Thoughts From The Collection: The Matrix (1999): Followup

Alo Party Peoples.

Sorry for not having another DVD review out today, I essentially forgot about it until it was too late to do one. So here's a followup to one from last year as compensation.

Some of you might remember that on New Years Eve last year I posted a review of The Matrix, I found it to be pretty good, and noted that it "might be starting to show it's age".

Sometime in the following month, my dad was driving me home and he told me that he had read the review. I forget the exact words but he said something like "It might not be amazing to you, but the thing to remember is that all the things that might make it look old, The Matrix did a lot of them first."

That stuck with me, and I thought about it until I came to a conclusion. He did make a good point, The Matrix certainly had a lot of influence. It revolutionized the use of computer effects and fight choreography in action. The act of displaying a scene in slow motion while the camera moves around the subject at normal speed, or "bullet time", became widely used by several filmmakers afterwards. It's bleak, harsh, washed out, black and grey color palette became somewhat trendy. The phrases "Take the red pill", and "Agent Smith" are now part of the culture, or at least they were for a while. The film briefly became controversial when the Columbine shooters performed their infamous act while wearing trench-coats, and said trench-coats (from the flim, not the shooting) became the symbol of "bad-assitude" to many of the people that saw the movie as college freshmen and thought it was the coolest thing on the planet. Countless parodies have been made of every element, from bullet time, to the red pill, to the non-existent spoon, even the green code in the opening.

It's probably too soon to tell just yet, but The Matrix has arguably become part of the science-fiction film canon, along with Planet Of The Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the original Star Wars trilogy, and Alien.

If this movie is fit to be mentioned in the same breath as those films, ones that are undeniably classics, then why am I not impressed with it? Well, maybe it's because The Matrix was so influential, so absorbed into the popular culture, kicked off so many trends, that the origin point of those things just doesn't have as much to offer anymore. Fifteen years turned out to be more than enough time for the rest of popular culture to cherry-pick the good bits and run with them, leaving The Matrix a hollowed out relic. Worth taking note of certainly, maybe shown to film students studying the late 20th  century, but not something that is especially useful as entertainment nowadays.

You can probably say that about most of the great classics to be honest. Yes, every film is someone's first, but the rest of us just aren't entertained anymore.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Coming Soon, To Your Theaters And My Blogs!

Alo Party Peoples

Sorry that I didn't get a movie review out this month. I was getting distracted, and I just kept pushing it back. Instead, we're going to take a look at some movie trailers. Specifically, films that I promised I would cover on this blog, at least the ones that have trailers, unless I missed something, I don't think that The Giver or the next Hobbit movie have trailers out yet. Let's get started.

Noah (March 28)

This actually looks kind of cool. If anyone in my reader base doesn't have familiarity with it already, this film is based on the Genesis flood narrative native to the Abrahamic religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Short version, God gets fed up with our corrupting of his perfect world with our continuing to sin, so he sends a flood to destroy all creation. He tells a man named Noah about his plans, and also gives him specific instructions on how to build a massive boat to fill with two of every animal so that something will survive. He does so, forty days and forty nights later the flood ends and Noah's family repopulates the Earth.

This movie version looks less like Sunday school and more like Lord Of The Rings, adding in a siege of the ark by people desperate to survive the flood, and it's kind of awesome. Does that statement make me a heretic if I was never very religious to begin with?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4)

I am biased in favor of Marvel Studios, I've enjoyed their output in the past, and while one episode of Shield was a slight disappointment, they have yet to make something that I genuinely hate. This is no exception. It looks like they are moving the Captain America branch of the MCU from the throwback WWII-era pulp adventure style of First Avenger, to something closer to the Jason Bourne films. I've had suspicions that the film may or may not have something to do with Agents of Shield, maybe that show is setting up something that will play out here. Maybe that's why it's been off to such a slow start.

Godzilla (May 16)

This looks pretty good. Maybe it will displace the memory of the 1998 film. This is Bryan Cranston's first big role after Breaking Bad, we will see how this shakes out. My only real concern is that a modern Godzilla will feel underwhelming after Pacific Rim, which if nothing else was a damn entertaining ride. We don't see very much of the monster here, so maybe they're trying to hide something.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (May 23)

I don't have very much to say other than it doesn't look especially good or bad, and that it's returning to the bluish-grey visual style of the original films. A just serviceable film would be a letdown because First Class with it's vibrant color pallet was kind of awesome.

The Fault In Our Stars (June 6)

This YA romance about two terminal cancer patients who manage to make each other's numbered days a little more bearable is based on a book of the same name by YA author and Internet personality John Green. He is known by much of the web as one half of the Vlogbrothers along with his brother Hank. I remember reading The Fault In Our Stars, or as fans often refer to it "TFiOS", sometime during ninth grade, but I don't remember any particular reactions to it.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (July 11)

I have fond memories of the first film in this reboot of Planet of The Apes. It's no classic, but I enjoyed it. How will this sequel work out? We will see.

Guardians Of The Galaxy (August 15)

Like I said earlier, I am biased in favor of Marvel Studios, and now they are doing something other than just action films. This is still an action film, but it looks like it will be much more comedic than their previous output. It also looks quite weird. However it turns out, the results should at least be a sight to see.






Like I stated above, The Giver and The Hobbit: There And Back Again do not have trailers out at the time I write this, when they do I will cover them separately.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

P.S. I might be able to cover the Welcome To Night Vale live show, or more specifically the script being toured "The Librarian", it's coming to Texas this time. If it doesn't sell out by Friday, then I will be able to get into the show in Houston on March 15th. I'm kind of excited.

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Pompeii 3D

Alo Party Peoples.

Please allow me to start with some history. There once was a town called Pompeii. It was a Roman town in southern Italy near where Naples is today. It was a center of commerce and its soil was very fertile, thus the town was very wealthy. In 72 AD the nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the town in ash. The town was abandoned and eventually forgotten about, until 1599 when a Spanish architect digging a canal rediscovered it. The town is now an archaeological site and tourist attraction, and much of what we know about Roman life at the height of the Pax Romana comes from it.

There have been other attempts to make the town's final days into drama, a bunch of documentaries, the first section of the Cambridge Latin Course is set there, a pretty decent Doctor Who episode* was wrung from it, and now this big budget disaster movie directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. How is it?

Milo (Kit Harrington) is a gladiator in Roman Britain at the height of the empire's power. He's quite good at his job, so his master brings him to Pompeii during the festival of Vinalia. There he meets a wealthy girl named Cassia (Emily Browning) at a party and he catches her eye by being a horse whisperer. Unfortunately, he is set to die in the arena the next day, and Cassia's father has already promised her to the senator Corvus (Keifer Sutherland), none of which matters because during the festival Vesuvius does what it's known for and kills the entire town.

It isn't terribly engaging. Kit Harrington's facial expression barely changes at all over the course of the movie, everyone else does a decent job though, and the director has no idea how to film action. You would think that action scenes wouldn't be that big a deal in a romance movie like this, but they keep cutting to Milo's arena and those scenes are not very well done. The romance is un-engaging, and you just end up thinking "when is the volcano going to get here?". Which is made worse by the fact that the film constantly cuts to the volcano, like it's teasing the audience.

Granted, when we finally do get to the eruption, it's all very pretty looking, but it's only spectacle because you don't care about any of the people involved.

Overall, you can safely give this one a pass, and to all my fellow Latin students out there, Caecilius is never mentioned. Not even once. Sorry. I thought that could have made a decent flick too.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*One that incidentally featured the new Doctor playing Caecilius. I've heard rumors that this will become a plot point.

Archivis News Update 2-19-14

Alo Party Peoples.

Here is some news.

By now everyone reading my blog should know my love of the 1998 film Pleasantville, I love it to death. It works as a comedy, even if I'm slightly lukewarm on that aspect. The musical score by Randy Newman is fantastic, and it manages to squeeze an actual relevant message in there. One that is arguably more relevant now considering the use of vibrant color as a metaphor for choice and free expression. Or, depending on your point of view, a metaphor for original sin. In the 21st century, that shouldn't need any further explanation.

The next movie review will probably be of "Pompeii", I would like to provide some context as to the title. Pompeii was a Roman town in southern Italy that was destroyed in 79 A.D by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

The "Guardians of The Galaxy" film, to be released by Marvel Studios this August, now has a trailer out. You might notice that it looks much more comedic than their past films. When I commented about this on YouTube, one STEIN667 replied "That's because the comic books are...Rocket Raccoon's catchphrase is "Blam! Murdered You" or at least one of them. He's mouthy. Just think about the concept of that character alone... It's a more humorous comic book than most. At least to me." The film is already on my review schedule, we will see how they do branching out from just straight action.

Something that it might seem odd that I left out of my review schedule is "The Amazing Spider-Man 2". I left it out because, even though the Sam Rami Spider-Man films were favorites of mine growing up, the first film of the reboot was not very good, and this one only looks like a slight improvement.

It looks like I'm the only person that isn't blown away by the Lego Movie. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the Danish toy company's film is bad, but everyone has been going on about how amazing it is, and I just don't think it's an instant classic. Maybe it was just over-hyped, but aside from the ridiculously detailed animation, I can't call it a great film without lying to you.

I have a project I would like to propose to you. From the months of May to December, each months DVD review would be of one of the Harry Potter films, would any of you like that? I've considered talking about all of them at once, but that would be rather difficult considering that series's total run-time adds up to 1,180 minutes. The books that the films were based on contained 1,084,170 words. About 918 words per minute of film.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Weird Facts: Dr. Seuss Wrote Propaganda, Kind Of.

Alo Party Peoples.


We all remember Dr. Seuss's books fondly from childhood, but did you know that, before writing and illustrating picture books, he drew political cartoons during World War Two? He made over 400 of them actually, while working as editorial cartoonist for leftist New York City newspaper PM from 1941-1943. Since I"m sort of in between movies to review right now, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of them.

Originally published in the newspaper PM
on December 26th 1941.

First off we have this cartoon telling people to buy U.S. Defense Bonds and Stamps. The term "hock" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "to give (something that you own) to a pawnbroker in exchange for money" and the selling of "defense bonds" by the U.S. government was used to help finance the war effort and keep inflation in check by removing money from circulation. Several of these cartoons deal with war bonds, but that isn't what your'e interested in is it? No, what your'e interested in when you hear "Dr. Seuss made propoganda cartoons during World War Two." is if there's anything that might be considered horribly offensive in there.

Originally published in the newspaper PM
on December 30th 1941.

On that subject, we have this cartoon saying that perhaps since the enemy is fighting dirty, it's time to stand up for ourselves. Most of my American reader base will know what the tag saying "PEARL HARBOR" is referring to,* but what about the one that says "MANILA"? So far as I can figure, Manila refers to a city in the Philippines where Japanese troops were indiscriminately killing civilians.

Also, Dr. Seuss was a quite liberal person for his time, being strongly opposed to the Antisemitism and racial discrimination of the Nazis, and while we're on the subject he was also opposed to those things when they happened in the U.S. Anyway, for such a left leaning person, it's slightly odd to see that his representation of Japan, presumably Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan at the time, is a bucktoothed, squinting, and rather short fellow holding a knife as if to stab someone, presumably in the back. Granted, the bombing of Pearl Harbor had happened only three weeks ago, and anti-Japanese sentiment would become common as a result,** but it's still slightly uncomfortable looking at it from the perspective of the 21st' century, especially from Seuss.

Originally published in the newspaper PM
on June 6th 1942

Next we have this cartoon about Hitler's overextending of his armies, at least that's what I think this is about. I can't think of anything else to say about it, so let's move on....

Published November 28th 1941.

...to another cartoon involving an American trade embargo on Japan, which was dependent on import of American scrap to fuel it's rapid industrialization and conquest of Asia.



Now you know that the guy who wrote Cat In The Hat also made political cartoons. Next time, I'll try to get a movie review out, or a random episode of Law and Order. Would any of you like that? Let me know in the comments.



Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*For my non U.S. readers, on December 7th 1941 the Japanese pulled a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack was intended to discourage American intervention in Southeast Asia, we declared war on Japan a day later.

**Seuss himself was notorious for holding these views, he got over them after the war.

Sources included:
The Political Dr. Seuss at http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa291.htm
Dr Seuss Went To War at http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/

All of the images used in today's blog post can be found and used without charge in their digital form for educational purposes, courtesy of the UC San Diego Libraries, at this website here: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/

Archivis News Update 2-15-14

Alo Party Peoples.

...for not having much content out.

I know that I haven't published very much new content recently besides covering The Lego Movie, and some of you might have noticed that my Twitter account, @GregB00, has been silent for the past week as well. Here's why that is. My grades haven't been that great recently, so I've been focusing on school instead of this blog. I'm sorry for any inconveniences that this might have caused, but being able to pass chemistry is more important than whether the remake of Robocop is any good.* I will try to get more content out for you soon, but I can't make any promises.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B


*I wouldn't know, I didn't see the Robocop remake, and I don't plan too.

Let's Go Out To The Movies: The LEGO Movie (PG)

Alo Party Peoples.


I'm surprised as you are that "The LEGO Movie" is a thing that exists. Not that LEGO had a movie made, they've done a bunch of stuff over the years, what I'm surprised by is that a feature length LEGO movie got made and had a theatrical release. I don't usually cover family movies on here, and that's for a reason. I don't want to look like a creep. I only saw this one because I wanted to know how it turned out. How is it? Well...


Story: Our main character is Emmet (Chris Pratt), a Lego construction worker with no personality of his own. He lives in a generic Lego city with no personality of it's own. He meets a wizard named Vitruvius who reveals to him that the city he lives in is one of many themed Lego worlds that once coexisted in mixed up harmony, but were separated into rigid logical sense by President Business (Will Ferrel), who now plans to use a super weapon to glue the universe together into his vision of perfection*. Now Emmet must work with a woman named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), a Lego Batman (Will Arnett), and a 1980's spaceman (Charlie Day) to stop Lord Business by using the Piece of Resistance, which has become stuck to Emmet's back, and restore creativity to it's rightful place.

If that description felt like a generic story, that's because the film is attempting to parody a lot of things. In particular the hero's journey, kids films, blatantly commercial blockbusters, and the function of Lego as a creative tool. Let's use The Matrix as a comparison and see if I can make sense of this. Emmet is Neo, Wyldstyle is Trinity, Vitruvius is Morpheus, Liam Neeson's Cop is Cypher if he worked for the machines, and Lord Buisness is Agent Smith. I'm not sure that the film entirely works, but it is trying.

Presentation: This is a real strength for The Lego Movie, if it does anything right, it's presentation. The animators went into painstaking detail to create a Lego universe that doesn't just borrow the Lego aesthetic, but also includes all the scuffs, scratches, smudges, and general imperfections which hint at their origins as plastic. One where literally everything (even steam, fire, and water) is made out of Lego. Lego was a big part of my childhood and I can tell you that this was an accurate representation of the toys, at least in visual terms. It's trying to look like a homemade stop-motion Lego fan-film, and the resemblance is spot on.

The tone of the film is firmly tongue-in-cheek, like I said, it's going for parody. Any possible satire going on is probably going to fly over the kid's heads, but that won't make it unenjoyable for the adults in the audience.

Cast: Chris Pratt does well as Emmet, Elizabeth Banks does well as Wyldstyle, Will Arnett plays a fantastic parody of the Nolan Batman, Lego Batman turns the super serious Dark Knight into the guy trying way too hard to look cool. Allison Brie is enjoyable as Unikitty, and Charlie Day is fantastic as Benny the Spaceman. If you noticed all the pop culture references in the trailers, those are there because Lego has the license to make toys for most of them. They'll either work for you or not, and I'm just sort of ambivalent to them. Overall, you can tell that everyone put a lot of effort into this movie, and it has a sense of childlike wonder that I find charming.

In conclusion, it is a serviceable film, and if you have a kid that's super into Lego, it will quickly become their favorite movie for a while. It will also probably keep you interested. Maybe it was just over-hyped by all the people who saw it before I did, but I can't know for sure. General consensus is that it's an instant classic, I'd call it a 7.5/10.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*I relate so very much. He's essentially trying to create aspie heaven.

P.S. I've heard that Monuments Men is enjoyable, but not remarkable. That it's the kind of movie cable channels would run to fill their airtime. I will talk about it once it comes to DVD. If you are an adult, go see that instead, It will probably make you feel good.

Some More Things About Autism.

Alo Party Peoples.

Last month I did a post on autism. It seemed to go over well. Today I have some more things to say about autism. I'm not feeling well, so it will be a list.

• It does exist.
• It is a difference in neurological wiring, not a disease to be cured. Don't compare it to curing cancer, instead compare it to curing left-handedness. There is no cure.
• It is very difficult to live with. We aren't stupid, we just need support.
• We are trying to make things easier for you. Really.
• We are not actively trying to piss you off.
• What we are doing is trying to cope with a very confusing world.
• This coping can look like insanity to the neurotypical. We don't intend it to be that way. What we intend is to make things easier for ourselves.
• The goal should not be to make the autism look like it isn't there. The goal is to cope with the world.

I'm not satisfied with those bullet points at all, but I've spent the past day and a half on this constantly throwing out drafts. So I'm publishing this right now so I can be done with it.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Food For Thought Again. On The Internet

Alo Party Peoples.

Here are some more thoughts.

Isn't it weird that, as much as the Internet and social media have wormed their way into all of our lives, relationships formed through that social media are considered not as important as "real" friends? I can see why it happens, the paradoxically vastly interconnected yet much less personal feeling nature of the Internet can make it very easy to forget that the words on the screen in front of you were typed by an actual human, and we should certainly remember that we are dealing with people, but it's still weird that people who make a living through the web are asked when they will get a "real" job.

On a related point, being emotionally invested in a work of fiction does not make one shallow, or crazy or odd. Whether it's nearly crying when River explains why she decides to leave with Juble Early, or being outraged by the actions of a reality TV starlet. Just because the source of the feeling is a fiction, doesn't make the emotion less real.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Archivis News Update: 2-2-2014

Alo Party Peoples.

Here is some news.

ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT UPCOMING CONTENT

In a previous post I said that if I could acquire Serenity: Leaves on The Wind I would discuss it here. I am unable to acquire it. I apologize, as compensation March's DVD review will be Serenity. I don't actually own it at the time I write this, but it is on Netflix Instant Stream, so I can technically review it for you.

The LEGO Movie might not be covered this weekend in favor of Monuments Men, a biopic about a group of historians tasked by the Allied forces with protecting Europe's cultural history from the Nazis during WWII. Whichever film I do end up seeing that Saturday, I will cover the other once it comes to DVD.

Speaking of which, in case you missed it, here are the films that I plan to cover this year in order of US release date.

• The LEGO Movie or Monuments Men (February 7th)
• Pompeii (February 21st)
• Noah (March 28th)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4th)
• Godzilla (May 16)
• X-Men: Days Of Future Past (May 23)
• The Fault In Our Stars (June 6th)
• Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (July 11th)
• Guardians Of The Galaxy (August 1st)
• The Giver (August 15th)
• The Hobbit: There And Back Again (December 17)

FANTASTIC BEASTS OF OLD

Have there been any new developments about the Harry Potter spin-off movie that got hinted at around September last year? Then again, does anybody still care about Harry Potter in general? It was a good ride, don't get me wrong, but it just feels like old news now.


NET NEUTRALITY HAS BEEN STRUCK DOWN

I've been meaning to talk about this for a while. On January 14th of 2014, a federal court decided that the FCC has no authority to enforce net neutrality among internet service providers. This in theory allows companies like Time Warner Cable and Verizon to slow down or completely block certain websites for any reason. What makes this worse is that they don't have to tell their users what websites are being blocked. I haven't experienced any websites being blocked or slowed down because of it, at least not that I am aware of,  but do know that, at least in the United States, something like the image to your right is now a theoretical possibility. My opinion? That's just not right.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Food For Thought.

Alo Party Peoples.


Did you know that before Chris Columbus became attached to it, the first Harry Potter movie was going to be a Steven Spielberg headed animated production? I have heard that Disney was going to fund the project, but I could not find a source for that. Harry Joel Osment was to voice the title role. This violated J.K. Rowling's condition that the main cast be kept British, and the project eventually moved on to Chris Columbus. Do you think that Harry Potter would have worked as an animated family movie? In my opinion, the first book would have, maybe the second, but it just wouldn't have worked out for very long without deviating vastly from the source material. It probably would have been for the best for them to stop after one installment.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B