The Matrix

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Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a cubicle jockey by day, and an elite hacker by night. When a hacker cabal that has been watching him finally makes direct contact, his entire world is turned inside-out in one of the best science-fiction films ever made.

I went to the movies with two friends the night the Matrix was released. We had heard it was a must see from someone that said they were going back to see it a second time that day. As we approached the ticket booth, the man working behind the counter told us we had just bought the last three tickets.

About two and a half hours later, I walked out of that theater feeling like it was fate that had placed me in that theater seat, with that ticket, on that night.

A quick bit about myself before I get to my point- I have been an artist and writer since I was very young, and prior to seeing this movie, anything I had ever written, I had envisioned as work of sequential art (comic book/graphic novel) or animation. I had always been very influenced by animation/anime, and film, but my ideas had always been so unrealistic and surreal, there was no way a movie could ever compare with animation, at best. I walked out of that theater that night with my entire perception of visual storytelling turned on it's ear. I could now envision how such over the top and fantastic ideas could possibly translate to live-action film. It is still my #1 favorite movie of all time, as a die-hard sci-fi, dystopia, martial arts, and philosophy fanatic. It has since been a huge influence of mine, and it's one movie I never tire of discussing.

You could easily say that it was one of the best action/sci-fi films of the 20th century, but it's conceptual execution and role in spearheading the DVD revolution are what make it really important to the art of filmmaking for its era. The visual effects have been paid homage to and re-hashed ad nauseam, and the blend of cg vfx and practical fx are to this day impressive as hell. It was so visually ahead of its time that it did not translate to full-screen VHS well, at all. I don't know if you've ever been unfortunate enough to see it on VHS, but it is horrendous. It was the white knight in the 'DVD is the pinnacle of home movie experience' campaign and pretty much helped pave the way for the digital format.

But enough about that. This movie has a great supporting cast (Fishburne, Moss & Weaving), amazing vfx, dazzling martial arts choreography by master Yuen Woo Ping, a spectacular score by Don Davis, a mind-bending plot and some really great usage of both philosophical and religious allegory and while I could talk about it to no end, I'll just say that if you haven't seen this yet, you need to change that, soon. This movie is awesome, and to this day, fifteen years later, is my favorite movie of all-time.

Best. Movie. Ever.

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