Jupiter Ascending

Review by Matt Finley

It’s hard to imagine a bigger success than the Wachowskis' over-indulgent, ridiculous, confounding and gorgeous JUPITER ASCENDING, though I doubt the film’s ultimate financial take, review aggregator scores or pop cultural legacy will agree. As a movie, this latest sci-fi confection from THE MATRIX siblings Andy and Lana is maybe not so good. As a wild, drippy, impassioned love-letter to the classic space opera, though, it's outstanding.

Cloud Atlas

Review by Matt Finley

Unfilmable. It was an adjective often invoked in fan discussions of David Mitchell’s Booker Prize-nominated 2004 novel Cloud Atlas – a delightful, time- and genre-spanning puzzle box that uses a deceptively simple structure to tell six interlocking stories spanning four centuries. Now it’s 2012, and Wachowski brothers Lana and Andy (THE MATRIX) along with Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) just filmed that puppy. The result, also titled CLOUD ATLAS, is a strange, richly imagined mosaic comprised of equal parts filmmaking expertise, well-intentioned soapbox philosophizing, and consummate self-absorption.

I wholeheartedly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys movies, but there’s a good chance that you’ll absolutely hate it. I know. A ringing endorsement.

The Matrix (September 29th at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium)

[THE MATRIX screens Saturday September 29th at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm at the CWRU Film Society, Strosacker Auditorium.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Even though it shows up on lots of top-ten lists and was recently enshrined by the nerds at Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the most influential movies of all time, THE MATRIX just didn’t impress me at the time of its 1999 release. Why? Was I too stupid to appreciate it, like all those critics who roasted Star Trek in 1966 or HALLOWEEN in 1978? Was I just a general curmudgeon over my bleak personal life and failed job search and not about to say anything good about anything? Was I not a teenage Aint-It-Cool-News reviewer most likely to be impressed by the movie’s comic-book-level brand of geekbait fantasy/philosophy? Or am I actually correct, in Emperor-Palpatine-Has-No-Clothes way, and THE MATRIX isn’t/wasn’t all that tremendous or original?