Blank Check with Griffin & David - The Matrix

Episode Date: April 25, 2016

This week, Griffin and David discuss the Wachowski's game changing 1999 film, the Matrix. Just how big of an influence was this movie on mainstream cinema? Other than the nu metal, has this film aged gracefully? How can this only be the siblings second film?! Together, they discuss the trajectory of Keanu Reeves’ career leading up to the Matrix, their shared love for Gloria Foster’s performance as the Oracle, the superb screenwriting, and the renowned martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping. Plus, box office stats, Y2K and another edition of the Burger Report.

Do not try and ban the podcast. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. What truth? There is no podcast. Hey, there we go. Nice and clean. There we go. That was our second take of an intro. I'm David Sims.

I'm Griffin Newman. Welcome to Blank Check with Griffin and David. Yep. This is episode two of a new miniseries. Ooh, we do miniseries. Yeah, we're classy like HBO. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a limited series event that just never ends. One stacked on top.

Event after event. Another, yeah. This is a miniseries called The Podchowski Casters. That's right. We're a couple podcasters. We're also two friends. We are the capital T, two friends. And why don't you hashtag that shit? Hashtag the two

friends. We like to talk about directors. We like to talk about movies. We do these main series where we go into a director's oeuvre. They're filmography. And we go through film by film. And what we're really fascinated in is when someone early on has a massive success, the game has changed,

and they keep on getting this blank check. That's the name of the podcast. To make whatever they want. And today we're talking about one of those massive successes. This is the movie that changes the game. This is the one. Everything hinges on this film right here. Yep. Not just for these directors, but also for

maybe just like American filmmaking at large. Totally. This is one of those seismic shift movies. It's the kind of movie that not just, you know, this studio is like, and these directors are going to try and make over and over, but like all studios are going to try and make.

You know, it's one of those movies that everyone's like, oh, we got to get ourselves one of those. Yeah, and I think I said this last episode, but it's one of those movies that's, like, a pre- and post-movie. Where, like, anything made after The Matrix. The Matrix is the movie we're talking about today. Oh, The Matrix. The Matrix.

Yes, The Matrix. Anything that was made after The Matrix is either consciously deciding to not do what the Matrix did. You're either copying it or you're trying not to do it. The year is 1999. 1999. Y2K on the horizon. We were all terrified.

Ooh, Bill Clinton. The Lewinsky scandal begins to fade. Yeah. What else is going on? Can we just talk about this for a second? Okay. Y2K. The thought was, correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes. The thought was that computers ran on a two-digit year system. The millennium bug. Right. But wasn't the idea that it was like, oh, 96, 97, 98. Like it only looked at the last two digits. Yeah. And that if we went to the year

2000 and it went to 00 then the computer would tell itself it didn't exist because it was 1900 and would shut down. It was because of the need for bit conservation. Most computers yeah, like I don't know. I can't read this whole Wikipedia entry.

The logic I remember, maybe I was just a kid and someone told me something false and I believed it, was that the computer would be like, wait, it's the year 1900? I'm a computer. I don't exist. And then it would just turn off. I think that's a little simplified. I think it's more just that old computers just could not accept the date and it would just cause all these weird problems.

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, we all thought the world was going to end. I remember watching New Year's Eve TV with my parents and just like country by country it was like Dan Rather being like okay Russia the lights are still on. We're good in Russia.

I think that it was a real concern. It was widely publicized and addressed. But then the media just kind of held on to it and was like, Y2K, Y2K, you know,

but I think like we identified the problem, we got to it, we fixed it. Yeah. And nothing happened and it was like, generally,

it wasn't one of those things where it's like, ah, you guys were all fussing about nothing. No, I think there was something, but they fixed it. They fixed it pretty quickly. But this is,

look, David, Y2K was just starting to percolate in the public consciousness when The Matrix came out. Early March, I think it was close to my sister's birthday. No, March 31st. March 31st. Oh, so late March, the absolute opposite of what I said? Correct. Yeah.

Yeah, rather than Caesar still being alive, he's dead if we're going by March. Sure, sure. Post- March. Sure. Sure. Post-ides. Post-ides. I remember the Friday this movie came out, going to the Union Square 14 movie theater.

You were 10 years old? Would have been 10 years old. And I went to the Union Square theater with my brother James Dean and our babysitter Michelle. And I was like, man, the the theater is so crowded I can't believe this many people want to see 10 Things I Hate About You Is that what you were going to see? 100% Came out the same day. It did Yes. We were amped

for 10 Things and I was like 10 Things I Hate About You is going to be the number one movie at the box office this weekend People are riled up for this movie Here's my question. Why were you so amped for 10 Things I Hate About You? Did it have a star in it that you were interested in, or did you like the whole teen Shakespeare craze?

It had a couple stars at Tomorrow. I mean, Julia Salas and Ledger were popping from that trailer. Yeah, but they hadn't been in anything. Yeah, but from the trailer, I'm saying I saw a pop. I was on board for Alex Mack and Joseph Gordon-Levitt from Third Rock for the Star. Yeah, those are probably my two favorite stars. You know, David Krumholz also as well. I'm not sure that I knew David Krumholz was in it, but sure.

I knew from David Krumholz at that point. David Krumholz is a major Griffin Newman fan, isn't he? Or are we not allowed to talk about that on the podcast? We can talk about that. He saw one show I did and was very complimentary to me afterwards and then tweeted. He's like taking a UCB class or something, right? He was. He was taking a UCB sketch class.

He came to one of my sketch shows and then afterwards was like, hey, man, what's your name again? And I was like, again? This is the first time. Well, he probably heard you introduced on the stage. I don't think it was a sketch show. Okay. Well, look, I don't know.

Jesus Christ. I was so deep in character, David. Okay. Okay. I played the physics professor who thinks he was in an English class by accident. Sounds like a great sketch. It was actually- And it blew Krumholtz away.

Blew him away. And so he comes up, he asks for you. Yeah. He asks your name. And he was like, really good work. And I was like, thank you very much. And he walks away. And I was like, huh, David Krumholtz.

And that night he tweeted at me publicly, not like a DM. He didn't slide into my DMs like Garfield he fucking publicly tweeted at me hey met earlier tonight went up introduced myself after the show really really great work transcendently funny and I

was like great Krumholdt just tweeted at me so you follow him I follow him I'm like he's gonna follow me back and then I'll slide into his DMs like Garfield and we'll organize to get him on the podcast. Yeah. Nothing. Nothing. He never followed back. Well, whatever. You had a nice interaction with David Krumholz.

I tried. I wanted to get him on the show. I dare you to name the director of 10 Things I Hate About You. Ready? I'm trying to remember how to pronounce his name. Gil Younger? That's correct. How on earth did you do that? I don't know. I dare you to remember how to pronounce his name. Well, just go. Gil Younger? That's correct. Thank you. How on earth did you do that?

I don't know. I dare you to name the other two movies he directed. I couldn't do that. Black Knight. Whoa. Starring Martin Lawrence. Marty Lawrence. And something called If Only, which I've literally never heard of, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Huh. And that's it. Wow. He moved into, like, Lifetime movies after that. Yeah. Anyway, so you're a 10-year-old. You're going to see 10 Things, which is the first movie I ever went on a date to see. With whom?

I'm not going to talk about it. But I was 13. I was more of a teenager. You were wise at that point. One could call you a teenager. We were three years apart. But at that age, 10, 13, that's a wide gulf. Yeah.

Between us, if we had known each other. As Donald Trump would say, big. Huge. So you go to see 10 things with your babysitter and Jamesy? Yeah, and I couldn't even process that people would want to see The Matrix. So you get there and you're like, The Matrix? Yeah, because it was like really crowded and I was like everyone has to be here for 10 things the matrix seemed like some fucking like march programmer you know uh-huh um and then i remember like the one cool

kid at school like telling me that he had seen it and i was like he was like it's really good and i was like what's it about and he was like i couldn't even tell you it's fair fair point yeah and then he described to me how he'd seen on the news they did a segment where people were walking out of the matrix like new york local news was doing a segment where people walking on the matrix and they just asked them can you describe to me the plot of the matrix and no one could do it oh weird that's sort of a weird joke yeah and my mom was like very against uh guns and violence and yeah so i like she didn't like me seeing stuff like that and so I just like the whole time,

I internalized it to a point where I was like, I don't like movies like that. You know, it went from being like, you're not allowed to see them to me going to school and be like, I don't see movies like that. I don't respect movies like that. Sure, just it's cheap, cheap guns and no thank you.

But by the time The Matrix had come out on DVD, it was already such a cultural phenomenon where it was clear that it was like something more than that. Yeah. That my mom happily rented it for me from Couch Potato Video. It was rated R. It was rated R. So you couldn't rent it yourself. Yeah. You couldn't rent

it your damn self. Right. I couldn't rent it my damn self. And you were also probably like 11 years old, so you probably just did not routinely rent videos by yourself anyway. I think I was made to start. Our video store was directly across the street. Sure. So I was made to start to do it. But I was still maybe 10 at that point. Our video store would come bring you the video and then come collect it. Isn't that insane?

I mean, when I was a kid. Yeah, there was a site called Cosmo.com that did that. It was online delivery. This is not a website. There was no websites when this happened. This is the early 90s. They would come, bring it to you, and then you would call them and say, I'm done with the video now.

And they'd be like, we'll come get it. Do you have to tip the guy? Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. And you better rewind. Yeah. You better be kind to rewind.

Oh, you have to be kind. No, this was, I will say this was within that year. I was still 10 because I had seen The Matrix by the time the Oscars happened. Okay. So it comes out in March. I probably saw it that October, November. Sure. The Oscars were the

you know the subsequent march right the american beauty oscars by the by the time the oscars happened you were you were on board i was both very excited that it won those awards i think it won the most of any film that year i think in american beauty tied but i think american beauty only won four it won more because it won picture director actor screenplay cinematography oh right so one five yeah it might have even won more than that i just know it won picture director actor screenplay cinematography oh right so one five yeah it might have even won more than that i just know it won those five yeah um but there's a crappy movie but it had the second most oscars that year i don't know it was a big and it was like it yeah it was people kept like accepting awards and it was all these like weird little

pale guys and they'd be like there is no spoon and you'd be like, ah, the Matrix. It was very similar to the Mad Max run at the Oscars this year, where Mad Max was winning every award in a row, and all these characters were coming up. Right, right, right. When the Mad Max wins are great, yeah, because it would be some batty Australian person, and they'd be like, ah, George in the might. But you sort of went like, wait, is Mad Max going to win Best Picture

because it's getting all this below the line stuff? The Matrix was nominated for Best Picture, unfortunately. I'm saying that's the big shift. It's like, I think to a degree. These days, the Matrix would have been nominated for Best Picture. Yeah. And I think like Mad Max being nominated was almost people realizing like, oh, we should have nominated The Matrix at the time. And The Dark Knight.

Yeah. Like we should recognize when these movies excel. Totally. You know, their genre limitations. But The Matrix was weirder. Well, Mad max is pretty weird yeah well whatever we're not comparing the matrix and mad max um but it comes out opening weekend and does like a huge number uh it did it did well it came out on the 31st and the weekend

was the second so it came out on a wednesday oh interesting and it may have been like i don't even know what what holiday it was i'm not sure why it came out on a Wednesday, but it did. So over the five days, it made $37 million. $37.3 million. Which today would be like over 50, close to 60. Something I think like that. I can do it right now.

Yeah. So just before we get to the, yeah, $63.9 million. Very good job. Thank you. Thank you. This is the only kind of math I understand. We'll get back to the box office because I love playing that game, but we'll do that at the back end of the podcast. But I...

No, no, you done? Or no, you're not done? No, I was just going to say, so it comes out, it does a weirdly big opening weekend. I think people viewed it as a fluke. And then it was number one for five weeks in a row. Oh. It just stayed. It fell 20% in its next weekend.

Yeah. And then it fell 20% the weekend after that. Life beat it in its third weekend. But then did it come back the weekend after that? It did. Yeah. See, I knew that happened. Yeah.

Yeah. It was like an Avatar-like phenomenon where it just kept dropping very little and word of mouth was huge. And much like The Sixth Sense, which we discussed extensively on this podcast. It was this thing where like- Which would come out later that year yeah well we talked about 99 fucking year david but but it's uh it was one of those movies where you like had to see it there was like a conversation happening you know i mean that was because you know what comes out like six or seven weeks into the matrix's run. Star Wars. Yeah, Star Wars.

Episode one. Eight weeks into the Matrix's run. The Phantom Eyes. Yeah. So, you know, it was just a year of must-see movies, but the Matrix was the surprise. Yeah. And it was this weird R-rated action sci-fi movie.

With Keanu Reeves, who had dipped a little at that point. With Keanu Reeves, who had more than dipped. Yeah. And it cost $63 million to make. With Keanu Reeves, who had dipped a little at that point. With Keanu Reeves, who had more than dipped. Yeah. And it cost $63 million to make. So, like, a good-sized budget, but not, like, a Star Wars-level budget by any means. Well, I think it was a weird thing where, like, when it came out, they were like, Warner Brothers spent $60 million on that? Right, like, what is this?

It stars Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, who are kind of, you know, mid-range stars. And then when you saw it, you're like, I can't believe they made this for only $60 million. Then it flipped. You know what? Keanu was doing okay. The Devil's Advocate had been somewhat of a hit. Two years earlier, he had a marathon for tears. And before that, it had been Speed. He'd made a lot of

like, he had not had any hits in between those two. In between Speed and Devil's Advocate. You've got Johnny Mnemonic my favorite movie but not a hit oh no you've got A Walk in the Cloud

which has made 50 million dollars that's so weird and you know Chain Reaction which was a famous bomb and Feeling Minnesota you know like

yeah Keanu was definitely on the and this movie was offered to Will Smith and he almost took it I think it was offered to a lot of people Johnny Depp I think but I think Will Smith, and he almost took it. I think it was offered to a lot of people.

Johnny Depp, I think, which Housky's wanted very badly. But I think Will Smith was actually close-ish. And then decided not to make Wild Wild West instead. I mean, this is one of those movies where for the three lead roles, they offered it to all the big people. And everyone turned it down. Ewan McGregor was considered for Morpheus, I think, as was Val Kilmer. There's like a lot of different Morpheuses. I heard Val Kilmer for Neo as well.

Oh, well, you know, maybe. I mean, I think they just offered it to anybody who had like headlined a movie. And then it was one of these weird instances where like everyone turned it down. And then the three people they got were the only three people who possibly could have played those roles. Totally. It's so hard to imagine anyone else. It's crazy. You can imagine Will Smith as Neo, but it's a totally different movie.

It's just a totally different movie. Yeah. They found three people who somehow had just enough sort of like I mean, Carrie Ann Moss was pretty much unknown at this point. But Fishburne and Reeves had just enough movie star iconography to have that weight.

You could put their names above the title. But like they weren't big enough that they overpowered the thing. Right. And they just ate.

And these became this is the iconic role for both actors. And both actors have done plenty of other iconic roles but certainly But this is the definitive

when they die they'll go Morpheus from the Matrix trilogy Neo from the Matrix trilogy. Yeah. Yeah. So. Karan Moss is forever going the Matrix trilogy. Yeah. So. Carrie Ann Moss is forever going to be Trinity.

Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Nicolas Cage. Yeah. Tom Cruise was considered, but Tom Cruise was considered for literally every part in every movie in the 90s. Right. They went to like every guy who was like an A-list leading man.

Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were considered for Morpheus. Yeah. Right. It makes sense. Yeah. It goes on and on. and Samuel L. Jackson were considered for Morpheus. Yeah, right. It makes sense.

It goes on and on. If you go through this sort of trivia on this shit, it's like any actor, basically, from the 90s. But they made Bound, as we talked about last week, the Wachowskis. They're in Hollywood. They've written a couple scripts. They've got this script,

The Matrix, right? Keep talking while I eat on mic. Gross. As we talked about last week, Warner Brothers was like, crazy script, guys. What is this? What's going on? What are you doing here? Huh? They make Bound

and I guess Bound is impressive enough. It gets critical acclaim and it looks cool. It doesn't make any money, that Joel Silver, who is a producer, he has silver pictures at Warner Brothers. I'm sorry, he's a what? He's a producer.

Oh, here we go. Like, Producer Ben? Who? The Benducer? Wow. The Poet Laureate? The Haas? Mr. Positive? Birthday Benny? The Tiebreaker? The Peeper? Not the Fuckmaster? No, The Haas, Mr. Positive, Birthday Benny, The Tiebreaker, The Peeper, Not the Fuckmaster. No, he is the Fuckmaster.

I'm the Fuckmaster, yes. He's not Professor Crispy. Nope. No. Perhaps one day. They call him Ben Icciamola. They do. They call him Kylo Ben.

Ben, Obi Ben Kenobi. Obi Ben Kenobi. Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi. I call him Ben Hosley, my good friend. Obi Kenobi. Yes. Well, hey, guys. Hello, Fennel.

Hello, Fennel. Hello, Fennel. All right.ennel. Hello, Fennel. All right. You like this movie, Ben. How old were you when this came out, Ben? 1999. Yeah, I was 47 years old. No, I guess I was a freshman in high school. Sure. Okay, so you're like a year

older than me, Ben. Yeah. So, what do you remember seeing this in theaters? I do. It was a big movie for me. I got super into smoking weed around this time in my life. We were talking about this off mic. Yeah, we're recording.

You'll hear this later. Oh, it's 420, guys. Happy 420. So yeah, this was- Or an article about time traveling bong for The Atlantic. Yeah, and Ben smoking that dank weed left and right. Hell yeah, hell yeah. No, so this was definitely a movie me and my friends were like, yo, The Matrix, though?

If you think about it? But that's my memory of The Matrix. Because I was going to say, I mean, I snuck into this movie. With a lady friend. No, no. The lady friend was 10 Things I Hate About You. Oh, right. Me and like a

bunch of my friends from school. Like yeah me and like a bunch of my friends from school like you know a bunch of little 13 year olds uh we went to the odian lester square i believe this is in england we bought tickets to she's all that which i guess was the the counter programming in england and release dates are different there especially back then and we snuck into the matrix it was rated 15 you know we had to be 15 that was just formative it was formative it was like the beginning of me deciding to see movies by myself and you know having my own interests rather than just like being taken to the movies well i i mean the thing i remember sort of parallel to that is i it was one of the first movies where i watched it and then had to

explain to my mom how good it was sure like i had to convince my mom to watch it and it was like you're not recommending my mother's never seen this movie yeah no i think my mom saw it and then had to explain to my mom how good it was. Sure. Like I had to convince my mom to watch it and it was like you're not recommending me to meet. My mother's never seen this movie. Yeah. No I think my mom saw it and liked it. If we're like tiptoeing around talking about this movie right now It's hard to talk about it. We were like talking about it before we got in here. You guys have all seen it. This is like. It's the Matrix.

Cause okay look we had to talk about Star Wars like the original Star Wars. True. But at that time we were doing it under the auspices of like a bit. Well, also, we did 10 episodes per movie, so we could really dig in. Yeah. But this is like, how do you fucking talk about the Matrix where it's like, A, I mean, this is the other thing we were saying. This is a really simple, stupid thought.

But it's like watching it, re-watching it last night. Yeah. Like any other time we have a movie, watch it with a close eye. I kind of watch it with a... Yeah, you're like, ooh, I never noticed that before. Right, and with a mind towards, like, what are we going to talk about in the podcast? Right, this is The Matrix.

It's so ingrained in our DNA at this point. Yeah, I know every frame of it. Right, that you, like, kind of can't watch it fresh. We were talking about it's, like, one of the first DVDs I ever owned, so I'd watch it over and over just because I liked it, but also because I'd known a lot of DVDs, so it was easy to watch it over and over again. So I know

every action beat to this movie. Yeah, like all of it. I mean, there were scenes I used to watch over and over and over again. I mean, I guess we should just go through the plot, right? Well, let me just finish on it. Joel Silver, producer Joel, as they, producer Joel, they call him. You know, he had his shingle... That fat fuck in the ice cream colors. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Exactly. He had his shingle Silver Pictures at Warner Brothers, and he liked the movie. Yeah, he liked the script. Yeah. So he encouraged it, and I think this other guy, you know, but, and so the Wachowskis got together with this guy, Jeff Darrow, who I think was the guy who drew, like, Transmetropolitan, maybe? I don't know.

I can't remember. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, the Warren Ellis book. I don't think it was that. It was a graphic novelist, whatever. And they storyboarded the whole movie, like 600 pages. They brought that to Warner Brothers,

and Warner Brothers was like, all right, $60 million. If you can do that, then you can do that. And they had to shoot it in Australia. Here's another way that this movie fucking, like, changed everything. Yeah. This was, like, one of the first big movies to shoot in Australia. Totally.

And then that became the thing for the next 10 years. Yeah, that's Village Roadshow, which is the production company, you know, that produces. That's an Australian production company. Yeah. And they became, like, a powerhouse. Yeah, and they started pushing everything to Australia. Australia suddenly had like all this land, really good crews, and like insane tax rebates. You could, you know, a lot of different landscapes you could use. Yeah.

And yeah, like, I mean, the city is Sydney, I think. You know, the sort of the city of the Matrix is actually Sydney. Oh, interesting. I mean, obviously it's supposed to be kind of Chicago-y. Yeah. But it's using the Sydney background of chicago-y yeah but uh it's uh it's using the sydney it's a versatile country there's there's a lot of different uh landscapes there yeah and big studio you know big warehouses and shit and a a wealth of good actors

totally and like half of this cast is australian is that right because the thing about the matrix that's fascinating is you've got Keanu and Lawrence and those are your two stars. You have Carrie-Anne Moss who is like a TV actor. She's Canadian, I think. They just like the look. You've got Joey Pants, Pantoliano, coming back from Bound. He's the returning player from Bound.

And you've got Hugo Weaving who is an Australian. He'd been in The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. And then you've just got a bunch of like who the fuck are these guys like they are only in the matrix they're a bunch of like Australian snooks it's like crazy you have Gloria Foster who she's a real actress who plays the Oracle who's great yeah but like the rest of the of the ship those guys are tanks switch yeah apoc i love them like they're great i love that they all have their own little kind of matrix look you know they all go they all got their own sunglasses

yeah but i mean uh they're just a bunch of dweebs like it's great well dozer's the guy who ends up being like the main plug-in guy right no that's tank that's tank tank is tank is played by marcus chong right who is Tommy Chong's son. Yeah, and is a handsome boy. And was fired from the sequels because he was apparently... He asked for like $3 million or something, I think. And I was worried he was very difficult to work with. It sounds like he was one of those

actors. He's really charming in this movie. I like him a lot in this. Yeah, he's good. He's good. He's not like... I think that Harold Perrineau is objectively better. He's a better actor in the grand scheme of things. But no, no, I mean, he's the one in The Matrix, so he's good. He's good. He's good. He's not like, I think that Harold Perrineau is objectively better. He's a better actor in the grand scheme of things. But no, no. I mean, he's, you know, he's the one in the Matrix. So he's good.

He's good. He's good. No, Dozer is his big brother. Right. Played by a guy called Anthony Ray Parker. Yeah. Who like didn't do other stuff. Yeah.

I mean, I mean, obviously a lot of the cast gets killed off in this movie. So you don't need them to do a lot. But it's just funny. Like sometimes you'll see a movie like, say like the Star Wars prequels. Yeah. And you'll be like, oh, say the Star Wars prequels, and you'll be like, oh, hey, look in the background. There's Rose Byrne. Someone who got famous. This one's like, hey, nobody.

Hey, look at nobody. Except for Hugo Weaving. And who else went on to something big? You're not gonna... You mean Mouse. You mean... Went on to play Elan Sleazebagano in Attack of the Clones, Dan. But it is weird. Matt Doran. Matt Doran, yeah, but he's Australian too.

All the other people on the crew are Australian. Yeah, and I think the other agents are Australian maybe. They suck. Oh my god. I love how bad they are, because Hugo Weaving is like masterful in this movie. And then the other two agents are they can barely speak their lines. They're so basic. It's great.

They're like only human. It's like literally like they are machines who can't talk. But doesn't that strike you as probably Australian actors who hadn't mastered the accent? No, totally. They're cast on look. They're just cast because they look like bland white guys. There's also this thing. They're both Australian.

Galaxy Quest. Robert Taylor, who played Agent Agent Jones is now the lead of Longmire what? who knew? is he Australian? yeah weird

I know Longmire? yeah that like western show yeah weird anyway what I was gonna say was

so I take it back one of the one of the ensemble got famous big success Galaxy Quest a movie I love which I believe

I've referenced several times yeah also 99 film yes yeah and my single favorite movie of all time arguably comes from 1999 I Galaxy Quest, a movie I love, which I believe I've referenced several times before. Yeah, also a 99 film. Yes. Yeah, and my single favorite movie of all time arguably comes from 1999. Your single favorite? Oh, Toy Story 2?

Yep. The best movie of 1999 is Eyes Wide Shut. Toy Story 2. Anyway. Galaxy Quest. Uh-huh. They cast, what's his name? Enrico Colantoni

or however you say his name the Canadian actor from Veronica Mars and Just Shoot Me and shit he's great so good in Galaxy Quest so good

they cast him to play the lead Thermian right they you know all that the vocal the sort of

movements the way he holds himself all of that just one of the greatest pieces of like quote unquote like alien acting ever

it's amazing so funny on a par with Vincent D'Onofrio in Men in Black but they cast that part first Just one of the greatest pieces of like, quote unquote, like alien acting ever. It's amazing. So funny. On a par with Vincent D'Onofrio in Men in Black. But they cast that part first. He came in with all of that developed. That wasn't like in the script. Right, right. And then they went when they were casting the other roles.

They were like, copy him. And that's like, the other people are like Rainn Wilson and Missy Pyle and a bunch of great character actors. Missy Pyle and that other guy who was in Deadpool this year. Jed Rees. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, and there's another guy, Patrick Summing, who's a really good stage actor. But we're not talking...

My point is, they went to all of them and they went, hey, we cast this guy. Copy, copy. He's the leader. This is the template. And it feels like with The Matrix, they did the same thing. Yeah, like, we cast Hugo Weaving, watch him. Watch him. Listen to his voice.

And these people were like, that's very simple. He's doing straight arrow. That's easy. And then it's a master class in showing how hard it is to be that focused, that restrained, you know? That sparse. Yeah, because, okay, so let's get into this movie. Yeah, let's get into this one. So this movie is like a classic, like, it's like all these things coming together, right?

Yeah. It's like all these different influences. Like, you've got this sort of comic book-y thing. You've got this steampunk look. And you have these cyberpunk themes about hackers and reality versus

virtual reality. This sort of deep sci-fi thinking. Hardcore sci-fi thinking. They're also mixing in philosophical ideas of the 20th century. But you're getting this Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury sort of area, but for the first time being able to realize this stuff on a massive visual scale.

And then they're also mixing in their love of anime, which I know shit about. Yeah. And Japanese, cool Japanese serialized stuff and martial arts kung fu movies yeah right like which and and they hired this legendary chinese choreographer yeah yuan wo ping i don't know you know uh who's like does all the fight sequences that's why people coming out of the movie like the audiences couldn't tell you what it was because it's like well they they it's martial arts, but it's also like guns. Yeah.

And it's like, they're hackers, but it's like a computer movie. But then it's like, it's just, it's so many things at once. There's this weird- It shouldn't work at all. It shouldn't work at all. There's this weird phenomenon that happens very rarely where something like comes along that just sort of crystallizes all these things that were in the air that someone hadn't pulled down to the ground yet.

You know? They just managed to get like for Johnny Mnemonic a movie that had come out four years ago which is like a cyberpunk movie and it has a lot of these themes of like hacking and like that's a movie that totally bombs. It's trying to do the same kind of thing and it totally

blows it. It sucks. Like as much as I love that movie for how weird it is it sucks. But I also think it's the Matrix is a weird case where it's like unsuccessful movies that had come out before with similar elements set the stage for people to understand what this movie was. There's a story I love that

Dick Havitt went to see Woody Allen at like Cafe Wa one night. And silence. Right? And he was doing his shtick. And Dick Havert was like, I thought this was the funniest guy I'd ever seen and no one was laughing.

No one was getting it. And I saw him a couple times and then about a year later I went, I saw him and the audience just loved him. It was just like the right moment. The moment had come. The next day, he was written up in the New York Times

and he was Woody Allen, it was permanent. And he said, I realized the first night I saw him, there was no context for what he was doing. And it was like a year in. To some degree, what he had been putting out there had sort of dripped into the culture. Even people didn't know it.

Where it's like the people who saw him that night and didn't laugh at it. Then had that in the back of their minds. And then it transferred to other things. And I get what you're going for with this. And with The Matrix, it's just sort of like- It just came at a perfect time. Like, kung fu movies were a thing that were enough in our DNA as Americans whether or not we had seen them.

To not be, like, totally niche. Yeah. Like, all these pieces made sense. Okay, so the movie starts out with what is called digital rain. That's right. Yes. The green code of The Matrix. The green code of The Matrix. with what is called digital rain. That's right, yes. The green code of the matrix.

The green code of the matrix. Yeah, and you hear a woman on the phone with a guy, and they're obviously surveilling someone. It's all very noir-y. It starts in action, right? Like mid-action. They are being tapped by an unknown force that we don't understand. We see a trace, Like a phone trace.

Yeah. And they're not using garbage made up language. Right. Which we've talked about a lot on movies that take place in like weird, crazy worlds. If you start with a prologue about what fucking happened, it's like really hard point. That's one thing that really works about this movie, even versus a movie like Inception inception where it's like we even they obviously sometimes they spout jargon and whatever but mostly it's all very very grounded language it's pretty conversational yeah so things like plug and unplug things we get well and it's all the scenes are mapped pretty clearly on to like the objectives are always very very clear right and you hear these two people talking it's like are we being spied on what's going on here and

they're talking about this they're also talking about this guy where the guy is like, she's like, the guy's like, do you believe in this thing? And she's like, I don't know. You know, like. So you have no idea what they're talking about, but here's what you know. They're in danger and they're looking for a guy. Easy. This is, and this is the thing.

I got it. And I think, and as I just said, and we'll talk about the sequels when we talk about the sequels, but I mean, even when you think about a movie today, like Batman versus Superman, whatever, like the fact that they storyboarded this out all so clearly probably really helped with that. Let's ground every scene in something someone can understand. Well, and this is a movie that costs 10 times more than Bounded, but has the exact same economy of storytelling.

There's not a wasted frame in this film. But you start mid-action with that intensity. The two actors are doing good work, voice only right totally the digital rain and joey pants yeah it's still like a compelling visual and then you jump straight into this crazy action sequence that's unlike anything you've ever seen this is the thing it leads with this one you know trinity this like hacker lady who's like dressed in pvc and has like this crazy like slick back like short black hair god i wanted her haircuts so you're just like what the fuck is that you know like look at this person yeah like it's beyond any forget the action for a second just look at this person she's very

striking and she's in this like cat suit you know and um and like a cop tries to arrest her whatever and she like jumps in the air and like does crazy kick. Like a spider kick. And the camera spins all the way around her, which now I guess is old hat, but then was completely bonkers. Like the camera freezes and spins 180 degrees around her. This is a pre-Shrek world. We didn't know that Princess Fiona could do that.

This was uncharted territory. That scene in Shrek is so infuriating. Remember how funny we all thought Shrek was? We're not talking about Shrek because the internet talks way too much about Shrek as it is. Can we do a miniseries called Blank Shrek? Oh, fuck! It's too good, we have to do it!

Because there are five films to talk about. We would have to get Pilot on board. Oh, because you want to talk about the amusement park film? Oh, then there's six, Puss in Boots. I just want to restate, Shrek 4D is a shitty movie. But, I mean, the there's six, Puss in Boots. I just want to restate, Shrek 4D is a shitty movie. But, I mean, the bullet time thing, the spin, is the best. Yeah, it's the best.

And that's like minute two, second 15. So good. Yeah, it's like so early on. And you're cutting to Hugo Weaving, this Agent Smith guy, telling the cops, like, your men are already dead. Yeah. You know, like, he's like you're you know who are these like feds what is this but here's here's this bigger then she does that and you're like oh she's crazy and i just want to get to and then they they start chasing her and she jumps from

one building to another which is in crate you know right cool and then one of the uh agents does too yeah and the cop does like there's like a great like spielberg face of the cop watching it and he just goes that's impossible yeah yeah which i love he doesn't say like holy shit or like whoa he says like i just won't i refuse to believe what i just saw but it's like high angle camera with the cop looking up so you have that spielberg look you're saying where the eyes are wide you know and gazing upward yeah and And there's this like amazing sign on one of the buildings that just says like guns and ammo. Yes. And it's a billboard with a gun smoking out.

The look of this movie is immediately like it's raining. It's dark. The buildings look, everything's real. Yeah. And it's all green. That's the other thing. It's like all super green. It's crazy green filters on everything.

Which is my favorite color. Because we're in the Matrix. My number one favorite color. You're wearing a green shirt right now. As am I. As are you. Wow. And I have green, beautiful green eyes. I mean. Because we're in the Matrix. My number one favorite color. You're wearing a green shirt right now. As are you. And I have beautiful green eyes.

I mean. No, go on. Ladies. I look at this as a case study of the positive opposite of something we've identified as a problem with a lot of other movies we've talked about on this show, right? Yeah. Which is like when a movie starts the way that After Earth does. Where it's like in the year 2074.

Talk about the opposite of a good idea. You know, the Earth is attacking this and that. Imagine if this movie started that way where it's like, humans and machines fought a war. And then the Matrix was created. Or whatever. You know, like that would be the worst movie ever. You'd just tune right out. So filmmaking's like a magic trick, right?

Yeah. You're trying to get the audience to believe in this thing that you're doing. You're getting them to look at this hand so they don't notice the other hand. They don't see the plot machinations because they're engaged with the action. It's so good. Right?

I love it. So if you start out by going like, the asses could smell fear, I go, you're panicking. Yeah, right. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, if you spend the first 10 minutes of your movie explaining to me

everything I need to understand the rest of the movie, you seem scared and I don't trust you. But The Matrix starts out and they're just like, we expect you're going to keep up with this. We're not going to feed you anything. Yeah, it's that argument, right? An argument that a lot of good things have made,

which is like, yeah, audiences are intelligent if the thing is good, then they'll be interested. And the confidence of this movie, the way it starts, this movie is just such a clearly realized vision, even watching it today, but it just drops you in. You have no idea what the fuck is going on. It's arguably overwhelming, right? Yeah.

But these filmmakers seem so strong-minded and like, we're going to make this make sense to you. Right, I'm just going to run with this. Stick with us. Look at my hand, you know? There's nothing up the sleeves. Like, stick with me. So there's this great chase sequence,

which is what you're talking about, which is where it's just like, they're like, look, we know you don't know who she is. We know you don't know who the guys in the suits are. That digital text thing, you have no idea what that was. You don't know what that opening thing was with the trace and the conversation with the other Joey pants. But admit it's pretty cool. But it's really cool.

Stick with us. And then she is running, She gets on a pay phone. And she, whatever. She escapes. She gets sucked in. And the agents are like, we got a target. All right. And so then we cut to Keanu Reeves as a hacker.

And let's just say, what a handsome face. Handsome, handsome man. I forgot. Watching this movie. So this movie is a very pale movie. Yes. Which is crazy because it's also, and this is especially true in the sequels, like, one of the most racially diverse and conscious, like, movies of its kind in history forever. Yes, but it's got a sort of washed out look. Oh, no, totally.

But, like, this movie, like, the two of the three heroes are these like drawn white, like sort of almost ghost-like people. Yeah, and you know. And that's why Keanu's perfect for this part. He looks like a ghost. Yes, and when we say white, we mean it literally. Like he's not like a peach-skinned man. The way they film

him, he is white as a sheet of paper. I mean, he is like, he looks, apart from the fact that he's like so freaking handsome and he knows how to dress himself he's so beautiful he's a beautiful person but he you know he looks like kind of like a hacker like he looks you know like someone who like spends his days looking at a screen yeah and

yeah you never like in these beginning scenes it's always night time and it's always raining yeah and he he's always green I mean he looks like he's gonna vomit you know yeah so he's a hacker and he there's this whole thing green. I mean he looks like he's gonna vomit. You know? Yeah. So he's a hacker and there's this whole thing where he has like the computer talks to him and tells him to follow the white rabbit. We can't do the whole plot of this movie

but you know. It's so dense. Yeah but yeah I mean he's The computer talks to him and it's the moment. He feels like he's talking to his computer and the computer is saying like what is the matrix? But this is also like fucking minute four of the film? Ten. Ten. Whatever.

I mean, early on. Oh, right, because the chase is a little bit longer. But like, you know, minute seven or eight, whatever it is. You have this moment that's like the key moment for any good hero's journey type film. Totally. And these are movies about the hero's journey. Right. And subverting them. And they establish the entire dynamic in like 15 seconds.

Here's a guy sleeping on a keyboard. Right? and subverting them. And they establish the entire dynamic in like 15 seconds. Here's a guy sleeping on a keyboard, right? His life is, he's asleep. Through his life, he's asleep. We know that from the first- It's like he's in a dream. That's the first fucking shot of this character. What's he doing? He's indoors in a cramped, dark apartment.

No, yeah. He's sleeping on a keyboard. This guy doesn't have it going together. No, but it's not just that. It's like he's a walking dreamer. And of course, it's the idea of the Matrix. He lifts his head up. The person's talking to him.

Don't you think there's something out there, Neo? The computer's talking to him. It's the Luke looking at the two sons. There has to be something better out there for me. They make the reference to Alice in Wonderland. And again, it makes it really clear, easy to follow. Yeah, follow the white rabbit. And that's right.

And he follows this girl with a white rabbit tattooed, and he goes to a club, and Rob Zombie is playing, and Trinity is there. Dragula. Yeah, Dragula. I forgot how much new metal

there was in this movie. That's the other thing about The Matrix. It had this crazy influential soundtrack, and that influence was maybe not so good. Yeah.

A couple bad years there. Yeah, it doesn't really age well. I own the soundtrack. Yeah, really? Yeah, I mean, because it's like half new metal and half just techno music. The techno stuff's not bad. The score in this movie is also amazing. Don Davis, I believe.

It's one who did Bound as well. Yeah. Yeah, well, that's the thing. They brought over Bill Pope and Zack Steinberg and Don Davis. All the guys who worked on their little indie movie, just come right to this big thing. And they do great. And you know what else they brought? A pair of pants.

I don't know what that means. Joy pants. Oh, gosh. A tailor-made pair of pants. And I said Italian pants. They put it right over the genitals of this movie, that pants. So Keanu, he meets with Trinity at this bar for a second. And it almost feels like they're at a fetish club and it's like a seduction thing.

There's like people in cages and shit. You know what I'm saying? Their conversation is so charged that it's like, is this just some sex thing she's trying to rope him into? That's what the Matrix is. Yeah. And then there's this, to me when I was a kid, such an iconic thing where it's like, oh yeah, he's a grown up and his job is that he goes into an office building and it's boring. Yeah, I love it.

And there are cubicles. Yeah. Because he's a slave. Trinity wears black leather and he wears a white shirt. And there's this scene where his boss is lecturing him and he's like, you have to be on time and you're asleep. It's like you're sleepwalking. And then he says, how about I give you the finger? No, no, that's later.

That's to Agent Smith. And then Neo gets a FedEx package and it's a Nokia phone with like a slidey thing. Ben, do you remember this phone? Of course. It's the hottest phone in the world. It's spring loaded. He hits a button and the thing like sticks out.

Wasn't this like the start of like cell world. It's spring loaded. He hits a button and the thing sticks out. Wasn't this the start of cell phone advertising? Absolutely. A hundred percent. For sure. It was the first cell phone that anyone had ever, except for One Fine Day. They have the star tax in One Fine Day. Hey, can I talk about One Fine Day for one second? You'd better be one second.

Whoever did the original song for One Fine Day that was nominated for an Academy Award that year. Wasn't it Diane Warren? Yeah, I don't remember who sang it, right? But there was the One Fine Day song. Not the song One Fine Day, but there was an original song. The great song One Fine Day. That was nominated for an Academy Award that year. Wasn't it Diane Warren? Yeah, I don't remember who sang it, right? But there was like the One Fine Day song. Not the song One Fine Day but there was an original song written for One Fine Day at the Academy Awards. It's called For the First Time. It was sung

by Kenny Loggins. It was a James Newton Howard joint. Anyway, go ahead. At the Academy Awards that year they performed the song and they did like a montage of famous couples in movies on the screen behind them. So it was like they were playing that and then they showed like a montage of famous couples in movies. Okay. On the screen behind them. So it was like they were playing that and then they showed like Bogie and Bacall.

Okay. What's your point? And they showed like whatever. And then one of the couples they showed was Luke and Leia. Oh dear. And I remember being at an Oscar party with my parents and everyone being like, oh, their brother and you guys know that. It was like Kenny Loggins singing like,

and the moment where it happens. And then it was just Luke and Leia smiling at each other. Well, whatever. Moving on. That's crazy. Good impression of what I think that song sounds like. Yeah, it was pretty good. And the moment where it happens.

Where you fuck your sister in space. So he gets a phone call. Yeah. From Lawrence Fishburne. A spring phone. And Lawrence Fishburne seems to be telling him he's Morpheus and he seems to be telling him like you know like anticipating what's happening in the world. Can we talk about another moment that like at that point you're just like this I can't

believe how cool this is. Zip. Open FedEx package. Cell phone. Immediately starts ringing. It's great. Immediately. It's great. And at that point, you're like, wait, what?

It's great. I mean, it's the sort of postmodern, whatever, cyberpunk-y version of the fucking Harry Potter thing. Yeah. Of the, like, you're special, and we found you. Like, you are the one person who sees the world for what it is, which is, like, dull as dishwater. are the one person who sees the world for what it is which is like dull as dishwater and you immediately know how special you are because of how special the way we're communicating with you

is. Yeah because you're in a movie. Yeah. Because cool shit's happening. That's why the Matrix works because they are in a movie it's called the Matrix that's what their reality is. Yeah. I could just talk about the Matrix for my whole life. It's so much more difficult to talk about The Matrix for one episode

than it would be to talk about it for 40 episodes. So then I want to cut ahead to the next iconic scene after this sort of chase with the phone, which is very fun. Neo gets captured by the agents. Hugo Weaving gives this fucking Oscar monologue where he's like, you know, in one life you're Thomas Anderson and you pay taxes. And then he says, you help your landlady carry out garbage. You know, like he has these great, like this way, great way of talking.

What are you? David, that is an incredible impression. I've watched The Matrix way too many times. Yeah, but Ben, I'm not alone in this, right? That's like really strong. Very solid. I've watched it too many times. But you'd be better as one of the backup agents than the guys they fucking hired.

I should have been one of them. You could have done it. You can't just do Hugo Weaving. That's the problem. He's got that weird American accent that's not quite right, which is perfect. Yeah. Right. But like everyone I feel like should have their own version of that, like rather than

just doing a Hugo Weaving. I mean, look, all I'm going to say is at the very least, put that in a reel, submit it to MADtv. You got at least one. Did you hear they're bringing MADtv back? Yeah, look, all I'm going to say is at the very least, put that in a reel, submit it to Mad TV. You got at least one. Did you hear they're bringing Mad TV back? Yeah, that's why I'm saying it. You got to strike, David. Got to do my Agent Smith. Yeah.

And that's when Neo gives Agent Smith the finger. Yeah. Fuck the man. I give you the finger. I give you the finger. Yeah. And you give me my phone call. Right. Or whatever. And then they say, how can you make a phone call if you're unable to and uh you give me my phone call right whatever and uh then they they they uh they say how could you make a phone call if you're unable to if you're unable to speak yeah uh and his mouth closes up it's the craziest people still talk to me about it when i mentioned the matrix

how much that freaked them out can i do a merchandise spotlight for a second uh sure was there a mouth closing up neo toy yeah so there was probably a lot of Matrix toys, right? Yeah. Like, after the fact. A lot of, like, collectible shit. Here's what's weird. They actually, and it's like a moment where I think Warner Brothers didn't know how big this movie was going to be. How could they have?

Obviously, no one could have. Yeah. But they had some weird foresight because they actually did have, like, a full line of action figures that were released when the movie was out, like, in theaters. For an R-rated movie, that was, like, a pretty bold bet. But, I mean, when you see this movie, it's a why not? You know, like this movie. Is that Morpheus calling?

Ben, do you have to take that call? I don't know. Should I pick it up? Yeah, pick it up. All right. Hold on. Ben's doing it. I don't know.

He's in a different room. Hello? Keep going. Sorry. Sorry, guys. It's not a bit is everything okay ben it's just it's just that's just uh the glitch in the matrix okay but if if this now what what if this wasn't a bit and ben the next thing we saw was ben on the fire escape he drops the phone yeah yeah uh We're probably cutting this out.

But no, so the thing where his mouth closes up is like a perfect nightmarish image. Merchandise spotlight. First wave of action figures was just like Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Cypher, Agent Smith, and Switch.

Hey, she's cool. She's got the blonde hair and the white suit. She's cool. And in the second series of toys, they were like, we're going to do moments. It's not the character. They should have been like APOC. I just want to say APOC. No, they were like, we're going to do moments.

So they did Tank with the gun shooting at Cypher. Yeah, with the electric gun thing. They did Trinity and the kick, the flying kick thing. And then the one that I bought that I was like, I thought that was the coolest one. It is the coolest one. Was Mr. Anderson. And it's just Keanu in a nice white shirt and slacks. Sure.

Like screaming with his mouth closed. The image of his mouth closing, like of the little sort of like tendrils locking together on his mouth is great. Yeah. And then he's basically just got like a patch over his mouth. I had that toy probably on my shelf. I just love that if you covered up the face, it was just like some guy. So let's say something.

Yeah. This is probably this whole scene probably is about 20 minutes into the movie. So far, we've seen like a lady do crazy like spider kicking and jumping around buildings. And we've seen this like cell phone sequence where someone's predicting the future. And still like then we have an interrogation scene where they close his mouth up and then they put a bug in his belly button. Yeah. And like I mean how are you not flipping out at this point just being like what is this movie?

We also haven't seen Larry Fishburne at this point. We have we've only heard his voice. Yeah. But I mean it's like the idea where you're like I get it these are feds these this is like the government these are men in black. Yeah. And they're going to torture him or something there or they're going to imprison him. It's like no what they're going to do is they're going to take out a mechanical object that turns into a bug, like a big, gross, I don't know, earworm, earwig, or whatever.

And then it'll force itself into his belly button. Yeah. It is the greatest sort of reversal, or you think you're watching an action movie or something. It's like, no, this is like a Cronenberg cronenberg movie yeah all of a sudden and then he just wakes up right he wakes up it's a hard cut to him waking up yeah and he's like on his yeah yeah but he's and uh and then he gets picked up by the the team uh-huh morpheus trinity switch yeah it's trinity and switch and uh epoch epoch and they they take the bug out of him with this crazy machine, which is fun. Yeah, which came with the action figure, even though it was like, well, he's not going to hold it.

Well, it's a later scene, but maybe you could buy a Trinity to have her do it. Yeah, I guess, yeah. And then he meets Morpheus. Cool guy. Can I say this? He's got a lot of style. He's a cool guy. So Morpheus is in an abandoned house. There's like a thunderstorm outside. he's a cool guy so morpheus is in an abandoned house there's like

a thunderstorm outside he's wearing a chair he's wearing a he's wearing a floor-length leather coat leather fucking cape i don't know you know like yeah uh and he's got pince nay like sunglasses yeah they have no arms on yeah they just pinch on his nose and like it's all reflect you know they're and let's say this too okay morpheus sitting in a chair right like a comfy like sort of like an armchair yeah like a red leather armchair yeah now that might sound like an inactive choice oh boring sitting in a chair that's a lazy man's position this guy is sitting the shit out of that chair do you know what i'm saying like no one's ever fucking sat in a chair. For someone who does a lot of sitting in this movie he does it well. He sits so fucking hard in this film.

Yeah. And he gives a speech Yeah he gives a speech where he it's a lot of like you know what if you were dreaming like and then you couldn't tell the difference between the dream and the real and like it's a lot of circular language. Yeah. But I mean his basic choice is like you can either take this blue pill

and you just forget about it or you take this red pill and you like you know you go down the rabbit hole you know whatever and this is one of my favorite things in the entire movie you're talking about the shot where the hands are reflected in his sunglasses that's crazy that's crazy and it's great they did that that's like there's like green film on his glasses right right it's a composite shot yeah yeah no but no is what I love more than that is you expect Alice in Wonderland style that if he swallows the pill, he'll immediately go into a crazy world. Yeah, sure. And instead he swallows the pill and they're like, okay, good.

Follow me into this room. Right. And they're like, what was that? And he was like, that pill stabilizes your blood pressure so we can put you into the major. Yeah, it's like it removes your output carrier signal. Right. They like start babbling and they sit him down.

But the pill wasn't just a- No, no, right. Then they have to do a bunch of phone shit. The pill was like means to an end. A, it wasn't a placebo. Yeah, what's the blue pill do, do you think? Is it just like, does it just knock you out or something? So they can bring him back to his apartment.

It's like NyQuil or something. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it just was a straight up NyQuil tablet. And do you think he has like a lot of those pills? Like, does he have like a pill box? I don't, how many people take the blue pill? It's so many questions. Yeah.

In the world of The Matrix, we're called blue pills. That's like a muggle. And like Matrix people are called, people are free, are called red pills. Yeah. So you already hinted at like the new metal thing was like kind of a pox on culture after this. A little bit. You know, Matrix did a lot of this where it was like, the Matrix is great.

Like any great influential film, it created a lot of crap in its wake. Yeah. And one of them is the MRA movement, the men's right activists. Oh, okay. The scum of the earth. Yeah, of course. The scourge of Twitter and all social media. Yeah.

You know they're like really into the red pill theory. I see. They see themselves as red pills. Is that because they're woke? You wake up and realize that men are forced into roles that benefit women and that if we're going to actually live our lives, you have to... I'm going to venture you've spent too much time of your own personal time looking into this stuff. Correct. I like staring into the sun. I do too, but I've never done that. I've never gone down that rabbit hole.

Yeah, it's horrible. I've spent a lot of time. And I hope that they realize that these movies were made by awesome trans women who are the best and think they suck. Yep. Because this is the thing about this movie. It's very utopian in its vision of its heroes and its villains and things like that. Yeah. It's also a movie about realizing the real body you're supposed to be.

Claiming your real body. And not accepting the reality that other people put upon you, but finding the truth. And there's all these ideas. I mean, everyone was made to read this book, Simulacrum, Simulacrum, by Baudrillard. When I was in college, I took a cyberpunk literature class, which was really cool. And a shout out to my professor, Stacey Gillis, who I believe still teaches at Newcastle. And it was the greatest fucking class I took my whole time at Newcastle. Because she was a genius.

This fucking class I took my whole time at Newcastle. Because she was a genius. So we had to read at least part of that book. Yeah. Which is a lot of this French guy going, I go to Disneyland and I think this is reality. Or whatever. But it's great.

The book has the accent written in like that, right? Yeah, absolutely. I go to Disneyland and... Yeah, that's a perfect, perfect impression. Great. So... It's part of my Mad TV reel. Yeah. You know, perfect impression. Great. So... It's part of my Mad TV reel. Yeah. You know, great job.

Thank you. So anyway, The Matrix. Oh, yeah. The book, the book, the book, the book. Right, right. And so there's also all this stuff, like you're saying about, like, accepting that the world around you is not, and the body you're in is not real. But also this free will versus fate shit.

Yeah. That's like the major theme of this, right? It's like, you know, is this happening because it's supposed to happen, because it's a movie? Right. Or are you making these choices, you know, and like, you know, accepting, creating your own hero's journey? Well, and this idea of the one, you know.

Right, right, right. There's one who's going to be balanced, who's going to free the people, who's going to be able to defeat the machines. And this entire idea of like. Or is that is that right is the prophecy itself like like that isn't that its own form of like controlling kind of crappy or is or can you turn that into something real so can we talk i mean i know we're skipping ahead but can we talk about the best scene in the movie yeah the best thing in the movie is the oracle's kitchen love that scene. I think, I mean,

should have gotten an Academy Award nomination, Gloria Stewart. Like one of the best one scene performances in history. It is so layered. There's so much going on.

I mean, are we skipping over anything major? They bring him into the Matrix. They bring him into the real world rather. No, we're skipping some major stuff. So let's just briefly.

Because yeah, he touches this mirror, covers him him it's like mirror goo which once again is alice in wonderland right imagery it's through the looking glass he wakes up in a pink pod uh he's naked he's bald he's hairless he's covered in holes but let's just say he still looks really good he's pretty fuckable he's pretty fuckable and and more fuckable than ever actually because he's got more holes to fill do you know what i'm saying oh dear i don't know if he looks his best but i just want like from utilitarian perspective he is the most fuckable he's ever been just just continuing this body horror thing like the back of his neck so horrifying his forearms when he

when all the tendrils that are he's strapped to like snap off of him a couple spots you could fucking his spine and this is a 60 million dollar movie, Griffin. Yeah. And that vision he has when he wakes up in the real world and there's millions of pods or whatever being harvested by robot tentacles and shit.

Humans as batteries, which is a recurring theme in the Wachowski oeuvre. That's true. You're thinking of Joop Ascend. Yeah. Yeah, thinking of Jupe Ascend. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Jupe Sends. Jupe Sends. This is so cool looking though. It's like very H.R. Giger. Yeah, of course. And I'm sure

the production designer they worked with Owen Patterson, I think, had a lot of those influences. I'm going to look him up. It's like H.R. Giger, but with more fuckability. You know what I'm saying? H.R. Giger is very much about fuckability, I think. Yeah, but I could never find a hole in those xenomorphs. That was the thing.

They're very sexual looking, but I couldn't find a hole. And Keanu, it's like they're having a fire sale on holes. Enough. I beg you. Ben, agree or disagree? I agree. Great. Moving on.

So, yeah, so then he gets picked up by the crew, by Morpheus and the agree. Great. Moving on. So yeah so then he gets picked up by the crew. Yeah. By Morpheus and the crew. Switch. And in the real She's there! Switch. And you know while in the Matrix the computer world that we all live in currently to this day by the way guys we all live in the Matrix

Yeah yeah yeah. They all look like the hottest shit in the universe and they're like perfectly airbrushed, perfectly dressed, all wearing sunglasses. In the real world, they all wear rags. Yeah. And they look like crap. Yeah. And they have fucking holes everywhere and plugs in the back of their necks.

Yeah, and Keanu has a shaved head. He's just getting the stubble back because he just got out of the pod. Yeah, he's a baby. Yeah, they rebuild his muscles. He's a little baby. Yeah. They give him a bunch of programs to learn stuff. Well, yeah.

Well, first they tell him what the Matrix is, which is a fake reality created by machines after a war with artificial intelligence to use our bodies as batteries. A TLDR version. It's bullshit. It's a bunch of bullshit. Matrix is a bunch of bullshit. It's the wool pulled over our eyes. Yeah.

And then they start to, I mean, this movie is so, this is the thing. And this is what we're talking about. Where it's like, the movie is just like, people can jump across buildings. Got that? Great. People can like put bugs in your belly button. Got that? All right.

We're moving through. Yeah. You touch the mirror, you enter the, then it's like, sit in this chair. You're going to do a Kung fu scene with Lawrence Fishburne. But there's 30 or 40 minutes before we get to the scene where Morpheus explains the Matrix. You're on board at that point because everything's so cool. Right.

And then they, in one scene, explain everything. What the Matrix is, yeah. Perfectly. And it is, of course, it's a tricky scene, like you say, because it is just exposition and explanation. But it's very visual because it takes place in this weird space. It's basically like a tutorial. It's like a video game and Lawrence Fishburne is sitting in his red leather chair again.

Sitting the shit out of that chair. And he's like, here we are in the real world. Oh, look, this is the real world. This is the Matrix and it's controlling you. And yeah, a million minds are woke at the same time. Hey, talk about being woke 420 van hell yeah bro but then and so you're like okay

crazy sci-fi get it cool and then they're like okay now we're gonna be a kung fu movie yeah so they put him in a chair and our friend Tank Marcus Chong has like a bunch of like floppy disks. And he's like, these are the programs I'm supposed to give you.

But if you ask me, most of them are pretty boring. So let's just go straight to this. And just starts loading shit into his head. And then Keanu wakes up. And anyone who says Keanu's a bad actor can go eat a dick. I hate them. Yeah. Because he delivers the line, I know Kung Fu.

Like, better than anyone ever could. Yeah. Could I just say something to that point? How dare you, Ben. All right, he, listen, he's, you know, he's got that reputation as being a bad actor. As being wooden, yes. But I will say this,

I think he's just bad at asking questions. I think it's just like a flaw of his because like anytime he asks a question, it's always very Keanu. Yeah. And it's, you knowanu and it's you know a little distracting sometimes I think he's an incredible movie star

he's got like a presence and a charisma that you cannot teach and that you cannot replicate it goes beyond just the fact that he's like such a good looking guy right Jesus and that he moves really well that that he's a great physical actor.

Because I saw an interview with him where they were talking about John Wick, and they were like, so you do a lot of your stunts in this movie. And he's like, I don't do stunts. Stunts are done by stuntmen. I do physical acting. He has a lot of respect for stuntmen, I believe. Yes, he does. And he's very close to his stunt performers on The Matrix,

who then went on to direct John Wick. Mm-hmm. But go on. No, but he's like a really good physical actor. He sells all these sort of motions and he's expressive in his body in a way that a lot of actors are not. Is he the most nuanced

actor? No. You know? What do you mean, Griffin? He's got a very specific... He needs the right director and he needs the right script and he needs a lot of the right situations. Yeah, and he needs, you know and he fits into certain parts well. He fits into other parts like Jonathan Harker in Dracula significantly less well. His worst acting job is in Francis Ford.

Ever, I would say. But like, you know, it's hard to think of a guy who has had a couple films as iconic as him. Yeah. I mean, the three biggest, would you agree? What would you say his biggest ones are? He had this incredible thing where it's like he would get big, then he'd squander it, and people would be like, Keanu's out, and then he'd come back.

But he wouldn't be squandering it. He'd just be doing whatever he wanted to do. And then he'd come back, and then they'd be like, oh, Keanu's back. Love Keanu. And then he'd shit out again in the eyes of the public. Yeah, no, totally. And then he'd come back again

like twice as strong. Yeah because it's like you got Bill and Ted. Which he should have won an Oscar for. And his like adorable sort of early kind of cute pothead-y kind you know like parenthood these sorts of movies you know. Right. My own private Idaho. Well that's a great performance. Yeah. That's a great performance. Yes. Yeah. And then right and then he

kind of reinvents himself in Point Break. Yeah. As like action like square square jawed. Yeah. Kind then, right, and then he kind of reinvents himself in Point Break. Yeah. As like action, like square jawed. Yeah. Kind of like lunatic, calm, like weirdo who you just sort of love. Yeah. And then you got I Love You to Death. Not a movie I've seen. He's so good at that.

I'm sorry. Really? I've never seen that. Not a movie I've seen. It's like this weird movie that I was obsessed with as a kid. It's really good. That's right in between Parenthood and Point Break. It's Tracy this weird movie that I was obsessed with as a kid. It's really good. That's right in between Parenthood and Point Break. It's Tracy Ullman, Kevin Kline.

Yeah, right. Tracy Ullman. Is it the pizza one? Yes. But just to carry on. Sorry. No, it's fine. I just wanted speed. I got very excited. How do you feel about speed? Great movie. Gotta keep that bus going. And then after speed, it's like, Keanuanu you're a movie star yeah what do you want to do what do you do not do a sequel to speed

right go on tour with my band dog star yeah my band dog star where i'm like the bassist it's not even like his like he's not even like the lead guitarist and the singer and uh just kind of hang out yeah which mind you he did an earlier thing uh i like maybe before point break in like the post my own private idaho days he they were like what do you want to do world is your oyster and he's like i want to do hamlet in canada yeah right right he preferred yeah right he played hamlet in canada he was about the right age for it too it's good good choice kiano wish i could have seen it but he's done a lot of like weird left turn moves like that and then this movie it's like wish I could have seen it. But he's done a lot of weird left turn moves like that.

And in this movie, it's like... Right. So after Speed, he's kind of floating around and making mostly bad movies. I was just reading, by the way,

that Wachowskis wanted Depp. I didn't know this. He was the first choice. They could have gotten him. Because Depp himself is also in kind of a weird sort of valley at this point in his career.

He's like astronaut's wife territory. Nick of time. But the studio pushed for reeves which is weird because it's not i mean i guess they just were it was only five years after the speed so i guess they were just like he's still great like you know we need a reeves movie he also might have been cheaper at that point in time which they could put the money like he was a name and a face but they also could have put money into the effects and everything now like what would you do without him in this movie i mean no one else could have played this part.

It's like one of the most, just to look at him, one of the most, you know, him in the sunglasses, like, is one of the most iconic, like, movie figures. And there's that thing with Keanu where it's, like, hard to read him, which is why a lot of people peg him as being stupid, because there's, like, a vacancy there that also, I think, is more just a sort of, like, an intangible, unknowable quality. Right. And his best movie roles use that to their advantage so bill and ted it's like is this guy brilliant or is he a fucking idiot you know yeah and in this

it's like you need someone who you can't really read right and who you can project a lot of things on to he's like morpheus can be like this guy's the one he's the future he's gonna save us all and you go like really cypher can be, this guy's like a fucking lost sheep. He's a nobody. And Trinity can be like, this guy is a one-way ticket to bone town. This guy is a dick for me to jump on.

She falls for him. She's like, this guy's hot. I think we all do. I think America falls for him. America falls right for him. But, you know, it's all right. It's all relative. And the Oracle sees him and she's just like, But, you know, it's all right. It's all relative. Yeah. And the Oracle sees him and she's just like, ah, you'll figure it out. It's such a good scene.

She's making cookies. Yeah. So, you know, he learns Kung Fu. He has this great Kung Fu fight with Lawrence Fishburne. It's amazing. Yeah. And then he's supposed to try and do the jump across buildings and he can't do it. He fucks up.

There's the Lady in Red. There's the Lady in Red scene. Yeah. Where he's being taught's the lady in red. There's the lady in red scene where he's being taught the agents are everywhere and if you're in the Matrix, computer programs can find you, which is cool. And then with the lady with the red dress, there's

that, I don't remember the character's name. Mouse. He's basically just like, hey, if you want to fuck the... I was saying this on Twitter last night. You like Mouse, but he's like a little Gamergate freak. He's gross. He's like, I designed her and on Twitter last night. You like Mouse, but he's like a little Gamergate freak. He's gross. He's like, I designed her and she fucks you. Death sticks.

He has, I mean, this movie is tapping into, this is the other thing, that sort of X-Files conspiracy theory shit. Yeah. Because that's what The Matrix is so good at, is that it's an explanation for all conspiracy theories. It's like, oh, the government's always there at the right time and they're always like oh that's because it's the matrix and they're just computer programs. Like it's

everything works. It's also like an explanation for like depression. Well that's the thing. It's like do you like They do that more in Reloaded and Revolutions but yeah. Do you dislike any aspect of being a human being? Right. A fucking matrix. Yeah. Yeah. Is that bullshit? It's because you are dissatisfied because you know something's wrong but you just don't know being. Right. A fucking Matrix. Yeah. Yeah. It's because you are dissatisfied

because you know something's wrong but you just don't know what. Right. And then in Reloaded Revolutions they do this thing where it's like oh there are all these exile programs and that's like angels

and you know monsters and aliens and ghosts. Yeah. But I mean this movie has a thing where deja vu means like that the Matrix

is being like fiddled with. Yeah. And you have a moment like of like oh I realize this isn't working. Yeah. So good. Glitch in the Matrix. Can we talk means like that the matrix is being like fiddled with yeah and you have a moment like of like oh i realize this isn't working yeah it's so good glitch in the matrix uh can we talk can we talk about the oracle so after training him they take him kung fu battle and we're told like okay the oracle is some kind of magic person and she has told morpheus like the one the prophecy of the

one who will save us all and we've seen so much crazy shit in this movie that the point they build up to the Oracle, you're like, who's this gonna be? Sure. Yeah. I guess so. It's hard for me to remember now a time where I didn't know that the Oracle was like a nice, like,

older black lady who makes cookies, but sure. But I do, I mean, I think that's, we have to force ourselves to try to, like, remember, right? Through fresh eyes. The Oracle could be fucking anything at this point and they just go to like like a six floor walk-up apartment yeah they go to like i mean the design of this

movie is perfect and they go to this kind of cool dilapidated housing project basically there are a bunch of little kids there with their parents yeah this is objectively one of the goofiest scenes in the movie is i i do too but i mean you got to admit like in the movie. I love it. I do too, but I mean, you got to admit, like in another movie, this would fall flat. The cute little bald kid who's bending a spoon with his mind. He's not the greatest actor and he goes like,

you know, he tells the line that, you know, you have to realize the truth. Can I disagree? There is no spoon. Can I disagree with you on one point? I think his voice just bugs me.

Go on. I think he is the greatest actor. I think this kid might, I think he might literally be the greatest actor. Well, it turned out that is Meryl Streep. Right, that's think he is the greatest actor. I think this kid might, I think he might literally be the greatest actor. Well, it turned out that is Meryl Streep. Right, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. You know who's a great actor is Gloria Foster.

Jesus Christ. Who plays the Oracle. Okay, so. And what a fuck up this role could be. Yeah. Because it is a magical black lady. Yeah. Like 150%. Yeah. And like, it is like loaded with cliche Cause she's baking cookies

You know Like this idea of like Oh the fountain of all knowledge And it's like Wait What It's a nice old lady Reverse

But she's also chain smoking She's pretty cynical She's cool She's been around the block A few times Gloria Foster Is like a great Broadway actress

Wachowski's very good At casting Yeah Like smaller roles Yeah And really good at casting smaller roles. And really good at finding cool, talented actors. But she says the thing where it's like don't worry about the vase. And he's like, what vase? And then knocks over a vase in the process.

And he's like, how do you know? And she's like, what will really bake your noodle is if... Which you would have knocked it over if I told you. Yeah. You know what's really going to bake your noodle? I love her. Love her. Amazing amazing but every single line reading she has has like five different layers to it going on and it is like what's the hardest thing to convey in the world that you are the most all-knowing all-powerful creature in history

absolutely do you know what i'm saying yeah and you look at her and she's got this world weariness but also this kindness like running simultaneously that's like this person just fucking gets it and she sees through it and she very casually just goes like you're not you're a nice boy but you're not the one yeah and you know maybe it's all part of a larger thing that's going on but in the moment you're like

yeah yeah okay he's just a guy yeah right Angelina Jolie won this year for Girl Interrupted that's correct I would have given it to Gloria Foster. I would have given it to Catherine Keener, which is one of the greatest supporting performances of like the decade. I think this is maybe the most astonishing one scene performance I've ever seen. It's a great one scene performance for sure.

It's insane. So good. Yeah. And helps the movie like, you know, it's the hinge of the movie and like makes everything forward. I think it elevates the movie and makes everything forward. I think it elevates it to a whole different level. Because we're getting so steeped in the Matrix-y stuff right now that to have a scene where someone's a warm presence,

like a human being, you know? And feels so messy and specific and real. I love it. Now, we've got to talk about another great one-scene piece of work, although the actor's in many other scenes, that happens like maybe 10 minutes before this. Cypher talking to Aiden Smith at the steak restaurant. Just hold on one second.

Oh, you just, oh boy. I'm going to slip on a new pair of pants. Hold on. You're disgusting. Okay, yeah, go on. So concurrent with Morpheus' whole thing of trying to figure out if Neo is the one. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, Neo is an anagram of one, guys.

Wait, what? Oh, shit. Maybe he could have just... So this movie is like leaden with imagery. I might have said leaden just five seconds ago. David, it's a little dangerous for you to throw a concept set of that big because you have to remember... What? Ben's been toking out so hard right now.

because you have to remember. What? Ben's been talking out so hard right now. Ben has just been just gorging himself on pot edible confections. I know all about marijuana, guys. That's so crazy, man. No, anyway. So Cypher.

Yeah. Cypher, we haven't really talked about him. Cypher Rage. Not Cypher Rage. It's not After Earth's Will Smith. No. It is Joey Pants, who did great work in Bound. Yeah.

We love him. Love him. In this, he's bald. He's got like a devilish little goatee. Like a long mustache and then one long strip. One long strip. One long soul patch strip. And he is the cynic.

Yeah. Because you got Neo. He's the new guy. He's the babe in the woods. You got Trinity. She's like the right-hand woman to Morpheus's he's the new guy it's the babe in the woods you know you got trinity she's like the right hand woman to morpheus who's the boss you got she's the babe in the trench coat you know switch is the uh you know the comic relief right the best action figure just i really wanted to make that switch joke uh no so so cyphers he's kind of the like yeah come on it's all bullshit five comedy points thank you uh but right like the minute we meet cypher he's like the one who's maybe.

Yeah. You know, he talks to. Either one or what? Talks to Neo and he's like, man, why didn't I take the blue pill? You know, like, does all that. Probably wondering that. And they hard cut. They go from that scene where he's like, I bet you're wondering right now what happens.

They hard cut to him in the Matrix. Yeah. Talking to Agent Smith. Yeah. And eating the most beautifully photographed steak. I honestly think that scene is what made me like steak. I maybe had not eaten a steak before seeing this movie. And then afterwards I went to my dad and I was like, steak good?

Steak good? Can I try some steak? It's just, you know, you always hear like it's tough when you're an actor, and I'm sure you know this, like to eat in a scene, because then you have to eat the same thing over and over and over again. Weirdly the hardest thing. Right. And maybe this is the one time where it wasn't true.

Like Joey Pants just got to eat like eight perfectly cooked steaks. And the centerpiece of the scene is that he cuts this perfect little piece and spends most of the scene delivering it to this piece. Only has to take one bite. Yeah, and he says like, you know, I know this isn't real. Matrix is telling me that. It's just telling me that it's delicious and juicy and perfectly cooked or whatever. But I don't care anymore.

Because you know what I say to that? Ignorance is bliss. It's a great scene. And you know what else? He's got the duke! I got the duke! It's a Midnight Run reference for you guys. Jay Griffith's just nodding. Great movie.

So Cypher's working against them. Right, he got the duke and he's trying to... And so when they go see the Oracle, he betrays them. Yes. And so this is where it all falls apart. This is the beginning, the end of the second act. Throws the cell phone in the garbage can, lets the agents find them. And the agents kidnap Morpheus in a big crazy action scene where they have to escape through the walls.

And then Morpheus has this big dirty fight in a bathroom with Agent Smith. That is awesome. And a lot of our best friends get killed. You know, Cypher plugs back into the real world. Yeah. And he starts unplugging people and it kills them. That's how APOC goes. Mouse.

Mouse gets shot to pieces. Yeah, he's the first to go. I think the Wachowskis are like, I know you think this guy's cute, but he's a little gross and we're going to kill him off first. Or dearly departed Switch. Switch, you remember her last lines? Not like this. Not like this. Not like this. Not like this.

Is she like Danish or something? What is that woman? I think she's Australian. I looked her up. Her voice is very odd in the film. Belinda McClory. Yeah, because she has like a couple lines. Because she also has that like our way or the highway or whatever. Not like this. Yeah, she's Australian. Alright.

So they all get unplugged. Dozer gets shot in the real ship. Cypher kills him. They maybe imply that Switch and APOC had a thing. No, they're a couple. They're a couple? Yeah, for sure. Because she's so upset when APOC dies.

As is everybody. I mean, the audience is not a dry eye. I don't accept that. I don't accept that. Not APOC. I don't accept that characters are dating unless I see them fuck on screen it's unsimulated anyway should we leave that in or yeah leave that in okay uh and so cypher kills the two guys in the ship dozer and tank except it turns out he doesn't you know he's because he's about to unplug

neo right and he's like all right if he's really you know he's because he's about to unplug neo right and he's like all right if he's really the one something's gonna happen to stop me from doing this oh he also gives the whole monologue to trinity where he explains that he was in love with her yeah he does it's really again just great joey pants because he's delivering it to sleeping people he's delivering it to a sleeping trinity and they're cutting to trinity on the phone but like he like jumps on her on her like her sleeping body and you like delivers it to her face. It's great.

So what you're saying is it's a fine pair of pants. It's a fine pair of Italian pant. And then yeah they're going to unplug Neo. And he's like he literally is like hey man if Neo is the hero of this movie. And I can't do this can I. And then Tank shows up and kills Cypher. It's great. Yeah. Cypher goes no I don't believe it. I can't do this, can I? And then Tank shows up and kills Cypher. It's great. Cypher goes, no, I don't believe it.

I can't do him. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't believe it. Yeah. You got the dog. Okay. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. It's a good scene. It's a great scene. The gun is weird. It's like an engineering gun or something. It shoots electricity. Yeah, it's got a blue bolt and stuff.

Makes a cool noise. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I was going to say, you know what else is cool? The Matrix? The Matrix. Everything about it. Ben, what were you going to say? Well, I don't know if we've really touched upon too much, but their ship and just like

the- Oh, the Nebuchadnezzar. Oh, you're talking about that fucking Nebuchadnezzar though yeah I love the like the set design of that and I think it's so cool that they justify the future world that all the humans are underground they kind of reference the

city that exists city of Zion's the last unplugged city yeah they don't we don't see it but we hear about it it's like in the deep in the core of the earth oh and Tank and Dozer are like pure human. They've never been plugged in. They can't plug in because they are born in Zion.

But it's all that little stuff that's just like you don't need much of it. It's just like enough information. It's so great. I fucking love this movie. It's so good.

And as you're saying cool we should talk about how cool everyone looks in the Matrix. It's your digitalized self or whatever as Morpheus puts it where you just look like a badass. You look perfect. Yeah. It's a greatized self or whatever, as Morpheus puts it, where you just look like a badass.

You look perfect. Yeah. It's a great excuse for them to all look perfect all the time. To look like movie stars. Yeah, exactly. The Nebuchadnezzar also looks like what another spaceship would shit out. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, totally.

It's this weird misshapen turd. It's like a turd. It's engines of these weird little pads all over it that like zap out electricity it looks like the millennium falcons doodoo it's a good that's a good metaphor yeah kind of looks like a i don't know it looks like some sort of tool like only like a plumber would have where he'd be like oh for this you need he like pulls out like this weird misshapen hammer okay we're gonna have to take a nebuchadnezzar to this one. Nebuchadnezzar, of course, is the god of dreams, right? From, I forget which mythology.

Nebuchadnezzar, of course, is also the most fun word to say. It's a fun word to say. No, right. No, Nebuchadnezzar is like an ancient king of Babylon, right? There's something to do with dreams, though. Yeah. Maybe it's Morpheus who's the god of dreams. That's what I'm mixing up there.

Yeah. So Morpheus is kidnapped. Morpheus is kidnapped by the of dreams. That's what I'm mixing up there. Yeah. So Morpheus is kidnapped. Morpheus is kidnapped by the agents. Trinity and Neo are back in the real world. She and Neo get home with Tank. Yeah. And they are like, we have to kill Morpheus because he could give up the secrets of Zion. He could get, you know, they're going to torture him.

We have a skeleton crew now. It's a tight crew of three trying to get one. And P.S. Like the Oracle told Neo, like, Morpheus is crazy. He's really devoted and he's going to sacrifice himself to get one. And P.S. like the Oracle told Neo like Morpheus is crazy. He's really devoted and he's going to sacrifice himself to save you. He won't think twice about it. Yeah she says poor Morpheus. So Neo's got a lot of guilt because he's like I'm not the one. This isn't

worth it. Right. So do I die and let him. Yeah. Right. So they say we're going to need guns. Lots of guns. And boy do they get them. Yeah. So it's that and then it's so it's that. And then it's basically the action happens. I mean, there's been lots of action.

Talk about a movie that knows how to dole out action at like perfect beats. Yeah. Like not like say Batman versus Superman, where it's like, oh, fun opening two minutes, hour and a half of nothing. And then all the actions at the end, you know. What are you talking about? Nothing. Holly Hunter drinks urine urine there's a lot of stuff going on in that movie um hope you guys all enjoyed the uh bonus episode by the way yeah uh talk about negative influence of the matrix uh stupidly uh this film was blamed for the columbine killings oh because they were like

wearing trench coats and shit trench coats and they had a bunch of guns and they thought it like fetishized this thing, right? Wait, is that true? No, Columbine was before the Matrix. Columbine happened April 1999. Yeah, April 20th. Thank you. Yeah, you're right.

Okay, so it's like right before. Yeah. Which like makes it all the more ridiculous, but whatever. Here's another thing. Columbine's a huge bummer, guys. Yeah, Columbine fucking sucks. I'll go on the record saying I don't like Columbine, right? The town.

But also I thought the shootings were bad. I have always had a gripe with this sort of thing. I think it's like a fundamental problem in our country. No, it's cheap. It's also fucking how we talk about mental health, you know? Where it's like, if someone wants to do that, there's a bigger problem here that we're not taking care of because we stigmatize mental health sure sure but because guess what like we saw the matrix and we didn't shoot people oh well okay i saw the matrix and i didn't shoot kidding it's a terrible thing to kid about no but you know what i'm saying like

okay yes maybe they got the idea from that movie but also if you see a movie and go oh i should do that then you're someone who needs help okay let's move on yes please yes jesus christ uh i mean if you if you feel like you want to shoot someone get help guys don't do it yeah that's our message on blank check pod but i also i mean it's no no no more it is fascinating that this film spawns the red pill movement. Yeah, a lot of bad things. It also spawned the great Jet Li movie, The One. Yeah.

But a lot of that. It made martial arts kind of a hip thing to have in a Hollywood movie. Yeah. After the first wave of that, which I guess was sort of the Bruce Lee era. Also, shooting the fight scenes, I feel like it was really influential. Yes. The way they shot. Yeah. Well, the bullet time thing was a game changer. The bullet time thing was crazy. For sure. This whole action scene plays out where they

have to break into an office building, like a crazy big tower, to get Morpheus back. It's a tower heist. It's a classic tower heist situation. Yeah, Casey Affleck's there, playing fifth fiddle. Yeah, Gabrielle Sidibe, yeah. Michael Pena. do you want to keep naming the cast of Tower House

Eddie Murphy Ben Stiller Alan Alda Taylor Leone um is that all of them Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick

right that's who I was thinking um I'll be above the line above the title players anyway so you know there's this

I mean when I was 13 I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world he walks through the metal detector and he like we need

to do you have any loose change and he like opens his coat and he's covered in guns yeah it's a little creepy when you think about it the wrong way you know like you've got Columbine in my head now for sure but when I was just so cool as a movie is a cool moment I remember they've also set up at this

point that it's not real like it's like that's the interesting thing about it because they murder with impunity yeah but i think it is this idea of like look the matrix is kind of fake it's sort of it's weird tricky territory they don't get into it at all yeah i mean there's an interesting thing they keep on doing when you die in the matrix do you just die you do well they say that you do they say that and they show that it's like you're just a slave to a digital world so who cares i don't know there is an interesting thing they keep on doing in the film where like they'll shoot an agent and then after they die they'll turn back into another person like the agent took over their body right right um i do like that they

cut to that like it makes it dark but they're also not pretending like there aren't consequences to their actions. Agreed. I agree. And they do explain that when with the dead, they turn them into black goo that feed babies. Yes, they do. They liquefy the dead to feed the living. They never explain where the babies come from, and I always wondered

about that. You stick a penis in a vagina and then a bunch of cum goes into an egg. Oh my god. then a bunch of cum goes into an egg. Into a bag? Cum goes into an egg. I thought you said egg bag. You make eggs a la cum. You haven't heard about eggs a la cum? It's a really good baby recipe.

Oh my god. Okay, it's getting a little hot in here. Yeah, it's getting really hot. Now it's getting hot in here too. Eggs a la cum. Wait, this action's getting hot in here too. Eggs all will come. Wait, this action scene. The action scene is just cool. I remember watching some crappy I Love the 90s type thing a million years ago on the BBC or whatever.

Yeah. And Simon Pegg, the actor who spaced his great show, ripped off the Matrix a bunch, talking about how cool it is that they shoot people with their guns, and then they just drop the guns because they have more guns. Yeah, they don't either. Whereas Simon Pegg is like, keep the guns. That's a good gun. You just shot someone with it. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.

They've got more guns. We're in the Matrix. They do all this cool bullet time stuff. I don't know. Again, this is now we're hung up. It's like the Matrix is great. Yeah. There is no spoon.

They blow up an elevator. Yeah. They parody that scene from Scary Movie. I don't even know what you're talking about i was trying to do a backwards i know i get it but i don't even know which scene it is there's a scene where the killer throws a knife at anna ferris and she goes into bullet time oh yeah yeah yeah it was a backwards show classic backwards joke and then parallel to this you've got again hugo weaving just having so much fun chewing scenery yeah delivering monologues to uh lawrence fishburne's like drugged corpse of a body you know and it's interesting as i said

this i realized there's a lot of that in this movie there is a lot of one-way monologuing yeah and it shouldn't work no it really shouldn't work no because you got morpheus talking to neo about the matrix you've got smith talking to morpheus about how he hates the Matrix. He hates people. You've got Cypher. You know, like, it shouldn't work, but it totally works. Yeah, this movie works. You said last week we were talking about Bill Pope

and his work Unbound. And you said, like, he's one of the most underrated DPs and the fact that he's never nominated for an Oscar is insane. It's an outrage. It's crazy he wasn't nominated for this. Well, so that's... I heard what you were saying last week

and still watching this movie was like, well, he who beat him for the oscar that year conrad hall won for american beauty which is a great piece of cinematography and it was a posthumous work uh no no that was road to perdition oh you're right yes but you know it was he was like an old hand and it was cool that he was like uh but the other nominees that year let's do it yeah let's do this these are all really good nominations. He wasn't even fucking nominated. No. Like, I mean, A, it's an incredible piece of work, and B, it's one of the most influential, most influential shot films.

Yeah. You've got Dante Spinotti's work on The Insider, which is phenomenal. Yeah, agreed. On Michael Mann's The Insider. You have Emmanuel Lubezki, Chivo himself. This might have been his first nomination. Sleepy Hollow. For Sleepy Hollow, which is a gorgeously photographed movie. An incredible looking

film yeah. You have Robert Richardson you know Quentin Tarantino Martin Scorsese collaborator for Snowfalling on Cedars which is that weird rare solo cinematography nomination at the Oscars. Gorgeous movie not a good movie. Boring as shit oh boy you know who's that

Ethan Hawke Scott Hicks movie not a good movie. That's the best joke in Horrible Bosses, though. Yeah, the Jamie Foxx rented. Pirated. Yeah. That's what he got arrested for. Yeah, okay.

So, and then you have Roger Pratt's work. I mean, Conrad Hoffer, American Beauty's winner. Roger Pratt's work on The End of the Affair. You could have dropped Pratt or Richardson. Yeah, that's what I would have done. I mean, you know, it's crazy that he wasn't nominated. Yeah, and let's talk about Best Picture and Best Director, okay? Because these are categories where The Matrix should have been nominated

and Wachowski should have been nominated. And screenplay, right? So for Best Picture, I believe that year we have The Insider. Deserves to be in there. 100%. Right? We have The Sixth Sense. We both obviously back up that decision.

I wouldn't nominate it, but it's a good movie, and I get it. I don't protest the nomination. I get it. We have The Cider House Rules. Kick that. That's the Miramax entry. We have The Green Mile. Come on, guys.

And then the fifth one is American Beauty, right? Correct. There's room to put The Matrix in there. Yeah, I mean, here's some movies that came out in 99. Eyes Wide Shut. Toy Story 2. The Iron Giant.

Toy Story 2. Rosetta, the Dardenne's movie, which is incredible. Toy Story 2. The Blair Witch Project. Toy Story 2. Being John Malkovich. Toy Story 2. Princess Mononoke. Toy Story 2.

Galaxy Quest. Toy Story 2. American Movie. Toy Story 2. Three Kingsonoke. Toy Story 2. Galaxy Quest. American Movie. Toy Story 2. Three Kings. Election. Toy Story 2. All About My Mother. Office Space.

Bringing Out the Dead. Magnolia. Fight Club. Doug's first movie. The Talented Mr. Ripley. Summer of Sam. It's crazy how many big movies. It's a great year.

It's a great year for film and you have like two like real basic movies nominated for best picture. Yeah. Yeah. You you know i'm saying like even if you know we dislike american beauty now there's a big difference between american beauty getting nominated and like fucking cider house rules being nominated no of course i mean it's crazy that they didn't nominate the matrix but of course then it's also not crazy at all because it was like a weird sci-fi movie and it also come out in march which is you know best director I feel like they got much closer getting right because they go Michael Mann

M. Night Shyamalan Sam Mendes then they nominate Spike Jones for being John Malkovich which is a cool nomination and then the fifth person is actually a good question because it's I think it might be Lassie Hallstrom was it

Jesus Christ because they didn't nominate Darabont Shomalon Mendes Jones you looking it up the wifi is bad

oh okay yeah whatever they should have put the Wachowskis in there also Gloria Stewart should have been nominated also Joey Pan should have been nominated

also they should have given Keanu Reeves a lifetime achievement award I will find that. Also, they should have given Keanu Reeves a Lifetime Achievement Award. I will find that. I'm just like... Excellence in being Keanu. The end of the film, they... Sorry.

Yeah, go ahead. No, they escape. They get Morpheus. Morpheus breaks out of chains. So many cool things. Yeah. They fucking have a helicopter and they shoot everyone to death

with a big minigun. Right, they do the scary movie scene and then Morpheus jumps. Backward joke. It's a backward joke. Yeah, he jumps and he catches Keanu. Yeah, and then they're hanging from the helicopter and then they go down to a subway station

and they're like, I think we're all good. Let's all go back in. Yeah, they get Trinity and Morpheus out and then Keanu has another, and also, wait, Keanu has that showdown with the one agent where he shoots the guns at him and the agent just goes like.

Oh, it becomes like six bodies at the same time. Oh, it's so cool. Yeah. And then the agent tries to shoot Morpheus and Morpheus like almost dodges the bullets himself with the most iconic bullet time where he's. Yeah, where it's literally the bullets flying by. Yeah, where he's like laying down almost. And yeah, Lasse Hallström was the fifth.

Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, boy. And. Yeah And uh Yeah Lasse Hallström Was the fifth Jesus Christ Oh boy Um And uh They think they're in the clear And then uh Agent Smith And then there's one last Amazing

Yeah Well no there's like More than one Cause yeah he has a big fight With Agent Smith In the subway train Dies They kill him

Well no then there's a big chase Oh right And then Agent Smith Shoots him to death Yeah And then he's dead Like Jesus died, our savior. Oh, I knew this was going to come up.

Well, I mean, it's very, you know. Talk about bad things that the Matrix inspired. Jeez. Do you know that Christianity didn't exist before the Matrix? Of course. Of course I knew that. People took all the wrong lessons from the Matrix. And then he wakes up because Trinity gives him a little kiss, which doesn't happen in the Bible.

Yeah. The Bible needed like one more pass. I feel like it was so close to being like, it's a good book, but it's not great. You want to talk about blank checks? I will say that, and we'll talk about The Matrix Reloaded later, but the core point of what's going on in The Matrix, I just want to say say I'm so nerdy about the Matrix, is that Neo has fallen in love with a person, whereas the One is supposed to fall in love with humanity. Yeah. Because the One will want to save humanity. Right.

So it's crucial that he is revived by one person. Anyway, doesn't matter. That's not in this movie. So let's move on. Cool. She gives a great speech about how the Oracle told her that she would fall in in love with the one so she knows that he can't be dead because she's in love with him so you know you've got this this general sense that the oracle is pulling everyone's strings yeah you know like it's it's all very vague but she's telling morpheus go look for the

one she's telling trini you're gonna find the one but she's not telling me no mio you are the one because of course he's got to figure that out for himself for the whole magic to work right you know then the whole crazy shazam he's got he's got to become a ghost yeah the holy cypher rage no yes cypher is like uh like judas yeah no anyway it's all very yeah he wakes up and he jumps into agent smith it's pretty cool yeah he jumps inside that body and then he blows him up from the inside. Yep, and then he's just the one. And then he can see the Matrix. There's the great fucking shot too

where Agent Smith is doing kung fu moves on him and Keanu isn't even flinching and he's just holding his arms out. In slow motion, he's just like, and he stops the bullets with his hand, all that stuff. That's great. He does like four of the coolest things

that anyone's ever done in a movie. He's just like, ah, ah, ah! Yeah, whoa, this is cool. I'm having a fun time. And then he blows them up from the inside. Yeah. And then he can see the Matrix. Like, he can see the world's code, essentially.

Yeah. You know. And then, like, movie over. They celebrate. He stops the Sentinels. We forgot to mention the Sentinels. Sentinels are, like, really cool. Like, they're robot squids.

Squid, squid. Yeah. He doesn't stop them. Morpheus does.pheus does right they just needed him to come back they need to come back so they can shoot the emp and then the final moment is like a voiceover of him on the phone telling you know he's got his cool monologue at the end of like you know things are about to change this and that and he walks out of a phone booth and he flies into the sky like superman while rage against the machine plays yeah it's Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. It's great.

Yeah. Good movie. Would watch again. Yeah. It's about two hours, 15 minutes. I mean. It flies by. A good run time.

Maybe my favorite run time. We're talking RTs. So now, let's talk about it. It was a hit. Yeah. People went to see it and they paid money to go see it in theaters. So this first weekend, can you tell me the top

five in April for the April 2nd weekend, 1999? Well, I know that 10 Things I Hate About You opened that weekend. Number two. That's number two. Number three, I believe if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Because I think I saw two of the three films released that weekend.

The Matrix was the one I didn't see. That tells you a lot about what my interests were at this time. Correct. Five movies. Yeah, five movies came out this weekend. Okay. Three major. I think, was there another comedy in the top five?

Yeah. Was it The Out of Towners? Correct. I saw that with my mom. Yeah, with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. Yeah. And John Cleese. Not good. No, bad movie. top five yeah was it the out of towners correct i saw that with my mom yeah with steve martin and goldie hawn yeah and john cleese not good no bad movie um but so yeah uh 10 things and out of towners both make about eight mil matrix no matrix collects 37 mil okay 10 things makes 11.5 over the longer weekend it's not a good number and And out-of-towners makes eight.

Yeah, okay. So that's one through three, right? In order? Yeah. Can you do number four? Yeah, you got number three. Okay, number four. 10 things ends up with a total gross of 38 mil.

Yeah, that's what it is. It was very much a long-lasting sort of. Hey, I just looked something up the other day. Do you know what the final domestic total was on Zoolander 2? What? $28 million. That's insane how low that is. Probably cost a lot more than that, right? Yep.

I mean, that movie was a bomb. I didn't see it. So number four. Give me a hint. It's comedy. It's in its second week of... No, it's in its... I'm sorry.

It's in its fifth week of release. Interesting. Falls from number two to number four. It's made 80 mil at this point, which is its budget. I know what it is. Wow. Analyze this. Correct.

Because I was thinking, what's on track to make 100? Oh, it makes 100, yeah. I think it makes 100. I think it cracks 100. Yeah, 106. Lisa Kudrow hosts the MTV Movie Awards that year. And the opening is a parody of Austin Powers' The Spy Who Shagged Me. Dr. Evil reveals himself to be Billy Crystal.

And she's like, Billy, we just crossed 100 million. Oh, I remember that. That's funny. I remember that very thing. Yeah. Do you watch Unbreakable, Kimmy Schmidt? I haven't watched this season yet.

Yeah. You're talking about Unbreakable. Unbreakable. Fuck you guys. And number five, falling from number one in its third week of release. Okay, give me a hint.

It's a weird fucking movie. It's nominally a romantic comedy, but very dark for a boring rom-com. Interesting. Weird. A strange movie. Maura Tierney's in it. The great Maura. Maura T.

Was it like an Oscar type movie? No. Maura Tierney's in it, but is she top bill she top bill no no she's like the third or fourth it's a weird dark romantic comedy it had been number one uh yeah uh no yeah no it had it had it had been number one uh yeah i don't know i don't know what else to tell you so i I'm just going to. What's the total right now? What's the domestic total as of this weekend? $36 million.

Interesting. And it's its fourth week of release? Third. Third. Give me one more hint. Ben Affleck's in it. Oh, Forces of Nature. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a weird movie and that was number two number one for like two weekends in a row or something i guess so really successful yeah i mean you know affleck was hot back then he was he was hot it was the year after armageddon he was a hot guy and bullock was hot you know we were armageddon it on with ben our love affair with ben i mean that's a weird movie right that's a very weird movie yeah it's an odd one yeah it's kind of that that weird late 90s where the rom-coms get dark, like bounce. Yeah.

Yeah, I also remember them being like Ben and Sandy. They might be the new. I remember them threatening to make four more Affleck and Bullock movies. No, thank you. Yeah, I don't know more of that. Some other movies floating around. Ed TV, the great Ed TV, which I adore, which predicted all reality television almost exactly, which is crazy.

And also has a long monologue devoted to Rob Reiner's penis implant. Right at the end. That's the climactic that's like the climax of the movie. Yeah. Ellen DeGeneres talking about Rob Reiner's dick. You've got, no, it's McConaughey mostly talking about. Yeah. Ed TV, one of the great McConaughey performances.

I have to see it again. Great, yeah. That's the True Detective prequel, right? Correct. Yeah, I know it is. And Shakespeare in Love, Life is Beautiful, some of the Oscar leftovers. You got Doug's first movie in there as you were- Good pull. Baby Geniuses, one of the worst films ever made.

Saw that in theaters. And just the other two new releases, which were both indie, you know, tiny six screen releases. Cookie's Fortune, the Robert Altman movie. Oh. And The Dream Life of Angels. I don't know if I've ever even heard of The Dream Life of Angels. It's a tiny little indie movie. Okay.

Well, made a little way. Anyway, yeah. So, you know, as we said, it just, it never went away. Yeah. You know, weekend number two, it made 22.5 mil. Like, you know, it just, it was one of those phenomenons. Here's the thing I remember distinctly. I was a big Entertainment Weekly reader growing up.

Entertainment Weekly would usually, like, bet their money on what was going to be the biggest movie coming out that weekend. And that would be the cover story. Like, here's the biggest film. The Matrix, even though Entertainment Weekly was owned by Warner Brothers, they just, like, didn't anticipate it. And so The Matrix was the cover of, like, Week its release like oh the big you know we have to catch up with it yeah um but it was that thing where it was like no one really i mean other than the company that manufactured switch action figures and clearly anticipated the amount of love the film was going to get i people weren't ready for what it was going to be at the very least they'd

be like that might be a little hit as just like an action movie right but it uh it changed again i remembered like but i remember like the tv spots for it i was in america i think when it was around being it was being advertised there's this there was this spot that was just like it was a shot of like one of the people turning into an agent you know that weird thing where their face kind of presses into a new person's face. And then a shot of someone jumping over a building and then Keanu just going, whoa. And just saying, The Matrix. And I was just like,

what is this movie? I gotta see this. What is this fucking crazy movie? That's a confident advertising campaign, too. That's like, we'll trust that you are curious enough that you'll come in with us telling you nothing. Can I tell you some trivia? Uh-huh.

Okay, so Warner Brothers balked at the budget, gave them 10 mil, and they used it to, apparently, this is all IMDb, so who knows, they used it to shoot the opening, you know, all the stuff with Trinity and stuff. Okay. And showed that to Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers was like, okay, okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. Cool, cool. and Warner Brothers was like, okay, okay, cool.

Cool, cool, cool. Cool, cool. You know, Yui Mo Ping, the classic Wu Ping, I don't, you know, the classic action choreographer refused. He asked for an exorbitant amount of money and they were like, fine. And he was like, I really don't want to do this movie. All right, I have to have total creative control over all fights.

And they were like, fine. And he was like, all right, I guess I'll, you know, he kept making crazy demands and they were like, we want you. Cool. Can I tell you guys about the influence of this movie on me? And he was like, all right, I guess I'll, you know, he kept making crazy demands and they were like, we want you. Cool. Um. Can I tell you guys about the influence of this movie on me? Please.

Okay. So I was a bit of a prankster. What? I can't believe that. Yep. Uh, so yeah, I love making prank phone calls. Yeah. And so this.

Like a crank yanker? Sort of a crank yanker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like a crank yanker? Sort of a crank yanker. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But this movie influenced me. Let's say I developed a particular bit where I would call strangers and I would basically play the Morpheus kind of role. Okay, okay. And I did it a lot. You know, again, definitely was under the influence. Toking that green. The wacky tobacco?

Yep. But me and my friends would hang out and we would call people and just be like is this John Smith? John we've been watching you and just like yeah and they'd usually hang up sometimes you get maybe an old person that would stay on the line because they're lonely well that's a sad note to end on Ben

just wanted to share that with you guys thanks Ben I'm trying to see if there's any other cool Well, that's a sad note to end on, Ben. Yep. Just wanted to share that with you guys. Thanks, Ben. I'm trying to see if there's any other cool... Ooh, okay. Belinda McClory, who plays Switch. Hey! If we were doing a 10-episode miniseries about The Matrix, I feel like there'd be a lot of Switch material.

She would be our Gragra. Yeah, she's like a Gragra or a TC-14. Switch was originally going to be played by androgynous actors, a male actor in The Matrix and a female actor in the real world, hence the name Switch. Very interesting. Warner Brothers said no. Yeah.

So McClory was going to just play the female version, but that's the kind of ideas that the Wachowskis are sort of fucking around with. But she is a very androgynous performer. No, absolutely. I mean, and a lot. I mean, so is Trinity. Yeah. So is Keanu, sort of.

You know, everyone's kind of. Keanu's got pretty feminine features. I mean, he's a pretty man. Do you have any more trivia facts there? Because I'm getting something here in my earpiece no no no no not just yet not just yet

let's see Carrie Ann Moss had never seen a movie before that she was in before she watched this oh I thought the fact was gonna be she'd never seen a movie

she'd never seen a movie before she showed up on set and she was like what what is this we're doing here is this like a book yeah by the end by

the middle of 2002 the bullet time sequence had been spoofed In over 20 different movies Yeah that sounds about right Oh boy I mean like There was Max Payne

Which is a video game In which you could Enter bullet time Like that was The whole premise Of the game You had to get enough pills You could go like

Yeah You know and like Dive around Shooting people Like that's how cool Bullet time was The coolest Um Yeah there's a Oh this trivia page Is a fucking mile long Yeah not worth doing around shooting people. Like, that's how cool bullet time was. The coolest.

Yeah, there's a, oh, this trivia page is a fucking mile long. Yeah, not worth doing. Oh, the other crucial thing is that this movie used a lot of the sets of Dark City and filmed in the same place.

Yeah, because Australia. Yeah. And like, I think borrowed a lot of the designers from Dark City and stuff like that. Wait.

David, excuse me. Yeah, go ahead. I'm getting something here in my earpiece. That's what I thought it was. Diners from Dark City and stuff like that. David, excuse me. Yeah, go ahead. I'm getting something here in my earpiece. That's what I thought it was. It's time for a burger report. Burger report. Ben, last week you teased. I haven't even eaten a burger in the last week or so.

I'll say I went to three burger places in the last week. Zero famos. Damn it. I'm putting in the legwork. Famos, you know, just get out there. Eat a burger. Help me out. So, Ben, who did you tease last week putting in the legwork. Famos, you know, just get out there. Eat a burger. Help me out. So, Ben, who did you tease last week?

John Mayer. John Mayer, yeah. Oh. I've never heard a story about him being a jerk. Oh, man. All right. So, I'm trying to remember the particular event that he was attending because there were a bunch of Famos.

I feel like it was a Jennifer Aniston film. He was dating her for a while. He was. This is probably around then. I'm going to try to give a year so maybe you guys could figure out the film. This was probably 2010

I think sounds about right. Maybe Horrible Bosses? Maybe it's a few years then maybe it might have been the first Horrible Boss. Maybe it's like a few years, then maybe it's like 2009. I think that was 11. Correct, it was 11. So, The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler? It was definitely some... Or was it The Switch? With where

Jason Bateman impregnates her against her will? Yeah, or I believe the 2009 film Love Happens with Two- two-face literally never heard of that movie yeah it's i think it's like a movie like that like maybe it is love happens i think it's love happened but so they had this like kind of like little vip party and so uh just to throw out some names of people who were there uh jennifer aniston was there. Actually, Dave Matthews was there.

All right. Wow. So a real high white guitar douchebag quotient. Yeah. He got very drunk on tequila. Like, very, very drunk. Cool. He basically was just like, leave the bottle, man, and was kind of rude and got wasted.

But I thought that was cool. Yeah. Who else was there? Who else was there? Oh, fuck. Well, I think Chris Rock. I mean, honestly, I have so many of these stories, they all kind of blend in with each other. Can I wager?

I think I've cracked what movie this is. Okay. Was this perhaps Just Go With It? The Adam Sandler film in which Dave Matthews appears? Oh, yes. Yes, that's what this is. That was 2011. Okay.

So maybe it was the wrap party or something. And Rock is obviously a Happy Madison crony. Yeah, right. He'll be at any Sandler party. So anyway, with all that said, this was happening probably at 10 o'clock when people were showing up. John Mayer shows up a couple hours early, okay? That's weird. He's just hanging out at the bar, right?

Yeah. And he gets a burger. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. And he's just hanging out at the bar, right? Yeah. And he gets a burger. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. And he's just hitting on women the whole time. What a creep. And I'm pretty sure, yeah, like maybe him and Jen were just friends, but it was super gross.

And like he even was like hitting on some of the people on the staff. Allegedly. I always have to say this now. Allegedly, that was what was happening with John Mayer. Yes. And he was just a total douchey, gross bro. Trying to find exactly when he dated Jennifer. Yeah. I remember him being her date to the Oscars one year.

Yeah. The problem is if you Google it, it's just lots of articles that are like, John Mayer's a jerk to Jennifer Aniston. Yeah. He said a mean thing in an interview. Did he like the burger though, Ben? It seems like around early 2011. So, you know, it's the right time. Did he like the burger? He did like the

burger. It's a good burger. It's a fucking really good burger. Well, that's been the Burger Report. As always, if you have any burger reports of your own, feel free to tweet us, email us, open invitation to all. I'm going to keep on hitting up burger joints. Hopefully I'll get a good scoop one of these days.

I love Famos. What everyone knows about you is that you love Famos. I love Famos. Can I just add one thing? Please. I had a brief interaction with Jennifer Aniston and she called me cute. Ben.

She said, yeah, you're cutie and kind of touched my arm a little bit. What a sweetheart. Just named People Magazine's most beautiful person this year. Ben? Yeah? Jennifer Aniston called you a cutie? Well, he is a cutie. Yeah, of course he's a cutie.

He's our little cutie. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Wait, uh-oh. Do I smell another nickname coming on? Oh. A cutie? The cutie? Little cutie?

Please don't. No, I don't think so. It's nothing sticking. Nothing sticking. It's less of a nickname and more just a title. You're a cutie. All right. Great.

Well. You're a real cutie. Probably shouldn't have shared that. All right. No, no. It was great. The cute tricks? Enough.

Basta. The cute tricks. Thank you. So, moving on. No, no, it was great. The cute tricks? Enough. Basta. The cute tricks. Thank you. So, The Matrix. So it goes on to be kind of a big influence. Yeah, and they make two sequels, and we'll be covering those the next two episodes of the show. Which is very exciting.

Now, I love the two sequels, but I will admit I hated them when I saw them. I hated them when I saw them, and I have not seen either one since they came out. And I was just thinking about this because the sequels have such a bad reputation to this day that even I think now in today's Hollywood culture of like, hey, if it's a thing, give it a sequel, give it a reboot,

whatever, like let's do another one. I think if you announce like The Matrix 4 people would be like, ugh. I don't think there'd be any enthusiasm. It's fascinating how much they don't want to revive this property. As much as there's so much nostalgia for The Matrix. I saw an interview with, I was going down a YouTube

rabbit hole last night, and Quentin Tarantino did a piece for Sky Movies, maybe, a couple years ago, where he was picking the 20 best movies made in the 20 years since he started making films, whatever self-aggrandizing thing he was doing. And he said The Matrix would be my number two, but the sequels left such a bad taste in my mouth that it's now nebulously somewhere on the 20.

Interesting. Without being number two. Sorry, Quentin. He said, like, only Battle Royale was numerated at number one, and the rest of them were alphabetical. And he's like, Matrix would have been- Battle Royale? Come on. It's Quentin Tarantino.

Of course you can pick that. That movie's like the most overrated movie ever made. It's fine. It's fine. It's pretty good. It's fine. Yeah. God. I movie's like the most overrated movie ever made. It's fine. It's fine. It's pretty good. It's fine. Yeah. God.

I'm excited to rewatch the Matrix movie. I bought the Blu-ray set, the Ultimate Matrix collection. Oh, nice. I own all three on iTunes and watch them all the time. No, the Blu-ray's got like a lot of crazy stuff on it. That's cool. I'd love to check it out. A lot of weird, wild stuff on this Blu-ray set.

Guys, we are planning on probably doing an Animatrix bonus just to let you know yeah kind of like the buried secret was for our Shyamalan series yeah and uh you know we were just talking we used to both own the Matrix Revisited which was like a feature length documentary about the Matrix that you could get on a DVD

the first Matrix DVD was pretty bare bones instead doing what we call a double dip and releasing a special disc where you have to buy the whole thing over again, they were like, here's another disc of special features. Yeah. And you just bought that as a separate thing. Right. Now it feels like it's like, oh, I don't know.

But that was like. It's a bit of a cash grab. But it was the peak of the DVD thing. Like, it sold really well. No, it was good. I think the Matrix was the highest selling DVD for a long time. I used to own this big book called The Art of the Matrix, like a big hardcover book that was so cool. I don't know what happened to it.

I don't think I have it anymore. Well, if you find that book, please send it back to David. Thanks. If you borrowed his copy, please send it back. Come on, jerks. As always, rate, subscribe, and review. Yeah. Yeah, we're still waiting on a book report, by the way.

Yeah, well, a couple people have sent me pictures. I have evidence including a friend of the show, former guest, Rachel Lang. I know checked the book out or got it on her Kindle. Some people sent me pictures of the book on their shelf. They checked it out of the library. Rachel, you crazy. Rachel crazy. It's a hearty tome, so perhaps it's taking people time to dig through it,

but people are definitely reading it. So we'll hopefully have a book report soon for you. Remember to keep it under 100 words. Because we here at this show hate being verbose. Any other final thoughts? Next week we'll be back with The Matrix Reloaded.

We're going to talk about The Matrix Reloaded. Yeah, we're doing all these Matrix episodes sans gasp just because we're scheduling stuff. Well, also because I love these movies episodes. Sounds gasp just because we're scheduling stuff. Well, also because I love these movies and I don't want some guests pissing on them. David's very protective of the Matrix. I know. But as always.

It's okay, guys. I know they're hard to watch. It's okay. We'll talk about it. We'll all rewatch them together. It'll be fine. Trust me. It'll be fine.

Okay? I trust you. It's fine. As always. Thank you for listening. Yes. A big ups to Producer Ben. Love him. And as always. A cutie. Make ups to producer Ben love him and as always

make sure to order your eggs a la com or else they're not worth the end this has been a UCB comedy production check out our other shows on the UCB comedy

podcast network