Change Your Image
LLWC
Reviews
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Hollywood corrupts writers.
Trite, unimaginative, and nakedly revealing, the third installment of the sudden trilogy produces a feeling akin to Dorothy's horror when she finds the "man behind the curtain." Gone are the remnants of mystery and ingenuity from the original, replaced by what mindless, insipid people like to call "mindless, insipid drivel."
I'll refrain from attacking the dialogue directly, and the bare bones of the plot could have contained interesting material, but no expense was spared on repetitive action sequences. Granted, Reloaded sported an equal number of over-exaggerated combat scenes coupled with plenty of artful computer imagery, but we saw all of this in Number One. Revolutions hopefully concluded this stagnation (meaning: no, please, no, do not make another movie).
By all means, if you were unfortunate enough to watch the middle child, take a chance to see Revolutions to at least find some form of conclusion. However, go in expecting nothing, and maybe you will be pleasantly surprised. More than likely you'll come out of the theatre with your shoulder muscles tight from stress; with each new action scene, you'll beg for some drama, but when the actors start talking, you're going to have internal hemorrhaging.
But, by all means, if you want a rehash of every repeated Hollywood line, if you want to endure interminable scenes of kung fu-esque sign language, if you want to return and give the movie a 1 on IMDb followed by a disparaging review, please, go see the movie. And, if Revolutions needed a way to encourage you into the theatre, they'd beg you to do the same thing.
Unfortunately, there have been plenty of other Revolutions that accomplished a great deal more than the Matrix has.
Profoundly Normal (2003)
Unfathomably Normal
Wow.
I had turned to channel 3 to play some video games, and was rewarded with this movie. I was blown away, and I loved every moment of it. I was immediately attached to the characters during the opening credits, and I was never let down.
I'll begin by saying I never considered Alley to be a "real" actress, and that may be because of the unfortunate shows and movies she has been in (not that they're bad, they just never required real acting). But I've taken a 180 and am now convinced that this woman is phenomenal. She embraced her character and performed so realistically that it took me several minutes before I realized that was her. I had to come to imdb just to make sure. It can't be easy to play a mentally retarded character, especially when so many stereotypes and prejudices exist. Ms. Alley, though, was beyond convincing. She was profound.
Perhaps some people may consider this to be a simple battle of overcoming society, but imagine the difficulty of surmounting the woes the world presses against you unfairly and without cause. Imagine being told every day of your life that you couldn't do something over and over again, and believing it for yourself. What do you do when you HAVE to do it? When you have to survive?
Was the story heartwarming? Of course. Was it endearing? Most definitely. But what I loved about it was the reality you could feel from the people. There is one argument (and I don't want to give away about what) between the two characters where I suddenly couldn't tell they were retarded. It was a real argument that anyone could have, and I was convinced that these two souls were completely normal...
Profoundly normal