quirk #478

last night, instead of rolling my eyes and changing the channel to something like "i love lucy", i saw "the matrix" was on tbs and decided it was time.
not necessarily the most ground breaking blogclamation ever made, but i've never fancied myself groundbreaking so when i say i'm worried about destroying my "rep", that's not what i'm referring to. no sir, that potentially defaming tidbit is to be found in the "why" i decided to finally watch "the matrix".
"surely, you watched it for all of the matrixy goodness. the shooting and fighting and mind blowing idea that our existence isn't real!"
hu.
i love a good conspiracy theory movie as much as anyone (although i did not love the movie "conspiracy theory") but last night i had but one motive. to bundle up in a blanket, eat a bowl of cereal, and witness the phenomenon i can only call "pure keanuness".
it's a thing. a latest obsession kind of a thing.
i'm not proud of it, but neither can i turn away from it. some actors exude warmth, some depth, but keanu? he exudes that certain je ne sais quois. whatever. je sais quois! it's "keanuness". there's no other word for it.
some people say he's a bad actor. up until 2 months ago, i was "some people". but now i see it's simply his varying inability to hide who he is. and that, my friends, is beautiful.
my new goal in life is to study this phenomenon and learn all i can about it. to study this great man's works and rate them on my keanuness scale from 0 to bill & ted.
a-like so...


by the way, "the matrix" rated a 3. i was kind of disappointed.

Comments

Nama said…
i get such a kick of you, kat! seriously...

and i was disappointed when i finally watched "the matrix", too. it doesn't seem so cool and original when you know that it's based on plato's "allegory of the cave" from "the republic". kind of a cheapened version of it.
sassinak said…
um:
yeah i wrote this post...
keanu reeves doesn't suck

hope i got the link right
john said…
I'm fairly neutral on the whole Keanu good/bad actor thing, but you know, I think you've got something here, Kat. I mean, when you see, say, Christopher Walken in a movie you know he's pretty much going to be Christopher Walken. Same with Jack Nicholson, Steve Buscemi and a handful of other "good" actors. So if these guys can be their respective selves in every role they play, why can't Keanu be "Keanu" in every role he plays?

Whoa...
Ben said…
Where does his role as "Johnny Utah" in Point Break fall? I'm sure it's pretty Keanutastic.
barnesanova said…
i think you had to see the matrix for the first time when it came out. i saw that movie in the theater, without knowing anything about it. i knew lawrence fishburne was in it, and that's about it. i walked out of there thinking, holy christ, not only was that out of nowhere, but it ended with 'wake up' by rage... how can that be bad!

best keanu movie, a split between bogus journey (how can you not love the reaper rap, STATION!!!), or perhaps, the replacements, a heartfelt story of one man's quest to return to his johnny utah days in a different script. touching.
Jon said…
Kat, you're so atractive when you speak French.
Persephone said…
So it's okay when Kat does it? Sigh.

Anyway, about Keanu. I'm going to have to say my opinion is somewhat skewed. Being a righteous disciple of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, I'm a big advocate of barely post-pubescent Keanu. Then I saw a few movies that made me go, "hu? Wasshetryingtodo?" but I wouldn't automatically categorize him in the sux pile. I think when he gets into the role, he can bring a certain Keanu-flair to it, including the sometimes appropriate oft times not appropriate monotone. (Direct reference to Don John's performance in Much Ado About Nothing.)
kat said…
i wasn't disappointed in the movie. the movie was cool, even 8 years later. i was disappointed in the lack of "keanuness". at no point did he strut, or look like he'd forgotten where he was, or mispronounce "socrates". sure he can do karate, but can he play the air guitar? he can dodge bullets, but can he make out with sandra bullock on a subway he just launched out of the tunnel?? he can bend a spoon with his mind, but is he "a plain dealing... villain"??
i think not.
Em said…
i like keanu because there's no possibility of getting distracted by things like voice influxion...
Leah said…
The monotone is a turn on. I love him in a Walk in the Clouds when Debra Messing is his wife. Come to think of it, that might be his most expressive role EVER.
sassinak said…
one of my favorite moments is the room service rant in johnny mnemonic. classic pure keanu wonderfulness