2003: Attack Of The Hollywood Sequels

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2003

(AP) Sequels succeeded so well in 2002 that film studios have decided to do an encore.

So 2003 shapes up as Year of the Sequel, Part 2. About two dozen followup movies, along with a few prequels, are on the lineup, some craved by audiences for a decade or more, others hitting theaters less than a year after their predecessors.

The four-year wait for a followup to the sci-fi smash "The Matrix" ends in a big way. In mid-May, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss continue their battle against Earth's machine conquerers in "The Matrix Reloaded," to be followed just six months later by "The Matrix Revolutions," the trilogy's end.

The "Matrix" sequels were shot simultaneously, like the three installments of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," whose current chapter, "The Two Towers," is on track to surpass the box-office results of 2001's "The Fellowship of the Ring."

There's only about 330 days of impatient pacing left till the final chapter of Jackson's treatment of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic arrives. "The Return of the King" opens just before Christmas, concluding the whirlwind release of all three films in a two-year span.

In contrast, it's been 12 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg-from-the-future promised he'd be back. He finally returns over the Fourth of July in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," battling a female cyborg babe sent back by evil machines to snuff the now-adult savior of humanity, John Connor.

Other big sequels: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and the rest of the superhuman mutants in the new "X-Men" chapter, "X2"; "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," reuniting chic heroes Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu; "American Wedding," in which some of the "American Pie" gang attend the nuptials of gross-gag victim Jason Biggs and band geek Alyson Hannigan; "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life," with Angelina Jolie back in action as the roaming hero of the video game; and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as narcotics cops in "Bad Boys II."

Also, "The Fast and the Furious 2," minus Vin Diesel but with Paul Walker and loads more souped-up cars; Antonio Banderas back with his espionage family for "Spy Kids 3," and reprising his gunslinging "Desperado" role in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"; Reese Witherspoon's new day in court with "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde"; and Ice Cube with another bad hair day in "Barbershop 2."

Then there's "The Jungle Book 2," Disney's followup to its animated classic; "Scary Movie 3," the latest in the horror-spoof franchise; "Shanghai Knights," Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson's followup to "Shanghai Noon"; and "The Whole Ten Yards," a new hitman comedy with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry of "The Whole Nine Yards."

Given the success of 2002 franchises such as "The Lord of the Rings," "Star Wars," "Harry Potter," "Austin Powers" and "Men in Black," it's hard to knock the business sense in giving audiences more of the same.

"Studios want to make movies people want to see. It's all about getting butts in the seats," said John Singleton, director of "The Fast and the Furious 2." "People respond to characters they admire and love. If you've had a successful film with characters like that, why not make a followup?"

This year also brings some cross-breeding among movie series: There's the animated "The Rugrats Meet the Wild Thornberrys," and the slasher duel "Freddy Vs. Jason," matching the killers of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th."

On the prequel front are "Gods and Generals," with Robert Duvall in a forerunner to "Gettysburg"; "Exorcist: The Beginning," with Stellan Skarsgard as the priest of the horror smash in his first satanic encounter, in Africa; and "When Harold Met Lloyd: Dumb & Dumberer," set in the teen years of the idiot brothers of "Dumb and Dumber."

Highlights for winter and spring, generally Hollywood's slowest period, include:

Ben Affleck as the superhero of the comic-book adaptation "Daredevil"; "National Security," pairing Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn as ex-cops relegated to guard jobs; and "The Hunted," with Tommy Lee Jones as a tracker chasing an assassin (Benicio Del Toro).

Also, "Veronica Guerin," starring Cate Blanchett as the slain Irish reporter who crusaded against crime; Al Pacino in the CIA thriller "The Recruit"; "The Life of David Gale," featuring Kevin Spacey as an opponent of capital punishment who lands on Death Row; and "Tears of the Sun," with Bruce Willis as a Navy SEAL on a rescue mission.

Adam Sandler offers a spring prelude to the busy summer season with "Anger Management," playing a peaceable man whose outburst on an airplane puts him under the care of a rage adviser (Jack Nicholson).

For Nicholson, "Anger Management" offered a slapstick respite from the dark humor of his current film, "About Schmidt," which is expected to earn him his latest Academy Awards nomination.

"I just went in the opposite direction, and I often do that. I just like to blow it out the other side," Nicholson said of the transition. "This one is antic comedy. That's everything I always get bad reviews for, but hopefully it's also what the public loves."

Along with the rush of sequels, which generally start arriving just before Memorial Day, summer flicks include:

The animated under-the-sea tale "Finding Nemo," from the creators of "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc.", and the animated above-the-water adventure "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas"; Jim Carrey's comedy "Bruce Almighty," about a man given God's omnipotent powers; the comic-book adaptation "The Hulk"; and Russell Crowe in the high-seas adventure "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."

Also, Ridley Scott's con-man caper "Matchstick Men," starring Nicolas Cage; Eddie Murphy's comedy among the kiddies, "Daddy Day Care"; Kevin Costner's return to directing with "Open Range," co-starring Robert Duvall; and the unusual hybrid "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," starring Sean Connery in a meeting of Victorian literary figures from the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker and others.

Among big fall and holiday releases:

Mike Myers in "Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat"; Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai," about a U.S. soldier teaching modern warfare in 1870s Japan; "Cold Mountain," starring Nicole Kidman in an adaptation of the best-seller set during the Civil War; the Coen brothers' battle-of-the-sexes story "Intolerable Cruelty," with George Clooney; Julia Roberts as a freethinking art professor in "Mona Lisa Smile"; "Out of Time," starring Denzel Washington as a cop troubled by a double homicide; Uma Thurman as a vengeful former assassin in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill"; and "The Alamo," with Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Quaid in a new dramatization of the infamous last stand.

© MMIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Teens obsessed with pop culture

Posted on Thu, Jan. 02, 2003

LIP: LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE
Teens obsessed with pop culture

ONLY WEEKS after the second epidemic of "Harry Potter" fever swept through the entire universe, the second installment of "Lord of the Rings" has ridden into theaters on a tidal wave of media and fan frenzy.

Just how excited were we? Suffice it to say that practically every day prior to its Dec. 18 opening, someone remembered to scream in my ear: "OMIGOD, 'LORD OF THE RINGS' IS COMING!"

While both movies attract viewers from all walks of life, a hefty portion of their success can be attributed to teenagers. It seems that to be between the ages of 13 and 18 requires displaying some sort of obsessive streak. When not weighed down by school, we satisfy our fanaticism in strange ways -- shamelessly dressing in full-blown wizard regalia for the "Harry Potter" opening or actually reading every tedious page in the 1,000-plus pages of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (extremists will review "The Hobbit" as well). Asian girls from around the globe, I'm sure, would gladly give a finger or two to play Cho Chang opposite Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter in the fourth installment of the series. Yes, teens will do crazy things for the ones they love.

However, "HP" and "LOTR," as they're often referred to, aren't the only objects of our affection. One of my friends has wallpaper consisting of "X-Files" posters, "X-Files" magazines and "X-Files" articles. She also has the episode guide implanted in her brain, and once tried to buy an "X-Files" lunchbox. A "Matrix"-obsessed buddy carries around a bent spoon for good luck, begged for a black trench coat (like the one Keanu Reeves wore) for her birthday and demonstrates the stunts (in public) every chance she gets. Worst of all, she insists on modeling every single one of our Economics presentations on a "Matrix" theme.

So why exactly are we so obsessed by the movies and their stars? I suspect a lot of it has to do with bonding. Kids will get together for parties during which they labor with puffy paint, making "HP" shirts. Some toil over logo-inscribed cupcakes the night before the opening. My friends and I have a communal passion for the television show "Alias." We watch it religiously every Sunday night, analyze the plotlines the next day and joke (I think) about stalking the lead actors during our vacations. On Halloween, we conspired to wear temporary tattoos of Agent Vaughn (Michael Vartan) to school. Apparently, infatuation shared with friends is better than infatuation on your own. It's much more interesting to argue over who gets to marry Legolas (we ultimately decided that we would share him) than to pine for him alone.

Perhaps the appeal is in the satisfying procrastination of spending four hours bookmarking every X-Men site on the Web instead of reading Shakespeare. Perhaps it's in having bragging rights for the most elaborate shrine to Gryffindor. In any case, teenagers will continue to be fixated on movies, and the stars of those movies will continue to strut the red carpet and wave to their adoring fans, all the while wishing they could unfix themselves from their screen personalities.

For all we know, we'll be following white rabbits for the rest of their lives, looking for the truth we know is out there.

So you're funny? Enter The BG News humor contest!

BG News

January 14, 2003

Hey!
Now's your chance to grab the spotlight.

Nine of 10 students think they're funny, but just because your grandmother can't stop snorting at your knock-knock jokes doesn't make you the next Rodney Dangerfield.

If you want to prove yourself to a real audience -- this campus -- enter our spring "Make Keanu Reeves Laugh" humor writing contest.

On Fridays, The BG News will print only the single funniest article received in the previous week. And our standards are high. If, at any point in reading, we think that Mr. Reeves himself wouldn't say "Whoa, that's funny stuff," your article goes in the trash.

If we don't get any funny articles, we just won't print anything. After all, we could always keep running the filler saying that the average person eats eight spiders a year.

The benefits of winning include getting your picture published with your article and receiving a hearty handshake and/or high five from your favorite member of the BG News staff. Of course, we can't pay you. Nor do we want to.

There aren't many rules: Articles can be insightful or meaningless, as long as they're funny. They must be between 600 and 800 words (the length of a guest column). Also, personal attacks are allowed on no one but Tony Danza, Mr. Reeves himself, and any other deserving celebrities.

Send articles to bgnews@listproc.bgsu.edu or bring them to 210 West Hall. Be sure to keep your foul, mother-kissing-mouth out of your writing, as it will give us yet another reason to send your hard work to the shredder.

So dust off your one-liners, polish your puns and prepare to insult someone's mother because this paper has no room for corny knock-knock jokes. Except for the one about the impatient cow - my grandma loves that one.

Come on. We try our best. And now we're trying to reward you for reading us. So don't let us down. If you're lucky, we might print another picture of Gary Coleman, the ultimate comedian, with your writing.

Movie opening time and DVD release date

DVD

Movie Date

(France)Several sources report that The Matrix Reloaded will be released in France on May 7, 2003, a full eight days before it is released anywhere else in the world.

(Brazil)WB has announced that The Matrix Reloaded will be released in Brazil on May 23.

Movies that try to make you buy are stealing the show

By Garry Maddox, Film Writer
January 14 2003

When Ali G simultaneously left a voicemail message on 65,000 mobile phones last year, it showed how personal the selling of films has become.

"Me want yo to know me new movie iz comin' your way on July 18th, so mark it in ya diaries and take ya posse wif ya," the tracksuited rapper shouted down the phones of surprised Australians.

Yet the trick that sent Ali G Indahouse to the top of the local box office charts failed miserably in Britain for Tom Cruise and the video release of Minority Report. Authorities there had to investigate complaints that Cruise's breathless voice on their mobiles was offensive.

Nevertheless, while you may lose some, you win plenty more.

Selling films threatens to become even more direct and personal with the interactive poster. An American company, Thinking Pictures, is developing posters that interact with patrons as they walk past. They would even match their taste in films, registered on smart cards in return for discounts, with trailers and screening times.

It is not far removed from the futuristic vision in Minority Report, which simultaneously satirised product placement while raking in about $US25million ($42.8million) from 15 brands such as Lexus and Gap to use their products on screen.

With a roof-top chase past neon signs, the Marx Brothers reputedly pioneered product placement in Love Happy in 1950. But it became a regular feature of Hollywood films a few years later after James Dean used an Ace comb in Rebel Without a Cause and sales of the combs soared.

Richard Wiesel, of the placement agency Norm Marshall Asia Pacific, said films were ideal for reaching an increasingly savvy audience.

"How cool is it to have a celebrity and icon wearing your product, driving your car, smoking your brand of cigarettes or drinking your product?"

The company scans up to 3000 scripts a year, making submissions when it sees a spot that would suit an advertiser.

"Films speak to individuals, yet they're global," Mr Wiesel said.

Just how global will be seen in The Matrix sequel out this year. Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving will fight against a backdrop of $500,000 worth of high-tech television screens supplied by LG.

Because LG is called Zenith in the United States, the company supplied screens featuring both brand names for the scene, which was re-shot for different audiences.

Less obvious placements were in three music documentaries that screened at the Sydney Film Festival last year. Nobody Someday centred on the singer Robbie Williams facing his demons on tour. As the credits rolled, it was obvious that Williams owned the copyright to the film, raising questions about whether it was a documentary or a promotional vehicle.

The same question applied to the documentary Texas, which showed Russell Crowe's band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts on tour, and Recording 'The Producers', which showed Mel Brooks and his cast recording the soundtrack to the Broadway show The Producers.

Things went a step further in the recent skateboarding documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys. The film won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival, but after it screened here it emerged that the film was financed by the skateboard shoe company Vans.

The credits did not reveal the company's financial stake in the film, but almost everyone on screen was wearing Vans shoes.

"It's a new form of marketing, almost like viral marketing on the internet," said a spokesman for Sony Pictures Classics, which released the film in the US.

Vans invested $US750,000 in the film to reach a young audience resistant to traditional marketing.

The results were so promising that it committed to another documentary, an animated television pilot and invested in the action movie XXX.

Year of the cult film

Consider the bounty that awaits the cinephile. Folks in the grip of movie fandom offer advice on getting the best Matrix viewing

PETER HOWELL

Übergeek Harry Knowles is in movie-cult heaven.

"It's a long year this year, filled with geek treats and delights of many sorts," Knowles wrote last week to the many minions of his Ain't It Cool News fanboy Web site. "Will we ever have a better one? Who knows?"

His post alerted the faithful to pictures, which have suddenly hit the Internet, from next December's The Return Of The King, the final chapter of Peter Jackson's smash hit The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Knowles was also commenting on how 2003 is shaping up as a banner year for movie cultists, those people for whom a film isn't just a film, but a total obsession. For them, multiple viewings and theatre lineup parties are a must, as is knowing every last detail about every last frame.

Consider the bounty that awaits the cult cinephile in the next few months:

Not just one, but two sequels to The Matrix, the 1999 sci-fi hit by the brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski that turned Canuck-reared Keanu Reeves into an A-list action hero and made the law of gravity seem like a mere suggestion. The Matrix Reloaded bows May 15, to be followed by The Matrix Revolutions on Nov. 7. Both films will continue the story about mankind's final battle against enslaving computers.

Three comic-book superhero movies attempt to equal or better the success of Spider-Man, the top-grossing movie of 2002, which made $404 million (U.S.) in North America alone. On Feb. 14, Ben Affleck will don red tights and blackout shades to become the blind super man of Daredevil, directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Jack Frost). On May 2, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Hugh Jackson return to the big screen for more mutant mayhem in X-Men 2, the sequel to Bryan Singer's profitable 2000 take on the classic cult comic. And on June 20, Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down) will come busting out of his shirt as the not-so-jolly green giant of Ang Lee's The Hulk, yet another Marvel Comics fan favourite.

Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines on July 2, puts Arnold Schwarzenegger back into his cyborg suit a dozen years after Terminator 2, and asks whether he's robot enough to take on a terrifying Terminatrix, played by Norwegian supermodel Kristanna Loken. Jonathan Moscow (U-571) directs, and the catch phrase this time is "She'll Be Back."

Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill on Oct. 10, a martial-arts thriller that will be the cult director's first movie in six years. It reunites Tarantino with his Pulp Fiction hellcat Uma Thurman and it's sure to rekindle debate about the much-imitated filmmaker.

Finally, on Dec. 17, The Return Of The King will provide the grand finale to what will be a record-breaking nine-hour screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's enduring tale of good vs. evil. There may already be people standing in line.

The Internet is fanning the flames of fandom, allowing unprecedented access to material and unprecedented exchanges between like-minded film geeks.

On Web sites such as Ain't It Cool News and the aptly named CountingDown.com, there's a frenzy of anticipation for many cult-worshipped movies.

Fans of The Matrix seem to be the most cranked, since they're getting a double dose of sequels after waiting four long years. They're engaging in group therapy online to while away the weeks before May 15.

In a thread entitled "Calm Down" on CountingDown.com's Matrix forum, an Australian fan posting under the name "Heyawhatda" cautions everyone not to get overly enthused, lest they risk disappointment:

"All you Matrix fans out there like myself, we're all getting excited and out of control for these two upcoming movies. But the problem is that I think we're hyping this thing up so much in our minds that when we see it we will be thinking to ourselves ... `Well, that was all right, but I thought it would be better.'"

A Miami fan called "Geppettoejam" advises total deprivation prior to seeing The Matrix Reloaded:

"I've even been considering a self-imposed Matrix exile for about a month before the movie is released.

"That, and I know I don't want to go with anyone that is going to tear it apart opening night. I want to watch it, and give it time to digest, so to speak."

Anyone seriously worried about hype will want to avoid http://www.thematrix.com.

It's the official Web site, but packed with so much information, it could rival fan sites for dogged devotion.

Besides the standard teaser trailer, the site also includes a full section of academic essays and commentaries about the many symbols and meanings relating to The Matrix.

If that's not enough, there's also going to be spin-off animated series called The Animatrix, set to make its online debut in February. It will allow fans to download animé-inspired film shorts that will provide much of the backstory of the Matrix legend. (The Animatrix is a clever come-on for a video game called Enter The Matrix, since every self-respecting cult movie also has to have its own game.)

The fever over The Matrix and other cult movies has driven up traffic on CountingDown.com so much in recent months, the site has been forced to move to a larger server, says CountingDown's co-founder Tim Doyle, who hails from Toronto.

"As a data-heavy site, our traffic is being throttled by our database," Doyle said via e-mail.

"It is in need of replacement; we should have a new one installed in a month or two. Things are going great otherwise."

Doyle observed that film fandom is undergoing a sea change, as the legions of enthusiasts for Star Wars and Star Trek feel the heat of the rapidly growing audiences for new cult movies. It's a big reason why 2003 is such a signal year for all of them.

"Both Star Wars and Star Trek have to varying degrees become ossified, stale properties, trapped within the expectations of their respective fan communities," Doyle said.

"Aging zealots police any violation, something which has, I think, made the creative stewards of each property gun-shy of going out on a limb.

"In contrast, The Matrix is new and dazzling; fanboys haven't yet managed to sink their claws into it and drag it deep into the muck.

"As for The Lord of the Rings, it's an old, bookish property that has kept fans in line, largely because most are grateful for the respect and euphoria of a full-fledged, out-of-control, high-quality cinematic adaptation."

There's never been a better year for movie adaptations of comic books, said David Server, an 18-year-old film studies freshman at the University of Southern California, who helps run CountingDown.com.

"I was a huge comic book reader before all these movies started coming out, and it's a great time to be a comic book fan," Server said.

"Seeing all these advances in technology being used to make these characters come to life is just a huge thrill, and so this coming year is obviously pretty exciting. I get that same sense from all the people who visit CountingDown, too. It's always fun to see all these very opinionated fans and longtime readers, some of whom have been waiting up to 20 or 30 years to see these characters in a film, coming together and sharing their opinions about how a given project is coming together.

"So yes, 2003 really is kind of a milestone. I think that's because studios are learning how to spend the right amount of money in the right ways; they're making movies that people can enjoy out of these cult properties that, when translated correctly, tend to have universal appeal. And it's great that with so many interesting characters and properties out there, it isn't even just looking forward one year anymore. In 2004, there are already movies scheduled for Superman, The Fantastic Four and Hellboy."

Did he say 2004? That's practically forever in fanboy terms.

"Personally, I can't stand waiting," says Harry Knowles, but no one really has to these days. Just flip open a Web browser and surf the cult action for any film obsession.

Trinity Fastest Rising U.S. Baby Name

[Snipped for Matrix]

The following are the most rapid-rising U.S. baby names, based on how far they've climbed the Social Security list since 1990:

1. Trinity

Rise: Unranked in 1990 to No. 67, girls, in 2001
Assist: Carrie-Anne Moss' Trinity from "The Matrix."

2. Aaliyah

Rise: Unranked to No. 96, girls.
Assist: Aaliyah Haughton, singer.

Mental Ray Software Wins Academy Award

The developers of mental ray(R), the world's leading high end rendering software from mental images(R), have been awarded an Academy Award(R) by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The software was used in the first Matrix, and will be used for the sequels.

Rendering software is used to "translate" 3D scene data into humanly visible, realistic images and the Academy commended mental ray as "a highly programmable computer-graphics renderer incorporating ray tracing and global illumination to realistically simulate the behavior of light in computer-generated imagery."

Village Roadshow Needs to Increase Financing

Australian Financial Review reports:

The company is keen to gain maximum exposure for the Matrix sequels, which are expected to be highly profitable although in the film industry nothing is certain.

But if Roadshow Films is to fund the sequels the facility needs to be tweaked. It would have to be boosted above $US750million ($1.3billion) which could require Village to pour in additional capital.

It will need an increase in the financing threshold for film costs.

The facility only funds films costing up to $US80million, way below Matrix costs.

Synergy: Attacking on All Fronts

Team ‘Matrix’ is launching not only two sequels, but a multimedia offensive with videogames and anime

IN THE FALL OF 1999, on a flight back to the United States from the Japanese premiere of “The Matrix,” Larry took out a yellow pad and drew up what we call the Wachowski Manifesto for the Global Domination of Pop Culture. There was the movie, with plans for two sequels. There was their pioneering Web site, whatisthematrix.com, which had already become a watering hole for the swelling numbers of “Matrix” fans. But the brothers wanted more. They wanted to produce a collection of anime short films set in the universe they’d created. They wanted to make a bleeding-edge videogame to accompany the second film. And their goal was to have all of this ready for 2003.

That’s a lot to pull off, but not so unusual by today’s movie-as-global-product launch standards. What is unusual is the Wachowskis’ level of involvement. They wrote three of the nine animes that make up “The Animatrix,” then personally approved the screenplays and designs for the other six. Rather than have their game Enter the Matrix slavishly duplicate the events of “The Matrix: Reloaded,” they wrote a 244-page script specifically for the game. And instead of repurposing movie footage for the game’s live-action interludes, as Electronic Arts has done on The Lord of the Rings, the brothers shot an hour of brand-new footage, using the same cast, crew and sets as for their Hollywood blockbuster. “This isn’t just merchandising or advertising,” says producer Joel Silver. “The animes, the Web site, the game and the movie work together to tell the story.” The rabbit hole, in other words, goes even deeper than you thought.

NEWSWEEK got an exclusive look at five of the animes. Our verdict? Triple whoa. The one that will probably get the most attention is the CGI flick “The Final Flight of the Osiris” because of its near-photorealistic images. But the one that rocked us like a hurricane was the two-part “Second Renaissance,” which told the story of how the machines took over the world. A bleak parable about man’s inability to recognize the soul of his new machines, director Mahiro Maeda’s furious rush of images deftly evoked the horrors of the past 400 years—slavery, lynchings, world wars, concentration camps, Nazi experiments, the cold war, race riots and nuclear war, to name a few—and left us shaken. Don’t believe us? In February, you’ll be able to download four of the animes free of charge, including both parts of “Second Renaissance.”

It's not unusual

[snipped for Matrix]

EAT extras have worked on many of the big films made in Sydney. The producers of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, needed lots of pale people. For Garage Days they wanted ferals, and "Newtown types". For Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones it didn't matter "because they'd just paint you blue and stick a tentacle on your head".

PC Power Play January 2003 issue

ISSUE 82 - JANUARY 2003 OUT NOW REVIEWS ENTER THE MATRIX - Take the red pill and witness a gaming revolution.Age of Mythology - The latest heir to Microsoft's proudest RTS dynasty.Freelancer - Rare inside information on this elusive 3D space sim. Combat Flight Sim 3 - Strap in and fly the unfriendly skies WIN - An awesome Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Matrix modded PC!

What is the California Matrix?

Jan. 5, 2003 Orange County Register Column: Like the hero of the movie 'The Matrix,' Californians seem caught between very different realities
By John Seiler
Editorial writer

Two things I look forward to this year are the sequels to "The Matrix," the 1999 hit science-fiction movie. I'll make sure I get the full effect by seeing them on the Edwards Theaters' Big Newport, the largest screen this side of the Mississippi.

"The Matrix Reloaded" opens in May and "The Matrix Revolutions" in November.

The first film begins with computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves) leading a normal life in our technological, prosperous age. He also moonlights as a hacker named Neo.

Neo meets Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), who offers him an option. He can swallow a blue pill, and return to his contented and complacent world of pleasures. Or he can swallow a red pill, which will reveal to him the truth.

He swallows the red pill and finds out humans bodies are slaves plugged into machines. The machines found that the slaves could be most productive if an artificial world was created and fed into their minds. Contented slaves are more productive slaves. But the whole world really is a burned-out shell resembling Detroit.

The Matrix is the cyberworld the machines have created in which human minds live. "[Y]ou are a slave, Neo," Morpheus explains. "Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

Sometimes I think that's what it's like living here in California. We have incomparable weather, sunsets, surfing in the morning and skiing in the evening, highly intelligent people, Hollywood and Disneyland.

Then I take the red pill, wake up and see we're all plugged into the California Matrix: The state government is $35 billion in deficit for the next 18 months, taxes are sure to go up, crime is rising, the electricity crisis is not solved, the state's schools best only Louisiana on achievement tests, the state is run by the most malfunctioning government this side of Pyongyang, the Legislature last year passed an incredible 1,168 new laws and the people who perpetrated this were re-elected in November by voters who always swallow the blue pill.

Am I exaggerating? Last year the Legislature passed and the governor signed into law SB 253, which allows experimentation on the stem cells of human embryos - unborn children. In "The Matrix," the human embryos, called "crops," grow into the humans on which the machines live.

And come to think of it, Agent Smith, the bland government functionary in "The Matrix," bears a passing resemblance to Gov. Davis.

Counterbalancing the big-government liberal Democrats who dominate California's government are the Republicans who as of this week run the U.S. government. President Bush and the GOP majorities in Congress favor limited government and rolling back unneeded programs. They favor what the president in his 2000 campaign called a "humble" foreign policy.

And anyone who believes that popped the blue pill.

Gulp the red pill and you'll see that the Bush administration and Congress have increased federal spending more than any administration since LBJ's Great Society in the 1960s, are destroying our civil liberties at a frightful pace through the USA Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security, and are pursuing not a battle against terrorism but a global empire.

The president says terrorists attacked us because they hate "our freedom, our democracy." Then why is he destroying our freedom by shredding the Bill of Rights and our democracy by centralizing more control than ever in an unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy?

Maybe later this year in the conclusion of the "Matrix" films Neo will show us a way for a "revolution" against the Matrix of all governments. But we have to act, too.

What Neo says to the Matrix at the end of the first film is increasingly being said by Californians and other Americans to Davis, Bush and the rest of the government Matrix subroutines: "I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these people a world that you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible."

Year of 'The Matrix'

January 02, 2003

The first of the two 'Matrix' sequels won't arrive until May 2003, but don't fret: ET has the inside scoop on 'The Matrix Reloaded,' with exclusive details and images from the current issue of Newsweek magazine!

After spending months boning up on their martial arts and high-wire training, KEANU REEVES, LAURENCE FISHBURNE, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS and bad guy HUGO WEAVING were hard at work in Sydney, Australia filming the back-to-back sequels to the 1999 box-office smash.

"The sequel carves a continuation of [my character] Neo's journey and his quest to find out the truth," Keanu reveals to ET. "It's more about the conflict with the machines and the humans."

And this time around, the stunts and special effects in 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions,' which hits theaters November 2003, are even more spectacular than the first go-around!

"We are trying to do some crazy things out here," offers Keanu. "The kung-fu sequences are more sophisticated and more challenging than the first film. Some of the wire work [allows me to] do back flips and cartwheels all in one shot.

"It's pushed me to my limits. Before it was like, 'Can you do two kicks?' and now it's like, 'Can you do three kicks, but with a jumping backspin hook-kick?' So it's like you have learned to walk -- now can you fly."

Although co-directors ANDY and LARRY WACHOWSKI are keeping all of the 'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions' storylines tightly under wraps, we can tell you that 'Malena' star, MONICA BELLUCCI, and WILL SMITH's significant other, JADA PINKETT-SMITH, have trained hard to join the athletic cast for the next adventure. Monica's character remains a mystery for the moment, but Jada will play Niobe, the love interest of Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne's character.

"These sequels are going to blast the original off the screen, and that's exactly what the fans want," says Jada.

Filming of the two sequels reportedly wrapped in August 2002, and 'The Matrix Reloaded' is due for release in May 2003. 'The Matrix Revolutions,' is due just months later in November 2003. The original 'The Matrix' and a special behind-the-scenes documentary, 'The Matrix Revisited,' are both currently available on VHS and DVD.