newbie sfx question

[MarkG]

The ideas in "Matrix" made it one of the most original movies ever made.

I take it you haven't seen many movies or read any Philip K. Dick? 'Total Recall' beat it by nearly a decade, and 'Existenz' came out the same year with a similar idea (again, not surprising since both were based on Dick's stories). Not to mention probably half of all the student films ever made.

Sorry, but there is absolutely nothing original about 'Matrix' other than the effects. Pretty much everything else is lifted from Dick, Gibson and Hong Kong action movies... and the story doesn't even make sense.

And I don't agree that FX are more important post- Star Wars.

'Star Wars' was the beginning of the end of story-based movies in Hollywood: after that pretty much every major movie had to have fancy effects and action-figure tie-ins. Just imagine trying to sell a movie like 'The Godfather' to Hollywood today... to get that kind of budget you'd need Matrix-style shootouts and Marlon Brando action figures.

[Gnorn]

LOL

[MarkG]

Yeah, you'd think that the board wouldn't censor the name of one of the most interesting 20th century authors .

[Lensman]

markg said:

I take it you haven't seen many movies or read any Philip K. d*ck? 'Total Recall' beat it by nearly a decade, and 'Existenz' came out the same year with a similar idea (again, not surprising since both were based on d*ck's stories). Not to mention probably half of all the student films ever made.

Ohhh... you just poked the bear, Mark. I can't remember exactly when I first started reading SF, but it was at least 38 years ago, and my reading does include a few of the exteemed Mr. D i c k's works. I've got "eXistenZ" on DVD. Didn't care enuff for "Total Recall" to own that. Plus, you neglected to mention "The 13th Floor" which also came out the same year as "eXistenZ" and also concerned a virtual reality world.

The idea in "The Matrix" that some One Person has the power to shape the entire universe at will is something never really developed and explored in a movie before. The idea has been seen *in* movies, going back at least as far as the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" section of "Fantasia" (1940), but it's never before been developed as the main theme of the story. Oh sure it's been seen in literature plenty of times; movies lag WAY behind literary SF. I remember when Star Wars first came out, it was said that "Science fiction movies have finally caught up to written science fiction... of the thirties." A snarky but true statement.

markg said:

Sorry, but there is absolutely nothing original about 'Matrix' other than the effects. Pretty much everything else is lifted from d*ck, Gibson and Hong Kong action movies...

Well everyone has the right to their opinion, no matter how wrong it is.

markg said:

and the story doesn't even make sense.

I *was* exasperated that here they had this wonderful idea that someone could reshape reality to their desire, and only used it as an excuse for super-hero level Hong Kong style martial arts combat. But exactly what do *you* mean when you say the story doesn't even make sense? I'm referring to the original movie-- I'll cerainly admit the sequels didn't make much sense.

markg said:

Just imagine trying to sell a movie like 'The Godfather' to Hollywood today... to get that kind of budget you'd need Matrix-style shootouts and Marlon Brando action figures.

Er... I guess you live in a different universe than I do. In mine, "Titanic" was the most expensive movie ever made until Speilberg's WotW.