Reschat

In addition to today being the premiere of season 2 of House of Cards it was also the premiere of the movie Camp Takota (2014). I felt split between which of the two to watch first but I ended up going with Camp Takota and I'm glad I did.

Camp Takota is a movie made by YouTube's Holy Trinity, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart. I have to admit that these three were the sole reason I wanted to the see Camp Takota and I honestly didn't expect the movie to be more than just acceptable. I was wrong.

Camp Takota is a good, solid movie; and more than that, it is a movie that doesn't feel like most other movies. The specialness of the movie lies in the details and the way an otherwise ordinary tale is told. Camp Takota radiates both endearing familiarity as well as a delightful special Camp Takota charm which comes together and takes the movie from good to great.

I, for one, am completely surprised by Camp Takota. My low hopes got put to shame by what turned out to be a great movie. Definitely a movie I can recommend, especially if you like the humor of either of Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, or Mamrie Hart on YouTube.

Croft is a fan short film which is beautifully shot and choreographed. I hadn't gotten my hopes up but I might has well have since Croft turned out to be the best action short film I've ever watched.

In the lead as The Hero we have stunt performer (Supernatural, Arrow, Continuum), actress (Arrow), and YouTube vlogger (youtube.com/nerdzrl) Cassandra Ebner who won a reward for Female Action Performer of the Year for her role in Croft. It was through Cassandra's vlogs that I first learned about Croft and she certainly did deliver a noteworthy performance.

Croft is a stunt-focused action short film with a simplistic story and a very solid feel to it. The film excels in its action and cinematography which makes it an absolute blast to watch. I can highly recommend you watching Croft - and since it is freely available on YouTube you might as well give it a shot.

A few hours ago I watched TRON: Legacy (2010) and despite mixed feelings about the 3D experience, I really enjoyed the movie.

Yesterday I watched the original TRON (1982) to prepare for the movie tonight and even though I didn't love it, it was still enjoyable (especially Jeff Bridges's performance). So when I today went and watched the sequel, several smaller aspects gave a little extra because I had the original fresh in my mind.

The story wasn't mind-blowing but it was decent, consistent, and provided the necessary suspense. The characters (and acting) on the other hand were excellent making the situations and interactions very believable. For this reason, one of my favorite scenes was actually a simple dinner conversation between Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), and Quorra (Olivia Wilde) which depicted so much more than the word exchanged.

To stay with the extremely good aspects of the movie, the whole "system structure" and "society" were actually quite interesting and very well made. At no point did I find the events in the TRON world weird or inexplicable, which I actually had expected at least a few to be.

Now to one of the main aspects the movie have been promoted through: The action. I really enjoyed all action sequences, whereof several were extremely clever made giving some fun twists in fast and exiting action scenes. But I'm not sure if the 3D helped enhance the experience.

During the movie I wished that I could watch it in 2D instead of 3D (using polarized 3D glasses). At several points I found the picture blurry and disorientating. Not sure why but the two movies I have watched in 3D (Avatar and this) where both somewhat disorientating in curtain scenes, making me wish that I had watched them in normal 2D instead. So I'm not at all a fan of 3D and when I can avoid it, I choose to do so.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie, with the characters and "society" being the parts I found the most entertaining and interesting. I can highly recommend watching it.

• Halfdan Reschat

"I'd mount that ISO"