Anyhoo, ignore that first line (or don’t, not like I can force you)… I got bored (what else is new?) and decided to make a thread, and I’m like, what to do, what do to (check that and reverse it)… So I made this. So, um, yeah…
Just discuss movies ‘n’ stuff ‘n’ move soundtracks… And movies.
So let’s start off with the beaten-to-death topic…
As far as my 3 cents goes, The Matrix: Reloaded is subpar to the original. There weren’t that many new things (GO TWINS, GO!), and there was just too much of the old. And did anyone else notice that NOBODY broke or lost their sunglasses in the park fight?
And yes, the rave scene SUCKS.
I dunno if it’s just me, but for the most part, the original is better than the sequel(s)… Jurassic Park and The Matrix are some examples, although some (like Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back > All)) are better than the originals. And WHY do the new SW movies SUCK?!
Another thing about movies: Everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) is a cliché these days. Hell, not being a cliché is a cliché nowadays. It’s like 3rd time is the charm, there’s a hero(ine) that saves the damsel(guy) in distress, etc. etc. Some movies (The Mothman Prophecies (HELL YEA!) and The Ring) break the mold and are something new…
Well, movies that are part of a saga often have important differences that may disappoint fans… If the producer is changed, things can lose some coherence and some things are exaggerated. In SW Episode I, the ships look much more sophisticated than in episodes IV to VI. I know Episode I was made much more recently, but they should have been more careful with that.
As for Matrix, I haven’t watched the sequel yet, so I don’t know what to think.
The problem with sequels comes when they become old, bland and lame. When a movie series loses interest and only recycles the same characters and situations, it’t just not worth making more sequels.
original better then sequel in most cases… but not all… here are some examples that I can think of off the top of my head
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged me
Star Wars: The Empire Stirkes Back (and Return of the Jedi)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Batman Returns (or Batman Forever or Batman and Robin)
Originally posted by Orakio
[b]original better then sequel in most cases… but not all… here are some examples that I can think of off the top of my head
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged me
Star Wars: The Empire Stirkes Back (and Return of the Jedi)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Batman Returns (or Batman Forever or Batman and Robin) [/b]
Originally posted by Cala
[b]
As far as my 3 cents goes, The Matrix: Reloaded is subpar to the original. There weren’t that many new things (GO TWINS, GO!), and there was just too much of the old. And did anyone else notice that NOBODY broke or lost their sunglasses in the park fight?
And yes, the rave scene SUCKS.
[/b]
The first Matrix film is a complete story in and of itself. Reloaded is more obviously a part of a trilogy, and the audience requires a certain ammount of prior knowledge in order to “Get” this film that wouldn’t have been necessary for the first one. Loose ends were left deliberately untied for the next film to deal with and resolve.
No sunglasses were broken because that’s product placement, baby. Commerical advertisment at work, subverting a film at a theatre near you.
Well, of course the rave scene sucked. Raves suck. Rave music sucks. Any accurate film depiction thereof should therefore suck.
Originally posted by Lord Zhou Yu never heard of it. what’s it about?
An alchemist put the soul of a woman in a violin. The violin got magic, with the most beautiful sound and also it can’t age or be broken, so it survives for centuries without a scratch. The movie shows how it affects the life of those who owned it througout time, destroying some lifes, and giving great power, fame and rich to others.
You should watch Norwegian film: While Hollywood has turned to sex, violence and more sex; we have turned to excellent physological ( that is probably misspelled ) thrillers, with actors that probably are, and certainly act like they are insane. I reccomend ‘Himmelfall’; it’s lead actor is from around where I live, smokes more than a chimney, and does an excellent job at acting mentally disturbed.
I just saw The Matrix: Reloaded yesterday and I agree that it’s not as good as the original. But it was better then I expected it to be cause I heard a lot of people complaining that it was bad. So I think a good philosophy to use when watching a sequel is to expect it to be a total piece of crap and when it’s not as shitty as you expect, you won’t be disappointed.
Originally posted by Ren Just an F instead of G.
I’d like to give a lot of credit to Ren for correcting somebody’s spelling w/o being a jerk about it. I hate when people are assholes about spelling(mainly cause I can’t spell)
I guess people that are buying peoples soul’s aren’t always 100% evil.
the main reason why sequels have problems surpassing their originals is often the series isn’t conceived as being anything more than a single movie. Then, when it becomes a smash hit and the idea to make more becomes immediately green-lit, it becomes harder to come up with original content or a second compelling story, making the plot of a 1st-movie-in-a-series compelling is hard enough, let alone the sequels.
But I would have to say that the best three sequels of all-time are likely The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2, and Aliens; in that order. I’m not counting things like literary adaptations (the LotR series) or loosely-related franchises (like Clint Eastwood’s Blondie trilogy or his Dirty Harry films).
I had high hopes for Matrix2 because the Wachowskis DID say that they had plans for a trilogy all the time, but they got too busy churning out crappy video games and crappy anime to finesse their sequel as much as it needed (the movie barely even begins until Neo see The Oracle, and that’s close to an hour into it). It’s kind of like Lucas-syndrome, you just get caught up too much in your universe to realize you’re making things too bloated (one could argue Tolkien suffered from this as well).
whilst i liked some of the fight scenes, i was completely lost in the storyline of matrix: reloaded. i hear you need to watch “the animatrix” to completely grasp the plot of reloaded…
Example of a dead series: Austin Powers. The first movie was great, and the second one was pretty good, but when Goldmember came out…
That whole movie was pure shit. Everything was either recycled from a previous movie or had absolutely no bearing on the “plot”. In fact, the “plot” hardly existed; nothing ever went anywhere, and the few twists they had didn’t make a lick of sense. And the ending…oh God, don’t get me started on the ending. It saddens me to see Danny Devito sink to having guest shots in crap such as this, really.
Goldmember was…decent, at best. I persoanly LOVED Reloaded. (though I agree that the rave scene was unnecciciary…theycould have at LEAST had the decency to show us Trinity’s boobs! Kidding, kidding…) Two Towers? Also great. But thats just my oppinion. Terminator 3 looks good, but I think that is possible that someone could screw it up…
Movies eh? Well I’m going to talk about the Dune films since I was randomly thinking about them earlier today. As some of you may know, there are two versions of the movie Dune, a David Lynch version, and a six hour tv miniseries version. Both have their pros and cons.
The David Lynch version
-Fantastic sets and costumes, this version captures the atmosphere of Dune far better than the other. The scenes with the Harkonnens are especially well done.
-The plot is way out there, it’s typical David Lynch weirdness but has also been changed a great deal from the original novel. Actually the plot of this movie seems to coincide more with the Dune video games. Such as: The Atriedies sonic weapons, Piter’s little chant to his sapho juice, and the emphasis on projectile weapons instead of shield fighting
-Fremen based scenes are almost minimal
-The movie is getting on in years and the special affects look a bit dated, particularily in Gurney and Paul’s shield fighting scene
The TV miniseries version
-The plot is far closer to the original book
-Much better special affects and focus on the Fremen
-The costumes were too bright and colorful to my taste
-The actors and sets are just terrible, no way around it. Some scenes even look intentionally campy, such as the Fremen raids when Harkonnen soldiers go flying through the air in overly exaggerated deaths. The scenery has such lovely moments as night scenes where the background desert was obviously filmed during the day.
-Far less confusing than the David Lynch version, since it had more time to explain all the feints within feints that are common of Dune.
Basically if you’re a fan of the books go with the miniseries, if a fan of the games go with the David Lynch version, both have their strong points and memorable scenes.
the original is better than the sequel in more cases than i can name…
