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The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Watch "The Animatrix" instead of this, if you want a good Matrix movie!
!!! WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD !!! ☺
As in the title: watch "The Animatrix" (2003) instead of this, if you want a good Matrix movie! That movie is a perfect 10/10 (it consists of multiple animated short movies, in different awesome art-styles, interesting stories; it explains how the Matrix got created, and shows where it leads).
As for the "The Matrix Resurrections" (2021): feel free to watch that too, but there are far better Matrix movies than this. I tried to like this new movie, I really tried, but nah... Maybe just some parts, but the whole experience is a total lackluster. Let me explain below.
Personally I LOVED the original "The Matrix" (1999) movie. It was groundbreaking: the story, the world-building, the characters, the action scenes, the music, the special effects... A lot of my friends also fell in love with this sci-fi / fantasy world, and it raised a lot of philosophical questions too.
Then came the sequels: The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). I also like those, although some of my friends liked them less. They were not so groundbreaking like the first one, and some people did not like the story. I think they were still great, and out of the possible storylines they offered an interesting, but a bit sad ending (a lot of characters died / got seriously hurt). After this there were also some books / comics, computer games too.
Then we got "The Matrix Resurrections" (2003). Honestly, it feels like some kind of art / parody movie about the matrix world, made by some college students. The movie is full of references back to the previous movies, with archive video scenes inside the film. There was a bit similar thing in an older scene with the Architect of the Matrix (when he showed Neo all the other different Neos of the terminated Matrix timelines), but that scene was fantastic and a bit scary. These new back-references just feel like they try to bank in on the success of the old movies (like "See? That was a great movie, now please like this one too!"). The new action scenes are lacking compared to the other films, they just don't feel powerful enough (e.g. Like the excellent fights between Neo & Agent Smith in the older movies).
Some characters got just swapped to other actors, but run by the same name - like WTF? At least they could have got the original actors too (to create an Original VS. New Identity Crisis), but no, some characters are just simply played by a new actor, and it's really bad & confusing. For example Laurence Fishburne & Hugo Weaving are NOT in the new movie, just some other guys plays them. Why? It gives the feeling of long running TV series (e.g. Dallas), where they sometimes replace well known actors with someone else if the original actor is not available due to some reason. In big movies like this they should just introduce new characters (like "Hello, my name is Joe / Mary / Hades / Zeus / Athena / Electra / whatever, I'm the brother / sister / son / daughter / distant relative / friend / colleague / teammate of Morpheus / Agent Smith!"). Maybe there is some kind of hidden social message here (like our identity can be changed, appearance can be superficial, our core what matters, etc.), but c'mon, the movie should at least try to be good & original, and should respect the source material... The movie should be great on its own, not just a long back-reference parade. There were a few interesting scenes, but altogether it was just not good enough (at least that's how I felt, but of course maybe some people like it more than I do).
As anything could be possible in the Matrix, we could have got some crazy good computer-multiverse world, with huge armies, upside-down physics, multidimensional AI entities, computer-dimension travel and so on. Instead this movie is more just like a shade of the previous ones.
The new movie definitely has some good ideas. E.g. Some new characters are likeable (e.g. Bugs, Cybebe), the nanobots look cool, introducing friendly machines is a great idea, and at least Neo + Trinity get a happy ending, which is nice. But it's quite lacking in a lot of areas. If you don't mind to be disappointed, then watch it, and decide for yourself.
*edit: clarification, more infos.
Kontroll (2003)
One of the best Hungarian art / comedy / thriller movies! ☺
One of the best Hungarian art / comedy / thriller movies! ☺
It combines art / comedy / thriller / crime / horror and some other genres very well. Worth checking out. It's funny, scary, abstract and exciting at the same time.
It gives a kind of distorted, but still realistic and thought-provoking picture about the daily life of Budapest, the local metro & its residents.
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
A fun Marvel movie, but the original comic book story about Gorr The God Butcher is much better!
!!! WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
This is a fun Marvel movie, but the original comic book story about Gorr The God Butcher is much better! The comics is much more darker, deeper & meaningful. The movie is lighter, with tons of jokes, some nice visuals, a few good action scenes (and some boring ones) + some emotional parts.
Generally I like comedies / action movies, but I think this movie should have been much more serious, with more focus on the background story & personal tragedy of Gorr, his family and his tribe. As an intro there was about 6 minutes about Gorr & his daughter, it's way too short, given that he becomes the main antagonist of this story. Imagine Thanos having only 6 minutes before the "Avengers: Endgame" movie - it just would not be the same. At least 10 - 15 minutes would be better, to give more emotional weight to it, there should be a longer & more detailed buildup. They mostly left out Gorr's life with his tribe, mother & children from the story, and his child has a bigger story impact in the comics. They left out tons of important events, and replaced them by empty jokes... There are some good scenes in the movie too, but there could be much more, based on the source material.
The movie is about 106 minutes long, filled with too many light jokes, that add no character development or intensity. Jokes are cool, when used in moderation (and usually Marvel movies have quite a good humor), but they should not be used in excess, and they definitely should not replace important, dramatic events. Imagine some other serious, tragic story (e.g. "The Shawshank Redemption", "Saving Private Ryan", "Schindler's List") filled with mostly empty jokes instead of meaningful dramatic content. Probably the director & writer tried to make this movie more "lighter" and "digestible" for a wider audience, so they can sell more movie tickets (for adults & children too), which is understandable from a profit perspective, but not from the excellent original story's perspective (that got butchered, with a lot of important missing & unnecessarily changed parts).
They also changed the appearance of Gorr & his child from the comics. They are originally not human, but some kind of an alien (a bit similar to the "Twi'lek" race in "Star Wars", with some head tentacles - these also have some significance in the comics in some scenes). For example Thanos was done very well in the "Avengers: Infinity War" & "Avengers: Endgame" movies, they could have used a similar combination of CGI visuals & a dramatic actor here. Imagine Thanos being just an average / normal looking human, it would really break the immersion; the fact that he is a huge, ancient & powerful purple alien from a different planet / civilization is a pivotal point of the story. Of course, anything can be changed in art, but if you change too many things, you get just too far away from the original.
Another thing: Gorr The GOD BUTCHER (there is a reason, that this is his nickname) kills only 1 god, during the intro. We should have seen WAAAAAAAY more action scenes with him. Like butchering tons of gods, and thus becoming an extremely dangerous Universe Level Threat. Something terrible, that could easily massacre all the MCU characters, similarly to Thanos in "Infinity War" or Ultron in the "What If...?" series (where he also gets all the Infinity Stones). So we could actually care and worry about the established characters; and these characters should use some tricks & strategy to beat the villain. But he doesn't, Gorr here just walks around usually threatening, raises some shadow demons, and has some better and some forgettable fight scenes, where usually nobody important dies... This just makes him to look like an empty threat. At least he could have "killed" Zeus instead of Thor doing it (which also looked way too easy, even if it was just a temporary takedown). Gorr's Necrosword is cool, but it's really underused in the movie, it's an extremely powerful artifact in the comics, that can steal the power of gods.
Of course, not everything can be 100% implemented to a movie from a relatively long comic book story, and it's OK. Again, it's a funny & enjoyable action / comedy / fantasy / sci-fi / drama movie in itself, just not up to the expectations compared to the comics. If you liked the film, check out the comic books too, you can find them online ("Thor: God of Thunder", and the first few issues are about Gorr The Godbutcher's story)!
*edit: added some extra info.
Forrest Gump (1994)
An excellent movie about Life, Happiness & Goodness
This is an excellent movie about Life, Happiness & Goodness. Every actor does a wonderful job, it has awesome music, many scenes are dramatic, shocking, though-provoking, breathtaking or funny. This movie is simply iconic, a 100% must on everyone's watchlist! ☺
Forrest is a really good & honest person, although he is a bit slow mentally. He still persists to do everything well, and he creates magic around him all the time. He becomes a pro sportsman, a war hero (by saving his teammates), a businessman, a good friend for many and finally a father. Although this is a made-up story, but it can really inspire everyone. Have fun!
Krew Boga (2018)
A pretty dark, but interesting experimental movie
This is a pretty dark, but interesting experimental movie about the Middle Ages.
A lot of strange things happened in those times, and this movie gives a special impression about it. Pagans, Christianity, strange rituals & beliefs...
It was quite a spiritual experience with a lot of different factions, and this movie gives an eyewitness account about it. Probably it's far from 100% authentic, but probably many tribes had similar lives. Also, there are some interesting twists in the story, but I won't spoil those, watch it to experience it yourself... ☺
Game of Thrones: The Long Night (2019)
Bad, lazy writing, tons of plot-armor
Bad, lazy writing, tons of plot-armor. Game Of Thrones should do better.
The Night King should have won.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Very-very unpopular opinion: I liked the new Star Wars movies from George Lucas! :-)
(Spoiler alert) Very-very unpopular opinion: I liked the new Star Wars movies from George Lucas! :-)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Episode II: Attack of the Clones; Episode III: Revenge of the Sith were all cool I think. Yeah, Jar-Jar is ͡ bit stupid, I did not really like that creature either - however in the pretty-dark Star Wars universe there can be some stupid / funny species too, because why the hell not? He takes brings some bright light in it, and compared to his silliness the evil characters (the Emperor, Vader, Maul, etc.) look even more dark and menacing.
But Palpatine was done very well, just like Anakin, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, Yoda and others. The battle scenes were awesome, and if you compare the Jedi fights to the older movies, the new ones look waaaaay better - the original Jedi fights are like the fights in really old pirate movies (cc. around the 1920's), while the new ones use force jumps, force pull-push, dual wielding, shaolin-like techniques and many more really good-looking stuff. Different people, different opinions I guess...
Also, this whole circlejerk around "George Lucas is ͡ bad movie maker, bad artist, bad person" is pretty strange. I mean yeah, he had very different financial and directorial options while making the original trilogy, and then the 3 prequels. But c'mon guys: he started the whole STAR WARS saga!!! He should get some credit or admiration for it. If one does not like his latest works, that is also OK, there are tons of fan- fictions to enjoy instead. Leave Britney Lucas alone... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Also now Disney will make some new parts, we will see what they can add to the Star Wars universe: prepare for Mickey Mouse Jedi Knight III... Nah, just kidding, I think they will also make some good ones. Disney employs professionals, and they can differentiate between "child movies" and adult fantasy movies, so I think they will be really good. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is also ͡ Disney franchise, and it has some darker parts too, definitely not aimed toward little children.
To sum it up: the Star Wars universe is big: there is the Force in it, darkness, light, evil characters, funny characters, battle scenes, love scenes... If you do not like some of these, you can always choose another book, movie or game, there are tons of them. Personally I really like Phantom Menace, and all the other new movies too.
Lone Survivor (2013)
Good vs. Evil - is it so simple?
This movie is not about heroes, it is about propaganda. It is like some bad old Western movie, where the Indians are just evil scum, who should be shot at every possible occasion, and where all the cowboys are automatically good.
Face it: if you go fighting in a foreign country, you have a good chance to die. Does not really matter much if you train a lot, have good weapons and such. You can just get shot like a dog, like it happened in case of thousands of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. USA keeps making wars since the end of World War II, and as such, portraying the "heroes" fighting in Afghanistan is just stupid and hypocritical. They do not defend their own country,they went to play GI Joe to another culture's homeland - and it has consequences.
Although there are evil people in every country, this movie shows it like all the Americans are just friggin' awesome dancing around, training like hell, having fun team events, and generally being "cool", while all those bad-bad-stupid Arabic fighters should just die - as they hinder the Big Mission. We do not really understand from the movie what is the purpose of Big Mission - but who cares? They are fighters, aces, marines, and hell, they need some success!!!
The brown guys must be bad, because they dare to fight back against the good marines. Well.. imagine if the USA would be attacked some day - would they also fight back? Are the local fighters automatically just evil for defending their own territories? The answer of this movie is: HELL YES!!! So they must die.
They show a little boy (as possibly the only good Arabic guy?), and a lot of other evil brown-skinned fighters. There is a lot of fighting, and if an USA marine gets wounded - they show how everyone is doing everything to save his life. The movie does not care much about the brown-skinned ones, they can just get shot and die.
This movie is empty propaganda, and such deserves no stars, but there is no 0 point possible, so I give 1.
Snowpiercer (2013)
Stupid quasi-sci-fi full of plot holes
***SPOILERS***
I really like sci-fi movies generally, and the ones which feature social criticism with some post-apocalyptic flavor are even better: like "Mad Max", "1984", "The Hunger Games", "The Matrix", "Terminator", "Brazil" and such.
What about this movie then? It just sucks... :-( Why? It is just FULL OF PLOT HOLES!!!!!!! Like how could they operate a friggin' train continually for several years without maintaining the tracks in freezing sub- zero temperatures? Why do not just build a base instead somewhere (maybe underground)? If this would be a self-maintaining spaceship (like the ones in "Star Trek"), I would say OK, it is maybe possible: they just keep flying in space, and that is it. Or even a ship like the ones in "Waterworld". But a train??? Even with the "perpetual machine", it would just derail at some point, and everybody would just die, as the tracks would break due to being old, frozen and such.
Also, this "planned riot" thing, and feeding children to the machine... Why would they do it this way? Why do not they just limit the population (condoms, sterilization, anti-baby pills), and feed animals or plants to the machine? Although in the "Matrix" movie they had a bit similar energy system (people lived in small cells and they supposedly gave energy to the Matrix), but it was way more believable. Like they gave their mental capacity to the system, or something like that. But small children running a train engine??? I do not know, it is just surreal somehow...
As for the social criticism part, it is interesting, but this whole setting... I can compare it only to another allegoric movie "El topo(1970)", which is also illogical and highly overrated I think. The characters do not react realistically almost in any scene. Like there are the "rich", elite people who can just enjoy their lives, but they do not look shocked or astonished at all when they see the poor scum armed with guns, axes and such.
And the main hero just destroys the whole train at the end. Well done, bye-bye humanity... At least the polar bear at the end gets some fresh human meat. :-)
The Last Airbender (2010)
A pretty decent movie, based on an excellent anime
OK, so to begin with: I saw EVERY part of the animated series - and I just LOVED them!!! ☺
As for this movie, it is pretty decent. Of course, they are not 100% identical. But if you except ANY movie to be EXACTLY THE SAME like the animated series (or a book), I can guarantee that you will be disappointed.
Just compare the original "Star Wars" movies to the animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" series. Or compare the "Forrest Gump" movie to the original books. They play in the same universe, but there are MANY differences of course, partially due to the medium (real actors VS. animation or book).
I saw many movies which butchered the original book or animation or vica versa (e.g. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is one of the best books ever, but the movie was terrible), but this is not such a bad one. Good actors, excellent CGI, nice actions, and also there are some funny parts.
I rate the original animation series 10/10, the movie is easily 8/10.
How to Operate Your Brain (1994)
"Think For Yourself, Question Authority" :-)
A trippy guide about how to get rid of the control of society, capitalism, consumerism, and generally from the oppression of authority by enhancing chaos in your own mind.
If you expect some sort of Hollywood cliché movie, then please do NOT watch this. Go instead for some Superman, or Die Hard movie, those can be really exciting, and you will not need to think much about them. However if you want to BREAK FREE from the oppression of your soul by deeply thinking, enhancing altered states of the mind, then this is a really good start. If you read about the life of Leary, you will see that he was always a rebel, a freelancer researcher, a spiritual guide, and a student of the whole Universe. This short movie will not give you final answers, it is rather a thought provoking tool that one can use.
Faces of Death (1978)
The suppressed topic: DEATH
I think, this is very interesting movie!!! Not for everybody, of course. It depends on you: A.) If you like to THINK about what you see, I strongly advise this movie for you! B.) If you don't like to think about a movie, don't watch this. Choose rather Terminator, or Independence Day, they have got quite cool computer animations.
I guess everybody agrees with me about that the topic of "DEATH" is generally suppressed nowadays in our society. We don't speak about it... We don't think about it... We don't read about it... And especially don't watch MOVIES about it!
Maybe this suppression is because people fear this topic. Many people don't believe in anything spiritual (Buddhism/Hinduism/Christianity/etc.), and probably they find the idea of "real death" too dreadful.
A agree, that this movie could be much more better. Yes, there are a lot of fake scenes, many of the characters are actors/actresses - instead of real people in real danger. But does this REALLY matter? I mean, if I see an accident, and I think about it, that the same thing is happening every day, and it could happen to me also...
And as for hamburgers: personally I love them! :-) I visit KFC / McDonalds / BurgerKing many times every week. But I have NEVER seen before a slaughterhouse... That is a real scene, and after I have seen it, I had been thinking about it for many days...