Gavin

Hummed and hawed about making this thread ever since I saw the movie a few weeks ago. I know most of the traffic we get nowadays is usually people lurking out of nostalgia (guilty) or giving real life updates (always nice to see) but The Matrix as a franchise really was hugely influential for OB back in the day and I was curious to see what people from back then made of it. Personally I was kinda whelmed overall I guess, somewhere between 6.5 to 7 out 10 seems fair. There were a lot of interesting ideas raised and the usual big philosophical questions were there but I didn't feel that those ideas were as well capitalised on as they could've been and some of the most interesting (for me) were barely addressed at all . I thought the cast and casting was good overall for what was intended with retrospect, Groff and Harris I would've liked to see pull themselves back a bit, particularly Groff given the character he played (I wasn't expecting 1:1 of the original but Ian Bliss's version still felt like the character IMO). I thought the concept for Harris's character was great but again not well executed. This is purely a me thing but I'd also have Visuals-wise I thought it was pretty badly let down by the action sequences/fight choreography (Woo-Ping Yuen not returning) and a general lack of polish in comparison to the original trilogy, lot of very obvious green-screening. There was apparently substantially less prep work in comparison to the first three and that's pretty palpable. The soundtrack itself was actually quite forgettable for me which is very weird to say about a franchise with such a strong stylistic sense. The meta commentary though makes it clear the sequel itself wasn't a work of passion for Lana like the originals and whether it was intentionally used as a sort of "take that" to Warner Bros for forcing it, or just that lack of passion (and Lily's absence) translated into an end product which is missing the Wachowski "spark" isn't clear to me, probably it's a mix of both. It struck me as the type of movie that benefits from multiple viewings, I'll probably give it another go in a few months.

Director: Lana Wachowski Main Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff & Neil Patrick Harris. Writers: Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon. Based on original characters by Lilly Wachowski & Lana Wachowski. Release Date: 18 December 2021 Runtime: 148 minutes. Summary: To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, Mr. Anderson, aka Neo, will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. If he's learned anything, it's that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of -- or into -- the Matrix. Neo already knows what he has to do, but what he doesn't yet know is that the Matrix is stronger, more secure and far more dangerous than ever before. Rotten Tomatoes: 63% (Audience & Critics) IMDB: 5.7/10

Yeah, I'm never going to call zombie movies unrealistic again. If anything they show humans as too competent. Oh congrats Japan. Man reading that makes me feel old all of a sudden.

Apparently a lot of American tourists have flown in recently and basically flouted quarantine so that's been fun. Ironically the same types of people who never bothered to practice properly themselves are the most up in arms about it.

Oh wow, that's a blast of nostalgia, thanks Petie.

I'm sure you could coax a few old faces into it you big charmer. ? Glad to hear people are doing OK, I try to lurk every couple of weeks when I remember to. Lockdown is mostly done here but there's fears of another wave of infections if people drop measures too quickly, I never did see that many people wearing masks or properly distancing when I had to do shopping.

I'd actually forgotten about it till I saw this haha. Nice to be remembered all the same.

As Japan mentioned the idea of a chatbox was explored by the staff, but it was felt TheOtaku's chatroom made it redundant given the large crossover between the two sites.

Saw Beth's Facebook post a while ago and as Kei said it feels so surreal. I wish I'd known him as well as other people did, he always seemed like a great guy, funny, insightful, thoughtful and willing to lend a hand. I'm glad people's thoughts/memories/stories have been of some solace to your Mrs Goudy, your son was a very special person here.

Not a bad little idea, nice to see so many old faces.

Was seriously weirded out the day the Gen VI reveal because I'd got the bug to start playing Pokemon again literally the day before. Have to go and buy a 3DS XL now though which is the only pain about it. Heard an interesting rumour that all 3 starters might be dual-types and the type advantages will work both ways in other words: Grass/Dark Fire/Psychic Water/Fighting Of the three I'm drawn to the Water type Froakie over the others (haven't started with a Grass type since Gen I) though I'll have to wait to see their evolutions and confirmation of the types before I make any firm decisions.

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif]I'd say the fact Bach hasn't stolen Zanka yet, along with his repeated "Oh ****!" faces means he probably can't steal it, which would hint that compression type bankai (like Ichigo's and Yama's) can't be stolen using the medallions. West might imply that he's reached some form of merger with his zan like Ichigo is FGT form but that's pretty unlikely. Either way though, holy **** the old man has been awesome the last few weeks. [/font]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif]This week's chapter was indeed glorious, I'm over on Narutoforums these days for my manga fix and the amount of butthurt from "Godpachi" fans has been hilarious. [/font]

I can understand people having issues with the timeline, there are certainly questions which need answering with regard to how Obito has been "Tobi" for so long. I've seen theories that Obito may have some degree of time-control but I'm willing to just wait and see where Kishi goes with it. You read Eyeshield 21 by any chance? Finished it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it.

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif]Interesting. I'll have to check it out, I'm actually moving out of my current place and won't have internet for a little while though so it'll probably be next week or later before I'm back online gaming.[/font]