The Dude wrote:The Matrix flicks are poop. I guess the wachowskis are just a-holes.
I only saw the first matrix movie and hated, hated, hated it. Humans as bio-batteries, but needing a dream-reality for their brains to pass the time? (Bacteria could be bio-batteries, too, and they aren't sentient.) I have yet to encounter a dumber sci-fi premise.
And Morpheus ain't no Yoda.
silentkid wrote:...my head would explode like that guy in Scanners.
Now that's a good movie.
Well, heh, yeah, kinda like Mormonism, you gotta check reality at the door. But you gotta do the same thing with star wars too - so what's the problem?
It's my all time favorite movie. I think you really need to watch it again. And I even loved the 2 sequels (unlike most people). They just don't get it. losers.
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
Who Knows wrote:Well, heh, yeah, kinda like Mormonism, you gotta check reality at the door. But you gotta do the same thing with star wars too - so what's the problem?
If your story, or religion, must include some really goofy background, this is best kept hidden for people to discover on their own. In the meantime, the wise men and shamans should hint at "great mysteries" while the idiotic material trickles out in bits and pieces -- so when it finally crystallizes for the individual, at his own pace, it feels right. Star Wars does this, and obviously Mormonism succeeds only when this rule is kept. If the Matrix had never had that scene where the great guru Morpheus boldly revealed the diabolical bio-battery plan, I probably would not hold it in such low regard. Serve milk, then meat, and keep the poop off the table.
It's my all time favorite movie. I think you really need to watch it again.
Maybe you need to watch it again, and pray harder this time. ;)
"And yet another little spot is smoothed out of the echo chamber wall..." Bond
krose wrote: I think the folly in the church's blanket stand against R-rated movies is the blind trust it places in the hands of the ratings board -- the MPAA. When my kids were small, I always wanted to know exactly what was in a film so I could judge for myself whether I would allow them to see it, no matter what it was rated.
I don't know if it's around still, but I used to use a site that reported in detail what was in each movie. It would list every instance of colorful or disrespectful language, drug use, nude scenes, scary scenes, etc. (for example, "7 S-words; 4 F-words, once as a verb, once with mother; one 9-second sex scene under covers, no private parts visible").
But then you would be "thinking for yourself!!" You're not supposed to do that. When the brethen have spoken, the thinking has been done, and they have said no "R" rated movies. So, no matter what redeeming qualities a movie has, or what excuse the rating board used to give it an R rating (maybe one F bomb) you can't go see it!!
Who Knows wrote:Well, heh, yeah, kinda like Mormonism, you gotta check reality at the door. But you gotta do the same thing with star wars too - so what's the problem?
If your story, or religion, must include some really goofy background, this is best kept hidden for people to discover on their own. In the meantime, the wise men and shamans should hint at "great mysteries" while the idiotic material trickles out in bits and pieces -- so when it finally crystallizes for the individual, at his own pace, it feels right. Star Wars does this, and obviously Mormonism succeeds only when this rule is kept. If the Matrix had never had that scene where the great guru Morpheus boldly revealed the diabolical bio-battery plan, I probably would not hold it in such low regard. Serve milk, then meat, and keep the poop off the table.
I see what you're saying. But i view that scene like a 'holy sh#t' moment. Playing off of one of our worst fears - that we'll build something - A.I. - that will eventually become smarter than us. And then they'll turn the tables on us - whereas now we use and abuse machines, the roles will flip, and we become slaves to them. Yeah, the 'machines using humans as batteries' thing is a little silly, but so is 'the force'.
I'm not a star wars hater, i like that movie too. But it's kinda like a scientologist hatin' on Mormons for their religion being 'weird'.
Oh, and by the way, i have felt the spirit while watching the matrix, so it must be good. Unless i'm being bamboozled by satan...
meh - let's end on a positive note - i just watched american gangster (heehee - lot of Mormon poop in that movie) - that was a pretty decent movie - can we agree on that?
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
Who Knows wrote:Yeah, the 'machines using humans as batteries' thing is a little silly, but so is 'the force'.
This is a perfect example. I had no problem with "the force" until they tried to explain it in one of the later (or earlier) movies. The explanation, delivered by a Jedi wise man, was some kind of brain parasite, right? Stooopid! I'll bet the wachowski bros told them to put that in. The force was far better as a mystery, in my opinion.
meh - let's end on a positive note - I just watched american gangster (heehee - lot of Mormon poop in that movie) - that was a pretty decent movie - can we agree on that?
I haven't seen it. Iron Man was good.
"Give me a scotch -- I'm starving."
"And yet another little spot is smoothed out of the echo chamber wall..." Bond
I agree that explaining the Force with midichlorians was STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID.
I also agree that the second and third Matrix films kind of dropped the ball.
But I have to disagree with The Dude on the original Matrix. I thought that movie was awesome. I remember being so excited by that movie when I walked out of it, and the next day I told a guy at work how awesome it was, and he went and saw it and came back saying holy crap that was awesome. Granted, there would probably be some better choices for bio-battery than human beings, but at that point you're thinking too much. If you just go with it that movie was really great.
It's one thing to look back through history at something like The Matrix and judge it by what's happened since, but it's another thing when a movie like that comes along and there's really been nothing quite like it before. It was the same thing with the original Star Wars. If you go back in time to 1978 or 79 or whenever it was, and remember what kind of movies had existed up till then, and then Star Wars came out, it was like HOLY F*CKING SH*T! I had nearly that same kind of reaction to the first Matrix.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
The battery thing in the Matrix didn't bother me so much because I'm not constantly thinking about biology. I get bothered by shows that get computer / electrical engineering wrong. There are limits to how much you can unblur a photo depending on factors such as noise and knowledge about how the photo was blurred. While it's possible to unblur a swirled photo of a child predator, it is not possible to magically unblur a liscence plate except under special circumstances (it depends on things like the noise factors, compression used, numbers of photos, etc.). Oh, and not every piece of malicious software is a virus. Let's not forget about trojan horses, worms, and rootkits not to mention cross-site scripting.
That's General Leo. He could be my friend if he weren't my enemy. eritis sicut dii I support NCMO
asbestosman wrote:Oh, and not every piece of malicious software is a virus. Let's not forget about trojan horses, worms, and rootkits not to mention cross-site scripting.
Then you must have loved the virus ex machina that saved the world in Independence Day.
"And yet another little spot is smoothed out of the echo chamber wall..." Bond
The Dude wrote:Then you must have loved the virus ex machina that saved the world in Independence Day.
Not to mention that the aliens' computers probably wouldn't understand any computer machine languages earthlings have invented. It'd be like assuming that aliens speak one of English, Chinese, or Spanish without studying humans. Oh, and I love how aliens didn't bother to encrypt or compress their count down signal.
That's General Leo. He could be my friend if he weren't my enemy. eritis sicut dii I support NCMO
asbestosman wrote:The battery thing in the Matrix didn't bother me so much because I'm not constantly thinking about biology. I get bothered by shows that get computer / electrical engineering wrong. There are limits to how much you can unblur a photo depending on factors such as noise and knowledge about how the photo was blurred. While it's possible to unblur a swirled photo of a child predator, it is not possible to magically unblur a liscence plate except under special circumstances (it depends on things like the noise factors, compression used, numbers of photos, etc.). Oh, and not every piece of malicious software is a virus. Let's not forget about trojan horses, worms, and rootkits not to mention cross-site scripting.
I agree that this is the number 1 technology abuse in Movies and TV Shows. If such a think existed, we could all have 1 mega pixel cameras and you could blown them up to billboard size and have ultra sharp pictures.