Stuff

One of our favourite films from the 1980s was “Tron”. This film from 1982 came with a lot of publicity: the first cgi movie.

It wasn’t. Mostly it was hand animated but there were some scenes generated by computer.

The story is a simple one, but silly. Kevin Flynn is determined to find evidence that the company ENCOM stole his video game designs and he has been done out of lots of money. He is integrated into ENCOM’s computer where he searches for evidence. A true celebration of capitalism.

It’s a film that looks fantastic. Mostly it was filmed in black and white and then the colour was drawn in. If you find the dvd and listen to the commentary you will learn all sorts of things about the production.

There are some fantastic scenes, especially the light cycles. The sound is brilliant. We love the music too, thanks to Wendy Carlos.

It was not a huge success at the box office, but it’s definitely worth a watch, if only for Cindy Morgan.

Barbarella lives in a different world at some other time. I suppose people would call this film a camp sex movie, but barely even softcore, just some sexy outfits and a little nudity.

Jane Fonda is the heroine, going through her pin up phase. Roger Vadim directed in 1968. It’s a scifi film about, well, Barbarella trying to prevent destruction of the universe by a mad scientist. Really it’s about sexual awakening and discovery.

There’s not a lot we can say about it. It’s not very good, but it’s mindless entertainment, funny, of its time and very French.

You will see some familiar faces, including David Hemmings and Milo O’Shea. Oh yes, and Marcel Marceau.