In which Pooh goes to the movies and meets Gene Siskel and Luke Skywalker's cousin Neo.(He doesn't use the force, he uses the source..code)
The pickle posse was off to see the new Matrix movie last night. I seriously cannot remember the last time I saw that many uber-geeks and nerds in one place at one time.
In a word..it was AWESOME!!! (Although, I was a bit surprised not to see at least some of the extra hard core dressed up like a NEO or Mr Smith, or oh please, please a Trinity in leather and vinyl.)
This showing was sponsored in part by a couple of local comic book stores. Bill, who is a comic book junkie, secured our tickies...WooWoo thanks Bill. Standing in line prior to being let into the theater, the conversations were about The Hulk, Star Wars, the latest hand held Sony gaming toy, Enterprise, The Xmen, recording laughter to a Clie, Jaws...........Oh yeah, we were geeks, and loving it..big time.
The thing is....if you are going to go see a movie like this, the absolute best crowd to see it with, is one filled with people like this.
On to the movie.. (Don't worry, no spoilers for those who have not seen it and want to be surprised)
Visually this thing is as stunning and "Wham Bam" as you can imagine. I thought the story was a bit lacking, but honestly when you are doing a trilogy I think the middle story always has a built in weakness. Middle movies are by design, a bridge. They don't get the freshness of the new story and they also don't get the final climax of the last movie..They do have to do the unglamorous work of carrying you from one end of the story to the other, and this movie does that.
I do take issue with the Soul Train meets Dance Dance Revolution scene. Besides the fact that 145 minutes is just too damn long for a single scene in a movie where all that happens is that everyone seems to be doing the latest Richard Simmons workout video in sepia, it was intercut with a totally stupid, not hot sex scene.
That said, there were fight scenes that had the crowd Wuffing and Uh-ing they were so visceral. Add a killer car/motorcycle WWF ballet, and some amazing special effects...and you have a monster at the box office.
Also I was more than amazed by the humor in the film. There were a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of lines that made the audience laugh out loud. Kudos to the Wachowski brothers for not taking themselves too seriously.
Wrap that all up in 25 year old movie theater who's air conditioning wasn't working too well, and you have 500 sweaty geeks reliving their matinee wonder years with joy and gusto.
Bottom line..will I go see it again??? Duh..probably this weekend.
ok, as I said on Jeremy's site, double feature this weekend, and I want to add, especially after reading the comment on middle movies.. I would throw 3 middle movies out there for discussion.. Empire Strikes Back, probably the best of the Star Wars Trilogy, Twin Towers, and Xmen 2, you know they are going to make a 3rd one.. because they set it up so strongly for one at the end. And I have heard rumors somewhere that there is going to be a third Lord of the Rings movie.
Posted by: bill on May 15, 2003 01:43 PMMust be a girl thing, but I thought the sex scene was hot. Agree that it was much too long, and intercutting it with dry-humping tribal dancers didn't help.
And Bill, what about Episode II -- that thing sucked a big, fat juicy pickle.
Posted by: irish-girl on May 15, 2003 06:38 PMbut, was episode 2 any worse then episode 1?
Posted by: bill on May 16, 2003 07:08 AMbill, yes, it was marginally worse than Ep. 1. but at least it had less Jar Jar in it. the matrix sex scene was OK, could have been better.
Posted by: jeremy on May 16, 2003 08:54 AMI thought the sex scene just cheapened the movie. It wasn't necessary...I don't recall a single nipple shot in the first movie, and it rockes.. I think I finally understand why they dragged the (as jack puts it) Dance Dance revolution scene so long, Kerry Ann Moss wouldn't do a topless shot, so they cut beteween all the bumping and grinding look you can see her nipple through her shirt to Trinity and Neo having sex.
Posted by: bill on May 16, 2003 03:13 PM