Movies
One key reason is that most of the Big Event movies have lost any glimmer of individuality. The problem isn't just that they're sequels, but that they're all bulked-up, 1950's-style B-movies, crawling with sci-fi mutants, cyborgs, military experiments gone awry, drag racing and Vargas-like pinup girls. Even "The Matrix Reloaded," for all its futuristic visual effects, was weighted down with the kind of pseudo-intellectual blather that would've been at home in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series of '50s sci-fi novels.
-from Los Angeles Times.

I think they are giving Matrix Reloaded too much credit comparing it to Asimov.

In other news: I was stewing in nicotine-free tobacco-free anguish tonight so I decided to take a walk. As I walked by the theater, I noticed it was almost 9:30. So I bought a ticket for Terminator 3 and went to see it. Again. I rather enjoyed it this time. Alot of the plot holes seemed to solve themselves on second viewing. And I think on my first watch, I was looking too hard for the "emotional storyline", forgetting the thing that Terminator is all about: action. The movie has really great action in it. So anyway, I no longer regret T3 being a part of the coveted Terminator series.