Matrix Thread: actually it has very good politics and is good because the action sux

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Matrix Thread: actually it has very good politics and is good because the action sux

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Shard posted:

One thing that surprised me the most with this trailer is how good everything looks. The lighting and cinematography is so different from what they went for in the originals but still looks good. I'm interested in seeing this.

One of my favorite things going into the first Matrix was having no idea what was happening. Like I had no idea it was about being in a computer generated world so I totally bought into the What is the Matrix tag. This isn't quite there for me but I'm excited about the questions I have. And the fact that it looks good makes me interested in finding out.

I straight-up thought it was a Neuromancer or Shadowrun movie and The Matrix was a virtual reality world, but I forgot all about that by minute three of the flick and was somehow still surprised when it turned out to be true to the point that I never once remembered that I was basically right until I read your post.

Movie was so damned good I forgot about everything I thought going into it for 22 years.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 04:10

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:13

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Sodomy Hussein posted:

The architect spells out that at no time are humans necessary to running the Matrix. The entire storyline about machines needing humans to run as power batteries makes no sense on a cursory examination. It's just part of a fiction created to give humans something to struggle against, because without this oppression fantasy, humans lose the will to live.

But I need to ignore story points from the thing I'm talking about so I can performatively not understand an extremely simple tale while simultaneously talking about how it's too simple!

Won't somebody please think of all the men who need to feel smarter than everybody else?

# ¿ Sep 17, 2021 23:35

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Trinity falling for Neo despite just having met him makes a lot more sense when you remember that the crew of the Neb' had been watching him for some time before Morpheus made contact in the first flick.

She essentially formed a parasocial relationship with the guy. Happens every day. As for him falling for her in return, that happens off screen between flicks.

It sure does feel in the watching like it came out of nowhere, though, doesn't it? Sometimes something as simple as an extra second where one character looks longingly at another that sells the entire thing can be lost in an edit, deemed unneeded by the studio, etc. Or maybe they just figured people would go with it, which they largely did.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 01:20

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

It sounds like you're arguing with me, but I feel like we're agreeing?

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 02:33

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Shiroc posted:

e: and highlighting that trans people crushing hard on other trans people is totally a thing

Considering I develop a minor temporary crush on every other trans person I meet, I'd say you're onto something here.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 03:32

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Sodomy Hussein posted:

I wonder, if you switched Carrie and Keanu's roles, if anything would be substantially different.

That's a really interesting question. I was in high school in 1999, but I also lived in liberal bubblesburg. Was that too early for people to reflexively hate an action flick starring a woman or were we as a people still all "cool! Badass chick!"

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 05:32

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

MLSM posted:

The film came out years before they were trans.

Bit of linguistic weirdness here. We're trans the whole time, FYI. Not just after we figure it out or transition. Some people never do either one and they're still trans.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 06:06

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Shiroc posted:

Trans stuff

Y'know, much like these flicks, we're not that complicated and people still don't seem to understand.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 23:33

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

When somebody knows more than you about a thing, make the thing be about socialism and then you can keep talking past people and feeling clever, secure in the knowledge that the one thing you know is the most important reading of literally every piece of art you talk about.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2021 00:10

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

About two months ago, I watched all three Matrix flicks for the first time since transitioning and possibly even for the first time since they were newly-released on home video and they landed a lot better this time.

I maintain it was a mistake to bring all of the philosophy sitting just underneath the surface of the first flick's rather straightforward hero's journey to the surface of the latter two and have the film be strictly about those things, but I decided this time to appreciate the films for what they were rather than opine for what they could have been.

Maybe it's everything being trans as gently caress, or maybe 20-yyear-old me just hated anything that wasn't super grimdark because I was still embarrassed of the media I enjoyed like a Snyder fan, always wanting everything to be super "mature" (not to be confused with actual mature things), but I really don't understand what I was so up in arms about upon their release. They're quite good.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2021 22:00

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

stratdax posted:

Chronicle, too

Noted rapist/abuser Max Landis wrote it, so as live action anime as it may be, I'm never watching it again.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2021 02:11

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Despera posted:

There these thing called turbines and when you spin them they make millions of peoples worth of power.

There's this thing called fusion, too. A thing involved in the process of using humans for energy. How? gently caress you, that's how. The movie is in no way about the particulars of how that works. But it's fusion. This was said in the first movie, but everybody loving ignores it because CinemaSins taught an entire generation to be performatively baffled by the absolutely clearly stated; that being angry at how confused you are because you're not paying attention is just as good as listening and understanding.

For gently caress's sake, I'm tired of this argument. I've been having it for 22 years and you not liking a thing doesn't make it a plot hole.

Sorry for being so harsh, but gently caress I'm tired.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2021 09:15

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:13

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

If they're on a train set, the performers probably needed them.

I imagine they were, quite literally, Covid masks.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2023 18:11

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Matrix Thread: actually it has very good politics and is good because the action sux