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Matrix Reloads to $42.5 Million Opening
Dante Alighieri writes "Box Office Mojo,
the Washington Post, E!, and others reports that The Matrix Reloaded opened with a record of $42.5 million in ticket sales."
I saw it yesterday and have a variety of opinions on it, but the short review is that it isn't the original, but it's pretty damn cool, and I'm first in line for Revolution.
When you have a somewhat accurate portrayal of hacking in movies?
heheh
Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
This post... TO BE CONCLUDED
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
I thought that the first Matrix movie did two things well...1) had great, fantastical action sequences, and 2) messed with Neo's head and thus our heads.
it sounds like they decided to drop the latter and concentrate on the former. too bad, but maybe they are just doing what they are good at.
I found
Scott Kurtz's review very interesting.
First I've heard of it.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
I don't know about everyone else but, Reloaded basically told everyone that the first movie was bullshit.
I was disappointed with the villain development (there wasn't any.)Some of the fight scenes were totally unecessary, especially the replication scene. Neo just supermans his ass out of there after exploiting all of the latest filming techniques.
Revolutions better fix things up or I'm going to be a very sad panda.
I didn't think that the scene itself detracted (highlighting some of the things that make us human), but the length I thought got out of hand. Good idea, but WAY too long.
Everyone is complaining about the celebration scene in Zion. There is of course a very good reason for that scene to be there. They are celebrating real life; the taste and smell of sweat, a real body pressing up against you, the feeling of stone on bare feet. It's real and they love it and embrace every moment of their real life. It's a good thing that message wasn't a little more transparent, they everyone would have been bitching about how obvious everything in the movie is.
I'm tired of bombing the universe
My two cents,
Bel, the mostly sane.. "Of course I can't see anything! I'm standing on the shoulders of idiots." -- Me
Not trying to troll here, but the problem with it, IMO, is that the Wachowskis (who wrote and directed it) received so much praise for the first Matrix movie, that they were under the impression the whole world wanted to hear them babble on and on about it.
Characters will talk for what seems like hours and never actually say anything. In the first movie, the language was simple (Morpheus holds up a battery and proclaims that the machines: "Turn humans... into this."), and you just had to wrap your head around the concepts. In RELOADED, you have to wade through all the tech talk before you can even start to understand what you're being told... by then it's time for the next scene already.
Also a problem was the overabundance of subplots (Agent Smith, the Morpheus love-triangle, the operator of the Nebachadneza(sp?) and his wife, etc) that they're all underdeveloped and hard to care about.
Great action though. The Wachowskis obviously care about developing their mythology quite a bit, and that's commendable (and for some, this will demand repeated viewing), but they just need to make it a little more accessible IMO.
"But the cars are all flashing me, bright lights are passing me, I feel life passing me by" - Stiff Little Fingers
Hissing 'Matrix' fans reloaded w/ tickets, popcorn
Stephanie Paterik
The Arizona Republic
May. 16, 2003 02:10 PM
Hard-core Matrix Reloaded fans threw popcorn, pounded on the projection room window and ran screaming from the theater when a projector broke during a first-night showing in Chandler.
Hundreds of people waited hours at Harkins Chandler Fashion Center to see the highly anticipated Matrix sequel at 11 p.m. on opening night Wednesday. A projector lamp broke during the heavily advertised freeway chase scene.
"The movie was ruined," said Ward Andrews, 28, of Chandler. "You're excited, you're tense and then you don't get to see the key sequence in the film."
The audio continued to roll but was drowned out by people yelling and shaking their seats. One man climbed on someone's shoulders to pound on the projection room window, said Aubrey Johnson, 22, of Chandler, who waited five hours to see the show.
The problem was fixed in 10 minutes, but it was impossible to rewind and show the missed two minutes, said Harkins' Jackie Faubus. People who left were given two movie passes each. Those who stayed got coupons for free popcorn.
...is that the evil computers are running Unix?! :)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I think the problem is that the first hour of the movie has none of the questioning. Neo isn't really challenged on that level. In the first movie, almost every single scene presented some new piece of information. In this one, there's a lot of running around and fighting, and in between those scenes, it's people talking about doing it. Either that, or we're treated to overly long rave scenes and overly long exposition about "cause and effect."
The last half is when things got cool and felt like a sequel to the first one.
Granted, much of these structure problems may make more sense when Revolutions is released, since they were treated as one big movie split in two. The movie was good, but I missed the goth-noir feel of the first one, and I missed the real sense of danger. Only near the end did I feel that.
"Sufferin' succotash."
From a philosophical and spiritual point of view I enjoyed this film more than the first. I left the first film thinking, wow what a great idea. I left this film questioning everything I just saw. The angle of Neo being the rebellious child of the world that was created by the architect, and realizing that he has free will and the same abilities the creators of the Matrix and lesser programs have really resonated with me. I can see where they are going and am quite interested in seeing if the real world is discovered to be another type of Matrix. Which I hope is the bold angle they might take instead of it being part of the same Matrix designed as a distraction. The creators of this film truly managed to convey a deep message intertwined with intense action and the idea that "he is just human" disputing itself repeatedly. They expounded on the original concept very well, leaving splintering questions in my mind. He was handed a spoon in the real world before returning to the Matrix. Maybe he will realize once again that there is no spoon. After all, what is real?
#!/i/am/chaos
if you convert the password of Z1ON0101 to decimal, you get Zion5..which could refer to the 5th version of Zion or the prior version, Zion 5.0, as implied by the Architect.
Neo 5.0 took the other door and reset the Matrix and created Zion 6.0 populated by people Neo 5.0's choosing (which might include Trinity). So, the initial inhabitants of Zion 6.0, taught by Neo 5.0, frees the minds of the people who question the reality of Matrix 6.0 thereby saving the programs (people/minds) from deletion by the agents.
The actions of Neo 5.0 can be attributed to Neo 5.0's want to save Zion 5.0's inhabitants from deletion. The saving of Zion 5.0 is deemed as a noble cause by the inhabitants of Zion for the reason of the survival of self.
Since Zion 6.0 faced imminent destruction and the password of Zion5 allows Neo 6.0 to meet the architect and possibly "save" Zion 6.0 and since the prior versions of the Matrix probably have the same event timelines (Oracle->Keymaster->Architect), a programming loop, if you will, it would seem to me that the actions of Zion 6.0 rebels would also be similar to prior versions of Zion rebels (this goes along with the thought that Zion is a Matrix and the inhabitants, Morpheus, Trinity, et al, are programs), that the password is a hint that it's all a loop and that the Zion rebels are in fact programs. I expect that Revolutions is where Neo becomes enlightened of the fact that the "real world" is not real at all.
Reloaded spent 95% of the time asking and answer precisely nothing. When Neo got to the Architect, suddenly there was an enormous amount to think about-- but it was dumped on you so quickly that you didn't have time to absorb it, or really mull the implications. Then you were running again, and then it was over.
The point is, anyone can come up with plot twists. Good moviemakers also have to keep you interested.