Author: Trafficblast

The news that Spider-Man might be leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe has, unsurprisingly, caused much dismay and disappointment amongst superhero movie fans. Marvel Studios parent company Disney and Spidey rights-holders Sony are in dispute over the financing of future movies featuring the web-slinger. While most actors involved within the MCU have remained quiet on the issue, there’s one MCU star who has expressed his opinion–Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner.

Renner posted the same image on both Twitter and Instagram, stating, “Hey Sony Pictures, we want Spider-Man back to Stan Lee and Marvel please, thank you.” The issue isn’t quite as simple as that–Sony has owned the movie rights to Spider-Man since Marvel sold them in 1999, and this dispute is over each studio’s financial stake and whether MCU producer Kevin Feige will continue to be involved with Spidey films. Nevertheless, Renner’s post has struck a chord with fans, with over 1.5 million likes on Instagram, and more than 40,000 retweets. Check it out below, and see if you can make sense of the bizarre hashtags that Renner has included:

Shortly after the story of the dispute broke, Sony responded with a statement. The studio claimed that many of the reports have “mischaracterized” discussions between the studios, and expressed “disappointment” that Feige would no longer be involved, laying the decision at Disney’s feet.

Of course, the big question remains about the future of the character in the MCU. Spider-Man: Far From Home was the official end of the MCU’s Phase 3, setting the stage for what’s to come from the universe of films. With Feige no longer being involved, it’s possible that the Spider-Man franchise could instead exist outside of the MCU.

Sony has already been building a non-MCU Spider-Man universe thanks to the film adaptation of Venom, as well as the upcoming Morbius movie, in which Jared Leto stars as the titular living vampire. Sources told Deadline that there were already two more planned Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland as the web-slinger, with director Jon Watts expected to return. For now, an extended cut of Spider-Man: Far From Home will hit theaters on August 29.

EA has published some fantastic games over the past two generations… and some that were a bit disappointing. Thankfully, in the latest Xbox One games sale, there are a bunch of discounts on awesome EA games. These include some of the absolute best Xbox 360 games, which are all playable on Xbox One.

For Xbox One games, we have discounts on the Apex Legends Founder’s Pack ($20), Titanfall 2: Ultimate Edition ($4.50), and Burnout Paradise Remastered ($5), in addition to The Sims 4 ($8) and a bunch of its bundles and expansion packs. You can also pick up the super cute Unravel and Unravel Two for $6.60 each or together in a bundle for $10. Dragon Age: Inquisition – Game of the Year Edition ($10) and Battlefield 5 ($18) are also both discounted. And if you’ve been wanting to pick up Star Wars Battlefront 2 ($7.50), Mass Effect: Andromeda ($9), or Anthem ($20) at a reduced price, now’s a good chance.

See all of the deals at Xbox.com

Now for what I get most excited about: backward-compatible Xbox 360 games. We have discounts on two games each from three of the publisher’s most beloved series: Dragon Age: Origins ($3.75) and Dragon Age 2 ($5); Mass Effect 2 ($6) and Mass Effect 3 ($6); and Skate ($7.50) and Skate 3 ($5). Three of my personal favourites are also on sale: Syndicate ($8), Fight Night Champion ($5), and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition ($5). Remember, all of these are playable on Xbox One, so you can buy them on sale, download them, and start playing immediately.

You can see the full sale on Xbox.com. In related news, there’s currently an offer that gives players 2 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $2. Ultimate bundles Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass on both Xbox One and PC.

It’s 2019, and the question “What is the Matrix?” was answered long ago. Nevertheless, as we recently learned, The Matrix 4 is officially happening–whether or not it’s needed.

I love the Matrix as much as anybody–more than most people, in fact. When I first watched the cyberpunk thriller at the impressionable age of 11, it pretty much blew my mind–I had to watch it at least a half dozen times before I was able to understand the concept that our reality is a computer simulation. But my friends and I, to this day, maintain a running joke that the sequels don’t exist. If someone brings up The Matrix Reloaded or The Matrix Revolutions, we look quizzically at one another as if we’ve never heard of them. “What sequels?” “It’s too bad that movie never got any sequels.” Etc.

It maybe isn’t a great joke, but it serves as more than that. It’s a defense mechanism. I’d rather live in a world in which The Matrix 2 and 3 don’t exist. Like the original movie’s duplicitous but kinda-has-a-point betrayer Cypher, I believe that in this case, “ignorance is bliss.” Cue the harp.

The Matrix sequels are bad. You may have enjoyed them at the time, and you may even still enjoy them. They had their moments–the million-Smiths fight was conceptually cool, despite being marred by bad CGI, and Reloaded’s freeway chase is an action highlight. But as far as the cultural zeitgeist is concerned, The Matrix 2 and 3 failed to live up to the original on almost every level. Regardless of your personal feelings about them, they’ve gone down in history as massive disappointments, despite the fact that they made a ton of money (which is why, decades later, we’re in this current pickle).

The Matrix doesn’t need another sequel, because The Matrix didn’t benefit from the sequels we already got. The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions added little of value to the series, and in fact, they arguably made the original worse by association–the fact that a story with that much setup and promise wound up concluding with a hackneyed Christ metaphor and mediocre CGI might temper your enjoyment of the original, even if, like me, you like to pretend it’s a standalone film. Whenever I watch the first Matrix–which is frequently–I have to continuously shush the grating voice in the back of my head whispering “Remember how bad these sequels were?”

Lana Wachowski’s involvement isn’t reassuring. Normally, when a new sequel to a beloved movie is announced, it’s taken as a good sign if the original creators are still at the helm. The Matrix is an exception to that rule. The Matrix wasn’t quite a fluke; The Wachowskis have been responsible for a couple of other bangers, including the 2005 V For Vendetta adaptation (they wrote and produced, but didn’t direct), and 2008’s Speed Racer (Wachowskis-written, produced, and directed), which some people liked. But the duo was also responsible for colossal turds like Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, and, of course, the Matrix sequels.

I think it’s fair to compare the Wachowskis’ work to M. Night Shyamalan’s: They’ve made some classics, and they might have more in them, but they’re not exactly a safe bet, especially considering that most of their successes occurred early in their careers. George Lucas is another fair comparison: Yes, they created something amazing, a franchise with a life of its own that’s far bigger than a single movie. But they also failed considerably when trying to expand on the world they had created.

The fact that Lana Wachowski is set to return to writing and directing duties for The Matrix 4 makes me less hopeful, not more, for this movie. As a diehard fan of the original Matrix and an equally diehard hater of the sequels, I wish the movie that started it all could simply stand on its own. Contrary to popular belief, the most interesting thing about the original Matrix wasn’t the “bullet time” action or the leather trenchcoats, but the restrained worldbuilding and the subtext-filled writing–writing for which the Wachowskis deserve full credit, but which they failed to live up to in subsequent attempts. If the franchise, such as it is, needs to have a future, the best way to do it would be to drop the known characters and world, and go in a totally different direction–but it doesn’t seem like that’s what’s in store.

And that’s not even getting into the fact that the original film’s red pill/blue pill binary has become a twisted touchstone for various nasty subsets of extremist internet culture. Is this really the right time to return to “Wonderland” and travel back down this particular rabbit hole?

I’ll remain open to whatever The Matrix 4 turns out to be–partially because it’s my job, and partially because I love the original so much. Even I have to admit that it’s a little bit exciting that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are also coming back, and I’m not really too concerned about how these two very dead characters might get written back in–it’s science fiction, they’ll figure something out. But right now, it’s hard to get past the feeling that whatever happens with this movie, we simply don’t need another Matrix sequel.

It’s been 20 years since the original Matrix changed action movies and sci-fi forever. I’m not saying we should never get to revisit its fictional world. But it should be done in a spin-off or reboot–a brand new story with new characters–not with yet another sequel featuring Neo, Trinity, and all the baggage of a movie trilogy that’s 20 years old and two thirds terrible. It’s hard to imagine this turning out good.