Lyndon in 2024

[Lord_Lyndon]

Starting the new year with 3 films I haven't seen before.

1. The Survivalist (2015; Stephen Fingleton)
I was interested in British actress Mia Goth. I found this film on her imdb profile. It looked interesting so I decided to check it out. It turned out to be a solid film about 3 people surviving in the woods in the future where food is scarce.

2. Licorice Pizza (2021; Paul Thomas Anderson)
I'm a huge PTA fan. I loved all of his films and this one is no exception. Just loved the atmosphere and storyline. Also, I thought Alana Haim gave a terrific performance. Loved her in it.

3. Nebraska (2013; Alexander Payne)
Fantastic film that is incredibly poignant, even if it shows us a slice of Americana that is not always pleasant to look at. All those desolate landscapes really set the mood for the film. Bruce Dern was great, but I thought the guy who played his son was pretty good as well.

[Raxivace]

I really liked Nebraska.

Licorice Pizza...don't get the love for that one tbh.

[Lord_Lyndon]

4. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004; Mamoru Oshii)
This is a rewatch. It's fantastic and one of the best sequels ever. I would describe it as an animated philosophical sci-fi action film. One of the best films exploring the theme of 'consciousness'. Oshii mentioned that he was influenced by Antonioni and Godard for this one. I highly recommend it.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I saw only 8 films more.

5. Violent Cop (1989; Takeshi Kitano)
Rewatch. This is a film that is violent, bloody and funny. Very good stuff.

6. Inherent Vice (2014; Paul Thomas Anderson)
Rewatch. It combines neo-noir with stoner comedies. Sort of like The Big Lebowski. It was very good.

7. Barry Lyndon (1975; Stanley Kubrick)
Rewatch. My favourite film from one of my two favourite directors. Magnificent film which gives us adventures and misadventures of Redmond Barry and explores the society he is a part of. Some of the best cinematography ever and a great performance from Ryan O'Neal.

8. The Legend of 1900 (1998; Giuseppe Tornatore)
Another good film from the director of Cinema Paradiso. As expected, it was sentimental and shamelessly romantic. Good performance from Tim Roth.

9. Papillon (1973; Franklin J. Schaffner)
Magnificent cinematography and a fantastic performance from Steve McQueen. This is a masterpiece.

10. The Hidden Fortress (1958; Akira Kurosawa)
Rewatch. Magnificent widescreen cinematography, great performance from Mifune and those two peasants and their constant bickering were amusing. This is fantastic. I didn't care for it when I first saw it, but now I love it.

11. Terminal (2018; Vaughn Stein)
This is some kind of highly stylized comic book neo-noir. I thought it was good. It has a great cast: Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Dexter Fletcher, Mike Myers.

12. El Sur (1983; Víctor Erice)
Another very good film from the director of 'The Spirit of the Beehive'. It's basically memories of a girl living in northern Spain in the 1950's and focuses on the relationship with her father. Good stuff.

[Raxivace]

Love Barry Lyndon and Hidden Fortress, still don't really get the love for Inherent Vice.

4. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004; Mamoru Oshii)
This is a rewatch. It's fantastic and one of the best sequels ever. I would describe it as an animated philosophical sci-fi action film. One of the best films exploring the theme of 'consciousness'. Oshii mentioned that he was influenced by Antonioni and Godard for this one. I highly recommend it.

Haven't seen this yet but I finally watched the original Ghost in the Shell on a whim a few days ago and absolutely loved it. Immediately bought the 4K afterwards lol. Gonna have to get to Innocence sooner rather than later now.

From what I remember reading old discussions online back in the day Innocence is more divisive than the first movie but if its drawing comparison to Godard and Antonioni that's not too surprising.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I had 4 rewatches and 2 new viewings.

13. Full Metal Jacket (1987; Stanley Kubrick)
This is still a timeless masterpiece and one of three greatest war films of all time. I think the second act still isn't fully appreciated. It really shows how these soldiers kept their individuality, even after going through a rigorous training in the first act. Brilliant film.

14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023; Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears)
Great animation which reminded me of Spider-Verse films. Fast paced and great action sequences. Very good film.

15. Live Free or Die Hard (2007; Len Wiseman)
Rewatch. I liked how the bad guys here are cyber-terrorists. It had a lot of great action scenes and Bruce Willis was great. I really enjoyed it.

16. Fallen Angels (1995; Wong Kar-Wai)
Here is a film that really takes you to a journey through a Hong Kong night, bathed in neon lights. It is a film that is silly, moody, sensual, poignant. It is more an ode to Hong Kong then it is about these quirky characters. The ending scene is my favourite scene of all time. It is very poetic. Truly unforgettable film. I can't believe I haven't seen it in 8 years.

17. Hotel Transylvania (2012; Genndy Tartakovsky)
It was very enjoyable, fast paced, with a lot of silly jokes. Good stuff.

18. Samurai Champloo (2004–2005)
I decided to rewatch this great anime series. It follows three characters on their journey through Japan, showing us their adventures and misadventures. This series is essentially a post-modern take on the samurai genre. One of the main characters is called Mugen, and he is one of the greatest characters in anime history. You should really check this series out at some point, Rax, since you are a big fan of anime. It is very popular and acclaimed.

[Raxivace]

I saw a few episodes of Champloo on tv years and years ago and yeah it's definitely one I want to properly watch one of these days. I even have blu-ray set!

For Full Metal Jacket, do you think they still have their individuality by the end of the movie? I kinda view that last shot of them singing the Mickey Mouse theme as being finally broken and subsumed by the war.

I remember liking Live Free or Die Hard but its been such a long time since I've seen it.

[Lord_Lyndon]

For Full Metal Jacket, do you think they still have their individuality by the end of the movie? I kinda view that last shot of them singing the Mickey Mouse theme as being finally broken and subsumed by the war.

I don't know myself. I remember once reading someone's analysis of that final scene and he wrote that Kubrick broke the 180 degrees rule to create a kind of counterpoint to what was happening with those soldiers singing. I think that person was suggesting the opposite of what you said (they remain fully fledged individuals), or at least he was suggesting that Kubrick decided to leave things ambiguous. Not sure what you think of this idea, but I don't think you will care for it.

[Raxivace]

Yeah I'd have to watch again to say for sure but I'm not sure I buy that idea tbh.

[Lord_Lyndon]

And now, lets move on to more important things. Rax, congratulations on your incredible achievement! I can't believe you now have 5000 titles rated on imdb! I'm really happy for you! You have certainly seen a lot in your life, and you are still young. And just a quick comparison to my ratings: I have only 3079 titles rated on imdb, so I'm not even close to you.

[Raxivace]

Oh wow I didn't realize I passed 5000. A lot of those are video games and TV shows, so its not like my actual film count is at 5000 (Which is closer to 3780, if my Letterboxd is to be believed).

Seems my 5000th rating was for the visual novel Kanon, which was not one of my favorite games lol.

[Lord_Lyndon]

Hi guys. I'm back after a long time. I've seen very little. I had 7 rewatches.

19. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
I still think it's one of ten greatest films of all time. Amazing achievement in directing.

20. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Third time seeing this. It is a very good opera of darkness, with very good plot and very good visuals. Anne Hathaway really stood out for me performance-wise.

21. The Matrix (1999)
22. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
23. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
This trilogy gets progressively weaker with each film, but I have to say that it was rather excellent overall. Incredibly epic man vs. machine fight, with good mixture of philosophy and action. This is my favourite Keanu Reeves role. He was so cool. I know there is a fourth one now, but sadly it didn't get good reviews which is the main reason I haven't seen it yet.

24. The Dark Knight (2008)
Tieman said that this film rips off Michael Mann's 'Heat' stylistically. He might have a point there, but I still really enjoyed rewatching it. I thought the plot was fantastic, and that the Joker was a fascinating character (played brilliantly by Heath Ledger). Overall a really fantastic film. And, after all, it is the most popular film the 21st century so far.

25. Goodfellas (1990)
This film is a masterpiece, with many memorable scenes, brilliantly directed by Scorsese (great cinematography and editing, great use of voice-overs...). 'Bobby' De Niro really stood out for me performance-wise. I'm starting to think he might be the greatest actor of all time.

[Raxivace]

19. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
I still think it's one of ten greatest films of all time. Amazing achievement in directing.

I just bought 4K of this a few days ago, funnily enough. Might try and rewatch at some point this year.

21. The Matrix (1999)
22. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
23. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
This trilogy gets progressively weaker with each film, but I have to say that it was rather excellent overall. Incredibly epic man vs. machine fight, with good mixture of philosophy and action. This is my favourite Keanu Reeves role. He was so cool. I know there is a fourth one now, but sadly it didn't get good reviews which is the main reason I haven't seen it yet.

I think I actually prefer Reloaded to the original tbh. The meta-stuff I think is really strong here and the idea of ideological control provides a very Metal Gear Solid 2-esque recontextualization of the already strong original Matrix. For Revolutions, I like the Neo vs. Smith fight a lot but as a whole yeah the movie doesn't do nearly as much as first two for me.

Matrix 4 I didn't really care for that much. It just seems like a retread of Reloaded's meta-themes but in less interesting way. Worst action scenes of the series too.

24. The Dark Knight (2008)
Tieman said that this film rips off Michael Mann's 'Heat' stylistically. He might have a point there, but I still really enjoyed rewatching it. I thought the plot was fantastic, and that the Joker was a fascinating character (played brilliantly by Heath Ledger). Overall a really fantastic film. And, after all, it is the most popular film the 21st century so far.

It's been very long time since I've seen Dark Knight at this point, but FWIW Nolan himself has talked up Heat influences on Dark Knight and even said he considers it one of his personal favorite films. He even screened Dark Knight for Michael Mann at one point.

25. Goodfellas (1990)
This film is a masterpiece, with many memorable scenes, brilliantly directed by Scorsese (great cinematography and editing, great use of voice-overs...). 'Bobby' De Niro really stood out for me performance-wise. I'm starting to think he might be the greatest actor of all time.

Goodfellas rules, of course.

[Lord_Lyndon]

I think I actually prefer Reloaded to the original tbh. The meta-stuff I think is really strong here and the idea of ideological control provides a very Metal Gear Solid 2-esque recontextualization of the already strong original Matrix. For Revolutions, I like the Neo vs. Smith fight a lot but as a whole yeah the movie doesn't do nearly as much as first two for me.

This is very interesting, Rax. Unfortunately, since I'm pretty dumb, I have to ask you one important question. Are you trying to say something similar to what tieman said in his review of these Matrix films? I know it's long, but please read it so you can explain these films to me.


Cyberpunk sucker punch
tieman64 30 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The Wachowski Brothers released "The Matrix" in 1999. The film starred Keanu Reeves as Neo, a man who realises that "reality" as perceived by most humans is actually an elaborate simulation called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue humans and essentially use them for slave labour. A massive box-office hit, the film's archetypal "Hero's Journey" connected with audiences, particular young males. Like "Star Wars", The New Testament, "Lord of the Rings" and virtually every "modern myth", it was filled with talk of "destiny", "chosen ones", "salvation", "special missions" and supernatural powers (the force/the code), which of course only our prophesied hero, Neo, possesses.

The Wachowskis released two sequels ("Reloaded" and "Revolutions") several years later. Disparaged by fan-boys, these two films created a sort of anti-myth. Or more precisely, the machine villains of the franchise were revealed to have created an artificial myth in order to give false hope to the film's human heroes, and by extension, the film's audience. It's not so much that the sequels deconstruct what Joseph Campbell famously called the "monomyth" or the "Hero's Journey", but that they embodied a kind of postmodern scepticism of the "metanarrative", and so treat the film's myths as a further layer of Matrix simulation which people "plug into" to further delude themselves.

"The narrative function is losing its functors, its great hero, its great dangers, its great voyages, its great goal." Pilosopher Jean Lyotard wrote decades ago. "Where, after the meta-narratives, can legitimacy thus reside?" Echoing Lyotard's words, "The Matrix" franchise highlights a subtle cultural shift, the totalising nature of meta-narratives, and their reliance on some form of "transcendent and universal truth", now increasingly rejected.

What the Wachowskis show is that the "master narrative" is always created and reinforced by power structures (ie the villainous machines in the film), that they are never to be trusted, that they are designed to embody progress towards a specific goal, that they dismiss the naturally existing chaos of the universe, that they are created to marshal people toward some theoretical doctrine and that they serve only to placate subjects with notions of "order", "structure" and "hope".

And so "The Matrix" sequels have interesting (ie seemingly annoying) reversals which few myths possess. Firstly, our hero (Neo) is actually the film's "bad guy". Secondly, the closest the franchise has to a good guy is Agent Smith, whom most perceive as the villain. Thirdly, far from being "the Chosen One", Neo becomes just another iteration in a long line of manipulative computer programs. Fourthly, Zion, the city which Neo is foretold to "save", is itself just another level of simulation, a memory cache designed to house radicals and provide the illusion of hope, choice and free-will, its panel of leaders all computer programs designed to foster a belief in Neo. Fifthly, the film's Oracle is not a benevolent "helper figure" (ie Yoda), but is really working for the machines and is attempting to instigate the Matrix equivalent of "multiculuralism", the passive assimilation or social integration between mankind and machine. In other words, the "efficiency obsessed" machines (like some dystopian version of a drone reliant capitalist technocracy) don't want to waste time fighting humans, they want the human rebels (ethnic minorities and outcast hackers) to willingly "join them" and so have constructed an elaborate myth to engender this symbiotic merger.

Sixthly, the franchise's dialogue/acting becomes increasingly, and deliberately, phony. Everyone in the sequels speaks of determinism and of every micro-event being preordained. Everything you see in the sequels is thus not only programmed, but has happened repeatedly before in cycles, and is anticipated by super computer characters (some of whom possess ironic self awareness) which process zillions of different variables, tracing cause and effect to such an extent that they know exactly "what happens next".

The notion of "choice being an illusion" is important to the franchise. Previous versions of the Matrix (essentially a jail for humans) didn't work because "human slaves" didn't have a choice. Gradually the machines allowed the slaves to have "the illusion of choice", but this too didn't work. Choice was not the problem. The problem was that humans opted for what the machine's perceived to be "the wrong choices" and sometimes "no choice at all" (radical non-participation). Thereofore, the machines created Neo to encourage others to obey "their choice" and "be participatory". The problem was, after six cycles, Neo got smart. The goal then became to con Neo; to trick him into believing that he too could choose. Extrapolate this theme to the real world and you have all kinds of sinister ramifications.

Seventhly, far from a rebel, Neo has been supported by the system all along. Eightly, like Satan, Agent Smith throws himself out of "heaven" when he realises he is "facing deletion". If Neo is part of the system, Smith is the enemy of the system. He wants to bring it crashing down. This is similar to the writings of many Gnostics who view Satan as the "hero" of Genesis, as he sought to free God's subjects from their subservience and false realities. Ninthly, many complain about the film's "fake sets" and "fake action scenes", but once you realise that these characters and landscapes are supposed to be digital simulations, it all works. Why should they obey the laws of physics?

Finally, "Love" and "the hero's sacrifice" are key themes in myths. With the Wachowskis, however, these things are subverted. A character called Trinity is created to "install" love and self-sacrifice into the deluded Neo, whilst other characters (the elder's conversation at the water refinery, the birth of Sati through "machine love" etc) are created to subtly introduce Neo to the idea of a symbiotic relationship between machines and man. The franchise's "myth" is therefore a sort of unholy trinity (between man, machine and the ghosts in the matrix) in which "enlightened" and "free" humans are wilfully re-imprisoned by their false Saviour. Creepy.

8.5/10 – Subversive anti-blockbuster.

[Raxivace]

Yeah I mostly agree with that (Really part about the Gnostics is what I take biggest issue with, but ancient theology is a bit beside the point here) though I personally wouldn't frame it Campbellian terms. This is partly because I haven't actually trudged my way through Hero With a Thousand Faces yet, and partly because I think its not necessary anyways to explain the basic concept that people in power will create their own opposition that they can control so they can softball any actual critique or rebellion against them. In Matrix Reloaded, this is the reveal that Zion and Morpheus' resistance and all that was not some organic rising of the people, but something the machines themselves made. This allows them to funnel any rebel activities for their own end. The ideology of resistance that motivates the heroes is itself an ideological "matrix" that is being used to manipulate them into acting in the machine's favor while believing they're doing the opposite.

I've heard a couple people now throw out the idea that Smith is the real hero of the Matrix before too. I'm not sure I buy that without further argumentation, but I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I watch the films.