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Monday, January 14, 2019

January Film Club

Happy New Year everybody!

Sorry for the late update again, I actually had this all done a week ago but forgot to do the blog.  I'll get this back on track next time, haha.  Anyway, thank you to everyone who was able to come out and celebrate Christmas with us, we had fun watching Die Hard.  Thank you to everyone who brought snacks to share, it was a regular smorgasbord as usual.

For the month of January I've decided to show one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time.  This year is actually the 20th anniversary of this film but since it was released in March of 1999, and I usually save March for something Irish themed, I figured we could start off the year with it instead.  This month's selection is none other than The Matrix.


The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowskis and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano.  It depicts a future in which reality as perceived by humans is not quite what it seems.  Cyber-criminal and computer programmer Neo learns the truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the forces that work against the humans.  The Matrix is known for popularizing a visual effect known as “bullet time”, in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera moves at normal speed.  The film is an example of the cyberpunk sub-genre and contains numerous reference to philosophical and religious ideas.

The film holds an 88% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert awarded it 3/4 stars saying this in his review, "It's great looking, both in its design and in the kinetic energy that powers it.  It uses flawlessly integrated special effects and animation to visualize regions of cyberspace.  It uses f/x to allow its characters to run horizontally on walls, and hang in the air long enough to deliver karate kicks.  It has leaps through space, thrilling sequences involving fights on rooftops, helicopter rescues and battles over mind control.  And it has performances that find the right notes.  Keanu Reeves goes for the impassive Harrison Ford approach, "acting" as little as possible, and Laurence Fishburne finds a balance between action hero and Zen master.  The Matrix did not bore me.  It interested me so much, indeed, that I wanted to challenged even more."

As I said, this is one of my favorite Sci-Fi films with lots of great ideas and wonderful special effects.  It's just an enjoyable film overall, and I hope you can make it out.

Here's the trailer: