Post #102,551
5/19/03 10:48:58 AM
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Matrix: Revolutions w/spoilers.
Ok, neat trick - provide an outlet for human society to send the malcontents - Zion. Hell, I've got a better idea - make them *think* they've woken up from the Matrix, when they're still really plugged in - and when Neo stops the robots at the end of Revolutions, he's actually finally pegging to the fact that "reality" is just another layer of the onion skin.
I doubt they're going to have the balls to do it, though.
The acting was painful and stilted. Agent Smith was probably the best character in the whole thing... Which says something, because every fight that had him IMO sucked. OTOH, the freeway sequence kicked ass - escalating the tension each time you didn't think it was possible.
How many people do you think Neo killed to save Trinity? I'm not talking about the choice he made to save her instead of reinitialize the matrix - I'm talking about that Mach 50 flight he made to grab her, yanking who knows how many cars, people, buildings, etc into explosive decompression mode...
Gee, we're right back to David Brin and Star Wars all over again.
They say a city in the desert lies/ The vanity of an ancient king/ But the city lies in broken pieces/ Where the wind howls and the vultures sing/ These are the works of man/ This is the sum of our ambition...
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Post #102,641
5/19/03 7:47:07 PM
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The onion skin thing
I had the same thought. Probably because I read Stanislaw Lem's "The Futurological Congress", where the onion effect is taken to an absurd level. The concept there is that the govornment realized that spraying hallucinogens on a rioting mob so they think there are tanks attacking is cheaper than real tanks.
I think you are right, though - they don't have the guts any more than Lucas has the guts to make Episode III redefine things so the Empire is the good guys. At least not on purpose - a few more annoyingly righteous Jedi...
Did that opening thing with the Matrix green numbers look just like the MCP core in Tron to anyone else?
And did anyone else think "Leia!" when whoever it was said there was one survivor?
I though there was a bit of comic book look to the whole movie. I thought it was on purpose, but maybe they just got cheap on the rendering farms.
I think the pointy little goatee is the Matrix equivalent to the Star Trek (TOS) red shirt.
----
Whatever
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Post #102,671
5/19/03 10:18:02 PM
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To bump the scale a bit..
Without seeing it - though maybe it'll float around on someone's DVD in due course - your desc. sounds like what I would have bet on. All these alleged 'visionary' flics, when they reach the $400M/flic purse-size, dance around the concept of Reality and obtusely / also ever-so Popularly / maybe inevitably..
Lack the wit or courage to make manifest that which is obvious to anyone more than casually interested in *THAT* concept, and who comes to realize that We Don't Know Shit about THAT! and are unlikely even to more than glimpse a taste (especially anyone who has never experienced silence).
Nope, they'd rather do coffee table Explorations of the same old same old tawdry imaginations, like in those Other Big Books that seem to work, for centuries at a time.
BS; More of the Same, Piled higher and Deeper.
{Yawn} - it's Disneyland with code-snips; nothing to see here. Move --> On.
'Reboot' -?- My Ass. It ain't even a warm-boot, except to one's Intelligence. 'Nother car chase and Action-itis for Its Own juvenile Sake\ufffd
Ashton
Radio was infinitely superior; you Had to use your own mind and experience, not just connect up yer optical IV and consume like a tick. I miss the rebroadcasts on local NPR, of some of the good stuff - Harlan Ellison was Em Cee IIRC. The Marching Morons? was one. "Science Fiction Theater" maybe title - time to write and bug PBS/NPR. Stay silent and they think nobody is listening ... like everywhere else. That one ceased over a year ago, along with Daniel Pinkwater's wonderful "tales" for kids/Adults. :(
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Post #102,689
5/19/03 11:27:49 PM
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Key to the next movie
I think the key to the next movie was near the start. When the one Agent Smith is talking to the other Agent Smith and says something like this:
Agent Smith 1: Everything is going like it did last time
Agent Smith 2: (cracks neck)Not exactly like it did last time.
I'm curious to see which way they go with that though.
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. The highway chase was the best part. The worst part was the fight in the palace. It was done too fast to follow the weapons, ruining much of the effect. I did notice that Neo seemed to be using the Sai's correctly, something that few movies or books do. The ghosts where neat, just enough of a change up to be interesting without breaking the background.
One thing I really liked was that in many ways the end is more open then the end of the first one. The hero's actually have less idea of what they are doing and why then they did at the end of the first one.
Jay
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Post #102,762
5/20/03 11:17:00 AM
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Matrix sequel problems
the original had the matrix as the star
reloaded is just an animated karate flick with a bit of Superman thrown in
the best part was the religious philosophy being debunked
Neo is a lot like Byron the Bulb in Gravity's Rainbow
A
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Post #103,444
5/24/03 11:23:50 PM
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The rabbit hole is deeper than we realize.
... which is roughly what occurred to me when he stopped those sentinels outside The Matrix. Pity they didn't play up how impossible this is supposed to be; IMO Trinity should not have been quite that unflappable.
I can understand why people didn't like it. Compared to the first one, the fighty bits were more intense, more numerous and longer and the talky bits were more opaque and longer. The increased contrast was obvious and I suspect a lot of people who saw it were simply not prepared for a cerebral action movie. The Wachowski brothers pulled it off successfully with the first one where if you didn't grok the thinking stuff it didn't really matter. But if you didn't, then the learning curve was a lot steeper with number two, because you not only needed to know how the first worked but you had to be able to mostly keep up during the second!
Thinking back about to what the Architect told Neo, I get the impression that if they architected Neo's personality as much as he hinted they did, then they might have erred in engendering a love in him for a particular person. The Architect certainly didn't want Neo to exit through the door he did, though he said he knew they could cope if he did. Also, a subtle point my friends didn't catch: Zion hasn't been destroyed! The Matrix Reloaded ended before that question had been answered.
I also wanted to see Morpheus' reaction when Neo told him that he was the sixth One! Maybe we'll see that in Revolutions...
Wade, who actually like it, but thought the first was slightly better.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #103,450
5/24/03 11:39:49 PM
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Thank you.
I was him-haw-ing about weather to go or not. with thie piece of info. Makes me feel I need to see it on the big screen.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
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Post #103,737
5/27/03 10:57:54 PM
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Check out the PS/2 game.
NOTE: I have not read this thread. I have no idea what is in it, since I haven't watched the movie yet.
However, we played the Matrix PS/2 game this weekend. Excellent. I love the implementation of "bullet time".
The game follows Niobe and Ghost. There are a few interesting bits towards the beginning (we didn't get that far), one of which is a comment that "Zion lasted 72 hours last time." This led to speculation (my brother in law *has* seen the movie) that the world Zion is in is just another layer of Matrix for the people who get wise to the interior one.
After I see the movie, I'll come back here and read the responses. ;-)
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #103,751
5/28/03 2:55:02 AM
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You're easily pleased, I see :)
I thought it was shite - but then how could it be anything else? It could never, ever miss the launch date of the movie, so whatever compiled that particular morning got released.
Cheesy engine, cheesy movement (whoever did the running motion capture wants shooting), and continuous little "go here now" arrows. Argh. Horrible.
/me goes back to playing proper computer games like UT2K3.
Peter
[link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Blog]
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Post #103,762
5/28/03 7:49:46 AM
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Your brother-in-law is not alone in his speculation. :-)
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #105,246
6/7/03 1:11:17 PM
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I thought I did at the theatre?
Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance -
Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation.
BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
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Post #105,268
6/7/03 11:20:33 PM
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Heh... nope.
2 hours of extra film for the game. It has a plot that follow Niobe and Ghost, complementing the movie. For example, you find out how the tape is retrieved, things like that.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #105,199
6/6/03 11:39:26 PM
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Best character:
The Oracle. Again. No question. She steals the show in that respect.
I didn't have any issues with the other actors, but then again, I go to movies to be entertained, not pick them apart.
The fight scenes: they felt a bit staged, as in "oo, we need a big fight thing here". The only real pulse pounder was the car chase (of course) -- that scene really recaptured the feel of the original.
I was expecting more to be made of the vampires.
This film felt a lot like set-up for the finish. I'm looking forward to film 3.
On the onion skin: everyone I've talked to has the same idea. Hell, *I* had the same idea after just playing the game for a bit, after the 'this is the 6th time Zion has been destroyed' bit. We'll see, I guess.
Agent Smith as human provocateur was interesting. As was the bit about rogue programs and back doors (ha, ha).
All in all, very entertaining. Time to buy the soundtrack. ;-)
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #105,285
6/8/03 8:33:04 AM
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Doors were not completely original.
If you've read Raymond E Feist you will have come across his Hall of Worlds. Same idea done in a different fantasy. But it was interesting to see someone else do it, nonetheless. It was a concept easy for standard Hollywood writers to wreck. Which the Wachowski brothers didn't.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #105,479
6/10/03 1:05:07 AM
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C.S. Lewis, too
The Wood Between the Worlds. Described in one of the Narnia books.
A very quiet woods, with many ponds. Jump in a pond, and you end up... someplace. Each pond led to a different world.
----
Sometime you the windshield, sometime you the bug...
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Post #105,619
6/10/03 9:54:11 PM
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It's quite a Great metaphor too, IMhO.
Jung's archetypes explore the recurrent theme from our reptile-stage brains - the womb; we were born in water! Saline, too.. hmmm.
Do ya suppose -
(Present also in all those dreams, D'Oh! but chicken-boy Freud wasn't into more than silly data-taking; enough to screw up generations with his simplistic tripe and his spin on his clients' simply truthful reports: completely missing the Point of his clients' revelations of actual events, not "wishful thinking".[1] Missed on purpose; so he could retain his 'position' of Importance.
Ashton
[1] [actually eliding.. from first 'reports'] It is by now close-enough confirmed that he was ~ aware of the prevalence of family incestual behaviour in his times. Victorian England's Puritannical surface misled only the terminally naive. And Freud played along so as not to piss off his 'colleagues' with a small opening of Uncomfortable truth. Coward. PHB-mindset IMO.
I rank Herr Freud with those bastards [link|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/before.html| Watson & Crick] - for sheer male arrogance (in several aspects) and basic dishonesty all around. Watson's still alive - and won't apologize for plagiarism and patent premeditated deceit, via actively smearing the character and abilities of Rosalind Franklin.
Love to meet the bastard.
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Post #105,944
6/13/03 6:56:13 AM
6/13/03 6:57:17 AM
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*hits self on head*
Of course! And I should have spotted that; I used to be quite the Narnia fan.
And the book was "The Magician's Nephew".
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
Edited by static
June 13, 2003, 06:57:17 AM EDT
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Post #105,957
6/13/03 8:09:51 AM
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Hey, now...
What is all this violence towards Karsten now?
/me ducks and runs
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
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Post #106,643
6/20/03 7:41:26 AM
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/me points to my shift key.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #106,102
6/14/03 12:42:53 AM
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Ow!
--\r\n
Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]\r\n
[link|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/]\r\n
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?\r\n
[link|http://twiki.iwethey.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/|TWikIWETHEY] -- an experiment in collective intelligence. Stupidity. Whatever.\r\n
\r\n
Keep software free. Oppose the CBDTPA. Kill S.2048 dead.\r\n[link|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html]\r\n
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