Reviews

It's been a while since I've read the book, but for the most part the show captures the feeling of dread, hopelessness, and frustration the animals felt on the farm. As with any condensation of book to movie details are lost, but the overall scope remains intact.

The major problem with the movie was the ending. The book ends with the animals not being able to tell the difference between pig and man (a scene which is done pretty well, but could have been better). In this version, we still have ten minutes left. While I can't spoil the ending (though it's not much of a spoil), let's say it feels incredibly unrealistic and improbable given the situation. Then there is a final monologue about hope. Blech. All movies are equal, but movies with bad endings are less equal than others.

What do you get when you take the Terminator, Dark City, and Mortal Kombat and throw it all together? The Matrix. When I first saw the previews, I was sure it was just another effects extravaganza with nothing behind it, but it was actually a great "popcorn movie"; it was fun to watch.

It contains plenty of surrealistic gunfights, kung-fu fights ("you're out of bullets!" "so are you!" "how convenient! now we must fight!"), and trippy special effects to keep anyone interested, while not taking itself too seriously. How _any_ film besides Star Wars can talk about an "oracle," and "the one," and "dessssstiny" without making an audience crack up is amazing, but this one pulls it off.

Oh yeah, and the Episode One trailer is attached to the movie :)

Things _not_ to do while watching The Matrix:

• DO NOT play "air guitars" whenever Keanu says something like "whoa." He's really not bad in this one.

• DO NOT speak for Vader and say "it is your dessssstiny." Fishburne does fine on his own.

• DO NOT count plot holes.

• DO NOT complain that movies don't portray computers as they actually look like in Real Life.

• DO NOT get tense. You think this is a movie where the bad guys win? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA.

• DO NOT count the number of movies The Matrix "borrows" from. You'll be talking throughout the movie.