I just saw “The Matrix” for the first time last night (DVD, digital projector, surround sound - all in a small, private theater), and I am sure Carlos Castenadas would be proud.
Huh?
< having a brain fart and not placing the reference to Carlos C. >
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
One of my first reactions to The Matrix was that it was a fairly ingeneous way to teach Buddhism. 
My thoughts were that we already talked about this in the message board when it came out in zee theatres.
Sealemon: Carlos Castenadas wrote about “a separate reality” in his books.
Handy: Sorry 'bout that, I just saw the movie for the first time last night.
Well, Handy, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. But some of us wait for video.
I just saw it as well. Interesting. Gaping logic holes, of course…it would be refreshing to see a movie, any movie, that didn’t have them. But the effects were certainly fun.
I’m very interested for clarification on the Buddhism connection. While I am far from well-versed in Buddhism, I know a bit, and I don’t get it. Clarification?
The philosophy that the physical world is an illusion is an important concept in Buddhism. The movie doesn’t really teach Buddhism. It just plays with an idea that nicely parallels Buddhist thought, and I’m pretty sure it was intentional. The “There is no spoon” scene it the most obvious example, with the boy dressed in the robes of a Buddhist priest.
I’m not an expert on the subject either, so a Buddhist could come in here and say that I was way off base.
Of course there were also some substantial Judeo/Christian messiah overtones as well.
I loved this movie. I’ve seen it twice at the theaters, and I’ll probably buy the video-something I never do. I think it’s the science fiction movie of the year (oh yeah, including Phantom Menance).
I can see the religious overtones, but what I really noticed were the ideas and themes borrowed from other sci fi movies: The Terminator, Star Wars (“Your eyes will deceive you Luke; do not trust them”), Total Recall, and Superman. I also appreciated the tribute to Bruce Lee.
There aren’t that many good cyberpunk movies out there, and I found this movie to be refreshing. Shame it had to premier during the hype of another sci fi movie (Damn you, Lucas!).
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
The Matrix is great. I also like the Fifth Element, and Mortal Combat (both).
I thought it had too many silly aspects to it. And some of the effects were a bit overdone and attention-seeking.
Not that Star Wars was any different in those respects, of course.
I haven’t seen Iron Giant yet, so I’m reserving my ‘movie of the year’ judgement until I have.
Stoidela, I have to wait for the video too!!! Cuz I can’t hear it without the closed captions. I know they talked about it before but I didnt read them so as to not spoil watching it.
Too much character foil. Too long. Too abstract; Never says what the matrix really is, so expect a Matrix 2.
Ah, but much of the spiritual philosophy of Star Wars is based on Eastern religions as well. So in that case, I’d say these are two examples drawing on similar ideas. Of course the two movies approach them pretty differently.
handy, I dunno about you, but I got a very clear idea of exactly what the Matrix is. Go back and watch it again, paying more attention to the dialogue shortly after Neo “wakes up”.
AuraSeer, what you hear and what I see in the captions aren’t always the same.
In other words the film script and the caption script don’t usually match. Sometimes
I get more info than you sometimes not.