Hair growth is relative - some people have more, some less. James Bond might be an extreme case

And what about "Jinx's" skin and hair? Does she have a special ability to dry it in one second? Getting out of the water, going to the beach --> dry.

Must be the shock to meet such a non-caring guy...

Shit... That's what I get for posting so late in the evening. But as you may have guessed by now, I was talking about X-Men 2.

As for James Bond, just yesterday I was watching Goldfinger and Thunderball. Those were the good old days, when it was all a spy game. Both Bond and his enemy were gentlemen, never starting a fight in public, and in fact, teasing each other with phrases with double meaning that only they understood. Then came Pierce Brosnan (well, not only him; he's just the worst of the bunch), and Bond transformed into an action hero, while his enemies changed from highly intelligent and calculating gentlemen into insane brutes.

(Oh, and by the way, the trailer for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen looked good )

I watched Goldfinger in the cinema two months ago and it was a great experience - much better in any aspect than the lame new movie I had seen a bit earlier

Bah - Quicktime Anyway, I read the director is the same who did Blade which is not all that promising...

I saw the trailer before the X-Men 2 movie; it looked good at the big screen. Especially Jeckyl and Hyde looks very "natural". However, what concerns me a little is the fact that Allan Quatermain (played by Sean Connery) is the team leader...

That's obviously a decision based on Connery's popularity. What concerns me more is the addition of such unnecessary characters as Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray...

Haven't noticed them in the trailer Gotta check out the Web site.

Sawyer should be easy to spot - he's played by one of the ugliest people in the world

Couldn't agree more on that. Goldfinger is an excellent movie, maybe even the best Bond movie ever. I like Thunderball, too, although it's not as good. The fight on the boat in the end is great, though. Outstanding special effects. Anyway, both movies have the style that is missing since Timothy Dalton got the role.

Hmmm..... I like The Living Daylights and Dalton plays Bond quite well there, too. Only in his next (and last) Bond movie, he started this 'tougher than tough' image which Brosnan continued

On the LOEG issue of adding characters, here is a quote taken from an interview with the screenwriter:How lame is that?

Edited by Mr Creosote at 19:09 on May, 05th 2003

The Bratislava/Afghanistan one is perhaps an action movie that's above average, but in my opinion it's missing the original Bond style already.

As for Brosnan, I'm not sure whether he's supposed to be "tougher than tough". Rather, he's a James Bond without any special characteristics.

Well, it's better than many other (older, I take it for granted all newer ones are way worse anyway) Bond movies: From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy and Never Say Never Again. That already makes it an average Bond movie in my opinion

The Matrix Reloaded - minireview

The story
Zion is under attack, and Neo & friends try to save it by destorying the Matrix from inside. They go in, fight a lot of bad guys, dodge a few explosions and flying cars, do some fancy moves, Neo gets the whole "Luke, I'm your father" speech and then you get a "To be continued" message.

The good
* Fight scenes. I admit it, I'm a sucker for those. There were a few fights for the sake of fighting, but even thouse have had some really fancy moves. Of course, you get the usual 360-degrees camera, bullet time and slow-downs, but even so the choreography is awesome. Especially in a scene where Neo plays baseball with multiple incarnations of Agent Smith (whose body serves as the ball), I was in hog heaven.
* Soundtrack. Pure joy; the last time I've heard such a good soundtrack was in Tomb Raider. The beat is very reminiscent of that in Blade, with some dance tunes during fights. The soundrack has helped the movie very much.
* Humor. I was really surprised that this movie was so funny at times. In retrospect, the jokes were barely average, but they always came at the most surprising moments, making the whole (sold out) theater laugh loud.

The Bad
* Philosophy. The movie has totally messed up the whole Matrix mythology, and just left lots of questions open. For example, if Agent Smith is able to be "uploaded" into the bodies of real people (when they pick up the phone), how comes the Matrix didn't use that to attack Zion? And how about the whole philosophical play at the end? That one made my head hurt.
* Script. Having girls in tight leather jumping over exploding cars is nice. For a while... I'd be really happy to see a coherent story as well, not these glued-together fighting scenes. I was under the impression that all three movies were written in the same time; I don't think so anymore.
* Zion. If the last city on the Earth looks like a larger version of the temple from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, complete with raving and dancing fanatics, somebody please plug me back into the Matrix.
* The babes. Is it only me or is Carrie-Anne Moss quite ugly? Niobe, one of the new characters was a little cute, but nothing special either.

Final verdict
Go see it. For a matinee presentation if possible. Or wait to rent it. In either case, try to keep your expectations down, and you'll enjoy it.

P.S. The rumors are true. If you wait through the never ending end titles, you'll be treated to a short Matrix Revolution trailer.

That review supports my bias that this will be the worst movie of the year.

I saw Matrix last night, and it was the best. From my travels I have found you either love the Matrix or you don't understand it.
The thing is that Reloaded and Revolutions tell one story and besides making a 5 hour movie (and losing millinos of dollars:P) it was easier (and more profitable) for them to make it into 2 movies.

On another note we arrived and counted the tickets 12 we had but there was 13 of us there, because the guy who booked the tickets didn't count himself. Somehow the one seat left in the entire theatre was right next to ours, so yeah that was weird

Could you give reasons for your verdict of it being "the best" (of what?) or "is it just"?

I've got myself a ticket to see the Matrix tomorrow, can't wait, at first everyone was saying that it was a bore, that the first 40 minutes made people yawn, but my best mate saw it today and said it was kick arse, so I trust his judgment.

As for Halle Berry, she plays Storm in X-men, most people (including myself) didn't see that it was her without it being pointed out, the hair etc is well done.

As for Revolutions, that comes out at the end of this year, so we don't have to wait long, oh, and also the long awaited part 3 of Lord Of The Rings: The Three Kings, yet I'm still wondering how they are going to make this interesting after so much action in part 2.

Unlike Lotr where you know what to expect having read the books, Matrix is somewhat suprising. But Yawning in the first 40 minutes... No way the whole movie keeps you interested, not as much of a story line as the first, but still good. I'll give my final verdict after I see it again.

And on the point of keeping Return Of The King interesting, the thirds book probably has the most action in it of the lot, as the name sugests the King Returns and we get the huge final battle. I just hope Jackson doesn't stinge us on the return to the shire at the end

I've seen X2 yesterday, and I can't say I'm really impressed. It was somehow entertaining, but on the whole way too long with too little happening. The 'attempted murder plot' was resolved in the first thirty minutes and it was never mentioned again. No plot development at all after that, just many explosions. The only scenes which were really good were Magneto's escape from the prison and his manipulation of Cerebro. All the other characters couldn't really convince me, they lacked any real convincing presence. That includes Wolverine - I don't think his 'animal' personality is properly translated.

I also thought it's quite an inaccessable movie. Half of the time, there are references to the first movie, the other half consists of inside jokes and references for the readers of the series. I talked about this with my friends who have never read a single X-Men comic after the movie was over and they confirmed it - in fact, it must have been even worse than I expected.

Edited by Mr Creosote at 20:58 on May, 23rd 2003