I guess I should, at some point, rehash all my geekiness, and pretend that you are all incapable of rereading or remembering previous posts about my personality quirks. Yeah, I could do that.

But I like to think that most of my readers are smart people and don't need a teacher-lecture on how they should review my history. You're being spared.

So, yeah, I knew I'd probably like Thor before going to the theater. This summer has a long list of titles ready to go-Pirates 4, X-Men prequels, Green Lanterns. Probably each one of them following the formula for cinematic success-Fate forbid that a studio invest a few million on an original concept.

Thor is formula, if ever there was one. It's predictable in so many ways, like that very comfortable sweatshirt, it fits the summer of movies like a glove. Everyone in the movie was having so much fun and was so beautiful, it was like watching the beach from a telescope and taking pictures with my phone to prove it to people. Dirty fun, the kind you know you should be enjoying but do anyways.

In other words, even if you weren't invited to the party-you'd still get a kick out of it. THe film tells the story of the Norse God and his abrupt landing on Midgard, or Earth. The scope of the film is actually quite good. He doesn't stop bankrobbers or terrorists--instead, it has to do with his history coming to haunt him and how he comes around to being an honest man. I'd say it's original, but if you were following in the comic book, you'd know pretty much what was coming.

I know I did. But I didn't mind the journey.

Now the movie is created by Kenneth Branagh, one of my first crushes since coming out of the closet in the early ninties. I thought he was a hottieMcbeefcake with an accent in Henry the Fifth, and his selection of material is at once both inspired and surprising. He's one of those Royal Shakespeareans who's voice can make reading ingrediants a sensual experience by inflection alone. Shakespeare is far from an easy read, but he gets it and it showed on the screen (and I assume, his stagework). But, he, well, picked a comic book to return to directing movies. I think this is a trend right now. You have Chris Nolan making Batman completely legit; Ang Lee's Hulk was heady stuff, but an attempt, nonetheless.

It was surprising, but here's the inspiring part-it works. He is completely able to bring a certain gravitas to scenes involving the 'royal play' that the Norse gods bicker through. In fact, he makes Earth a light and forgiving place, full of love and creativity and excitement--a place worth going to. Then he makes Asgard, the home of the gods, a cold place without love and tons of backstabbing and trickery.

Okay, I'm going to mention something else that I don't normally pay attention to--as part of the "cold" of the world of Asgard, Bo Welch, the film's production designer should be applauded. He does something I didn't think was possible. He blends a modern chic with ancient design. It's a technology world, but the tech is all magical. Everything is well lit, but metal; lines lead everywhere, one thinks you're standing inside of a giant clock (especially in the gatehouse...watch for it and tell me what you think).

All things being considered, the movie has its flaws, but I was so busy looking at the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog, I didn't care. And don't think it was only the boys. Natalie Portman is in there and makes the prettiest scientist since Doctor Goodhead in Moonraker. And just as awful of a placement in the piece. She's an excellent actress, so much so, that you can see the weaknesses in the story by her batting her eyelashes enough trying to flutter energy into something. Still, she's just got an Oscar. Maybe this is some kind of movie star break or something.

Yeah, the story is weak becuase, Shakespeare or reading comic books, we've been down this road before.

Go see the movie. It's stupid fun but still fun. I loved it, but we knew that. But I think you might too.

TRON: Legacy

TRON: Legacy was sneaked into a presentation at ComicCon in San Diego back in 2008. The crowd went wild. Cellphones were held up high to try to capture a bit of video-a segment of film that didn't even end up in the final film-to post on YouTube and keep the buzz alive. Disney didn't even worry about the copyright infrindgement.

They had stumbled across their Star Trek. Tron had legions of fans that would happily overlook any flaws and pay full price, maybe even extra for 3-D, regardless of the quality of the film. That is the beauty of Marvel comics and serials. You know you can bring those audiences in again and again and again, no matter what the quality.

The first Tron, I will admit, I was smitten. But I like to think I'm smart too. The first Tron was crappy. It was like a Tim Burton movie; it looked great and that rose above the shitty material. It was all over the map, but like a really big train wreck, it was amazing to see in action.

And it played to the geek factor. The same group of techno-saavy boys who knew how to type, were probably gay and could actually see the applications of technology in this movie. These years AHEAD of the Matrix, but pretty much covered the same territory.

And I loved it as such.

So, yes, I watched those YouTube videos.

And I remember whispering to my husOtter, "dearest, wouldn't it be great to see that movie actually IN Florida AT Disney World?"

So the movie took on a whole other quality--that of the quest of me and my family moving to Florida.

I point out all of these things because I believe a movie got lost in this muddle. Really, I do. And not only my personal muddle of moving and Disney-fandom, but in a public muddle of Generation X, still trying to find legitamcy in surviving the Reagan era, tend to celebrate things and then realize, well, they weren't that great to begin with.

I mean, a Transformers...MOVIE? Now a sequel to a mediocre movie! 

This is not The Empire Strikes Back, I tell you.

TRON: Legacy tries to be several movies at once and since it is spread too thin, it never really achieves greatness beyond visual effects. It's power was stolen by the Matrix films, the inside of a computer being elaborated on in those movies. Yes, the inside of the computer is a neon playground, we got that, and with computers being even more advanced than ever before, you could just sit back and get your money's worth watching this piece unfold.

But this is a sequel and written by people who know computers, but not much aobut storylines and energy. The film takes it's power and watches it fizzle, as if it stole the better parts of other movies. The plot goes like this. Remember how Flynn, Jeff Bridges character in the original movie, got zapped into the computer back in 82? Well, at the start of this movie, he's disappeared, but the audience figures out that he kept going back and eventually was taken prisoner. Artifical Intelligences started forming, basically 'free programs,' but because Jeff's original monitoring program was supposed to keep order, 'Clu' (a digital, younger Bridges) has been killing them off. Where's Tron? The original anti-virus from the first movie? He's now a sideline character, kidnapped and brainwashed by Clu to help rebuild the World Inside of the Computer.

Flynn is living in the computer and has been, his son never knowing where his father was. Clu, however, zaps the kid into the computer and the we're back into the system.

And, well, I liked it. I knew I would. I had moved to Florida, I had my dreams come true. I loved the texture of the film, I loved the feel of the sequel.

But I'm not an idiot. The movie has zero momentum. It starts strong enough and takes the audience into the "Grid." But then does nothing much beyond that point. It was as if they knew we would buy tickets and all they needed to do was get us to willingly buy tickets.

Here's the deal. The first Star Trek movie sucked big time. Then they made a sequel that the geeks would love, not really thinking of the others. Then PUFT, they hit big time.

TRON:Legacy would have worked better if they just stuck to their guns and just made a movie. I kept feeling like Disney was doing their product placement, giving something for everyone. The action sequences are slow, making sure you see the images;  the dialogue was stlited and humor was nonexistent. I kept wanting to see something more--Tron is patroling the Grid, becoming a police state, funded by the government. I would have loved to seen a situation more relevant than ever before--where net neutality is underfire and the technology to make people go INTO the Grid is about to go international.

Instead, I got good guys and bad guys.

I do hope there's a part three--and it's a better one!