Are you guys kidding me?


You don't see the Matrix similarities? Were you two watching it blindfolded?


I'm not talking about a 2 minute fight in the hallway. I'm talking about the entire movie from start to finish. They took from The Matrix's plot, their wardrobe, their shooting scenes. The whole movie was like a Matrix ripoff. I noticed less than 5 minutes in to the film.


When I say it's over-rated, I'm refering to it being over-rated on this website. (By people much like yourselves who seem to overlook the fact that it's nothing more than a pretty good sci-fi/action film with a totally borrowed plot.)

And by the way, I didn't think there was anything wrong with the acting in The Matrix. (At least not the first one.) I'm not saying I thought one film had better acting than the other. They were both well acted.

woah ... have you read either Farenheight 451, Brave New World, or 1984 ?

i'm thinking no or you wouldnt have mentioned the plot thing.

the plot behind the matrix was more like The Island.
an artificial existance needed to sustain life to provide power/spare parts to others (be it machine or person)

Equilibrium was a out losing the right of freedom to feel.
a whole different ballgame - nothing whatsoever like plot of The Matrix.

if you mean 'the hope of the world resting on one mans shoulders' then you could add about 2000 movies to that list - before and after the matrix

Even if there WAS such a similarity, I wouldn't think fans of the matrix should have a problem with that anyway...I mean, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the fact that it WAY more heavily "borrowed" from dark city...

I have to agree with the last two post concerning Equilibrium.
I never heard of it until STE mentioned on this very fine site, and when i watched it i was very impressed.And other than the hallway scene there are no similarities with The Matrix.

Can't they just both be good films without caring about the similarities. I prefered Equibrium myself, Mr Reeves can't act to save his life but that's another matter and only my opinion.

Anchorman.

that actually served The Matrix well..
Neo wasnt supposed to be that dynamic a person anyway.


its not actually that he's a bad actor - depending on his role ..
he has no range and i think he is cast with that restriction in mind.

i'm sure he remembers his lines, hits his marks, etc ...

I am hoping by now that people casting him in movies understand his capabilities and hire him accordingly.

(i.e. the roll in constantine ... i think a low key performance suited that movie also)

Freddy Vs Jason


*Spoilers*

This movie is purely mindless slasher fun, and doesn't try to be anything more. The plot is just a flimsy pretext to get the two icons together, but it works pretty good and kept me at least somewhat interested throughout. The characters/actors are typical slasher fodder, no better or worse than usual. Like most post-Scream slasher films, it feels the need to poke fun at itself, however it does it more subtly than most with characters like Freeburg. Englund does a great job as always as the wise-cracking Freddy. Though the less wordy, serious Freddy from the first Nightmare film may be scarier, I really enjoy Freddy like this, spouting one-liners and catch phrases by the handful. The film isn't serious to begin with, and he really adds to that. I don't see why people complain about Ken Kerzinger, I think he did as good a job as anyone else that has played Jason...not like it would really take a lot to play that kind of part. The final battle between the icons is a tad disappointing, but I liked the outcome more than most. I was cheering for Freddy. Sure, Freddy technically loses, but I think that's a testament to him being the better villain: Think about it, the villain always loses in slasher movies. In that respect, I say Freddy won and rightfully deserved to. Overall this is a fun movie for a rainy day, thats it thats all. Don't be looking for something on par with the original Nightmare on Elm Street, but it's still a fun movie.

7/10

ANOES..:cool:

Re good old Keanu - I loved Constantine and conversely Much ado About Nothing. But yes it must be said he excels at one type of role but nothing wrong with that if he has the sense to stick with it.



As for what I've just watched - Ice Harvest a very respectable 8 out of 10 and this simply because it's pure fun - believe me I didn't think there was much more to it, although I do like John Cusack.

By the way complete afterthought - I saw a film years ago and can't for the life of me remember what it's called can anyone help me out? By the way I remember it has very good.

Ok very brief plot synopsis.

A rare book collector gets caught up in a supernatura/devil worshiping cult when he gets his hands on one of their most prized books. He ends up following "clues" as to the books origins which leads him all over Europe - and of course he is being continually chased and in fear of his life. If I remember correctly there are a number of stages or gates that he is to go through. The cultists of course require the book in time for their extremely important ritual. I think he pairs up with what appears to be a beautiful backbacker (yawn only in a film could a backbacker travelling across Europe with no showers anywhere be stunningly beautiful) anyway they form an uneasy alliance neither really trusting the other until the end of the film. I can't remember too much more except I think it may have been called something like Seventh Gate??

Would really like to watch it again and see if it is as good as I remember.

All help greatly appreciated.

Sounds like The Ninth Gate

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/

That's it - thanks so much going now to buy - can't wait to see if it's as good as I remembered.

Glad I could be of assistance:)

Ive said it before, I count these as short films.

Masters of Horror: Incident on and Off a Mountain Road


Though the plot is very predictable and not original in the least, this is still pretty good. I wont spoil the plot for those of you that haven't seen a horror movie before, but it's pretty straight forward and has a really obvious "twist" at the end. That isn't to say that the plot isn't good, it kept me interested, it was just very derivative and predictable. The actors all did well, especially Angus Scrimm as a delightfully looney old man. The main girl wasn't too bad, but I really didn't like her character for reasons that I wont go into, for fear that I might spoil the plot for those of you with pickled brains. It had moments where it was very atmospheric and tense that I really liked, but the chase got on my nerves pretty quick. Moonface wasn't a great character as it leaves way to many questions. It's nice to leave a few questions about a slasher, but I would have liked to know at least a little about him. Overall, not as good as the Carpenter or Gordon episodes, but still good.

7.5/10

i love that movie ...

#1) cant go wrong with Polanski (unless you're a 13 year old girl)
#2) Langella is always great
#3) Depp did a nice job in a seedy role
#4) being a book collector myself i loved the way old books were highlighted .. full of texture .. you could almost smell them watching the film.

Spiderman 2.

I will argue to the death how much I liked the first one more, although both are good.

Big Momma's House 2- 1.5/5

Grandma's Boy- 3/5

Rumor Has It...- 2.5/5

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper 9 / 10

A Beautiful Mind

Powerful, gripping, Intense, compelling...all of these and more are the sensations you will go through after seeing this wonderful performance once again from Mr Crowe. A Fantastic effort and his scting efforts just go up and up in my estimations...

8/10

I don't plan on watching Equillibrium again any time soon to confirm, but I do know that the entire time I watched it I could not shake the feeling that it was a wannabe Matrix. For more thoughts on it, check out my 1 minute movie review of it by clicking the link in my sig.

I don't see much similarity between The Matrix and Dark City other than that they are both movies about a dark future. Dark City wasn't even an action movie.

(or artificially created and controlled life experiences)


I always thought Dark City itself borrowed from the visual style of Hellraiser ..


lets face it folks .. a lot of people have come to the conclusion that in the future people will be wearing long dark leather coats with big collars. It looks cool so people are using it.
They've also decided (and this has been a prediction in literature for almost 100 years) that in the future there will be a controlled state... no doubt as a back lash to the growing unlawlessness we're seeing today.

this is a complicated question that has captured the imaginations of countless writers and filmmakers .. "how much personal freedom are we prepared to sacrifice for a safe existence??"

so yeah, both stylishly and thematically you will definately see these similarities in futuristic movies ... The only thing the MAtri introduced that was really 'new' was the 'bullet time' which itself is getting a little old and is being mocked now in countless other movies. (sometimes something that is 'too cool for it's own good' can become goofy really fast)

anyway - the point i'm trying to make is that it is ok to remake the same film over and over if done correctly - and the same thing goes for films that are influenced by other films.

for example if we start comparing films with vampires in them (that almost all derrived from 1 main source) then we'll be here for a year...

That's why I enjoyed Dracula 2000 more than most people I know. It was a totally original twist on the vampire legend. (The whole Judas connection.) I thought that was awesome, plus there was a decent amount of gore too.

The Wizard of Gore, had an urge to watch it again, good stuff.

i think i felt the same way about Dracula 2000 as you do about Phantasm :p

Hmmm.... I doubt anyone has hatred for a franchise inside of them like I have for Phantasm. That series s-u-c-k-s!

And how can you not like Drac2000 when you were just saying how the same old vampire story has been done hundreds of times? I would think a new twist on an old story would be like a breath of fresh air for you. It was for me.

i didnt mind the idea of the story i just didnt like the execution ..
i thought the production values and performences were amateurish ..
the same direct to video cheapness i've come to expect from anything with the title that starts with : 'Wes Craven Presents :'

just my personal tastes ...

*cough*JohnWoo*cough*

weeeeeeeeellll.... thats slow motion.... its still a bit different from Woo...

...you could just say Woo is ripping of Peckinpah

oh .. and here's something for that nasty cough ..

True, although Woo's slo-mo was more of a ballet than Peckinpah's.
You can also say Peckinpah was ripping of Kurosawa.

we should probably substitute the phrase 'was influenced by' for 'ripping off' at this point :)

Agreed.....we can save that terminology for the Hitchcock/De Palma thread.

yeah .. de palma definately crossed the line - and made no bones about it ..

lola rennt

Masters of Horror: Chocolate


I'd heard some bad things about this so I wasn't expecting much, but I was quite surprised. Though Garris does have some good films under his belt, I'd be hard pressed to call him a "master". That said, this was a very good offering. I really enjoyed the plot, even though I'm not usually a fan of psychic stuff. It moved at a good pace until the end, it had some twists, and still left room for a bit of comedy. With one glaring exception the actors were all pretty good. That exception is the girl that our hero was psychically linked with, her delivery was flat and I just overall think she could have done a better job. All in all though, I recommend this. Not as good as the first 2 Masters of Horror DVDs, but a little better than Incident On and Off a Mountain Road.

8/10

Ive been living off those for a week.

i used to work for warner lambert which was taken over by pfiser a while back ..

one part of warner was adams brands where they made Halls ..
you should step inside the room where they're made ,, your eyes water uncontrollably

Airplane

9/10... This movie is funnier every time I watch it.. The part where the singing hostess knocks over the IV..... lmao