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Reviews
In the Year 2889 (1969)
Just Boring
This is a dumb movie, but not enjoyably so. Sure, the lumpy old gun-toting father who waves around a "renshen"-detecting Geiger counter (which sounds like someone eating Rice Krispies) is unintentionally funny, but only for so long. The lack of respect anyone shows for his decidedly unfuturistic revolver while they gate crash his very pleasant but illogically secluded home to escape the nuclear holocaust that happened yesterday is also amusing for a moment. But this naive tale of instant mutation through radiation soon degenerates into people milling around a house for 80 minutes.
The plot utilizes an unseen supply shed full of canned beans as a MacGuffin, and throws in a 'bad' guest who needlessly kills the stripper he manages in some mad conquest for control of said shed. The couple of on-screen mutants don't really figure into the plot at all, as they're eventually wiped out by the main threat to the survivors which turns out not to be a threat either. The most interesting part of the movie is the father's series of illustrations of mutated animals from a test some years before. How I would have loved to see that squirrel with a hand sticking out of its chest instead of the bad mutant masks rejected from The Time Machine! The film deserves credit for setting the story in 2889 so that no one who saw the film would live long enough to see it contradicted, unlike 2001 or The Terminator. Not to give anything away, but the plot is eerily similar to that of Signs, and just as absurd. Had M. Night Shyamalan seen this, he might have considered another rewrite. Don't bother with this. Instead see the director's main claim to infamy, Attack of the the Eye Creatures.
Smithereens (1982)
Where's the Story?
So many indie films want you to believe New York is this bleak, dirty place where everyone lives on the street. In reality, there must be dozens of film crews running into each other in any given vacant lot trying to hide the fact that it's the center of a bustling film culture. If there were so many kids offering shell games, they wouldn't have to hire actors to play them.
This particular street life saga shows nothing new, and remarkably nothing punk. Nothing happens for 90 minutes. The main character is the same at the end as in the beginning. Why does she put up flyers of herself if she's not in a band? Why do hookers and street vendors proposition a guy who couldn't be more clearly broke if he was naked? As 'likeable' as Wren is, and as much as you want to see her do something with her life, or heck, even become a stripper, this movie just doesn't pay off. Watching this is like playing a slow pinball game with no noise. Why would you?
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Conditionally Perfect
This is a perfect ending to Neo's story, if you know how to interpret it. Unfortunately it is not a film for mass consumption, nor does it fully satisfy its target audience, the fans. If you expect the promised end to the war, you will be rewarded. However, the story inspires so many questions and possible interpretations of the answers presented that it ends up being too big for its britches. Trying to sate people's thirst for the Matrix universe in three films is like trying to explore the Star Trek universe without a library of novels and technical manuals. It can only come up short. This film coupled with Reloaded only offers the truth, not the meaning of life. To many fans, that is not enough. Ultimately, these movies depend on you. Are you sure you want to take the red pill?