The Matrix
Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving; written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski

You've heard people say it before. "Oh the story wasn't that great, but the special effects were fun. Catch a matinee and you'll be happy." It's a phrase that, with modifications, I can easily hear Fifties'-era teenagers using to describe the latest piece of entertaining schlock from the likes of Bert I. Gordon (Amazing Colossal Man) or Roger Corman (Attack of The Crab Monsters). And lo and behold those films have survived, been written up in scholarly journals, and -- even more importantly -- continued to draw interested viewers in spite, and in some cases, because of their monumental doofiness. There are worse fates for the artist than to be appreciated in a way other than that which he anticipated.

Such may well be the case for The Matrix and it's star the omnipresent action-hero-slash-mannequin, Keanu Reeves. The character Reeves dresses up like (and pardon me, but it's hard to say this young actor can do anything else with a character) is by day a corporate drone, by night a master computer hacker, "Neo". His profitable intrigue is interupted by the discovery that his entire life (and the life of everyone else on earth) may be simply an elaborate illusion created to anesthetize the human race. Rebel warriers Morpheus (Fishburne) and Trinity (Moss) wake Reeves from this comfy dream and teach him how to move in and out of the computer simulated reality of "The Matrix". Revealing anymore of the plot to you may wreck the few genuinely surprising and vaguely interesting ideas the movie plays with. Suffice to say, in a computer matrix, almost anything is possible.

Morpheus underscores the basic point of the film by asking Neo, "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?" One obvious implication is that someone must wake you and ultimately you must trust that what they tell you is real. The Matrix, of course, arrives at the questionable conclusion that it is the individual who ultimately decides what reality is and that if there are absolutes our instincts will lead us to them. Morpheus is even more succinct later: "The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Well, after listening to a lot of mangled Eastern philosophy mixed with talk about the "Chosen One," my conclusion is that whatever truth this movie has to offer is present in spite of the writers' attempts to cover it up with their own tired humanist cliches.

One thing that saved the Matrix from being just another boring exercise in CGI graphics was a self-aware performance by Reeves who seems to understand from the get-go that we won't be taking him seriously. There are also some outstanding martial arts sequences that give Jackie Chan a run for his yen. But in the final analysis, it was Hugo Weaving's quirky portrayal of the villainous Agent Smith that brought the house down. His odd demeanor perfectly embodied the idea of artificial intelligence gone amuck and lifted lines like "Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? It's the sound of inevitability" or "Never send a human to do a machines job" above cliche.

Of course, The Matrix offers us its own matrix, that is, an artificially-constructed "reality". But this matrix is one we are familiar with and comfortable in. And that's okay. Sure, I wish the writers had been more original but I also think we take refuge in these latter-day B-movies because they offer simplified notions of good and evil that are largely lost in what we say we believe but still a part of how we live our lives. The idea that there is a reality that we await being woken into is not a new one but it continues to be a compelling one. Likewise our desire for a savior. For that reason alone The Matrix brought a smile to my face.

Likewise, I can envision a time when others will be smiling as they look back on this their childhood encounter with this and other effects bloated quasi-intelligent sci-fi. Will Agent Smith replace HAL as the average person's idea of a malevalent artficial intelligence? Will Reeves inspire some far-flung MST3K episode? That particular matrix is probably as close to real critical acceptance as either will get but it's not bad. We all have to start somewhere.

Rushmore
Starring Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, Brian Cox, Mason Gamble; directed by Wes Anderson

Rushmore. The very name suggests a monumental undertaking. And director Wes Anderson has undertaken a difficult task and very nearly accomplished it. But he seems to have wanted to make several films at once without much of an idea how to blend them together. That doesn't stop Rushmore from being a very enjoyable film with some great performances and even a little something to say.

Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is a fifteen year old wunderkind on scholarship to the prestigious Rushmore Academy (a scholarship given to him by a Dr. Guggenheim no less). There's only one problem -- he never studies. Instead, he writes plays, starts clubs and collects admirers -- all of which he's very, very good at. He's also about to get tossed out of school on his ear. When informed of this, he does what any teenager hungry for adult respect does, he sinks still deeper into the behavior that got him into trouble in the first place. In this case, it means adopting an "I'll show them" mentality. Max truly is a fisher trying to catch the trappings of adulthood but without any real understanding of what comes with them.

During a chapel meeting he meets Blume (Bill Murray). Murray is recieving raves for his role in this film and they are richly deserved, for he adds a few more notes to the expanding scale he displayed in Groundhog's Day. Blume is a egotistical self-made millionaire trapped in an awful marriage with two kids who reflect all the worst about their father. In short, he is exactly what Max will bloom into if Max does not grow-up: successful -- by the world's standards -- but an under-developed man-child.

So this coming of age film is unique in offering us not one but two characters -- one younger, the other older, who need to grow up before they can progress. And who will take them through this dark night of the soul? Enter the pivotal character, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), the woman that both Max and Blume fall madly in love with. She is the representative of all things woman -- and of mature relationships. She is patient, kind and intrigued by both these man-children but she also recognizes them for what they are.

I was uncomfortable with the idea of Blume, a married man, involved in a love affair -- hardly a mature relationship, by my standards of maturity. But it may be important to understand this apparent flaw in light of the films overall fable-like tone. Blumes shrewish wife represents the only type of relationship of which he is capable of choosing and having in his present state. Likewise, his two children. They are all harpies, a punishment for failing to grow up, a part of his tragic self fulfilled prophecy. Miss Cross, on the other, is the gateway through which Blume and Max must pass to experience redemption. They must die to themselves before they become able to give and recieve real mature love.

Because of that, the rivalry that Max and Blume enter into over the attentions of Miss Cross is comedic but also truly poignant. On the one hand Max must let go of the past (his childhood); on the other he must also face his future (his adulthood as embodied in Blume). We've all struggled with the adult trying to emerge, and that's a significant part of the wonder factor here. Anderson understands childhood so well. His child actors may all speak lines beyond their years, but their dialogue articulates the very concerns that boil in your heart when you're a kid- friendship, loyalty, the mystery of s-e-x, and the need to fit in. You say things that you think are adult when in reality you're being more childish than ever.

If you're looking for a point to this odd little gem be careful not to stare too hard. It helps to know it's all about "coming of age". There's more that could be said here than Anderson attempts, but then that's one of the lessons of coming of age isn't it? Things don't always wrap up as neatly as we would like. A few verbal vulgarisms and one quick shot of a centerfold are the main thing to beware of in this otherwise highly interesting and provocative story.