Opus131

I think i just lost a few brain cells reading that...

Beleive in an afterlife then, what do you need to abide to a fictional set of dogmas for ?!?

I don't think Manorwar are power metal, they are quite traditional actually. Just because they have a sword and sorcery theme doens't make them powermetal. When it comes to this band swords and axes go hand in hand with an engine and a pair of wheels...

They have never been that impressive as far as i'm concerned. Simple rythmical progressions on a chromatic scale, unimaginative cadenzas coupled with amateurish singing, not sure why they have become such a cult, the band was never really that skilled. As for Manowar, well, i'm not sure i can explain that one. They have a very good singer, and some of their songs are rather tuneful, but for the love of god this band can be so bad at times (the lyrics in particular) they are just histerical.

It's not the believing that denotes ignorance, it's the nature of your beleif. I can live with the notion of an after life of sort, but i despise the convinction behind arbitrary dogmas which are nothing but figments of our own wishful imagination and yet it's blindly accept as 'truth', without doubt nor reason, plus the inherent hateful arrogance and intollerance (wheter open in criticism or merely condiscending) the doctrine manifests against none beleivers. Beleive all you want, but religion simply needs to die...

In a PnP campain i would propably use bards a lot, my name and avatar is a give away. However, i don't think Bards were ever given proper treatment in CRPGs, and though i do play the class rather often, i generally prefera fighter mages or pure wizards...

A few interesting scenes, but eitherwise a rather forgettable movie, worst then what i imagined even (and i had low expctations to begin with)...

And that means he has amnesia how ?!?

Awesome, there can never be enought of us around here... B)

Or PC gamers, to which Halo was nothing but an average FPS...

Perhaps you should read closely, and in the process, try to differentiate between real and credible. Just a hint. Or prying to the fact liquid metal shaping into a human form is not credible, hope that clarifies how i read your reply. If you meant something different, fair enought. Of course, the T2 was not all there was to the film in terms of special FX, and was not the only thing i was referring to when i said T2 had better special FX then the Matrix sequels. The fact is that T2 used very little CGI and concentrated on real special FX, and to me, real always looks better then CGI. Just compared the car chase in 'The league of extraordinary getlements' to 'Ronin'...

We are talking about special FX here, don't take this furthere then that. I'm not the only one who beleives the Matrix sequels were too lenient in their use of special FX. The original film had great special FX, but didn't rely on them completely. It had a perfect balance, and it was done with taste. The Matrix sequels however tried as hard as they can to 'wow' the audience with a gazzillion of special effects, and at the end of the day the movie felt like a freaking video game.

Not at all. You were trying to state the T2 looked unrealistic by prying on the fact liquid terminators are not real. Mr. Spellmar made the same mistake. If you can't see the blatant fallacy in your logic, i can't help it.

I've lost the argument, so i retort to spell checking as a form of ad hominem attack, concentrating on the person when you cannot rebuke the argument. Congratulation, you are now a Gammarian BTW, i'm a foreign, i learned english by myself. On the other end, irony dictates that somebody who is 'studing' philosophi and film making should be little concerned about championing something as shallow as the Matrix sequels. Wow, i'm really looking forward to your work as a philosopher and film maker...

Actually, you are given a choice. Just because someone disagrees with your point of view doesn't necessitate a condescending attitude. It's a debate of opinions. No reason to get personal or talk down to someone. Even if you don't agree with him and think his views are garbage, that doesn't automatically mean you have to start being condescending in your tone. That's how flame wars start because the topic strays from the actual debate to a more personal bitch fest. Perhaps you are right, i think i better get some sleep. It's just that i HATE it when pop-culture tries to replace REAL culture and nobody seems to be the wiser. That they teach the Matrix in colledge really was the last straw, i can't beleive our cultural values have sink so low...

BTW, i still can't beleive they actually teach the Matrix in colledge, that was really a shocker... :ph34r:

I'm not being given much of a choise, what am i to do ?!? To anybody who likes to know why the Matrix is filled with so much pseudo-intellectual drivel, it all started with Star Wars : http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/20...ucas/index.html

I'm sorry, but i don't need to take the word of 'film experts' to appraise something. I only trust my own exstrapolations, and i stand by the fact that, reguardless of their technical brilliancy, The Matrix special FX were tasteless, over-bearing and far too glaring. I'm sure the 'professional community' praised the companies responsible for those effects based on their technical achievement, but that has no bearing on the way they were used on the film. I'm sure putting a digital Neo on screen was not the fault of the special FX people, and i'm not blaming them for it. In the first movie, special FX were done 'just right', they enhanched the action without over-stepping on it, which is exactly what i hated the most in the sequels. As i said, it was like whatching an digital anime, how is that good film making ?!? Is this some sort of joke ?!? Can anybody confirm there are actually colledge classes about this crap ?!? By god, beware of the Matrix, the new Plato. And then you wonder why American educational system are the laughting stock of the western world... Proof ?!? The movies themselves are all the proof you need. Philosophy is not the bread for squallid allegorical mind f*cks. The relogious reference in the Matrix don't mean anything. Neo signifies the image the savior ?!? So ?!? I thought philosophy was the rational vessel of our beleives, a characterization of our humanity, and an inquiritive investigation of our reality and our place in the universe. From what you told me, all i see is some nebolous reference to religious dogmas, which are hardly philosophical per-se if taken at face value, let alone as a cross-reference. Tarantino is known for his stylish bearing of the pops, but the reason for his sucess doesn't rely on his presentation of popular culture, but what he does with it, how he presents it. He doesn't just 'regurgitate' pop-culture 'fluff', he redefines it to it's purest essence and then completely turns it's back at it, untill he twists each pop reference into a parody of itself, and he does that with incredible force. You can't but smirk at the simple logic in which he makes fun (and sense) of the very popular culture his visual style is based of. But in the end, tarantino is mere entertainment, the Matrix however is trying to sell itself as something more, which is rather embarassing if you ask me... True, but was his tirade really necessary ?!? He could have layed down his speech much more efficently if he was as smart as he was supposed to be. The problem i reckon is that the film makers wanted to give an impression of just how smart he was. This is why they took something really simple and tried to blind the audience with big words and contorted colloqualism to make it sound all 'deep and stuff'. What the hell ?!? He TELLS Neo that his decision is necessary to the continuity of the Matrix, whichout which the machines are in grave trouble. The whole point is that Neo has to make a choise. Being the one, the anomaly, his choise can reverbarate through the whole of the Matrix, giving everybody wired in the system a sense of fullfillment, a realization of choise which is so much necessary to us, thus, avoiding the whole system from collapsing as the human pshyche rejects the virtual world of the matrix (if even sub-conciously) as it needs choise to validate itself. In the end, it didn't matter which door Neo choosed, as long as he made a choise, any choise. This is why the whole idea of 'cause and effect' was so important. The machines couldn't understand that humans weren't just the product of cause and effect, the human mind be couldn't translated into a program as if it was a mere scrypt, it had to be validated throught choise, but the machines couldn't do that. They needed another human, the one. And so, he makes it plainly clear to Neo that he was completely powerless, he never tries to give a different impression (which really tells me how much you understood of this movie). Neo on the other has no choise but to make a choise, this is the only power the Architect holds over him in the end. It's a nice sub-plot, particularly for a sci-fi action flick, if only the deliver wasn't such a disaster. This is where my problems with the movie begin. I'm sorry, but plain 'symbolism' doesn't mean anything. I don't give a sh*t about the gnostic christian 'messages', why should i ?!? So there are religious references in the movies, ok, now what ?!? What's the message ?!? Where's the deep philosophical meaning of it ?!? That it refers to religious dogmas ?!? By all means, go ahead, 'explain' it to me, i'm always ready for a laught... That's assuming the Matrix corrisponds to valid beleives worth questioning.

BTW, are we ever, and i mean EVER going to see a wall paper from the original painting of the silver haired girl facing the sith lord ?!? Who made that picture anyway ?!? I think i'm going to e-mail the author and request a scan directly from him... <_<

Ditto, she is as good as dead in that painting...

It does nothing of the sort, it only tries to cather to popular culture and never moves furrthere then that, the film makers themselves as shallow as ignorant as the masses they are trying to impress. All you see in the movie is purely, meaningless drivel glorified by rationalized allegory (or metaphor), the letter being the only vehicle of philosophical delivery the shallow and ignorant masses can understand. The 'clever' and 'fairtly well done' (you got to be f*cking kidding me) exposition of what is nothing but pop philosophical buzz concepts and pseudo-intellectual utterances is actually as simple and as transparant as you can get, but that's crucial if the simple minded are to understand. What we got was a sh*tty action movie 'posing' as some sort of deeper philosophical metaphor. And with reason. The whole scene broke the number one rule in film making : 'Show, but don't tell'. But no, the Matrix told, and it was lenghty, wordy, and in the end, completely meaningless. After a 20 minutes speech, the Architect says absolutly NOTHING, it was quite embarassing to watch... Somebody kill me please, i can't deal with this level of stupidity and ignorance. That has nothing to do with my opinion of the rest of the movie, i was merely discussing the films from a purely FX stand point... There's nothing there to see but pure shallowness. After fighting Smith, Neo escapes by keeling and sprinting up in the sky. You see, it is perfectly acceptable to me to suspend my disbelief in this instance, and Neo ability to fly is perfectly credible within the perameters of the story. HOWEVER, when a terrible and glaringly unconvincing digital replica of Neo freezes on the screen and pans around for a few seconds before flying away, it completely destroys my will to suspend my disbelief, for i wasn't told that characters in the Matrix were supposed to look like high poly models taken straight out from Doom3. Please. Wheter the object it's realistic in itself or not it's completely and utterly IRRILEVANT to the argument. I'll say it again, it doesn't freaking matter what it is that you are trying to replicate throught the special FX, what i'm talking about is how succesful you are in replicating the object in the first place. I can't beleive i had to stop and explain that to you, this is beyond retarded. The fact is, the special FX of the T2 were created to look like what liquid metal would look like, and it was very good at that. At contrary, when it came to portraining a human being, the Matrix were a complete failure, thus, T2 special FX were far more successful and beleivable. The Matrix sequels were a disaster from many different angles, and single handetly destroyed the whole franchise in one swoop. Congrats to the film makers for achieving the impossible, i look forward to more of those exiting rave scenes (especially now that Andy Wachowsky turned into a woman)...

Are you generally this thick or you just like to play games ?!?

They looked fake and unbeleivable. The fight of the many agent Smith alone was one of the most embarassing moments in special effect history, the use of CGI was so over-whelming in the sequels that i still feel like a was whatching a digital anime rather then a real movie. Those are not great special effects. Great special effects are supposed to be seamingless and transparent to the viewer. I wasn't for one second convinced that what i was whatching was real, thus, The Matrix sequels were a failure. The passing of years means nothing, CGI is cheaper then other types of special effects, and it's easy to just slap it all over the place and try to 'wow' the audience, even thought it looks completely fake. If anything, the passing of years have lowered the quality of special FX by turning action movies into digital cartoons...

OMG, a silver light saber, my dreams just came true... \o/

Maybe you should consider study something else... Tasteless, over-blown CGI doesn't account for 'ground-braking' visuals in my book. A great action scene is much more then simple generated computer graphics. You don't create great action by throwing money at it, the sequels were incredibly dull in my book. I remember T2, the underwhelming plot and the reek of hollywood ooze. Special effects were great (far, FAR better then the Matrix, and of much better taste), but i hated how the Terminator series went from dark, brooding horror science fiction to familiy block buster entertainemnt... If that's all you think was wrong with the sequels, you need to drop being a film student and concentrating on something else, preferably, not philosophy nor religion. Watch reloaded again, and observe the long winded combat scenes with Neo in it, and try to feel any exitment knowing well enought he can't loose nor be hurt in anyway. In net contrast, the whole Morpheus sub-plot was at least interesting, and it was entertaining to see him prevail faced against odds far exceding his powers.