Tron Legacy

A nightly dance party created as a last-minute diversion to entertain idle hordes waiting for a wildly popular attraction at Disney California Adventure has turned into an ever-evolving mainstay that might just become an accidental institution. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The new Mad T Party scheduled to debut this summer at the Anaheim theme park replaces ElecTRONica, which replaced Glow Fest, which was designed to give visitors something to do back in the summer of 2010 while waiting hours upon hours to watch the instant hit "World of Color" water show.

A nightly dance party created as a last-minute diversion to entertain idle hordes waiting for a wildly popular attraction at Disney California Adventure has turned into an ever-evolving mainstay that might just become an accidental institution. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The new Mad T Party scheduled to debut this summer at the Anaheim theme park replaces ElecTRONica, which replaced Glow Fest, which was designed to give visitors something to do back in the summer of 2010 while waiting hours upon hours to watch the instant hit "World of Color" water show.

'Tron: Legacy' MPAA rating: PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes Playing: In general release

Tron: Legacy Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99 The 1982 sci-fi adventure "Tron" was a dry piece of computer geek philosophizing elevated by trippy special effects; the belated sequel "Tron: Legacy" is much the same. Jeff Bridges returns as idealistic computer-programmer Kevin Flynn, while Garrett Hedlund plays his son Sam, who gets sucked into the computer grid and finds himself drafted into gladiatorial games and rebelling against the system, just like his pop. The technological explanations are wonky and the "fight the power" plot is pat, but aside from the creepy de-aging effects used on Bridges, the visuals in "Tron: Legacy" pop like a psychedelic light show, and the Daft Punk score is appropriately futuristic.

"Tron: Legacy" is as much legacy as Tron. You can feel the deep imprint left by the 1982 cult classic with every flip of a light disc, every zoom of a Lightcycle, every wrinkle-resistant smile on Jeff Bridges' computer-sanitized face. With a homage around every corner, heavy hangs the crown. As it was in the beginning, "Tron: Legacy" takes us into a glow-stick world inside computers where the games are lethal and the mind can get lost, albeit with new players, a new story line, a new director and nearly three decades of improved technology including all the whiz-bang-wow the latest 3-D has to offer.

MOVIES In lieu of the French duo Daft Punk playing live during "Tron: Legacy" with a 100-piece orchestra, Hollywood's legendary El Capitan Theatre will give us the next best thing: a laser light show before each screening. OK, so it's not vocoders or spacesuits from the band that scored the Jeff Bridges vehicle, but we have a feeling that lasers shooting around the theater will delight even the most steely of robot hearts. To further entice your electronic soul: One person will win a pair of tickets to Disney California Adventure Park before every showing.

Tron: Legacy Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99 The 1982 sci-fi adventure "Tron" was a dry piece of computer geek philosophizing elevated by trippy special effects; the belated sequel "Tron: Legacy" is much the same. Jeff Bridges returns as idealistic computer-programmer Kevin Flynn, while Garrett Hedlund plays his son Sam, who gets sucked into the computer grid and finds himself drafted into gladiatorial games and rebelling against the system, just like his pop. The technological explanations are wonky and the "fight the power" plot is pat, but aside from the creepy de-aging effects used on Bridges, the visuals in "Tron: Legacy" pop like a psychedelic light show, and the Daft Punk score is appropriately futuristic.

Played in the denouement to a gripping shootout between digital warriors on rocket-propelled hang-gliders, the musical passage "Adagio for Tron" arrives about two-thirds through the $170-million sci-fi thriller "Tron: Legacy" (which hit multiplexes Dec. 17). It's an elegiac movement recorded by a symphony orchestra that features desolate violins swelling around a barely there synthesizer pulse. Scoring aces such as Hans Zimmer ("The Dark Knight," "Pirates of the Caribbean") and John Williams (the "Star Wars" and " Harry Potter" franchises)

They had fans at the trailer. For weeks, the previews for "Tron: Legacy" have offered a striking look at what digital-age décor could look like. Though the film, which opened Friday, unfolds in a virtual landscape known as the Grid, it also features the midcentury childhood home of hero Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and a modern house made from shipping containers where Flynn's son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), lives. The most dazzling interior by far, however, is the Safehouse, a glowing hideout at the edge of the "Tron" universe.

Hollywood is obsessed with producing reboots and sequels to its hit movies. But Walt Disney Co. is trying something more audacious this week ? releasing a sequel to a 1982 sci-fi fantasy film that was a box office disappointment and that most of today's moviegoers have never seen. On Friday, "Tron: Legacy" will arrive in theaters as one of most intensely marketed films of 2010, but it represents an investment that goes well beyond the box office. The movie sits at the center of a massive multiplatform push with high stakes for Disney, which is counting on the mercury-glow of the film to light up toy and apparel sales, spark purchases of related video games and lure viewers to an upcoming animated series on cable television.

The list of 2010 best picture nominations didn't offer a whole lot of surprises this year; but elsewhere ? in other, perhaps less glamorous, below-the-line categories ? there are some, well, counterintuitive titles in the mix. The poorly reviewed "The Wolfman," directed by Joe Johnston, might not be the first picture that springs to mind as an Oscar contender. But the dark and hairy horror movie starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins won raves from academy voters for its achievement in makeup, executed by Oscar winner Rick Baker and Oscar nominee Dave Elsey.

If Hollywood had a leading-man factory, Garrett Hedlund would be forged from its golden-boy mold. It's the template that produces the kind of easy-on-the-eyes, blond-haired, blue-eyed actors like Robert Redford and Brad Pitt who seem genetically predestined for roles throwing footballs, wearing cowboy hats and curling the leading lady's toes. Hedlund has done all of that in his eight years in Los Angeles, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, he is just arriving. In the last month, he's starred in a Disney tent pole ( "Tron: Legacy")

The 2010 holidays brought big-budget action movies, 3-D family adventures and star-driven comedies, but the season's only undisputed hit is an old-fashioned, guns-blazing western. "True Grit" sold a studio-estimated $24.5-million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada on its second weekend, just short of the $26.3 million taken in by the more expensive and hyped "Little Fockers. " The last week was one of the most critical of the year at the box office, even though no new movies opened.

Played in the denouement to a gripping shootout between digital warriors on rocket-propelled hang-gliders, the musical passage "Adagio for Tron" arrives about two-thirds through the $170-million sci-fi thriller "Tron: Legacy" (which hit multiplexes Dec. 17). It's an elegiac movement recorded by a symphony orchestra that features desolate violins swelling around a barely there synthesizer pulse. Scoring aces such as Hans Zimmer ("The Dark Knight," "Pirates of the Caribbean") and John Williams (the "Star Wars" and " Harry Potter" franchises)

From the lava-like raw-linen tunic inspired by avant-garde Japanese design in "The Tempest" to the Rodarte-designed twisted tutus in "Black Swan," the fashion in this holiday season's "prestige" films is notable for historical references and inventive approaches to traditional costuming. Here we talk to costume designers about the inspirations ( Grace Kelly and Comme des Garçons), headaches (1930s vintage styles and dense, 32-ounce wools) and triumphs (delicate wings and illumination technology)

They had fans at the trailer. For weeks, the previews for "Tron: Legacy" have offered a striking look at what digital-age décor could look like. Though the film, which opened Friday, unfolds in a virtual landscape known as the Grid, it also features the midcentury childhood home of hero Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and a modern house made from shipping containers where Flynn's son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), lives. The most dazzling interior by far, however, is the Safehouse, a glowing hideout at the edge of the "Tron" universe.

The list of 2010 best picture nominations didn't offer a whole lot of surprises this year; but elsewhere ? in other, perhaps less glamorous, below-the-line categories ? there are some, well, counterintuitive titles in the mix. The poorly reviewed "The Wolfman," directed by Joe Johnston, might not be the first picture that springs to mind as an Oscar contender. But the dark and hairy horror movie starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins won raves from academy voters for its achievement in makeup, executed by Oscar winner Rick Baker and Oscar nominee Dave Elsey.

The 2010 holidays brought big-budget action movies, 3-D family adventures and star-driven comedies, but the season's only undisputed hit is an old-fashioned, guns-blazing western. "True Grit" sold a studio-estimated $24.5-million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada on its second weekend, just short of the $26.3 million taken in by the more expensive and hyped "Little Fockers. " The last week was one of the most critical of the year at the box office, even though no new movies opened.

'Tron: Legacy' MPAA rating: PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes Playing: In general release

MOVIES In lieu of the French duo Daft Punk playing live during "Tron: Legacy" with a 100-piece orchestra, Hollywood's legendary El Capitan Theatre will give us the next best thing: a laser light show before each screening. OK, so it's not vocoders or spacesuits from the band that scored the Jeff Bridges vehicle, but we have a feeling that lasers shooting around the theater will delight even the most steely of robot hearts. To further entice your electronic soul: One person will win a pair of tickets to Disney California Adventure Park before every showing.