What are you watching?

[starschwar]

Gotta say though, there was no green tinting in the new one. The green tint was a criticism of the original trilogy, but now without it, it just feels wrong. At this point it's kind of necessary, the film overall was too colorful for a Matrix movie.

Matrix super-fan here.  Without going too much into my thoughts on the fourth movie (dislike it but it has redeeming qualities) - the absence of the green tint wasn't a mistake, per se.  

Spoiler:

In the original trilogy, the green tint differentiated the Matrix from reality - along with a severe absence of the color blue beyond the pills.  That is, of course, until the end of the third movie.  With The Truce in effect, and Sati's influence, the System has its first blue sunrise (note Trinity's reaction to seeing the sky in the real world - she had never seen a blue sky in her entire life.  No living human had!) - and the green tint is absent.

In The Matrix Online, which took place after the third movie and is mostly upheld by the fourth (only one line contradicts) - the green tint came back, but would be almost invisible whenever Sati controlled the sky, which was typically once a week.  Some people called these, "Sati-days".   

That said, there were incidents where the sky's color changed significantly.  In one short story arc - A Piece of Blue Sky - some absolute nutjobs tried to revert every awakened human to ignorance, as though they had taken the blue pill.  As they attempted this, they transformed the sky to be a vibrant blue - just like in the new movie!  The Analyst's Matrix was designed to keep more humans subservient than The Architect's efforts.  As such - green tint gone, blue saturation up.  I dislike the aesthetic, to be sure, but it does mesh with the deep lore.

Now, what really bakes my noodle - in the movie's many, many flashback sequences, we see Trinity's death twice.  Once, it appears as it did in Revolutions. The second - it has the green tint.  Even though it happened in the Real World.  What the hell THAT means?  I have no idea.  The implications are huge, and it's almost literally blink and you miss it.

---


Anyway, I just finished up Superman (2025).  I've never been 100% satisfied with any of the live action films about the character, and this is no exception. I've got a long list of gripes - the writing and dialogue being hollow, a few weak performances, the cardboard supporting cast, and a long list of carry-overs of the more obnoxious elements that permeated the Marvel side of the genre in recent years. But above all else, the movie is shallow and felt hollow. I do like this portrayal of Superman himself as optimistic, altruistic, selfless, heroic. If he isn't the best live action Superman, he's second to George Reeves' black and white charming self.

But in every other metric - action, cinematography, musical score (they did not take full advantage of the John Williams theme!), acting, writing, special effects - pound for pound, Man of Steel was a much better movie. If not for its less heroic depiction (that tornado scene!) that would have probably been my definitive live action Superman film.

Better luck next reboot. I'm skipping this new DC universe. I gave up on the last one only two movies in, so points for efficiency I guess?

I'd give it a C-. Average movie, more bad than good.

[NateDog]

Rewatched LOTR: Two Towers and Return Of The King in the last week. I hadn't watched ROTK for years, the last time might genuinely have been when I saw it in the cinema which I have vivid memories of. We were in Galway and went to see it there but it was one of those cinemas where the seating is all completely level and you have to arch your neck up to see the screen which is tilted down slightly which I find really uncomfortable because it's so difficult to see anything even if the person one row in front of you is short. I went to see Interstellar at the Prince Charles Cinema in London recently and it was a similar setup. Luckily for ROTK we were at the back so I sat up on the top of the back of the chair for the whole thing and was mesmerised by it.

Leelee never saw the trilogy in full. We watched Fellowship and Two Towers many years ago but I think it ended up being too broken up in time between them to fully enjoy and we never got around to ROTK. But she fell in love with them this time around. I've picked up the extended editions finally as she's desperate to watch these again already and I'm going to get those DVD sets with the hours and hours of extras soon too.

I was just thinking how much fun I had with Two Towers and ROTK games on PS2, they were so good. Getting to unlock so many characters and play co-op in ROTK was brilliant. I am very tempted to go pick them up and play through them with her.

[BULUPTAX]

The new Paul Thomas Anderson movie. "One Battle After Another" on 70mm film today

I've always liked his movies and this one is no exception. I reckon it's my favourite movie of the year

[NateDog]

The new Paul Thomas Anderson movie. "One Battle After Another" on 70mm film today

I've always liked his movies and this one is no exception. I reckon it's my favourite movie of the year

I was hoping to see it today but things have been a bit too messy lately so I'm not sure when I'll get the chance.