All I want to know, and this can be answered with a spoiler blur, is if we were deceived in the lead-up to the film’s release and Hugo Weaving does make a surprise appearance in the film as Agent Smith? If not, if there is no Smith, or there is but played by a different actor, then I could not be less interested in this movie, and I’ll wait for John Wick 4 to see Keanu’s next outing.
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Yes and no. Smith/Hugo Weaving are in the movie, but Hugo Weaving is only used through stock footage. There is a explanation for this that basically boils down to the following.
Spoilers obviously.
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Old Simulation Terminated along with old Architect
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Machines resurrect Trinity and Neo after their deaths.
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New Simulation is made with a New Archtect who uses Neo’s memory’s as a basis with the goal to keep Trinity and Neo close but not close enough to exploit their emotions.
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New simulation meant new faces, but it’s a little convoluted since Thomas Anderson has a new face, but Neo still see’s the old face and same goes for Trinity.
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Agent Smith is still connected to Neo, but is unleashed again after Neo is red pilled. Only difference is since it’s a new simulation Agent Smith has a new face/actor.
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Psh, I figured it was something like that.
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Don’t Look Up
A satirical comedy/disaster about a comet coming towards Earth, threatening all life on the planet…and the powers that be along with most of the world basically ignoring it and not giving a fuck. Definitely recommend this one. 
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Second Venom.
One-time movie. To watch and forget next morning. Nothing special and catchy.
Original film was better. Well, okay, those fun Eddie-Venom dialogues still there but much less and less of a quality. They might’ve saved the whole movie, but…
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Just finished Don’t Look Up, though it was going to be a serious film, then I though it was just going to be quirky. It turned out extremely funny, held up by a great cast and scary close to how we handle threats.
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Yeah, it reminded me of the government’s sluggish response to Covid. And the ending was a realistic surprise. I thought the President’s group would end up accidentally destroying the comet and saving the world, but nope.
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Yesterday I saw the Matrix Resurrections. Enjoyable film but not as good or even entertaining as the trilogy, but it was a fun watch.
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The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.
Fun silly movie. Or silly fun movie.
Original film was better however same silly 
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The Matrix Resurrections
Not very good I’m afraid. A lot of the action seemed really tightly framed, making it hard to tell what was going on. What was clear didn’t feel that impressive.
While there are a few cool looking shots in the film, the film as a whole doesn’t look impressive to me… in fact, a lot of it looked kind of cheap.
I liked a lot of the concepts and ideas, for instance the introduction of synthient allies, and the ability of programs to take a sort of physical form, but I didn’t think it was all that well executed.
Jessica Henwick’s “Bugs” was a great addition to the series though. Really liked her character. I also liked most of the real world stuff…
Eh. I didn’t hate the movie, but it’s very meh.
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Saw Disney’s Encanto with my nephew and niece yesterday, and now I need the meme artists of the world to make me a mashup and transform the Family Madrigal song into a Family Delgado song.
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I’m saying it
Elf is the best Christmas movie. No contest.
(Subjectively, of course)
The family and I watch it every year, and it’s so funny and heartwarming. Every time.
In summary: It’s about a human called Buddy who was raised in the North Pole, and takes a trip to New York as a naive adult to reconnect with his real father, who is also on the Naughty List.
Will Ferrell’s Buddy has superb naivety, innocence, and wonder at the realities of New York and how the season of Christmas is taken for granted. It’s so fun to see. He really goes for it, and it’s really believable.
The sets in the intro with all the other elves using forced perspective is really cool. Great design there.
And the comedy is top-notch involving Buddy. From the montages near the start at being scared of taxis, congratulating a coffee shop for “the best coffee in the world”, or trying to befriend a ferocious raccoon. Or, the scene with the mall Santa, disgusted at the “impostor”. Or eating a sugar-infested plate of spaghetti with M&Ms, marshmallows, maple syrup and Pop Tarts. He does it with such joy and childish amusement that you can’t help but enjoy it.
And fine, some of you don’t think Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Okay, well this one definitely does. Covering morals of being open, caring, and appreciative of other people, unity, discovering the wonder of the world around us, and not being afraid to believe in things that inspire hope, even if they don’t seem real.
Edit: there is this one scene where Buddy foolishly calls Peter Dinklage’s short stature Elf-like, which is a bit dated, though it’s played as awkward so it’s probably intended. I’ll have to watch the commentary track one day to hear what the creatives have to say about it.
Apart from that one bit it’s really good, and a really great watch every year.
(In other news, I watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation last night for the first time and it was… really average. It had it’s moments, but the comedy was either dull or very dated, and not fun to watch.)
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It’s dated. 1989. Even the vegas vacation film feels a bit dated now and it was made way after the other 3. The Aunt and Uncle are easily the best part of the Christmas one.
“They want you to say Grace”
-Grace? She died 30 years ago
“The blessing”
-I pledge allegiance to the flag…. 
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This is the first time I learned this is part of a series of films. I thought it was just a standalone “classic Christmas movie” like everyone says.
I guess that kinda explains why I felt not much attachment to any of the characters or saw much of an arc in their development in the film.
I agree that things started to get better after the dinner scene happened. Personally my favourite characters were the weird neighbours, even if they felt really under-developed.
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And why is the carpet all wet Todd?
I don’t know Margaux!!!
I forgot about them till you mentioned them.
I highly recommend watching all 5 vacation films. There are more than 5 but a couple were direct or video B films that you can skip and they didn’t have Chevy Chase in them.
The ones to see in order of being made are…
Vacation
European Vacation
Christmas Vacation
Vegas Vacation
Vacation (2015)
There is this strange aspect of the films where the kids change age between films even flipping between which one is older and younger than the other and it doesn’t make any sense. I think they are older in European vacation than they are in Christmas and then back to older in Vegas. It’s just something you let go bc there is no way to explain it. In vegas vacation they make a 4th wall type joke about it. The 2015 has Ed Helms playing Rusty taking his family on a vacation to Wally World just like his Dad did all those years ago. It’s got a small scene with Chevy and Beverly in it as Grandma and Grandpa. It’s hilarious. Vegas is my fav followed by Vacation then Christmas then the 2015 and Euro is me least fav, although teenage me loved it.
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Tick Tick… BOOM is a superb musical movie that really digs into the existential dread of success and failure in the performing arts and HOLY CRAP can Andrew Garfield sing… also act but we already knew that.
So yeah some of this resonated with me in some anxious ways. Whoo, I’m only 23 tho we got time, we got time.
(Sidenote: I’m confused why the actual musical is only counted and recognised to have “premiered” as the reworked 2001 production after Larson’s death, even if it’s known that he originally performed it as a one-man show in 1990-91 Off-off-Broadway. I guess it was still just a workshop performance?)
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The first Matrix is one of my all time favourite movies. Probably top 5, definitely top 10.
The sequels I can take or leave, I like them but it wouldn’t bother me if they’d never been made. They expand the universe, but the first film works perfectly fine as a standalone.
Haven’t seen the latest, although I will once it hits streaming.
But yeah, the first, is just an absolute masterpiece imo.
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I’ve always preferred Revolutions because Smith becomes the ultimate evil/Antichrist-type figure. One of my favorite villains.
Plus one of his lines towards the end is one that would make (comic book) Thanos proud:
“The purpose of life is to end.”
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Saw Spider-Man: No Way Home about a week ago and Cruella last night.
No Way Home might be my favorite Spider-Man movie! There’s just the right amount of fan service that also works to drive the plot. Keeping with MCU tradition, I like the way the movie subverts the trailer. Also, how some things are resolved while just enough is left hanging for potential followups is top notch! All the villains get to shine and they really drive a fair amount of the film but Doc Ock and Green Goblin just kind of get to flex on everyone and show why they’re so iconic. Shout out to Tobey Macguire for his wise elder statesman type role and the Andrew Garfield redemption arc; Spidey should try to keep his girlfriends firmly on the ground from now on, though…
Cruella is pretty fun, with the characterization of the main trio and the twisted games(?) between Cruella and the Baroness being particular highlights. Emma Stone is fantastic as always, especially as her character gives in more and more to her psychosis, (honestly, I don’t know how anyone could not like her) and you really want to root for her. That is, until you see the effects of her descent into madness. The only knocks I have are that the beginning felt kind of slow and a couple mind boggling decision making from some characters every now and again, most egregiously from Cruella’s mother. All in all, though, pretty good time.
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I mean Marvel has kept the OG Gwen Stacey firmly in the ground since the 60s.
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