‘The Matrix Revolutions’ Download and Reviews

September 2, 2009 by Paul Wall  
Filed under Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

“The Matrix Revolutions” Movie Details

The Matrix Revolutions tagline: Everything that has a beginning has an end.
The Matrix 3 - DVD Cover

The Matrix Revolutions DVD Cover

Actors:
  • Nona Gaye
  • Carrie-Anne Moss Trinity
    Hugo Weaving Agent Smith
    Keanu Reeves Neo
    Mary Alice The Oracle
    Tanveer K. Atwal Sati
    Helmut Bakaitis The Architect
    Kate Beahan Coat Check Girl
    Francine Bell Councillor Grace
    Monica Bellucci Persephone
    Rachel Blackman Charra
    Henry Blasingame Deus Ex Machina
    Ian Bliss Bane
    David Bowers Q-Ball Gang Member #1
    Zeke Castelli Operations Officer Mattis
    Collin Chou Seraph
    Essie Davis Maggie
    Laurence Fishburne Morpheus
    Zee
    Directors: Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski IMDB Rating: 6.5/10 out of 115,873 votes

    “The Matrix Revolutions” Movie Review

    “The Matrix 3″ Plot Summary

    The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.

    Amazing movie in my opinion – hated and not understood by many

    Matrix Revolutions is deliberately constructed as a puzzle in which you have to work out the complete picture for yourself. It contains some fundamental questions of philosophy, a war story of a hopeless struggle against the machines who besiege Zion and it comes to a conclusion which is not understood by many viewers. The philosophical questions are answered (e.g. some choices lead to a string of consequences which may often appear as predestination), the war scenes in Zion are overwhelming and the final scenes depict the reestablishment of harmony between body, mind and soul. The absence of this harmony being one of the major reasons for conflict and war

    The Wachowski brothers did also make some mistakes when designing Matrix Revolutions:- Scenes like the train station take a bit too long although they contain important hints for the story that is about to unfold. This way the movie loses pace at times. Some viewers also felt that the war in Zion occupies too much space – but come on, this is mankind’s last stand so this fight is bound to have epic proportions.- The Wachovskis do NOT explain their story design and its implications. Viewers are expected to figure it all out for themselves. This is simply rejected by many people who -not without any justification- expect to be told a little more what the plot is all about instead of following hints in dialogues and imagery.- The philosophy is often criticised as basic. But the questions raised are fundamental by nature: choice vs. predestination, harmony of body, mind and soul, do humans define themselves through suffering etc.. Furthermore, how should machines completely understand deep mythology and philosophy of humans and depict that convincingly in their artificial construct known as the Matrix? The stereotypes in the Matrix (e.g. the Merovingian) are to me a natural consequence of machines trying to reproduce human myths and ideas

    But the negative points of Matrix Revolutions are by far outweighed by the positive aspects of the movie:- There is a colour code in all Matrix movies. Blue is the physical world, green represents mind/rationality and bright yellow or white stands for the soul of a being. All scenes in the real world have a blue hue, the Matrix is always somewhat green and e.g. the machine city, many images of the sentinels and the power lines from the fields where humans are grown – they are all coloured in bright white or yellow. This represents the separation of body, mind and soul which is overcome only in the final scenes of Matrix Revolutions where all colours are mixed in the sky’s clouds – this is by the way the contribution of Sati to the revolution/recreation of the (new) Matrix.- The connection of the real world and the Matrix is the spirit or soul the machines acquire from the humans. Programs and machines now have emotions and feelings (remember the parents in the train station?). Even Agent Smith has some twisted soul. Neo can feel and manipulate the spirits of simple machines but he has significant difficulties to handle more complex machines like sentinels. Similarly, Agent Smith has to struggle hard to control the human called Bane who becomes schizophrenic in that process.- The energy which the machines drain from the humans is not so much physical or electrical power but mental energy (soul). Like the Architect said in Matrix Reloaded when Neo claims that machines need humans to survive: ‘There are levels of survival we are willing to accept!’. So the machines tap into the souls of humans in order to get something their human creators could not grace them with: a real soul and real feelings. The machines are, however, willing to sacrifice these gifts in order to ensure their mere physical survival. It is quite an amazing outcome of the Matrix storyline: humans exist only because they are useful – they provide real feelings and emotions for the machines and they can even be used to control rogue programs in the Matrix which challenge the existence of the Matrix itself (Neo is used as a carrier for life-force in order to overcome Smith who represents death).- Neo has to finally realise that only his own sacrifice can end the conflict between machines and humans. He has to accept his evil twin brother Smith and reunite with him in order to become complete. This resonates with Asian Yin-Yang philosophy.- The Oracle has an interesting role. Neo has become too powerful even for Agent Smith and his duplicates. So the Oracle merges with one of the copies of Agent Smith in order to create the one copy of Agent Smith with enough power to really challenge Neo. It is the Oracle’s deliberate sacrifice which finally leads to the death of Neo while he reunites himself with his evil opposite Smith – Neo has to realise that he cannot win against Smith and instead of continuing the final fight with Smith he chooses to sacrifice himself in order to end the war and the domination of the Matrix by Smith

    Sadly it’s impossible to provide guidance for understanding the Matrix Trilogy without spoilers. The Wachovskis made some mistakes by not involving their audiences in the plot developments. They kept their ideas to themselves and only provided hints for the viewers to make their own discoveries. I was quite pleased by the challenges provided in getting a (rather) complete understanding of the Matrix Trilogy. But I can also imagine that many viewers were lost in the process and did not find the whole exercise worthwhile. As you might guess by now, I recommend that those who dislike Matrix Revolutions give this amazing movie another chance. I sincerely hope that my comments open up some new perspectives on a film trilogy that blended Sci-Fi, action and philosophy in such a brilliant and innovative way.

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    ‘Polar Express’ Download and Reviews

    August 22, 2009 by Paul Wall  
    Filed under Adventure, Animation, Family

    “Polar Express” Movie Details

    Polar Express tagline: Journey Beyond Your Imagination
    Polar Express - DVD Cover

    Polar Express DVD Cover

    Actors:
    Tom Hanks Hero Boy/Father/Conductor/Hobo/Scrooge/Santa Claus
    Leslie Harter Zemeckis Sister Sarah/Mother
    Eddie Deezen Know-It-All
    Nona Gaye Hero Girl
    Peter Scolari Lonely Boy
    Brendan King Pastry Chef
    Andy Pellick Pastry Chef
    Josh Eli Waiter
    Mark Mendonca Waiter
    Rolandas Hendricks Waiter
    Mark Goodman Waiter
    Jon Scott Waiter
    Gregory Gast Waiter
    Sean Scott Waiter
    Gordon Hart Waiter
    Michael Jeter Smokey/Steamer
    Directors: Robert Zemeckis
    IMDB Rating: 6.7/10 out of 25,421 votes

    “Polar Express” Movie Review

    “Polar Express” Plot Summary

    On Christmas Eve, a doubting boy boards a magical train that’s headed to the North Pole and Santa Claus’s home.

    Excellent Movie!

    I found this to be an excellent movie. It’s one of my favorite Christmas movies. 10 out of 10 stars. It has excellent acting, directing, costumes, production, photography, and script. Kudos to the cast, crew, and filmmakers.

    A young boy is awakened in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve by The Polar Express. He gets on and makes new friends. As they are on their way to the North Pole one of them loses her ticket when it blows out the window.

    They get to the North Pole a lot of cool things happen. Things such as rides where the presents are kept and when the boy is given a present by Santa he picks a bell, but he loses. The next day he finds it under the tree. The note on it says that Santa found it on his sleigh. Tom Hanks was excellent in this movie!

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    ‘Ali’ Download and Reviews

    August 13, 2009 by Paul Wall  
    Filed under Biography, Drama, Sport

    “Ali” Movie Details

    Ali tagline: Forget What You Think You Know
    Ali - DVD Cover

    Ali DVD Cover

    Actors:
  • Giancarlo Esposito
  • Will Smith Cassius Clay/Cassius X/Muhammad Ali
    Jamie Foxx Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown
    Jon Voight Howard Cosell
    Mario Van Peebles Malcolm X
    Ron Silver Angelo Dundee
    Jeffrey Wright Howard Bingham
    Mykelti Williamson Don King
    Jada Pinkett Smith Sonji
    Nona Gaye Belinda Ali
    Michael Michele Veronica Porche
    Joe Morton Chauncey Eskridge
    Bruce McGill Bradley
    Paul Rodriguez Dr. Ferdie Pacheco
    Barry Shabaka Henley Herbert Muhammad
    Cassius Clay, Sr.
    Directors: Michael Mann IMDB Rating: 6.6/10 out of 29,927 votes

    “Ali” Movie Review

    “Ali” Plot Summary

    A biography of sports legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early days to his days in the ring. add synopsis

    The Greatest of All Times – Ali

    In this true story about the life of Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali, director Michael Mann does a great job of bringing Ali’s personality to life by casting Will Smith for the title role. This movie takes you through the accounts of Ali’s life showing you how he became ‘The Greatest’ including his title fight with Sonny Liston (Michael Bentt), his decision to follow the Nation of Islam, personal triumphs and defeats with marriage, being banned from boxing, and the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ against George Foreman (Charles Shufford).

    Although the movie did a pretty good job of depicting Ali’s life by the use of non linear structure and showing the complexity of human relationships, I felt it would have been a little more interesting if it would have shown more about his connection to Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles) and the Nation of Islam since he is a devout Muslim

    The movie shows the heart and determination of Ali and his quest for being the greatest boxer of all times by the vigorous workouts and strict training regiments by his trainer/cornerman Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown (Jamie Foxx) with the use of deep focus in a lot of the shots where the two of the had conversations and extreme close up shots of Ali’s face during his fights when he was sent to his corner, especially of his eyes

    The intensity of the workouts and the actual fights made you feel like you were right amongst the action, similar to the portrayal of Denzel Washington as Reuben ‘The Hurricane’ Carter in his life story

    It shows his playful humor with his opponents, often calling them names, taunting them about being so ugly and his colleague, Howard Cosell (Jon Voight) whom he shares a close relationship with and always teased about snatching his toupee off of his head and how much prettier he was than Howard

    In his personal life, Ali goes through a series of marriages with Sonji Roi (Jada Pinkett Smith), Belinda Ali (Nona Gaye) and Veronica Porche (Michael Michelle) and being banished from boxing for not participating in the Vietnam War

    Overall, the movie was a pretty decent portrayal of Ali’s career and personal life, showing the highs and lows, personal triumphs and ultimate victory of one mans quest to be the ‘Greatest of All Times’ through hard work, being focused, dedication, love, and friendship with some tears, laughter and playful banter.

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