Quick Review : The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Everything that has a beginning…has an end, thankfully, in the case of The Matrix trilogy! The second one limped along, full of verbiage about free will (if without much purpose). In the finale, questions are answered with questions (or not at all) and even more questions are raised.

Quick Review : The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Words cannot express how disappointed I was with this film at the cinema. Four years of hype built up this wordy, boring and confusing film. Today, I merely tolerate it. I can at least say it’s not a terrible film. But that’s about it.

Quick Review : The Matrix (1999)

What can be said about ‘The Matrix’ that hasn’t already been said? A sci-fi classic that revolutionized not only the sci-fi genre, but also the action genre as well. ‘The Matrix’ encouraged overt philosophizing in cinema. Talk of ‘What is real?’ and bullet-time action has become so commonplace in films that you’d think ‘The Matrix’ would be superannuated.

Quick Review : eXistenZ (1999)

eXistenZ, capital X, capital Z! This is, in a way, a spiritual successor to Cronenberg’s own ‘Videodrome.’ However, here the medium of video games is used to explore our relationship with technology instead of TV. In eXistenZ, video games/virtual reality are so realistic that it’s impossible to tell the difference between reality and virtual reality.

Review: Inception (2010) (A Sweet Dream…Or A Beautiful Nightmare?)

“If we are gonna perform Inception then we need imagination”

What do you get when you mix up a typical Bond film, The Matrix and Ocean’s 11? Christopher Nolan’s Inception, that’s what you get! After the success of The Dark Knight, Nolan could have directed anything he wanted. And he did! He brought us Inception. You know, that film about dreams within dreams within dreams? Its typical blockbuster fare mixed with high concept ideas. There are big explosions, gun battles, fights that defy gravity…and ideas about the nature and perception of reality. I loved it the first time I saw it. But every time I rewatch it I enjoy it a little less…

Mass Effect And The Rebirth of Optimistic Science Fiction Part 2

Click here for Part I

Cinematic Science Fiction In the 1990s

Towards the end of the 1980s there was a trend for science fiction to return to emphasising the present with the aid of futuristic settings. ‘Robocop’ is one example. ‘The Running Man’ is another. A nation controlled by the mass media that has very few morals? Hmmm, familiar. This trend ran into the 1990s, a decade in which science fiction films were smothered with sequels and CGI. The Alien series should have been killed off with ‘Alien: Resurrection.’ The Robocop franchise should have been killed off after the first one. Independence Day was for the destruction fetishist. ‘Star Wars: Episode I’ erased all happy memories of the initial trilogy. ‘Doctor Who,’ that true testament to the future (before it became London-centric), almost died with the terrible 1996 film.