The Wachowski Siblings are now the Wachowski Sisters

[grumbler]

People who dislike the sequels but like The Matrix didn't look hard enough- the silliness is all there in the first movie too.

I don't think that you have to completely eschew silliness to have a decent movie.  The first movie was (wait for it...) original, while the sequels were not.  I reject the idea that, if one disliked the sequels, one had to dislike the original.

[grumbler]

Yeah I thought the Matrix was pretty cingeworthy. I admit to even being somewhat relieved the sequels destroyed its cult status...which was petty of me I admit.

Meh.  People don't have to like the movies that I like.  They don't get to tell me that I can't like movies that they don't like, though.

[The Brain]

The Matrix was totally decent. Haven't seen the sequels, they seem sillier.

[grumbler]

Sure, but you have to accept the rules of the universe it exists in. Once you do that, the sequels are decent fun too.

Again, you are entitled to your opinion, but the sequels were wretched not, IMO, because their stories were so bad (and they were pretty bad), but because the direction was so awful.  Actors who were good in the first film were either flat or over-the-top in the sequels.  The timing was off (scenes lasted WAYY too long in many cases) in the sequels  and it made the story (if there was one) not only unintelligible, but too painful to wait for.  i never finished the third movie, and i own the DVDs.

[dps]

The Matrix was good fun.

Sure, but you have to accept the rules of the universe it exists in. Once you do that, the sequels are decent fun too.

Yeah, but I had a problem with that in the first movie, too.  Specifically, the part about if you died in the Matrix, you died for real.  Sure, that made sense for people who hadn't been freed from the Matrix, but if you were out of the Matrix and went back in on a mission, you had been trained to know that the Matrix wasn't real--that's why you could do all the bullet time stuff.  But if you know it's not real, it seems to me that dying there would be sort of like your character dying in a CRPG--it might kind of suck, but you know it didn't actually happen.

Of course, on a meta level, you kind of need that--otherwise, there's no risk to the heroes while they're in the Matrix.  Well, other than the traitor who's murdering their bodies while their minds are in the Matrix, but that's different from the Agents actually being a direct threat.

[Martinus]

The Matrix was totally decent. Haven't seen the sequels, they seem sillier.

Same. Still, I'm a sucker for their particular brand of storytelling. I loved Cloud Atlas and even enjoyed Jupiter Ascending.

[Valmy]

I loved Cloud Atlas and even enjoyed Jupiter Ascending.

Dear Hod man!

[Admiral Yi]

My one significant beef with the Matrixverse was the First Law of Thermodynamics.  There was no new energy going into the power supply, and plenty being consumed by body function.

[Martinus]

I loved Cloud Atlas and even enjoyed Jupiter Ascending.

Dear Hod man!

Cloud Atlas was great! Frobisher. 

[garbon]

The Matrix was good fun.

Sure, but you have to accept the rules of the universe it exists in. Once you do that, the sequels are decent fun too.

Yeah, but I had a problem with that in the first movie, too.  Specifically, the part about if you died in the Matrix, you died for real.  Sure, that made sense for people who hadn't been freed from the Matrix, but if you were out of the Matrix and went back in on a mission, you had been trained to know that the Matrix wasn't real--that's why you could do all the bullet time stuff.  But if you know it's not real, it seems to me that dying there would be sort of like your character dying in a CRPG--it might kind of suck, but you know it didn't actually happen.

Of course, on a meta level, you kind of need that--otherwise, there's no risk to the heroes while they're in the Matrix.  Well, other than the traitor who's murdering their bodies while their minds are in the Matrix, but that's different from the Agents actually being a direct threat.

Just because you know doesn't mean that the biological part of you (your brain) would be able to sort out the electrical impulses and say hey, this isn't actual pain and death.

[Barrister]

The Matrix was good fun.

Sure, but you have to accept the rules of the universe it exists in. Once you do that, the sequels are decent fun too.

Yeah, but I had a problem with that in the first movie, too.  Specifically, the part about if you died in the Matrix, you died for real.  Sure, that made sense for people who hadn't been freed from the Matrix, but if you were out of the Matrix and went back in on a mission, you had been trained to know that the Matrix wasn't real--that's why you could do all the bullet time stuff.  But if you know it's not real, it seems to me that dying there would be sort of like your character dying in a CRPG--it might kind of suck, but you know it didn't actually happen.

Of course, on a meta level, you kind of need that--otherwise, there's no risk to the heroes while they're in the Matrix.  Well, other than the traitor who's murdering their bodies while their minds are in the Matrix, but that's different from the Agents actually being a direct threat.

Just because you know doesn't mean that the biological part of you (your brain) would be able to sort out the electrical impulses and say hey, this isn't actual pain and death.

Yeah, that could be explained away easily enough - it's such a shock to the system that your brain thinks you're dead, and therefore you are.

Yi's point about thermodynamics is better, but it's essential to the overall theme of the movie so you just have to roll with it.

[Josquius]

The Matrix was one of the best things ever.
The sequels were pretentious and dumb.

[Malthus]

I loved Cloud Atlas and even enjoyed Jupiter Ascending.

Dear Hod man!

Cloud Atlas was great! Frobisher. 

I loved Cloud Atlas. 

I couldn't even like Jupiter Ascending. 

[celedhring]

About Cloud Atlas, I thought it was a mess. I think the way the filmmakers disassembled the book's original structure in order to create a traditional film structure and manufacture climaxes and payoffs actually made the film more confusing and less satisfying than the book.

The Wachowskis also have the subtlety of an elephant stampede, although they aren't helped by the massive amplitude of the story they have to tell here. Even with a 3 hour running time a lot of parts feel rushed.

However, as it usually happens with failed adaptations of great material, it still merits watching.

[Eddie Teach]

The Matrix was one of the best things ever.
The sequels were pretentious and dumb.

This is what I'm talking about. There was plenty of dumb pretentiousness in the first one that you were able to overlook.