That’s a lot of CGI. The first five minutes were, like, a CGI car running through a CGI fence and then into a CGI corn field… it’s a bit like watching a youtube of somebody playing a dull video game?

Now there’s humans, at least, but all playing against greenscreen.

Such real.

Such actual.

Is this Sanctuary? Didn’t CGI get any better in the decade(s) since Sanctuary? Did this thing have a budget?

OK, so this wasn’t a no budget movie…

Man, the corny lines…

This is brutal.

Ah! Paul Rudd! That’s where the budget went!

OK, I laughed out loud at that obtuse joke. And now I’m kinda enjoying myself.

This is really… amiable now. They’ve got some good actors here — they’re pulling this off?

I love how they finally tied this into the original Ghostbusters movie(s).

I thought I was getting used to the Sanctuary aesthetics (i.e., all people filmed on greenscreen and then backgrounds composited into the shots), because basically all the shots are that way. But then it gets too crude (like here) and I’m back to eeek

This movie feels like it’s a condensed TV series season? It’s got TV aesthetic and pacing, but instead of having to watch six hours of stuff, we’re just getting two hours. So it’s great that way.

But as a movie? Hm…

They couldn’t even film in a real store? Man, that’s lazy CGI.

That’s a good 80s movie ending. I really enjoyed that. So — it’s like… that’s a good way to make a sequel/homage? And the kids were really great. But this movie is really at least half an hour too long — just scenes and scenes of things that are without interest.

I mean, it’s really a ⚂ movie, but let’s go with:

Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Jason Reitman. 2021. ⚃

I’ve heard so many bad things about this movie that I assumed that it had to be awesome, but… that opening sequence? It was kinda boring? None of the action scenes quite … fit, and the talky-talky parts were zzz.

Keanu!

Nice office!

So meta!

Are those blue glasses a subtle hint?!!?

IT COULD BE

This is getting funnier by the scene.

Wachowski really likes this framing — blurry at one end of the frame and then a person talking almost at the camera at the other end of the frame.

Anyway, I’m really enjoying this. It’s a fun movie. Then again, I can see how people that had a religious relationship with the first Matrix movie would dislike this. And… there’s so many meta bits, and people hate meta.

But… the action scenes are as striking as in the Wachowski’s earlier movies? Did Lana’s sister do the action scenes before?

Heh heh

OK, the movie’s kinda slow now… I’m not sure all the soul searching here is really necessary.

In some ways, it feels like I’m still waiting for the movie to begin, two hours in.

This bit… where the movie turns into a fast zombie movie? Not that entertaining.

eh

Anyway, I really liked… bits of this movie? But there were bits that kinda dragged. And it’s disappointing that the action scenes were more like “whoo?” than “whoa!”

The Matrix Ressurrections. Lana Wachowski. 2021. ⚃

I wouldn’t normally watch a movie like this — it sounds super dreary. I’m guessing this is going to be all “people are so stupid!” with TV aesthetics, and…

My god, this is tedious. It’s like watching an ever-so-slightly stupider version of real life in 2020. And things don’t get stupider than real life in 2020.

Oh, Meryl Streep is playing Trump? Well, OK, but it’s still not actually funny — it’s just annoying.

Oh, fuck! This goes on for two and a half hours!?

Fuck this. It’s too boring.

Don’t Look Up. Adam McKay. 2021. ⚁

[Edit:

The only reason I tried watching this is because it’s a movie people write a lot about, and:

You know: it’s a Netflix programmer– those are always like 20-30% “Here’s the stuff” and 70% badly-edited scenes shot in a non-descript Holiday Inn(?).

I agree with everything he’s writing there, but the first 30 minutes were brutally boring. As with (almost) any Netflix movie. I shouldn’t have let myself get sucked into watching an awful Netflix movie, just because a bunch of assholes are upset about it existing. I love that those assholes are upset. But I’m watching Lubitsch now instead.]