Cloak & Dagger on PAX

[NovaXpress]

Right now. What the hell is PAX?

 

They're in the store full of 5200 boxes right now. I ahvenm't seen this since it came out.

[Godzilla]

PAX = a tv network? i saw dabney colemans outline against a firey background on moms tv last night and knew it was C&D in about one second :-)

[+Random Terrain]

I wonder if the TV channel has anything to do with this:

 

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana

[Inky]

PAX was sstarted by the founder of the Home Shopping channel to be an alternative to the major networks, with a more 'family oriented' line up of programming.

 

 

Either that , or they got a deal on old episodes of Supermarket Sweep.

[oesii]

The PAX station in Tampa shows rebroadcasts of the local news and Devil Rays games! I guess programming might vary region by region.

[Godzilla]

hey you know where i can get one of those formed foam stingray shaped hats? ive seen fans w/ em at the games but cant find em anywhere.. :-( ive been to 3 or 4 devil rays games so far :-)

[+Nathan Strum]

If anyone is interested (or even if they aren't) I wrote up a review on Cloak & Dagger, in case you aren't familiar with the movie. Plenty of screen captures from it, too.

[JackFlack]

Your review slammed one of the best Spy Kid movies of all times. What more could you want in a movie? I think the plot was awesome, beats Spy Kids.

 

How many times do you get to see this in a movie:

 

Atari games, Video Game Store , Prototype Boxes and cart , a old lady missing some fingers, Atari 800, Atari 5200 ???

 

I would hate to see your review on TRON !

 

I see you also Slammed the Aracde game too! Cloak and Dagger the arcade game is the shit. It is a way better then Robotron, the game it was made to replace.

[Godzilla]

yea with a nick like Jack Flack it's obvious that you are completely bias free...

 

Even I can admit the only reason I like Cloak and Dagger the movie is cause I'm an Atari fanboy, not cause it's a good movie.

[+Nathan Strum]

Well, to each their own. I watched the movie mutliple times to try and give it a chance to grow on me. Maybe if I'd seen it as a kid, I would have liked it more, but I doubt it. (Incidentally - I didn't write the arcade game review - but I do happen to agree with it.)

 

Tron, however, is one of my favorite movies, and my review of it is pretty clear on that.

[bluefugue]

Gaming nostalgia aside, from what I remember, C&D was pretty goofy.

 

As for Tron, well... I have a soft spot in my heart for it, but a lot of it is really flat. Great production design, great Wendy Carlos score. Light cycle sequence is great; by far the best scene in the movie. A lot of weak acting (esp. Boxleitner and the female lead) and mediocre dialogue. Camerawork in the real-world scenes is stiff and awkward; in the Tron-world scenes at least it can be justified by the weird effects they were using, which may have inhibited camera mobility. The "camerawork" in the CGI scenes (i.e. light cycle) is the most free-flowing. There are abortive hiccups in the plot (i.e. what happened to the "Gridbugs" scene? Why set that up and then do nothing with it? The ride of the solar sailor is a big fat nothing. And a lot of Act II just sorta sits there, no real character interaction, not much of anything going on between action sequences). Interesting Christ allegory subtext (Flynn=Christ). I love the scene where Tron contacts his user at the I/O tower; it plays out with religious intensity. Jeff Bridges is by far a better actor than most of the rest of the cast, and he gets by on sheer charisma. David Warner does what David Warner always does -- which is act evil. He earns his paycheck here. I have a friend who hypothesizes Tron is actually "a movie about a man who takes orders from his desk."

 

I like Tron, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near great sci-fi movies like Robocop, Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, etc., or even Blade Runner, which is itself seriously flawed. There were real talents involved (Carlos, Syd Mead); but the director, alas, was not one of them.

[A2600]

The PAX station in Tampa shows rebroadcasts of the local news and Devil Rays games!  I guess programming might vary region by region.

 

Very True PAX shares broadcasting with FOX Sports Net for Fla Marlins Games too but yes I know what pax is!!

[Nukey Shay]

The gridbug scene was added into the movie at the last minute...which accounts for it being "non-CGrendered" animation and having no character interaction. I believe that it was added as a plot device for the arcade game. There are a couple things that support this, since there seems to be two different scenarios between the two mediums...in the arcade game, the bugs were an obsticle facing Tron in the I/O tower scene (which was (rewritten?) to be the "Tower Guardian" instead...no doubt to provide an alter-ego character for "the real world"'s Walter).

[bluefugue]

Interesting. I always assumed they had filmed (or at least partially filmed?) a longer scene but then cut it out for obscure reasons. (Unable to finish the FX?)

 

"If those gridbugs get us, we're done for."

 

*cut to next scene*

 

Now that's high drama.

[Nukey Shay]

Nope...that was all there was. It was an idea for the movie created by animator John Norton. He passed it to the PTB and did a test shot...which wound up in the movie.

 

Computer people talk about 'bugs' in computer systems, and I always felt that we should do something with bugs for the film. So I came up with this grid creature that lives inside the computer and eats things. Bill worked them into the storyboards, and at first we decided to do them with computer simulation at Triple-I but it came back to me to do, because they were too busy. So I did about fifteen feet of film that was shot back-lit on the animation stand to try to make it look as much like CGI as possible. The idea was that these creatures camouflage themselves as part of the electronic grid, and then they appear, sort of rising up out of the grid to menace you. First there's just one who appears, looks around and runs off. Then we cut to a longer shot of a whole herd of these bugs galloping off and out of the scene.

[TwiliteZoner]

Yeah it was on here in Atlanta last night. What's next D.A.R.Y.L?

[+Nathan Strum]

Nope...that was all there was.  It was an idea for the movie created by animator John Norton.  He passed it to the PTB and did a test shot...which wound up in the movie.

 

To elaborate on this a little further, I have an article in Electronic Games from when Tron was new (man... that was a long time ago), that says originally there was intended to be a longer sequence involving grid bugs, but that it was cut during production (no live action footage was ever shot for it). But... since the arcade game was already in production and had grid bugs in it, that's why the short scene was added to the movie, with Cindy Morgan's voice dubbed over the top. So, now you know the how and why.

 

Incidentally - I'd agree that Tron may not be in the caliber of some of the greatest sci-fi films out there, but I still enjoy watching it more than most. Even ones that I know are "better films".

[Zloch]

Yeah it was on here in Atlanta last night. What's next D.A.R.Y.L?  

 

Yowza! I haven't seen THAT in ages. That movie made me want toplay Pole Position.

Sean

[JackFlack]

Well, to each their own. I watched the movie mutliple times to try and give it a chance to grow on me. Maybe if I'd seen it as a kid, I would have liked it more, but I doubt it. (Incidentally - I didn't write the arcade game review - but I do happen to agree with it.)

 

 

Then I would say your not Qualified to do a review on Cloak and Dagger. If you never saw it as a kid. Your baseing your opinions on how the movie compares to todays movies. Take the Movie for what it is. I would recommend it to anybody who is a real Atari fan.

 

 

 

Incidentally - I'd agree that Tron may not be in the caliber of some of the greatest sci-fi films out there, but I still enjoy watching it more than most. Even ones that I know are "better films". Tron, however, is one of my favorite movies, and my review of it is pretty clear on that.

 

Now you get the Movie Review idea.(Doh) There is hope for you after all.

[+Nathan Strum]

Then I would say your not Qualified to do a review on Cloak and Dagger. If you never saw it as a kid. Your baseing your opinions on how the movie compares to todays movies. Take the Movie for what it is. I would recommend it to anybody who is a real Atari fan.

 

Gee... perhaps I shouldn't have even watched the movie then, if I wasn't qualified to review it.

 

I sure wish you would've warned me beforehand. It would've saved me a lot of time.

 

I based my opinions on what I like and dislike. "Todays movies" have nothing to do with it. I still like most of the movies I did as a kid, and I still dislike most of the movies I disliked. So I did, in fact, take the movie for exactly what it is. Not for what it was for you, when you were a kid.

 

As for Atari fans, I can save them the trouble. All they'll see as a 'reward' for sitting through this film is a few fleeting Atari product placement shots and some gameplay from the C&D arcade game. Liberal use of the Fast Forward button is recommended.

[mos6507]

I thought Cloak and Dagger was a pretty good movie. I don't think I'm the only one who does...

 

I also like The Last Starfighter.

[AtariDude]

I have the Last Starfighter on DVD. I like the extras that that included in the DVD. I hope that one day Cloak and Dagger gets put on DVD but I don't think it is going to happen anytime soon.

[A2600]

Yeah it was on here in Atlanta last night. What's next D.A.R.Y.L?  

 

or worse The Wizard

[MegaManFan]

Worse? I liked The Wizard. I wish they hadn't cancelled it.

[Godzilla]

the wizard of space and time? that was AWESOME