New 4 minute animatrix trailer available

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You can download the new animatrix trailer here. There is a ton of new footage. Be sure to go frame by frame using the arrow keys. Matriculated looks particularly beautiful and interesting - fooling the machines into joining the humans? I can hardly wait. Anyone else going to go see Dreamcatcher this friday to catch Final Flight of the Osiris?

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), March 19, 2003

Answers

That coming in on the heels of me just finishing up 20 minutes downloading the right quicktime component to watch it...!

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), March 27, 2003.

Well, I for one like to 'own' it, frame by frame. I play it, love it, study it in replay and love it again. One female seems reminiscent of the female Seraftrev, with her upswept hair and sweet smile yet definitely chilling in her 'strangeness'. Was that deliberate?. The apparent center roled female seems reminiscent of Aeon and I loved her at once. The biological forms in such vibrant but uncomfortably vivid colors seem to be a little horrific in the suggestion of life that isn't human but is forcefully dominating the screen beyond the cels viewed. Am I way off Peter? Typical of me maybe but its sure great to see and try to penetrate the secrets of your inspirations and ideas again.

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), March 28, 2003.

I saw "Osiris". At first I thought, "Oh geez, this is worse than Joel Schumacher's zoom-in shots of Batman's groin." But at least they later put the gratuity into some sort of context, and I even came to like the idea -- when you get inhumanly good at cybernetic dueling, why not make it more interesting and expand it into the sexual realm? Violence is sort of a dead-end.

The rest was entertaining. I enjoyed the scenes of sentinels swarming over the Osiris. The Matrix: Reloaded tie-in seemed a little blatant.

In any case, I enjoyed it much more than the movie that followed. Childhood pacts, psychic powers and alien invasions just don't seem to do it for me. Ugh.

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), March 24, 2003.


Hey, that may be the best 4 line review I've ever read. Thanks Mat I'm now much more interested in seeing "Osiris" (residual effects of final fantasy thing, hard to shake). Go the Watchowski's!

Mat, what was the movie that followed? - Sounds like Donnie Darko...

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), March 24, 2003.


It was "Dreamcatcher". Not to say there wasn't something vaguely interesting about the movie -- it did keep my interest for the first half, at least -- but it lost it all soon after. I think the scene that sticks out most in my head was the helo attack on the alien craft... seeing the friend-shaped aliens waving for help then literally turning tail to run, paired with their futile psychic pleas, was haunting for some reason. But even that was a stretch -- I didn't like the movie.

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), March 26, 2003.


Maybe it's not that good, but damned if you don't make Dreamcatcher sound interesting. =) (on the other hand, it sounds quite a bit like last year's "Signs"... my pick for worst movie ever made, in the science fiction category at least)

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), March 26, 2003.

Was it anything like "The Mothman Prophecies", I found it dreg'ish but kinda liked it anyway, Same with "Gangs of New York" actually.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), March 26, 2003.

Haha...I don't think Dreamcatcher is anything like Signs. Signs is modern Hitchcock, Dreamcatcher seems to be schlock horror - though it looked better than that from the previews (that's why you gotta read reviews).

I think Signs is great. What sci-fi movies were better than it last year? What sci-fi movies WERE there last year? I wouldn't even consider Signs sci-fi...suspense more like it, and the main theme is Faith. I like the ending a whole lot...typical Shyamalan "trick" ending. Interestingly, the most well-received of his endings, Sixth Sense, is actually the trickiest and least valid-given-the-rest-of- the-movie, but acceptable. Unbreakable is impossible without its ending, and Signs's brings it all together.

-- John McDevitt (juntmonkey@hotmail.com), March 27, 2003.


I cast my vote with Paul's. M. Night Charlatan's "Signs" is the worst movie I've ever seen in my life.

Hey, but is no one going to comment on the new Animatrix trailer - the one with Matriculated footage?

-- Peter Chung (pkchung@sbcglobal.net), March 27, 2003.


On second thought, I actually hate it when viewers make predictions and speculations based on clips from trailers. I also feel that the trailer gives away too much of each episode. Major spoilers there. So... forget the trailer. The DVD will be out soon enough.

-- Peter Chung (pkchung@sbcglobal.net), March 27, 2003.


I wish I'd checked my email more often... because I gotta agree. My GOD they gave away the entire plot of all the episodes in a mere 30 seconds for each one. Sheesh.

.... but holy shit is matriculated beautiful. I mean, they're all beautiful, but matriculated just looks painted onto the screen. I'll try and get some screenshots.

skye

-- skye (skyknyt@aol.com), March 27, 2003.


I was really tempted to see the Animatrix trailer, but I've decided to wait. My birthday's on June 4th and it'll be a nice present for myself.

(I wanted to add earlier but forgot -- doesn't the fatalistic conclusion of "Osiris" seem appropriate considering this is apparently the last effort of Square USA studios?)

Signs... hmm... I know I didn't like it. I came out of it not knowing what to think, but it was definitely the negative sort of not knowing. Part of it was Mel Gibson; part of it was the director's pretentiousness. Also, like his apparent idol Hitchcock he seems to love putting himself into cameo roles in his films. In this case, it seemed especially forced. The acting was stunted and spare. Everything felt contrived. (I'm such a negative guy.) I enjoyed Dreamcatcher more if only for the pleasure of sitting through something which seemed laughably engaging... as in, "Where the fuck can this go next? It's already been everywhere. And I don't have anything to do this afternoon." Fart jokes, Independence Day and Stand By Me have a love child. Maybe I just didn't want to admit to being one of those people who would pay full admission just to see a 10-minute short or trailer (Star Wars and Wing Commander, back in 99 -- ugh.)

I wanted to go into another topic at some point, and I suppose this might be the time and place. Now admittedly I haven't seem much of "Matriculated" except maybe half-a-dozen stills, but Peter, your character designs seem different -- somewhat more simplistic, less realistic than they were in such things as, for instance, "Tide". That short in particular always struck me as very body-oriented, every human feature pretty realistically sketched. In what I've seen of this latest work, the designs seem, I guess you could say, more "cartoonish". Am I just over-Fluxed? Are you just trying out different styles in different films? Or is this an issue of the animators re-interpreting your more realistic designs? (Or are you maybe following the example of Metropolis and counterbalancing darker subject matter with more playful designs?)

I must add, though, that the designs feel no less interesting.

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), March 27, 2003.


Wow, I found Osiris and Dreamcatcher were really interesting - Especially that they were placed together like that.

For something so seemingly 'out of it', Dreamcatcher was oddly relevant to me. It pigeonholed a concept of 'horror' I've been finding remarkebly significant these days.

Girls excluded from the picture, boys left to their own devices... I'd like to go into this, but I want to see it again, plus my confidence is lacking on account of the flak this film has managed to cop. I spose it wasnt good per se, I just felt that this film asked for a particular way to be looked at.

It is supposed to be horror after all, what makes it that? (Aside from that you think it sucked)

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), April 25, 2003.


Don't worry about giving it praise... movies can be a mixed bag. I found some aspects of the movie quite interesting... just disembodied in an ugly sack of poo. But don't listen to me. :)

Reminds me of a similar situation... saw "Identity" last night. I didn't like it, then I liked it, then I went back to not liking it in the last three minutes. Overall... it was okay. Why can't movies these days make up their minds? (Or is it me who has to do that?)

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), April 27, 2003.


I agree with your take on Identity. The ending was completely tacked on, and didn't fit the rest of the movie at all. It's like they screened it to bunch of morons who were disappointed that it didn't have the typical horror movie "he's really not dead yet" ending, and so quickly fashioned one. Too bad, it is pretty good up until that point.

I thought Dreamcatcher was beyond preposterous, but quite imaginative. Definitely unpredictable.

Final Flight of the Osiris was amazing. I'm a sucker for eye candy like that and I own Final Fantasy for the same reason. Besides, everybody dies in the end, which is always nice.

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), April 28, 2003.



Disembodied, distanced, and finally isolated: "disembodied in an ugly sack of poo"  heh heh  I think that sums it up well. THE HORROR!

But seriously, It seemed like a very therapeutic revelation for Stephen King (not that I've read it). This may not say a lot for me, but I found Dreamcatcher mildly cathartic, and even a tad reassuring, horror hasn’t done that for me before.

Consider the films interesting employment of humour, and its level of ridiculous cliché's. It just about borders, and some may say achieves, out right satire. Of course you could put this to bad film making, I just really doubt that: Dreamcatcher struck me as simply too meticulous to be without good reason for such things. You cannot *consistently* take it seriously, but that may be the point.

Amidst all that was staggeringly surreal, I felt a very strong indication towards thing's that are particularly real - simple sane explanations for all the complicated madness (Some may see this reversed). Just imagine your Stephen Kings therapist and this movie is the description of his reoccurring dream; what would you take from it? For me, one particularly real indication locked my attention; an ominous point many movies make (Eg. Pi, Fight Club, Altered States etc.): Basically it is, lack of 'the significant other, a prevalent result of isolation between people. As far as I'm concerned Dreamcatcher spelled it out in an early flash back to child hood sequence: The scene foreshadows much of the story, as is obvious. Subtle however, is what the scene excludes from the picture, or rather keeps inside it. Remember that female presence in this movie is almost nil, the main cast is quite big but none are woman. In my experience this is unique for a horror film.

'Horror' exists, as we perceive it. (Yes, I might want to read "It"; King has obviously pertained to this before). If horror were the product of say prejudice, we'd be liable to create it out of thin air. When you can see something, as something contrary to what it actually is, the idea of reacting to something that isn't actually there seems less farcical. Separation, isolation, alienation, such things can breed fear to the point that it becomes horrific. But is it feared, or does it fear? What are we to it, and what is it to us.

Maybe I got a little too into this one, however I decided to believe it was unlikely that the Watchowski's would allow for something they wrote to sit in front of something they thought sucked. So, given the general consensus, I decided to be perfectly willing to bend, just in case. I've never been anywhere near a fan of horror, but I loved Dreamcatcher. There, I said it ;-)

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), April 28, 2003.


HAAAAY, I'm far from a stranger to contrarian views. Like, dat Cowboy Bebop? HATED IT! Couldn't stand a fukkin' MINUTE what wit da flat dialogue, dem tin characters, WISE INDIAN re-vivin our hiro ON DEADLY GROUND-STYLE, an' further insult. An' yet, it be da BEST EVAR, `cordin to MOST slo-takus.

But, like, mad props to CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE. Y'know, I's can REE- LATE to it scitzo an' everyting. Dat mewvee wuz DA SHIT, wid GRATE EEFX too BOOT. Moth-seraphs flyin around in my BRAIN!

~Inu (yep, channeling Mars again)

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), April 29, 2003.


Hello in there, Mark.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), April 29, 2003.

indeed, this place feels so dry without him. Wonder where he could be... "To all my friends."

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), April 29, 2003.

What happened, why did the comments stop, how about the matrix reloaded, I am sort of disappointed, I mean, I love the whole matrix ideal and the movies and the animatrix, and all else that comes along; but I really wish they would have not done those CG scenes, I will not deeply comment upon it to not ruin it for those who have not seen it but come on, the final fight's CG is better than the ones from the movie, though I have not been able to watch it completely, I'm in Costa Rica and the truth is I don't even know if Dreamcatcher came out to the movies here, I will buy or borrow the dvd as soon as I see it around to watch the 9 series altogether.

By the way, has anybody gotten enter the matrix game??

Gotta get back to work, cath yall later!!

-- jeykro (jethrocr1@hotmail.com), May 30, 2003.


Yeah, Enter the Matrix is awesome - Worth playing for all the extra footage alone, but also just a really well pulled off game.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), May 30, 2003.

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