Matrix Revolutuons

[Dingo]

Originally posted by smilodon@Oct 13 2003, 10:03 PM
Films can never be more than a matter of opinion. If a person thinks a film is good then it is. It's foolish to comment on the quality of a film as if those comments were facts as opposed to opinion, which is all they are.

The Matrix Reloaded has a depth of narative rarely seen in modern films and almost never seen in 'blockbusters'. Lucas would bleed out of his ears if he even tried to write with that kind of depth. The Lord of The Rings is a very poor analogy to make as Peter Jackson had source material to work from and the Farleys we creating an original work. I'm actually struggling to think of an original and recent SciFi film that does compare?

CGI is a tool. If used correctly it works and if not it does indeed make for a poor experience at the cinema. As The Matrix films actually take place within a virtual reality world then it seems fair that CGi should play a promenent part. And many modern films need CGI to work at all. Try making Jurrasic Park without CGI! I could care less as to how much CGI a film uses as long as it works. How would we represent Smiths attack on Neo in the Matrix. Clearly Smith is a self replicating virus and attempts to infect Neo (a program himself whenever he or any human enter the Matrix). Multiple Smiths fighting Neo (in an extraordiary scene) on the baseball court is a perfectly reasonable way to depict virus activity. It also required 1 1/2 miles of highway to be built along with the recking of over 300 cars and trucks (at a cost of $40 million) rather than it all being CGI generated. It's the effective mix of CGI and real film work (as in Jurrasic park) that works so well. Add to that the real depth of narative (I've yet to find anyone who could explain exactly what the reality behind the filmed facts is) and "in my humble opinion" i think the film stands up as a great piece of modern cimena.
 

well put Smilo....and the CGI shouldn't detract from the originality of the film, the fact that it is thought provoking cinema, which in my opinion is what a good movie should be.


Big up the Pinner Massive!!  <_<  

[ChimpBoy]

Smilo - sorry if I seem too forthright.  The comments I make are opinion, but we're all big boys here and as long as it doesn't result in name-calling then you're all right by me  

The main problem I have is that I really enjoyed the first film - me and a couple of friends went to see it at uni when we knew nothing about it and there was no hype, and only went cause a couple of us were big Joe Pantoliano fans after seeing Bound (also by the Wachowskis - very good film if you can ignore the sad attempt to grab viewers via trysts between Jen Tilley and Gina Gershon  :dribble: )

Special effects were great and appropriate to the story, with strong performances (Keanu aside) and very original premise.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the first film and the hype and pomp of the second film things just went wrong for me and it became more of a spectacle rather than an engaging piece of entertainment.  I think this is a fairly well shared opinion if you look at a lot of the "main stream" respected critical reviews (e.g. Empire, Ain't It Cool News) who slathered over the movie at the time but have revisited the film after the dust has settled and pointed out that maybe it isn't all it appeared to be.

As for original sci-fi I agree that it gets harder to find decent films - maybe "Cube", "Equilibrium" (although heavily Matrix influenced), "Pitch Black" spring to mind.

And finally Dingo - stop stirring or I'll have to put the dog down  

[Stryker]

I found reloaded to be superb, only scourned by the fact it left more questions than it answered.... considering how much it answered that was a lot of questions  

Yes Equilibrium and pitch black were great films, esp pitch black..... ever seen a film with the "virgin experience"?  well imagine going to see pitch black having seen NO hype about it.... then think back how its one of those films where you'll never re-live that excitment and entertainment it brought the first time round.

I managed to watch from "dusk till dawn" without seeing any Hype or even posters.  Imagine my suprise when the vampires all popped out!  

They are great films.

[ChimpBoy]

Originally posted by Stryker@Oct 14 2003, 03:33 PM
I managed to watch from "dusk till dawn" without seeing any Hype or even posters.  Imagine my suprise when the vampires all popped out!  

Imagine my surpirse when Salma Hayek popped out in that bikini - hummana hummana   :dribble:

[smite]

I like both one and two....the only thing i dont like about them is keanu.....looking forward to the third next month.

I watched "From dusk till dawn" without knowing what it was about ...good film apart from Quentin tito, cant act atall ever.. give it up u tit.


She popped out of her bikini i missed that bit......

[OldBloke]

Originally posted by ChimpBoy+Oct 14 2003, 05:20 PM-->

[smilodon]

Originally posted by Chimpboy
very good film if you can ignore the sad attempt to grab viewers via trysts between Jen Tilley and Gina Gersho

I found absolutely nothing even remotely sad about those scenes at all


Both Pitch Black and From Dusk till Dawn were 'virgin experiences' for me and made the films far more entertaining (although I'd argue that Pitch Black didn't rely on a complex plot to achieve it's brilliance).

I also watched Seven without any real prior idea as to what it was about. Nice.

I'd be interested to know what the hell the sexyest scene in cinema was, if it wasn't Salma and the Snake! Especially as the reaction of the audience in the Pussy Twister was exactly mirrored by the male audience in every cinema that showed it - "slack jawed silence".

I now have that film on DVD and for those who maintain that you cannot wear out a DVD, I would beg to differ

[Gh0st Face Killah]

I went to see reloaded at the imax in bristol recently. Massive massive screen, 12k digital sound system and a pin sharp picture. Absolutely amazing and definately one of the best ways to see this film and the first one to.

[FBG]

god i hope they dont make zion (spelling?) part of the matrix, its so unoriginal and expected, having seen "Existence". It would be a really poor cop out if thats all they did to explain everything at the end.

Having been part of the matrix it wouldn't be all to far fetched for a real person, who is the so called one, to be able to feel the presence of the machines. And interact with them in real life.

Yeah if zion was part of the matrix it would all make sence, the reason behind zion is the idea of hope and choice which the matrix relies on to work properly. But then if thats the case what really is the matrix. If its all a virtual reality what is the reall reality. Quite frankly i couldn't give a toss, and want an ending that closes all the loose ends for a change.

I got bored thinking about about all that crap writing my dissertation for uni, so having to relive it in a film is my idea of hell.

[SecretSquirrel]

Whats this ??

Seems like I've accidentally stumbled onto  a very deep, meaningful serious adult topic.

I'm outta  here :unsure:

[Stryker]

smite.... keanu does a fine job in the matrix... he seems to put across the air of someone still shellshocked with finding out a massive massive life altering truth quiet well.....

well I think the guys a-ok anyways.

[Dr Sadako]

Originally posted by Stryker@Oct 15 2003, 03:31 PM
smite.... keanu does a fine job in the matrix... he seems to put across the air of someone still shellshocked with finding out a massive massive life altering truth quiet well.....

well I think the guys a-ok anyways.

The problem is that he puts across that character in all his movies ...

[smite]

Originally posted by Sadako+Oct 15 2003, 02:40 PM-->

[smilodon]

They did the computer world inside a  computer world in the 13th Floor as well. It would be a great idea if it hadn't been done  before.

Reeves is a rubbish actor which kind of works for Neo as Stryker says. He plays off his clueless out of his depth nature, even if he isn't aware of it.

Tom Cruise did as much in Born on the 4th of July, using his screen persona of a Top Gun pretty boy to make his change into an embittered, disabled Vietnam vet all the more moving.

Of course Keneau Reeves doesn't have the acting skills to turn into anything but a dopey Californian beach bum. So I'm not sure if he's going to be able to develop and strengthen the character into the last film ?

Frankly as long as Miss Moss continues to wear skin tight leather cat suits then I'll be well pleased  :dribble:

[A Twig]

Only downer over Miss Moss is that she could most likely beet Arnie in an arm wrestle! Her biceps are huuuuuuge!!!!  :unsure: