Quick Review: One Battle After Another (dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson)

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

I had a moment in the theatre that felt like an inside joke shooting over my head. In the scene, our villain is given in invitation to a club, which caused my audience to snicker and chuckle. That was the only slightly uncomfortable moment I had with Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, One Battle After Another. Did they all know something I didn’t?

One Battle After Another, is incredibly impressive from start to finish. It may be one of the first few films I’ve watched this year to give Ryan Coogler’s Sinners a run for it’s Awards Season money (which is a short list that only currently includes Zach Cregger’s Weapons and maybe Pierre Perifel’s The Bad Guys 2). The film reaches heights of craziness and comedy that’s on par with some of the Coen Brothers best works (there’s a lot of The Big Lebowski in it), while still being serious and tense enough to find yourself worrying about all of these characters and their possible outcomes. Much like Pynchon’s and Anderson’s Inherent Vice, it’s got a good mix of seriousness and comedy. I scooped it up the moment it hit digital and have watched it about 3 more times since then (though not as much as my locked-in film for the year, William Freidkin’s Sorcerer, a discovery that’s been a comfort food rewatch for stressful days).

Based off of Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland”, One Battle After Another is the story of Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) an alcohol addled stoner that just wants to get through the day. There was a time when Bob was involved in dangerous and violent acts when he was with the group “The French 75”. but he puts this behind him after the birth of his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti, TV’s Presumed Innocent). Willa doesn’t fully believe all of her father’s stories, and perceives him as a waste of space. It all takes a turn when an old enemy, Captain Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn, reuniting with Anderson from Licorice Pizza) puts them in his crosshairs. Can Bob keep Willa safe while being almost completely lost? In the end, beyond the violence and the images that reflect some of today’s times, my takeaway was that it was just a story about parenthood. Some rise up for the challenge, and others shirk the responsibility. It’s a Dad trying to climb out of the hole he put himself in to protect his daughter. I feel that’s an honorable thing, even if some of the actions to get there may not be right or “on the level”.

From a production standpoint, One Battle After Another is rich with scenes and sequences that shift between classic steady shots to kinetic one shots. Michael Bauman, who was also the cinematographer for Licorice Pizza, has some amazing camera work here, especially in the film’s third act. For a film that runs about 2 hours and 40 minutes, it’s a smooth flowing film. There’s a classic line by David Lynch (Bless the Maker and his film stock) in the Fabelmansregarding the use of the horizon that really gets put to the test in One Battle After Another. It’s a sequence that on the big screen really felt amazing, and makes me regret not catching the film in the 70 MM format.

The performances are fantastic all around and it’s so surprise that most of this cast are up for the Golden Globes next January. DiCaprio plays Bob like a mix of Jeff Lebowski meets Jack Burton, kind of just stumbling through it all. He carries it easily and throws himself full force into the role. As great as he is in all this, everyone else from Teyana Taylor’s (Coming 2 America) fiery Perfidia Beverly Hills to Benecio Del Toro (Sicario) calm as hell Sensei (who picked up the most audience applause) kind of steal the show here. Even Alana Haim was good to see there, though she doesn’t have that big of a part this time around. It’s Sean Penn’s Steven J. Lockjaw that comes off wild and crazy. He did a fantastic job with the character, though I’m not sure I want him to actually win anything. That role really was wicked, which is perhaps a testament to how good he was.

The only element of the movie I had a problem with was the music. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, who’s scored most of Anderson’s films, has some strange melodies in the film. Some come across sounding like the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, but I will say it does make sense for most of the movie. Jon Brion (Magnolia) also has two great pieces of music for the film that aren’t on the movie’s soundtrack. They can be found if you search for them.

Overall, I truly enjoyed Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. I really have to work on going through the rest of his films, like Boogie Nights and Phantom Thread at some point.

Spielberg delves into Sci-Fi again with the Disclosure Day Teaser

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

Spielberg. Williams. Koepp. Kaminski. What the heck is Disclosure Day?

The teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day hit my phone via Letterbox’d. This is connected to those weird X-Files looking posters I’ve been seeing as of late. It looks like another film with aliens, similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind with a dash of Zemekis’ Contact or sprinkle of Villeneuve’s Arrival. The film stars Josh O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery), Emily Blunt (Jungle Cruise), Colin Firth (Kingsman), Coleman Domingo (The Running Man), Wyatt Russell (Marvel’s Thunderbolts), and Eve Newson (Robin Hood).

Spielberg and Koepp have a good track record together with the Jurassic Park films, and it’a always good to see a pairing with John Williams. Still, this all looks really weird. Either way, we’ll find out when the film is released next June.

Enjoy!

Guilty Pleasure #88: Lifeforce (dir. by Tobe Hooper)

Posted on October 29, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

Hey, hey, wait just one second. Lifeforce is a movie everyone treasures. Here’s Arleigh’s take on the film. Check that out first and then double back here if you like.

Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce is one of those films that had a lot of play in my Grandmother’s house, primarily because of my younger Aunt, Puddin. Puddin was the other movie lover on my Dad’s side of the family, the youngest of his generation. While she couldn’t fully make the connections between actors or directors the way my father could, she loved films all the same. With films like Marnie, West Side Story, Conan the Barbarbian, she spent most of her free time immersed in movies. If you wanted to see her swoon, mention Sean Connery, Tyrone Power or Arnold Schwarzenegger in her presence. She had a habit of using movies she watched often as white noise when cleaning around the house. As a result, we saw Lifeforce a lot growing up. She adored the film mainly because the two heroes in it barely made any mistakes, but most importantly for Henry Mancini’s score. Besides, It’s a Cannon film. You know it’s good.

Lifeforce is the story of one of the greatest buddy pairings in of the 1980s. Yeah, Beck and Gallagher did awesome stuff in The Hidden. Riggs and Murtaugh solved the cases no matter how thin the leads were, and even with all his technology, Alex Murphy still needed Lewis for backup. These all pale in comparison to Lifeforce‘s Colonel Carlsen (Steve Railsback, Helter Skelter) and Colonel Caine (Peter Firth, The Hunt for Red October). The two characters’ laser focus and quick thinking help to keep the film moving, despite how crazy things can and do get. They also manage to have each other’s back in nearly every situation. They aren’t without troubles, however. Poor Carlsen is plagued with nightmares of making out with naked space vampires.

Halley’s Comet returns close to Earth. With it comes an incredibly large umbrella shaped ship that is discovered by the crew of the Churchill. Col. Carlsen, along with the other astronauts, find a series of sleeping humanoid bodies inside and bring 3 (two males and one female) on board. When the Churchill’s signal is lost, the Columbia is sent out to retrieve them. The crew is lost, Carlsen is missing, but the 3 alien bodies are brought back home to Earth for study. This goes about as well as one would hope, with the Space Girl (Mathilda May, Becoming Collette) waking up and causing havoc throughout the local Space Institute before walking away naked, into the night. Anyone she comes into contact with and kisses becomes an energy vampire, requiring a transfusion, else they shrivel and turn into dust.

Since we’re dealing with space vampires, I should inform you now that there’s quite a bit of nudity and maybe just a wee bit of sexual tension in Lifeforce. The lines between Rabid and Showgirls comes kind of close in all this. When Carlsen forces a possible suspect to divulge the location of the Space Girl, slapping her up a bit, he tells Caine he should leave. Caine’s response is that he’s “a natural voyeur”. Does much of it make sense? No. Was it entertaining? Sure. The third act of Lifeforce is the best part, with all of London just a mess. Despite all this, Carlsen & Caine split up to save the day.

The cast for the film is nice. In addition to Railsback and Firth, we’ve got a Dune crossover with both Freddie Jones and Patrick Stewart on hand. We also have a small cameo with Dragonslayer’s John Hallam as a nurse. The best role other than the leads go to Frank Finlay and to Mathilda May. Finley’s Doctor Fallada is kind of a Van Helsing like character, piecing together all of the clues so our heroes can take the proper action. May, though she’s not given a lot to say (or to wear, for that matter) makes for an impressive villain that talks with her eyes.

The effects for Lifeforce came by way of John Dykstra, who worked on Firefox and The Empire Strikes Back. He’d later go on to work on Invaders From Mars for Hooper. Musically, Henry Mancini’s score helps to carry the film along. Honestly, I’ve only ever known him from the Pink Panther scores, so I quite enjoyed it. I always let the end credits play through for the music. Overall, Lifeforce is a great watch if vampires are your thing and nudity isn’t too much of a problem. In my mind, The Adventures of Carlsen & Caine would rival some of the best supernatural tales.

In examining this, I also found that there are some connections between this and Hammer Films’ Five Million Years to Earth (a.k.a. Quatermass and the Pit). I’m still on the look out for that one.

In Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce, Col. Carlsen & Col. Caine aren’t playing around.

Previous Guilty Pleasures

Forever Knight – S1:E4 – “Last Act”

Posted on October 19, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

“He was brought across in 1228. Prayed on humans for their blood.
Now, he wants to be mortal again.To repay society for his sins.
To emerge from his World of Darkness. From his endless Forever Night.”

The Prologue has a young doctor named Marilyn (Gillian Vanderburgh, The Stupids)who fails to save a patient. Troubled by guilt, she’s reassured by Dr. Cole (who rubs her shoulders) that it just comes with the job. This puts her at ease. As she takes a shower, someone pulls back the drapes. She smiles, saying “You’re crazy, you know that?” only to find her hands grabbed by gloves. With her arms pinned above her, the doctor’s wrists are slashed, her eyes go wide as she screams in terror.

A young woman walks the streets of Toronto, late at night. Heading to a nearby pier, she takes a seat on a park bench, admiring the view of the city. Pulling a hood over her head, she watches the sunrise, smoke billowing from her clothes. Within moments, her body is engulfed in flames, leaving behind her clothing on the bench.

Nick Knight is struggling with his workload. With 8 other cold cases in his backlog, he’s becoming jaded with it all. He’s also grown a bit snappy with the Captain. Before he can apologize, Schanke calls out to him from another room. They have to roll, there’s a body to identify. At the crime scene, a bystander mentions someone was talking about “spontaneous human combustion” to Schanke. In the clothing, Nick discovers a ring that’s familiar to him. We’re given a flashback of Nick on a theatre stage, fencing with the young woman, who he easily defeats. After a round of applause, the cast all bow. Backstage, among an array of lit candles, the woman approaches Nick…”You, sir, are very skilled with your sword. Do you wish to run me through again?” He scoops her up in a kiss and they talk about leaving for Gloucester. She tells him there’s no rush. They’ve all the time in the world. Running her fingers through her hair, Nick kisses the woman briefly before baring his fangs, taking a bite.

“Suicide.” Schanke says, pulling Nick back to the present. “Yes.” he mutters, his focus on the ring. Schanke asks him if he’s okay, since he’s referring to a suicide at the hospital. At the Hospital, Schanke explains how he’d approach his own suicide, which would involve a full meal, fabulous lovemaking and nitroglycerin. Nick interviews Dr. Cole (Laura Press, The Pit), who explains that the shower was still running when she found her, the water scalding. Dr. Cole explains the doctor was on duty for 20 hours and that she’s seen doctors snap like that before, with all the pressures the role demands. The three catch sight of Carl Janns (Robert Bockstael, North of 60), a med student at the university and the victim’s fiancé. Schanke pull Janns aside to take him home.

At the Morgue, Natalie states the incisions are perfect and quick. When asked why, Natalie responds that only the victim really knows, and that unfortunately, there are no fast rules for suicide. Nick again reflects on the ring, and we return to the past. Erica (Torri Higginson, Stargate: Atlantis & Stargate SG-1), now a vampire, tells Nick what she saw in his memories of him in the Crusades. Nick is concerned that her memories show an obsession with death and dying, something he’s surprised to find. She tells him that there’ll come a time where her lust for life will wane, something Nick can’t believe. Erica believes that once that happens, once she can’t give back to the world, it would be best to leave and not be a burden. If this were a Vampire: The Masquerade tale, she’d make an interesting Giovanni, or an even better Cappodocian. “Are you going to take on the investigation?” Natalie asks, pulling Nick’s attention. “Yeah. If I can fit the case in.”

Knight returns home, thinking about Erica. He hears her ask whether he feels he’s a burden. This causes him raise one of the shutters and dab a pinky finger into the sunlight, listening to the sounds of sizzling flesh. Could Nick be pondering the unimaginable?

Going over his evidence in his apartment, he again hears Erica’s voice. He even sees her this time in a beautiful white dress. “Maybe it’s time to join me.”, she says. “Why did you do it? You had so much life.”, he asks. Her response was that she was a burden, and that she wasn’t giving anything back. She asks him to join her in the light, taking a few steps away before disappearing from view. Even Knight seems a bit frightened.

Back at the hospital, Nick speaks with some of the nurses, who have nothing but wonderful things to say about Marilyn (the deceased). They add that they feel something more was going on, that perhaps she was murdered, but the conversation is interrupted by Dr. Cole. The Doctor asks if there’s other things they could be doing other than spreading rumors. Nick steps in an apologizes for the nurses, and that he was interviewing them. He asks one last question on if there was anyone else to speak to. They point him to Dean (Mackenzie Gray, Man of Steel). Dean works as a clown, cheering up the sick kids in the pediatric ward. He’s also a patient undergoing chemotherapy, living in the hospital. When asked about Marilyn, Dean becomes defensive, angry at someone who would throw away their life so carelessly when he is valuing every second of the 2 to 3 months he has left. Knight accepts Dean’s photos, and leaves, wishing him well.

On the drive back to the precinct, Erica appears beside him, commenting on the beauty of rainy nights. She adds the crowded world is noise and makes her feel out of step with the times. Erica asks Knight if he feels the same way. Nick doesn’t respond, and just keeps driving.

At the precinct, Captain Stonetree tells Knight he’s going to pass some of his cases along to another Detective. Nick snaps at the Captain, but Stonetree remains cool as always. He informs Knight that he’s not happy the administrator of the hospital is leaving messages with him saying an apparent suicide isn’t being considered as such. Knight argues that there’s more to Marilyn’s demise, but Stonetree adds that he can’t afford to care why she ended her life. All the evidence says it’s what happened, but he gives Nick 24 hours to close the case or he’ll close it for him.

Knight heads to Janette’s nightclub, showing her Erica’s ring. “So, she finally did it.” Janette says. Nick asks Janette about why Erica didn’t come to him for help. Janette’s response is that she didn’t want to ‘infect’ him with her ‘disease’. Together, Nick and Janette head to Erica’s place, which appears in disarray. Dead flower, a typewriter and covered furniture decorate the place. Janette asks Nick what he expects to find here..”The passionate tomboy with the fiery spirit? Well, she grew old, Nicholas, she couldn’t keep up.” Picking up a doll, Nick has a flashback where Erica confesses that mortals can revitalize their lives with each new generation. “Their children are their mortality.” All she has are her plays. A teenager enters the apartment, looking for Erica. She mentions that Erica had a new play she was going to premiere called “The Last Act” and that she was excited about.

Nicholas arrives home to find Natalie waiting for him as she closes the shudders from the morning rays. “Cutting it a little close, are we?” Nick explains Erica’s theory on contributions, he reopens one of the shutters and reaches for Erica’s doll. As his hand begins to smoke, Natalie pushes him away from the sunlight and they argue over Nick’s desire to see the sun. She offers a new clue into Marilyn’s death in that the doctor was pregnant. The new information comes just in time, as Schanke knocks on Knight’s door. They let him in and they discuss Marilyn’s pregnancy. Schanke bemoans Knight’s lack of food in the fridge, but decides to help interview Carl Janns during the day.

Karl tells Schanke that Marilyn was depressed and distant, though Schanke notes that her coworkers said she was bright and energetic. Karl becomes defensive, causing Schanke to both back down and mention the baby. This throws Karl for a loop, though he says she didn’t seem to want to have a baby. Schanke, Stonetree, Natalie and Nick go over the details, though Stonetree still isn’t particularly convinced. Knight, however, seems inspired. Getting up to follow another lead, Stonetree looks on with pride with a smile…”Let him go. I like him like this. Thinking again, on the case. Cop doing his job with some passion.”

Knight sits in the audience, watching Erica’s play. An old woman and a young girl dance, with the woman asking the girl to squeeze every breathing moment out of life, to enjoy it. The girl asks the woman to stay, to teach her. The old woman tells her to simply live her life and that she’ll always be there, living on through the girl’s accomplishments. A pensive Knight watches along. At the same time the play is going on, someone goes into Dean’s room at the hospital and overdoses him with a needle full of morphine.

Knight and Schanke return to the hospital, where Doctor Cole informs them about Dean. He’s not dead, but the doctors are able to stabilize him. The detectives manage to speak with Dean and discover that Marilyn’s baby was indeed his, done for him to “live on” in a way. They set up a trap, telling Karl about Dean and the baby and that he’s still alive. Additionally, Knight takes Dean’s place in his room to wait for the murderer to strike again.

Laying down in Dean’s bed, Erica comes to visit him. She asks him to follow her, but Nick refuses. “I still find life exciting and I think I’ve got more to give.” he says. Erica admires this in him, but scoffs at the idea of becoming mortal. If he dies, he says, it won’t be by his hand. Erica steps out of the door, but tells him she’ll be waiting. A nurse then enters the room and stabs Knight, who pulls the knife free. They struggle and in pulling off the wig, we find it’s Karl, who breaks through the fight and runs off, knocking Schanke off balance and darting into another room. Knight easily catches up to him and flings him around the room before holding him out a window, baring his fangs. Karl freaks out, begging not to be let go while Schanke steps into the room behind Nick, his gun at the ready but not able to see Nick’s face. He reminds Knight of the added paperwork if he lets the fellow go. Pulling Karl inside, Knight flings him to the floor, with Schanke making the arrest.

The episode wraps with our heroes at the theatre. Erica’s play isn’t a success, but Natalie and Nick enjoyed it. Schanke admits he fell asleep through it. The girl form the play thanks Nick for attending. Nick gives the girl the ring, telling her Erica wanted the girl to have it. The girl mentions that Erica had an old soul. “Not as I knew her.”, Knight responds with a smile. Natalie, Schanke and Knight leave, his spirit a bit renewed.

Tron Ares (dir. by Joachim Rønning)

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

Tron Ares is this year’s Spawn for me.

For those unaware (and I really should write about Spawn one of these days), I saw Spawn with a friend when it first came out. I loved it, walking out the theatre and raving about it. Over pizza, my friend explained in great detail the many ways it actually sucked. Even Michael Jai White hated it.

With my expectations being lower than they ever were for anything, Tron Ares surprised me. I leaned forward in my seat. I chuckled, and bobbed my head to the music and stayed until all of the credits were done. It could have done many things much better than it chose to do, but given the distance in time between Legacy and the choices for where the story could go, it’s not the worst film in the world. It’s not like Tron as an entire franchise was ever that deep with its storytelling (with the clear exception being Tron Uprising, of course). It brings some new elements to the overall tale that I didn’t even consider. Imagine what the writers could have done if they started working on this right after Legacy. With 15 years gone, it’s hard to get actors together for a project.

Both Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are Executive Producers on Tron Ares. They threw money at this. They even have cameos in the film. At best, Tron Ares is the coolest looking Nine Inch Nails feature length music video to have ever existed since perhaps The Perfect Drug. The music compliments the film exactly as Daft Punk’s did for Legacy and Wendy Carlos’ did for the original. The sights are dazzling and the sounds are sharp. The music isn’t so much the subtle Reznor/Ross we’ve had with Bones and All, or the weirdness of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. This is loud and kind of booming. We finally get light cycles in the real world (which isn’t giving anything away that wasn’t already in the trailers). In that sense, it’s a win on a few levels.

If it’s a deep story with characters you’ll root for and possibly worry about, however, Tron Ares is not that film. You’re probably better off with either One Battle After Another or Weapons, both of which are equally good. I will say that what Tron Ares lacks in story, it does make up for with some generous fan service moments. There are tons of references to both Tron and Legacy if you pay attention, even if the story itself veers off tangent. I felt it handled this so much better than Legacy ever did. You can’t say the other films weren’t considered in making this. It’s not that far from another Disney project, F/X’ and Hulu’s Alien: Earth in some ways.

In the years after Tron Legacy, there have been many changes. Encom encounters some competition in the form of the Dillinger Corporation, lead by genius Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters, X-Men: Days of Future Past) and his mother, Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson, The X-Files). Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski) dream of crossing the digital frontier has become a race to see who can make their digital assets a reality. Dillinger’s newest, greatest program is Ares (Jared Leto, Morbius), who is fully versed in various fighting techniques and security protocols. What does this mean for life in The Grid, the universe inside the machine? Can Ares be trusted, or controlled, for that matter?

Acting-wise, everyone has a job to do. To his credit, Leto is not bad in this. It’s not robotic, but it’s not quite the second coming of Jordan Catalano (if anyone even recalls who that is). It’s not like the script, written by Jesse Wigutow (Daredevil: Born Again) and David DiGilio (The Terminal List & The Terminal List: Dark Wolf) calls for his character to have a great depth of emotion. Greta Lee (Past Lives) and Evan Peters do most of the work, along with Jodie Turner-Smith, who seemed to have the most fun. Anderson also does a good job, but again, there’s not a whole lot to work with.

Tron Ares hovers right above the Incident mark for me. It could have been so much better than what it was, and who knows how long the visuals will stay with me. Yet, just like the films before it, it’s rescued by a score that may be remembered more than the film itself in the years to come. I don’t know if I’d go back out to see this, but would happily catch it once it comes to digital.

Forever Knight – S1:E3 – “For I Have Sinned”

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

The Prologue opens in the back of an electronic store, where a couple is making out. The woman pushes her Security Guard lover away playfully and states she has to go, fastening a cross around her neck before leaving. Inside her car, the woman puts on a wedding ring. Before she can leave, a figure grabs her from the back seat, ripping the cross from her neck and whispering “You don’t deserve this.” as she screams. It’s time for another case!

Nick arrives at Janette’s nightclub, greeting each other with a small dance before Nick relays the recent murders in the city. “Two women, one decapitated, one disembowled.” Janette wonders why he came to her. She doesn’t care about mortals and reminds Nick that he’s “not people”, by dipping her finger in her blood filled glass, offering a taste. Schanke arrives in the club, getting a little close to one of the vampire patrons when Nick escorts him out. “It’s dangerous in there, Schanke.”, to which Schanke argues that his entire lineage are filled with ladies men who fooled around. They don’t have much time to go into details as he tells Nick about the latest crime scene.

With the chalk outline and blood splatter, Nick is quickly able to discern the crime as a crucifixion and has the cops on the scene bring in the guard as a suspect. One thing is certain, there is a an incredible about of blood loss. Could another vampire be doing this? At the morgue, Natalie’s analysis supports Nick’s theory. Death by a coronary. As she removes the victim’s cross, she sees Nick flinch and says “These things really make you uncomfortable, don’t they?” His response is that they make him sick. Natalie apologizes, noting he’ll have to keep the cross as evidence, with the other two woman all having had crosses with them and were all Catholic.

In a church, a priest listens to a confession. The voice in the other room explains that he’s not a sinner, that he holds the keys of perdition and of death. Father Pierre Rochefort (Michael McManus, TV’s Lexx) tries to dissuade the individual, but only receives a warning that more sinners will face his wrath. The priest hears footsteps scamper away, visibly shaken.

At his apartment, Nick tries some garlic pills that send him into a short fit. As he recovers, he examines the cross Natalie gave him that causes him to remember being in a chapel in the Dark Ages. He recalls Joan(Christine Cox, who ironically played a cop in her own vampire show, Blood Ties) who tells him he’s cursed because his salvation has him living in fear of death. As he raises his hand to the nearby cross in the flashback, his hand catches fire. At the same time, he drops the evidence cross into his palm, which burns a small imprint. “Well, the garlic pills are definitely an improvement.”, he whispers.

The next day, Father Pierre approaches another priest and asks his advice about going to the police. The elder price reminds him that what’s said in the confessional stays there, and has to be protected. This leaves Father Pierre a bit troubled. That night, Schanke makes a visit to Janette’s nightclub, where he catches the attention of Alma (Tracey Cook). She dazzles him with her vampire eyes and leads him into the back of the club, away from the others. Janette breaks up Alma and Schanke before she can have a drink. Janette warns Schanke to stay away from the club, else he might find himself a permanent member of the night shift. Schanke quickly runs out of the room and the club.

At a Naughty phone line service desk, a woman named Magda receives a call from the villain. He tells her he knows her name and that she “profanes the church by feeding the fires of lust”, threatening to burn her alive. Playing the call for her manager, she’s sent home. The poor girl can’t even make it out of the building before she’s caught by the masked killer. Nick, who happens to just be driving in the vicinity, hears her screams and pulls over his car, taking flight. He arrives in the building from the room and pulls his firearm on the villain. The villain pushes the girl into Nick’s arm and reveals a revolver of his own, shooting Nick at point blank range before darting down the stairs. Nick makes the girl call an ambulance, using the moment to change the villain out into the alleyway. He stops the masked individual who turns out to be Father Pierre. Nick’s seen a lot over the years, but even he seems shocked at the revelation.

In the Interrogation Room, Father Pierre says that he’s not protecting the killer, but the rules and beliefs of his religion. Nick scoffs at this, but the Captain (who’s also in the room) kicks Knight out after his outburst. Father Pierre poses a question: “Faith is the cornerstone of the church…I believe in it. Is there nothing you believe in that strongly?” We see another flashback, with Nick talking to Joan, who is due to be burned at the stake. He offers to make her a vampire, but she refuses. It’s something Nick can’t understand. She gives him her cross to remind him that “the faith you’ve lost is always there to regain.”

At the Precinct, Magda finds Nick, asking him if he’s okay. He shrugs off the shooting as just a grazing and that he’ll be fine. Magda suggests setting herself up as bait, but Knight refuses, sending her away. She then turns to Father Pierre, who comes into the hallway from the interrogation room, but he sends her away as well. The Captain has Nick find someone to put Magda in a hotel until everything’s safe.

Back at Nick’s apartment, Natalie discovers the old wooden cross and Nick tells her it belonged to Joan of Arc. Natalie is amazed by this, gently caressing the cross while listening as Nick talk about Joan. “You know, she had this incredible strength, this courage…” he smiles, reminiscing. “Faith.” Natalie smiles, still admiring the cross. Nick asks Natalie to bring the cross closer to him. When she does, he flinches, but fights against it. To Nat’s question of why he fears it, he says it’s because it’s “the One True Light and we’re creatures of the Dark.” Nick tells Natalie that he has to spend the day in the church in case the villain returns.

Dawn. We find Nick staring at the front of Father Pierre’s church. He has a quick conversation with Schanke, letting him know he doesn’t need any extra backup as it might tip the villain off. In the church, Knight moves through the pews, pausing at a row of candles. He remembers watching Joan, burning at the cross. He tries to run out the door, but with the sun already out, he’s trapped. Instead, he hides himself inside Father Pierre’s confessional box. Schanke, still feeling some guilt over his antics at Janette’s, steps into the church and into the other area of the confessional. Knight hears Schanke out, having some fun at the poor guy’s expense.

As the evening starts, the police are ready to close the stakeout when Schanke catches sight of Magda. She snuck out of the hotel and made her way into the church. Schanke gets knocked out in his car, and Magda is kidnapped by the villain and is taken behind the church to a hilltop where a large cross awaits. The villain ties Magda to the cross, preparing to start a bonfire. Knight arrives (via flight) and tackles the villain, eventually knocking him out. The villain’s torch lands in the kindling, starting the bonfire. Remembering Joans words about Faith being ready to be reclaimed, he leaps over the fire onto the platform and unties Magda. He covers her head with his jacket and jumps away from the bonfire saving them both. “How….” she breathes, “How did you do that?!” to which Knight replies…”A little bit of adrenaline…and a lot of faith.”

With the day (or night) saved, everyone’s at the precinct. Magda thanks Father Pierre and Nick as well, giving him her cross. He refuses at first, but she places it in his hand and closes it, smiling. Nick makes his way to the recovering Schanke and Natalie. Natalie notices the cross in Knight’s hand, amazed he’s able to hold it. “It still burns, but not as much.”, he says. Natalie suggests that he’s perhaps one step closer to redemption. Schanke offers to get them all food, but Nick states he can’t, putting on his sunglasses in a move that would make CSI’s Horatio Caine proud…”..the sun is coming up.” are his final words.

Forever Knight – S1:E2 – “Dark Knight, Part II”

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

When we last left Nick Knight, Vampire Detective (Geraint Wyn Davies), he was driving through the streets of Toronto, Canada. On the radio was the voice of the Nightcrawler, a.k.a. LaCroix (Nigel Bennett), As Nick’s maker, LaCroix hates the quest for mortality that Nick’s put himself on. Following him along in dark, smoky alleyways, Nick and LaCroix make their way to a local warehouse. Despite their supernatural senses, neither of them notice Alyce trailing behind Nick in the distance.

LaCroix admits to stealing the jade cup from the museum and to the killing of the guard. The other deaths, however, are not his. When Nick accuses him of lying, LaCroix snaps. “Why would I lie?”, he says. “Give me a reason. I’ve never been afraid of killing.” LaCroix goads Nick into a fight, but easily takes him down since Nick’s been avoiding blood. Alyce arrives on the scene just in time in the rafters above to see Nick’s vampire face, causing her to scream. LaCroix quickly catches her and forces Nick to choose between the cup and Alyce. In the space it takes for the cup to fall, Nick reaches LaCroix and subdues him. LaCroix chuckles and notes, “Either way, I won.” They both watch the cup shatter into pieces on the floor a second later. Alyce heads out the door and down the building’s fire escape, with dawn quickly approaching. Nick and LaCroix get into a scuffle, which end ups with LaCroix impaled on a metal pole. We’re given a short flashback with Nick in the Dark Ages wanting to be human again, with LaCroix assuring him that the life he’s given him is a blessing. “I shall repay you.” Nick responds with contempt. Leaving LaCroix’s body, Nick runs outside into the morning sun. Smoke flows from his clothes as he makes it to his Caddy and locks himself in the trunk.

The next morning, Captain Stonetree (Gary Farmer), Nat (Catherine Disher) and Schanke (John Kapelos) are trying to figure out what happened to Nick. Schanke believes the Bloodbank has something to do the case. A call comes in, notifying the Captain that Nick’s Caddy was found and is being brought in. Schanke picks up the car and decides to ‘tool around’ in Knight’s Caddy for a while.

The “Bloodmobile” Winnebago arrives at a local hospital, and we watch a cart with blood bags make its way to the front desk. The nurse goes to accept the delivery when the phone rings. When she mentions the police (who are on the line as they are visiting), we see Dr. Fenner (Graham McPherson) brought in the blood. The fellow seems nervous at the sound of the police.

With Schanke at the front desk asking for the blood doner records, the nurse lets him know it’s confidential info. Fenner walks over to Schanke (as Schanke donated blood in the previous episode) and despite the Doctor vouching for him (and joking over the mileage of the Caddy), Schanke still can’t the nurse to hand over the records. He waves her away and promises to return with a warrant. At the same time Schanke has this conversation, Nick climbs out the Cadillac, sneaks into Fenner’s office and uses his computer. A quick call to Natalie and Nick mentions that Schanke’s hunches were correct and all of the victims were indeed blood donors.

Dr. Fenner makes a visit to the Caddy, causing Nick (in the truck again) to wonder what’s up. Schanke gets back into the car, cranks up some Polka music and backs out of the car lot, leaving behind a puddle of break fluid. On the road, he discovers he can’t slow down and panics.

Alyce tries to contact Nick via the phone, but can’t reach him. She looks up his address in the phone book, remembering their initial conversation and how Nick mentioned the numbers in the stones matched his alarm code. She writes this down on a pad and heads to Nick’s place.

At the Garage shop, Schanke and a mechanic are going over the damage to Nick’s Caddy. Before Schanke can leave, Nick comes out of hiding and confronts him. Schanke pleads for his life, describing the events of the crash, and Nick points out that not were the brake lines cut but that he was right on his hunch. Nick still wants to kill Schanke about the car, but apologizes to him for his work on the case. Schanke came through big.

“Hey, you look like death warmed over.” Schanke tells Nick, who responds that he hasn’t had anything to eat, but will get to “bite into something”. They head back to the Hospital to continue the investigation. Alyce, meanwhile heads to Nick’s place and find an injured Jeannie (Nicole De Boer). While tending to her, she calls for a doctor, asking for them to just ring the buzzer. Alyce tells Jeannie about the ambulance coming, but Jeannie freaks out. “He’ll be there! No!!” she cries out.

At the hospital, the truth comes to light. Dr. Fenner was the one who visited, his motive for the crimes being the death of his mother after a Type O blood transfusion lead to her having hepatitis. He blamed the homeless as the source of the problem. Nick quickly calls in an APB on the Doctor from the Hospital and then calls home to check his messages. Alyce picks up and tells him that Jeannie’s there, with the Ambulance on the way. Leaving the receiver open, Nick overhears Alyce’s scream and Doctor Fenner stuggling with her. Nick jumps into action, yelling to Schanke to send back up to his warehouse while leaping out of a window (outside of Schanke’s view, of course), soaring over Toronto’s busy streets.

Nick crashes through the window of his Warehouse, his apartment partially in flames. He moves to bite the Doctor, but his willpower is strong enough to keep from doing so. The doctor makes a run for it across the room, but is quickly dispatched by LaCroix, who drains him to a husk. LaCroix taunts Nick, who is too weak from not having fed. Alyce offers herself to him (a notion that LaCroix is in total support of), but Nick refuses. He instead picks up a burning piece of wood and tries to take out LaCroix, but is no real match for him. Alyce tries to run, but LaCroix catches up to her. Before he can bite her, though, Nick leaps back into action, finally impaling him with the piece of wood. LaCroix seemingly bursts into flames, leaving Nick with the unconscious Alyce as the sound of police sirens grow louder.

In the Epilogue, Natalie and Nick are back at the museum. “She wanted to live forever.” Nick says, saying that Alyce and LaCroix were the lucky ones in death. Vampirism for Nick is a life without love, but Natalie has hopes for him. “Do you really think you could bring me back over?”, he asks. “All we can do is keep trying.” she responds. As they leave the museum, Schanke makes fun over Nick’s blood transfusion (which is his). In a change from the TV film, as the trio depart the museum, we notice someone watching them from a high window. Nat and Schanke walk away, but Nick looks up briefly to find Alyce – a vampire herself now – smiling back at him before she takes flight into the night.

Forever Knight – S1:E1 – “Dark Knight, Part I”

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

“He was brought across in 1228. Prayed on humans for their blood.
Now, he wants to be mortal again. To repay society for his sins.
To emerge from his World of Darkness. From his endless Forever Night.”

I stumbled onto Forever Knight late one early pre-dawn Sunday Morning, which would show up on a special “Crimetime After Primetime”. Although the cast was different (save for John Kapelos, still playing Don Schanke), it still had the flavor of the 1989 TV Film. It also ended up trading the streets of Los Angeles for Toronto, Canada, which meant that the production also had to include Canadian talent. The two part pilot, which aired in May of 1992, was just a beat for beat revamp of the TV film’s story. I’ll try to find a way to not make these so long as this progresses.

In the prologue, we open in Paris in the year 1288. A young woman welcomes a man to the rest of his unlife, letting him know that while he’s now as eternal as the city, he must kill. This trio of vampires are our hero, Nicholas (Geraint Wyn Davies, Airwolf), his maker LaCroix (Nigel Bennett, HBO’s Gotti), and Janette (Deborah Duchene, TV’s Street Legal). Moving to the present day, the night watchman of a museum is murdered, and a jade cup stolen.

At the crime scene, Schanke is still going wild with the camera, assisting the forensic crew. He and Nick have a few words before Nick interviews the assistant curator, Dr. Alyce Hunter (Christine Reeves) about the missing cup. Alyce seems somewhat fascinated about Knight’s knowledge of the history and the use of the jade cup in blood drinking rituals. There’s a moment of quiet between them as they consider what that could mean.

Heading over to the morgue, we’re introduced to Natalie (Catherine Disher, who voiced Jean Grey in Fox’s X-Men and Val Cooper in Disney Plus’ X-Men ’97). She offers Nick some tea that he can’t quite stomach, but he’s making some progress in staying away from blood. The victim from the museum is one of three, all with large blood loss and some tell-tale puncture marks on their necks. “Nick, Is this something I should worry about?” she asks. Nick doesn’t have an answer. Back at the Precinct, the Captain (Gary Farmer, Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight) is nervous about these murders and wants some results. A food order comes in, giving Nick three hamburgers that the Captain snarks over. “Skinny guy. Eats like a pig.” The Captain pairs Knight with Schanke, to Don’s delight and Nick’s aggravation.

The 2 elderly hobos from the film are now 3 people. Dr. Dave (George Buza, the voice of Beast in both Fox’s X-Men and in X-Men ’97), Topper (Zack Ward, Transformers) and Jeannie (Deep Space Nine’s Nicole De Boer). Nick warns the three to spend their nights inside with the murders going around. Jeannie lets Nick know they’ll be careful.

Nick heads home for the day, turning on the window shutters for the coming dawn. His fridge is stocked with bottles of the good stuff. He pours himself two glasses full of blood and drinks heartily. It’s been a long night, indeed.

Knight regroups with Schanke the following night. Schanke asks about Nick’s Cadillac and Nick explains that it has some incredible trunk space (for daytime sleeping, though he doesn’t share that tidbit). While on patrol, Nick hears some commotion in a building and detours the car. When they arrive at a nearby building, a woman informs Nick in Mandarin that her daughter’s inside and someone has an Uzi. Running inside, Nick and Schanke stack up on the door to the perp’s room, kicking the door open. The response is a blaze of gunfire. Thankfully, Knight’s vision clearly picks up the enemy with the hostage and has Schanke hold in place while he heads around to the back. Nick floats up to the window and pulls the gunman through it, quickly dispatching him outside of Schanke’s view.

Relaxing in a dark alley, Topper and Jeannie are arguing over what to do for the evening. Topper suggests that they could go to Nick’s Garage, where it’s much warmer, but Jeannie won’t want to have to owe him anything. Dr. Dave is no where to be found, but someone approaches the pair from the dark, attacking Topper causing Jeannie to scream.

Nick takes flight, paying Alyce a late night visit. Just before he shows up, however, Alyce finds a picture of Nick in an old book on archeology. Unlike the film, this doesn’t bring any kind of questioning or curiosity about why he was in the picture. What we do get is a nice flirtatious moment between Nick and Alyce. She loves the dark, and he’s all about the dark. Nick gets a little too close with a kiss, nearly losing control of himself. He pulls away and leaves Alyce be, just in time for a guard to show up. The romance will have to wait for another night. At the same time, Schanke debriefs the Captain, relaying that the captured perp claimed a vampire attacked him. The Captain relays a legend about how burning scorpions attaches other ones from miles around, which spooks Schanke. The Captain reminds him it’s just a legend, like vampires, and he should focus on the real world.

With Nick failing to check in the following morning, Natalie borrows his Caddy from the precinct and visits him at home. She finds him in a blood drunken self pitying stupor. With no fear of who or what she is, she lays into him for falling off the wagon. “You don’t want help, hey, I’m a dot on the horizon.”, she says. Their argument is interrupted by Alyce’s voice message, asking Nick to “talk about last night.” Nat, a little shaken by this, inquires what happened. Nick confesses that he kissed Alyce and then nearly killed her. Nat softens and asks him about the other vampires. Nick shares that the jade cup is part of a pair that could possibly cure vampirism. LaCroix has been keeping Nick away from both cup to ensure he stays immortal. Could he be the source of the current killings?

The next day, Topper’s body is discovered in a barrel. According to Nat, he was hit by a blunt object and then had the neck incision done. Nick becomes livid that he lost Topper on his watch and that Jeannie is missing, though we get a major clue in that there was a blood mobile that recently visited the area. Nick snaps at Schanke and pays a visit to Jeanette to find LaCroix. She’s adjusted to modern times pretty well, owning her own vampire nightclub. They share a quick discussion in French, with Jeanette informing Nick that LaCroix is indeed very much around and is keeping his eyes on him. As he leaves the nightclub and drives away, we find Alyce trailing behind him.

We end the episode with Nick turning on the car radio, hearing the voice of the Nightcrawler (LaCroix) who laments being in town and not having heard from his friend. The music station is still Metal, and yet the show still decides to play something different, this time a violin. “I am waiting.” LaCroix says to the microphone.

Nick Knight (dir. by Farhad Mann)

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

Directed in 1989 by Farhad Mann, Nick Knight (a.k.a. Midnight Cop) was a made for tv movie meant as a pilot for a series filmed in Los Angeles. It would take another 3 years to for the show to be picked up as Forever Knight, and even then, it was difficult show to catch given you could really find it sometime after Midnight on Saturdays and/or Sundays. As Vampires in media go, Nick Knight is tucked away in a very small place between the success of Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark in 1987 and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1992. It’s nowhere near as good as either of those films, but plays on most of the vampire tropes. Allergic to Garlic? Check. Aversion to sunlight? Sure. As I’m writing this the way I would cover a TV episode, this review will have spoilers and will be a bit long in the tooth. My apologies in advance. For the TSL Horrorthon this year, I’m hoping my contribution will be (at least) the first season of Forever Knight. For the film, If you search for it, you can find on YouTube.

Detective Nick Knight (Rick Springfield, Hard to Hold) loves to work the night shift, but not before getting in a quick visit at a local suntan spa. It’s a bit uncomfortable, enough for him to hit the panic button and bring in a few staff to check in on him. He blames it on claustrophobia, “It’s like a coffin in there.”, he says and moves on. When an ancient jade goblet is stolen from a museum, leaving a guard murdered, Knight is brought on to the scene where Don Schanke (John Kapelos, The Shadow, The Breakfast Club) is already helping the cops take photos of the crime scene, and putting himself in the way of things. Nick interviews Dr. Alyce Hunter (Laura Johnson, TV’s Falcon Crest) about the homicide. Alyce reports the goblet was used in ritual blood drinking sacrifices (something that Knight sounds like he’s aware of since he can understand some of the ancient writing in the museum).

Cleaning up the scene, the media approaches Knight and asks if it’s “another Vampire murder”. Word has gotten out that there’s no blood in the course. Knight’s rescued by Captain Brunetti (Richard Fancy, The Girl Next Door) who asks to have him stop by his office after he gets the autopsy work. At the morgue, Nick is given a mug of tea that he just can’t stomach. Thankfully, Dr. Jack (Robert Harper, Twins)knows about Nick’s true nature, and is working helping him find a cure (which includes the tea). “How is your tanning coming along?”, Jack asks. “I’m up to ten minutes.” is Nick’s response, with a smile. When Nick returns to the Precinct, the Captain assigns Knight a new partner to help him with the vampire crimes. Nick’s been able to work alone for the most part, but now he finds himself paired with Schanke. This poses a few problems with hiding his nature.

Schanke and Knight get to know each other on their first night shift, with some talk about Schanke’s married life vs. Nick being forever single. The conversation is interrupted by a dispatch call about an Uzi toting gunman terrorising a local gym. They arrive on the scene, and much like Riggs & Murtaugh, Nick is gung ho about the situation, which causes a third cop on the scene to get killed. With a hostage in stow, the gunman threatens Nick. The girl gets herself out of trouble with a swift knee to the gunman’s gut, causing him to unload a full magazine into Knight. This brings out the vampire in Nick, who throws the gunman into an electrical fence, killing him.

With the case wrapped up, Nick visits Alyce, who spent her evening going through a book on the dig that discovered the cup. Before his arrival, she found a picture of the archeological team that includes someone who looks just like Nick. She makes a copy of the picture, but never mentions it to Nick during his visit. They have a moment, leading to a kiss. Of course, this also causes Nick’s fangs to sprout. He makes a hasty exit.

Having not seen Nick during the evening, Dr. Jack visit’s Nick’s haven, a closed down movie theatre with It’s a Wonderful Life still on the marquee. He finds Nick chugging on a wine bottle full of blood. They have a small argument over Nick’s humanity, leading Nick to admit his desire for love and companionship despite the vampiric side effect of watching people die around them. They make up and move on, there’s crime on the streets and the city needs it’s Midnight Cop. Nick explains that the stolen goblet is part of a pair (one of which he owns) that may be able to cure one of vampirism. The other goblet was coveted by Nick’s maker, LaCroix (Michael Nader, TV’s All My Children), who wants Nick to embrace his vampirism instead of trying to fix it. Could he be the thief?

When a homeless couple goes missing, Nick visits a local vampire nightclub. There he finds Janette (Cec Verrell (Silk). She informs him that while, yes, LaCroix is in town and yes, he may have something to do with the goblet, the missing couple has nothing to do with him. On his way out of the nightclub, Nick bumps into Alyce, who followed him. When some other vampire locals approach the couple, she notices a scar on Nick’s chest (matching one in the photo she had), and confronts him. He doesn’t outright admit to being a vampire, but she gets the feeling she’s on the right track. She even dares him a little, baring her neck. Nick doesn’t take the bait.

On the radio, we hear “The Nightcrawler” who is really LaCroix. The Nightcrawler hosts “Metal for the Ages”, lamenting that he hasn’t seen his old friend Jean Pierre (Nick) in some time. LaCroix dedicates his next song to him, which just happens to be Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative”. I don’t remember Bobby Brown’s music ever being Metal, but we’ll roll with it.

Eventually, Nick has to deal with both LaCroix and the real villain in this tale. The story ends on a bit of a dark note, resolving the whole mystery, but still leaves open the promise of Nick’s search for Mortality. The city is safe for now, and that’s what counts.

Though the film isn’t terribly strong on the plot, it does shine with the music choices. With classic 80s hits like Steve Winwood’s “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do” and “Human” by The Human League, Nick Knight definitely has a bit of style, though it’s a bit over the top and campy on the action sequences. It was one of those films that I had a better memory of than what it truly was.

Tron (dir. by Steven Lisberger)

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Leonard Wilson

Many years ago in Southern Oregon, I had a conversation with friends about some of our favorite films growing up. Movies like The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, Watership Down and The Secret of Nimh were all on the list, as well as Disney’s Tron. In our excitement for all these movies, we ended up renting the films from a local video store to relive our childhood. While the nostalgia was nice, we all ended falling asleep halfway through Tron, despite our love for it.

I guess one’s enjoyment of Tron is based on how it’s viewed. I caught the film two years ago at the Museum of the Moving Image, in 70MM. The first thing that caught my attention was the film grain. I’ve grown so used to the clarity of digital film presented in 4K that I couldn’t help but catch the little flicks and “cigarette burns” in at the start. This was life before digital, and it was beautiful to revisit. In a theatre, the film’s 96 minutes blazed by for me. The early 1980s was basically made up of bike rides and video arcades. The little boedga on the corner of my block back home even had a few arcade machines in the front of the store in the first half of the 80s. The Bodega’s still there, the arcade’s now a deli/hot meal area. Times can and do change.

Tron is the story of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, Bad Times at the El Royale), a former employee at Encom, a major computing and videogame company. Encom’s made some wonderful strides in technology as of late, by 1980’s standards. Encom performs special matter tests in a specialized lab, while the programmers grind away code in their cubicles. All of their work is overseen by the Master Control Program, an operating system of sorts. Granted, the workforce at Encom isn’t too pleased about having the MCP monitor their applications. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner, Kuffs) and Lori Baines (Cindy Morgan, Caddyshack) also have programs and projects of their own that are being culled. Alan’s program, Tron (also played by Boxleitner) is of particular interest to the MCP, as it acts an a security threat that could bring some serious problems. Kevin tries to hack his way into Encom with the use of a program he created called Clu (also Bridges), but the MCP and the Senior Vice President of Encom, Ed Dillinger (David Warner, The Omen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze) keep Flynn at bay. When Alan and Lori discover what Flynn’s up to, they confront him at his arcade, where he explains that he was the actual creator of Encom’s top games. He only needs the data as proof. This leads to the team breaking into Encom, where the MCP digitizes Flynn and brings him into the computer world. Can Flynn escape and help liberate the programs enslaved by the MCP and its henchman, Sark (both also played by Warner)? Can Flynn find the proof to exonerate him? And just who is this Tron fellow, anyway?

The plot for Tron inside the machine becomes a bit theological. The programs believe in the Users, and that they were each created for a particular purpose. From Ram (Dan Shor, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) being an Actuarial Program to Tron being a defense against the MCP, it’s kind of interesting once Flynn shows up. As a User, he doesn’t have much more power than a program, save that he can’t really be derezzed and that he can mimic the neon glow of anyone he touched. I always thought they could have given him something cooler to do, though for 1982, repurposing machines does have some benefits. The story slows down a bit in the middle, feeling like it’s somewhat unsure of itself, but picks up in the final act with Tron vs. Sark and the MVP. Though Flynn is important to the outcome, he’s more like Big Trouble in Little China’s Jack Burton, kind of just watching this happen around him. He does have his moments, though.

When I was little, my dad owned a Commodore 64 and a Floppy Disk Drive. He would regularly pick up magazines like Byte! to catch up on new innovations. In most of these magazines, they’d have a program that you could enter in at home to create various effects like making a balloon fly across your screen. Those programs were usually written over a number of pages with hundreds of lines of code. For Tron, there were 3 teams dedicated for the Visual Effects. According to the behind the scenes documentary on the disc, Information International Inc., known as Triple-I, was brought in to handle the major work along with Mathematic Applications Group Inc. (MAGI), who director Steven Lisberger worked for at one point early in his career. Digital Effects of New York handled some of the responsible for some of the original CGI work used in Michael Crichton’s Westworld (considered one of the first CGI movie uses ever) and it’s sequel, Futureworld. For the time, the effects were groundbreaking. Mind you, most of this was all before we ever hit the 8-bit era of Nintendo, the Commodore Amiga or even the high resolution arcade games of Sega’s heyday like Space Harrier, Outrun or Afterburner. In an actual arcade in 1982 had games like Q-Bert or Dig Dug with the kind of graphics you’d never see on home systems.

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and others (including a young Michael Dudikoff to his right) watch Tron fight for the users. This would inspire Dudikoff to become an American Ninja.

The designs for the look and feel of the computer world came from Lisberger himself, with a bit of assistance from both futurist Syd Mead and legendary artist Jean “Mobius” Giraud. Both men were extremely popular. Mead was the equivalent of Apple’s former Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, having created the “V’ger” model for Star Trek:The Motion Picture. Ironically, Mead’s work (both on the set design and the flying cars) would be seen by audiences watching Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner just a month shy of Tron’s release. Having worked on Alien years prior, Giraud helped to design and inspire both the clothing and some of the vehicles, such as the weird cradle for Dumont (Bernard Hughes, The Lost Boys) and the Light Cycles.

Jean "Mobius" Giraud's sketches for Dumont in Tron.

A film dealing with computers needed a composer familiar with electronic music.It seemed fitting that Wendy Carlos(A Clockwork Orange, The Shining) took on the challenge. Having built a computer at 14, Carlos’ love for music over the years lead her (with Robert Moog) to help develop the Moog synthesizer system. The Moog would go on to be used by Kraftwerk, Giorgio Mororder, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy Daft Punk and even J Dilla, among others. The Tron Soundtrack was a mix of orchestra, choir and electronic music. Although the sound may not be as dark and digital as Daft Punk’s score for Tron: Legacy, I felt it worked for the time and moves well with the film. In addition to Carlos’ score, Journey wrote the song “Only Solutions” for the film, which also happens to be a line uttered by Kevin Flynn.

Overall, Tron is one of those movies I can happily rewatch without much in the way of expectation. I enjoy it for its place in Sci-Fi cinema, and the memories it awakens. I don’t think Disney ever fully recognized the full potential of where they could take the story, though the animated Tron: Uprising was a great part of the saga. I’m just hoping Tron: Ares doesn’t stray too far from the fold.