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HundredProofSam
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Watching The Man from Earth - the idea is nice, the writing is excellent, the music and editing is excellent. It's a shame that it's completely destroyed by some mediocre acting. I would recommend just listening to the movie - must listen.

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I love matrix sequels

Gosh, how many more of you are there? You're off my list, dante77.

 

 

Yeah, I rate people based on the movies they watch. I am THAT shallow :|

 

 

Watching The Man from Earth - the idea is nice, the writing is excellent, the music and editing is excellent. It's a shame that it's completely destroyed by some mediocre acting. I would recommend just listening to the movie - must listen.

 

Well, they couldn't afford A-listers. This was a no-budget movie, hardly had any publicity when it hit DVD even. The irony of it all is, it was the Jack Sparrows of the world that made this movie famous and paid for the DVDs. The director was infact grateful to the pirates for the word of mouth and wrote a warm thank you note to the filesharers on one of the sites.

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Watching The Man from Earth - the idea is nice, the writing is excellent, the music and editing is excellent. It's a shame that it's completely destroyed by some mediocre acting. I would recommend just listening to the movie - must listen.

I had no issues with acting .. i have seen far worse cough! Twilight cough! . The whole movie is about the conversation that goes on.

 

@Arun: I watched Matrix Revolutions and Reloaded first day first show :scarerun:

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@Arun: I watched Matrix Revolutions and Reloaded first day first show :doh:

 

Watched them opening weekend too. Just that I felt different about it, you know like that bad traffic accident you can't look away from.

I remember watching in disgust as they sullied the original and the anxiety caused when I realised that my kvlt chat handle/email (neo##@yahoo.com) can never be used in public again.

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I had plenty of ideas(lot of them sucky) back then. Pretty rusty now but I'll give it a shot

 

For starters, some back story into what caused the war, stuff from the Second Renaissance, cut to present where Neo takes on Morpheus' role, recruits crew for the Nebuchadnezzar. Unplugs more people from the Matrix etc. etc. Some sub plots involving the new recruits, link back to events that caused the war, more Agent Smith dialogue, no sweaty zion rave party etc..

 

EDIT: quick rewrite

Edited by arun360
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Watched [REC]. Horror movies won't just be the same after paranormal activity :doh:

 

Really? PA was a good movie but definitely not great. Now when I think of it - the hype wasn't really worth it. It was scary no doubt and a well made movie given the budget but it's nowhere near something like The Exorcist or The Shining. The former has stayed with me since childhood and it still scares me.

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I had plenty of ideas(lot of them sucky) back then. Pretty rusty now but I'll give it a shot

 

For starters, some back story into what caused the war, stuff from the Second Renaissance, cut to present where Neo takes on Morpheus' role, recruits crew for the Nebuchadnezzar. Unplugs more people from the Matrix etc. etc. Some sub plots involving the new recruits, link back to events that caused the war, more Agent Smith dialogue, no sweaty zion rave party etc..

 

EDIT: quick rewrite

 

But Neo was the one, morpheus was looking for him all his life and he found him.

 

Now you want neo to find another one ??

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I had plenty of ideas(lot of them sucky) back then. Pretty rusty now but I'll give it a shot

 

For starters, some back story into what caused the war, stuff from the Second Renaissance, cut to present where Neo takes on Morpheus' role, recruits crew for the Nebuchadnezzar. Unplugs more people from the Matrix etc. etc. Some sub plots involving the new recruits, link back to events that caused the war, more Agent Smith dialogue, no sweaty zion rave party etc..

 

EDIT: quick rewrite

 

Well first off (even though I like the trilogy as a whole), I must say the sequels are nowhere close to the first one. However, if they just had more of the same (y'know Neo becoming a Morpheus like figure, unplugging more humans etc) then it would all be redundant. Everything was already established in the first one. I know many were turned off by the whole revelation at the end of Reloaded since it turns the first one over it's head and makes most of it rather pointless. And then the whole explanation of Neo's real world powers in Revolutions was lame (I agree with that). But does everything have to be explained? Why can't viewers use some imagination or speculate? Has the "Force" in Star Wars ever been properly explained? But fans still accept it for what it is.

 

However, I still loved the symbolism and the new characters that the sequels introduced. The Wachowski's could have played it safe like Jerry Bruckheimer and given people more of the same. Instead they chose to take a different direction and try something that no one expected. Almost each and every theory that people came up with before the release of the sequels did not hold true. I liked the fall of Morpheus. The look on his face when the Nebuchadnezzar blew up was something no one could have expected from him. Even Smith's character was developed really well. The Merovingian, the Keymaker, the Train Man... all great characters. You don't see original characters like these in movies too often. I guess perhaps the weakest link was Neo himself.

 

I don't have to write about the action scenes and the VFX. Reloaded had some of the best action sequences of this decade. I totally love the Chateau fight and the Burly Brawl. In that respect the sequels did not disappoint. Remember that it was the action that made the first Matrix popular. It's only after people got past the action part that they realized it actually had a brilliant concept and story.

 

Of course the sequels have some major flaws. The Wachowski's contradicted some of their own rules that they defined in the first one. No weapons on ships except EMP? No! Now we have machine guns too! No confrontation with agents? Now we fight them without thinking twice. Someone explained this by saying that now that the One was found, the resistance had increased confidence and were not afraid anymore. Then again haters will always point these holes out and the defenders will keep coming with explanantions.

 

The ending of the trilogy was fitting. I really don't see how else it could have worked out. Haters will say it was an obvious set up for the crappy MMO but honestly how else would you want it to end? Destroy the Matrix and kill billions of humans?

 

This isn't one of my best write ups but it's been a while since I've argued about the Matrix sequels.

Edited by Ser Tyler
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But Neo was the one, morpheus was looking for him all his life and he found him.

 

Now you want neo to find another one ??

I meant take on Morpheus' role as commanding officer on ship, you know, include some U-boat drama in the process?

 

Well first off (even though I like the trilogy as a whole), I must say the sequels are nowhere close to the first one. However, if they just had more of the same (y'know Neo becoming a Morpheus like figure, unplugging more humans etc) then it would all be redundant.

 

Why, in the hands of a good director - any subject shot interestingly with clever writing and performances to back it up ought to work. There was room for so many subplots. They could've been inspired by one or a mixture of the numerous theories/fanfiction floating about after the first film. The Wachowskis had 4 years to come up with it!

 

IMO Reloaded and Revolutions were painful to watch.

 

I found just one scene from the sequels truly matrix worthy -

Neo stuck at the Subway Station in Revolutions. After he is denied access to the train, he steps off the platform and runs along the tracks in one direction only to return back through the other

.

 

I don't even remember much. I've watched Reloaded and Revolutions exactly twice. Maybe I rewinded a couple of scenes during the second watch but that's it. Twice. And I've watched the first one over 35 times, own it on VCD, DVD and Blu-Ray - it is still my favorite HomeTheatre demo disc.

 

The first Matrix was a good scifi flick with eastern influences that also took the time laugh at itself and pay homage to some great films of the past.

 

Reloaded and Revolutions on the other hand, took themselves too seriously and lost the magic/charm/point of the original in some half baked attempt to become Star Wars. It's just shoddy filmmaking most of the time. The editing was really really poor. They should've just bundled both sequels into a 2 hr movie and it may have been half decent. I'm sorry, but the incessant onslaught of turgid vapid dialogue from turgid vapid characters was just too much to take.

 

The sequels didn't work for me at all. I guess we're going to have to just agree to disagree :P

 

BTW, your writeup was very well written Tyler. And well argued even after all these years. I still don't know what a befitting ending would be. I wish it was left untouched standalone or had been drawn out over 5 movies in the vein of the first before riding it to the ground with Reloaded and Revolutions. I'm sure you were disappointed on some level with the sequels but instead of being all "arrr, sequel ruined my favorite movie of all time" it's cool that you took the good things from the movies and are still a fan :)

Edited by arun360
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I'm sure you were disappointed on some level with the sequels but instead of being all "arrr, sequel ruined my favorite movie of all time" it's cool that you took the good things from the movies and are still a fan :naughty:

 

You are right in a way. The Matrix is my favorite movie of all time. IMO no other movie combines sci-fi, action, VFX and story as well as it does and with style to boot. It's like everything I love about movies condensed into one. And yes, much like you I own it in every possible format. I really did not want the trilogy to get ruined by the sequels, so I just accepted them for what they were. I was disappointed when I saw them for the first time but they got much better on repeated viewings. There was a very interesting website back then which dissected both sequels rather well. I lost the link to the articles though (will try to search for them). It wasn't written by a fanboy and had a fair amount of criticism about the sequels too. But it really put a new twist on them.

 

I totally agree with you on the Mobil Ave scene. It was awesome. In fact the entire first act of Revolutions was very well done. It was dark and ominous and very Matrix-y. The second act and the Zion siege was the least interesting part despite the cool mechs fighting against sentinels. In fact I did not like any scenes set in Zion to begin with. I personally have nothing against how the story progressed in the sequels. Reloaded was a bold move which I did not expect and Revolutions did not have the "epic" ending many would have expected. It's probably the execution that was lacklustre with some choppy editing and redundant dialog. No to mention all the inconsistencies with the first one.

 

And I really respect your views on the sequels. I can see why you hate them. :giggle:

 

 

 

PS: It used to be so difficult to come to an agreement like this back then!

Edited by Ser Tyler
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