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I'll preface this post with this: I didn't like the original Matrix all that much. I thought it was an interesting idea with some entertaining action sequences, but as soon as people started trying to interpret the philosophy of the Matrix, it was being taken way too seriously. But, as Slate points out, at least the original made some sense within the world it constructed for itself.

But in the sequels the Wachowskis drop the enduring but pleasingly simple appearance/reality problem, which is where the Matrix's real buzz comes from. They instead treat Morpheus' incoherent and New Agey murmurings about Fate as the central issue, which is a real buzz-kill. First, it leads to a series of numbing litanies on human agency. Reloaded airs out four distinct theories of causality and action: Neo's insistence on free will, Morpheus' benign fatalism, the Architect's malign fatalism, and the Mervingian's scientific determinism.

This is boring enough, but worse is that, with Fate displacing Reality as the central pseudo-philosophical issue, the Matrix loses its central place in The Matrix. Though Neo and his crew continue to nose around the nooks and crannies of the Matrix's program, both sequels ignore the fate of people still trapped. We no longer get to participate in the giddy, awful process of enlightenment and emancipation, and the fragile semblance of logic that drew from the original's tidy dualism totally collapses. (Reloaded signals its abandonment of even the pretense of coherence when Neo, head bowed and hand extended in the stance of a Pentecostal faith healer, stops several real-world machines in their tracks. By this time, the audience's response is, "Ah, what the hell. Why not?")

I haven't seen the latest, but I did just see Reloaded for the first time this weekend (on DVD) so, with it fresh in mind, I offer you the quote I most identified with in Slate's assessment.

The Wachowski brothers, moved by some inscrutable nerd-muse, apparently decided that the one glaring flaw of the original Matrix, besides the whole superfluous Matrix thing, was that it didn't feel enough like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

For those in the area, Avs opening game at my place Friday after 6ish and then Kill Bill Vol 1 Saturday afternoon sometime.

"WELL IF WHAT I've heard about it is fair dinkum [Aussie lingo for "true"] that he spent $25 million making a movie that's shot in Aramaic and Latin and he's intending to release it without subtitles, I think he's got to get off the glue," Crowe said.

While watching HBO's intriguing new series Carnivale and K Street I was checking out some of the actors on IMDB. While there I spotted this tidbit. Zatoichi, one of my favorites - thanks to IFC's Samauri Saturday's - is getting an updated film treatment which is apparently winning raves.

Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi, based upon the popular series of film and televisions shows about a blind masseuse/samurai warrior, won the coveted AGF People's Choice award at the 28th Annual Toronto Film Festival yesterday.

I'll probably follow up at some point with some more info on Carnivale and K Street. Until then if you have HBO, suffice to say you shouldn't miss either.

The Anti Defamation League is worried about Mad Mel's Movie. Their concerns?

• The film portrays Jewish authorities and the Jewish "mob" as forcing the decision to torture and execute Jesus, thus assuming responsibility for the crucifixion.
• The film relies on sinister medieval stereotypes, portraying Jews as blood-thirsty, sadistic and money-hungry enemies of God who lack compassion and humanity.
• The film relies on historical errors, chief among them its depiction of the Jewish high priest controlling Pontius Pilate
• The film uses an anti-Jewish account of a 19th century mystical anti-Semitic nun, distorts New Testament interpretation by selectively citing passages to weave a narrative that oversimplifies history, and is hostile to Jews and Judaism.
• The film portrays Jews who adhere to their Jewish faith as enemies of God and the locus of evil.

Incidentally, lets not forget the raves a sneak preview got with the conservative Washington establishment.

[via Drudgereport]