‘No Time to Die’: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2: Definitely one of the top two Daniel Craig Bond films (along with Skyfall), and a good end for his arc. His hasn’t been my favorite tenure (on the whole, too many of his entries went too far into the “gritty and realistic” approach), so it was nice for the final one to be one of the more enjoyable entries. I particularly appreciated the coherent and well-lit action scenes, all too often a rarity these days (particularly noticeable just after watching The Matrix: Resurrections, which had confusing and underlit action scenes that were often difficult to follow).
TV And Films
The shows and movies I like (or don’t).
🎥 The Matrix: Resurrections
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2: I’m going to have to do some thinking and reading on this one, and possibly re-watch it at some point. I very much enjoyed the first half, with all the de-/re-construction of the original trilogy. The action in the latter half could probably have been cut down a good chunk, it rather dragged on, and I’ll admit to being confused about just what was going on and why (Neo and Trinity are…super-batteries? But only when connected in parallel? Something?). But my first impression is that while it doesn’t reach the heights of the first, there was more about it that I liked than that didn’t work for me.
📚 54/2021: Serpents in the Garden by Jeff Mariotte ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 53/2021: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory by Richard J. Anobile ⭐️⭐️
The Matrix Resurrections: Why the Matrix movies never stopped being relevant:
The Matrix has a complicated legacy. It’s probably the most influential American movie since Star Wars came out in 1977 (and it is now almost exactly as old as Star Wars was when The Matrix came out), and it’s by far the most popular piece of art created by trans people. But its sequels were divisive, and its ideas about questioning reality have influenced political reactionaries in dangerous ways. Now, with a fourth film in the series coming out on December 22, it’s time to go back … back to the Matrix, across five eras of the franchise’s history.
The Anonymous Sister
A hundred million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister.
While McClane’s wife is in the first couple films, and his kids are in several, to my memory, this is the only mention of McClane’s sister in the entire Die Hard franchise.
I figure this is because thanks to his smart-ass, cocky attitude, she never got along that well with her older brother, and then after he got famous for being all macho at that terrorist thing in LA, it was even worse. All anyone ever wanted to talk to her about was her annoying older brother, and she was just so over it. Then again at the airport, and yet again in New York? That was just too much, and she finally changed her name and cut off contact entirely. He could pretend to be a superhero all he liked, but she didn’t have to be a part of it – and after hearing about what he ended up putting her niblings through, she was even more sure she’d made the right decision.
West Side Story’s Anybodys: Tony Kushner and iris menas on the 2021 movie’s trans character. When Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg, and actor iris menas reexamined the 64-year-old musical, they found a trans character in plain sight.
I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.
— Surak, in “The Savage Curtain“, summarizing the philosophy of IDIC
Preparing for My New Office
Got myself a little “congrats on the new job and your first actual office” present to go on a bookshelf or my desk (y’know, once we’re moved in and I actually have furniture…right now, it’s just a bare office). 🖖
I’ve been eyeballing Eaglemoss’s Star Trek model ships line for a long time. I don’t have the funds or space to do the “collect the whole set” subscription, so I’m glad they also sell them individually so I could get this.
“NCC-1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D.”
