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The Matrix - 15th Anniversary (March 31 1999 - 2014)

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I watched the first movie somewhere between 2002 and early 2003 I think, before Reloaded came out (I was 11 or 12). My dad recorded it on VHS from the TV, and I watched it one night with no idea of what to expect (the commercials showed a guy dissapearing in a telephone booth and other impossible stuff, which seemed silly). Once it was over I felt completely confused and amazed at the same time. Then I watched it again and this time I started to understand what was going on, and it instantly became ony of my favorite movies ever. It got to the point where I could recite pretty much every quote from the Spanish dub, that's how much I liked it.

I didn't care much for Reloaded at first, but grew to like it more in time (I still hate the party/sex scene, though). Revolutions was love at first sight, and I was there during the simultaneous worldwide release (I skipped a field day at school to see that movie).

Loved Enter the Matrix, though I admit it wasn't without flaws, and hated Path of Neo, even though a couple of levels were a bit fun. Never got to try The Matrix Online, and that's something I regret. Haven't seen Animatrix yet either, so I should do it someday.
 
I watched this for the first time comparatively recently (as in, in the last 3-4 years) on television. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Great action film.

I kinda enjoyed the sequel, but the 3rd film? Eurgh. That fight with Agent Smith was shit.
 
Deadstar said:
Let me explain something to you guys. The thing that made this movie awesome is that every scene looked amazing. You also have Dragula in here. Let's not forget the awesome soundtrack. Nothing like flying down the freeway with dragula blasting.
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lol wasn't there a year where like every video game licensed that song?
 
Deadstar said:
Let me explain something to you guys. The thing that made this movie awesome is that every scene looked amazing. You also have Dragula in here. Let's not forget the awesome soundtrack. Nothing like flying down the freeway with dragula blasting.
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haha. Honestly, whenever I hear Dragula, I think of The Matrix.
 
Namius said:
+1 to "this movie is brilliant".

I took a philosophy college course which was centered around The Matrix trilogy. For a college freshmen, it was such a great way to get my feet wet with epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, Descartes, Kant and everything else. Just like everyone else I enjoyed the first movie the most, and while not as great, the sequels still served the purpose of seeing Neo fulfill the prophecy. For anyone interested, the book we used for the class gives a great look at the philosophical dilemmas waged by the movie. This one is for your, Prof Lawrence. Thanks for helping me choose that red pill.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1405125241/?tag=neogaf0e-20
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Yes, I completely agree. The Matrix (Trilogy) is amazingly brilliant. The Wachowskis managed to create a stylish Sci-Fi action movie with a very deep and thought-provoking plot that touches many of the most popular philosophical themes. It is both visually and intellectually an absolut feast!

Here is also the BEST Matrix Interpretation I've ever read over the years. Just make sure you read the whole thing - it's genius.
 
It's probably the movie with the most cultural resonance of 'my' generation (being in my mid 20's). It really came out of nowhere and captured people's imagination in a way that very rarely happens, it just oozed style. Shame about the sequels really, I think they're god awful and are best forgotten about.
 
Ridley327 said:
I think that more than anything else that the film offers, it's the filmmaking that remains the most impressive thing for me to this day. It's easy to focus on the stuff that hadn't been done before, like the bullet time sequences, but the entire production was absolutely top-notch. It seems like such a simple thing to train your actors to do their own fight scenes, especially after years and years of Asian martial arts films, but that was not the norm in western filmmaking, so seeing guys like Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving actually doing those fights was practically revolutionary. And how carefully photographed and edited this film was! If there was ever any proof of how good a film was in those aspects, always look to the copycats who don't even come close in those departments, doing everything they can to show off "cool things" while being borderline inept at showing you how cool they look. Often imitated, never equaled, as the saying goes.
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Actually, it was a standard. Look up the entire silent movie era. Buster Keaton alone did some crazy stunts.
 
Watched it again a few hours ago. Still holds up really well. I remember watching it on a rented VHS when I was about 9 or 10. I almost tore the house down afterwards, I was so excited. I loved it so much, I got all my friends to watch it.

You can imagine how pumped I was going to see Reloaded in the cinema...yeeeaaaaa...
 
Loved this movie the first time but I cant stand the actors, acting, and any of the action scenes. The fighting is so lame looking, the freeze frame flying wire stunts look stupid. Those plastic jackets were so corny. Sure bullet time was sick but why does the bullet look like its under water with ripples behind it.

the matrix for me gets worse every time I watch it.
 
This movie changed my life. I watched it literally every day for a few years, the gun shoot out scene. I felt like I could run through a wall and do anything.
 
I think you could have had nukes going off in the background the first time I watched this and I wouldn't have realized it, I was that encapsulated by the movie.

The year 2000, some guy brings this into class on the last day of school and my brain shattered by its awesomeness. I ended up driving (my dad actually) 45 minutes to track down a VHS copy of this movie, it was used too. I watched it a dozen times that year.

I still remember the lead up to Reloaded, even back then I was super sensitive to spoilers and only watched a few seconds of the trailer. My friends and I theorized about all the possibilities, we delved so much time into ARGs, it was insane. Of course, we skipped school to watch the 10am showing.

legacyzero said:
I MUST have that new rumored trilogy! MUST!!
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Oh I'd kill for this. The sequels already ruined the lore to an extent so they could only redeem it at this point. There is so much potential in the Matrix universe, its a crime there isn't more movies by now.
 
First watched it on TNT on a rainy evening.

My dad told me to watch it and kept going on about how good it was. I almost didn't watch it because of that reason.

Thankfully I did though.
 
I wish I had seen it in the theatre. It was one of the first DVDs I bought (shitty snap case original release and all), though, on a blind-buy.
 
This was my favorite movie in high school, and is still one of my all-time favorites. One of my favorite features of the Revisited DVD was the 41 track electronica soundtrack - like, how cool is that?

I still need to grab the Blu-ray set.
 
I think I have every single edition of this film that's come out on a disk. It was my first DVD, my first DVD box set, my first blu-ray and my first blu-ray box set. It's really a classic film, and if the Wachowskis don't do anything else that attains the quality of the first film during the rest of their careers, they can still die happy knowing they created a true work of art.

Really wish I'd had time to play the MMO when it came out. Was just too busy and too poor at the time though.
 
luxarific said:
I think I have every single edition of this film that's come out on a disk. It was my first DVD, my first DVD box set, my first blu-ray and my first blu-ray box set. It's really a classic film, and if the Wachowskis don't do anything else that attains the quality of the first film during the rest of their careers, they can still die happy knowing they created a true work of art.

Really wish I'd had time to play the MMO when it came out. Was just too busy and too poor at the time though.
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Same here except replace DVD with VHS. Come to think of it, I've never watched the Bluray boxset and owned it since day 1 (same with LOTR). This thread got me hyped, I shall watch it this week.

Oh and I remember buying Enter the Matrix right before watching Reloaded. I convinced myself that it was good.
 
angular graphics said:
1lnut5.jpg


"Mark III No 11" = "Mark 3:11": And whenever the unclean spirits saw him...

2xbukl.jpg


...they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

39muaw.jpg
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Every year I always learn something new about this movie. It never ceases to amaze me.
 
Saw the trailer and had no idea what the movie was about until a friend saw it and explained it to me and a few others at school which blew our minds

Everyone went to see it pretty quickly
 
Saw it in the theater with a buddy and loved it until the the last few moments when he Superman's out of the phone booth. Not sure why that bothered me so much at the time but after disappointing sequels, maybe it's the feeling of "where do they go from here?"
 
agrajag said:
have this too. Man, I must have watched this movie 30+ times
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Only 30+ ? :-P

Sadly I lost my original copy during the break-up with my then-girlfriend, then I lost my 2nd copy (DVD) when I moved out from my then-apartment in 2002. Bought the box set which is the 3rd copy (2004 release with different color grading) and thankfully didn't lost it until I bought the Ultimate Blu-ray box in 2008.

Probably the only film I didn't mind Quadruple-dipping, with the exception of Criterion's Seven Samurai.

It is not the spoon that bends it is only yourself
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i remember it had come out in theaters, that it was well-liked, and that was pretty much it. i was 13 at the time, and i actually stayed away from r-rated films because i didn't (and still don't) like gore in film. but my friend had a copy on dvd. 'have you seen the matrix?'

'no.'

i wasn't really sure what to expect. some of the movies we watched were favorites of his, but not of mine. but holy shit it was fucking fantastic. and when i got home, i made sure to rent it from blockbuster so i could watch it with my dad and sister.
 
The first movie is pretty damn good and so are many parts of the Animatrix. It's too bad that the sequels couldn't match up to the animated series that bridged the gap and the incredible hype that was generated before their release(s).
 
I think this is the best movie I ever saw in theaters. So unbelievable for its time, it's too bad the rest if the trilogy couldn't hold up, but doesn't take away from the first Matrix brilliance
 
massoluk said:
Oh come on, Warner Bros, you let www.whatisthematrix.com address rot?
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I was pretty bummed when I first realized this. It lasted for several years, at least, but at this point I think it's been gone longer than it was ever around originally.

I remember loving that code screensaver you could download (until I found all of the others online that were much more well done).
 
I was really young when I first saw The Matrix, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. In retrospect it's still a damn badass, well made action flick with a surprisingly good story. Shame about those sequels though. I feel like the sequels actually tainted its legacy a bit.
It's also a great example of perfect casting. Reeves, Fishburne, Moss, Weaving... all so good in their roles.
 
God... 15 years...wow. My mind could not been blown again since I watched it for the first time.

I like Reloaded a lot, it has incredible scenes (if you skip all the Zion crap): the highway, the multiple (cgi) smith battle, the architect, even the last scene

Revolutions sucks but the Zion battle looked amazing at the cinema back then.

Recommended to watch the "de-zionified" matrix trilogy version.
 
bender said:
Saw it in the theater with a buddy and loved it until the the last few moments when he Superman's out of the phone booth. Not sure why that bothered me so much at the time but after disappointing sequels, maybe it's the feeling of "where do they go from here?"
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The ending still gives me chills every time I watch it. When Wake Up kicks in as Neo hangs up the phone...fuck
 
Woffls said:
Favourite film ever. Just popped the Bluray into my Xbone to watch in a bit... when it decides that the disc is readable. I think the Bluray drive is broken :

Anyway yeah, I love this film. It's still ridiculously cool, and doesn't seem dated from an aesthetic or technical perspective because it didn't over-reach.

I also enjoyed the sequels. Sue me.
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Are you in the Xbox One Preview program? If so, your blu ray drive problems could just be a bug http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/...iew_support/wave_2_1404/f/4612/t/1724144.aspx

angular graphics said:
Yes, they showed it in "Enter the Matrix".

You first load into the Construct, grab your gear (guns etc), and then the Matrix reality sort of envelopes you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYofvuYbpo4#t=3m5s
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That game seems hella janky to me today. Though I think I played it back when it came out.

You know what's the shit? AniMatrix is the shit.
 
I love this movie. Went in blind and saw it at the Orleans theatre in Vegas. I still vividly remember walking out of the theatre into the warm Vegas air and looking at my buddy and going wtf did we just watch, minds blown. We watched it again that night.

In had no expectations. I didn't keep up with movie news back then. It just captured my imagination on so many levels.

That stupid snap case was my first DVD purchase as well. Watched it so many times.

I was so unbelievablly excited for Reloaded, waited in line and all that jazz. I ended up really dissapointed that day. Though through the years I have grown to like the sequels. I really like the animatrix as well.

Just man, this movie got its claws in me at the right time.
 
I'm with jtwo, the green tint on the new HD releases is fucking horrendous. It's like watching the movie through a big green jello mold. I don't know why more people aren't pissed off about this. It completely destroys the original theatrical experience, which I remember vividly. Thank god I've still got the cardboard DVD with the movie as it was meant to be seen back in 1999.

You've got dedicated people going back and creating entire online fan projects to painstakingly recreate the original theatrical versions of the first 3 Star Wars movies, and yet this overbearing green tint is applauded by a lot of people. I guess subtlety's just hard to appreciate. I for one liked the subtle changes of green and blue in the original version. It felt like it was just barely peaking out of the corners of my sensory perception.

Oh, and the movie's great too.
 
This color discussion is weird. I remember people complaining about the Laserdisc version not having enough green tint.
 
Ok, here is my The Matrix story.

I missed the movie when it was playing in theaters because I was pretty young and didn't care about movies back then. (When I finally watched it I went like "oh, that must have been the movie where there was a lot of talk about a character that was bending back impossibly and everyone's like how the hell did they shoot this scene?? Man, I am years late!")

The first time I heard -anything- about it is was when my sister, who normally doesn't watch scifi and wouldn't like action films with too long action sequences, came home from one of her girl friends and told me with eyes glowing "my friend had The Matrix on VHS, we watched it and it was excellent!" And I was like, oh yeah, what's it about? And she couldn't really describe it to me, all I remember is she told me that it's about reality, our reality, but it is a fake reality, and how there's some other reality that it's the real one. I told her I don't understand what she means, if the other reality is the real one then why don't we see it but we see this one instead? And she told me this reality has been manufactured by computers. All this sounded incredibly interesting to me, but as I said I didn't particularly care about movies back then and my sister couldn't explain it very well either, and I liked to pretend I was disinterested in what she was saying to me so I quickly forgot about it.

Years later, and I still don't particularly care about movies but I catch a TV ad/trailer for the movie (meanwhile I have completely forgotten about what my sister had told me about it years earlier) and I am blown away by the incredible visuals. Gun fights! Bullet casings! I check a TV magazine we had at home and it says it's about a group of people fighting the "materialistic world" and I am like what the hell is this even supposed to mean (seriously WTF...)? The description was so vague and mysterious and the visuals in the trailer were so slick I suddenly became incredibly hyped about the movie, I really really really had to see it.

And I do. And from the very first moments I am blown away by the action, violence, effects, cinematography, music and script. When the truth about The Matrix is revealed I KNOW this is the best movie I have ever watched and will probably ever watch. I am a gamer and everything about this movie makes so much sense to me. It's like they made this movie FOR ME. (Turns out the Wachowskis were gamers themselves :P)

I particularly enjoy the clever script and all the philosophy that has been put in the movie. My mind is actively engaged like it was never before by a movie and every time there's a break for ads I am making 1000 different thoughts about reality, messiahs, computers and so on.

The movie ends (what an ending!) and I can't stop thinking about it. Neo becomes my favorite hero. I realize I have to start watching movies because they are not necessarily mindless, you can say through them very important, thought provoking or clever things! I realize what "cinematography" is, I always thought all movies looked the same, but this one looks different! The camera is being put to places other movies don't put it!

The Matrix, which since then I have watched probably 100+ times (I wouldn't really know how many times, plus the bulk of those viewings was done up to 10+ years ago when I was a teenager) is the movie that made me care about movies. It's the "Star Wars" of my generation. It remains my favorite movie of all time and its writers/directors my favorite filmmakers.
 
I was really into The Matrix films when they were first coming out, and was thinking of picking up a Bluray of the first one, but now that I'm seeing how they retinted it, fuck that.
 
The scenes between "Guns, lots of guns" and Trinity escaping the chopper as it explodes into the side of the office block are possibly the most pitch perfect sequence of action scenes ever put to celluloid. The build up, pace, peril (at that point you are convinced ONE of them will die, with Morpheous safe, it could still be Neo), the music, the bullet time sequences, you name it, it was virtually perfect.

Truly mind-boggling action film making that saddens me only comes around once in a long long while.
 
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