Genre Character of the Week:Quorra

Last Saturday I went to see the film Tron Legacy with my younger daughter and a friend of hers, as well as my BFF Mike. Although the movie was a little short on story, it was big on wish fulfillment (as to why Sam hasn’t seen his father in 20 years) and action, also the effects were pretty cool. The standout character for me, however was the love interest for Sam, Quorra (pictured above).

When we first meet her, Quorra (played by Olivia Wilde) is saving Sam’s life (a pretty awesome introduction in any action film). She is quickly introduced as Kevin Flynn’s (Sam’s father and the main character of the movie Tron) assistant.

Now the tricky thing for me is to explain why I liked the character without going into spoilers. Basically she’s loyal and pretty much an innocent – although she is a creation of the grid, she is willing to back Sam’s father even into exile, not something I would necessarily do in her shoes. Past that, all I can say is that the concept behind her character was my second favourite thing about the movie (right after the score, which was amazing).

Bookmonkey's top 5 Genre Films to see before Christmas

As it is now September, I thought it would be a good time to look ahead to the genre films I'm hoping to see over the next few months - this doesn't count the obvious films I'll see with my kids like Harry Potter 7 or the next Narnia film, or the non-genre films I'm hoping to check out, but instead we'll look at the ones I'm hoping to see for myself.

I've put the list into release schedule order, so let's start with September:

Let Me In (October 1)

On the same day that the first Twilight film was released into theatres, a Swedish film about the budding relationship between a vampire and a human was released, and although not nearly as popular, Let The Right One In is by far the better film - the story is scarier, more intriguing, and has blood (which is kind of important in a vampire movie). The upcoming American remake has a lot to stand up to, but I'm hoping the remake will be worthwhile - just make sure you see the original first.

Red (October 15)

Last years I took my BFF Mike to see Surrogates, wherein Bruce Willis played a man and a remote controlled robot, based off of a graphic novel. This year he appears in RED, based off a graphic novel by Warren Ellis (which, although short was a lot of fun), the film is pretty action-based - I was intrigued by Bruce Willis, but I've got to say the image of Helen Mirren with a machine gun in the Trailer is what moved this up to the top five of my must see list.

Skyline (November 12)

I like alien invasion stories - there, I've said it. If you have aliens invading Earth, you've probably ensured I'm going to buy a ticket and check it out. Add the creepy factor of people getting sucked up into the flying saucers and the casting of personal favourite Donald Faison and this is a movie I'll try to get to as a matinee.

Tron Legacy (December 17)

I saw the movie Tron when I was in after-school care, back in early Elementary, in a room with a whole bunch of grade 1-6 kids. The lights were on, the popcorn was stale, but the constant noise of the centre was virtually non-existent as soon as the film started. As a kid I really, REALLY liked tis movie, so now I'm going to have to check out the sequel.

Gulliver's Travels (December 24)

Each Christmas my family goes out to the movies - we aim for the early evening show, as the theatre is almost always empty and it gets us out of the house - It's cold up here in Canada. Last year we saw Sherlock Holmes and had a great time, so when I looked to the release schedule for films this Christmas I was happy to see a family friendly fantasy film - my family likes Jack Black, and I read the original novel last year so I'm interested to see where the film makers will go with this film.