Reeves buys home for ill sis's sake

Keanu Reeves, who until now preferred living in hotels, has bought a $5-million US Hollywood estate with breathtaking city views. He plans to bring his leukemia-stricken sister, Kim, there to live with him. Parts of the house will be fitted out like a hospital in an attempt by Keanu to extend her life. The generous actor has also given millions from his Matrix movies to charities.

PREDICTION: Kim's last years in Keanu's home will be among her happiest. A new treatment extends her life.

Matrix banned in Egypt

June 11 2003

The Matrix reloads Matrix profits in no hurry to reach investors What to say about Matrix Reloaded

Exit the Matrix, enter the castle

Despite a rich storyline and the extensive collaboration of "Matrix" filmmakers Larry and Andy Wachowski, the "Enter the Matrix" videogame doesn't do much to improve the generally lousy reputation of movie tie-in games. Devoid of innovation and plagued with game-play flaws, this title barely qualifies as a decent rental. enter the matrix

Atari/Shiny Entertainment; Win 98 or newer/Win 2000 or newer, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox; $50; Rated T for ages 13 and older.

return to castle wolfenstein: tides of war

Activision, Xbox and PlayStation 2, $47, Rated M for ages 17 and older.

The idea behind the game (besides collecting "Matrix" fans' money) was to expand the movies' universe with a more detailed back story. It centers on two minor characters from "The Matrix: Reloaded": Ghost and Niobe. Players can experience the game from either's perspective, and after playing through with both, they'll know more of the whole story. But "Enter the Matrix" tries to be too many things. Its martial-arts and gunfight sequences work well, but the driving segments are incredibly stale, and the missions you must accomplish -- rescuing captured rebels, hacking into a mainframe computer, destroying a nuclear power plant -- lack luster, emotion and imagination. Both graphics and game play are major disappointments.

"Enter the Matrix" suffers from a rushed-out-the-door look: Missing frames of animation, bland texture and excessive clipping all point to a game publisher too focused on getting the game on store shelves in time for the movie's release. Oddly, all the available versions exhibit about the same level of graphics, from PlayStation 2 to PC. Hand-to-hand combat can look good, but you get only a handful of moves, with control limited to two buttons.

Enemy characters act with a pathetic degree of stupidity -- some just stand there and take your beatings, while others walk right into your gunfire. But the most glaring problem comes in the game's use of third-person perspective, which consistently blocked our view with a wall or object and left us mashing buttons frantically against invisible enemies.

The game does do some things very well. The developers have skillfully re-created the movies' "bullet time" effects: At any given moment, players can go into a "focus" mode, which drastically slows the action down and allows you to perform some cool stunts -- cartwheels, running up walls and disarming enemy units -- just as in the "Matrix" flicks. The authentic sound effects and musical score, both taken directly from the movie, also excel, and the Wachowski brothers even shot some video sequences exclusively for the game. But these extras seem wasted on such an overall disappointment.

For Microsoft Xbox owners, here's a twist: An excellent online-enabled game with a so-so single-player mode thrown in.

Usually, it's the other way around. But anyone who's considering getting "Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War" should have a high-speed Internet connection and Xbox Live (the online game service), or else the game's not worth it. (There is also a Sony PlayStation 2 version of the game.)

A decade ago, Wolfenstein 3D was released, ushering in the first-person shooter, where players saw the environment through the character's eyes as they navigated using maze-like maps in search of enemies. There have been countless such games since then, including many good ones for the PC that allow for play over the Internet, but few measure up to Wolfenstein.

Although the different online play modes are nothing revolutionary -- variations of "capture the flag" or "last man standing," -- the concept is one that stresses teamwork. Because the setting is World War II, teams are divided into Allies and Axis. Players can choose one of four character classes: soldiers are the default; engineers are able to use dynamite; medics can heal wounded teammates or revive them; and lieutenants can provide extra ammo or call in airstrikes.

Successful teams employ all four class types, and while it's not necessary, it does make things easier. Because the Xbox Live service is only for broadband users, the built-in voice-chat feature makes online play that much more enjoyable. The only drawback I found was lag (a stuttering effect that occurs when a connection slows down), which happened more than a few times.

As for the single-player version, it's fairly standard. The story involves a medieval prince who uses magic to summon an evil dark army, but then is imprisoned in AD 943 by a mysterious monk. A thousand years later in Germany, Nazis dig up the prince's tomb and raise a new undead army.

Players assume the role of Capt. B.J. Blazkowicz, navigating scenarios populated with the normal and the undead in an attempt to thwart the Germans' plans. Levels usually require you to grab an item or destroy something before moving on.

It's a very addictive game for anyone with a high-speed Internet connection, an Xbox Live account and plenty of free time.

The Matrix Reloaded banned in Egypt

'The Matrix Reloaded' has been banned in Egypt on religious grounds.

Egyptian censors say the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause 'crises'.

The country's censorship committee, made up of 15 critics, academics, writers and psychologists, watched the sequel to 'The Matrix' on Monday.

In a statement the committee said: "Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in."

The movie "tackles the issue of the creator and his creations, searching the origin of creation and the issue of compulsion and free will".

According to the committee, "Such religious issues, raised in previous times, caused crises."

Commenting on the violence in 'The Matrix Reloaded', the statement said: "screening the movie may cause troubles and harm social peace."

Egypt bans 'too religious' Matrix

Global blockbuster The Matrix Reloaded has been banned in Egypt because of its "violent" content and because it tackles "religious themes".

The country's censorship board said the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause "crises".

Violent scenes also had the potential to "harm social peace", a statement said.

The first Matrix movie was released in Egypt but was criticised by Islamic newspapers for promoting Zionism.

The country's most senior film committee, made up of 15 critics, academics, writers and psychologists, watched the sequel on Monday.

The press launched a campaign to stop showing the movie, saying that it reflects Zionist ideas

Wael Abdel Fatah

Egyptian film critic

A statement said: "Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in."

The movie "tackles the issue of the creator and his creations, searching the origin of creation and the issue of compulsion and free will," it said.

"Such religious issues, raised in previous times, caused crises."

Violence also played a part in the decision, the committee said.

"Screening the movie may cause troubles and harm social peace," according to the statement.

One Egyptian critic, Wael Abdel Fatah, said: "The press launched a campaign to stop showing the movie, saying that it reflects Zionist ideas, and promotes Jewish and Zionist beliefs."

Box office smash

The film, a follow-up to the 1999 science fiction hit, is currently number one around the world.

In it, the human race is enslaved by artificially intelligent beings, and resistance fighter Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is seen as their destined saviour.

It has taken almost $550m (£330m) at global box offices, putting it in the top 20 most successful films of all time.

Japan and Russia have become the latest countries to be gripped by Matrix fever after it broke box office records.

A further sequel, The Matrix Revolutions, will follow in November.

Reloaded breaks all-time Japanese opening record

Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles 09 June 2003 04:00

The Matrix Reloaded scored an industry record opening of $18.5m in Japan over the weekend, including previews, as the Warner Bros sci-fi sequel raised its international total to an estimated $300m.

The remarkable Japanese bow (Yen 2.2bn) from 632 screens included the territory's biggest ever preview gross of $7.5m (Yen 892m) from advanced screenings on May 24 and 31.

In fact May 31 yielded the biggest single-day preview gross of $4m (Yen 465m), beating Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by 3.5%.

Compared to opening weekends without previews it was the third biggest bow ever behind Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

According to Warner Bros the total opening gross was 259.3% bigger than The Matrix, 107.2% bigger than Chamber Of Secrets (81% of Chamber's total without previews), 137.1% bigger than Star Wars Episode II and 183.5% bigger than Spider-Man.

The opening was also 136.4% bigger than Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning animated feature and the biggest grossing film of all time in Japan on $226m.

Warner Bros' film grossed $42m in all its territories over the weekend and has amassed almost $550m worldwide in four weeks.

Enter The Animatrix

A collection of Matrix-related anim・offers beauty, horror and lots of violence
BY BRYAN WALSH

The focus groups are gone, the buzz has abated, the press has moved on to hyping The Hulk. You can come out now. You can confess that you hated The Matrix Reloaded. You hated Morpheus' speechifying, winced at the smarmy Merovingian and at the film's truncated ending. As for Zion, if they'd spent one more minute on that faux full-moon party, you were going to start a little Burly Brawl of your own.

So was it all an illusion then, the mind-blowing promise of the original Matrix? The answer is no, and the proof is The Animatrix. A collection of nine anim・film shorts supervised by Matrix creators Andy and Larry Wachowski and directed by a team of anim・ all-stars, The Animatrix is the Matrix concept free of the commercial pressure of an epic-movie trilogy. Sure, The Animatrix is in one sense a multimillion-dollar advertisement for the franchise, a part of the Wachowskis' plan to milk 99｢ out of every entertainment dollar spent this summer. But it's also a delicate, deliberate work of art, one that restores much of The Matrix's original wonder, beauty and horror, which are so glaringly absent in the sequel.

On top of all the other Matrix-related merchandise, including the video game and comic books, the release of an animated extension might seem like overkill. But the Wachowski brothers are devoted to and informed by anim・ the cerebral, ultraviolent, consciously cinematic style of animation pioneered by the Japanese. After the original Matrix opened in Japan in September 1999, the Wachowskis floated the possibility of producing an anim・homage, based on the Matrix world, as an appendix to the films. Top directors擁ncluding Shinichiro Watanabe, creator of the hip Cowboy Bebop, and Koji Morimoto, who worked on the seminal Akira耀igned on immediately. The brothers wrote four of the nine shorts themselves; the rest were penned by the directors under Wachowski supervision. "The Animatrix was like being invited to the brothers' house," says Watanabe. "We got to play in their huge backyard傭ut we had to remain within the yard."

The result, which hit video stores June 3, is a variety pack of visual styles, ranging from the hyper-realistic computer graphics employed in Final Flight of the Osiris, to the dreamy, hand-drawn doodles of Kid's Story. Each short expands the Matrix universe in ways that the plot-bound live-action films could not. The Wachowski-written Second Renaissance, Parts 1 and 2, mini-epics in their own right, describe how man began the war with machines and how the Matrix came into being (in the usual dystopic, postapocalyptic anim・ tradition, man is hoisted by the petard of his own pride). The taut Program is set in a simulacrum of feudal Japan; Detective Story somehow turns the Wachowskis' vision into film noir, complete with fog, fedoras預nd Trinity in (what else?) tight, black leather.

The flashy showpiece of the group is Osiris. Entirely computer generated, it's the least demanding short, seven fast minutes of racing hoversubs, squiggly Sentinel drones and skyscraper diving. If that's not enough to engage the vital 13・5-year-old male demographic, Osiris also throws in a sword duel that leaves the heroine wearing little more than a thong. The short is visually enthralling and its digital heroes manage to outemote Keanu Reeves. Still, Osiris is more video-game interstitial than anim・

Matriculated, my favorite, is written and directed by Peter Chung, creator of the ground-breaking if perplexing MTV anim・ Aeon Flux. Chung grasps the creepy biomechanics at the heart of the Matrix world. His machines and humans alike are faintly insectoid and fatally interdependent on each other. Remember how Morpheus talks about going "down the rabbit hole"? Well, Matriculated pulls you there and then some. Chung takes the concept of humans living in a computer-generated world and turns it on its head, plugging a machine into a kaleidoscopic human dreamworld. The result is electric揖ool-Aid brain candy, with a twist of unexpected pathos.

With its focus on the obscurer parts of the Matrix mythology, The Animatrix will appeal to dedicated acolytes. Less obsessive cinema buffs will appreciate it too, as engrossing entertainment and a popular expression of the sometimes obscure anim・ form. If nothing else, The Animatrix provides a reminder of why so many of us loved The Matrix in the first place.

—With reporting by Hanna Kite and Toko

Reloaded breaks all-time Japanese opening record

Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles 09 June 2003 04:00

The Matrix Reloaded scored an industry record opening of $18.5m in Japan over the weekend, including previews, as the Warner Bros sci-fi sequel raised its international total to an estimated $300m.

The remarkable Japanese bow (Yen 2.2bn) from 632 screens included the territory's biggest ever preview gross of $7.5m (Yen 892m) from advanced screenings on May 24 and 31.

In fact May 31 yielded the biggest single-day preview gross of $4m (Yen 465m), beating Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by 3.5%.

Compared to opening weekends without previews it was the third biggest bow ever behind Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

According to Warner Bros the total opening gross was 259.3% bigger than The Matrix, 107.2% bigger than Chamber Of Secrets (81% of Chamber's total without previews), 137.1% bigger than Star Wars Episode II and 183.5% bigger than Spider-Man.

The opening was also 136.4% bigger than Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning animated feature and the biggest grossing film of all time in Japan on $226m.

Warner Bros' film grossed $42m in all its territories over the weekend and has amassed almost $550m worldwide in four weeks.

Matrix breaks Japanese record

The Matrix Reloaded has broken box-office records in Japan in its first week on release.

The film, the sequel to 1999's The Matrix, took more than Y2.2 bn (£11.5m) over the opening weekend, including nearly Y892m (£5m) from advanced previews alone.

On 31 May the film took Y465m (£2.5m) to beat the biggest one-day record, previously held by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Warners, the studio releasing the film, said its opening weekend was more than two-and-a-half times bigger that that of The Matrix's. It was also almost twice that of last year's blockbuster hit, Spider-Man.

Elsewhere in the world the sci-fi film, which stars Keanu Reeves as a messianic freedom fighter, took more than $42m (£26.2m) last weekend.

It has now made more than $550m (£343m) around the world, despite lukwarm reviews from critics and many fans.

The figures included $19.8m from the UK, where the film saw the fourth-biggest opening weekend in British history, and the biggest ever for a film rated 15 or higher.

Pirated copies

The film was released across the world - aprt from Japan - on the same day in an effort to beat piracy, which has become a huge problem for blockbuster Hollywood films.

Last week BBC News Online reported that pirated copies of the film were already appearing in markets in London.

Stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Jada Pinkett Smith have launched the movie with appearances at premières in Los Angeles, Cannes and London.

The sequel to 1999's The Matrix will be followed in November by a third movie, The Matrix Revolutions.

Both films were shot together with a reported cost of $300m (£187m).

Old-school reality to make way for animation

[Snipped for Animatrix]

If you've read this column with any regularity, you've gathered that I love Japanese animation. I love all animated films for their vibrant look and limitless possibilities -- it just happens that I think the Japanese make better use of the medium. Prove me wrong, Disney. Prove me wrong.

Case in point: "The Animatrix." I don't mean to beat a dead horse (although can you really be sure it's dead if you don't try?) but the DVD came out on Tuesday and I've watched it every day since. The four previously unreleased shorts maintain the beauty and intellect of those already released online. Now together on one glorious disk in both English and Japanese Dolby 5.1, even the shorts you've already seen shine with new magnificence.

Aside from giving me more Matrix to compensate for my growing discontent with "Reloaded," "The Animatrix" is a beautiful exercise in art and storytelling. The questions left unanswered by the original Matrix film are used as creative springboards with the possibilities of a fantasy role-playing game and the popularity of Tom Hanks.

The Wachowski brothers used this medium to personally flesh out their story by writing the four shorts directly related to the films. Were you wondering who the hell that kid following Neo around like a puppy in "Reloaded" was? Wonder no more. Did you decide to stay away from "Dreamcatcher" (wise decision) at the expense of missing "Final Flight of the Osiris" even though it came up in "Reloaded"? Your patience has been rewarded.

The other five shorts are essentially candy, but See's wishes they could make candy this sweet. They illustrate experiences with the Matrix while still plugged in, ways people question the Matrix, the relationship between humans and machines and the trials of the "real" world. All of them will have you reeling and asking new questions of the Matrix universe.

Aside from compelling stories, some of which you will wish were feature length, the various styles of animation are a sampler plate of the most stunning visual directors around. Directors were involved in such hits as "Cowboy Bebop," "Aeon Flux," "Akira" and "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust." That's like getting those artists named after the Ninja Turtles together to each do a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

I'll stop short of reviewing each piece, but there are some other animation-themed issues I want to discuss.

Viewers Dissect Meaning of 'Matrix'

By Angela Aleiss
Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES -- Cynics about Hollywood's big-budget science-fiction extravaganzas take note: "Matrix" mania has gripped the nation. Everywhere, it seems, are "Matrix" sequels, "Matrix" ads, "Matrix" product tie-ins, and "Matrix" fan clubs. And everyone, it seems, offers a commentary on the movies' various layers of myth, metaphor and meaning. Just glance through a few recent books that attempt to dissect the movies' deep underpinnings of philosophy and religion: Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in 'The Matrix' (Glenn Yeffeth, ed.) and Exploring the Matrix: Visions of Cyber Present (Karen Haber, ed.). There is also the forthcoming How Movies Helped Save My Soul: Finding Spiritual Fingerprints in Culturally Significant Films, by Gareth Higgins (with a chapter on the film). Don't forget the many articles and Web sites, each attempting to navigate through the maze of "Matrix" movies. As if that weren't enough, Princeton scholar Cornel West turned tables in a recent Los Angeles Times interview and said the themes in the sequel, "The Matrix Reloaded," undercut those in the original. Puzzled "Matrix" fans might turn to the movies' creators, Larry and Andy Wachowski, for some clarification. But the brothers are mum on the subject, save for a 1999 interview with Time magazine in which Larry said, "We're interested in mythology, theology and, to a certain extent, higher-level mathematics." Indeed, "The Matrix" is eliciting about as many interpretations as that puzzling monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

But English professor Greg Garrett, co-author of The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in 'The Matrix,' says that along with all the religious and philosophical motifs, the movies dramatically illustrate the importance of choice. "A postmodern work like 'The Matrix' shows us how we can synthesize different stories [of religion and philosophy] and still make a faith choice," said Garrett by phone from his office at Baylor University in Houston. Garrett co-authored The Gospel Reloaded with Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia, a progressive community in Houston. The book will be available in mid-June from Pinon Press. For Garrett, "The Matrix" offers a bundle of religious, literary and philosophical thought, from Christianity to Greek mythology, Buddhism to Gnosticism, and Alice in Wonderland to Plato. The character of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), he says, can symbolize Mary the Mother of God, the Holy Spirit, Mary Magdalene, the Jewish spirit of the God Ruah, a female love interest, or simply a righteous Kung-fu babe. But let's face it: all those razzle-dazzle special effects, pulsating post-modern orchestral tunes, Kung-fulike action scenes, and cool hip sunshades are what the "Matrix" is really all about. Not according to Garrett.

"We know from experience from so many people that they continue to think about [the "Matrix" movies] long after the action had faded from their minds," Garrett said, citing the 1,000 or so Web sites devoted to "Matrix" discussions. Audiences may be coming for action and special effects, he says, but these movies get "people to think in ways that a typical 'The Fast and the Furious' doesn't." "Matrix" fans can also ponder the futuristic or out-of-this-world themes that surface in the series as well as other film sources for the movies. Arguably, the movies' warning of a machine-infested society echoes that of "Metropolis" in 1927 and later films like "Demon Seed," "THX 1138," and "Westworld." All were frighteningly believable with their how-robots-can-go-wrong themes. "The 'Matrix' movies are more like 'Metropolis' in not only that they're technophobic but cultural," Garrett said. "They tell us to stop and look around and see that not only have we given over too much of the world to machines, but that we need to question all accepted wisdom from culture." The "Matrix" also draws upon themes from "The Prisoner," the British TV series of the late 1960s. (A scene from the TV show appeared in the first "Matrix.") The main character, played by Patrick McGoohan, was also a prisoner of his own mind and he attempted to escape the artificial village in which he was held captive. In addition, Garrett says the 1996 "Ghost in the Shell," a Japanese animated cyber-tech thriller, shares with the "Matrix" its cascading lines of green numbers, computer plug-ins to characters' heads, and simulated thoughts and dreams. "They're similar in that they draw you in with action and they make you think," Garrett says, noting that "Ghost" also contains much philosophical talk about what it means "to be." But he said "The Matrix Reloaded" brings together two things that are equally true: the Prophesy is true and the Prophesy is not true. Perhaps we'll have to wait for "The Matrix Revolutions" (Nov. 5) to explain that one. Garrett, at least, is optimistic. "We're looking at a redemptive ending and the Wachowski brothers are in some way going to save the world," he says. "What they're doing is upping the stakes: there's going to be more philosophical talk and more visceral action." Carrie-Anne Moss plays Trinity in the "Matrix" movies. The films have generated a lot of philosophical and religious discussion on what it means "to be."

ANTHRAX Films Video for "Safe Home", Features Cameo by Keanu Reeves

Major North American Tour on the Horizon

Heavy Metal icons ANTHRAX recently wrapped a widely successful US tour to promote their highly anticipated new release We've Come for You All, but they are not resting on laurels. During the tour, the band managed to shoot and compile a video for the poignant single "Safe Home" at the House of Blues in Chicago.

The video also features a special guest appearance by The Matrix film star, Keanu Reeves. Reeves, a longtime Anthrax fan, was the band's special guest at the sold-out Los Angeles tour closer.

Fans can check out the debut of "Safe Home" at Anthrax.com in the very near future. The video is also being immediately serviced to MTV, MTV2, Fuse, and MuchMusic for airplay consideration. Given the infectious nature of the track, airplay should be imminent.

We've Come for You All has been selling extremely well since its May 6 release, even debuting in the Billboard Top 200. Marriaging haunting melody with ANTHRAX's trademark heavy groove riffs, the album features guest performances by The Who's Roger Daltrey, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell, and E Town Concrete's Anthony Martini. Press immediately welcomed ANTHRAX's breath of fresh air in the stale American metal climate:

"Anthrax have come back in a big way…" ~ Circus Magazine

"…a furiously dynamic and infectious slab of thrash/hard rock…one killer comeback." ~ Revolver Magazine

"You want metal the way it was meant to be played? You got it." ~ Drum! Magazine

"…triumphant…bludgeoning intensity…" ~ Boston Phoenix

ANTHRAX is currently touring Europe & performing the major festivals, but is planning a major North American trek beginning in August. Stay tuned to www.anthrax.com for details.

Revie-Welcome to the desert of the reel

By GIOVANNI FAZIO

Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Director: Larry and Andy Wachowski
Running time: 138 minutes
Language: English
Opens June 7

Abarely noticed news report earlier this year heralded a rather frightening new invention: a small, intelligent robot that could detect and devour slugs in your backyard. On top of that, the machine could "digest" the slugs and convert the biomass into energy. Result: a self-sustaining robot programmed to feed on life forms -- "The Matrix's" nightmarish scenario, coming soon to a flower-bed near you.

Carrie-Anne Mose as Trinity (above) and Keanu Reeves as Neo (top, below) in "The Matrix Reloaded"

©2003 WARNER BROS.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / ©2003 VILLAGE ROADSHOW FILMS (BVI) LTD.

Life imitating art? Perhaps, but the genius of the original "Matrix" movie was that it was a fantasy that drifted in and out of reality, leaving itself open to many such intersections with the here and now. Beyond the mind-blowing special effects, what really drove "Matrix"-mania -- as evidenced by the many fan Web sites as well as several scholarly tomes -- was its ability to serve as an allegory for, well, just about everything.

Computer programmer? You could easily appreciate the cosmic joke of being enslaved in a world created by code. Video-game player? You can savor the notion that your virtual martial prowess might somehow prove to be a useful, even world-saving skill. New Ager? Dig the orange-robed bald kid telling Neo "Do not try to bend the spoon. Rather, realize the spoon does not exist." Paranoid conspiracy nutter? You can see "The Matrix" everywhere, from government agencies monitoring our every move to the robot drone planes that mercilessly strike remote locations. And let's not even mention alienated high-school teens clad in black trench coats and grudges . . .

The film's directors, Larry and Andy Wachowski, actively encouraged the "Matrix" theorists, filling the film with any number of little rabbit-holes leading to Baudrillard and the Bible, Buddhism and bondage. The result was like reading hypertext tanka, pondering the question of "What is real?" -- while plummeting 69 stories to the pavement. "The Matrix" wired these metaphysical mind-games into the format of sci-fi action, and then dared to suggest -- in its surreal finale, in which Neo realizes the bullets are unreal and can't hurt him -- that in a world that's an illusion, action is superfluous to the enlightened mind.

Somehow it never seemed very likely that satori would drive the sequel, "The Matrix Reloaded." Can you imagine Keanu Reeves in "Little Buddha" mode, sitting blissfully under a bodhi tree turning the evil agents' bullets into blossoming lotuses? Didn't think so. Morpheus may have told him to free his mind, but let's not forget Neo's "Let's roll" line in the first film: "Guns. Lots of guns."

That seems to be the modus operandi for "Matrix Reloaded," the bigger-budgeted but far less imaginative attempt to extend the story (and franchise) of "The Matrix." Lots of guns, lots of wire-action kung fu, lots of designer sunglasses and lots of Agent Smiths. What we don't get is lots of innovation, either visually or conceptually. The first "Matrix" gave us bullets frozen in time and punches displacing air, gnostic and zen interpretations of reality, squidlike organic technology and a red pill that dissolved the entire world as we knew it. "Matrix Reloaded" gives us, as its crowning achievement . . . a car chase.

And a car chase -- even one on a specially constructed highway, featuring "ghosts" that teleport between cars -- just isn't up to the levels of innovation expected from a visionary sci-fi flick. Especially when the chase is dragged out for a mind-numbing 14 minutes. Hell, we can go see "2 Fast 2 Furious," or "Taxi 14" if we want cars smashing endlessly. Bring on the robot squids, dammit!

To be fair, we do get a few of them -- 250,000 of them, to be precise, as the world-dominating robots unleash a horde of squiddy search-and-destroy sentients that home in on Zion, the secret underground city of humans who have awakened from the Matrix's spell. (As in the first film, 99 percent of mankind remains asleep in amniotic tanks, plugged into the virtual dreamworld of the Matrix while the robots exploit their bodies as an energy source.)

Standing in the path of certain annihilation within mere hours is Neo (Keanu Reeves), who has been proclaimed "The One" by the Oracle's prophesies. In the virtual Matrix world, he has transcended the rules of the illusory, digital reality, and can fly like Superman and stop bullets in mid-flight; in the flesh-and-blood world, though, he still has no idea how he will save the human race from machine domination.

Neo decides to sleep on it, accompanied by his savior/lover, cyberpunk wet-dream-become-flesh Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). Concurrently, the man who liberated Neo from the Matrix, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne, looking very much like Mussolini) gives a bombastic "victory or death" speech to the residents of Zion. The crowd erupts as some tribal drumming kicks in (not the brightest idea when robot sonar is trying to pinpoint your location) and the merry people of Zion dance like loons in a neo-pagan cave rave.

Early on in the film, this is the first sign something's wrong. The Wachowskis intercut Neo and Trinity getting it on, with the Zion tribe -- looking like extras from "Ben Hur" with body modifications -- getting down. For a film so addicted to cool, it gets painfully hokey here, with hippie chicks flashing their nipples, orgasmic gasps on the soundtrack and some truly embarrassing dance moves, a scene that would feel more at home in a "Planet of the Apes" flick.

Later, Morpheus convinces the Elders of Zion to allow his ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, to return to the surface to allow Neo to contact the Oracle (Gloria Foster) for further advice. On the eve of his departure, Neo and one of Zion's councilors share a philosophical moment deep in the bowels of Zion's engineering level. "These machines are keeping us alive while others are trying to kill us," points out the elder amid the whirs and hums. "Nobody cares how it works as long as it works."

He could have been speaking about the film's plot; it dashes us along at such a furious pace, we almost don't notice how incoherent it is. Who's this kid tagging after Neo, thanking him for saving his life, and why is he here? How did Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) resurrect himself, and has he become a virus, who can replicate endlessly? Why does Neo have to leave Zion to jack into the Matrix, if the city's security has already been compromised?

Entire characters exist for no logical narrative reason except the needs of the accompanying "Matrix" video game, "Enter the Matrix," and the animation DVD, "Animatrix." Seraph (Collin Chou) has an extended chop-socky sequence with Neo before he can meet the Oracle. Reason? "You never truly know someone until you fight them," Seraph says before exiting. Wheel on Monica Bellucci as Persephone, sidekick of the nihilistic Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), a piece of software with a French accent. Her only purpose in the film is to French kiss Keanu, a "move" which allows Neo access to the next Matrix "level," as the movie's story starts to resemble a game's structure. "We are not free," sneers Agent Smith in one scene. "We cannot escape reason and purpose." The script, however, suggests otherwise.

Leaky plots only irk when the film doesn't sweep you away. And the slow-motion and wire-action sequences of "Matrix Reloaded," however nimble, have a lot less impact after four years of every other film copying the style. If a double-serving of more of the same is what you crave, though, then climb aboard.

The film's most clever notions play, ironically enough, as self-criticism. The film's triumphant moment of man over machine, for example, comes when Neo kicks the butts of literally dozens of rampant Agent Smiths. This scene, it turns out, was rendered entirely by computers and doesn't actually feature Reeves or Weaving or any nondigital elements.

Similar is the scene in which Neo is told that he's a systemic anomaly, a bit of rebellion programmed into the Matrix to give people the illusion of choice. It's a sly commentary on how culture and capitalism -- Hollywood movies featuring cyberpunk rebels included -- has managed to render all rebellion useless. Anything underground, from the fetish fashion sported by Trinity to the Burning Man festival clumsily aped in the "rave" scene, can be co-opted and sold as another "lifestyle choice," with meaning reduced to mere style.

"The problem is choice," frets Neo. But the message of "Matrix Reloaded," rammed home through $100 million worth of saturation advertising, is simple: Buy mirror shades, be cyberpunk.

The Japan Times: June 4, 2003

The media trapped in the Matrix

By GIOVANNI FAZIO

"What is the Matrix?" asked Neo in the first "Matrix" film. "The Matrix," replied Morpheus, "is control."

Laurence Fishburne, Keanu Reeves, Jada Pinkett Smith and Hugo Weaving in Tokyo to promote "The Matrix Reloaded"

It was ironic, then, to find Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne -- along with costars Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith, producer Joel Silver and "concept designer" Geoffrey Darrow -- at a press conference hosted by Warner Bros., the most uptight of Tokyo's film distributors.

This is a company that likes to give out two-pages of "rules" for the media to follow at their press conferences and that would threaten to eject cameramen for doing something egregious like, say, taking a picture of Hugo Weaving as he sits grinning at the cameras. Warner is the only distributor to have uniformed guards outside their screening room, and they also pioneered the use of rent-a-cops at a recent preview screening of "Matrix Reloaded." They not only searched the bags of all who attended, but also lined up ominously inside the theater by the exits, on the lookout for bootleggers in the audience. (Funny that pirating and online file-sharing, not terrorism, was the perceived threat to a film that glorifies hackers.)

The press conference was an exercise in total control: In a marketing-driven medium where image is everything and no one has anything to say, Warner whittled down a one-hour press conference to a mere 15 minutes of chat from their famous guests, padded by the typical "I'm so happy to be here in Tokyo" pleasantries. The stars were then quickly whisked off to preen before the TV cameras and to do photo-ops at Tokyo Tower, which was lit up in "Matrix" green.

Many journalists who attended left muttering that there was nothing to write up. That's no exaggeration when the few questions asked were nonsense like this: "Unlike most American movies, 'The Matrix' has a hero with dark hair; does this reflect an Oriental influence on the film?"

Hello? Seen any Hollywood action flicks lately? Do the names Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise or Nicholas Cage ring a bell? Any blondes there?

Geoffrey Darrow could barely grope for an answer: "I couldn't tell you, umm . . . from what I know, when they [the directors] met Keanu, he was Neo, and Keanu has black hair. So . . . "

If Warner Japan is looking for some even more Draconian rules, perhaps they should try applying California's "three strikes, you're out" law to the media corps. One reporter managed to squeeze in three stupid questions in one breath:

No. 1: "Did you have any fears of coming to Japan because of SARS?"

Like, the cast would be there in Roppongi Hills if they did?

No. 2: "When will we get to see 'Matrix 3'?" -- a question that anyone who'd bothered to read the press release Warner handed out at the entrance would already know: "Nov. 5, in a simultaneous global release!"

No. 3: " 'The Matrix Reloaded' had an incredible opening weekend, the biggest box office take in the history of America. What do you credit to the success of this franchise?"

Ummm, perhaps the mesh of cyberpunk style, Hong Kong fantasy action, fetish fashion, postmodern philosophy and psychedelic visual effects all in one film? Maybe, a $300 million budget, the bulk of which went into the groundbreaking digital effects? How about a $100 million advertising budget? There are a lot of good answers to this question, but for God's sake, don't expect one if you ask Keanu Reeves!

"We're all here because of the vision of Larry and Andy Wachowski, who directed and wrote the film," Reeves said in that post-"Speed" voice of his, studiedly lower and reeking of vintage Clint Eastwood. "And their vision is, I think, a very accessible, fun film that has very universal elements, universal to us personally, I think, as people."

Then there was the current no-brainer question, making an appearance at every news conference these days: "Did you have any accidents during the shoot?" It's indicative of an era when the top Hollywood actors have become more good-looking stunt men than, well, actors. Fishburne sprained his wrist, and told us that Carrie-Anne Moss also broke her leg. Hugo Weaving mentioned a slipped disc, while Darrow -- ever the dry wit -- confessed to "a really nasty paper cut." Keanu, alas, emerged unscathed.

And finally, the question we've all been waiting to ask Lawrence Fishburne : "What did it feel like [as Morpheus] to wield a Japanese katana during the big highway action sequence?" Said Fishburne: "Handling the Japanese sword made me feel very much like, umm, an emperor."

Cue much nervous laughter.

References to the royal family are just a bit too out-of-control.

The Japan Times: June 4, 2003

Keanu attended at

From: Skizum
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 7:27 PM
To: brent beat manifesto
Subject: last night

GREAT SHOW IN L.A., I think it was one of our best.So many of our friends were there to share in the festivities, I give it an A+. I talked to Keanu about one movie - THE RIVER'S EDGE, I loved that movie and he agreed that it was one of his favorites. I did bring up that other film he did "The Matrix" , we liked that one too. I wish I had my NEO figure last night....dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think our U.S. run was great, a few weird things here and there... but thats normal. I didn't want to seem that I was down or dissapointed with the Texas shows. I think after the record has been out for a few months, we'll return to Texas and the crowds will be more familiar with the new shit and it'll be one big TEXTHRAX sandwich

I'm off for 3 days and then it's off to EURO for some fests and headlining shows. I'll be updating ya'll on how it's going over there and I'll still be searching for Mr Frodo of the Shire.

/CHAS B.

PS - This was a special treat for me, I was in heaven. I spoke to the people at Macfarlane about my comic book idea and a possible Anthrax diorama. I really hope we can do something together. There's some pics down below Keanu.

Matrix Foreign Total Rises to $250 Mil

Mon June 2, 2003 09:38 PM ET
By Brian Fuson

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Matrix Reloaded" was the "one" at the foreign box office last weekend, as its $55.3 million haul from 62 countries propelled its international total to an impressive $250 million.

Combined with its North American counterpart, the Keanu Reeves starrer has generated a worldwide box office total of a sterling $482.7 million to date, easily surpassing the $456.9 million brought in by the original "The Matrix" in 1999.

"Reloaded" was still the No. 1 film in most major international markets where it's been playing, and picked up its biggest gross from the United Kingdom, where the picture downloaded $6.2 million, bringing its local total to $35.9 million. Germany contributed $5.6 million last weekend, boosting total revenues to $24.2 million.

"Reloaded" proved formidable in France, holding the top spot for the third consecutive weekend, grossing $4.2 million and raising the local total to $28.8 million. The Andy and Larry Wachowski-helmed picture also made it a "three-peat" in Australia, picking up $2.2 million to lift the total there to $16.5 million.

Other European markets in which "Reloaded" made impressions included Spain, where theaters tallied $3.5 million, advancing the local total to $12.6 million. In Italy, where three other films opened this weekend, "Reloaded" maintained the top spot with $3.3 million, lifting the total there to $12.8 million.

Other totals include South Korea with $11.9 million, Mexico with $8.9 million, Russia with $6.5 million and Brazil with $6.0 million.

"X2: X-Men United" was still a contender as it picked up $5.5 million from 95 markets, advancing its international total to $177.1 million. The top markets this weekend were France, with $600,000, for a total of $16.9 million; Japan collected $831,000, down a nearly imperceptible 3% in its fifth frame, upping the total to $14.1 million; Mexico added $396,000, for a total to date of $13.2 million; and Australia contributed $347,000, off a modest 26% from last weekend, bringing the tally to $9.8 million.

"Bruce Almighty" had a strong start in the overseas waters as the Jim Carrey starrer grossed $5 million from No. 1 bows in three countries. The comedy picked up $3.8 million in Italy, $680,000 in Singapore and $540,000 in the Philippines, all personal bests for Carrey.

"Finding Nemo" captured the top spot in Malaysia with $253,000, 20% better than "A Bug's Life."

"Bringing Down the House" opened in the second spot in the United Kingdom with $1.9 million, a personal best for Steve Martin. In Mexico, "House" ranked No. 2 with $900,000, again a new high for Martin. Altogether, "House" grossed $2.8 million from seven territories, upping the total to $7.2 million.

"Kangaroo Jack" picked up $1.7 million from 14 markets, bringing its international total to $14.4 million.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Keanu reloaded

By: Noel de Souza
June 3, 2003

For an actor who actively resists fame, Keanu Reeves has become a reluctant movie star and has acquired a few trimmings to go with it.

Last week he put down the hefty sum of $7 million to purchase his first house in the Hollywood hills and now demands — and gets — a salary of $15 million per sequel of The Matrix films.

The Matrix and Keanu are synonymous; it is hard to imagine another actor in the role of Neo.

But all this does not mean that he has acquired a star attitude. To begin with he’s successfully cocooned his public image somewhere in a mist and therefore remains an enigma.

Keanu Reeves in Matrix Reloaded

When answering personal questions by the press he’s learned the art of minimalism, not wanting to conjure up the demons of his past. When he was a child his father abandoned his family, for a long time Keanu carried the scars and pain of that event.

In 1994, his father served two years in prison for possession of large quantities of cocaine and heroin.

In 1988, when riding his motorcycle in the canyons of the hills off the coast of California, Keanu took a nasty spill that has left him with a scar on his stomach having had an operation to remove his spleen.

It’s not his first scar; that came on his leg in 1996. But the biggest pain struck him in 1999 when his girlfriend, who was expecting his child, revealed that at full term the baby was found dead in her womb. And the very next year she died.

Up until he bought the house, Reeves was rootless and showed no signs of settling down. He’s close to his mother and sister. The latter now has cancer. He’s getting on in years so wouldn’t he like a family of his own?

“Yes, it depends on the day. Some days you are sitting at home or are in bed or walking around and you’re like ‘I’m lonely’ and some days you are like ‘Thank God I’m alone’.”

The open road is where Keanu is most at peace; he has two vintage motorcycles, which he rides every day, alternating between them.

While on the subject of Speed, which co-starred Sandra Bullock and was a box office success, Reeves turned down a hefty paycheck to forego the sequel.

“It would have been more than $20 million by the end of it, but I have no regrets. My days have been for the most part blessed.”

Reeves was keen to do The Matrix for more reasons than just artistic sensibility. “The whole idea of questioning where you are and why you are is something I go through all the time. When you think you’ve taken one step forward but in actuality you’ve taken two steps back.

Or in life when you think you’ve got it, you’re thrown a curve ball and everything is turned upside down.

The Matrix is more about a beginning than an end; it’s a film about questioning, awakening, consciousness, and love. Support, faith, evolution, man’s relationship to machines.”

A heavy load for an actor to carry as a back-story.

Doing a Matrix film has its share of physicality, so Keanu has to go through a rigorous regime.

“I had four months of basic training which consisted of two hours of stretching in the morning and an hour to hour-and-a-half of kicking and specific exercises. I’d maybe focus on a spinning roundhouse kick or a jump sidekick or something and then I’d break for lunch.

After lunch I’d warm back up and stretch a little more. Then if there was choreography to learn for the use of weapons, I’d do that and some more kicking and weight training at the end of the day. I spent a month working on the fight sequences and about three weeks with the stuntmen.”

The character Neo, played by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix films is almost Christ-like with an aura of mysticism surrounding him.

“It’s a film that utilises a lot of mystical, religious themes, it’s a synthesis of so many different things.

It might be an aspect of rebirth, dying, of Christianity or freeing one’s mind in context, in a kind of Siddharthic aspect. The characters ask the questions.”

The Matrix Reloaded, in spite of its spectacular action sequences, is a thinking person’s film.

What you learn about Keanu Reeves at the end of an interview is that he’s a gentle, polite human being, that he’s book smart and that somewhere deep down is a soul that has been wounded and yearning to be free.

Matrix Reloaded opens on June 13

Keanu Reeves Pocketing $200M From 'Matrix Reloaded'?

[Fri May 30, 2003 07:42PM]

According to estimates by Variety, Keanu Reeves could be making anywhere from $90 million to near $200 million from his starring role in The Matrix Reloaded, with the latter figure said to be the closest.

Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures are reported to have paid $30 million against 15% of the gross for both sequels. Because 'Matrix Reloaded' made so much when the theatrical split was weighted toward the studio that Reeves has burned through his $30 million advance and is already collecting 15% of the gross.

Since the first movie grossed nearly twice as much abroad to get to $350 million, estimates are that the first sequel could reach $700 million worldwide. When box office is added to revenues from the videogame, DVD, TV sale and other ancillaries, Reeves' earning potential is gigantic.

It gets better on The Matrix Revolutions, because he earns 15% of everything the moment the film opens in November.

Keanu's $313m(Aus doller) pay day

June 3 2003

Related:
Keanu to give away 'Matrix' millions to movie staff

Keanu Reeves has become Hollywood's highest paid star thanks to the success of the Matrix film series.

According to press reports today, his contract pays him 15 per cent of the gross take - giving him a paycheque of $US206 million ($A313.79 million) when videogame, DVD, TV and merchandising sales are taken into account.

And he still stands to earn more when the final film in the trilogy The Matrix: Revolutions comes out in November.

DPA

Die Another Day, dude: Canadians choose Keanu Reeves as their Canadian James Bond

TORONTO, June 3 /CNW/ - Forty-two per cent of commuters in Toronto andVancouver would cast action star, Keanu Reeves, as the first Canadian JamesBond, according to an informal survey released today to celebrate the launchof Die Another Day, available on Special Edition DVD and VHS tomorrow.

While Reeves beat out fellow Toronto actors Kiefer Sutherland and MikeMyers by a clear majority, the survey revealed that choosing a Canadian BondGirl was a more difficult task. Though Vancouver-born Carrie-Anne Moss waschosen as the Canadian Bond Girl with 43 per cent of the national vote, 39 percent of Torontonians selected the buxom Pamela Anderson, narrowly edging outCarrie-Anne Moss by one per cent. In Vancouver, commuters were more decisive:51 per cent of voters chose Moss over Anderson.

On May 27, 1,280 commuters in Toronto and Vancouver were asked thequestion, "Who would you choose to be the Canadian Bond and Canadian BondGirl?" The informal survey was conducted in high-traffic commuter areas tosupport the DVD and VHS release of MGM Home Entertainment's newest James Bondblockbuster, Die Another Day, available in stores nationwide on June 3.

Possible sex change means new credits on 3rd 'Matrix'

June 3, 2003

BY BILL ZWECKER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Following all the stories about ''Matrix'' co-creator Larry Wachowski allegedly taking hormones to prep for an upcoming sex change operation come reports from sources that say distributor Warner Bros. may be doing an alteration that will take a lot less work. For the upcoming third ''Matrix'' film (due in November), it seems the writing and directing credits for Chicago native Larry and his brother and partner, Andy Wachowski, will merely be listed as ''The Wachowskis.''

''That certainly would solve any gender issues that might be pending,'' a "Matrix" insider said Monday.

An in-depth story in the current National Enquirer goes into all the gory details of Wachowski's split from his wife, Thea, the onset of an S&M relationship with a dominatrix (who reportedly calls him ''Lana''), his penchant for wearing women's clothes and lingerie and his recent appearance at the Cannes Film Festival--wearing earrings, full makeup, etc.

Neither Warner Bros. nor a rep for the Wachowskis would comment on any aspect of this story.

Matrix international box office still loaded

Staff and agencies
Monday June 2, 2003

The Matrix Reloaded has now grossed $250m (£153m) outside the US in just three weeks.The Keanu Reeves sc-fi adventure took another $56m in 62 countries this weekend, with audiences turning out to see it despite, as Screendaily points out, a European heat wave.

In the UK it managed the second biggest weekend of all time, adding another £3.8m and bringing its box office to £22m. Germany added another $6.1m, with an impressive 70 per cent market share, while in France it took another $5.8m for $30.1m so far.

The film is performing well all over the world, holding onto the number one slot in Australia for a third week, in Brazil and Korea.

It's just opened in Indonesia and Screendaily says it's expected to have the biggest bow ever at around $415,000.

In America, meanwhile, the film, ably assisted by X-Men 2, has led to the second-best May ever in box office terms.

National box office was $962.1m, down just 5% on what the Hollywood Reporter calls the "extraordinary" $1.01bn taken in May 2002.

KEANU TO JOIN COLDPLAY?

Sky News gossip guru Neil Sean delivers the latest showbiz news:

Keanu Reeves is riding high with his latest Matrix movie.

With a £15m-per-movie pay deal, the star can certainly take a few chances with some other career options.

Remember the summer of '96 when Keanu and his indie band Dogstar made their UK festival debut at Reading?

Well, sadly that did not prove to be a great success for the actor who longs to be taken seriously as a rock star.

Now, though, I can reveal he is back on the rock trail.

Keanu recently held a secret meeting with the genius behind ultra-cool band Coldplay - Chris Martin.

My spies reveal that the two are planning to work on something together.

There may even be a musical collaboration for Keanu's band.

One thing's for sure - Keanu's dream of hitting the charts looks a whole lot healthier with Chris on board.