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First Yank Into Tokyo (1945)
A bizarre time capsule of WW2 racial politics
At one point, during the third act there's a bit where a belly dancer appears flailing a pair of katana around much to the voracious delight of a bunch of drunk Japanese soldiers. I kinda wish the rest of the movie had kept that energy because it would've been a hell of a lot more entertaining, if still not approaching anything "good".
First Yank Into Tokyo is every World War II Allied propaganda cliche and trope distilled down into a sub-90 minute runtime and executed with a B-level budget. Melodrama? Check. Yellowface? Check. Richard Loo? Check. Cheap standing backlot sets only mildly repurposed to try and fit their new exotic setting and stretching suspension of disbelief in the process? Check. (An Imperial Army compound looks suspiciously like a swanky mansion in Pasadena.) A plot constantly having to be rewritten and revised to keep up with the actual progress of the still-ongoing war? Check. Woeful misunderstanding/misrepresentation of wartime Asian governments, people, and culture both allied and enemy? Double check. Just plain old fashioned racism? Check.
This movie is weird. It's plot is about an American Air Force ace (Tom Neal of Detour fame) who gets what can best be described as yellowface surgery to infiltrate a Japanese prison camp to rescue a scientist with the Manhattan Project. We're told that our all-American hero (he plays football and everything) is uncannily good at imitating Japanese language and mannerisms to the point of being able to fool any native. Said chameleon-like ability involves Neal speaking in a bizarre pseudo-racist caricature of what a stroke victim with dementia and a speech impediment thinks a Japanese person sounds like. It'd be offensive if it wasn't so damn weird, whatever Neal's trying to do it just sounds like he has a bunch of cotton stuffed between his gums. Even weirder, it's a put-on that almost none of the other "actual" Japanese characters (most of whom are at least played by actual Asian actors) attempt; they just sound a bit stilted and day "excellency" and "honorable" a lot.
"More weird than offensive" is really an aphorism that can apply to this whole movie. The movie has such a strange take on race that one wonders if it was an attempt to be avant-garde, however unlikely that is. We're told repeatedly that Neal's surgical procedure is irreversible, a fact that is treated as some great tragic sacrifice, that this handsome square-jawed Caucasian will have to spend the rest of his life looking Japanese. Not "being" Japanese, but just "looking" Japanese is a fate worse than death - Neal chooses to die an extremely avoidable death and effectively abandon his true love to fate just because he can't stand the idea of going back to America looking Asian. "Whenever she looks at me, she'll just think of the other Japs, the ones who hurt her," he says with all the gravitas he can muster, as she is literally begging him to come with her.
Of course Neal isn't ACTUALLY Japanese, as the movie is quick to remind us. Again. And again. After all, what gives him away to his fellow whites is not his obviously fake forehead or eyelids, but his air of compassion and humanity literally all other Japanese are devoid of. The movie reiterates again and again how the Japanese are soulless, lecherous, ruthless monsters who will stop at nothing to conquer the world and can't be reasoned with even by superior American post-secondary education. That the film ends in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the first time said event had ever been discussed or shown in a movie) and a heroic overture with a narrator declaring that "man can once again live in peace", this film just screams the exterminationist rhetoric most other WW2 films just hint at. Funny how as much America (somewhat rightfully) lambasted Japan for its racial supremacist and genocidal tendencies, it seems more than happy to coopt that very same rhetoric for its own ends.
Which brings us to possibly the film's only real artistic or historical significance; the character Haan-Soo (played by the ever-underrated Keye Luke). Haan, a Korean black marketer and secret agent of la resistance, is the film's only real positive Asian presence, insofar as he's the only significant non-white character to not be characterized as "kill this person, they are insane and irredeemable, kill them all". Haan deliberately plays on racial stereotypes as a willfully subsurvent, bootlicking handyman to cover for his clandestine activities. Like Neal, he's wearing a racial mask, hiding his true intentions behind broad stereotypes to ingratiate himself among his enemies. Haan is a million times more interesting a character than Neal, least of all because he's one of the only on-screen, wartime acknowledgements of Korean involvement in the Allied cause, albeit in a roundabout and heavily fictionalized way. It's also the one place where the movie's racial politics approaches some degree of nuance, possibly unintentionally. To the average American (especially pre-war), there was no meaningful difference between a Japanese or Korean (assuming they even knew there was one), they were all just "Oriental" and "foreign" and lumped together. But in this movie, where to be Asian is a fate worse than death, Haan is an unambiguously positive presence. The fact that the Japanese characters are played by exclusively non-Japanese actors, effectively one massive act of racial masking, just adds to this unintentional metatext.
Speaking of Japanese characters played by non-Japanese actors, Richard Loo is someone who really gets the short end of the stick in retrospect. An actor known for playing precisely one very specific type of character in one very specific circumstance, the man just oozes character actor charisma. "Sleazy Japanese officer" might've been his type, but damn if he wasn't good at it. Self-assured, menacing, treacherous and completely devoid of sympathy; he leans on every stereotype and beat you'd anticipate and you end up kind of loving him for it. It's kind of telling that along with Keye Luke, he ends up giving the most compelling performance in the whole movie. Our "heroic" leads might be blander than soggy saltines, but at least we have Loo and Luke there to ham things up and actually, y'know, act.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
It's Alright
Meh, it could've been better but I can't bring myself to get mad about the Space Wizard Movies Intended for Children.
Highway to Hell (1991)
Offbeat Comedy Horror
An offbeat slice of high-concept early 90s horror-comedy from the guy who made DROP DEAD FRED (the same year no less!) best remembered for its plethora of inexplicable cameos. It has an incredibly odd, difficult to pinpoint tone and style that's part DANTE'S INFERNO, part music video, part BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY, and part MAD MAX. De Jong's directing is seeped in the kind of gonzo, early-MTV era locals and imagery that gives the whole film a subtly surreal, at time almost artsy vibe, not the least due to the New Wavey soundtrack that seems to permeate every scene regardless of content or tone. It's precisely the sort of visually high-concept, effects-driven horror B-movie that rose to prominence in the wake of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's unprecedented success. If that's your sort of thing, then by all means give it a watch.
Land of the Dead (2005)
A flawed but entertaining B-movie
George A. Romero's long-awaited return to the genre he helped create is a very, very mixed bad if not a consistently entertaining one.
Romero's greatest strength as a director have always been his creativity, creating iconic moments and literally raising the zombie from the ground up on low budgets and tight schedules. Thus, it's more than a little disappointing to see LAND, the first in his DEAD series to see major studio backing and his highest-budget to date, be so riddled with a distinct lack of imagination. Romero's depiction of a zombie-infested, post-apocalypse never feels as bleak or gritty as the brief glimpses afforded in his predecessors. Characters still speak of things like cars, countries, and pop culture in the present tense; what's left of society still somehow needs and uses currency that should've long ago been rendered worthless. The class divide still looks like the class divide now, shopping malls and luxury highrises replete with waiting lists and Boards of Directors are still open and operational as usual. It all feels artificial, incomplete; not completely surprising for a script strung together from unused pieces of DAY, but nonetheless disappointing.
The blockbuster budget is both a blessing and a curse. The scope of the film, though grander and more far-reaching then any of its predecessors combined, still feels claustrophobic and (ironically) devoid of life, and not in the good way. A long-dead Pittsburgh is never more than a few samey, empty-looking suburban streets with a suspicious lack of decaying carcasses and overgrown plant life. DAY's opening three minutes of a long-abandoned, desolate Orlando is more chilling and more grounded then anything this film has to offer. The relatively-straightforward plot often feels meandering and listless, going off on random tangents and introducing a rotating cast of wacky side characters more memorable than any of our leads. Said supporting cast, including standouts John Leguizamo, Robert Joy, Dennis Hopper, Eugene Clark, and Asia Argento, are this film's salvation, giving memorable and borderline-campy performances to make up for the nothing lead that is Simon Baker. He's a bland, generic "blonde hero guy" who's supposedly a misanthropic anti-hero but never comes across as anything more then mildly whiny, existing solely to perpetuate an already blatant political allegory that beats the audience over the head with how obvious it is. Then again, his spotlight is often drowned out by the mass of other supporting characters, which proves another fault by Romero. There are too many characters, and only so much runtime.
And yet in spite of that, the film's still immeasurably entertaining. Romero injects that indelible "X" factor that permeated his previous works and made them so beloved. The zombie makeup and gore effects, courtesy of Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, are as good as they've ever been (save for some questionable CGI). The aforementioned supporting cast is lively and plays off each other well. And the action is as solid and gloriously pulpy as its ever been, one of the few areas where the budget really shines. Romero's no slouch, even at his most average he's still miles ahead of many other directors in the same sphere. LAND is deeply flawed, deeply imperfect, but then again you could say the same about what came before. It's still a solid B-movie, and at the end of the day that's all George ever wanted to make.
Absolute Beginners (1986)
A Breathtaking Rush of a Movie Where Things Happen and People Say Things
For a film that was designed to and hyped as the savior of the much-troubled British film industry through international success, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is hampered from a setting and premise that is, for lack of a better description, too British. Anyone not familiar with late-1950s British sociopolitics, the post-WW2 rise of far-right and neo-fascist groups, the differing subculture of the period and their influence on musical and broader popular culture is bound to feel like they're being dragged along through an exhilarating ride through an alien world with no time to catch your breath.
It's a series of breathtakingly-choreographed and staged music videos strung together by the thinnest of plots, with things happening for seemingly no logical rhyme or reason except to show the audience something cool and expensive. And believe me, it is all very cool and very expensive. But the absence of strong leads in either Eddie O'Connell or Patsy Kensit and a definite directorial philosophy of "style over substance" that manifests itself as movie "things happen just because". A 14-year old con artist that goes from bubblegum pop merchandise hawker, to pimp, to white supremacist? There's that. David Bowie as an advertising executive-nee-corrupt real estate developer using said white supremacists to force minority tenants out of a future gentrification zone, whose accent oscillates wildly between dialect and continent? This film's got you covered. Bruce Payne screaming the lyrics "Great Balls of Fire" while pounding on a flaming piano? Don't know why or how you'd want that, but this movie certainly delivers. ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is a film of set-pieces and expensive showcases but little else, intended to envoke some deep sense of nostalgia for a period that most contemporary audience will be completely alien to. It's a film that just sort of exists because it does.
Red Dawn (2012)
A bland, lifeless, trite rehash of an already-troubled property.
They somehow took a shallow, jingoistic propaganda piece and made a significantly more shallow, jingoistic propaganda piece. Whatever broad concessions John Milius' might've made to the somewhat morally grey, grittier side of war are replaced with faux-Expendables action schlock. And that wouldn't be such a bad thing if the movie didn't take itself so damn seriously. For all it's faults, the original at least was trying to say something. It wasn't much, it wasn't nuanced, but it was something. Match that with the sub-CW acting and signficantly-worse rehashes of scenes from the original, and you have a confused, glib, wet tortilla of a movie. Adrienne Palicki's cool though.
Public Enemies (2009)
One of Mann's most underappreciated and effective works
Michael Mann vehicles always take a while to grow on you. The first time I saw it I didn't think it was anything too remarkable, just a period gangster flick with a lot of stylistic flourishes. Having re-watched recently as part of an ongoing Michael Mann kick, I can safely say it's one of the most thoughtful and achingly beautiful "Very Serious™" tentpole movies of the past decades. Mann knows how to take a script that in the hands of a lesser director would just be average and elevate it to something indescribable and, for lack of a better word, cosmic. Everything from the acting (including fine turns from Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, and a tragically underutilized Billy Crudup), gritty but beautiful cinematography, gorgeous production and costume design, to Elliot Goldenthal's delicate and varied score give the impression of a period in history playing out before the audience's eyes and ears in a way few films I've seen have accomplished. John Dillinger's mythic crime spree is depicted simultaneously as romantic & tragic and gritty & brutal. Those unaccustomed to Mann's particular mode of low-shutterspeed, gritty handheld digital photography may find the presentation off-putting. But to those who know and appreciate it for what it is, Public Enemies is one of the director's most underappreciated works to date and ought to be reappraised as such.
Warriors of Virtue (1997)
Average but Watchable Fantasy Flick
This movie is a strange time capsule of the late 1990s, falling into the odd little subgenre of "kids' fantasy movie" that was quite popular in that decade, but seems to have faded away into obscurity. At a time when Power Rangers was arguably at the height of it's popularity, this strange mix of late twentieth century adolescent filmmaking and classical Chinese philosophy might leave the average viewer perplexed. Originally conceived by Chinese superstar producing team the Law Brothers (more movies than I can count) after the passing of their father, Warriors of Virtue follows Ryan (Mario Yedidia; the very definition of milquetoast), your average kid from the suburbs who is magically transported to the mystical realm of Tao (the pronunciation of which the mostly-American cast seems incapable of nailing down), joining forces with a team of anthropomorphic kangaroos who know wire-fu (don't ask) in the struggle against the fashion-challenged warlord Komodo (Angus Macfayden, more on him later) and his army of generic goons. Mixed in are a series of periodic pop-philosophical platitudes that don't really seem to tie in to the overall story and characters. For a film where the Taoist philosophy is made the main focus, it feels incredibly artificial and tacked-on, as if the screenwriter(s) didn't fully understand it. This is compounded by the simple fact that no one seems to pronounce the word properly. (For the record, it's pronounced with a hard 'D' sound, as in 'Dao') You would think that a movie made by a mostly-Chinese crew partially filmed in China would have gotten this fairly noticeable detail right. It gives the impression that the filmmakers simply weren't trying. The set design comes across as bland and uninspired. It's every 'magical' forest you've ever seen in a movie or TV show. The movie wastes a potential opportunity to showcase some truly inspired production design, considering China's rich artistic and architectural history. The cinematography by powerhouse Hong Kong DP Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is equally disappointing, coming across as incredibly bland, flat, and lifeless, with an overuse of slow-motion and a strange blur effect that makes many of the action sequences difficult to watch. The acting ranges from unfathomably hammy (Komodo is simply a joy to watch every time he's on screen) to blandly competent (Ryan is every protagonist from every kids movie ever made). The suits used for the eponymous Warriors come across as more unsettling than memorable, though the legendary Doug Jones (as the warrior Yee) does make an admirable acting effort. The stunt-work, while skillfully handled, isn't anything we haven't seen before and fails to impress. Veteran director Ronny Yu (The Bride With White Hair, Freddy Vs Jason) makes an admirable effort, but fails to show off any of the same energy and talent that made his Hong Kong films stand out. The only aspect of the film that rises above average is the incredible score by Don Davis (The Matrix, House on Haunted Hill). If anything, it shows that even the most unremarkable of films can still have memorable music. And that's really what this film is, unremarkable. It's isn't particularly bad. The acting is fine overall, script moves a long at a swift pace, and the effects work is decent. But that's all it is. Decent. It's watchable, yes, but far from extraordinary. And for a film about Taoist Kangaroos who know martial arts, that is a sin greater than any other.
Dèmoni (1985)
A Semi-Coherent, Metal-as-Hell, Glorious Slice of Eighties Horror Cheese
My status as a film buff seems to exist in two separate states. On the one hand, I will wax lyrical about the subtle genius of Godard, Fassbinder, and Bertolucci. I'll watch pretentious European art-house cinema of the most stereotypical variety without even a hint of irony. I will regard Ingmar Bergman as a literal god-figure to worshiped in all of his glory. On the other hand, I will spend forty-plus dollars on a blu-ray of Dario Argento's Phenomena and gush over the sheer lunacy of B-movies. Demons (or Demoni, in its native Italy) is everything a geek like me could want. Gratuitous gore and violence, questionable dubbing, explosions, and a kick-ass eighties soundtrack. Co-written and produced by Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red), Demons came from Argento's desire to create a purely commercial film after tasting such success with 1978's Dawn of the Dead. Thus, Demons is a film with little in the way of a coherent plot or deep characterization. And yet somehow it manages to be wholly appealing at the same time. The plot, which follows the spread of a zombie-like form of demonic possession spreading through a Berlin movie theater, exists solely to facilitate the numerous action and scare sequences. The score by Argento regular Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin fame) manages to be exciting, creepy, and perfectly suited to adrenaline-soaked visuals. This film is entertainment, pure and simple. To anyone looking to get into B-movies or Italian horror (or better yet, both) I highly recommend this film as it's a very accessible entry point into both genres. Just sit back, open a can of Coke, shut your brain off, and prepare to have the time of your life.
Pray for Death (1985)
The Quintessential Eighties Ninja Movie
Ridiculous fight scenes? Check. Katanas? Check. Shuriken? Check. Cheesy Pop Ballad? Check. A fundamental misunderstanding of what a ninja actually is? Check. And of course, Sho Kosugi? Check. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the ultimate eighties ninja movie. Made while the ninja craze was coming to a close, Pray for Death is arguably one of, if not the best entry in actor Sho Kosugi's long and illustrious filmography, one that contains, you guessed it, a lot of ninjas. When mild-mannered Yokohama salaryman Akira Saito (Kosugi) moves to Houston with his wife (The lovely Donna Kei Benz) and sons (Lead Kosugi's real-life sons Kane and Shane) in order to run a restaurant, he ends up in a one-man war against an army of ruthless mobsters searching for a priceless necklace. The sheer ridiculousness of the plot should tell you all you need to know about this movie. Veteran director Gordon Hessler shoots the elaborate and brutal fight scenes with style, and Kosugi's martial arts skills are on full display. The acting is pretty hit or miss, but James Boothe, also the writer, is decently menacing as the mob boss Willie. The recent Blu-Ray release restores the movie to its original length, making the action all the more visceral and exciting. Viewers expecting to find a fun, over-the-top, and undeniably eighties martial arts film need look no further.
Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
Sho Kousgi Whoops Ass!
Sho Kosugi, the undisputed king of ninja flicks, helms this second entry in Cannon's unofficial "ninja trilogy," following a ninja, who, after losing the majority of his family in a ninja raid, swears off violence and moves to America to open an art gallery. Alas, he is caught in a web of intrigue involving the local mafia and a mysterious, demon-masked ninja. Kosugi, perhaps not the greatest actor who ever lived, is unmatched in his martial arts skills on display, performing most of his own stunts in and out of his badass black gi. Come for the action, and stay for how utterly awesome and unrelenting it is. A must- see for any fan of martial arts movies.
Under Siege (1992)
Enjoyable Die Hard-knockoff
I don't like Steve Seagal. I honestly don't thing anybody really likes Steve Seagal. Most of his movies are pretty terrible and go direct-to-video. But to every rule there is an exception, and that exception is the 1992 action-thriller, Under Siege (aka Die Hard on a Battleship). Our story follows Casey Ryback (Seagal in one of his better performances) a cook on-board the soon-to-be-retired USS Missouri and ex-Navy SEAL (aren't they all?). Ryback remains a constant pain for the disliked Commander Krill (Gary Busey in full- on Busey mode), who in fact intends to hijack the ship alongside Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones, the best actor in the film) during the Captain's birthday party. Freeing himself from a meat locker (don't ask), Ryback and Miss July 1989 (Erika Eleniak) fight to free the ship from its captors. From the plot description I just gave, this probably sounds like a parody of action movies you would find on The Simpsons. And in many respects, it is. But the rather generic plot is handled well, fast-paced and with enough action to keep audiences satisfied. Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes) handles the many shootouts well, with smooth tracking shots through the ship's narrow corridors giving the action a sense of energy while remaining comprehensible. Busey and Jones' banter is a constant source of (mostly intentional) laughs, and Basil Poledouris' work on the score is excellent as always. One of the better Die Hard-knockoffs, I think its worth a rental.
Lik wong (1991)
Gory Camp Classic
Picture if you will, a prison shower populated by men in black jumpsuits. Along comes a man, Ricky (Louis Fai-Siu Wong) to take a shower, as you do. When suddenly, a shirtless obese man named Zoro (Ho Chuang-Tao) charges up to Ricky and body slams him, threatening to turn him into mince meat and put him in a pie. Ricky then proceeds to punch a hole clean through Zoro's stomach, and the latter's blood and intestines flow forth. That is just one of many memorable scenes in this 1991 camp classic based on the manga of the same name. A film in which body parts come off just as easily as one might bend a straw. Eyeballs are loosened, limbs are lost, and heads are split, all in full view of the audience. Combine this with questionable acting and laughably bad dubbing ("HE"S A KILLER!") and you have a film that transcends the boundaries between good-and-bad and becomes its own thing.
Saving Christmas (2014)
A Fascinating Specimen of Awfulness
Once in a great while, we as a people are privileged to view a creative art that, is so completely terrible, that it unites our troubled world against it, so that in one brief, glorious moment, we are in agreement. And so is one Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas a "film" that was "written" and "directed" by former Blink-182 music video director Darren Doane, "starring" Kirk Cameron as, well, as himself, and his family and friends during his annual Christmas party. At least I suspect that's how this movie was made, Cameron was probably throwing a Christmas party and realized he could make a quick buck, got some cameras, and through this together in under an hour. There is little story to speak of, beyond Cameron preaching to the audience that rampant materialism in the holiday season is OKAY by Jesus was a corporeal being and therefore, material. Intercut within this overlong audience fillbuster are recreations of all the wonderful Christmas imagery we have come to know and love, like the soldiers of King Herod murdering hundreds of babies, and a terrifying-looking Saint Nicholas beating a man to death because he didn't agree with him. Cameron goes to great lengths to explain away holiday traditions like a decorated tree and gifts, but the audience will be far too distracted by the weird bunch-ups in Doane's Christmas sweater, and his weird, pause-filled delivery that will make you think he's some kind of serial killer. And of course, are film ends on a completely random hip-hop dance number that exists only so that Cameron can show us that yes, he can do the worm. This film we leave you scalping yourself because you're scratching your head in bewilderment, trying to comprehend what you've just seen. Even the likes of David Lynch would look at that movie and say it's too much. A 30 minute sermon stretched out over 80 minutes, this film should only be viewed if you want to know Scrooge's reasons for hating Christmas so much.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Mediocre Finale to the Sean Connery Era
Sean Connery should have quit while he was on top. After You Only Live Twice, he should have stuck to his guns and not returned to the role, let other actors handle. But alas, here we are. What should have been a dark revenge tale of Bond seeking vengeance on the man who killed his wife becomes a campy, painfully average romp through a single casino and car chases that are more at home in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard. The plot follows Bond (played for the last time in the official series by Sean Connery) killing and impersonating a diamond smuggler (Joe Armstrong) in order to track the flow of stolen diamonds alongside a fellow smuggler (Jill St. John) who remains unaware of his true identity. The flow leads him from Amsterdam to the Whyte House casino in Las Vegas, home to an eccentric billionaire (Jimmy Dean, the sausage guy) who hasn't left his penthouse in years (gee, I wonder if this is in anyway a reference to Howard Hughes, oh well, probably not) and eventually, his old nemesis (Charles Gray). Mediocre optical effects and bad puns abound. A disappointing finale indeed.
Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)
Far Better Than Expected
Going into this film, as a fan of games, I didn't have much in the way of high hopes, considering it was written by Skip Woods, the same writer as the previous adaptation from 2007. However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised, as this was a well-made and enjoyable, if a little bland, action-thriller with solid directing and an excellent cast. The plot, following Katia (Hannah Ware) in the search for her long-lost father in the midst of a war between rival mercenary factions, is well-paced and scripted, with a nice balance between action and character moments. Said action is shot and edited quite well, and does a good-job capturing the mixture of martial arts, gunplay, and stealth from the games. Rupert Friend was great as the ice-cold Agent 47, showing only hints of emotion here and there, and Hannah Ware as Katia felt like an actual character and not baggage. Zachary Quinto was effective, if a bit hammy, as villain John Smith/Mark Parchezzi, though I could have gone for less of his cheesy one-liners. The score by Marco Beltrami is nothing to right home about, but decent enough. Overall, this is fun but imperfect action flick that doesn't quite live up to it's namesake but provides some thrills none-the-less.
The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix: Smart, slick, and exciting. Still great after 16 years.
There are those films that can be considered game-changers in their field. A Trip To The Moon, The Great Train Robbery, The Public Enemy, King Kong, The Godfather, Psycho, The Terminator. While it may be a bit pretentious to put The Matrix with the likes of those masterpieces, I don't think it's that much of stretch. Andy and Lana Wachowski's 1999 flick is one of the best of its kind. A smart, slick sci-fi actioner that helped redefine both of those genres. Suddenly, action movies could be intelligent, have deeper meaning, infuse themselves with unique visual styles and philosophical undertones. I took influences from places rangning from Akira and Ghost in the Shell, to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Plato's Allegory of the Cave, then fashioned them into something new and original. The tale of down-on-his luck hacker-turned-savior of mankind Neo (Keanu Reeves), prophesized to free humanity to from the simulated reality that had become their mental prison, keeping them from seeing the dark post-apocalyptic future ruled over by sentient machine A.I. A film that introduced average movie goers to concepts like simulated reality, showing that popcorn flicks didn't have to be big and dumb. A film that blew our minds with VFX innovations like bullet time, and gave us a taste of that wonderful movie junkfood that is wire fu. A fairly simple story held together by an excellent cast including the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Gloria Foster, and Hugo Weaving, giving us memorable dialogue and characters that have engrained themselves in the public pop consciousness. It's a movie up there with the likes of Jaws, Die Hard and Star Wars as one of the all time greatest blockbusters, one that could hold its against the likes of the 15-year hyped Phantom Menace and temporarily halting the Star Wars v. Star Trek debate. A highly influential film that's been unsuccessfully copied many times, even by its own sadly average sequels. When one scene (the roof-top bullet dodge) is so popular that it has been copied/parodied nearly 200 times within 4 years, that should tell you how much influence this film had in Hollywood and abroad (a Bollywood remake of The Whole Nine Yards copies the famous lobby shoot-out nearly shot-for-shot). A film that truly did live up to its hype and beyond. A smart, well-directed, exquisitely shot and choreographed film that still holds up 16 years on.