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The Matrix Reloaded
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The long anticipated
(or dreaded depending
on which side of the
fence you sit on)
release of The Matrix Reloaded was held on
May 15th. Several bloggers
have already seen the
movie and have logged
their review of the film.
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Iraq War
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Week of May 18, 2003
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05/17/03 Ok, I just got back from seeing
the Matrix : Reloaded. One word.... Pssibly the best movie I have seen so far... ok so that was more that one word. Um how about spectacular, stupendous, wonderful? Those dont seem to hit it exactly. Being in the IT industry and reasonably young I think this movie is just made for people like me. I have never seen a movie until the Matrix and Reloaded that just connected with me on so many levels (besides Office Space which connectied with me on other levels. LOL ). I would love to post some of my thougts about the movie directly but I will wait until more people see it before I start posting spoilers on here. I would say that you should see this movie if you:
1. Work in the IT / computer industry
2. Are driven to great lengths by computers.
3. Passionate about your job.
4. Are open to suggestion (suspend your disbelief)
5. Just a bit paranoid about the world around you.
6. In the below mid thirties age range but above 14
The more you fit that profile I think the more you will tend to agree with the movie and be able to assimilate the movie's little nuances, its explanations (even the vague ones), and the story line being told.
That being said...
GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!
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05/16/03 I'll be honest: I was worried going
into The Matrix: Reloaded that there was no way this pair of sequels could match my expectations for them. I mean, I really, really like The Matrix. And we've all seen sequel after sequel to other good sf films--I don't think I need to mention which ones--crush the delight that we once took in their predecessors.
I mean, my God. Midichlorians?
But such was not the case with Reloaded. I was enraptured by it; whatever flaws it had were few and beneath notice, to my mind. Visually stunning, seductive, orgiastically and balletically violent. And whipsmart. So much smarter are these Wachowski brothers than their critics give them credit for. They are in madly, obsessively in love with popular culture--they fondle it as they simultaneously seek to eviscerate it. There is no mistaking in this film--as one might have in the first--that the "system" of the Matrix is metaphor for the dread symbiosis modern humanity has established with post-industrial culture. We are both its authors and its slaves, its controllers and its puppets.
When Keanu Reeves is in the matrix, he is Superman; he is Jet Li. He is the embodiment of adolescent wish-fulfillment, free of mortal constraints. Outside the matrix, however, in the "real" world, he is human, and his humanity is painted in rich flowing images of food, motion, sex and color.
...
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05/11/03 Reloaded
...
When Matt and I went to the theater, the feeling only got worse. We were waiting in line outside the auditorium, and the people were there. You know those people - all the other idiots who love what you love, but they're morons, they dress funny, they say stupid things, you just know that they can't possibly appreciate it the way you do, so their presence lowers the tone of the occasion. (The fact that I'm doubtless the people for other people doesn't phaze me - those people are still the people for me.) The people were talking, shouting, cheering even. I wanted them to go away so I could enjoy the movie in peace.
Then we were let in, and of course the commercials started. The endless Coca-Cola slideshow. The Marines recruitment ad. All the soulless crap you see everywhere, with the misery magnified because you just paid $7 for a ticket.
...
My sense of dread was peaking, wrestling with my anticipation. How could it be good enough to make up for everything else that sucks?
And then... the movie started. And everything was OK again. The next two hours made up for all the waiting, all the disappointments. In short, it didn't suck. It didn't suck at all. It was everything I wanted it to be and more.
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05/12/03 Where is the Matrix Phone?
Remember that Matrix-themed cellphone from Samsung that was the subject of teaser campaign this past February? We'd almost forgotten all about it, but MobileTracker reports that the Matrix phone, otherwise known as the SPH-N270, is set to go on sale this Thursday, happily coinciding with the release of the new Matrix sequel.
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05/16/03 The Matrix BrickPhone
This new Matrix-inspired phone is ugly as hell and not cool at all. Do they actually use this thing in the movie? I hope this isn't a sign for what the movie will be like -- clumsy, bulky, cartoonish and not at all subtle like the original. See, the first movie had a phone. I forget the model number, but I think it was a Nokia. its sliding keypad cover was modified especially for the movie with a switchblade-springload action for extra cool factor. And, unlike a lot of phones at the time, it was slick and sleek and tiny.
So what the hell is this thing? It looks like a walkee-talkee for grade school kids, not the "ultimate conversation piece".
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05/16/03 Questions about "The Matrix" (not "The Matrix Reloaded")
My wife and I are looking forward to seeing "The Matrix Reloaded," but in the meantime, I decided to watch "The Matrix" again. Here are some questions about the plot (not scientific quibbles):
...
3) Speaking of the interrogation scene, at one point Neo asks for a phone call, and Agent Smith says menacingly, "What use is a phone call if you can't talk?" And then, presto, Agent Smith makes Neo's mouth close up and disappear altogether. Neat trick. If Agent Smith can make your mouth close up like that, presumably he can make your nose close up too. So when Agent Smith is fighting Neo in the subway, why doesn't he just use his magical ability to seal up Neo's nose and mouth, thereby asphyxiating him?
...
14) Finally, have you ever wondered how easy law school would be if you have the Matrix technology?
1L: Tank, I need to know everything about federal diversity of citizenship jurisdiction!
[upload]
1L: Whoa, I understand Erie!
Law Prof: Show me. . . .
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05/11/03 Matrix: Undone?
I'm worried about the Matrix: Reloaded. And the reason I'm worried is that it seems the Wachowski's have gambled and aimed at the more visually illiterate among us, who can look at a scene of computer generated characters and not tell them from real. I make this assumption because the scenes from the latest Matrix trailer abound with computer-generated actors that to this video-game-trained eye look as out of place as Dubya strutting on an aircraft carrier.
Why is this bothersome? Because the main ingredient of the Matrix that drew people in was not simply the "Bullet-time" camera, but an investment in the characters and the sight of the characters bending over backwards avoiding bullets and fists while maneuvering through the Matrix.
...
I fear that all of this may be lost when the Matrix turns into, literally, a computer simulation. The point of the Matrix was that it was real to the people in it, as real as our experience. But when I see an obvious CG character jumping onto and crushing a car in a freeway chase sequence in the Matrix trailer, I an ripped out of this "otherworldly" sense of the real.
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05/17/03 It was very romantic. It was
very, very good.
When I was little I would close my eyes and pray that the illusion would drop away and I'd be in a place where things really mattered, where there was something to fight for. It's very strange to be an adult going to see a movie that is a phenomenon and see that sentimant echoed and caught and echoed again. It takes me back to feeling like I did when I was twelve or fourteen and I thought if you could just concentrate the world would disolve and you'd get to see the truth.
I made some dorky matrix desktops last night, to get in the mood, I'll post them later.
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05/17/03 What Isn't The Matrix?
I SAW THE MATRIX: RELOADED Wednesday night. After having seen the movie and read the very mixed reviews, I was at first confused about the negative opinions. This is a really great movie.
In scanning the reviews, I've discovered that the film is something of a Rorschach test -- it's seen as different movies by different people.
For romantics, it's a love story about the triumph of human connection over all. Neo and Trinity gaze into each other's eyes. They mate like bunnies. Their love is tested in myriad ways during the film.
For the spiritually inclined, it's about religion. Neo emerges as a cross between Buddha and Batman. Morpheus constantly spouts all manner of vague, quasi-religious mumbo jumbo. Awed, starry eyed acolytes follow Neo around with religious offerings to lay at his feet. Neo performs miracles.
Those with a philosophical bent will see The Matrix: Reloaded as a movie about ethics -- the ol' free-will-versus-predetermination question -- with a heavy emphasis on the importance of individual choice.
Bloodthirsty cinema-goers will view the movie as an action flick. The Matrix: Reloaded has more kicks, punches, head-butts, flying combat gymnastics and gunplay that any other three movies combined.
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05/15/03 So, Matrix Matrix Reloaded last night
, in a theater full of geeks that swooned more than a room full of antebellum Southern debutantes. The lovely, lovely thing was that I got to sit in between Taranis (whom I finally got to meet, adorable man that he is) and Adam (worthy of equal adoration). Being that we were all brought together by technology, we were probably the majority of the few who could truly understand some of the nods to geekiness (such as the correct usage of 10.2.2.2 as a private IP address and Trinity using SSH). I may see it again this afternoon,
provided Adam can get us tickets.
Of course, I went in understated manner, although I did throw on my black leather motorcycle jacket against the
cold. Makes me rather glad I didn't put on my riding gear after all; there were entirely too many
black trenchcoats there for my liking anyway.
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05/15/03 The local news interviewed some people
The local news interviewed some people who were camped out in line to get tickets to the Matrix. Invariably the people interviewed were geeks. And not successful, well adjusted, tech company executive geeks, either. These were people whose primary source of light is the glow from their monitors at 4am and whose facial hair appeared to be growing them, rather than the other way around.
It got me thinking about why geeks of all types love this movie. Forget about the pat answers such as "there’s finally an original story from Hollywood." The real reason is that the hero is a computer hacker. In this movie, the geeks save the world.
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05/16/03 Enter the Matrix
"Did you get the TPS Reports this week?"
"The one with the cover letter?"
"Yeah, so you got it?"
......yup, that's some dialogue from the Enter the Matrix vid game that came out yesterday.... cant effin believe it, making a reference to Office Spaces in the Matrix!!! how unbelievably kewl is that?!?!? hahahaha
05/15/03 Are you in the Matrix?
it's now thursday morning and the gears in my head are still turning over lastnights first viewing of the Matrix.... i'm not gonna give away any spoilers or tell ya anything that might ruin it for ya, so dont worry..... but i will say this: it kicked fucking ass!!!!!!! the promise of kickass special effects that teased your senses and made yer eyes widen in the "wow effect" were aptly delivered wholesale..... there were 3 or 4 main action scenes that still have me effin boggled.... "Holy Effin Amazing, Batman!"
it did open up some new questions, though.... answered a few that peepz were asking for the last couple years, and set the stage for the end of this killer sci-fi trilogy. i walked out of the theater almost dumbfoundedly silent, taking a few minutes to register all the crazy shit i just saw..... do have quite a few questions and wandering thoughts, but that'll have to wait a bit till more peepz see the movie.... it will be revisited... oh yesssssssssssss
thx for the tip, houser! oh yeah, not a spoiler, but wait threw the credits for a lil bonus......... and btw, those were the longest fucking credits for a movie i think i've ever seen before in my life! g'damn.
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