TV/Streaming
Boba Fett Started!
Movies
Matrix Resurrections
The Red Pills are at it again. Normally I understand, and sometimes sympathize with, their issues with pop culture. This time I am on a bit of a different track. The quick answer is, GO SEE THE MATRIX! Let’s get reasonable real quick about the arguments that I have heard against the movie.
It’s just a rehash of the first movie(s) - Well… okay, kinda. This criticism holds a little bit of water, but flies in the face a bit of another criticism, that it is the “The Last Jedi” of the Matrix universe. More “The Force Awakens”.
This movie didn’t NEED to happen - Well that is a dumb arguement for ANY movie. No movie NEEDS to happen. The better question is does it ADD anything to the mythology of the Matrix? The answer there is YES. Not all good, but we will get there.
The Actors - This criticism has 2 forms. First is that Keanu and Carrie-Ann are too old to be action stars. This is a little bit of rose colored glasses syndrome. The first movie DIDN’T see Keanu in any crazy big action sequences… not really. Keanu did about 3 or 4 great action scenes in the first movie, the rest had to be re-choreographed because Keanu had a broken neck and Hugo Weaving had a broken hip. Second, is people complaining about the lack of Weaving and Lawrence Fishbourne in the roles they made famous. While, yes, this IS due largely to the cash-grab nature of the production company that was going to make this movie with or without ANY of the original cast or crew. But Lana Wachowski already had an in-world explanation built in. Which, if you really loved the story told by the original trilogy, makes total sense, and in fact does a fair amount to expand the lore of the original story.
Let’s get into the additions to the mythology..
Good: The evolution of the relationship between the humans and the sentients. The acknowledgment that there really was no choice. The red pill was an eventuality. Story-wise the evolution of the Matrix itself, from the Architect to the Analyst.
Bad: Retconning of “The One.”
There are honestly just 2 main issues at play here.
1. There are much fewer ACTUAL fans of the original than originally thought. That’s not fair… there are more like 2 different kinds of fans of the original. The kind that enjoyed the SPECTACLE of the movie without being into the mythology as much. And the kind that are into the sci-fi of it all.
2. The jumbled allegory…
This is the biggest for me. The supposed allegory that Lana and her writers were going for is never ACTUALLY communicated. Starting from the original movie and the “hijacking” or “kidnapping” of the red pill… Come on… in a political world you colored your pills RED and BLUE. The BLUE pill is the bad one. Who identifies with the color BLUE in the American political system? Then one of the writers said in an interview that they were trying to make the villain (the analyst) sound like a Conservative, effectively. In the movie he speaks of how facts made things too messy, and made people hard to control. So instead his version of the Matrix uses feelings to manipulate its people. That seems in opposition to the “Facts don’t care about your feelings” made famous by Ben Shapiro.
There is a bigger fish to fry here, sort-of-speak. The TRANS allegory that the Wachowski’s claim their original concept was. It falls flat here. I heard the argument about the blue pills being allegorical to the hormones trans people have to take to maintain their transition. That isn’t accurate because when Neo STOPS taking them is when he becomes who he is supposed to be. So perhaps the OPPOSITE is true? When Neo is in the new Matrix that is “the system” literally telling him he is something he is not? Well that doesn’t really hold water either because Neo doesn’t apparently KNOW who or what he is for real. He is part of a WHOLE, according to this movie. Which is the REAL allegory, at least this time. The part of a whole. The world only functions properly when 2 people, in this case a man and a woman, realize that their power together is how things get better. Not exactly part of the “woke” agenda.
So, the woke-types are not going to like that. And the anti-woke-types aren’t liking it because if they did then they would have to take back all the ugly things they said before the movie came out.
I mean honestly it is that simple.
Prove me wrong.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
OK I WAS WRONG! Great movie though. Somehow Marvel gave Peter Parker ANOTHER significant character arc. It really earned that $1B!
Blue Beetle
Now getting a proper theatrical release. Aug 18 2023.
Batgirl
Keaton confirmed for the movie by WB.
Don’t Look Up
Don’t see it!
Rumor Mill
Confirmations/Refutations
Spider-Man
That’s right folks, MORE Spider-man Rumors. This time they are saying that Andrew Garfield AND Jamie Foxx are coming back for undisclosed projects. Possibly Garfield as the Sony Spider-surrogate, and Foxx with his own Electro movie or other character IP. There is ALSO rumor that Tobey Maguire will be returning but not as a primary character to other MCU projects. Dr Strange 2 maybe?
~ALSO~
The Venom connection has been made? With Tom Hardy firmly back in the Sony-verse and that little bit of Venom left over that was the point of having Tom Hardy in the MCU.
OR
Venom could be exploring the multi-verse or just the spider-verse, to face against Spider-Man. But WHICH Spider-Man?
Ghost Rider
Norman Reedus back in the Rumor Mill for casting choice as the lead.
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi
Animated series rumors seem to be picking up steam. ICON Creative Studio has a job listing for an undisclosed Lucasfilm project.
Fortnite
Doom Slayer coming to the roster?
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