Short Take: The Matrix

Too many have taken The Matrix way too seriously. The philosophical mumbo-jumbo it wears on its sleeve—little more than Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as filtered through Philip K. Dick—is tony decoration for the pulp material. It’s not anything profound. But the film is still a masterpiece of the science-fiction adventure genre. The Wachowskis, the sibling duo who wrote and directed, have created a stylish cyberpunk mash-up of Dick’s postmodern mystery-sf fiction with superhero comic books and video games. They season it with leather-heavy goth couture and fight scenes inspired by East Asian martial-arts movies. The story’s hero, nicknamed Neo (Keanu Reeves), has two challenges. The first is to solve the mystery that defines the reality around him. The second is to embrace his destiny as the messiah of the film’s dystopian world. Along the way, he joins up with a band of revolutionaries led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), who are determined to help him find his way. The film’s glory is its virtual-reality action sequences, where the only limits are the characters’ imaginations. These scenes are terrifically well-staged and edited, and shot in a hyperreal manner that makes the film look like nothing that had come before. It all adds up to a thrilling roller-coaster ride, and perhaps the finest adventure film of the 1990s. The cast also includes Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. Dick Pope provided the cinematography, and the editing is by Zach Staenberg. John Gaeta designed the innovative visual effects. Two pompous, overblown sequels followed.

Short Take: Oklahoma! (1999)

If I had to pick a least-favorite movie genre, it would be screen versions of Broadway musicals. The sins of these films are many: hackneyed stories and characters; awful pacing; over-elaborate sets and costumes; bombastic musical arrangements; insipid song lyrics; actors of highly variable singing and dancing abilities--the list goes on. The 1999 film version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Oklahoma!, which debuted in the United States on television in 2003, is a lovely exception. It shows the best way to make these pictures is to keep things simple and appropriately cast. The film is a modestly shot and edited treatment of the stage production that played on London's West End in 1998. The original play is arguably Rodgers and Hammerstein's best effort. (It was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1944) The story is a straightforward romantic comedy, set in 1906 Oklahoma. Two farmhands, one cheerful and optimistic, the other surly and obsessive, vie for the hand of a rancher's daughter in marriage. Trevor Nunn, who directed both the stage production and the film, keeps the sets, costumes, and musical arrangements rather spare. The charm of the story isn't smothered by the weight of the presentation. The performers and musical numbers are allowed to breathe, and the film has a happy atmosphere comparable to the best of the Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Gene Kelly vehicles of 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Hugh Jackman, who plays Curly, the more likable of the two farmhands, is a particular delight. He has a wonderfully sunny presence, a gorgeous baritone singing voice, and phenomenal grace as a dancer. Those who only know him from his Hollywood roles, namely the antihero Wolverine in the X-Men films, will find his performance astonishing. Jud Fry, Curly's romantic rival, is played by Shuler Hensley, who brings the part a striking touch of menace. Josefina Gabrielle plays Laurey, the rancher's daughter, and Maureen Lipman steals every scene she's in as Laurey's Aunt Eller. Susan Stroman provided the excellent choreography, on best display in the dream-sequence ballet scene. The film's only conspicuous flaw is the inclusion of cutaway shots to a theater audience ostensibly watching the play. It's the visual equivalent of a TV laugh track.