The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

20170826:
Today I watched The Matrix Revolutions and thus completed watching the trilogy. Having recognized most of the scenes, I assumed that I watched the film once before. However, it's possible I only started watching from some point in the movie onward.

Neo (Keanu Reeves)

Overall, I was disappointed with how the series ended; however, this was partially due to my desire that the plot would remain consistent with the possibility that they were living in a matrix within a matrix. Instead, the ending was a anti-climatic.

Thus, while I thought the second movie was decent, if I were able to go back and time and make a recommendation to myself, I would suggest that I only watch the first movie.

Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Seraph (back, Collin Chou)

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 99% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
The first fourteen minutes of this movie more or less deny the theory that Neo's behavior is the result of a matrix within a matrix: 1) the girl noted Neo's brainwaves were like those of someone still jacked in and 2) Morpheus thinks Neo is still in the Matrix (even though Neo isn't jacked in)

Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith)

How can jumping across an open room even if it's from the opposite gravitational orientation a smart idea?
"I don't have time for this shit."
"Temet nosce" = "Know thyself"

Neo

Very confusing conversation between Neo and The Oracle
Interesting, a Google search says that the actor playing Bane was chosen for his resemblance to and ability to impersonate Hugo Weaving.
"I can see you."
"It's all right Trin. But I think you're gonna have to drive."

Oracle (Mary Alice)

Hehe. "Dig this."
Holy shit. The captain's face.
"Captain, I didn't finish the training program." "Neither did I."
A little cheesy. "Neo, I believe."

Link (Harold Perrineau)

Considering the amount of forces the machines actually have, they could have destroyed Zion whenever they wanted. And it wouldn't have mattered if Zion had all their ships and people defending the city.

Agent Smith:Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth?

Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving)

Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love.

Neo and Agent Smith fight

You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?
Neo :Because I choose to.

---

Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) and Persephone (Monica Bellucci)

Watched 20170826 (Netflix, Instant)
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) The Wachowski Brothers. 129 min

Relevant Links:
The Matrix Revolutions (IMDb.com)
The Matrix Revolutions (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Matrix Revolutions (Wikipedia.org)

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The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Neo (Keanu Reeves)

Neo takes on multiple copies of Agent Smith.

20170820:
After watching this movie today, I was 95% sure I hadn't seen it before.

Watching the movie, I was surprised that the movie was good, because people joke about how the Matrix sequels are bad. In particular, the movie strikes a perfect balance between action and dialogue.

If I were to guess, people find the movie difficult to understand, and thus associate the movie itself with being terrible. Granted, watching the movie on Netflix, I had the luxury to pause and look up dialogue or even rewind to rewatch a scene.

Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)

If you saw and enjoyed The Matrix (1999), then I would recommend giving The Matrix Reloaded a try.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 99% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
He's doing his Superman thing.

Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) attacks Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne)

I realized that The Matrix is part of the cyberpunk genre.
Lol. "Then I am grateful that it is not up to you."
Not sure any of that makes sense. (first taking a note with you, second Agent Smith being able to enter and return to Zion) [I found two possible explanations and I liked the second: Matrix with a Matrix (MWAM); I merely made the comment in the last film that Morpheus wouldn't know if being outside the Matrix was real, but apparently it might be true]

Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith)

"That's how it is with people - nobody cares how it works as long as it works."
Seraph must be a program. [Correct]

Neo: You’re not human, are you?
The Oracle: Well it’s tough to get any more obvious than that.

Oracle (Gloria Foster)

Neo: If I had to guess, I’d say you’re a program from the machine world. So is he.
The Oracle: So far, so good.

Neo: But if you already know, how can I make a choice?
The Oracle: Because you didn’t come here to make the choice, you’ve already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it. I thought you’d have figured that out by now.

Neo: Then why can’t I see what happens to her?
The Oracle: We can never see past the choices we don’t understand.
Neo: Are you saying I have to choose whether Trinity lives or dies?
The Oracle: No. You’ve already made the choice, now you have to understand it.

"You?" "Yes... me. Me, me, me." "Me, too."

Link (Harold Perrineau)

Awesome fight.
Lol. That bowling pin sound effect.
Merovingian: "I love French wine, like I love the French language. I have sampled every language, French is my favorite. Fantastic language. Especially to curse with. Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculer ta mère. It's like wiping your arse with silk. I love it." [Name of god of the whore of the brothel of shit of the filth of the asshole that butt-fucked your mother.] [Name of God of a shitty whorehouse of slutty idiots screwing their mother's assholes.]

Merovingian (Lambert Wilson)

Haha. "Why don't you sample this instead?"
"You know your predecessors had much more respect."
Hands of steel. Almost.
Hehe. He used the force like pull. Why hasn't he used a similar trick before?
Uh... if they escape, what about the keymaker?

Persephone (Monica Bellucci)

Cool choreography (fight sequence inside the car)
I'd have to say, that was an epic car scene.
How do programs in the Matrix take over other beings? It was reasonable at first, but now it's kind of annoying.
" I know because I *must* know. It is my purpose. It is the reason I am here. The same reason we are *all* here."
Fate.

Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim)

And we're back at the beginning of the movie. [Oh wait. The beginning of the movie was a dream.]
This Neo is the sixth.
Acceptance of the program by the concept of "choice"
Neo's ability to stop the Sentinels is enough evidence for me to believe that they are in a MWAM.
Lol. The fanfare when the camera pans to Bane.
After the credits, a preview of the third, final Matrix movie plays.

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Seen bits and parts of it once before.
Watched 20170820 (Netflix, Instant)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) The Wachowski Brothers. 138 min

Relevant Links:
The Matrix Reloaded (IMDb.com)
The Matrix Reloaded (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Matrix Reloaded (Wikipedia.org)

"You?" "Yes... me. Me, me, me." "Me, too."

The Matrix (1999)

20170819:
I had heard that the special effects of this movie had become outdated, but honestly I didn't even notice. With that being said, the movie did lose some of it's original cool factor.

Neo (Keanu Reeves)

Overall, I still have issues with the entire premise of the movie (the machines are able to harvest humans for energy by keeping them in a simulation), but for those who are less picky, I would recommend the movie.

Actually, the movie is also worth watching for it's focus on a various philosophical and religious concepts such as prophesy, fate, belief, and metaphysics.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 98% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving)

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Instant Comments:
Why do access points exist?
The question: "What is The Matrix?" (about 10 minutes in)
The tendrils of that bug they implanted have also been creepy.
Morpheus mentions Alice from Alice in Wonderland
How did the first person leave the Matrix?
Are the pills just metaphorical?
Says "Buckle your seatbelts, Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye."

Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) says, "Dodge this."

Lol. What if he didn't know how to swim at all?
Ironically, when he says, "Welcome... to the real world." He has no assurance he is actually in a real world.
If his muscles went through an atrophy process, it's surprising that they maintained to the extent that they did to his age.
"You believe it's the year 1999..."
"Jiu-jitsu? I'm gonna learn... jiu-jitsu?"
"I know kung fu."

Morpheus (Laurence Fishbourne) with Tank, Mouse, Apoc, and Switch in the background.

I feel like they could have written their own programs to enhance their abilities and prevent actual death. I don't know the API of the Matrix, but it feels like a reasonable proposal.
He's so dumb. The moment they brought him back to the Matrix and had him forget everything, they could make his life miserable if they wanted. In other words, he would never have any assurance that they'd deliver him anything.
Huh. I don't remember if Trinity eventually reveals what the Oracle revealed to her.
Neo brings up good questions about the Oracle.
"Instead only try to realize the truth." "The truth?" "There is no spoon." [I think I never truly understood the quote "There is no spoon" or scene until today]

The Oracle (Gloria Foster)

"Would you still have broke if I never said anything." [The interconnection of our actions]
Interestingly, that previous quote plays into the following conversation. She tells him a bunch of stuff. And that'll influence his decisions moving forward.
"Huh. Deja vu."
This soliloquy on humans being more like viruses than mammals.
Thing is.. they're technically still killing humans. Albeit in the name of freeing everybody else from the Matrix.
"Dodge this."

Cypher (Joe Pantoliano)

"How did you do that?" "Do what?" "You moved like they do. I've never seen anyone move that fast."
I had forgotten how epic that enter helicopter scene was.
"She told you... exactly what you needed to hear."
Why didn't she finish her thought?
He doesn't run.
What's getting hit by a bullet if there are no bullets. If you're in the mindset of "there is no spoon."
Trinity finishes her thought.
Lol. That's true. They didn't even attempt CPR.

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I watched The Matrix at least twice before.
Watched 20170819 (Netflix, Instant)
The Matrix (1999) The Wachowski Brothers. 136 min

Relevant Links:
The Matrix (IMDb.com)
The Matrix (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Matrix (Wikipedia.org)

Neo wakes up from out of the Matrix.

Fate/Zero

Overview: A prequel to Ufotable's Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works.

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Recommendation: I enjoyed watching Fate/Zero, but would only recommend watching it after Unlimited Blade Works (and not the other way around).

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20170806:
I began watching the first episode with Ada but about halfway through I fell asleep. Ada continued to watch up to and including the fifth episode.

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Saber (JP: Ayako Kawasumi / EN: Kari Wahlgren)

20170818:
Ada and I watched the fifth to eleventh episode together.

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20170819:
Today I went back to watch the first episode.

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20170821:
After watching the third episode, I noted that the series thus far is good. However, I occasionally felt like pieces of plot were missing from the episodes.*

*[20170823] It's possible that Netflix had automatically skipped past the opening credits which would omit the first scene of an episode..

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20170917:
Today Ada and I finished the last three episodes.

Kiritsugu Emiya (JP: Rikiya Koyama / EN: Matthew Mercer)

Ada said that she didn't like how it ended. I reasoned that perhaps this series would have been better to watch after Unlimited Blade Works.

One answer on anime.stackexchange.com suggested that the best option is in fact to watch (Ufotable's) Unlimited Blade Works, then Heaven's Feel, then Fate/Zero. But the next best option would be to watch Fate/Zero before Unlimited Blade Works.

In any case, I was left confused by the actions taken by the Grail in the last episode; namely, the resurrection of Archer and Kirei, and to a lesser extent, Kiritsugu's decision to destroy the Grail. However, various reddit threads served to remove my confusion.

Regarding Kiritsugu, the Grail said it didn't grant wishes, it granted power to make wishes come true and hence required to be within the realms of the wisher. In Kiritsugu's case, the logic came down to killing everyone except Irisviel and Illya. However, Kiritsugu rejects this offer and decides to destroy what he deems an evil source of power. I believe it follows that the Grail feels threatened by those who seek to destroy it and consequently decides to resurrect Archer and Kirei.

Lancer (JP: Hikaru Midorikawa / EN: Grant George)

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Season 1

Episode 1:
2: Oh, a lot of the story/background is divulged in the conversation.
1: Lol. They're walking around.
1: Rin appears in this episode.
2: "Where's Sakura?" "Sakura's gone now." [I was too tired to understand the conversation the first time around.]
2: "I ask you, are you worthy to be my master?"
1=20170806, 2=20170819

Episode 2:
1: Illya!
1: Why does there feel like there's a gap between this episode and the previous episode.
1: Holy shit. That was scary. (When he kills the kid after pretending to let him free.)
1=20170820

Wzaver Velvet (left, JP: Daisuke Namikawa / EN: Lucien Dodge) and Rider, (right, JP: Akio Otsuka / EN: Jamieson Price)

Episode 3:
1b: Uh... why isn't she able to return to spirit form? [apparently it's because she became a heroic spirit without dying; I found this answer online, and I'm wondering why it wasn't explained in the anime - it's not the first piece of missing information either]
1a=20170820, 1b=20170821

Episode 4:
1: Lol. He gives up his name.
1=20170821

Episode 5:
1=20170818

Irisviel von Einzbern (JP: Sayaka Ohara / EN: Bridget Hoffman)

Episode 6:
1: Emiya.
1=20170818

Episode 7:
1: Ha, pants.
1=20170818

Episode 8:
1: Two secret mechanisms in this episode.
1=20170818

Episode 9:
1: Lol. The pants.
1=20170818

Rider

Episode 10:
1: Rin!
1=20170818

Episode 11:
1=20170818

Episode 12:
1: 7 by 7 Chess-like table
1=20170823

Episode 13:
1=20170823

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Season 2

Kiritsugu and Illyasviel von Einzbern (JP: Mai Kadowaki / EN: Stephanie Sheh)

Episode 1:
1=20170823

Episode 2:
1=20170827

Episode 3:
1=20170827

Episode 4:
1: And so... we have Fate/Stay Night...
1=20170827

Saber and Lancer

Episode 5:
1: Taking place in the past (relative to the current story), this episode was different compared to the rest.
1=20170827

Episode 6:
1=20170914

Episode 7:
1=20170914

Episode 8:
1=20170916

Waver uses his intellect and science to find the enemy.

Episode 9:
1=20170916

Episode 10:
1=20170917

Episode 11:
1=20170917

Episode 12:
1=20170917

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Fate/Zero

Relevant Links:
Fate/Zero (IMDb.com)

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

20170805:
For the most part, I really wanted to enjoy this movie, but it fell short of my visual expectations. This, however, is not necessarily a fault of the filmmakers, as the transition from animation to live action can often be a tough one to swallow.

As such, between this version and Ghost in the Shell (1995), I'd recommend the latter.

[20171111]

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Instant Comments:
The movie started weird. It would have been better if filmed from Major's eyes as she woke up.
Scarlett Johansson doesn't look the part. She looks like a wannabe Milla Jovovich.
In any case, perhaps I thought she doesn't look the part because I expected Major to look more Asian [20171111: I read today that regardless of Major's true identity, her shell can have any skin color; in other words, a robot body does not have an ethnicity.]
This stealth suit doesn't look as hot as the stealth suit in the anime. It's especially unfortunate, because Scarlett Johannson is beautiful
The action thus far is okay.
I enjoy Scarlett much better as Black Widow.
I don't understand why she can't make a backup copy of her mind.
She must be respecting privacy when she asks the girl if she's human.
They should have either made the suit with a more skin-like color or add more color to it.
That "enemy" has the best look in the movie.
Shitty dialogue.
Her scuba suit looks nice.
"Don't send a rabbit to kill a fox."

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Watched 20170805 (in-flight entertainment)
Ghost in the Shell (2017) Rupert Sanders. 107 min [bot Japanese manga otsn by Masamune Shirow]

Relevant Links:
Ghost in the Shell (IMDb.com)
Ghost in the Shell (RottenTomatoes.com)
Ghost in the Shell (2017 film) (Wikipedia.org)