[109731] in Cypherpunks
cpunk movie reviews (was: Re: Fwd: FC: The Matrix: A Cyberpunk Triumph )
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Zooko Journeyman)
Fri Apr 2 20:54:06 1999
To: iang@cs.berkeley.edu (Ian Goldberg)
cc: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
In-Reply-To: Message from iang@cs.berkeley.edu (Ian Goldberg)
of "02 Apr 1999 20:33:05 GMT." <7e39i1$jce$1@abraham.cs.berkeley.edu>
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 18:43:06 -0700
From: Zooko Journeyman <zooko@wildgoose.tandu.com>
Reply-To: Zooko Journeyman <zooko@wildgoose.tandu.com>
Cpunks:
I am increasingly irritated that "The Matrix" is getting rave
reviews from otherwise reasonable critics. Below is my one-
paragraph review for my friends, which I wrote solely to spare
them the disappointment of going to see it thinking that it
might offer some sort of emotional, intellectual, or artistic
stimulus.
If you want a good science fiction movie, try watching
"THX-1138", "Bladerunner", or "2001" again. If you just want
an action flick, and you've already seen the good old Hong
Kong-era Johnny Woo movies like "The Killer" and "Hardboiled"
too many times, then I suppose you might enjoy "The Matrix",
but expect a feast of cliches glued together by little more
than smart production values and innovative special effects.
--z
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To: [recipient list ellided]
Subject: movie review in one paragraph: The Matrix, thumbs down
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 16:55:19 -0700
From: Zooko Journeyman <zooko@wildgoose.tandu.com>
I'm too damn picky about movies. I'm still in mourning because
Kubrick will never make "AI", and after I read glowing reviews
of "The Matrix" I allowed myself to fantasize that it might be
a top-notch movie. But of course it isn't top-notch -- it's
got second-rate kung-fu, third-rate dialogue ("Hear that?" asks
the sneering villain once he has the wooden protagonist trapped
in the subway before an oncoming train, "That is the sound
of... inevitability."), laughable premises ("With millions of
human bodies and some fusion, they have all the energy they
need."), and cliche plot lines (you won't be surprised by
anything after the first 30 minutes). The only nice thing is
the special effects.
--z
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