The Matrix, Naruto
May. 17th, 2003 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirAd Mundo Exteriore,
What was the quote again? "There are stranger things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio"? Unfortunately, the Horatios won't believe me, so I can't say much more than that.
In other news, yesterday we saw the Matrix Reloaded. Most people said it didn't quite measure up to the novelty of the first movie, and they were right. Nevertheless, I thought it was still a pretty good movie. Not amazing, but the storyline was complex and engrossing without being too difficult to follow. Yes, of course, it was unfortunate that Trinity and Neo didn't seem as if they were in love at all, since that was essential to the plausibility plot. (Trinity looked as if she had to submit to an irksome duty whenever Neo kissed her. You almost felt sorry for her after a while. Also, the so-called "orgy" scene was completely irrelevant and not particularly interesting.) But if you ignored that and tried to accept the idea that Neo and Trinity have this all-engrossing love, then the storyline was fine.
Furthermore, while attempts at incorporating philosophical themes is standard fare in anime, it's pretty impressive in a Hollywood movie. Determinism versus free will, subjective nature of reality, etc. are all pretty common (and clichéd, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tryogeru would say) in science fiction, but it did make the movie a little more than just a series of video game action scenes. The story interested me, even if the acting didn't match it. Also, I have to disagree with kaydeefalls about Lawrence Fishburne's performance. I liked the way that Morpheus' character was developed, and I think Fishburne plays a very convincing fanatic.
I also couldn't help feeling pleased because it was so obvious that the directors of the movie were total geeks. Every action scene looked like it came out of a video game (with, er, ultra high-quality, live-action graphics or something like that). I thought there were quite a few anime influences as well. The guys who came up with the whole Matrix movie concept are clearly the exact sort of computer lab and math team dorks found in every school, and although I can't manage to be a stereotypical geek myself, I certainly feel more sympathetic with these directors than Hollywood hotshots like Spielberg or Soderbergh. As Lyd-chan said the other day (in reference to Elijah Wood, however), they're "my people". ^_^
Oh, and Dean lent me the first four episodes of Naruto two days ago. (Yay, new illegal anime source.) Either Dean's hostility towards me has lessened or he feels that he can put hatred aside for the more important mission of converting more fans for his favorite animes. In any case, the series is really cute and funny so far, though the art isn't to my taste. I like it! There's quite a lot of sappy moralizing, but I don't mind it because Naruto doesn't take itself as seriously as, say, Fruits Basket. (I like Fruits Basket a lot, but whenever Tooru opens her mouth and starts quoting her mother, I get terribly impatient.) Oh, and Sasuke is cool. You may think I like him because he's kind of like a Heero-type, but I actually don't identify with him at all. I just think he's cool because he has the whole "revenge for my family, honor above all" thing going on. ^_^ I'm not really a vengeful person, but all those Korean dramas about how the sole scion of the clan takes vengeance on his family's enemies have brainwashed me. Also, Naruto and Sasuke accidentally kiss (they're knocked into each other when someone pushes Naruto) in the third episode, which had me on the floor laughing.
It won't be my favorite anime, but I definitely want to see the rest of it.
...Tari
What was the quote again? "There are stranger things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio"? Unfortunately, the Horatios won't believe me, so I can't say much more than that.
In other news, yesterday we saw the Matrix Reloaded. Most people said it didn't quite measure up to the novelty of the first movie, and they were right. Nevertheless, I thought it was still a pretty good movie. Not amazing, but the storyline was complex and engrossing without being too difficult to follow. Yes, of course, it was unfortunate that Trinity and Neo didn't seem as if they were in love at all, since that was essential to the plausibility plot. (Trinity looked as if she had to submit to an irksome duty whenever Neo kissed her. You almost felt sorry for her after a while. Also, the so-called "orgy" scene was completely irrelevant and not particularly interesting.) But if you ignored that and tried to accept the idea that Neo and Trinity have this all-engrossing love, then the storyline was fine.
Furthermore, while attempts at incorporating philosophical themes is standard fare in anime, it's pretty impressive in a Hollywood movie. Determinism versus free will, subjective nature of reality, etc. are all pretty common (and clichéd, as
tryogeru would say) in science fiction, but it did make the movie a little more than just a series of video game action scenes. The story interested me, even if the acting didn't match it. Also, I have to disagree with kaydeefalls about Lawrence Fishburne's performance. I liked the way that Morpheus' character was developed, and I think Fishburne plays a very convincing fanatic.I also couldn't help feeling pleased because it was so obvious that the directors of the movie were total geeks. Every action scene looked like it came out of a video game (with, er, ultra high-quality, live-action graphics or something like that). I thought there were quite a few anime influences as well. The guys who came up with the whole Matrix movie concept are clearly the exact sort of computer lab and math team dorks found in every school, and although I can't manage to be a stereotypical geek myself, I certainly feel more sympathetic with these directors than Hollywood hotshots like Spielberg or Soderbergh. As Lyd-chan said the other day (in reference to Elijah Wood, however), they're "my people". ^_^
Oh, and Dean lent me the first four episodes of Naruto two days ago. (Yay, new illegal anime source.) Either Dean's hostility towards me has lessened or he feels that he can put hatred aside for the more important mission of converting more fans for his favorite animes. In any case, the series is really cute and funny so far, though the art isn't to my taste. I like it! There's quite a lot of sappy moralizing, but I don't mind it because Naruto doesn't take itself as seriously as, say, Fruits Basket. (I like Fruits Basket a lot, but whenever Tooru opens her mouth and starts quoting her mother, I get terribly impatient.) Oh, and Sasuke is cool. You may think I like him because he's kind of like a Heero-type, but I actually don't identify with him at all. I just think he's cool because he has the whole "revenge for my family, honor above all" thing going on. ^_^ I'm not really a vengeful person, but all those Korean dramas about how the sole scion of the clan takes vengeance on his family's enemies have brainwashed me. Also, Naruto and Sasuke accidentally kiss (they're knocked into each other when someone pushes Naruto) in the third episode, which had me on the floor laughing.
It won't be my favorite anime, but I definitely want to see the rest of it.
...Tari
