Okay, I'll say this much in defense of the Matrices: (a) the first Matrix movie is emphatically not a stinker; (b) I appreciated the second two a lot better after reading these links [1]:

http://corporatemofo.com/media_and_mediocrity/the_matrix_rel...

http://web.archive.org/web/20071005000019/http://www.corpora...

I mean, I still don't think the sequels worked very well, particularly #3, but I admire the audacity of the experiment.

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[1] (Alas, the second link now appears to be Wayback Machine material. Essayists, defend your archives!)