Month: October 2025

Tron Ares plays on some very real fears

The Average Dude remembers watching Tron and Tron Legacy in theaters. Tron the original was ground-breaking for it’s time, the great great grandfather of CGI. It started something I don’t think anybody really comprehended. For better or worse is a debate for another time (and with lots of beers).

Tron Ares returns to the story of Kevin Flynn, the creator of ‘the Grid’ from where the world of Tron originated, and brings it to the waking, physical world. Tron Ares doesn’t spend any time at all trying to strap any psuedo-science to how that is possible. For the sake of storytelling, the abity to created living, breathing beings and fully functional science happens nearly instantaneously and seemingly out of thin air. There is one drawback. The tech that spawns Ares will only remain stable for 29 minutes before colapsing like a tower of Legos that got Thanos-snapped.

What we need…is a MacGuffin!

To solve this problem, the greatest tech powers in the world are frantically searching for ‘the Permanence Code’. This a plot device that will allow their constructs to maintain cohesion. Literally, for better or worse. The Better: Encom CEO Eve Kim, searching for the code to allow them to create food, medicine and other resources to help humanity. The Worse: Dillinger Systems. Led by the soulless Julian Dillinger. He wants to use the tech to create a horrifyingly powerful military.  With Master Control Program Ares as the leader, Dillinger creates an endless cadre of super-soldiers. Was there a need for such an overwhelming fighting force? No idea.

Apparently, they made this AI too I

As the leader of the Dillinger Grid consciousnesses, Ares was, for reasons unknown, able to reason things more deeply. Deeply enough to begin questioning his created purpose. From that awakening morality, Ares sussed out the unethical motives of Julian Dillinger. And when Ares was commanded to capture Eve and deliver her to the Grid (where the newly discovered Permanence Code could be extracted), he declined to obey. The Ares rebellion was on.

That’s the basic thrust of Tron Ares. You can kind of guess the nuts and bolts of the rest of this movie. Another Master Control Program is appointed to take down Ares. Lots of modernized callbacks to the classic Tron tech (like the light-bike, the floating behemoth Recognizer, even the Bit character made a cameo). And, of course, an obligatory appearance by Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn. All the remember-berries were there and that was great.

I know I’m in the minority here…

I don’t know if there is enough excitement over Tron Ares to spawn a sequel (to the sequel to the sequel, that is). Jarod Leto did a perfectly serviceabe job making the most of a script that was pretty vanilla and relied on great CGI. And I’m going to go on record saying that I didn’t hate Leto’s take on the Joker in the much (and deservedly) maligned Suicide Squad. He owned it, turned it on it’s side and did the very best he could. No one disagrees that Ledger’s take was permanently established as the gold standard. Leto commits, and I love that. Sorry, not sorry.

The walking out of the theater grade is…

The Average Dude is giving Tron Ares a decent score of 3.6 out of 5. It was a popcorn pusher very much like Jurasic Park: Rebirth was. Watch it, chew some corn and chocolate (I love putting them both in my face at the same time) and step out of the world for a couple of hours. As Matthew 6:34 says, “…tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” It’s okay to get away for a bit.

Not every one is meant to earn a statue

Speaking of Jurasic Park: Rebirth and Tron Ares, I have to take exception with a few of the other reviewers I follow out there.

I don’t know whether it’s a pitfall of constantly watching movies and grading them (for you…always for you, my Average Legion). But I feel like some once-trusted and enjoyable reviewers (looking at you, Critical Drinker, you irascible but lovable curmudgeon, you) have gotten maybe a wee bit too critical in their reviews. I know…it’s right there in the name…I get it. Even so….

Your Average Dude continues to look for the good in every movie and can still suspend disbelief and feel the ride. It’s what movies were made for, after all. I hope you don’t completely lose that joy.

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Good Boy was a no-brainer for Average Dude

Your humble Average Dude is a sucker for dogs, it’s no secret. I love them all and automatically ascribe a reciprocal affection to them (sometimes to my regret, granted). Not sorry, even a little bit. Dogs have enhanced my life immeasurably and deserve my respect, appreciation and love.

The list is long

Whenever I see a new dog movie coming out, I automatically circle it on my watch calendar. A Dog’s Purpose. Arthur the King. The Art of Racing in the Rain. Marley & Me. Hachi. Togo. Megan Leavey. 8 Below. Turner and Hooch. How far into history do you want to go? I’ll go back to Benji and Old Yeller. Most of those are on the annual watch list.

No respect, I tell ya

When I saw the movie poster for Good Boy, I was immediately intrigued. A horror movie where the dog is the star? Who wouldn’t be intrigued? I watched the trailer, which is always a highlight real designed to increase interest. It was a little vanilla and that was disappointing. But I was invested, already IN, and I’ll tell you why later.
So, I went to my local moviehaus website to check movie times for Good Boy. That’s when I discovered…Good Boy is an indy film (literally. Just wait for it). There was only ONE Saturday night showing in the smallest theater they have, complete with recliners that haven’t yet been repaired. This was the orphan annie of theaters. Disappointment #2.

I really had no choice but to go see Good Boy
Never mind the fact that I’m a big time dog guy (I have a FB hashtag called Random Street Dog Selfies). What really guaranteed that I was always going to go see Good Boy was the name of the dog – Indy. That happens to be the nickname of my youngest daughter (and it is the PERFECT nickname for her, on all levels). The name of Indy’s human? Same as mine. How could I not go?

The Dog is the thing

There is NO dog movie ever made, or even a movie that had a dog IN it, where the dog wasn’t the main focus whenever he/she was on screen. Likewise, there is no movie where the dog dies that the moment isn’t the most gut-twisting scene in said movie. I give you I Am Legend. Or John Wick. Heck, every time Baily died in A Dog’s Purpose my feels were mauled. And the masochist in me just had to know if Indy was going to make it through Camp Crystal Lake unscathed, scathed or buried in the backyard ‘neath his favorite oak tree. And I aint tellin’.

Good Boy is the cradle to REDACTED story of Indy, brought into Todd’s life a pup and journeying with him through life, as a good dog does. The tale is told completely from Indy’s point of view, always the focus. I’ve discovered that it is infinitely easier to become invested in a dog on screen than it is a person. You don’t need time to get to know them or their motivations or what makes them tick. They’re either loyal and devoted or they’re fur-covered razor blades (to quote Gibs in True Lies). They will quickly let you know which.

Dogs and Death

Indy’s human Todd is dealing with the death of his grampa and has decided to come to terms with it by going to live in the remote forest home where he died. As inseparable as dog and owner tend to be, Indy is there every step of the way. Such a good boy.

Todd tries to come to terms with life and death the way any well-balanced young man does…by watching old videotaped horror movies left by the deceased on an antiquated b/w tv in the middle of a forest. In the rainy season. Of course he did.

So, as Todd wrestles with demons that may be real, may be of his own making, faithful Indy stands watch over everything. Ever on guard, ever forgiving, ever loyal. To the end.

That’s all I’m going to give up on Good Boy, other than to say that the decision to make this movie about the dog was really well done. With only a couple of exceptions, you never saw an actual human face (and mostly from a grainy videotape). Indy (his real name, in fact) is the unchallenged star of Good Boy and conveys the emotional tension of a horror movie expertly.

Supernaturality, viewd by man’s best friend

I think one of the overlooked qualities of Good Boy might be the way the director conveyed a supernatural element through the lense of a dog. It doesn’t have the brain power to wrestle with complex concepts like the supernatural. They resisted the very real temptation to imbue the dog with human sensibilities. It may be less cinematic, but certainly more truthful. I approve.

So, with great pride, I am giving Good Boy a very watchable 3.5 out of 5. At less than 1.5 hours, it doesn’t drag and doesn’t leave anything out. Stay for the credits to see some cool behind-the-scenes of Good Boy. I can definitely see Good Boy having a Blair Witch Project type following and spawning more ‘Hollywood-ish’ sequels. I’d be here for maybe one but certainly NOT here for Hollywood getting ahold of this IP and wrecking it soullessly.

Was it scary?

Not so much. A couple of jump scares and a lot of tension wondering what would happen to Indy in the end. Could have used maybe a little bit of Hollywood storytelling with Indy fighting the metaphysical. But all in all, a solid suspense semi-horror flick.

SO…go see Good Boy and then go home and spend some quality time with your own good boy or girl. I did. Took Henley and Ozwold on a late night walk. Henley crop dusted me the whole way.  They’re still my goo’ boys.

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Two things can be true at once

Okay, right off the bat, I want to say that One Battle After Another is a movie I could have done without seeing. But Average Dude, you might say… three stars is not a horrible score. Please elucidate. Glad to.

A downer movie, week two

One Battle After Another is the story of ‘Ghetto’ Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio), a member of a way left of left domestic terrorist group called the French 75. They’re main heartburn is with the detaining and deportation of illegal immigrants and will go to great lengths to free them. Queue the explosions. To their credit, they don’t seem to want to actually kill anyone. Kind of antithetical to the whole terrorist thing, but okay.

Bow chicka bow-bow!

Engaging in acts of terrorism are an emotional high, across the board. It can almost be expected that there would be…liasons…between some of the terrorists. So saying, ‘Ghetto’ Pat developed a ‘relationship’ with Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), an ultra-radical participant in a group of radical participants (which is saying something). Terrorism makes for the very strangest of bedfellows, apparently.

One of the good guys?

The primary adversary to the French 75 and the man tasked by the Gub’ment to bring them to justice is an Army Colonel Steven J Lockjaw, a stone-faced military lifer if ever there was one. Lockjaw is seemingly devoid of any emotion in his single-minded pursuit of his quarry (note that I said ‘seemingly’). It’s hard to actually get behind him as one of the good guys, but there he is, in all his self-righteous glory.

Remember, Safety first

Engaging in targeted acts of violence seems to me like a fairly unsafe way to spend time together. So, it comes as no surprise that the combatants would eshew any kind of safety in their tristing, and the product of such a dangerous liason would be a child. Enter baby Charlene. Charlene is adored by ‘Ghetto’ Pat, who takes to fatherhood easily and completely (in the context of being a terrorist, that is). But for Perfidia, not so much. In the end, Perfidia’s psychopathy catches both ‘Ghetto’ Pat and Charlene in its wake of chaos and destruction. Exit Perfidia Beverly Hills.

That’s as much of this movie as I’m prepared to give up. It sets the table fairly well and really gives up nothing. There are a few twists and turns to this story that, once started, they are kind of predictable.Like tipping the first domino, one leads to another.

The Good(ish), the Bad and the Ugly

Gonna say this as plain as I can. Although there were some really good performances by DiCaprio, Taylor and Penn, I did not like this movie. Really, not at all, and I’ll tell you why. Call me a sap, but I like a feel-good movie. Feel-good movies come in all genres, with different flavors of feel-good (think Aliens 2 feel-good vs Homeward Bound feel-good). In a feel-good movie, there’s always someone or something to root for.

But not in One Battle After Another. I could say that I was kind of rooting for Charlene, but in the end…? Maybe we had some empathy for ‘Ghetto’ Pat, being abandoned and trying to take care of a baby alone. But come on. He’s a terrorist. How much compassion for him are we expected to muster?

And Colonel Steven J Lockjaw? Really? Lockjaw? Someone actually named him this? From the first moments of seeing this character and hearing his cartoonish name, I could tell this was going to be a slanted story at best, not to be taken seriously at worst. Thanks to a committed performance by Sean Penn, I’m awarding it the former. Barely.

Ah, Sergio…we barely knew thee…

Added to the cast for no particular reason other than name recognition was Benicio del Toro as Sergio St. Carlos, a French 75 sympathizer and karate instructor. He had such a small part in this movie that we really didn’t have time or reason to develop any kind of attachment to him. A great talent totally wasted.

Once again, you’re welcome

After leaving the moviehaus, Mrs Average Dude and I really only had one takeaway. This was an ugly movie, with an ugly story and ugly characters. In most cases, not just ugly, but really detestable. There was not one thing to hang your hat on and say ‘I’m glad I saw that’. I half expected this walking in but knew you guys would benefit from my sacrifice. I’m also brutally reminded that you can have excellent performances in a vehicle that has zero redeeming value in it.

The Score

So, it is with full warning that I give One Battle After Another a 3 out of 5 in acknowledgement of performances that definitely got the message across, even if the message was horrible. Like most of you, I don’t really do artsy. Average Dude, and all. Why Hollywood decided this would be a good movie to make is beyond me. I can find no redeeming value in it and I’ll be glad to never watch this movie again.

Going to go watch the LotR trilogy to get my mind right.

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