Tron: Ares is the third installment in the Tron franchise and loosely follows the events of Tron: Legacy. Two corporations are competing to stabilize digital constructs(like 3D printed computer programs). Eve(Greta Lee) wants to use this technology to help humanity, her rival Julian(Evan Peters) wants to use it to create an army. His lead program is Ares(Jared Leto) who bucks under his programing and wants to be a real boy.
Leto, taking aside the allegations and having a long history of harassing his co-workers, is just boring and miscast here. He's wooden, uncompelling, he seems confused about what he's doing and it doesn't help that the plot is overly convoluted. Lee is decent but is equally bogged down by the plotting and Peters injects some much needed verve but he is hamstrung with almost all of his action being typing on a keyboard. Jodie Turner-Smith as Ares' fellow program Athena is great but underused. Aside from Leto, the cast is decent, but both his performance and his reputational association make the movie suffer.
Visually the film is slick Tron-like(natch) and cool, the soundtrack is mesmeric, the action sequences are entertaining. The production elements, across the board, all hit home. The problem(other than Leto) is the script. It just has too many ideas and can't quite decide what it wants to focus on and it misses a trick by having the bulk of the action take place in the 'real world' as opposed to 'the grid'. Despite all that it's a decent ride, doesn't quite hit the same sweet spot as Tron: Legacy but isn't altogether awful.
Diverting vibe with a clunker lead, not as slick or immersive as it's predecessor.
Currently in theaters.
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The Alabama Solution is a documentary about the inhumane conditions within Alabama state prisons and the prison system at large. Shot mostly through covert footage captured by inmates on contraband cell phones.
For anyone familiar with incarceration in the US none of this, unfortunately, should be a surprise. The understaffing, the overcrowding, the corrupt use of labor, the violence, the lawsuits, the cover-ups, the list goes on. What we're shown may be a bit more extreme than in other similar documentaries, Alabama is clearly one of the more egregious states as far as these practices and it's white populace demonstrate less compassion for prisoners and less understanding of the nuance, nature, and history of the criminal justice system particularly in regards to race. Even so, the situation is applicable nation-wide. And focusing on Alabama in particular draws a sharper contrast with the issues at hand.
What is most effective and most heartrending about The Alabama Solution is that the inmates themselves are foregrounded, directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman can only be heard briefly off-screen at the beginning and pretty much disappear. The conditions, lives, and history of the inmates are provided by themselves Robert Earl Council and Melvin Ray in particular are the backbone of the film and their insight and expertise is impactful. But what is even more apparent and more profound is Council, Ray, and all the inmates featured's humanity. And that is what comes through in the film most clearly, most powerfully. And so despite all the pain and suffering, despite the injustice, what we see is the strength, character, and resolve of these men.
A brutal portrait of correctional conditions and a testament to the spirit of those who must endure it.
Currently streaming on HBO Max.
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One Battle After Another is a drama/thriller based on the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. It follows Pat/Bob(Leonardo DiCaprio) a member of a far-left militant group during his active years(in the prologue) with the bulk of the story happening years later as he is separated from his daughter and both of them are on the run from government agents.
DiCaprio continues a bit of a plateau in his career, he's not bad here he's just not particularly interesting or dynamic, and as the lead that's a problem. Surprisingly, the most nuanced character is Sean Penn as the heavy, his performance full of eccentricity and depth. Closely followed by Benicio del Toro who also builds in quirk and backstory and makes the character come alive. Teyana Taylor is wonderful and electric but she's only in the prologue. Regina Hall is woefully underused and Chase Infiniti is good but her subplot seems like an after thought. The rest of the extensive supporting cast have such brief appearances they can't do much.
Visually the film is dynamic and rich, a return to form for writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson after the bland look of Licorice Pizza and the script is an improvement too but it is bloated and unfocused. There are too many threads, too many subplots, too many ideas, and none of it really comes together. At a sprawling almost three hour runtime the storytelling feels indulgent and isn't particularly satisfying either as a character study or as a socio-political message.
Not equal to the sum of its parts.
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