Can a computer hacker save the world? Maybe if you hack deep enough…
By any reckoning this is one of the most influential movies of the past quarter-century. The Matrix didn’t just change the way films looked and moved, it altered the way we perceived the world(s). For example, what if “virtual reality” is the only reality we recognize. You can find the roots of WikiLeaks and Q-anon here.
That’s not to say the Wachowskis — pre-transition — originated much of anything. Rather, The Matrix synthesized all manner of cross-cultural currents, scientific and technological, aesthetic, artistic, philosophical, and rolled them all into a heady sci-fi action flick about a bland non-entity who might just be the one to wake humanity from its hypnotic inertia. The film is front-loaded with ideas and in the end it settles for adrenaline, but it remains an essential millennial touchstone, the zeitgeist electric.
Staff Pick: Juan
A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that is determined to overpower the imagination.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Media Partner
Lilly Wachowski & Lana Wachowski
Keanu Reeves, Carrie Ann Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
USA
1999
English
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Friday August 21
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Credits
Screenwriter
Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cinematography
Bill Pope
Editor
Zach Staenberg
Original Music
Don Davis
Production Design
Owen Paterson
Art Director
Hugh Bateup, Michelle McGahey
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
A bona fide classic and arguably the greatest Canadian film of the 90s, Girard's dazzling deconstruction of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as Picasso might have rendered him, a cubist portrait combining multimedia vignettes.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
Short Cuts
Altman's adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories, Short Cuts weaves between 8 or 9 overlapping storylines and 22 characters. it's a teeming, caustic and compassionate human comedy; a singularly astringent, often cynical view of America and Americana.
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
Schindler's List
One of the most acclaimed films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark is the story of a German industrialist whose conscience is stirred to save his Jewish workers from the camps.
Free event.
Three Colours: Red
Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994
To Die For
Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote this acidic black comedy about a ruthless weather girl on the make (Nicole Kidman in her breakout role). A young Joaquin Phoenix is the dim teen she seduces on her way to achieving stardom.
Casino
Revisiting the wise guy milieu for the third (but not the final) time, Scorsese tells the story of Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci), two New York hoodlums who become major players in the history of Las Vegas.
Andrea Superstein Sings Burt Bacharach + Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Film Screening
Local hero and Anglophile Mike Myers scored a massive comedy hit with this spot-on spoof of James Bond and his many imitators. Before the yucks, Andrea Superstein treats us to a set of timeless Burt Bacharach tunes.