Enter the Matrix

Replies to his tweet are gold.

Well, my Christmas present is apparently finding out that Sean Lennon is a bitcoiner

Huh, I briefly thought that this would be ex-ILXoR stevem

Haha, had the same reaction when I first discovered the channel!

what a beautifully incoherent mess A+

also funnier than expected

I'd probably go more for B+, but that's pretty much my take too. It was sad to see the fight scenes edited to within inches of their lives, the one big knock I'd put on this movie

more like the Metarix mirit lol i have not watched this movie

watched the original sequels for the first time this week & reloaded is so good! it's messy and flawed in a way that the first isn't, but once it gets going (after a pretty slow start) it's fantastic nearly the whole time, enough for me to rate it higher than the first despite its issues. really made me go 'this is absolutely the coolest shit ever' in a way the first didn't. if you tightened up the plot just the tiniest bit, cut down on the zion stuff (especially at the beginning), and gave neo's conversations with the oracle & the council head another pass (they're pretty clunky), it would be a perfect film, but it's great as is.

revolutions is mostly a dud though, it triples down on all of reloaded's issues (which were fairly minor there) until they take up nearly the entire movie. the battle for zion is a huge drag and not compelling at all. the final smith fight isn't bad but pales in comparison to what came before, and he's not really given enough time to be actually set up as a threat to the machines too either.

unfortunately probably not going to be able to watch resurrections anytime soon since it's not streaming here

I thought the rhythm to the section where they're fighting on the highway was so great.
Had to go and see the 3rd one in Leicester Square, think I must have missed it in Galway cos I was trying to sort out times with someone and it went before we managed to do so.

I keep seeing the alien craft as being some kind of tribute to H.P.Lovecraft. Is that widespread?

I listened to teh Bechdel Cast podcast on the first film this week. They were talking about a trans subtext I hadn't been aware of before. Think it is totally outside of the fact taht the directors stopped being brothers and started being sisters since the film came out. Probably a bit linked to really and possibly evidence of it being an idea looked at but standing on its own.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5uRJ7GGGxErpSIhX85x1c7?si=df5071ea2f63484f

Still managed to miss the showing of the film this week cos i was watching 2 of the cast 20 years later in John Wick 3. So must have been Xmas day. Well hopefully have the dvd still , not looked at the state of it in an age. But got the box in the early 00ies.

the trans narrative is v real, the first film is about breaking out of the structures imposed by society and choosing your own name and family, reloaded and revolutions are about how even as you escape from these structures you still find other forms of control running beneath your every decision and how the only way to reconcile that is to love and believe in yourself and others hey

even if they weren’t conscious of it as they were making it (which, sure, most of these themes also seem to be saying something about the possibility and impossibility and (once again) possibility of political revolution) it’s so incredibly there

people talk and complain about the battle of zion but no one talks about niobe piloting the ship with the fat ass

I was reading trans people talk about the subtext on livejournal back in the noughties and it’s definitely been a discussed thing even before the sisters transitioned. Even at a super basic level, if you’re at all aware of the sisters, I don’t see how you ignore Smith constantly deadnaming Neo!

the zion battle’s shift in focus to extremely minor characters trying to survive and defend their home also reminds me of like, dfw's insistence that infinite jest is not about its main characters but is actually about everyone (except less racist and much better)

it's not a bad idea at all just the execution isn't really there

like most of revolutions really

I don’t see how you ignore Smith constantly deadnaming Neo!

Haven't seen the new one yet, but from what I read it starts with Keanu living in the matrix again under his old name. Per the above reading would that mean he effectively detransitioned?

i believe this is a theme in the new one (also haven’t seen it)

or at least i read a review that was like “most trans ppl detransition bc the world makes it too hard for them”

it's not a bad idea at all just the execution isn't really there

like most of revolutions really

― ufo, Tuesday, December 28, 2021 7:57 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk it’s there if you think of reloaded and revolutions as a single movie

admittedly i care about the rave orgy-oriented citizens of zion by default

and i love kid but he is very much assisted as a character by his animatrix short

wow i never made the connection. maybe i’ll like the movie character better now..

reloaded could have done a much better job at making me care about the zion residents than it did but even ignoring that the actual battle in revolutions is just such a drag with its endless scenes of mechs shooting at the machines.

new one is a cross between wes craven's new nightmare and rebuild of evangelion. doesn't have enough gremlins 2 (looney tunes character excepted)

I liked the first half much more than expected. Kind of wish they would have committed to the first three movies being a fantasy in sad Keanu's brain, or even Neo & Trinity only continuing to exist as computer programs would have been more poignant .

Biggest surprise was how good Keanu looks without that beard.

“This is Cybebe.”
[crowd goes apeshit. Just absolutely foaming at the mouth wild.]

— 🏜🔋, fka ☕️ (@coopercooperco) December 23, 2021

(Elliott smith needle in the hay voice) I know Kung fuuuuuuuuuuu pic.twitter.com/VgEVTcV44c

— Mister Goblin (@DrMisterGoblin) December 31, 2021

Matrix 4 best Matrix

I hope the end credits-roll has a blooper reel.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, December 16, 2021 4:01 PM (two weeks ago)

sshh

Dear God

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-covid-19-tracker-players-list-week-17/17xzodcji35bn1e2w5gnho3r3d

Lol wrong thread

ok i never finished my rewatch of the trilogy (the revolutions rave stopped me cold & i forgot to go back) (sorry brad ilu)

BUT

Resurrections was so good, like i am kind of flipped out by how much i loved it. i loved how it pulled so many things together but was like a seven-layer dip of new ideas and new feelings and reclaiming ideas & holy crap meta on meta on meta

yes i am very down

also this piece by Emily Van Der Werf is SPOILERS but well worth reading

https://www.vox.com/culture/22847558/the-matrix-resurrections-4-spoilers-review-neo-therapy-mental-health-trauma

the cave rave is the best sex scene of all time

matrix power rankings currently 2 4 1 3, watch this space for updates

finally saw resurrections, cried through the whole thing, 10/10

<3

this movie is like... swirling through my head like a helix of code. the meta stuff was so well done. making art to access the truth in a world that constantly sublimates it away. feeling too old to resemble who you used to be, to be capable of what you used to be capable of, because the world has reinforced, over and over again, that you can't be, won't be, and you weren't ever that person in the first place. but you were. you knew hope, and love. and you will know it again

for my anime heads it was very much like watching evangelion 3.0 and the utena movie at the same time

I have seen that comparison(to Eva, esp.) made elsewhere, yeah

Hey whaddayaknow, this new one is probably the best of all the Matrixes. Matrices? Anyway. Would not have expected that.

I only saw Revolutions for the first time ever this week, mostly underwhelmed. And only saw Reloaded for the second time ever this week, better than I remembered. Resurrections kinda retroactively makes the whole series better than it was before, though. It's like a magic trick.

otm

i think making it so personal really opened it up.

Revolutions definitely made Reloaded worse for me retroactively, so that's good to know.

i'm personally glad that revolutions will continue to be misunderstood

i could have done without the kung fu scene and the groff agent smith. i liked everything else.

I really didnt care for this film. Groff was really miscast as Smith (I do realise they wanted Weaving back in the role but he couldnt commit).

I do get the whole trans subtext and think the overall premise of the Matrix story is great and the first film remains a standout but this? This just felt like a clip show! A good 20 minutes or more was just bits of the other films!

And I'm gonna say it. We all love Keanu but that man cannot act.

20 minutes feels like a real exaggeration

instead of projecting actual clips from the first movie in that room they should've committed to the bit and remade them in half-life 2 era source engine

i'm an idiot... they could've just used footage from enter the matrix!

i am not mad at u trayce to be clear
but this is a rant i need to get off my chest bc i see it alot

the Keanu cannot act thing drives me fucking ~crazy~

yes i am a stan but

but

as written, what would a “well acted” Neo look like. like, please tell me. he inhabits the role incredibly well & by not trying to do too much ppl just go oh he is doing nothing
which is not the same thing at all
like no one says carrie ann moss can’t act bc she stands around delivering lines stonefaced.
thats what is required of the role. but ppl understand that bc she has the benefit of no one saw her in anything else ever & she didnt spend decades laboring under the conventional wisdom of critics that you are sooo terrible at your job, which you arent and never were

anyway this is not the keanu thread i’ll shut up

otm tho

I can't find the *really* good article about Keanu's acting that I was reading a while ago, but this one's definitely pretty good:

https://lithub.com/the-hero-we-need-keanu-reeves-is-demolishing-all-our-dumb-stereotypes/

Here it is! https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2016/04/21/the-grace-of-keanu-reeves/

yes! doing less ≠ doing nothing
that is almost my thoughts exactly, excellent piece -thx for linking