Good films I watched this weekend (Vol 2)
Discussion
Obi Wan said:
Watched the 2 matrix sequels after not seeing them for a couple of years and really enjoyed them. Going against popular opinion here but I thought they were better than the original. They seem to have more action and the plot is easier to understand despite what other people say.
So you're saying that they were better because they were dumbed-down and had lots of mindless action? JonRB said:
Obi Wan said:
Watched the 2 matrix sequels after not seeing them for a couple of years and really enjoyed them. Going against popular opinion here but I thought they were better than the original. They seem to have more action and the plot is easier to understand despite what other people say.
So you're saying that they were better because they were dumbed-down and had lots of mindless action? JonRB said:
Obi Wan said:
Watched the 2 matrix sequels after not seeing them for a couple of years and really enjoyed them. Going against popular opinion here but I thought they were better than the original. They seem to have more action and the plot is easier to understand despite what other people say.
So you're saying that they were better because they were dumbed-down and had lots of mindless action? Interesting - and of course you're entitled to an opinion, as we all are. I however, strongly disagree with yours 
First = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
First = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
Asterix said:
Interesting - and of course you're entitled to an opinion, as we all are. I however, strongly disagree with yours
First = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
I agree.First = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
Even though I watched the first one recently and it didn't seem quite as good as I remembered, at the time of release it totally blew me away with its original story line, style and amazing action scenes.
It set a new standard, just how many films since have copied the 'bullet time' style, pretty much every one with a fight scene, that says it all.
Asterix said:
Interesting - and of course you're entitled to an opinion, as we all are. I however, strongly disagree with yours
First = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
Indeed. You really felt in the 3rd film that they had written themselves into a corner and thought "How the hell do we resolve all the plot lines? Ah fFirst = Awesome, and was a breath of fresh air. A clever film and I thought it was very well paced.
2nd & 3rd = so blindingly obvious that they had no idea the first was going to be so successful and decided to go down the trilogy route and threw something together, twice, for the masses.
k it, let's not bother. Look! Explosions and mechs! Pew! Pew!" 
(Mind you, mechs *are* awesome)
BrownBottle said:
I agree.
Even though I watched the first one recently and it didn't seem quite as good as I remembered, at the time of release it totally blew me away with its original story line, style and amazing action scenes.
It set a new standard, just how many films since have copied the 'bullet time' style, pretty much every one with a fight scene, that says it all.
I agree to some extent. However, just to add some balance I recall coming out of the cinema when it was first released thinking that it was a little derivative (I used to read a LOT of sci-fi when I was younger) and even bullet time wasn't totally new as we'd had the Smirnoff advert by then (which is incidentally still rather cool). However, it grew on me and by the time I got the video and watched it again a few times I enjoyed it a lot more. Even though I watched the first one recently and it didn't seem quite as good as I remembered, at the time of release it totally blew me away with its original story line, style and amazing action scenes.
It set a new standard, just how many films since have copied the 'bullet time' style, pretty much every one with a fight scene, that says it all.
One thing that has always bugged me, though, was the premise that the machines had turned humans into batteries. It would have made far more sense for humans to have been turned into wetware CPU nodes in a distributed cloud computing net, but I think people just weren't ready for that concept back in 1997. I doubt most people even had a modem back then.
JonRB said:
BrownBottle said:
I agree.
Even though I watched the first one recently and it didn't seem quite as good as I remembered, at the time of release it totally blew me away with its original story line, style and amazing action scenes.
It set a new standard, just how many films since have copied the 'bullet time' style, pretty much every one with a fight scene, that says it all.
I agree to some extent. However, just to add some balance I recall coming out of the cinema when it was first released thinking that it was a little derivative (I used to read a LOT of sci-fi when I was younger) and even bullet time wasn't totally new as we'd had the Smirnoff advert by then (which is incidentally still rather cool). However, it grew on me and by the time I got the video and watched it again a few times I enjoyed it a lot more. Even though I watched the first one recently and it didn't seem quite as good as I remembered, at the time of release it totally blew me away with its original story line, style and amazing action scenes.
It set a new standard, just how many films since have copied the 'bullet time' style, pretty much every one with a fight scene, that says it all.
One thing that has always bugged me, though, was the premise that the machines had turned humans into batteries. It would have made far more sense for humans to have been turned into wetware CPU nodes in a distributed cloud computing net, but I think people just weren't ready for that concept back in 1997. I doubt most people even had a modem back then.
I would however say that even though that ad touched briefly on bullet time the overall style of the fight scenes in the Matrix pretty much set the standard since.
As for wetware CPU nodes, I don't even know what they are today so yes that would have been totally lost on people, everyone can grasp the concept of getting used as a battery and the implications of another race just abusing your body as a power source will register strongly with everyone.
BrownBottle said:
As for wetware CPU nodes, I don't even know what they are today so yes that would have been totally lost on people, everyone can grasp the concept of getting used as a battery and the implications of another race just abusing your body as a power source will register strongly with everyone.
Wetware is cyberpunk slang for your brain, and organic systems in general. If you consider the human brain as a kind of computer, and the fact that the direct brain interface that all humans connected to the Matrix have, then you can imagine that all those humans are networked in some way. Just like the various computers that make up the internet are networked.
A distributed system is one made up of many standalone computers. The likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. use clusters of many computers all contributing to the service.
So imagine that the Matrix itself was actually running on a similar distributed system with the computing power actually being supplied, in part, by the brains of the humans connected to it.
So, rather than being batteries powering the Matrix (which is actually pretty stupid as the machines could just lobotomise the humans or use cows or whatever) they would actually be powering the Matrix with the computing power of the human brain. That suddenly makes a lot more sense for using non-lobotomised humans.
Anyway, just a geeky pet hate of mine for the Matrix films.
Into the storm......kids 8-14 said "awsome"......40 year old male says "4/10 - found footage style is cheesy, fx are no better than twister years ago and man drags drowning kid onto land says "he's not breathing" and starts cardiac compression without looking for pulse - which annoyed me!"
Alex said:
My 10-year-old son is going through an Arnie phase, so we watched "Kindergarton Cop" yesterday.
Better than I remember, and one of Schwarzenegger's better acting performances IMO!
dont show him Terminator.....mine saw it and laughed at the rubbish effects! Nearly disowned him.Better than I remember, and one of Schwarzenegger's better acting performances IMO!
and all 3 boys (8-14) saw Predator and shouted in unison....."i can see his Apollos arm" when Carl Weathers gets his limb blown off! CGI has ruined modern kids.
Although its quite cute when an 8 year old tells his brothers to get in the car for the school run by yelling "gaaat tooooo thar chopppppparrrrr"
Casablanca - not watched it in a long time, so went to south bank in London to watch on Saturday. if I forgive the fact that everyone seems to chain smoke and go through bottles and bottles of alcohol (without touching a drop) in every scene... some laugh out funny bits and enjoyable.
Wouldn't really class it as a romantic film so don't lose my manly card.
8/10
Wouldn't really class it as a romantic film so don't lose my manly card.
8/10
He's already seen The Terminator, and loved it.
However, afterwards I pointed out the prop guy who is clearly visible when the skeleton Terminator rises from the aftermath of the fuel truck explosion. Once you have seen him, you can never unsee him!
http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture43910
However, afterwards I pointed out the prop guy who is clearly visible when the skeleton Terminator rises from the aftermath of the fuel truck explosion. Once you have seen him, you can never unsee him!
http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture43910
Watched The Invention Of Lying on Saturday night. Wasn't what I expected it to be, though as an atheist there was an element of "I see what you did there" to it!
Bit of a less-than-subtly hidden message to it, but then Gervais doesn't exactly hide behind the curtain over such matters. It wasn't as good as I was hoping, but it was an easy watch
Bit of a less-than-subtly hidden message to it, but then Gervais doesn't exactly hide behind the curtain over such matters. It wasn't as good as I was hoping, but it was an easy watch
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