going off my years-old memory i'd 100% agree with you, it's the one film of his i felt actually had any compelling character work and drama

i refuse to reengage with his work for that reason. my memory of reservoir dogs from when i was like 18 is really good and i don't need to have that invalidated. maybe one day i'll watch jackie brown? no interest in sitting through pulp fiction again

he's stressful to watch interact with other people, it's a bad feeling. there was a baby in the theatre who had the right idea every time jared leto appeared on screen. he actively ruins any potential this movie had for being "very dumb but at least a fun music video"

jared leto wants to become a real boy because the movie wants that to be the arc - no effort is given for how he's becoming alive, and while that could honestly be passable for a tron movie (the soundtrack is the real draw tbh), leto's so genuinely offputting that your brain can't just let it slide

fundamentally stupid, vapid film. the good corporation wins because they're blue and not red and want to make orange trees and not tanks. the justification for encom being Good is that their offices are well lit and they aren't run by a whiny evan peters. it's such a lazy fucking movie

but granting the movie that parallel, the popular conversation around ai is about whether this phenomenally inefficient, chronically incorrect, and delusion inducing technology is even ethical - and the movie's sole contribution is "it'd be nice if it was used for nice things instead of weapons :)"

it's hard because i almost don't want to let tron ares have the satisfaction of weighing in on the AI DISCOURSE, or whatever, because its conception of programs is so well beyond large language models and machine learning in real life and the movie never really attempts to bridge that gap

had some interesting visual ideas in places but the most distinct shot in ARES is when ares is standing on that 90 degree wall, it's this XCU of his mask, and under his perfectly sharp and angular helmet you see jared leto's scraggly ass beard poking out. emblematic of the whole thing honestly

yeah, can you imagine

eyes bloodshot, teeth chattering, fingernails scraping at the desk. "more bathrooms," i wheeze. the chatbot spins. i see my pallid grimace in the dim monitor glow. eternity passes in buzzing silence. the ai presents a new blueprint. three new bathrooms labeled "bedroom 7, open concept." satisfactory

The lack of social safety net, resources for disabled, and crumbling minorities mental health so they cull theirselves is all capitalism working as intended. I am so tired.
I am making a fantasy comic about This Exact Thing if you want to help me survive it
www.patreon.com/coyoteprince

i could never forget bone collector.