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!