Movies
Finding digital projection
I saw Finding Nemo tonight and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. All of the Pixar movies (A Bug’s Life, Toy Story, etc.) are all pretty good as are the PDI movies (Shrek, Antz, etc.). Finding Nemo definitely fit in well with the others. Funny, good story, and the animation was superb. Plus, the story was partly set in Sydney, Australia which made Jeni and I enjoy it even more.
The interesting thing was that I was able to catch it in a theater that uses digital projection. All I can say is: “Wow”. No scratches, no debris, no reel changes, plus really sharp focus. The colors seemed a little saturated, but that was probably due to it being an animated movie or (possibly) mis-calibration.
We saw the movie on a small-ish screen so it wasn’t a true test of the resolution. I read that when Phantom Menace came out that there were quite a few complaints about poor resolution (about a thousand lines). Apparently, the current resolution is 2048 lines, or slightly better than HDTV. That is certainly pretty good, but when presented on a giant screen, you’re going to notice the lines. Apparently, 35mm film is up around 4000 lines.
So we’re not quite ready to pronouce the death of film. Even so, I definitely need to see a live action movie using the current technology of digital projection. Eventually, they’ll get to 4000 lines—I can’t wait.
Matrix: Junk
[Spoilers below. Read at your own risk.]
We saw Matrix: Reloaded last night. I even went through the trouble of finding a THX screen. What a waste. There are so many things wrong with this movie, it is ridiculous.
Neo is your basic superhero. Since nobody can actually harm him, what’s the point of showing him in a fight? By definition, there can be no dramatic tension. You know he’s going to win. More importantly, Neo knows he’s going to win.
The number of instances of deus ex machina is a crime. Neo literally flies in from a great distance to save his buddies. Twice.
The overarching themes of the first movie, that of the nature of reality, man vs. machine, etc., are barely explored in this movie. Or at least, weakly explored. Showing an orgy of 250,000 people just doesn’t cut it. (Get it? Machines can’t have a orgy?)
The only scene I actually enjoyed was the scene with “The Architect”. The freeway scene was over-the-top, but had some decent action.
All in all, what a shame. If you’re going to make a sequel (or re-design a site for that matter), one must ask, “What made the first one so successful?” Then you should preserve it and enhance it, or perhaps reinvent it. But throw it away? Shameful.
But what does it matter? The Wachowski brothers were in the same position as George Lucas with Star Wars. They were going to make a bundle no matter what movie they made. For proof, I’m still going to see the third Matrix movie and the third Star Wars movie when they come out. I’m just as much of a sucker as anyone else.
Anyway, for a good review of Matrix: Reloaded, read Adam Gopnik’s piece from the New Yorker. It does a great job exploring the themes of the Matrix.
