TRON: LEGACY.

This is awfully late, I know. But better late than never. Tron: Legacy picks up not long after the first film. Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) becomes obsessed with creating a perfect Grid--the virtual world--even to the point he creates a virtual version of himself named Clu. Flynn, Clu, and Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) work together to make the perfect world. But after a certain event, Clu turns on them, forcing Flynn out into the outlands so that he misses his window to get back to Earth. Because of this, his son--Sam (Garrett Hedlund)--must be raised by his grandparents, as well as Flynn's friend, Alan (also Bruce Boxleitner). After getting a message that seems to be from his father, Sam ends up in the Grid and must find his father--with the help of a young woman named Quorra (Olivia Wilde)--and escape before his own window closes and he can't get home.

Yeah, that's about it on the plot. They have to escape before the time window closes. There's a little subplot about perfect beings and destroying everything bad about the real world, but it's the one thing about the plot I didn't feel should be spoiled (if you want any kind of surprises, that is). The main problem? This movie is slightly over 2 hours long. That is definitely not enough plot to require that length. There should have been at least 30 minutes trimmed off. Around the middle or so, I actually felt so bored I wanted to fall asleep.

Besides that, though, there's not a whole lot that bugged me. To be honest, I was never a huge fan of the original movie, and those visual effects are so dated it's ridiculous. And considering the visual effects is what it's all about, it makes the original very difficult to watch at times. However, I always felt that if they attempted the film today, it would help tremendously. And you know what? It does. The visuals for this film are gorgeous. They really are outstanding. Everything is a lot of fun, and there is just a detail to everything that is amazing.

To add to the visuals is the awesome action. The movie starts as somewhat of a heist film in the real world which is fun. But once you get into the Grid, that's when things really get fun. From light cycle races to the ring destructo game and more, the action (well, and the visuals) is truly the reason to see this movie.

Acting-wise, everybody did a fine job. The only person to really bother me was actually Michael Sheen, who was a bit too crazy and over-the-top for my tastes. Though that's probably more of a directorial complaint than an acting one. And Olivia Wilde is gorgeous as always. Also... random Cillian Murphy appearance, WTF?

The only other thing I wanted to bring up was the fun soundtrack by Daft Punk. Sure, a lot of it seemed to be the same song on repeat, but it did vary it just enough to be good. Otherwise, I think it's clear what word best describes the movie for me: fun. It's not a great film, particularly thanks to the lackluster plot that tries to stretch itself out over 2 (at times quite long) hours. But the visuals and action are great and are really the main reasons to see this movie.


I Am McLovin!

INCEPTION.

Going in, I knew the movie was about dreams, but that was about it. I tried to keep away from learning too much about the movie. So now that I've finally seen it... holy crap. Let's see if I can explain it well enough. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are partners who have the technology to enter people's dreams and gather important information that would be otherwise impossible to get. Cobb, unable to return to the United States to be with his children, makes a deal with Saito (Ken Watanabe), a Japanese businessman. Saito asks Cobb to perform an inception, the nearly impossible task of planting an idea within somebody's subconscious, on a business rival, Fischer (Cillian Murphy). So Cobb and Arthur must put together a new team to pull off the job. Cobb goes to his father, Miles (Michael Caine), to find an architect--somebody to build the dreamworld they go into. He gives them his best student, Ariadne (Ellen Page). They also bring in two other men, Eames (Tom Hardy) and Yusuf (Dileep Rao). But what they don't expect are the additional complications the mission brings, including Cobb's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard).

Yeah, despite that lengthy explanation, I still think I failed at giving you a basic look into this movie. I suppose that's the outline shell of the plot, but there's so much more to it than that. Cobb has secrets that play out throughout the film. They aren't all completely difficult to figure out, though, but it still keeps you guessing.

In fact, that's one thing (of the many things) the movie does very well. For a good chunk of the film, you can never be sure if you're in a dream or not. You start getting about as paranoid as the characters, wondering if you're in a dream or back in reality... and then you start questioning which one truly is reality--the dream or... you get the picture. To take something from a fellow blogger, I'd say that to call this movie complex is an understatement.

And then you get the dreams themselves. The visuals are stunning, but it's how they're used that make them magnificent. Watching a city collapse in on itself, the creation a bridge by a mirror's reflection, the characters fight on ceilings and walls and float down hallways, and so much more... What makes these sequences even better is that even though they're dreams, they're happening with purpose. People don't just decide to start floating down hallways--no, they're floating down a hallway because another form of their body is free-falling. I'm sure that didn't make any sense, but it will when you see the film.

There's almost no reason to discuss the acting. It was all superb. I particularly liked Ellen Page (and there's a funny moment between her and Joseph Gordon-Levitt late in the film that's not worth spoilering, but I can't say I blame him). Though I think it's funny that both Cillian Murphy and his movie-father, Pete Postlethwaite, played Americans when one is Irish and can do a British accent and the other is British and can do an Irish accent. I know why they were American (it is part of the plot, after all). Just a random bit of coincidence--a note-worthy observation.

There's really not anything negative I can think of for this movie. It kept me on the edge of my seat. It kept me guessing. It was full of great action and awesome visuals (awesome in the classic sense of the word, at that). The acting was really good. The ideas were incredibly original and executed very well. And the ending was absolutely perfect. There are a couple irks that I don't want to bring up here due to potential spoilers, but they really aren't anything that knock the movie down at all. This is a damn near masterpiece, and I strongly recommend it.


Royale With Cheese

LKMYNTS: Watching The Detectives.

I thought I’d start out the New Year with a Little Known Movie You Need To See. This has to be one of the most original romantic comedies that I’ve seen in a long time. Neil (Cillian Murphy) is a film buff who runs a video rental store with his friends and lives his life based on the classics and B-movies. But one day, Violet (Lucy Liu) shows up in the store and completely changes his life around. Violet does everything in her power to turn Neil’s life upset down and chaotic, which is almost too much for him to handle. And unfortunately for Neil, Violet becomes like the girl who cried wolf, so he never really knows if whatever situation he’s in is actually real or staged.

To start with the acting, the only two you would recognize in this film are Cillian Murphy and Lucy Liu. But were they really some inspired casting choices or what? To see Cillian in a comedy was a sight to behold, and he really pulled off the movie buff dork very well. In fact, I haven’t felt so in tune with a character before this one. I really felt like I could really relate to him, because he was a lot like me (sadly enough). So whenever something uncomfortable happened to him that played on his gullibility, I felt uncomfortable, too (mostly because Lucy Liu’s character reminded me of a much more extreme version of one of my exes). And speaking of Lucy Liu, she was absolutely perfect for the role. It reminded me somewhat of her role in Lucky Number Slevin, except not as hyper and much more out-there. But both played their roles very well.

And then there’s the supporting cast who are always around and made me wonder why none of them are bigger stars, because they were all pretty funny. One of my favorite scenes involved them trying to figure out what scene a movie was stopped at just by looking at the tape reel inside the VHS cassette. And then there’s all the little movie conversations that are had throughout. This really is a movie for movie lovers, as there are all sorts of references and what have you, even in the background with movie posters. I even saw a magazine sitting in the background that had an image of Oh Dae-su from Oldboy. It’s just detailed stuff like that that when you catch it, it makes it that much better.

If I have any issues with the movie, there are only two, and one is much more minor than the other. To start with the minor issue, there’s a scene toward the end that’s a crying montage from Cillian Murphy that almost killed it for me. The crying was so over-the-top and ridiculous that it totally took me out of the movie. There’s a similar crying moment at the beginning, too, but it’s the montage toward the end that got to me. The more major issue was the plot… or lack thereof. There really isn’t a tight plot to pull everything together. It’s mostly just random antics from Violet toward Neil, and you’re just watching and wondering if it’s real this time or not. HOWEVER, it is all made up for at the end when there’s a nice little twist that suddenly has everything make sense. It’s just awkward to have you wait the entire movie before you realize what the plot was. To get all English-y on you, it’s kind of like writing a research paper and waiting until the end to introduce the thesis statement: sure you can do it, but it takes a talent to pull it off correctly. And did this movie pull it off? For the most part, yeah.

So if you’re a fan of Cillian Murphy (and who isn’t?), and you would like to see him do a comedy, I’d check this out. It’s not your average movie experience at all, which is ironic because the whole thing is about and an homage to movies. I thought it was great, anyway.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

Thoughts On The 28 _____ Later Movies.

I thought I should do a thoughts on on two of my favorite horror movies: 28 Days Later… and 28 Weeks Later. Unlike the previous thoughts on segments, however, this one will be both a discussion and a set of reviews (including scores). So why not just do a 2 In 1 you ask? Because there’s more I want to talk about than just the acting or cinematography or whatnot. Plus, it’ll be easier to focus on both movies simultaneously.

So first and foremost, I need to bring up the most discussed topic on these two movies: What, exactly, are The Infected? Well, they’re not zombies. I repeat:

They are not zombies.

I love zombies. I’m a zombie fanatic. I’ve studied them left and right, from the voodoo variety to the heights of George Romero and the lows of Uwe Boll. So I can safely say that to be a zombie, you must have the following three primary characteristics:

1) You must be dead.

This is key to being a cinematic zombie. You have to be a reanimated corpse, whether slow or fast for whatever reason.

2) You must eat human flesh.

This is second most important, and most obvious, trait of being a zombie. Zombies eat people. That’s why they’re so fearsome. They don’t just go for brains (as the awful Return of the Living Dead movies portray), but any bodily flesh.

3) You can only be killed via brain damage (such as a gunshot) or decapitation.

Shoot them in the knees, they’ll get back up and continue stumbling for you. Cut them in half, they’ll pull themselves with their guts dragging behind them. Set them on fire, they’ll keep on after you (at least until the fire damages the brain). No matter what, the only things to keep a zombie down is damaging the brain or severing it from the spinal column.

So, taking all of these three key characteristics into mind, let us look at The Infected:

1) They are not dead. They’re living people (albeit very angry living people).

2) They do not eat human flesh. In fact, they don’t eat period (they end up starving to death by the end).

3) They can be killed just like any other human being can be killed (as portrayed quite a few times in both movies).

The Infected follow none of the key traits of a zombie. Therefore, they’re not zombies. They’re highly enraged humans who have lost all other thoughts except for the primal urge to destroy. And that’s what they do. They use what they have (teeth, fingernails, etc.) to attack a person until they either die or become infected themselves.

So now that all of that is out of the way, we can get to my thoughts on the actual movies. I think both movies are extraordinary in what they do, and they both do different things. Days is the more philosophical one with strong characters and strong character growth. You really feel for the main group and their plight and journeys. And you feel awful when things happen to them. Weeks, on the other hand, focuses more on the heart-pounding, nonstop suspense and the family unit. But that’s not to say you don’t feel for the characters of the sequel. You do; just not in the same way. Days had a slow pacing with the suspense spread out, allowing you to really get some calm, character-knowing moments. Weeks, however, was almost non-stop action, so while you might have really liked a character and felt for them (such as Doyle), you really don’t get to feel you really know them, if that makes sense.

The next big thing to notice about each movie is the visual styles of each. Days has more of a grainy, hand-held, realistic approach, while Weeks is more mainstream high-def camera work. However, where Weeks loses in the grainy picture, it gains in the unique situations that the main characters get put into. When Andy gets stuck in the dark garage full of people, and they start becoming infected, you wonder how on earth he’s going to get out. Or when they go into the subway tunnels and it’s pitch black, so they have to rely on the night-scope and vocal orders to get through safely. Both movies have a unique style for what each does, and both work amazingly well. I would also like to take this moment to mention one of my favorite shots out of both movies, which just so happens to be in Days: When Jim first enters the church (and after passing the ‘the end is fucking nigh’ in blood on the wall), he looks down from the balcony to see a bunch of dead bodies sprawled out right underneath a painting/stained glass window of bodies sprawled out on the ground. It’s just beautiful imagery.

As for acting, Days is far superior. Cillian Murphy knocks it out of the park as Jim, and his character growth is astounding. He begins the movie as a nervous, naïve-to-the-situation, what-the-hell kinda guy. But by the end, he’s a badass, taking charge and wrecking havoc against the military guys. Naomie Harris as Selena probably has the biggest character change, though, going from heartless, tough-as-nails, take-no-shit, I’ll-kill-you-in-a-heartbeat kinda gal, to a caring, loving, compassionate individual (though still pretty tough). Brendan Gleeson as Frank the loving, though worried and protective father was great. You can’t help but feel for him and his dead-set mission on finding the military base so that his daughter can be in safe hands. If there were any downfalls in the acting, it would be Megan Burns as Hannah, Frank’s daughter, who talked really blandly half the time as if she were stoned (though, she is stoned for the entire climax, so that might be alright…).

The best performances for Weeks, on the other hand, were Robert Carlyle as Don (mostly because of his eyes and facial expressions)--at least early on in the movie, anyway--and, of course, Jeremy Renner as Doyle, who is the most likeable character in the movie. And I like him even more, as I saw in a behind-the-scenes that he shares the same opinion with me on the not-zombie issue. As for the kids… well, with real names like Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton, who needs anything more?

It really goes without saying that the winner on the suspense level is Weeks. I’ve said it before, but Weeks has one of the greatest and most suspenseful movie openings ever. And the openings for each movie really show the differences in the two movies. After the monkey sequence, Days has about 10-15 minutes of Jim walking around a beautifully desolate London all alone, slowly realizing that the entire city has seemingly evacuated completely. And then he reaches the church, has the run-in with the priest, and then is chased for about a minute or so before there’s a huge explosion, and that’s it.

Weeks, on the other hand, has a few first slow minutes before there’s a break for quick suspense, then another minute to catch our breath, and then about 5 minutes of non-stop, heart-pounding suspense. And not only that, but there’s so much emotion in that little time frame, especially with Don’s escape.

The two movies were compared in level of greatness with George Romero’s original films. Days was like Night of the Living Dead: classic and amazing. Weeks was like Dawn of the Dead: taking everything great in the first, and making it even better. I used to agree whole- heartedly with that statement, but I really think now that both movies really do two different things in amazing ways that it’s hard to say which is better than the other. The style of Days, uneasy and slow-moving, worked for the story it had to tell. But the style of Weeks, fast-paced and terror-filled, worked for its own story, as well. So in the end, they’re both great, and they’re both two of my favorite horror films. The third one better come soon. But for now, I have to give the two that are currently available both an equal score.

Royale With Cheese

(P.S. I totally forgot to mention this, but the main musical theme in both movies is one of my favorite horror movie themes ever. Purely amazing.)

2 In 1 (Altered Opinions): Sunshine and Metropolis.

This 2 In 1 was originally going to be a separate review to introduce a new kind of article, but I found a second movie to help with a similar theme. The theme for this entry is altered opinions. What I mean by that is that my original opinion was either good or bad, and after rewatching the films, my opinion changed. In this case, for both movies, my original opinions were both negative and became more positive. The first review for this one is a short one, as I've already reviewed it once on the blog (Sunshine). The second review is of the Anime version of the movie Metropolis, made back in 2001. And as an afterthought, I just realized that both movies somehow have importance with the sun... So let's get to it.

Sunshine.

Previously, I reviewed this movie with a big rant about the awful ending.

Well, I finally got myself to give it another viewing. I have to say, it was much more enjoyable the second time. To take the focus off the ending for a moment, I must reiterate just how amazing the visual effects are. I even noticed things I missed the first time around and began to appreciate it even more on a visual level.

As for the ending, I guess because I knew what to expect and knew exactly what to look for, I understood everything a whole lot more. Everything I didn’t understand about the ending the first time through, I understood more this time. I appreciated the insanity of Captain Crispy, as I dubbed him, and the reason for why he was doing what he was doing. I still feel the movie could have gone a different route, but the route it did go is more appreciated by me now. I get it fully and even like it more.

However, I still don’t care for the super-speedy blurry cam every time Captain Crispy is in the vicinity. That was just as annoying the second time through as it was the first.

Overall, the first 2/3s are still far superior, but I enjoyed the third act quite a bit more this second time around. I’m still not going to rate the movie, though, because I don’t want the ending to bring down the score of the amazing majority.

---------------

Metropolis.

When I first bought (impulsively) and watched Metropolis for the first time quite a few years ago, I remember disliking it quite a bit. All these years later, I finally decided to give it another shot. It’s based on a Manga that’s based on the original dystopian flick of the same name from the 1920s. It’s a futuristic tale where robots and humans live together, but not in harmony. The massive city of Metropolis has finally built their Ziggurat, a modern Tower of Babel. But there are many levels of the city: the surface level (the 'good part of town', so to speak), area 1 (basic working class and slums level), area 2 (factories), and area 3 (sewage). But now that this Ziggurat, which allows the user to distort sunspots on the surface of the sun to therefore cause radiation to cause all robots to malfunction, has been built, it needs somebody to constantly run it. Duke Red, head of a corrupt side of the government, has Dr. Loughton create the perfect robot (a human-looking android, basically) named Tima so that she can be said tool. Meanwhile, a Japanese detective and his nephew, Kenichi, come into town to arrest Dr. Loughton for illegal operations. But Duke Red’s apparently adopted son and right-hand assassin, Rock, strongly loathes robots and believes his ‘father’ should sit on the throne of the Ziggurat, so he attempts to destroy Tima. However, he fails, and Kenichi ends up travelling through the lower areas with Tima while trying to stay alive as Rock continually tries to kill them.

Now, while I still don’t think this movie is a masterpiece, I appreciated it a lot more than I remember doing the first time. The animation is done very well (though a bit too cartoonish, if that makes sense, with the overly large noses on some characters). Though the action of the movie looks great, especially with anything Rock does. The music, I thought, was very fitting. Most of it falls somewhere in the vicinity of the 1920-1950s, and at least half of it is jazzy. The song during the climax scene was done very well and works really nicely with all the destruction and such.

The problem with the movie rests with the characters and the plot. I’ll start with the characters: For being around each other so much, they barely interact. And when they do, it’s usually Tima repeating ‘Kenichi’ over and over again. There’s no character development or connection. I really don’t feel anything for any of the characters. It’s just kind of like… they’re there.

As for the plot, it really feels like there was a lot missing. The movie could have been longer than it was, really (which might have helped with character development). For instance, Kenichi and Tima start off together in area 3 with this cleaning robot. The next thing we know, they’re leaving area 3, and they’ve nicknamed the robot ‘fifi’ for no apparent reason. And they get this big attachment to the robot, yet there wasn’t shown enough interaction for it to really show us. Similarly, a little bit later, Kenichi and Tima come across a group of resistance fighters. But we aren’t shown them actually meeting or introducing each other. There’s about two or three minutes talking about how they want to overthrow the government… and the next thing we know, we’re seeing a full-out coup d’etat. There were no forms of transitions anywhere in there. Nothing. It felt like there was 30 minutes of the movie just missing, like there should be a whole section of the movie with Tima and Kenichi hanging out and talking with the resistance guys. And there are other scenes and moments just like those throughout the movie.

Not to mention that the case the detective dude is trying to solve isn’t a mystery to the viewers, as we saw everything that happened. Detective mysteries are only effective if both the detective and the audience are equally in the dark and have to figure it out simultaneously. Otherwise, it’s boring and silly.

So really, if you’re a fan of anime or sci-fi (such as Blade Runner), watch this one, if anything, for the animation style, the atmosphere, and the music. The story itself isn’t too bad, but there’s a lot lacking. A bit more length could have helped this issue, as well as character development and such. The good and the bad really kind of cancel each other out, for the most part. And although I’d like to give it one notch higher, I’m afraid the whole movie just doesn’t cut it enough to grant it that score.

Stop Saying Okay! Okay.

Bizarre Noir #7: Batman Begins.

Welcome to the seventh (and final) of seven posts that will review bizarre noir movies! I hope you enjoyed the series. For more information or previous entries, check the posts below this one.

-------------

Batman Begins.

Year of Origin: 2005.

Director: Christopher Nolan.

Why it's bizarre: Superhero!

I’m sure you probably wouldn’t think of a Batman movie as noir, but it is. It has the majority of the common elements. Batman is a detective, for all intents and purposes. He always has a strong female counterpart. He has a troubled past, and he’s a troubled person. And there’s no darker or grittier of a setting than Gotham City. And it has never been grittier than in Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan’s revamp of the series takes us back to the very beginning on how and why Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) first became Batman. After leaving to discover the dirtiness of the world, Bruce is found by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a spokesperson for a group known as the League of Shadows, led by Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe). But when Bruce finds out what they’re really about, he backs out and returns home to Gotham to butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes). But all is not well in Gotham. Crime is higher than ever with crime lord Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) and the mysterious workings of asylum owner Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy). So Bruce, with the help of Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), gets the cool gadgets to use as Batman, and then gets the help of policeman Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) to help bring down the crime of the city.

Obviously, there’s a load of big names in this movie, so the acting is phenomenal. Christian Bale, to me, is the perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne. The only acting downfall was Katie Holmes, but even she wasn’t completely horrible.

There were quite a few things when I first heard about this movie that I thought were mistakes. For instance, the look of the batmobile. I thought it was ridiculous… until I saw it on film and realized it was awesome. Also, as much as I love Gary Oldman, he wasn’t exactly how I pictured Gordon, but he pulled it off, as well.

The cinematography is great, dark, and gritty, as it should be. Christopher Nolan has a great style that was really fitting for the world of Batman. And all the action is cool, especially the batmobile chase through the streets and rooftops. Batman is dark and mysterious, yanking people from the sky, hiding within the shadows, etc., which is exactly how he should be.

The only negative I can really give it is that, on subsequent viewings, I find it’s way too long. I always have trouble getting through the whole thing. There’s two interconnected stories in the movie, so I know a lot is important, but there just feels like some of it could have been trimmed a bit to make it slightly shorter. Other than that, the movie is great, and I can’t wait for The Dark Knight.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

Disappointing Endings... Sunshine.

WARNING: SPOILERS (Obviously).

I had been waiting to see this movie for a long time. 28 Days Later… is one of my favorite horror movies, and I just kept hearing more and more about this film. It didn’t come to theater here, so I had to wait for the DVD, which came out yesterday. I knew about the supposedly awful last part of the movie, and I even readied myself for it. I was prepped and had my expectations set pretty low for the very end. And I was still disappointed.

Sunshine is about a group of astronauts and scientists who go to reignite the sun with a huge bomb after the previous attempt failed and the ship went missing. On their way, they find the previous ship and decide to go off-course in order to see what happened and to get their bomb so they would have two, in case they screwed up the first time. Bad things ensue.

Visually, this movie was beyond amazing. All of the effects were mesmerizing and top notch. The sun itself was spectacular. The acting was done very well, and overall… it was just a great piece of work. The first hour and 15-20 minutes was a great film. And then the last 20 minutes came.

…What the hell happened? Like 28 Days Later…, the third act of this movie takes a completely different route than you had been expecting. But unlike Days, it really doesn’t work here. Suddenly it goes from an awesome sci-fi movie to a less violent (but less stupid) Jason X. I have no idea what the hell is going on anymore. Suddenly the camera is too shaky to see what’s going on at all, there’s almost no explanation as to what happened, and an extra crispy man that would make a sadistic Colonel Sanders proud starts wreaking havoc on the ship. To me, it felt like The Descent all over again (I swear, I’m the only horror fan on Earth that didn’t like that movie. The first half was great and suspenseful… and then the little blind Gollums show up and it gets crappy).

But then Capa (Cillian Murphy) detaches the bomb, starts banging his head against the ground, and then leaps through space to grab onto it as it launches at the sun. I have no idea why he’s doing this, and then it looks like he’s dead. But oh no, the next thing we know, he’s inside the thing and walking around, and has to fix something or other for the bomb to explode (What, I don’t think we’re ever told).

The last minute of the movie ('8 minutes later') is a good, but it was way too late by that point. The 20 minutes prior to it was just… words cannot describe. If they were adamant to go this route, it would have been better had they just had one of their own crew (the little Asian dude, maybe) get all mental and go crazy like any other paranoia/claustrophobic movie (like Cube). I don’t even really know how to score this movie. The majority would get a great score and the ending would get an awful score, and if I average it together, it would be just that… average. But I don’t think that’s fair to the bulk of the film. So I’ll just leave it open.

(P.S. Was it just me, or did Chris Evans look better/cooler with the long hair and beard?)

UPDATE: I've updated my opinion on this now. The updated opinion can be found here.