Author Archives: jjcwn

Movie Review: Matrix Resurrections

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One can only imagine the chatter and comments from people leaving the theater after seeing the new “Matrix Resurrections”. “What did I just see”, “What was that about”, “Does anyone understand the plot of this mess?”, “Why did they make this 4th Matrix movie”, “No wonder Laurence Fishburne did not agree to make this film”, “Way to ruin a franchise”.

Anyone could easily argue that the Matrix movies represent the greatest science fiction idea in the history of movies. Released in 1999, the Matrix was ground breaking in many ways, with the action sequences, bullets that show their trajectory in slow motion. The machine and human world where human’s can plug into a software program and virtually live in an alternate universe, while in the real world they are used as batteries to power the machines. The 2nd and third Matrix movies were both released in 2003 and were solid sequels that should have ended this franchise for good. So why did they make this bad movie, that probably ruined this entire series? A stupid question – Because of the Money..

I have no idea what the plot or the reason for this movie was all about. Even the action scenes were low grade and nowhere near as good as the first 3 movies. You would think for long term profitability the producers would come up with an idea and a script that would not be this bad, just so they could keep the ball rolling a few more times. The whole 2 hour ride made no sense and in the theater I was in, most seats were empty, so word must have gotten out. Finally, trying to replace Laurence Fishburne with another actor that kind of looked like him, was the final bad mistake in this very bad film.

I agree with all the low ratings for this movie and recommend that it should be avoided.

Movie Review: The Tender Bar

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There will probably never be a lower budget movie that both Ben Affleck stars in and George Clooney directs than the new film “The Tender Bar”. This story is very simple, and very often the simpler the story, the better the movie. Tender Bar stars a young newcomer Daniel Ranieri, who plays the young version of the main character J.R, played by Tye Sheridan. Daniel is one of those very rare young actors who just can walk in and be a very strong presence and never appears to be acting. He was found by accident by George Clooney supposedly in a funny Youtube video where he was cursing constantly – leading to an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show, and a starring role in this movie. An amazing and very unlikely path to fame.

The simple story here is about a young J.R., who loves to read and one day just wants to be a writer. His family is very poor, and he and his mother have to move back in with her father played by Christopher Lloyd. Ben Affleck plays his uncle, who owns a local bar and takes the place of his father – an abusive alcoholic who proves a blessing that he does not live or stay in contact with this gifted and likeable young boy.

The central and best part of this movie is the story when J.R. goes to Yale and meets a very attractive young woman named Sydney in one of his classes; who then proceeds to torture him for years, leading him on, time after time. From one of J.R. friend’s account, “She dumped you 9 times”. The irony is, J.R. being so in love and never giving up, is the reason for Sydney’s not respecting him leading to his endless torture. At times it was almost as if she enjoyed torturing this young man, who was so desperate to impress her and break out of his average life to become someone she could respect. J.R.’s life is never easy but he eventually gets a job at the NY Times that goes both very well, and then not so great. Proving what we all know – what we imagine what our life should be – is very often not how things turn out. I did think that the ending of this film was too abrupt, almost as if they ran out of ideas, and I thought of one great revenge ending for J.R. that was in my head, but once again – not how real life happens. This film is about real life, and that is the most important point.

Once again I am stunned by the stupid and low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes of only 49% – once again the critics missed the point, missed the boat, and are completely wrong about this very good movie. I rate The Tender Bar a solid 85% and highly recommend it.


Movie Review: Spiderman: No Way Home

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The need to suspend all common sense in order to watch science fiction/Marvel movies has been increasing over the years and just might have reached a new high with the latest Spiderman movie “Spiderman: No Way Home”. The story started with the world finding out the identity of Spiderman aka Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, and as a result Peter Parker, his girlfriend MJ, played by Zendaya and best friend Ned played by Jacob Batalon could no longer get into MIT – due to recent negative and untrue press about Spiderman. The solution, Parker goes to Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch and asks him to reverse time in such a way that nobody knows his true identity; except for certain people who Parker chooses as Doctor Strange is creating the-reversal-time-with-exceptions-spell. Unfortunately the Doctor’s last minute changes cause some kind of a warped wrinkle in time where all the previous Spiderman’s and Spiderman villain’s come back to their world. This premise not only suspended but actually broke all levels of plausibility. While seeing all of this unfold I was more amazed that a thought like this could have been conceived, than I was annoyed at how insane this idea was. Coming up with a new idea that has never been done before can sometimes become a thin line between creativity and absurdity.

Once again the special effects for this latest Marvel movie are spectacular and it is always impossible not to be impressed with the computer generated effects within movies like this one. Unfortunately, the insane idea and at times, slow moving story tainted what could have been one of the better Spiderman movies. For me, the most amazing fact about this Spiderman movie is that the critical ratings are so high – 94%. My rating is around 75% with a mild recommendation mostly for the most die hard Spiderman fans.