A Glitch in the Matrix, probes simulation theory with similar intent.
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The Nightmare, which explored the terrifying world of sleep paralysis,
A Glitch in the Matrix is about something that technology can’t be visualized, because much like someone else’s dream it’s impossible to see. However, there are obviously dozens of pop culture works (especially the 1999 sci-fi blockbuster that gives an assist to the doc’s title) that help flesh out Ascher’s journey through the notion that maybe, just
maybe, reality isn’t what it seems to be. And even if you think the idea that we’re all living in a simulation is outright ridiculous,
MALCOLM & MARIE: 3 STARS “Malcolm & Marie,” a two-hander starring Zendaya and John David Washington, now streaming on Netflix, is a pandemic movie. It was shot during lockdown, in one location under strict health protocols, but there’ is no mention of a virus or face masks. Instead, it crackles with anxiety, a feeling many are now all too familiar with. Washington and Zendaya are the titular couple; an up-and-coming movie director and aspiring actress. Their romantic relationship is strained when he forgets to thank her from the stage during his new film’s premier. She’s not in the movie, but believes much of the story was borrowed from the more troubled moments of her life. It’s 1 a.m., tensions are running high as the gloves come off in an escalating power struggle.
Here s what s playing â Feb. 5-11 â on virtual cinemas in the Berkshires and environs. Where films have been reviewed, the capsules include the name of film critic and the day the full review was posted on berkshireeagle.com. All reviews are by Associated Press critics.
76 DAYS
On January 23rd, 2020, China locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to combat the emerging COVID-19 outbreak. Set deep inside the frontlines of the crisis, this documentary tells indelible human stories at the center of this pandemic â from a woman begging in vain to bid a final farewell to her father, a grandpa with dementia searching for his way home, a couple anxious to meet their newborn, to a nurse determined to return personal items to families of the deceased. These raw and intimate stories bear witness to the death and rebirth of a city under a 76-day lockdown, and to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy. 1 hour, 33 minutes.. VC
Mind-blowing, boggling, bending: ‘A Glitch in the Matrix’ is Sundance’s red pill
Sundance Institute/Courtesy
Grade: 4.0/5.0
Is everything fake? The question of whether our reality is indeed “real” troubles and fascinates many. Simulation theory postulates that our entire existence is a computer simulation, like a video game in which we are actually walking codes controlled by an operator of higher intelligence. This theory is the focus of “A Glitch in the Matrix,” a documentary directed by Rodney Ascher, premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. “A Glitch in the Matrix” plays with questions that have plagued humanity since the dawn of time and consciousness: What are we? Why are we here? What is the
Red Line 7000 (1965)
Critic Nick Pinkerton recently fired out the Twitter provocation that âfor decades nearly the entire weight of the industrial American film criticism apparatus has been put into forcing people to pay attention to Sundance indies that no one will remember in a year when it should have been telling them to just chill and watch Red Line 7000.â With this yearâs Sundance titles already starting to appear on these shores, and said Howard Hawks racing-car drama showing up on Talking Pictures TV this weekend, itâs a fine time to trial his theory. Hawksâ late-period movies have long played the role of a stress test for the auteur theory. Can a fishing movie involving a shot of a bear riding a motorbike (1964âs Manâs Favorite Sport?) be an autumnal masterpiece? Indeed it can. Red Line 7000 is the picture he made just after that, a flabbier return to the speedway thrills and off-track camaraderie of his 1932 The Crowd Roars â one tha