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I just watched [movie x here]
oddtail:
I finally got around to watching "Matrix Reloaded".
When I first watched the first "Matrix", I thought it was WAY overrated. I rewatched it in late 2010s, and I warmed up considerably to it. On rewatch, I thought the movie is pretty damn brilliant, bordering on genius. It, I feel, only gets better with age.
I never bothered to watch the sequels until now. And one thing that strikes me about "Reloaded" is - it has a LOT of amazing ideas. Characters, plot points, worldbuilding that could fill a TV series or two. And probably should. Because it kinda fails as a movie on more than one level.
The movie feels like two films stapled together. The parts in/about Zion are badly written, disconnected with the scenes in the Matrix, and overall fail to engage because the viewer doesn't know any of those people. The first half hour is boring, the lines are written and acted out... very weird, and it's generally off-putting.
I honestly think the story, if told in summary point-by-point, is not bad in its premise. It's the execution that suffers.
The biggest thing holding the movie back is that it feels the need to be a direct sequel to "The Matrix". The film should follow different characters, with different perspectives, be more focused on things happening to people living in the Matrix. "Animatrix" has shown that it can be done, and done well.
Overall, a fascinating experience, but the movie is just not that good. It has great scenes, great characters (Merovingian is a hoot), amazingly creative concepts. I'd honestly love to see it remade - "flawed, but with promising concepts" is the perfect remake fodder as movies go.
And since I know how the trilogy ends in broad strokes (I haven't seen "Revolutions", obviously, but I know the general plot), that's one more mark against "Reloaded". It's sloppy and falls apart, overall.
Honestly a shame.
oddtail:
I watched "The Usual Suspects". It's a good movie, with a decent twist that's also really well-executed. I love some of the characters and how they were played.
But frankly, I fail to see what everyone was so excited about back in 1995.
Thrillho:
I finally saw John Wick 3.
I wasn't sure what the franchise had left to do really, but the answer is 'justify more awesome fights' which it certainly did.
Not quite as good as either of the prior two, fun in a fan-service kind of way in places, possibly a little bit too knowingly camp in one or two bits of the script.
Apart from anything else it had two dudes from the Raid movies in it, and I am so hyped for that shit.
Roll on number 4. Let's see how that one is before I get excited for 5, although I know they're being shot back to back.
oddtail:
I watched "Being John Malkovich".
I have a very low tolerance for stories where every single character is an utter piece of shit, and that are extremely bleak.
So I think it should count for a lot that I really liked this movie. At first, I didn't think I would, but it's honestly brilliant. It works on pretty much every level I can think of.
One thing that surreal stories often get wrong - when a movie has a weird premise or a weird central element, I think it's important *not* to go out of your way to make everything weird. Surreal stories need clarity. "Being John Malkovich" nails it, because the premise is very weird, but the plot is actually really straightforward and fairly simple. That makes you enjoy the weirdness rather than wonder what is going on every single second.
I do wonder why the movie gets called a "fantasy comedy", though. I don't think the movie as a whole funny (it does have funny *moments*). It's more akin to a horror movie with funny moments.
Anyway, comedy or not, I'm surprised how much I loved it.
EDIT: (OK, *one* character is not a piece of shit, obviously.)
Thrillho:
Don't get me started on the use of 'comedy' in marketing for things that I feel like have no fucking business calling themselves comedies.
If anybody in this thread has seen Jeff, Who Lives at Home and can point me to more than half as dozen actual gags in that movie, which was marketed as a comedy, then I'll be amazed.
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