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Fate/Zero (2011)
There is nothing better
Manga / Anime has a tendency to add layers to the plot (One Piece probably being the best example of it), but it sometimes lack in character development (one of the good things that US based series can provide). Even if they do sometimes give you backstory of a character, there sometimes is a lack of the portrayal of the resultant emotion.
Urobuchi is different. So is Fate / Zero.
The protagonist is a good looking version of Rorschach, except with access to mythology. The characters understand politics, philosophy, and has a consequentialist approach to life, and therefore also show how differences in interpretation leads to different meaning of what is good and what is just. And the seriousness combines with epic battles between mythological heroes creates a story that is both enticing and thought inducing in equal measure.
Despite this being a prequel to fate / stay night and its countless other sequels / narrations, this is the best of the whole lot without a shadow of a doubt. And in some way, it kind of shows how the Japanese romanticise nihilism, probably being the only country in the world that have being nuked.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The Bad, the Good, and the .....
There is some truth in the poor rating and poor reception of Matrix Resurrections.
It was absolutely and utterly unnecessary to use so much old footage. An unbelievably, ludicrously, ridiculously, incredible amount of old footage. People are not buying tickets to the cinema to watch the same old s**t. No matter how good that s**t was. They've seen that s**t.
There is also the matter of the "Nolan/Marvel" impact. Nolan is generous with screening time because he utilises that properly to tell his story. Unknowingly though, he started a trend (or benchmark), whereby (supposedly) a blockbuster loses credibilty if it is not at least 10 minutes longer than the previous average standard runtime of 2 hours, giving the illusion that the film is "layered". In most cases though, that extra half an hour / extra hour is filled up with unnecessary flashbacks, stretched out sequences (eg: slow-fast-slow fight scenes), and poorly written jokes.
Which brings us to the 'Marvel' impact.
For lack of A better English term, the Marvel impact most aptly can be described as "khyat". Its "self-aggrandising disguised as self-depricating" humour, AKA the "Robert Downey Jr." sense of humour. The last Suicide Squad, although a DC project, was filled with RDJ humour. Comedy written by non comedians is as good as me suggesting which wine goes well with caviar.
This Matrix could have easily shed off unnecessary minutes (by discarding old footage, obviously). They could have also done without the quasi 4th wall breaking RDJ humour aimed at themselves. In fact, the first 20-30 odd minutes is full-on cringe, and you are most welcome to take a break during this time.
In this attempt to follow the current trend, the filmmakers actually forgot the trend they themselves started: The "Matrix" style "Show, don't tell" approach. The first Matrix had less lines and more portrayals. Morpheus' sentences, as an example, were short but more pronounced. He was to the point, and this made him a leader, even of Neo. But of course, the characters here speak a hell lot more. They...... babble. I am pretty sure that Agent Smith has way more lines in this film than he had in his previous 3 films. Combined.
And the biggest sin: the effects. Forget all those bullet evading, 360 panning, green-tinted wonder. The effects were way, way worse than its 22 years' old predecessor. Remember that "trinity kick"? In here we have the "Diet Trinity Kick". Same with Super Saiyan Neo. He does what he did, but he feels and tastes like "Neo Lite". Or "Neo Zero". Or " I cant believe its Neo" Neo.
So.... what's good?
The main plot.
The story shown here is the only logical continuation of the story that finished in 2003. To explain this, I will have to go back to the trilogy (and NOT SEQUELS) for a little bit.
Neo is a collection of anomalies in the Matrix. Being an anomaly, Neo was not accounted for by the system; there was no protection against him. This is an important detail, because a smidge of his language anomaly made Smith an out of control programme in the Matrix.
He was freed in 2 separate and distinct steps. The first step was orchestrated by Morpheus. Morpheus didn't know that Neo's capabilities are not because of some insane amount of free will (as Oracle led him to believe), but because he contained information and coding that the Matrix had no answer for. Under Morpheus, Neo became trained at a level similar to his peers at the time. He showed only flashes of his capabilities (the "bullet dodge"), but he needed more to unleash hell. He needed Trinity. That is where "the kiss" comes in.
When Neo met Oracle, she said to Neo that maybe he was "waiting for something" to be the One. The Oracle also said to Trinity that she will fall in love with the One, but he will be dead. Add these 2, and you get a sequence of events: Neo dies, Trinity expresses her love, and Neo becomes the one. The kiss was not the cause; it was a catalyst, triggering the anomalies bubbling under in Neo, and turning him into... Superman. In its simplest terms, it was 2 prophecies of Oracle working in sequence.
But why did Neo need Trinity to be the One in the first place?
This is where the new film comes in. Neo and Trinity are not "The protagonist and the love interest". They are in a symbiotic existence, a kind of "Yin and Yang" interdependency (without the dark side), or to paraphrase John Mayer, their love was not the Roman Candle Firework, Hollywood Hot Pink Love... it was the 'I got your back' love. Trinity was one half of a duo.
This misunderstanding of Trinity's indispensability was why the analyst (the new architect) struggled to successfully assimilate the anomaly into his new Matrix at the beginning. He realised that Trinity was needed to make this anomaly work, but he also needed to keep both their physical bodies at a safe distance in pods to make it work without creating a cataclysmic event in the Matrix.
But obviously that distance wasn't safe enough. Neo found Trinity out. They eventually bonded. And the other half of the duo, thus, was activated.
Some might seem the transition of the One to the 2 as something reflective of the director's own experience, and they might not be wrong. But it works. And if they are able to, this new dynamic can be built upon. But they would need strong writers that have not been awestruck by mediocre jokes and gimmicky fillers. Or get the whole of the old team back.
So now, the confusing aspects that bothered me:
1. What was the point of Morpheus in this film?
2. Why did the Analyst also need Smith in the new Matrix?
3. Why did Neo and Trinity, in their digital self in the Matrix, had to live in the same area, frequenting the same coffee shop? Did their digital self also needed to be close enough for the Matrix to work?
4. Does the analyst, being an AI himself, felt a bit "human" to you with his love for a challenge? Does an AI get adrenaline rush?
5. What the hell was that human bypass that happened while Trinity was being unplugged?
6. How did Sati, an entirely written programme created by 2 other programmes, have a physical 'hardware' presence in the "real" world? She wasn't like the physical projections of programmes.... she had a physical form.... how?
7. How did Smith, a programme tightly on the Analyst's leash, suddenly become his old self again? What freed him?
Maybe a second viewing will help me understand some of these, or maybe they are just plotholes.
All in all, the new Matrix felt like having your favourite street food in a fancy hotel with silver cutlery.... it tasted the same, it just didn't FEEL the same.
The Office (2005)
Not better than the British one
Apparently, US Office is better than the original, UK version.
No.
Ricky Gervais is not one of my top choices in stand up, but as a scriptwriter / content creator he is one of the best. He can maintain a steady tempo throughout and most importantly, he knows how to end (compared to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, definitely). Come to think of it, Peter Kay's Car share too.
Considering the umpteen numbers of US sitcoms and a few of the British ones I have seen, I have to say that the British ones are superior in one aspect: they don't pander to Lowest Common Denominator and Central Tendency.
Take Big Bang Theory for example. Notice the gradual "humanisation" of Sheldon with Amy and a "happily ever after" tune (including a Nobel Prize in Physics. A bit much, but ok). I don't know who started it, Friends or before, but American sitcoms have this compulsion to "resolve". Compared to that, British sitcoms are not always Disney films with a laugh track. They generally leave it hanging: like a novel with the ending of a short story.
Ricky Gervais probably didn't have the money to continue, or maybe he thought this has run its course, but the short stint of the British Office is still miles and miles better than the 9 seasons of popular predictability of the US Office.
And so is the case with almost all US sitcoms.
Except Seinfeld. Minus the acting, Seinfeld is probably the best and the bravest of all sitcoms I have ever seen. No one will have the guts to do that ending, ever. Definitely not in the US.
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (2009)
"Deathproof" of Urobuchi
- High School.
- Metrosexual student of that school who is irresistible to literally every female character.
- And who leads on all of those women (and calls it courtesy).
- Supported by lead female(s) on the tightrope of barely 18 / that's paedophiliac, disguised via abnormal proportions rivalled only by that of a classic Barbie.
- One of whom is a textbook case of Stockholm Syndrome.
The list of Anime tropes is endless. And these tropes almost destroyed yet another decent (not outstanding) creation by Urobuchi et al.
Almost.
"Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom" started off really well. There was little room left for fan service, the storytelling was quite serious, and you could tell that Urobuchi is in that story. But this was not one of his better creations, and soon the "et al." people started to appear on the script. The predictable chemistry kicked in, in the most Hollywood-y manner. But other than that, the story was still watchable, enjoyable.
But soon came episode 20. And the floodgates of tropes were swung wide open. Whatever effort was put into the anime died instantly from the very first minute of that episode. The protagonist became part of a love polygon, and even the most important female lead became one of many, vowed to love and care even with her life. The last 6 episodes were as predictable as a teen with unrestricted internet.
Right at the end, someone probably felt that this is not how the story started, though. So they tried to salvage it in the last 30 seconds in the last episode. The ending wasn't quite Cowboy Bebop, but it acted as a tribute to the first 19 episodes of good storytelling.
Overall, its not a bad anime. It's Urobuchi's "Deathproof", so to speak.
Psycho-Pass (2012)
The Wire of Anime
Google "top 10 anime of all time" (or anything similar), and you will find a bunch of series that, even without being an anime fan, you will recognise. From Memes. Or mascots. Or games. Or Reels.
Anime fans in general are worse than movie fans in one respect: they are more of a market sheeple than movie lovers. IMDB has Shawshank Redemption lording over the Godfather, whilst Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood) tops the anime chart. Its not even the better one of the 2 versions.
All this rambling is the middle-aged and supposedly experienced media snobbery built up on the delusion of self that switches personalities between a viewer and a critic. Having said that, this is not an autumn skewering of Gen-Z Otakus and Weebs that flood Comic Cons in whatever city wants to be hip. This is more of a verbose sigh directed towards those who have never seen or experienced the magic of Gen Urobuchi, and his small but wonderful catalogue of creations.
Psychopass being the jewel of his crown.
Just the image below is probably a good enough clue that Psychopass relies more on content than the "IG makeup" posing itself as content. It is (as usual) a story set in a dystopian future. It probably could be classed as 'Cyber Punk' too. But with characters quoting Pascal, Gibson, Richard Connell, Joseph Conrad (I know none of these too) and (obviously) Orwell and Shakespeare, you will be forgiven to feel if Urobuchi probably is the Japanese twin of Alan Moore. There are some obvious characters: A brooding hero, A voice of pragmatism, a wide eyed but self assured protagonist, a sage, a punk hacker etc., but the storytelling is exquisite, even in anime standards. The themes explored in this series are relevant yet surreal, and extrapolating from the name-dropping in it, it is very likely that Urobuchi didn't just read the backflaps of those books.
The villain combines the apathy of Dr. Manhattan with the twisted sense of nihilism of The Comedian. And then he evolves, slightly, to even resemble Rorschach a bit. He is not the anti thesis to the hero the way Joker is to Batman, he is bigger than that. He is the voice that you know is right and you hate that is right.
The first viewing of Psychopass left me a bit disappointed, probably because I was just starting out. But with the second viewing, I have no doubt that Psychopass is to anime what The Wire is to TV series.
Actually, scratch that. The Wire is better. After all, The Wire has never relied on "Plot Armor".
The Big Short (2015)
Storytelling at its most effective
As an aspiring student of finance and obviously one of the many who believes the world is run by corporations and governments colluding, this movie was the perfect entertainment that brought in bouts of humour with cameos and dramatisation when required, the end asking questions in an unfunny way but complemented by a satirical note after.
What's not to like? Chrisitian Bale is just too f***ing good (excuse my French) in his role as the nerdy broker whose meticulousness is well complemented by his non-exuberant non wall street demeanour. Ryan Gosling is convincing as the plagiariser who knew what to do with the golden nugget of info. Steve Carell is probably right after Bale, if we choose to rank performance, that is. His rather unusual role as the uncaped crusader of wall street is interesting, and probably the most unlikely character but nonetheless one of the most pivotal ones as well. Brad Pitt was short and effective, and unremarkable, which is exactly what the story required.
But, again, the cameos. I don't really care if the top critics have a distaste for such stunts, but they were such a welcome footnote in bringing in some lightness to the convoluted jargon of finance. They were the garnish that's just makes the meal flavourful and a sight to behold.
And as a music lover, the end theme was right on the money.
Although, I have to admit, the amount of s**te that year produced, I believe my praise is kind of biased. The big short allowed me to believe in Hollywood again.
Forrest Gump (1994)
An entertaining class on contemporary history of the U.S.
WE lived, we live and we will. chronology sets the record, but emotions flow through without any documents, in our chromosomes. we nurture them from ages and die with them. but the seeds remain. this movie is not only history. its the hereditary transportation of human lives. its the wonderful portrait of a changing America, the powerful nation, and a very simple yet a gifted man who lived through these changes. the oral expression is his, but the view, its left on to you. it is not only viewing. it is the best hangover that will last for quite a while!