So take heart.

The Matrix had nothing to lose.

What's that supposed to mean?

The sequels were sucky, but the first film rocks.

I didn't realize the Bebop movie was a Spielberg production. That bodes iller than Keanu does. Spielberg hasn't made an un-cornfed movie since, uh, Raiders of the Lost Ark? Jaws? Duel?

don't be an asshole, for really.

My rag-head comment earned 4 stars...

I found the Matrix to be a soft rehashing of the childhood notion that "maybe I'm the only real person, everyone else is a robot, and this is all some weird test."

GITS debates complex themes like what makes one "human." Not to mention it's a very satisfying love story, as presented by Oshii. Otomoo is a little too wacky to be bothered with love.

[400!]

Maybe. It is a cool idea and goes hand in hand with "what is real" and "who am I." I guess I sort of implied it wasn't. My bad. I meant that it's nothing new, as you said yourself. The problem with Matrix was the "soft rehashing." I don't think the it offered anything new or made any interesting exploration of those themes. Especially as it grows increasingly ridiculous when Neo awakens to the "real world" where somehow humans are used as an energy source. I'm pretty fucking sure you would have to dump a lot more energy into an organism than you would get out in the short term. Think crude oil. Takes a while to collect on just some of the energy that bio-mass stored up over it's life span.

I may watch it again if I can track down some riff-trax for it.

GITS made much more tangible extrapolations on those ideas. Especially the contrast between Batou and Motoko. One a man becoming a cyborg, the other and android becoming a woman, their relationship with themselves and with others. Not to mention the non-physical intelligence the "puppet master." Much more dynamic. Then Innocence makes a heavy exploration about what happens when you include sexuality into those themes.

I mean come on, the Matrix doesn't offer anything even close to that.

I am fairly anti-GITS Stand Alone Complex. But that's Kamiyama's story, not Oshii's. But the dubbing is so bad I never really gave a chance. What's the problem with subtitles? American voice actors FTL.

* correction * In post 8 I wrote "Otomoo" but meant "Shiro." Whoops...

is definitely more human. Over the top? Yeah, but not too much—certainly not so much that it fails to retain it's credibility. I'm still talking Oshii's GITS. Shiro and Kamiyama are a little more gung-ho. Let's not argue about costuming. And the dialogue is certainly one of GITS's merits, IMO, but I see your point.

I will concede that Matrix had some epic action film making. Too bad it's been copied to death—to the point that I forgot where it originated, until you brought it up.

The Ani-Matrix shorts were hit and miss with me, though I did like some of the world that developed from the other directors. It's been too long since I've watched those to discuss them intelligently. I don't even recall the one you mention.

Can't get them for the GITS episodes on Netflix-Watch-Instantly, unfortunately.

Yeah, I know! What the fuck!

would be better with booze.

It's in 3D. Nobody is that hardcore.