Movies

Spiderman spoilers in the spoiler tags below!

That was everything I wanted it to be and more. Our theater went absolutely nuts when Andrew came through the portal and the anticipation was palpable for Toby. And it wasn't just for a cameo either! I predicted Andrew's redemption catch, but his reaction still made me tear up. And Matt Murdock within the first few minutes of the movie - YESS!!

Dafoe was pretty damn great, and having he and Molina back was a highlight for sure. The others were cool too, but definitely not as impactful. It's like there were too many of them and they had to pick a few to develop more.

Back to neighborhood-level Spiderman will be interesting in the next movies, and I wonder if that was our final goodbyes to MJ and Ned. Anticipate a Daredevil/Spiderman tagteam vs Kingmen coming sooner rather than later, maybe with Hawkeye and his Avengers connection bringing both (back) into the larger universe at the end? I wasn't really that excited about this phase up to last night, but boy am I here for it today.

Also, Andrew talked about how he stopped pulling punches after Gwen died and did some bad things. This is something that we didn't see in his films, right? I wonder if he's going to get a reboot and Venom is in his universe.

So many things!!!
 
Djxfactor511 said:
Spiderman spoilers in the spoiler tags below!

That was everything I wanted it to be and more. Our theater went absolutely nuts when Andrew came through the portal and the anticipation was palpable for Toby. And it wasn't just for a cameo either! I predicted Andrew's redemption catch, but his reaction still made me tear up. And Matt Murdock within the first few minutes of the movie - YESS!!

Dafoe was pretty damn great, and having he and Molina back was a highlight for sure. The others were cool too, but definitely not as impactful. It's like there were too many of them and they had to pick a few to develop more.

Back to neighborhood-level Spiderman will be interesting in the next movies, and I wonder if that was our final goodbyes to MJ and Ned. Anticipate a Daredevil/Spiderman tagteam vs Kingmen coming sooner rather than later, maybe with Hawkeye and his Avengers connection bringing both (back) into the larger universe at the end? I wasn't really that excited about this phase up to last night, but boy am I here for it today.

Also, Andrew talked about how he stopped pulling punches after Gwen died and did some bad things. This is something that we didn't see in his films, right? I wonder if he's going to get a reboot and Venom is in his universe.

So many things!!!
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I saw it last night. Just an incredible movie.
 
I caught up on re-watching The Matrix trilogy the past couple days.

I wasn't going to re-watch the sequels, but I figured I should, just in case part 4 has anything to do with them...which I expect it will.

And I hadn't watched them in a pretty long time. I get why people don't like them, but I don't hold The Matrix on a high enough pedestal that the 2 sequels really bother me all that much.
 
LeeVing said:
I caught up on re-watching The Matrix trilogy the past couple days.

I wasn't going to re-watch the sequels, but I figured I should, just in case part 4 has anything to do with them...which I expect it will.

And I hadn't watched them in a pretty long time. I get why people don't like them, but I don't hold The Matrix on a high enough pedestal that the 2 sequels really bother me all that much.
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I did a rewatch this last weekend too; my first viewing of the sequels since probably 2004. The sequels are certainly a different beast, but I was a lot more on board for the philosophical digressions this time around.

I’m getting really hyped for Resurrections; the divisive reviews are actually really intriguing, especially as a film geek kinda tired of four-quadrant blockbusters engineered to merely please everyone rather than delighting a few. Plus, most reviewers or film Twitter types I subscribe to have been effusive.
 
LeeVing said:
I caught up on re-watching The Matrix trilogy the past couple days.

I wasn't going to re-watch the sequels, but I figured I should, just in case part 4 has anything to do with them...which I expect it will.

And I hadn't watched them in a pretty long time. I get why people don't like them, but I don't hold The Matrix on a high enough pedestal that the 2 sequels really bother me all that much.
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I debated watching them again for the first time since they came out, but now I've run out of time. I am getting myself pretty excited for the new one tomorrow. But to refresh my memory I had to read everything that happened in those sequels cause I barely remember them. I do remember watching the first one as a rental and loving it. Then the hype I had for that sequel was gigantic. I remember enjoying it in the theater. But I barely remember a single thing that happens in the third one. I'm not even sure I saw it in the theater.
 
LeeVing said:
I caught up on re-watching The Matrix trilogy the past couple days.

I wasn't going to re-watch the sequels, but I figured I should, just in case part 4 has anything to do with them...which I expect it will.

And I hadn't watched them in a pretty long time. I get why people don't like them, but I don't hold The Matrix on a high enough pedestal that the 2 sequels really bother me all that much.
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Just started a marathon today. Never seen 2 or 3, but I'm enjoying reloaded so far in all it's unrepentant goofiness
 
ayayrawn said:
Just started a marathon today. Never seen 2 or 3, but I'm enjoying reloaded so far in all it's unrepentant goofiness
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I'm starting a marathon right now, and will probably have to finish it tomorrow. I've watched them all regularly over the years because I often use them in my classes. They do a really good job of illustrating several sociological theories and once you talk thorough the scenes after reading the theories they really start to click for a lot of students, so I love them all.
 
Hemotep said:
I'm starting a marathon right now, and will probably have to finish it tomorrow. I've watched them all regularly over the years because I often use them in my classes. They do a really good job of illustrating several sociological theories and once you talk thorough the scenes after reading the theories they really start to click for a lot of students, so I love them all.
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I watched the first one 6 times in the first 5 days it was out in part because I loved it and in part because my Classical and Biblical Background to Modern Literature prof allowed me to write my final paper on it - I'd already otherwise dropped out of college, but her class was too awesome to quit!

I only vaguely recall the second one, which I would've seen opening weekend, and don't think I ever even got around to the third. My wife got pretty excited when she discovered me watching the trailer for the new one the other night - so we might have to have ourselves a marathon before too long too. But first, it's Die Hard season!
 
LeeVing said:
Matrix 4.

I liked it.

I think watching all the prior movies recently helped.
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I’ve recently been listening to old episodes of Blank Check, and the Wachowski series has made me a) reappraise 2 & 3, which I haven’t seen since initial release, and b) really want to rewatch Cloud Atlas, which for all its flaws is probably their actual masterpiece.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I’ve recently been listening to old episodes of Blank Check, and the Wachowski series has made me a) reappraise 2 & 3, which I haven’t seen since initial release, and b) really want to rewatch Cloud Atlas, which for all its flaws is probably their actual masterpiece.
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(Seraph is a login screen)
 
Bull Shannon said:
(Seraph is a login screen)
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One of the things they say a lot in those episodes is that Reloaded and Revolutions “weren’t what I wanted, but there was also no obvious direction to take the story so nothing would have made me happy.”

I’ve always thought the series failed to capitalize on the promise of two things in the first film:
  1. When Neo goes to see the Oracle, there are other candidates there to be evaluated as possibly being The One. And they’re all kids (because the film explicitly tells us that they almost never unplug adults because their brains can’t take it). And some of these kids have enough ‘power’ to do things like bend the no-spoon at will. But we never get to learn any more about what it means to have other “super powered” people in this world. Are agents also chasing them? Are they in danger? Have they been unplugged? Are other captains like Morpheus escorting them to the Oracle? If so, why does Morpheus get talked about as if he’s a lone zealot? What function do these other non-One aberrations serve in the matrix? (Been a while since I watched 2&3 so I forget if some of these questions end up getting touched on.)
  2. Neo’s phone message at the end of the film is ostensibly a call to Humanity, without specifying any particular individual on the other end of the call. But he’s outlining a mission statement to wake people up. All people. Adults. And he’s a genuine Superman within this world, an unstoppable force. It’s an exciting ending, and maybe they ultimately decided it wasn’t rich enough to serve as the basis for the sequels, but the hard turns away from the coda of the first movie were confusing, I think. Maybe the best solution would be to just remove that from the first movie altogether so that it didn’t set up those expectations in the first place.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
One of the things they say a lot in those episodes is that Reloaded and Revolutions “weren’t what I wanted, but there was also no obvious direction to take the story so nothing would have made me happy.”

I’ve always thought the series failed to capitalize on the promise of two things in the first film:
  1. When Neo goes to see the Oracle, there are other candidates there to be evaluated as possibly being The One. And they’re all kids (because the film explicitly tells us that they almost never unplug adults because their brains can’t take it). And some of these kids have enough ‘power’ to do things like bend the no-spoon at will. But we never get to learn any more about what it means to have other “super powered” people in this world. Are agents also chasing them? Are they in danger? Have they been unplugged? Are other captains like Morpheus escorting them to the Oracle? If so, why does Morpheus get talked about as if he’s a lone zealot? What function do these other non-One aberrations serve in the matrix? (Been a while since I watched 2&3 so I forget if some of these questions end up getting touched on.)
  2. Neo’s phone message at the end of the film is ostensibly a call to Humanity, without specifying any particular individual on the other end of the call. But he’s outlining a mission statement to wake people up. All people. Adults. And he’s a genuine Superman within this world, an unstoppable force. It’s an exciting ending, and maybe they ultimately decided it wasn’t rich enough to serve as the basis for the sequels, but the hard turns away from the coda of the first movie were confusing, I think. Maybe the best solution would be to just remove that from the first movie altogether so that it didn’t set up those expectations in the first place.
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Yeah, I think they realized that ending movie one with Neo being Computer Jesus painted them into a corner. I do think they took a savvy path by trying to question and subvert the messiah narrative, even if they get clumsy with it. I think the idea of this all being cyclical is cool, and this time around I picked up more on the key difference in Neo: while all the previous Ones were in love with humanity and wanted to save everyone, Neo simply loves Trinity, and puts her before humanity. The movie could maybe underline that a bit better, but it’s fine.

As for your thoughts, I overall think you’re right; the first movie ends on a note and with strands that the sequels aren’t especially concerned with:

1. After the sequels, I wonder more if those kids in the Oracle’s living room are programs under her protection, like Sati in Revolutions. But I can’t say for sure. Definitely hoping to see Spoon Boy in 4.

2. I think Neo’s message is to the machines; he’s telling them he’s going to “show them a world without you.” He doesn’t know what comes next, and he places that choice in their hands. Imo the movie does end on this note of “he’s going to save the world by…flying….???”
 
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