Quite
a few years back, in high school (okay, maybe more than just a
few years) I went to the movie theater to watch the film, Cemetery
Man (originally titled Dellamorte Dellamore), directed
by Michele Soavi, and featuring Rupert Everett as Dellamorte.
The first half of this film was just tedious. I could barely get
through it, but as I'm not the type of person to walk out of a
movie, I held my ground and watched it all the way through, and
I was really glad I did. I was really glad, because the last half
of the film was absolutely brilliant. In fact, it rivalled Evil
Dead 2 as one of the best tongue-in-cheek campy horror-comedy
flicks of all time, and it even ended with a really poignant and
understated scene, a really pretty one at that.
As
I watched The
Matrix Revolutions, I constantly reminded myself of the
experience I had with Cemetery Man. I knew that despite
the fact that I may be sitting through some boring expositional
scenes chock-full of uninteresting characters with little or no
understandable motivation, that I may be treated to something
good in the end. Well, I can at least say that I was half-right.
The third part of the Matrix trilogy is perhaps the weakest of
the saga, but it doesn't leave without giving you some mighty
fine eye candy and perhaps one of the most intense action sequences
ever put to film. As far as I was concerned, I got my money's
worth because the mech vs. sentinel battle sequence is something
quite marvelous, and I have to admit that I have been waiting
a long time to see some great live-action mech fighting in a film.
I almost feel guilty for saying this, since I generally champion
story over style, but really, this sequence is pretty affecting
in the same way the opening scene of Saving
Private Ryan is affecting. This is followed up by a pretty
nice sequence in which Neo and Trinity fly to the heart of the
Machine City, which includes the most somber and yet most hopeful
moment in the entire series. At this point, I really did think
this film was getting back on its sore and blistered feet, but
unfortunately the film isn't able to keep the weak stuff from
seeping back in, and it ultimately ends on a satisfying, but slightly
disappointing note.
Despite
what it sounds like, I did like the film. I liked it the same
way I liked Artificial
Intelligence (yup. I liked it). I'll take it for the really
great parts that it has to offer, even with all the excess baggage
it decided to take along on its journey. My friend David suggested
that they take the two Matrix sequels and squish them together
into one shorter installment, cutting out all the garbage, to
make one good film instead of these two bloated ones. I totally
agree.
getting
back to web stuff...
You
may have noticed that I changed the news box a little bit (the
thing there to the left). I'll start posting links and stuff in
there on a more frequent basis.
Oh,
and this week, Ben Hatke
e-mailed me and wanted to let people know that he is now working
full-time as a freelance illustrator and designer. If any of you
have a need for his style
of work, feel free to drop him a line. Through my frequent
correspondence with Ben, I get the impression he is a genuinely
nice fellow with a great attitude, and he has a real talent for
illustration, as well. I wish you luck, Ben!