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The Matrix film series has been a part of my childhood, and I think most '90s kids could say the same thing. The original movie (released all the way back in 1999) would go on inspiring movies as diverse as Charlies Angels (2000) and Inception (2010), and there's not much I can say about it here that hasn't been said elsewhere. It's the Citizen Kane of cyberpunk, a mind-boggling mix of Cartesian philosophy and martial arts. Movies such as this must have sequels, and, after two arguable installments, the series was thought to have come at an end. The story had spin-offs in other media like comic books and video games, but the directors seemed committed to never opening the Matrix door again. And now, after nearly two decades, when news of a fourth installment surfaced, it was mind-boggling in its own right. The most important question was: Can you take a long-over series and release a fourth movie, and still make it good? The trailer did look promising, and a detailed analysis of it by a YouTuber suggested an immensely complicated story that had to be designed from the ground up, while making sure you get as much reference of the old trilogy as possible. Does The Matrix Resurrections (or M4, for short), succeed in doing that? After finishing the movie on the same day it came out, and giving it some time to settle in my head, I'd say, it largely does.

The movie starts with a puzzling scene which looks like an almost shot-for-shot remake of the opening sequence of the first Matrix movie. There we meet an Agent, who soon realises he is more than that, and has a different destiny to fulfill. Meanwhile, Neo is living a troubled existence as a super successful game developer. His most popular game-guess what-is "The Matrix", and there's pressure to release a 4th installment of the game (by Warner Bros, no less). Neo keeps visiting his therapist, who prescribes him a boatload of blue pills (for all intents and purposes, the same blue pill one takes in order to stay in the Matrix, oblivious to reality). Neo has aged, he is socially awkward, and is much less lively than even the pale, nervous Thomas Anderson of the first movie. Sometimes he sees Trinity where he goes to dine. Soon enough, people who have already awakened to the real world intervene, and Neo's life changes-once again.

The first half of the movie is beautiful in its self-references, the meta-analysis of how studios go on making sequels of a popular franchise, what the story of the Matrix actually stood for... And at the same time, it also resurrects most of its memorable main characters. The first half of the movie is built like a carefully designed piece of self-explaining program: why the movie exists, and what, if any, point it might have. That part is thoroughly enjoyable, and it satisfyingly fulfills the yearnings of aging nerds like me who see the same favourite actors of their childhood (themselves aging) come forward and do something new with an old-but-not-dead story.

The latter half, though, may have left some of the yearnings unfulfilled. That is not to say the movie didn't try: it was so easy and simple for M4 to slip and slide down the steep hill of meaningless reboots. One of the original directors, Lana Wachowski, undoubtedly tried her best to make something meaningful out of this new sequel. The movie had a way of avoiding complexity, and sometimes maybe that approach wasn't the best. The character of Agent Smith, resurrected in a whole different manner, could have served a little more purpose. Was the main antagonist a bit cliché? Maybe. But the movie, like a flying Neo, can rise above these apparent shortcomings.

When I first watched the trilogy, Facebook didn't exist. I barely had an internet connection. In all these years, the world has dramatically changed. Let's face it: we are living in the Matrix of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok. In a lot of ways, watching one of the Matrix movies is a lot like watching a loose adaptation of our own world. Lana Wachowsk seems to have considered that, and the social media and smartphone references in the movie, while not too obvious, are meaningful and sharp. The post-credit scene, while comic in nature, posed a very serious question in my mind: are movies really dead? In a world full of mini cat videos, one has to wonder.

The words I put in the summary were haphazard; it's hard to describe Ergo Proxy in a few words. It does have a masterful story, and the overall design is intensely sophisticated, the characters are brilliantly memorable, and the overall theme, while "esoteric" to some, is deeply emotional and humane. The series doesn't try to explain things away; if you don't pay attention, you'll miss a lot. But as the story progresses it becomes so engrossing that not paying attention is almost impossible. It doesn't try to be smart and philosophical; it's naturally so. Some shows try to highlight the inherent ideas so much that it starts seeming superficial at some point, but not with Ergo Proxy; the deep psychological episodes in the story are not only necessary, but elements that adds to the enjoyment.

The anime starts in distant future, in a "dome city" called Romdeau, populated by citizens and androids in human form called "AutoReivs" who are encouraged to waste more. Re-l Mayer, granddaughter of the highest authoritative figure in the city, is investigating a series of crimes apparently carried out by AutoReivs infected with a virus called "Cogito", which imbues them with self awareness. Re-l is bored, she yearns for change. While investigating, she comes across a face she knows, an immigrant named Vincent Law, whose dream it is to be accepted into the society as a fellow citizen...

What is built upon this humble premise is extraordinary. To watch, AND to understand the series is to fall in love with it, utterly, blindly. If someone has told you it was no good, you will know they didn't quite get it. Before I could start the last episode, it was time for me to go out to work, and the only thought that kept rolling in my head was, if I were to die outside, I won't be able to finish it, and that will be the only thing I'll regret about my whole life!

The second installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, built upon premises set in the first film, is not a a continuation of the old story, but it sets out to tell a new one. Oftentimes, in the lore of adventure fantasy films, such a trait is met with disappointment. But not so with this one; Dead Man's Chest is a captivating, alluring and, coming out of the slightly fairly-tale air of its predecessor, pleasantly dark. The darkness issues from failed love, a man's inner torments which he wants to inflict upon others, and the visual gloom of the great ghost ship. Captain Jack Sparrow is as full of his paradoxical wits as ever. He is in his primes. We come to meet some of the aspects of his "truer" self which were too elaborate for the first film. Overall a tour de force of computer graphics and its manipulation to tell a human tale. Director Gore Verbinsky is masterful in telling his magical dark story. And without saying something about the soundtrack, all of this would be vain: the wrathful organ playing of Davy Jones is, in my opinion at least, one of the greatest pieces ever composed.