Neo, Mann, Australia, Abyss
A Digest of my latest Posts (November 2023)
Dear readers, this is the twelfth issue of an ongoing monthly-ish series that I like to call Mikhail’s Textual Variations Digest or MTVD, for short. Here you will find links to posts published over the course of November 2023 on Textual Variations.
If you like any of them, please share or crosspost to help T.V. get more readers. Seriously, this is a reader-supported publication, and could use the exposure. Please help!
November 7How Neo’s Character Arc Reveals The Matrix Superpower System
An extended 6,000-word post that examines how 'The Matrix' ties its emotional story to the development of an internally consistent and logical superpower system. In the process, it explains how the powers of Redpills, Potentials and The One ultimately work.
November 14Michael Mann Proves He's an Auteur by Continually Revising his movies
A short post that touches upon the revisionist tendencies of Hollywood filmmaker Micheal Mann by discussing the revision and release history of the 2015 thriller 'Blackhat,' which is reissued in a director's cut in November.
November 21Baz Luhrmann's 'Australia' Should've Ended in Tragedy
A deep dive into the underrated 2008 Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia,' its unseen alternate endings and informed speculation about the changes that could happen in its extended television version, 'Faraway Downs.'
November 28Why So Cyan? On the digital modernization of 'The Abyss'
In this article, I talk about various subjects pertaining to the upcoming remastered home video release of James Cameron’s underwater sci-fi thriller The Abyss (1989). In particular, I focus on its new color grade and how it makes visible the fact that digital remastering effectively modernizes movies.