Runester

My trip home starts in just five (5) days!

Movie Review: Matrix: Revolutions

OK, Lisa & I saw this the day after it premiered. And, I have since heard several critics describe the movie as "adequate" … I have to agree with them. I was really looking forward to more mind-blowing revelations (like the first and second movies) but there was nothing of the sort here. Further, the action was good (GREAT! compared to any other movie you could name) but not nearly as good as the shock of seeing it the first time in Matrix_I or watching that incredibly unbelievable "highway sequence" in Matrix_II. This is hard to say, but I think they did too well in Matrix_I, because it was, apparently, impossible to do better with the next two. That’s sad … because II & III were great sci-fi, action films in their own right - but, I will never forget the feeling I had the first time I walked into the theater and watched Matrix_I. "Blown out of my seat," is a massive understatement.

Now, a point about the ending of this movie. I found the scene, where Neo is laid out (cross like) on a floating barge and drifts away into the heart of Robot City … reminiscent of Morte de Arthur. Replace floating platform with a boat piloted by faery folk, and the robot city with Avalon and you get a pretty good idea what I am talking about. This also implies that he may return someday - perhaps "The once and future Neo?"

Movie Review: Mystic River

I have to give Lisa a word in, on this one. It really bothers her to hear west coast movie stars try and sound like they are from Boston. In her words, "They make us sound like drunken, Irish, Southie, thugs." Aside from the poorly done accents, this was a great movie. The characters were both interesting and very complex. The plot was a mix between a character drama and a murder mystery. To their benefit, it kept us guessing until the very end. Lisa figured out who-done-it, well before it was revealed, kudos to her!

The most fascinating thing to me, was how the man who had been victimized as a boy, becomes victimized as a man. It’s as if predators (over a span of decades) always detect and attack the weakest. What a sad, true sentiment.

New Golden Age of Hollywood?

I have recently heard this recent batch of movies (last few years? this last decade?) referred to as the "new golden age of Hollywood." Usually I just disregard crap like this as self promotional junk. But, I think, this time, they may actually be right. Not only have we had several REALLY GOOD movies come out every year for the last few years, but Hollywood is making more of the giant epics they used to. Two are coming up (I have the posters and links on the left): Alamo, and Troy. Add to those the growing list of giant sized epics like The Lord of The Rings trilogy, the new Star Wars movies, the Matrix trilogy, the X-Men movies, the Spider Man movies, The Hulk, etc. I guess it is a good time to be a movie fan!