDATOR: Badlands as the audience comes face to sorta face with the Predator himself scanning the audience and saying something that only a fellow predator might understand. Sometimes it’s better not to know, ya know? Moderator Kevin Smith comes into Predator’s line of sight and the audience is spared. Director Dan Trachtenberg who said of predator’s vocal stylings, “I don’t speak Yautja, but I’m pretty sure he said something about the Epstein files!”, Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Kolamatangi, and VFX Alec Gillis.

The story is that of a outcast predator meets an ally searching as this is the first time a predator has been a good guy? Fanning puts her thought in, “It has so much heart and emotion. PREY definitely had that, but what made Badlands unique is there are no humans in this film. I play a synthetic android and Dimitrius is a predator. There’s an unlikely friendship among these two characters. I will say, I do play two parts in the film.”  Begin shown the first fifteen minutes of the film, with predator brothers and a father who wants one of them gone. One saves the other sending them to another planet and I’ll leave you to see it in theatres November 7^th to decide which one.

Now that my eyes are forever emblazon with red lasers and a heck of a light show, there are recognizable riders marching down the aisle to stand guard at the main stage. Disney brings it all with TRON: Ares. Kevin Smith returns as moderator asking the audience, “Did you see that entrance? That cost more than CLERKS!” The pan included director Joachim Ronning, Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, Cameron Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges (aka Kevin Flynn). In this film, Ares (Leto) is sent into the real world facing evil tech Julian Dillinger (Peters). It is Bridges who makes an impact by saying, “1982! 43 years ago, c’mon man, and we’re continuing the story? Lisberger created this wild word that was so fun to be part of. These times, artificial intelligence is on everybody’s mind and heart these days.”

Leto says he is a Tron superfan, “If I wasn’t on the stage, I would be in the audience right now cheering like all these crazy people here. It was in 1982 that video games were exploding and films were a huge part of my life when I was a kid. This movie just grabbed hold of me, my imagination and it showed me what was possible in the world. Movies like this really gave me something to dream for and dream about.” Two different clips were shown and they are fantastic. Nine Inch Nails (for the millions of fans) is responsible for the score of the film with the song “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” released recently. I remember the first time I saw TRON in 1982 so you know I’ll be there in 2025 to see it through. Ah, traditions!

That is the end of Day Two and if that isn’t enough for you, Hall H and Ballroom 20 are going to be filled again tomorrow with fan favorites. See you there!