• SmoothOperator@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    I still can’t believe The Matrix is from '99. The themes and the effects hold up incredibly well, it feels far more modern.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      It was from the era when choreography mattered. You could roll through an entire fight scene and see what every punch was supposed to be doing. You had some situational awareness where everyone was.

      Now we keep getting that stupid crap where they’re changing the scene every punch, with so many scenes per second that you can’t follow through, actually just like the fight scenes and matrix 4.

    • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      I strongly disagree, Matrix was very much a product of its time, if it had released a decade before or a decade after it would not have had the same impact.

      In the 80s as a general rule people didn’t know of the internet nor were they very computer savvy.

      In the late 00s cellphones started to be ubiquitous and people were using broadband almost exclusively.

      So there was only a small period of time when people were familiar with the idea of telephone lines carrying data, which is a core concept of the movie (exiting the Matrix through your cellphone or laptop is a lot less cool and less prone to plot hooks).

      Not to mention that the 90s were extremely gothic and grimdark about the future. I don’t think a movie that the base premise is in the future humans are enslaved to machines and hooked to a large simulation to keep them from realizing they’re slaves would work in any time period besides the 90s.

      • SSTF@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        There was also that short sliver of the late 90s through early 2000s where the slick black trenchcoat and sunglasses look was considered unironically cool.

        The Matrix, Blade, Underworld, and Equilibrium all being in this era. Any movie where characters dress like this to be cool and it isn’t treated with at least a wink to the audience probably either came from this time or is a sequel to something from this time.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        Agreed with all that, but still, don’t forget how mind blowing it was in 1999. One of the only movies I ever saw twice in the theaters, two nights in a row even.

        Even the trailers were wild. First time we saw one in the theater my gf and I looked at each other like, “What the fuck was that all about?!”

        The Matrix was to science fiction in 1999 about what Star Wars was in 1977, so far ahead of the game it was like nothing before it.

      • SmoothOperator@lemmy.world
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        24 days ago

        It’s for sure a product of its time, but it really doesn’t feel like a 1999 movie. Around that time we had

        • Sixth sense
        • American beauty
        • Eyes wide shut
        • Being John Malkovich
        • Fight Club

        Matrix has such a stark level of visual and thematic modernity compared to those. Maybe Fight Club comes near, but the other movies look like they’re from a different decade.

  • Agent641@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    The Love Witch is a bit of a cheat because it was literally designed to look like it was shot in the 70s (and does an amazing job of it)

    Cube was ahead of its time for bizzare setting and body horror.

  • LockheedTheDragon@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    The anime Perfect Blue. It was ahead of it’s time. 1997 but the parasocial aspect of society it explores was in it’s infancy compared to current time.

  • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca
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    23 days ago

    Josie and the Pussycats was lampooning our current celebrity obsessed, “influencer” obsessed, consumer lifestyle 20 years ago. Yes, there was certainly celebrity worship back then. But the way the movie portrayed it and the consumer greed that seeks to profit from it feels even more relevant today.

    • jaycifer@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      I listened to the soundtrack for about 4 years before getting around to watching the movie. Very fun. For how slow the build-up is, Playtime is Over is one of my favorite workout songs, always gets the endorphins running.

  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    The first “War of the world’s” movie from 1953.

    It’s based on a genius, but quite challenging science fiction novel.

    I am sure the people in 1953 liked the movie.

    When you watch it today, after you have already seen Spielberg’s version from 2005, then it feels like they were way ahead of their time in 1953 (and you would never believe anyway that the book was written even back in 1898).

    • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      One of the many little details I love about that movie is Pacific Tech, the university where scientists studied the alien hardware. I noticed they used that as the name of the college in Real Genius. Apparently it’s has been in many movies and tv shows.