thomas-78044 Reviews

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

This is the best sequel of The Matrix

[7/10 · 22 September 2022]

The reason I give this a 7 is because I've watched The Matrix countless times and as for so many others, it blew my mind when I watched first time. It was incredibly innovative both in terms of the story, storyline and video effects. I would give The Matrix was a 10/10 if I had rated it back then. I watched both Reloaded and Revolutions in the cinema, once, They were such a disappointment that I've never watched them since and that is the sole reasons I haven't watched Resurrections before now. To me, The Matrix was one movie, and I have tried everything I can to wipe the next two sequels from my memory which was a total mess in every shape or form. The only thing that was good, but not innovative, was the special effects.

The Matrix Resurrections goes back to the roots of the first movie and I like that. Watched isolated Resurrections is a mediocre action/sci-fi movie, but if you try to forget Reloaded and Revolutions you will probably like Resurrections. Why Reloaded and Revolutions is rated 7.2 and 6.9 respectively and Resurrections is rated 5.7 here on IMDB I really don't understand because Resurrections is far the best of these three movies.

The Matrix Resurrections makes much more sense even without ever watched the two sequels. Resurrections is far better written than the two sequels when it comes to story and screenplay and build on the originals. Which was a smart move. I enjoyed the movie and even though I would have rated it as 5 watched isolated.

For everyone who love The Matrix as much as I do I recommend watching Resurrections. Don't have high expectations, but watch is as a sequel to The Matrix and I think you will understand what I mean. It's not as polished and they don't try to hide a bad story behind excessive use of special effects as they did in Reloaded and Revolutions. I recommend watching it, but as I wrote: don't have to high expectations. Almost all films in this genre are doomed to failure if you compare them to The Matrix.

John Wick (2014)

Maybe I had too high expectations

[4/10 · 20 July 2022]

Maybe I had too high expectations because I've heard so much about John Wick, and almost everything I've read and heard about the trilogy is positive. ... and I like Keanu Reeves.

However, this is three movies, or about six hours, of fighting, with all kinds of weapon, and it's the fighting scenes that bothers me. I started to take screen shots/captures of examples of what I believed was mistakes, but I ended up capture so many fighting scenes I initially thought were errors before I realized that they weren't.

Where Jason Bourne redefined and raised the bar for how fighting should look in movies, John Wick destroys it. I thought, or hoped, that we were passed the time when actors are waiting to get hit or shot. There are so many scenes where John Wick are fighting against, for instance, three opponents and while John Wick is fighting against one of them the two others are standing and waiting until he's done fighting the first. They are standing in line, so to speak. The movies are riddled with stupid fighting scenes I expect to watch in an old action movie from the 80's.

What am I missing?

Jordbrukerne (2021)

A charming, bold and funny series

[7/10 · 13 December 2021]

A visually beautiful series that dares to address sensitive and serious topics we all have to deal with whether we like it or not. The series manage to balance humour and seriousness without it becoming flat and meaningless. Some parts are a little bit too much of a sitcom for my liking and some events are dragged out a little too long, but when I stumbled on this series I had never heard of it, and I binge watched it. I almost never binge watch. Good acting performances.

The 12th Man (2017)

This is true events!

[10/10 · 27 December 2020]

I read that someone questioning the events portrayed in this movie, which makes me sad. "Based on true events" has never been more accurate. It is almost an understatement. The movie is based on the book "We die alone" ("Ni Liv" in Norwegian) written by David Howarth and published in 1955, only 12 years after the actual events happened. David Howarth was a British naval officer and served as the second in command for the Norwegian forces in Scotland. At the time the book was written everyone who helped Baalsrud survive was still alive and living witnesses to what happened to Baalsrud. I don't think there are other stories from the in Norway during the WW2 that has been fact checked as thoroughly as this story. For those who want to dig more into this story I highly recommend to read the book.

There are some minor details that are dramatised in this movie, but the events in Baalsrud's escape from the Nazis, including the route he had to walk across Norway to Sweden, the suffering and the injuries, including the amputation of his toes, is accurate. There is one event that is never confirmed, and that is when Ballsrud kills two German soldiers. They never found any confirmation in the documents in the German archives that confirmed that this happened.

Some say this movie is too slow and too long, but it would in my opinion not serve the story justice to rush through this story. This was a long, exhausting, agonising and painful escape from the Nazis, and I'm glad it is told the way it is.

For those who are interested there was made another movie about Jan Baalsrud's in 1957 called "Ni Liv" ("Nine Lives"). I'm not sure if it's available online outside Norway, but it is available in Norwegian Broadcasting's (NRK) library at tv.nrk.no.