Matrix Rip-off?

[3RA1N1AC]

Originally posted by Withcheese@30 March 2004 - 19:29
That must have been some casting session:

Wac Brother#1: "Who shall we get to play Neo?

Wac Brother#2: "How about Will Smith?"

Wac Brother#1: "Are you smoking crack again?

Wac Brother#2: "Yes."

Wac Brother#1: "Give me some."

Few tokes later.

Wac Brother#1: "Hey man, I got a great idea! How about that guy from Bill & Ted's....

Wac Bro #1: check it out. idea for a movie.

Wac Bro #2: what's that?

Wac Bro #1: get this... Lawnmower Man meets The Karate Kid...

Wac Bro #2: eh? that sounds like a terrible idea.

Wac Bro #1: ...with trenchcoats...

Wac Bro #2: it's starting to sound better.

Wac Bro #1: ...and tons of slow-motion, just like in The Six Million Dollar Man.

Wac Bro #2: brilliant!

Wac Bro #1: i've got this pile of old sci-fi crap that we can copy a bunch of stuff from, and we can drop in random shit from these books i still have from my freshman philosophy courses.

Wac Bro #2: now we're cookin'.

[Busyman]

The original things the Matrix did have:

Using humans as batteries

Bullet time



Bullet time was pretty sharp and is what made the Matrix have the following it has. It set it apart from other movies.

[Cygnuz-Y]

Wac Bro #1: check it out. idea for a movie.

Wac Bro #2: what's that?

Wac Bro #1: get this... Lawnmower Man meets The Karate Kid...

Wac Bro #2: eh? that sounds like a terrible idea.

Wac Bro #1: ...with trenchcoats...

Wac Bro #2: it's starting to sound better.

Wac Bro #1: ...and tons of slow-motion, just like in The Six Million Dollar Man.

Wac Bro #2: brilliant!

Wac Bro #1: i've got this pile of old sci-fi crap that we can copy a bunch of stuff from, and we can drop in random shit from these books i still have from my freshman philosophy courses.

Wac Bro #2: now we're cookin'.

OMG, here we go again, i smell another flame war starting

[Cheese]

Originally posted by Cygnuz-Y@31 March 2004 - 03:17

Wac Bro #1: check it out. idea for a movie.

Wac Bro #2: what's that?

Wac Bro #1: get this... Lawnmower Man meets The Karate Kid...

Wac Bro #2: eh? that sounds like a terrible idea.

Wac Bro #1: ...with trenchcoats...

Wac Bro #2: it's starting to sound better.

Wac Bro #1: ...and tons of slow-motion, just like in The Six Million Dollar Man.

Wac Bro #2: brilliant!

Wac Bro #1: i've got this pile of old sci-fi crap that we can copy a bunch of stuff from, and we can drop in random shit from these books i still have from my freshman philosophy courses.

Wac Bro #2: now we're cookin'.

OMG, here we go again, i smell another flame war starting

I hope not and I hope any mods take a dim view of anyone who wants to start flaming. I see no way that any of this can be taken offensively, we are just taking a light hearted look at a film, I do this in real life as well, it's a good way of examining a films faults and what it does well. Plus it's good fun.

Anyone who takes this shit seriously needs to think long and hard before they post.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by Busyman@31 March 2004 - 03:06
The original things the Matrix did have:

Using humans as batteries

Bullet time



Bullet time was pretty sharp and is what made the Matrix have the following it has. It set it apart from other movies.

I've seen humans used as batteries before in a film or something I'm sure but I'll get back to you on that.

The human battery thing always bothered me...

Why not use animals instead of humans? Much more docile and no need of complex programs to keep them from revolting. Mind you a film about, say, goats escaping from a Matrix might not have done so well.

edit: Unless the goats were wearing trenchcoats...

[Tetsujn]

u ppl need to figure out the difference between copying something and a tribute. when a movie uses the same score as another movie of a simillar idea in order to get ppl into the theatre, that's copying. when a movie uses a few vauge ideas to pay omage to classics, that's a tribute. they have nothing to gain from these tributes. the ppl who copy, however, have to fill seats and what better way than to appeal to those who like the exact brand they're producing. with that in mind they try and show off the same mood through any media possible (an epic score used in one of the biggest trilogy's of all time, anyone?). Then again this isn't the movies faut. it's the marketers. I, myself, don't see the big deal. it's just a score and after the matrix films came out I knew ppl were gonna use the music from it. afterall it used just about every song from Tomb Raider Soundtrack to promote it's films. nothing wrong with that other than the fact that the score was made just for the the matrix and nothing else. u dont see anyone else using the Star Wars score or the Terminator score. it would be like stealing. i dunno who gave the rights to the song (*cough JOEL SILVER *cough*) but in all fairness, the actual movie is what matters and not the song used to promote it.

[Busyman]

Anyone notice how the X-Men trailers looked and they were marketed.

Now look at how League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen or LXG was marketed and to further that

Hellboy

notice the silver metallic in all of the trailers.

[Busyman]

Originally posted by Tetsujn@31 March 2004 - 00:59
u ppl need to figure out the difference between copying something and a tribute. when a movie uses the same score as another movie of a simillar idea in order to get ppl into the theatre, that's copying. when a movie uses a few vauge ideas to pay omage to classics, that's a tribute. they have nothing to gain from these tributes. the ppl who copy, however, have to fill seats and what better way than to appeal to those who like the exact brand they're producing. with that in mind they try and show off the same mood through any media possible (an epic score used in one of the biggest trilogy's of all time, anyone?). Then again this isn't the movies faut. it's the marketers. I, myself, don't see the big deal. it's just a score and after the matrix films came out I knew ppl were gonna use the music from it. afterall it used just about every song from Tomb Raider Soundtrack to promote it's films. nothing wrong with that other than the fact that the score was made just for the the matrix and nothing else. u dont see anyone else using the Star Wars score or the Terminator score. it would be like stealing. i dunno who gave the rights to the song (*cough JOEL SILVER *cough*) but in all fairness, the actual movie is what matters and not the song used to promote it.

The main problem I had with the original Matrix was that they ripped off a comic called the Invisibles BIG TIME.

The Waks read comics so I know they "came across" it at some point. I'm surprised they weren't sued.

Either way I liked the movie even if the ideas were stolen.

[Cygnuz-Y]

Originally posted by Withcheese+31 March 2004 - 04:29--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Withcheese @ 31 March 2004 - 04:29)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Busyman@31 March 2004 - 03:06
The original things the Matrix did have:

Using humans as batteries

Bullet time



Bullet time was pretty sharp and is what made the Matrix have the following it has. It set it apart from other movies.

I&#39;ve seen humans used as batteries before in a film or something I&#39;m sure but I&#39;ll get back to you on that.

The human battery thing always bothered me...

Why not use animals instead of humans? Much more docile and no need of complex programs to keep them from revolting. Mind you a film about, say, goats escaping from a Matrix might not have done so well.

edit: Unless the goats were wearing trenchcoats... [/b][/quote]
Because machines were trying to take revenge on humans, if you saw the animatrix you know what im talking about....

[3RA1N1AC]

Originally posted by Cygnuz&#045;Y@30 March 2004 - 20:17
OMG, here we go again, i smell another flame war starting&nbsp;

jeez, what do you expect? it&#39;s a thread started by a guy who thought "i robot" is some kind of matrix ripoff, even though it&#39;s based on stories by a guy who died more than a decade ago.

the idea that recent movies have any original plots worth ripping off is pretty funny. most sci-fi movies today are still based on ideas/themes from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. some of the ideas were just too abstract or controversial to put into movies at that time. machines rebelling against their masters?... that one goes back at least as far as the silent movie "Metropolis," where the underground workers are essentially lifeless robots.

is it still possible to have originality in the style and special effects? yes. but stories? maybe, but it&#39;s pretty rare for a movie to come out now that isn&#39;t full of story elements that have already been done before.